Magic Mazda

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Modifications are an integral part of the automotive scene. Mostly for the worse of course, as Brad in his garage is not going to better the five years and $billions in development completed by the world’s best engineers before each model to hits the market*.

Sometimes though, modifications do work – particularly when the aforementioned engineers embrace this likelihood – and no-one does that better than Japan.

Cue the wild Mazda RX-7 we have here today, which is not only depicting modifications to the real car, it’s also a model modifying another… well, model.

Constructed by builtbydave_, this ‘TCP Magic’ RX-7 is loosely based on a design by fellow bloggee 3D supercarBricks, and features significant aero enhancements, opening doors, and a beautifully detailed 20B 3-rotor engine underneath the raising hood.

There are more superb images of builtbydave_’s modified Mazda to see at his ‘TCP Magic Rx7’ album on Flickr, and you can magic your way there via the link above.

*Not including anything American from the 1990s of course. Or Fiat.

Even More Mogin’

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There are almost as many variants of Mercedes-Benz’s Unimog as there are tasks for them to do. Which is probably the point. Endlessly adaptable, the Unimog is also the perfect choice for Technic builders, as proven by Flickr’s Thirdwigg, who’s back here with another fully-functioning brick-built replica of the heavy-duty tractor.

This one is a U530, complete with a three-way* tipping bed, working steering, a piston engine, under the tilting cab, pendular suspension, plus front, centre and rear selectable PTOs.

There’s a rear pneumatic outlet too, which mean’s Thirdwigg’s model can be fitted with nearly as many pieces of additional equipment as the real thing, with a folding crane, trailer, and snow-plow some of those included in his extensive Flickr gallery.

Building instructions are available (and they’re free!), with much more to see at Thirdwigg’s ‘Unimog U530′ album. Click the link above for even more mogin’.

*Snigger

Colour My Rover

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TLCB Staff, being curmudgeonly bores, think that Rovers are old British cars of increasing mediocrity. The Online Lego Community however, thinks the word means something far more whimsical.

2024’s ‘Febrovery‘ – wherein dozens of extraordinary planetary exploration vehicles are constructed – is well underway, and we have another two wonderfully diverse rovers-of-the-spacey-type here today.

The first (above) is the delightfully hued ‘Greeble Transport Rover’, built to carry the tiny grey pieces that make up the most science-fictiony parts of spaceships. Ironically needing none itself, the ‘Greeble Transport Rover’ is instead a riot of colour, and there’s more to see courtesy of Febrovery veteran Frost.

Our second rover (below) forgoes the colour of Frost’s machine replacing it with earthy greys. Four sets of tracks and a great many triangles complete the utilitarian look, and there’s more to see of Horcik Designs‘ ‘Rover Expedition Ready’ at his photostream on Flickr.

Click the final two links above to see more of each rover, and the first if you fancy checking out the Febrovery building bonanza in full, where there’s not an old British car to be found anywhere. We promise.

My Other Car’s a Ford GT

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We suspect that most people, if they could turn their car into a Bugatti Chiron, would.

It’d be an easy question for us here at The Lego Car Blog, as a battered Rover 200 has rather less allure than the world’s fastest production car, but even owners of 200mph supercars would probably make the switch.

Cue Dyens Creations of Flickr, who has done just that, turning his Technic 42154 Ford GT set into this excellent Bugatti Chiron alternate. There’s more to see at Dyens’ album; take a look via the link above, whilst we wonder how much sticky-back plastic and papier-mâché would be needed to give TLCB Rover 200 a Bugatti-based makeover.

Escort Service

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As revealed when we recently interviewed, er… ourselves, the single worst thing about running a world famous moderately well-known Lego website is having to remove endless spam comments.

Crypto currency, luxury goods that are absolutely definitely genuine, pills to make things bigger, pills to make things smaller, and – of course – escorts.

Thus today’s post is for the aforementioned escort commenters (most likely ‘bots from East Asia), as we have not one, not two, but four escorts appearing on the site today.

All come from previous bloggee Ralph Savelsberg, and represent (from left to right) two Mercedes-Benz Sprinters, a Volkswagen Transporter, and a Volkswagen Caddy, each perfectly capturing its real-world counterpart in mini-figure scale, with more to see on Flickr.

Book your escort via the link in the text above, whilst we delete another dozen comments advertising dubious services.

There’ll be Honda Coupe

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What we value, particularly our vehicles, depends very much upon time and place. The sixth generation Honda Civic, built from ’95 to 2000 (and its Rover 200/400 counterpart), is worth scrap money here in TLCB’s home nation. That is despite the fact they go on for ever, and shouldn’t really need scrapping yet at all.

In the Unites States however, the ‘EM’ Civic is both revered (and hated) as a staple of the tuner scene, and is rather sought-after. No doubt reverence for the mid-’90s Civic will rise in the UK too, as the numbers on the road dwindle to almost nothing, but for now many end their days doing this. There are thousands left on the roads in America though, with many tastefully modified (and many more rather less so) thanks to an abundance of tuning parts.

This neat Speed Champions recreation of the sixth-generation Honda Civic Si Coupe comes from Ilya M of Flickr, who has taken the former route to modification to rather smart effect. There’s an opening hood (with a detailed engine underneath), room for two mini-figures, and free building instructions available (100 TLCB Points to Ilya). Take a look via the link above to see more.

Bubbly Chocolate

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Volvo’s newly announced FH Aero truck has got this TLCB Writer thinking about bubbly chocolate. Because he’s very distractible. And he likes Aeros. But do the bubbles mean there’s less actual chocolate?

Whatever, back on task, this splendid brick-built replica of the new Volvo FH Aero 62 comes from Stefan Eeckman, who had some insider knowledge in order to create his model so swiftly after the actual truck’s reveal.

A tilting cab, Powered-Up remote control drive and steering, and some really very tricksy building techniques are available to view on both Flickr and Eurobricks, and you can take a look via the links above whilst this Writer hunts down some bubbly chocolate.

Extra! Extra!

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This is a Dressta 530R Extra wheel loader, and seeing as we know less about wheel loaders than The Brothers Brick do about talking to girls, we have absolutely no idea what the ‘Extra’ bit means. Or the ‘530R’ bit…

Anyway, our incompetence aside, the model is rather good, coming from Bricksley of Flickr, featuring pendular suspension, a posable arm and bucket, and an articulated frame. There’s more to see at Bricksley’s ‘Dressta 530R Extra’ album and you can head there via the link above if you’re wheelie diggin’ it*.

*No we don’t know how to talk to girls either.

Jesse’s Escape

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Breaking Bad, aka The Best Thing That’s Ever Been On Television, nailed its car choices. Walter White’s Aztek, the Fleetwood RV meth lab, Mike Ehrmantraut’s old sedans, Gus Fring’s understated Volvo… each was perfectly cast.

The final vehicle in the series was this, a 1981 Chevrolet El Camino, its owner recently deceased, used in Jesse Pinkman’s escape and subsequent movie of the same name.

Constructed by previous bloggee Jakub Marcisz, this Model Team recreation of Breaking Bad’s last car includes opening doors and hood, working steering, a detailed interior, and a realistic engine, with lots more to see on Flickr.

Building instructions are available, you can click the link above to take a look, and here to see that final scene.

Insert Balding Divorcee

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Whilst the Trans-Am is driven by shady gamblers, the Mustang by jocks who crash almost immediately, and the Challenger by morons, the Corvette has a rather different consumer base.

Despite on the face of it being a rather similar vehicle to the aforementioned threats to public safety, the Chevrolet Corvette is owned exclusively by balding recently-divorced golf enthusiasts, who spend more time polishing them than they do behind the wheel.

Which perhaps makes the Corvette, along with the Lexus ES, the safest car in America.

This splendid example is a 1970s ‘C3’ generation, as constructed beautifully by previous bloggee Szunyogh Balázs. There’s an opening hood, opening doors, and a detailed drivetrain, with much more to see on Flickr. Click here to get polishing before you head to the golf club.

Horse Tracking

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The early design philosophy of LEGO’s Classic Space theme was to take an item of mundane earthly equipment, paint it grey, and add a satellite dish. Cue Dump trucks, mini-diggers, floor-buffers, and – in this case – a horse-box and trailer.

Taking LEGO’s 452 ‘Mobile Ground Tracking Station’ (aka Space Horsebox), Flickr’s Frost (aka TFDesigns!) has rebooted the vintage set with parts four decades newer, to marvellous effect.

Opening the rear reveals no horse, but handily there’s an array of delightfully spacey equipment available to track one down.

There’s more of Frost’s fantastic 452 Redux to see at his photostream, and you can join the Classic Space shenanigans via the link above.

Cyber Monday

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Febrovery might be raging, but sci-fi builds don’t have to have wheels. Cue previous bloggee Rubblemaker, whose trio of M-Tron spacecraft update the vintage LEGO theme to a new, and frankly rather weird, place.

From left to right there’s the ‘M:OTH‘, designed to chop through vegetation like a giant space salad-maker, the ‘SALAMANDER‘, so called because it looks exactly nothing like a salamander, and the ‘CHOMP‘, which uses the power of crystals to harvest magnetic particles, much like Tina doing yoga in her van.

There’s more to see of each unearthly creation on Flickr, and you can make the jump to space via the links above.

Big Tip

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Discovered by one of our Elves on Eurobricks, this fantastic model is an Iveco T-Way, a heavy-duty 8×4 truck outfitted – in this case – as a huge tipper.

Built by previous bloggee mpj, the truck includes remote control drive on the rear two axles, steering on the front two, all-axle suspension, and – of course – a massive tipping body driven by a motorised linear actuator.

LEGO’s Powered-Up components allow the truck to be operated via bluetooth, and you can see more (and find a link to building instructions) at the Eurobricks forum. Click the link above for a big tip.

Mega Rover

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Febrovery is back for another year, when the Online Lego Community comes together to build various planetary roving vehicles in innumurable styles and themes.

This is spaceruner‘s, a small 6×6 single-occupant articulated pick-up, used to transport various spacey items and/or whatever crystals LEGO have determined are part of the plot this week.

Oh, and it also comes with a gigantic 10×10 mobile command centre.

Yes, spaceruner’s entry for this year’s Febrovery includes a rover (and several other small craft) within its enormity. Manned by a crew of eight, with a vast interior, landing pad, crane, plus a wide assortment of tools, vehicles, and other space-related accompaniments, spaceruner’s astonishing Spyrius ‘CX-1 Basilisk’ is one of the most impressive sci-fi creations we’ve ever seen.

A spectacular array of imagery showcases the creation superbly, and there’s more to see of spaceruner’s rover (and the mobile command centre if that’s what you’re into) on Flickr. Click the link above to make the jump.

LEGO Technic Mercedes-AMG F1 W14… | Set Previews

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#TeamLH #Blessed #Vegan #JoiningFerrarifortheMoney

Shock Formula 1 news this week, as the most successful driver of all time is due to depart the team with whom he has won six World Championships to join Scuderia Ferrari at the end of the 2024 season.

Lewis Hamilton is looking for his eighth title, to take him clear of sharing the championship record with Michael Schumacher, and thinks Ferrari might be the team to do it (despite their long-time strategy of buying past champions, and promptly consigning their winning streak to history). There may also be some money involved.

Cue #TeamLH, surely at the bottom of even the filthy cesspit that is ‘X’, losing their collective minds, and 2024’s Mercedes-AMG F1 W15 being the team’s last to be driven by Lewis.

But back to 2023 – when Hamilton was definitely never ever leaving Mercedes-AMG – and two new LEGO Technic sets that add the season’s second best car to the 2024 Technic line-up; These are the brand new Technic 42165 Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance Pull-Back and Technic 42171 Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance.

Technic 42165 Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance Pull-Back

Constructed from 240 pieces and aimed at ages 7+, the Technic 42165 Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance Pull-Back, which we won’t be referring to by its full title again, brings Hamilton’s 2023 Formula 1 racer to bedroom floors for a pocket-money price.

With accurate shaping and livery, plus authentic sponsorship decals, 42165 looks fantastic (even if it doesn’t have slick tyres…. again), making it perhaps the best Pull-Back Technic set LEGO have ever created.

But it’s also $27/£21, which is about twice the price that Technic Pull-Backs used to be. Thus despite being the best ever Pull-Back Technic set, it might simultaneously be the worst $27/£21 one, with no technical features whatsoever.

For #TeamLH* we suspect that won’t matter though, and if you’re among them you can get your hands on the new 42165 Pull-Back when it goes on sale later this year.

Technic 42171 Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance

At six times the pieces and nine times the price, this is 42165’s (much) bigger brother; the brand new LEGO Technic 42171 Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance.

Aimed at ages 18+, 42171 recreates Lewis Hamilton’s 2023 Formula 1 car at a huge 1:8 scale and, unlike the recent non-specific 42141 Technic McLaren Formula 1 Race Car set, is a true replica of its real-world counterpart.

With accurate sponsorship decals and awesome new slick tyres (hurrah!!), 42171 certainly looks the part, but is perhaps a bit light on the technical bits. There’s working steering, a V6 engine and rear differential, an opening rear wing mimicking DRS, and… that’s it. Which is about as much a set costing a quarter of the price. And that price is $220/£190.

Thus despite its 1,520 pieces, 42171 is going to be a rather exclusive set. Which is suitably Formula 1. Expect to see those ace new tyres opening up a world of new creations though…

*If #TeamLH discover that LEGO included an Ayrton Senna mini-figure in the Icons 10330 McLaren MP4/4 set, but that neither of these Mercedes-AMG F1 sets include a miniature Lewis Hamilton, Twitter’s going to explode.