Onward Guinevere!

The Elves is Disney movies do not look like those here at TLCB Towers. Probably because Disney don’t want their young audience members to scream/cry/vomit. Cue 2020’s ‘Onward’, in which two ‘Elf’ brothers undertake an epic adventure in an old van, which recent bloggee Tim Inman has recreated beautifully in brick form.

Complete with rusty sills, a detailed interior behind a sliding door, and a fabulous brick-built pegasus mural, Tim’s Model Team ‘Guinevere’ is one of our favourite creations of the year so far. There’s much more to see at Tim’s photostream and you can join two Elves on the road trip of a lifetime via the link above, whilst we look at ours and ponder our choices.

Skyline Silhouette

The Lego Car Blog Elves are running about making ‘Vroooom!!’ noises today, courtesy of one of their number finding this. It’s a Nissan Skyline ‘Super Silhouette’ racer, as built by Flickr’s Sergio Batista in Speed Champions form and – despite the annoying noises it has produced in our mythical workforce – it’s a brilliant example of small-scale building. Clever SNOT techniques and superb decals make Sergio’s Skyline far more realistic than its size would suggest, and there’s more to see at his photostream via the link above.

Ban the Booze

It’s been a full century since the United States’ prohibition era, a time in which you could own a rifle but not drink a glass of wine. Still, if that sounds mad today, you can still own a rifle but you can’t eat a Kinder Egg.

Flickr’s Evancelt reimagines one of America’s weirdest decades with his marvellous array of 1920s mini-figures, but it’s the splendid vintage cars behind them that are of more interest to us.

There’s more to see at Evancelt’s photostream so grab a beer, Kinder Egg, rifle and head back to 1920s America via the link above.

Green Gas

If we saw a cloud of gas this colour floating our way we probably wouldn’t stop to find out what it smelled like. Still Tim Inman is made of braver stuff than us, because he’s taken one of LEGO’s rarest hues and somehow found enough parts to create this glorious 1933 Willys ‘gasser’ hot rod. With absurd side-pipes, an octuplet of engine trumpets, and packing a parachute, Tim’s ride isn’t messing about, and you can gas your way over to his photostream for a sniff at the link above.

*Today’s

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau

Naval officer, film maker, oceanographer, author, and Palme d’Or winner, Jacques-Yves Cousteau was surely one of the world’s last great adventurers.

And his legacy is one that is still felt every day in the marine biology and diving worlds, with Jacques accurately predicting that animals such a porpoises can echolocate, and inventing the first ever piece of SCUBA equipment – the Aqua-Lung – in the 1940s.

He is perhaps most famous for his oceanic mapping and discovery of numerous wrecks, with much of this work carried out on his American-built, wooden-hulled, ex-British World War 2 minesweeper the RV Calypso.

This stunning brick-built replica of Jacques’ iconic ship – which now languishes dismantled in Turkey – comes from previous bloggee Alex Jones aka Orion Pax, who has both constructed and presented it beautifully.

Measuring 50cm long Alex’s model is packed with details, and you can take a closer look at his recreation of one of the most important ships to ever sail via the link to his photostream above.

One Man Went to Hoe

You don’t need a million LEGO bricks to be blogged. Because clever parts usage and imaginative presentation can go a very a long way, as proven by Bobofrutx and this splendid little backhoe. Pictured on some gnarly pavement, Bobo’s backhoe can raise its bucket, extend and rotate its rear arm, and deploy its stabilisers just like the real thing, and you can head to a road in need of repair via the link above.

Rolling a Six

The Lego Car Blog Elves are very excited today…

This is the 1976 Tyrrell P34, Formula 1’s only racing-winning 6-wheeler, and – as things currently stand – the only 6-wheeler that will ever win a race as the fun-sponges at Formula 1 banned cars with more than four wheels a few years later. Because… honestly we have no idea.

This fabulous recreation of the Elf-liveried P34 comes from TLCB debutant bentobrick, who has constructed motorsport’s most recognisable design brilliantly in brick, including a working replica Cosworth DFV engine and four-wheel steering (as shown in the excellent render below).

There’s more of bentobrick’s superb 1976 Tyrrell P34 to see at the Eurobricks forum, where a link to building instructions is also available, and you can head to a Grand Prix in 1976 via the link above.

GT LM GTE #68

This is a Ford GT LM GTE, which is – admittedly – not a good name. But it is one heck of a car, winning the GTE class at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2016 exactly 50 years after Ford first took outright victory.

This spectacular Technic replica of that very car (the #68, driven by Joey Hand, Sebastien Bourdais and Dirk Muller) comes from Jeroen Koopman, and recreates the GT LM GTE brilliantly in Technic Supercar form.

Working steering, a V6 engine hooked up to a sequential 6-speed gearbox, advanced in-board suspension, opening butterfly doors, and removable bodywork all feature, with some superb photography of the engineering within joining the exterior shots on Flickr.

You can see that complete image gallery via the link above, plus you can find full build details, a video, and a link to building instructions at the Eurobricks forum here.

American Achievement

It’s the day after that Alaskan summit, in which presidents Trump and Putin held, to quote Trump, a “10 out of 10” discussion, in which they “got along great”. Except it achieved nothing at all. Still, we suppose Trump and Putin do have much in common, so that’s nice.

But when America does put its mind to Europe, it can achieve great things. Cue the Cadillac V-Series.R, General Motors’ entrant into the burgeoning WEC Hypercar class, and now a race winner sitting third in the sizeable top-tier class of the championship. Which bodes well for Cadillac’s forthcoming entry to Formula 1.

Built on an Italian Dallara chassis and run by the British Jota Sport team, it also proves that America can benefit from European expertise. We hope that might be remembered in round two of the Ukrainian peace talks that perhaps should include Ukraine.

Oh yes, the car! This superb Speed Champions replica of the Hertz Team Jota Cadillac V-Series.R comes from prolific Le Mans Hypercar builder SFH_Bricks, who has captured the racer and its golden Hertz livery beautifully. Building instructions are available and you can head to the heart of European racing in an Italian-British-American collaboration via the link above.

Jolly Green Giant

This is a Sikorsky HH-53C Pave Low ‘Super Jolly Green Giant’ helicopter, here shown in search and rescue configuration and, um…. not green.

But it is excellent, having been recreated beautifully by Flickr’s bigwilly2492, with bespoke decals and an opening ramp adding to the realism. There’s more to see at 2492’s ‘HH-53C Super Jolly Green Giant’ album and you take to the skies via the link above.

Big Catch

An estimated 100 million sharks are killed by humans every single year. That’s three sharks a second. Three quarters of these are due to the shark fin trade for the Chinese market (who seem to be the world leaders in animal cruelty), where the fins are cut off the live shark and the rest discarded back into the ocean. And if that sounds horrible, it’s because it is.

The remainder are mostly accidental catches from fishing, but fishing can of course be done right. Cue NikiFilik‘s lovely cartoon-esque fishing boat vignette, with one of the most gorgeous brick-built hulls we’ve seen in ages – just look at that line of studs! Niki’s boat has caught one shark, and if it’s all being eaten we’re totally cool with that.

Fish responsibly at Niki’s photostream via the link above, or click here to learn more about how we can protect or oceans.

Dump Your Horse

Revealed here earlier in the year, LEGO’s 42213 Technic Ford Bronco brings the blue oval’s newest, but retro-est, 4×4 to bedroom floors everywhere. It also provides just under a thousand pieces for B-Model building, with previous bloggee damianPLE doing just that, by turning his Bronco into this excellent Technic off-road dump truck.

Like the set on which it’s based, Damian’s alternate includes working suspension, ‘HOG’ steering, and a V6 engine under an opening hood, whilst adding a manually operable tipper too. Building instructions are available and you can find all the images, plus that instructional link, at Bricksafe and Eurobricks respectively. Dump your horse via the links above!

The Horndog

2025 is the year that Christian Horner finally departed Red Bull after managing the team through two decades, six World Championships, and a few compromising Whats App messages…

He is in fact the only Team Principal that Red Bull Racing have ever had, having led the team from its formation in 2005 right up until the pictures of his horndog he rather stupidly sent caught up with him.

The team continues on however, and their RB21 is still able to win races (at least in the hands of one of its drivers), despite the loss of another titan of the team, designer Adrian Newey (although his departure wasn’t due to sending inappropriate pictures of his wang to female staff).

Cue Y Akimeshi‘s excellent brick-built recreation of the Red Bull RB21, pictured within a street circuit vignette featuring some superb ‘Pirelli’ lettering. There’s more of the build to see on Flickr and you can send some compromising What App messages and undo a twenty year legacy via the link above.

One Eyed Willy

Snigger. And for once it’s not us being childish! We have Steven Spielberg to thank for the silliness, and his 1980s cinematic masterpiece ‘The Goonies’, in which a group of children set off in search of lost treasure to save their homes from demolition.

Captained by One Eyed Willy, ‘The Inferno’ lay at the end of a booby-trapped labyrinth, floating inside a cavern, and filled with loot.

Inspired by the movie, Stefan Eeckman (aka sebeus) has constructed this stupendous homage to One Eyed Willy’s vessel, with galleries, gun ports, rigging, and a marvellous nougat-coloured hull.

There’s more to see of ‘The Inferno’ at Stefan’s Flickr album of the same name, and you can grab your treasure map, dodge the falling boulders, pit of spikes, and collapsing bone-organ floor in search of pirate treasure via the link above.

Got Milk?

Keko007 does. Well, his excellent DAF XF 530 Superspace and Willig Sanz Tunker trailer could actually be transporting one of any number of liquids, but it looks pretty milky to us. Pour it on your cereal at Keko’s photostream via the link above, although TLCB cannot be held responsible if it turns out to be industrial cleaner.