Technic 42143 Ferrari Daytona SP3 | Set Preview

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This is the brand new flagship LEGO Technic Supercar, and it’s a rather special one…

Following the Technic 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, 42083 Bugatti Chiron, and the 42115 Lamborghini we’d never heard of, this is the brand new 42143 Ferrari Daytona SP3, the fourth 1:8 scale officially-licensed Technic Supercar to join LEGO’s already impressive back catalogue.

Constructed from 3,778 pieces (four of which are some beautiful new bespoke wheels), 42143 offers spectacular visual realism for a Technic set, with authentic badging, a highly detailed interior behind spring-loaded opening butterfly doors, and a host of working Technic features.

These include a V12 piston engine (with full-size 2×2 pistons), working suspension via some awesome-looking shocks, functional steering, an eight-speed paddle-shift operated sequential gearbox, and functional ‘air boxes’, although we don’t know what that last one means.

Measuring 59cm / 23in in length, the LEGO 42143 Ferrari Daytona SP3 is geared as much towards being a display piece as a functional model, as evidenced by the ’18+’ age (also known as the “It’s not just a toy, honest!” excuse), presentation display stand, ‘exclusive packaging’, and the rather wanky optional accompanying coffee table book, ‘The Sense of Perfection’, for an additional $80.

The rather splendid looking LEGO Technic 42143 Ferrari Daytona SP3 will be available from the LEGO online store from June, costing a hefty $400 / £350, with other retailers following in August, and you can see more of LEGO’s incredible new Supercar set (and the wanky $80 book) at the dedicated 42143 Ferrari Daytona SP3 page via LEGO.com here.

Bug Squash

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The last remotely controlled Lego creation found by our Elves produced no squashings of any kind. That can not be said today.

This is Horcik Designs’ ‘EXP. Buggy’, an all-wheel-drive Power Functions equipped off-roader, built for a Lego Trophy event, and used – by the Elf that found it – to squash a number of its colleagues.

Twin L Motors deliver the power and you can both watch the model in action and create it for yourself courtesy of the video and building instructions Horcik has produced along with it.

There’s more to see at both Eurobricks and Bricksafe, and you can take a look via the links above.

Black Russian

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Luxury cars behind the Iron Curtain were not a common sight, thanks to the automotive drudgery created by Communism. Which was probably a relief to most citizens, as the sight of one could mean things were about to get very unpleasant indeed. Fortunately there are no KGB agents (or bodies)* in Legostalgie‘s wonderful recently upgraded Volga GAZ-24, and there’s more to see of his splendid creation on Flickr.

*We can’t see in the trunk though…

Remotely Rolling

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Seemingly the perfect creation for the Elves to use to flatten one-another, this remote control road roller was gleefully found by one of their number. Unfortunately for the Elf in question, Vladimir Drozd‘s model turned out to be much too slow to squash anyone, and it simply trundled serenely around TLCB Towers before the Elf at the controls abandoned it in disgust.

We like it though, and not just because there’s no cleaning up to do. The model includes remote control drive and articulate steering, a wonderfully detailed exterior, and top notch presentation, and there’s more to see at Vladimir’s photostream. Click the the link above to go remotely rolling.

Build-a-Buggy

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The Volkswagen Beetle-based Meyers Manx beach buggy is one of this TLCB Writer’s very favourite vehicles. Designed by Californian boat-builder and surfer Bruce F. Meyers in 1964 for desert racing, around 6,000 Beetles were converted, with the design becoming a symbol of ’60s Cali Surf Culture. This lovely Model Team version of Meyers’ brilliant design comes from Flickr’s Johnni D, who has made instructions available so you can build one for yourself. Head to the California in the mid ’60s via the link above. Dude.

UniRover

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No, us neither. All we can say is that a brick-built dust-cloud behind a single Technic 42054 Claas Xerion tyre looks so cool we could’t not post this, even though we have absolutely no idea what’s going on. Ask Julius Kanand via Flickr.

’80s Joyride

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Volkswagen weren’t the only car manufacturer to attach the letters ‘G’, ‘T’ and ‘I’ to a family hatchback on the 1980s…

The Peugeot 205 GTI was an absolute sensation when it arrived in 1986. Powered by a 1.6 litre engine making 104bhp, and later a 1.9 litre making over 120bhp, the GTI was fast, fun, and wildly popular.

So much so that, like Volkswagen’s offering, quite a few people wanted to have a go even if they didn’t own one. Hot hatchback thefts rocketed, shortly followed by insurance premiums, and sales plummeted.

But Peugeot can’t really be blamed for joy-riding scumbags, and the 205 GTI is now a bona-fide classic, a high water mark for the brand that they are still to beat some four decades later.

This wonderful Technic recreation of Peugeot’s finest hour comes from TLCB Master MOCer Nico71, who has captured the 205 GTI magnificently.

Featuring working steering, functional suspension, a detailed engine under an opening hood, a life-like interior behind opening doors, and an opening tailgate too, Nico’s 205 GTI is about as visually realistic as it’s possible for a Technic model to be.

Plus best of all – like the aforementioned scumbags that nearly killed the hot hatchback genre altogether – you can have a go without having to do the work yourself!

Yup, Nico has made building instructions available too, with his design buildable in ’80s-appropriate red, black or white, and you can take a closer look – as well as a find a link to those instructions – at Nico’s Peugeot 205 GTI gallery on Brickshelf.

Click the link above to start our ’80s joyride!

In the End*

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There’s are many types of loader. The ‘backhoe loader‘, the ‘front loader‘, and what we have here; the ‘end loader’. They largely seem interchangeable to us, but the difference between them appears to be from where they do their, er… stuff; forking, shovelling, drilling and so forth. You don’t get that kind of technical analysis at The Brothers Brick…

This one, built by previous bloggee Wigboldy (aka Thirdwigg) is an ‘end loader’, as it does its stuff from the end of a front-mounted arm, which is mechanically raisable via linear actuators.

The implement mounted on the end is also tiltable via a linear actuator, and can be interchanged between the fork pictured here and a digging bucket, plus there’s articulated steering too.

There’s more of Wigboldy’s excellent creation to see at his ‘End Loader’ album on Flickr, where images of both implements in use can be found – click the link above to get to the end.

*Today’s title song.

Green Wart

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The Soviet Union united multiple nations, languages, cultures and peoples into one giant bloc of automotive misery.

The Union’s ‘planned economy’ meant that those that could get their hands on a private car, after waiting over a decade for the privilege, could choose between a polluting two-stroke econobox, or another polluting two-stroke econobox. This was the ‘other’ one for East Germans between ’66 and ’88, the Wartburg 353.

The Wartburg 353 wasn’t a bad car when it was launched in 1966, although the engine coming from a 1930s design wasn’t a high point, and was even exported to the West (TLCB’s home nation included).

It was a bad one by the 1980s though, as the Communistical restrictions on the populous meant it didn’t need to keep pace with the Western cars that were unavailable behind the Iron Curtain. If you needed a car in East Germany it was this or the Trabant…

Previous bloggee Legostalgie has recreated the Wartburg 353 sedan beautifully in green bricks, following his brown estate version that featured here last year. The doors, hood and trunk open, there’s a wonderfully life-like interior, and there’s more to see at Legostalgie’s ‘Wartburg 353’ album on Flickr, where a link to building instructions can also be found.

Jump back to Soviet East Germany via the link above, plus you can check out two of Legostalgie’s previous communist cars via the bonus links.

Blockin’ Baja

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It’s been a while since the last Elven hit-and-run. We’re under no illusions that the recent harmony was in any way due to a change in nature of TLCB Elves, they simply hadn’t found a creation quick enough to do any damage. That changed today.

This spectacularly-liveried creation is Lachlan Cameron (aka LoxLego)‘s replica of Ken Block’s Baja trophy truck, and not only is the outside quite wonderfully accurate, the mechanics are too, with remote control drive and steering courtesy of BuWizz bluetooth power, a working V8 engine, and huge-travel suspension.

This of course meant the Elf that found it immediately set about squashing as many of its colleagues as it could before the controls could be taken away, and a decent job it did too.

In fact there are several smushed Elves still to peel out of the office carpet, so whilst we get on with that you can check out more of Lachlan’s incredible creation at his ‘Baja Truck’ album on Flickr, plus you can read his interview in TLCB’s Master MOCers series via the link in the text above, and you can watch the Baja truck in action in the video below.

YouTube Video

Creator 10302 Transformers Optimus Prime | Set Preview

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This is the brand new LEGO Creator 10302 Transformers Optimus Prime set, and The Lego Car Blog Elves are wildly excited.

Constructed from just over 1,500 pieces and measuring 35cm tall in robot mode, 10302 will arrive in stores in June of this year aimed at ages 18+ (which is just a LEGO marketing ploy to make it more acceptable for adults (or rather, more acceptable to their partners) to spend £150 on a toy…)

And yes, we did say ‘robot mode’, because as with every good Transformers toy, 10302 can transform between a vehicle and a robot, in which guise it has nineteen points of articulation.

10302 also features a few of Optimus Prime’s accessories, including his Ion Blaster, Autobot Matrix of Leadership, Energon axe, and Energon cube. Although we have absolutely no idea what any of those things are or do.

The Creator 10302 Transformers Optimus Prime set becomes the latest product within LEGO’s expanding licensed movie vehicle line-up, following the Aston Martin DB5 ‘007 Goldfinger‘, 42111 Fast & Furious Dom’s Dodge Charger, 21108 Ghostbusters Ecto-1, and the fantastic 10300 Back to the Future Time Machine amongst others.

It also probably fights it out with the aforementioned Dodge Charger for being the coolest vehicle from the worst movie, but we won’t hold that against it.

The new LEGO Creator 10302 Transformers Optimus Prime set is expected to cost around $170/£150, and if you’re as big a fan of explosions, giant space robots, explosions, Megan Fox, and explosions as TLCB Elves are, you can get your hands on it from June this year.

Just a nineT

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A few pieces an interesting creation can make, as proven here today by previous bloggee dicken liu and his lovely BMW R nineT motorbike. A clever blend of parts capture the real motorcycle’s aesthetic in miniature, and there’s more to see on Flickr via the link.

Pagani Huayra | Picture Special

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This is the Pagani Huayra, an AMG V12-engined, limited production hypercar built by Pagani between 2011 and 2021, and reserved only for the quite fantastically wealthy.

Despite the sizeable riches that accumulate from blogging about Lego, even we can’t afford a real Huayra, thus the version we have here today is more suitable for our budget.

Built by langko, this incredible Technic recreation of the iconic Italian hypercar captures the real deal as perfectly as is possible from plastic bricks, with the astounding looks matched by an astonishing breadth of working features.

There are no motors, with langko instead deploying their considerable talents to create a benchmark Technic ‘Supercar’, complete with a working V12 engine, all-wheel cantilever suspension, a 7-speed sequential gearbox, functioning steering with connected aero flaps, an adjustable nose-lift, opening gull-wing doors, front and rear clamshells, and luggage compartments, plus adjustable seats inside a spectacularly detailed interior.

It’s one of the finest Technic Supercars we’ve seen yet, and doubtless one of the most impressive creations of 2022 so far, with much more to see at the Eurobricks forum and the full gallery of stunning images available to view on Bricksafe. Join us in taking a closer look via the links.

Soviet Six

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This glorious Kamaz 4310 6×6 truck was discovered by one of our Elves today, and a number of them are now merrily riding around in the load bed, following the removal of the tractor pictured within it here.

The Elf at the controls had other plans of course, but previous bloggee Vladimir Drozd’s creation is a bit too slow to mete out any smushings.

It is nevertheless still excellent, with remote control steering and drive via LEGO’s Control+ app, all six wheels suspended and driven, dropping flatbed sides, and an impressively detailed cab.

High quality decals add to the authenticity, and although one is full width Russian flag, which might a little contentious currently, we’ll use this Russian-transporting-a-tractor to link to today’s other build, which happily depicts the very opposite.

Back to the Kamaz, and there’s lots more of Vladimir’s fantastic fully RC 6×6 truck to see at both his Flickr album and the Eurobricks discussion forum – click the links in the text above to take a closer look!

Ukrainian Harvest

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There has been no finer sight in 2022 than that of Ukrainian farmers pulling abandoned Russian tanks out of the mud during the Russian invasion and claiming them for the Ukrainian Army, having been deserted by their crews due to poor logistics, low moral, incompetent navigation, or all of the above.

Unless you’re a viewer of Russia-1 television of course, in which case the story is one of grateful Ukrainians helping the brave Russian tank crews in their noble quest to rid Ukraine of ultra-nationalist Nazis. Or some other bullshit.

Stefan Johansson is the builder behind this wonderful depiction of Russian military ineptitude / Ukrainian ingenuity, and there’s more to see of his creation ‘Spring Harvest in Ukraine’ on Flickr via the link.

You can also help the relief efforts in Ukraine required due to Putin’s war via the Disasters Emergency Committee and many others. Whilst wonderfully brave Ukrainians have indeed pulled abandoned Russian tanks from the mud for repurposing, an estimated twelve million Ukrainians have now fled their homes, or what’s left of them. If you can, help.