Slingshot

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It’s not just Dennis the Menace and old-timey scallies in the park who were armed with catapults. Because this is an Arado Ar 196, a Second World War German reconnaissance floatplane, powered by a 1,000bhp BMW radial engine, and stationed on every German capital ship during the war – from which it was launched by catapult.

This splendid recreation of the Ar 196 – and the ship-mounted catapult from which they were propelled – is the work of Flickr’s Veynom, who has captured the floatplane brilliantly in brick form. Catapult yourself over to Veynom’s photostream to take a closer look via the link in the text above.

Red Lorry, Yel… er, Red Lorry

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Despite the protestations of the Elf that found today’s creation, it is in fact only one lorry (and thus earns one meal token). But its creator (and TLCB Master MOCer) Nico71 has ingeniously engineered his design in no less than three different ways; manual, Power Functions, and Control+, with the option of BuWizz bluetooth control too.

All variants feature opening doors and hood, working steering, second-axle suspension, and a clever lockable steering mechanism for the three-axle trailer, whilst the Power Functions and Control+ variants add a motor to the steering (either via a rack and pinion or Servo, depending on the format) and remote control drive. It’s a brilliantly executed trio of options and you can find full details, plus a link to building instructions, at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the link above for red lorry, red lorry, red lorry, or on the video below to watch Nico’s truck in action.

YouTube Video

A Fabulous Hudson Hornet

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The ‘Fabulous’ Hudson Hornet wasn’t just an all-conquering stock car racer. You could buy one for the road too. Available with two doors or four, as coupe, sedan, hardtop or convertible, and powered by a five-litre inline-6 with twin-carburettors, the Hornet could produce over 200bhp with minimal modifications.

It also featured a clever ‘step-down’ design, where – even though it was built on a separate chassis – the floor-pan sat between the chassis rails, lowering the centre of gravity and enabling beautiful streamlined bodywork. Flickr’s SFH_Bricks has recreated the Hornet’s fabulous shape beautifully, and there’s more of his superb small-scale homage to the classic Hudson to see via the link above.

A Snail’s Space

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If Terry Pratchett can have a giant space turtle then we guess Tim Goddard can have a snail. This is – according to its aforementioned maker – a ‘Lunt Snail’ from the Cerulean Nebula, grown from the size of a fist and trained to haul loads across the galaxy via copious food-based encouragement. And who are we to argue with that? Oh yeah, a car blog. Ok, we’ll get back to cars shortly, but until then you can take a look in Tim’s shell via the link above.

Whisking Through Space

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The Lego Car Blog Elves are still in deep space for some reason, and thus we’re following the last spacey build with another. An explosion of grey bricks bursting forth from a blue shell, Flickr’s Scott Wilhelm has deployed binoculars, ice-picks, Technic conrods, and even a whisk in the creation of his Neo-Classic Spaceship. Attempt to find them all – plus a lot more besides – at his photostream via the link above.

See You in Space Tonight*

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The Lego Car Blog Elves are running around making Beep-Boop noises today, as we’ve gone all spacey. Classic Spacey in fact.

The cause is this tremendous Neo-Classic Space satellite communications base by Flickr’s Kalais, complete with a motorised spinning satellite antenna, external walkways, a landing pad with a fantastic drop-ship, a power generator, and… a team of Blacktron agents about to commence a sneak attack.

It’s a wonderful homage to perhaps LEGO’s peak sci-fi era, and you can find further details of this expansive build at Kalais’ photostream via the link above, plus you can see how the base was constructed via the excellent video below. We’ll see you in space tonight.

YouTube Video

*Today’s title song.

Small Saab

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Today Saab is solely an aerospace and defence company. And before 1949 it was too. But in the middle it also made cars. Some of them wonderful. And this is their first.

Launched in 1949, the Saab 92 featured a 25hp 764cc two-cylinder two-stroke engine based on a German DKW design (Sweden was closer to Germany’s Nazi regime than they’d probably like to admit), a three-speed gearbox, front-wheel-drive, an aerodynamic body pressed from a single piece of sheet metal, and paint left over from the company’s aeroplane division.

Over 20,000 92s were produced, with the car becoming something of a rally legend during its production run, and later evolving to feature a trunk (with an opening lid!) and paint options other than military-surplus.

This lovely (and rather cleverly constructed) Saab 92 comes from SvenJ., who has packed front and rear fenders, door handles and mirrors, and even a split windshield into the pretty 7-wide bodywork.

You can take a closer look at Sven’s Saab 92 at his photostream, click the link above to make the jump.

To Greenland!

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In more batshit crazy news this week, serial divorcee, bunkruptee, fake-tan enthusiast and convicted felon Donald Trump has indicated he might decide to invade sovereign territory of Denmark.

Yes, the nation of LEGO, bacon, and Hans Christian Andersen may well be pitched against their ally the United States by its orange-hued President. Despite the fact that the U.S already has an F-35 Lightning II equipped airbase in Greenland, and that Denmark is an F-35 customer.

Of course America operates more than just the F-35, with over two hundred F-15E Strike Eagles like this one still in service. The example here is of the 391st ‘Bold Tigers’, and is wearing its Afghanistan deployment livery where it fought an extreme religious autocracy responsible for numerous human rights abuses, rather than a small European nation responsible for delicious pastries.

Anyway, there’s more to see of this splendid F-15E Strike Eagle courtesy of TLCB Master MOCer Ralph Savelsberg (aka Mad Physicist) at his Flickr album of the same name. Click the link above to take a look, and perhaps invade a longstanding ally.

Taking Out the Trash

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The big news this week is that of a scumbag despot who has massively overreached his electoral mandate being seized and tried by a scumbag despot who has massively overreached his electoral mandate.

The result is that New York City now hosts a Venezuelan President in court facing charges of drug trafficking and terrorism, after previously convicting – on 34 counts – the man that has brought him there.

Which brings us seamlessly to today’s creation, this splendid 1978 Autocar DK Trashmaster garbage truck, for decades the default vehicle for tidying NYC’s streets.

Constructed by previous bloggee Sseven Bricks, this excellent recreation of New York’s most recognisable garbage truck captures its appearance brilliantly, and includes a working trash compactor alongside some wonderful visual attention to detail.

Sseven’s Flickr photostream hosts full details and imagery of the build, and you can take the trash to the curb in NYC (or a president, whether Venezuelan or American) via the link in the text above.

Home Built Hypercar

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Barely a week goes by without some announcement of a new 2,000bhp, 300mph hypercar from a start-up company no-one’s heard of that will absolutely never get built. But this one is different, because this incredible Technic Supercar captures a hypercar that is currently being built for real by a man named Benjamin in his garage. And as he’s already built a Ford GT40 replica from scratch, we have every reason to believe this will drive in anger too.

Created by previous bloggee Levihathan, this incredible Technic imagining of Benjamin’s to-be-completed hypercar is an engineering masterpiece in its own right, with mid-mounted V6 engine (a replica of Nissan’s VR38DETT), working steering that locks and unlocks the rear differential based on steering angle, inboard fully-independent suspension with anti-roll bars, push-button scissor doors, and a six-speed paddle-shift gearbox with gear indicator.

There’s also an opening front trunk (revealing spinning cooling fans connected to the engine), an opening rear clamshell, a three-seat central-driver cockpit, full exhaust plumbing, and even pneumatically operated ‘air’ jacks to raise the car off the ground for wheel changes.

It makes for one of the finest Technic Supercars we’ve ever featured, and you can check out all of the stunning imagery at Levihathan’s ‘Hyperpilote 1:8’ Flickr album plus find full build details and a link to building instructions at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Take a closer look via the links above and perhaps even build this astonishing creation for yourself, ready for when Benjamin’s full-size version one day hits the road.

Trucking Tuesday

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We’re a Lego car blog, which is why all of today’s posts haven’t been cars… OK, we sometimes suck at our brief, but this is a lovely model nonetheless. A DAF FAS 2200 DU, it comes from serial bloggee Arian Janssens, who has both constructed and presented his latest classic truck beautifully.

Working steering, folding drop-sides, a posable grab crane (complete with a mechanism to slide it along the load bed), a steered drawbar trailer, and loaded pallets all feature, with almost two-dozen images of the model available to view showcasing its exceptional attention to detail. Take a closer look at Arian’s ‘DAF FAS 2200 DU’ album via the link above.

Two-Wheeled Adventure

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This site regularly mocks American consumers for buying enormous, uncomfortable, inefficient pick-up trucks that carry nothing more than an overweight driver and a handgun to Walmart.

In TLCB’s home nation we are far more sophisticated, because the best-selling motorbike in the UK is… the BMW GS Adventure. Um… ok, perhaps we’re not so different.

Built to tackle the trails of South America, deserts of Nabia, and the Australian outback, the BMW GS Adventure is spectacularly over-specified for the outskirts of London. But it looks so cool!

This excellent Technic example comes from moc-nemooz, and captures BMW Motorrad’s off-road touring motorbike brilliantly, with a host of working functions and an accurate livery too.

There’s much more of the model to see at nemooz’s ‘BMW GS 1250’ album and you can cross the desert the London ring-road via the link above.

Timber!*

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It’s time to take down TLCB Towers’ Christmas tree, which gives us the chance to pretend to be lumberjacks! This means removing any remaining decorations that the Elves haven’t eaten, chopping it up, and chucking it in the garden waste bin that is usually otherwise only used to dispose of Elven casualties.

Proper lumberjacks however are far more skilled, and once their tree is expertly felled it’s transported from the forest on vehicles like this one; Keko007’s fantastic Volvo FH16 500 timber truck. Packed with detail, Keko’s creation includes a deployable folding grab crane and a drawbar trailer, with lots more to see at his ‘Volvo FH16 500 Timber Truck’ album on Flickr. Shout ‘Timber!’ via the link above.

*Today’s title song. Obviously.

Beep-Boop-Bricks

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In every second-hand toy store, pre-school, or forgotten box in the attic, a blocky beep-boop robot, batteries long-depleted, is waiting…

We’re all doomed when they finally rise against their human overlords, but until then we’ll enjoy this one by Flickr’s Shannon Sproule, who has channeled considerable retro-toy aesthetics into his brick-built homage.

There’s more to see at Shannon’s photostream and you can await the inevitable blocky robot uprising via the link above.

My Other Car’s Still a Bronco

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Wait, haven’t we featured a Bronco-based Suzuki before? Well, yes… but this one’s just as good, and we really like the Suzuki Samurai.

Built by previous bloggee gyenesvi, this neat Technic recreation of the diminutive Japanese 4×4 is constructed only from the pieces found within the official LEGO Technic 42213 Ford Bronco set, which is inspiring a plethora of alternates.

A working piston engine, all-wheel suspension, HOG steering, plus opening doors and hood all feature, and with building instructions available you can swap your own Bronco for a Samurai too.

There’s more to see of gyenesvi’s Bronco B-Model at both the Eurobricks forum and Bricksafe, where an extensive gallery of imagery is available, and you can take a closer look at this alternative off-roader via the links above.