Knuckle Dragger

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This astounding creation is a Volvo FH16 750, and it’s one of the finest Technic creations of the year so far.

Packed with working functions, it took builder blaz62 over two years to complete, with a remote control 8×6 drivetrain linked to an inline-6 engine that resides under a fully suspended cab, all-wheel suspension, LED lights, working front, middle and rear outriggers, and an incredible three-stage folding ‘knuckle boom’ crane.

Based on the Palfinger PK 165.002 TEC 7 crane (ah yes, that one. Ed.), blaz62’s amazing feat of engineering can unfurl (via much knob twiddling) to reveal a three-stage first boom, with a further second two-stage jib and third single-stage jib thereafter. It offers 360° of rotation, a 400g payload, and a reach longer than a 1983 Monty Python sketch.

Building instructions are available and there’s much more to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum and Blaz62’s ‘Volvo FH16’ Bricksafe album.

Tinder Lies

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This is a Dino 246, the late-’60s to mid-’70s Ferrari-that-wasn’t-a-Ferrari.

The Dino 206 and 246 compared favourably with the Porsche 911 and other sports cars of the time, but the 2.0 and 2.4 litre V6 Fiat engines fitted were considered too entry-level for the main Ferrari brand, despite Ferrari upping the horsepower figure by 20bhp.

By ‘upping the horsepower figure’ we do mean that literally; Ferrari’s number may have been 20bhp higher than Fiat’s, but the engine was identical. It’s the ’60s motoring equivalent of adding a few inches to your height on Tinder…

Despite the outright lies we do rather like the Dino, and time has been kind to it, with a quick search revealing the Dinos for sale today are all listed as ‘Ferraris’. And they probably have an extra 20bhp in the performance figures too.

This lovely Speed Champions recreation of the not-quite-a-Ferrari comes from Flickr’s Thomas Gion, who has captured the Dino 246 GT beautifully. There’s more to see at Thomas’ ‘1969 “Ferrari” Dino 246 GT’ album‘ on Flickr – take a look via the link above whilst this TLCB Writer makes a minor amendment his Tinder profile.

Rugby Injury

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This is a Jama SBU 8000 Mechanical Scaler, and it is so far outside of our vehicular knowledge it might as well be sci-fi. It’s also entitled ‘Skrotare’ by Swedish builders Sefan Johansson & Robert Lundmark which sounds like a horrific rugby injury, so we’ll leave the description there. It is an incredible creation though, with stunning detailing capturing the real mining machine in spectacularly life-like fashion. There’s more of the build to see at Stefan’s photostream and you can head into a Swedish tunnel via the link above.

Bricky E-ish

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The future of racing is electric. Because the future of everything is electric, unless we can sort hydrogen out.

Formula E is the FIA’s flagship electric racing series, in which unsuccessful Formula 1 departees drive, um… not particularly quickly around giant carparks. Oh. At least the cars look cool.

Cue R. Skittle‘s ‘Formula e Concept’ – suggested to us by a reader – which looks a lot more like a traditional racing car than the wild current Formula E car. However with twin BuWizz batteries and motors, it might also have performance more in line with a traditional racing car than a Formula E car too.

A Power Functions servo motor provides the steering, there’s clever independent pushrod suspension, and – apparently – torque vectoring for a drift mode! If this is the future of electric racing sign us up!

Join the electric revolution at R. Skittle’s Flickr album via the link above.

Scandi Grey

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Scandinavian design is very ‘in’ right now. Grey, white, with a dash of a calming colour like blue, it’s the default for every upper-middle class redecoration. Here at The Lego Car Blog we don’t follow such fads though, which is why TLCB Towers hasn’t been redecorated since the late ’80s. That, and our redecoration budget stretches to a roll of duct tape and some blu-tack.

Representing Scandinavian design minimalism beautifully however, is MCD‘s 2022 Volvo FH500 truck, which utilises the aforementioned nordic colour palette to great effect. MCD’s monochrome tractor unit successfully blends Technic and System bricks to capture the real truck, whilst a Maersk Sealand container sits atop an excellent three-axle trailer behind.

There’s more of the MCD’s build to see at the Eurobricks forum, and you can sit in a monochrome chair drinking a coffee from an exquisitely designed cup, enjoying 18 hours of daylight via the link in the text above.

The Big Purple One*

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The recently launched Speed Champions 76094 Dodge Charger R/T set continues LEGO’s welcome foray into real-world classic cars. Taking the purple Challenger from that set and upsizing it is Flickr’s Joey Klusnick, who has replicated the iconic 1970’s muscle car in ‘Miniland’ scale, making his model perfect for the streets of a Legoland theme park. It’d sure be a quality street** with Joey’s Challenger parked on it. Click the link above to rummage through the box for a taste.***

*Non UK readers; you’ll have no idea what we’re on about.

**As above.

***That’s enough now (Ed.)

Snakey B

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We love alternate builds here at The Lego Car Blog, as creating many things from one set is at the very heart of what LEGO is all about.

TLCB Master MOCer Firas Abu-Jaber demonstrates this perfectly today, having created this brilliant B-Model from the parts found within the excellent 10295 Porsche 911 Turbo set.

Following his incredible Ford GT40 10295 alternate comes another iconic American supercar, the Dodge Viper, complete with opening doors, a detailed engine under the raising hood, and working steering too.

All the parts to create it can be found within the 10295 set, the complete image gallery can be found here, and you can find building instructions to turn your own 10295 Porsche 911 Turbo set into a Dodge Viper at Firas’ website by clicking here.

Depositing a Floater

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Sorry, we mean ‘Depositing by Floater’. The first is something else. Anyway, this delightful scene depicting a De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver floatplane comes from Flickr’s Slick_Brick, and it looks beautiful! From the dog in the boat by the jetty to the forest and snow-capped mountains beyond to the wait… what’s that lurking in the water? Whatever it is the scene is still somewhere we’d love to be, and you can join us there at Slick’s photostream via the link in the text above.

Rocketman*

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The brave classic spacemen and spacewomen of, um… Classic Space, have been exploring the galaxy for four decades now. Forming the backbone of their exploratory equipment is the LL-928 Galaxy Explorer, recently updated some forty years after it first flew, and captured here in a maintenance hangar in a rarely-seen ‘off-duty’ image courtesy of Rob.

With the engines removed from the spacecraft for maintenance it would be rude not to climb aboard one for some static ‘testing’. Classic spaceman Shawn looks like he’s having a splendid time atop the disconnected propulsion system, but we suspect his colleagues are most unamused at the prospect of recalibrating the whole thing thanks to his bucking-bronco moment.

Rob’s wonderfully immersive images are a lovely homage to one of LEGO’s most fondly remembered themes, and you can join the mini-figures of Classic Space and the 10497 Galaxy Explorer set in the maintenance hangar at his photostream via the link above.

*Burning out his fuse up here alone...

Twin Turbos

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Suggested by a reader, these two Porsche 911 Turbos come from Petey Bird of Flickr, who has captured the 1990s incarnation of Porsche’s iconic sports car beautifully in Speed Champions form. Curve bricks are used in abundance to replicate the famous shape, with some rather clever side-windows too, and there’s more of Petey’s Porsches to see at his photostream via the link above.

Camp Jimny

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Speaking of ‘coolest vehicles on the planet‘ following today’s other post, here’s another. The Suzuki Jimny is one of the hottest vehicles to own right now, helped no doubt by the EU’s ‘CAFE’ CO2 regulations taking it off sale after just two years, during which time it had a sizeable waiting list. But buying a hateful G63 AMG is fine… go figure.

Anyway, these two polar bears have managed to get themselves a Suzuki Jimny (whose survival was surely the point of that non-sensical, counter-productive EU legislation), applying a few well-chosen mods to equip them with everything they need for a weekend camping.

There’s a folding table, cooler, camping stove, and much more besides to ensure a successful polar-bear-father-son camping trip.

Flickr’s LEGO 7 is the builder behind this wonderfully whimsical, delightfully detailed, and beautifully built creation, and there’s more to see of his superbly presented bear-based camping scene at his ‘Camping Time’ album. Click the link above to join the fun.

Tail-less Cat

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The Meyers Manx beach buggy, named after the tail-less breed of cat to match its truncated rear end, is surely one of the coolest vehicles on the planet. Being based on the Volkswagen Beetle made the Manx cheap, easy to work on, and surprisingly good off road. But it was also based on the Volkswagen Beetle.

Rejoice then, that the rebooted Meyers company has developed a new Manx beach buggy that does away with the noisy Beetle underpinnings, instead ushering in a new era of electric propulsion. And there is probably no vehicle better suited to being an EV than a beach buggy. Provided it can wet of course…

Anyway, this is the noisy, rattly, polluting, slow, and deeply cool Beetle-based original, as built by regular bloggee Jonathan Elliott. Head to the beach via the link above, whilst we dream of owning the electric version…

Racing Point(less)

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Racing trucks are a bit like starting a removal company with a Mazda Miata. There are vehicles considerably more suited to the task.

But, much like moving house in a Miata, a racing truck is a somewhat impressive sight. This one is a Scania R730, as constructed by previous bloggee Vladimir Drozd (aka LegoV94), and it comes complete with remote control drive and steering via an SBrick, a two-speed gearbox, a working piston engine, and sponsorship by every company ever.

There’s more of Vladimir’s remote control Scania R730 racing truck to see at both Flickr and Eurobricks, or alternatively you can move house in a Miata here.

I’m Blue*

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Is today’s post just so that we can link to that infernal Italian song so it gets stuck in your head too? Yes. Yes it is. But the model within it is also excellent. In fact, it’s five models, as not only has previous bloggee Arian Janssens constructed this ultra realistic DAF FAN CF 530 Space Cab truck, there’s a trailer, two swappable ‘canvas’ sided bodies with their own support legs, and a trailer-mounted forklift truck too

An extensive gallery of images is available via Flickr that shows all five components in more detail, and you can take a look at all the blue via the link above. Da-ba-dee da-ba-di. Dammit!

*Today’s title song. Of course.

Rim Job

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This is a Porsche 918 Spyder, a mid-2010s plug-in hybrid hypercar powered by the combination of a 4.6 litre V8 and two electric motors for a total output of 875bhp. And 12 miles of electric range. Which we suspect most 918 owners use about as much as the Brothers Brick do the gym.

Pointless green virtue signalling aside, the Porsche 918 is a seriously impressive car, as is this superb Model Team recreation by Flickr’s 3D supercarBricks, who has captured the 918 brilliantly in brick from.

3D’s 918 model includes an opening front trunk, removable engine cover, and some excellent 3D-printed rims, which accurately portray the items fitted to the real car and further enhance the model’s realism.

A wealth of imagery is available to view, and you can take a closer look at the both 918 and the 3D-printed rims upon which it rolls via the link in the text above.