Sundance

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TLCB’s luxury yacht, paid for by the riches that blogging Lego brings, doesn’t get mentioned much here. We like our privacy, and it’s hard enough keeping the multitude of attractive girls away as it is, without them knowing about the boat.

Ted Andes has no such qualms however, uploading this rather wonderful Technic yacht ‘Sundancer’ to Flickr.

A mini-figure cabin, keel, rudder, plus marvellous fabric sails fashioned from the LEGO Carousel set’s canopy create a boat very nearly as beautiful as TLCB’s, and you’re welcome on board via the link above. Ted’s of course, not ours.

*Today’s excellent title song.

The Clamps!

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Today’s second two-wheeled creation (we’re supposed to be a car blog…) proves you don’t need a billion pieces and to know the secret Brothers Brick handshake to see your brickwork blogged.

RGB900‘s chopper uses only a few dozen parts, about a third of which seem to be of the grippy clamp type (the Brothers Brick would probably know what they’re called though…), deployed in numerous clampy ways.

There’s more of RGB’s clamping to see on Flickr – click the link above clamp your eyes on his creation (or the other link for more bonus clamping!).

Mangacycle

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Confession time; this TLCB Writer has never seen, read, nor understood ‘Manga’. However TLCB has featured this apparently iconic Manga motorcycle several times over the years, and today ‘Kaneda’s bike’ from the Manga series ‘Akira’ arrives on these pages in mini-figure form courtesy of Dan Ko of Flickr. Dan’s bike complete with cleverly photoshopped decals and cunning techniques can be seen at his photostream – click the link above for more Manga motorcycle.

Proper Off-Roader

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We love a proper off-roader here at TLCB, and they don’t come much properer than this; the Jeep Cherokee XJ. Particularly when they’ve been outfitted for proper off-roading like this one has.

Builder filsawgood has equipped his fully remote controlled Technic ’90s Jeep Cherokee with a snorkel, lifted suspension, wide arches and oversize tyres, a winch, roof cage, and a differential locker, and there’s lots more to see of his off-road modded Jeep (including a video) at the Eurobricks forum.

Click the link above for some proper off-roading.

Super Duty

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In the ludicrous arms-race that is the American pick-up truck market, there’s a sure-fire way to one-up the Raptors and Ram TRXs; the Ford F-650. Because it’s a truck.

Yup, of course there’s a ridiculous civilian version of the F-650 to cater to a certain flag-waving, firearms enthusing, election-denying section of America’s population, but thankfully we don’t have to feature that abomination here because regular bloggee Damian Z. (aka Thietmaier) has built the proper white trucky truck version, which is used across America to, you know, actually do stuff.

Damian’s is the flatbed configuration; no bling, all work, and it’s all the better for that. Clever building techniques capture the real F-650’s details perfectly and there’s more to see of Damian’s excellent Ford F-650 flatbed on Flickr. Click the link to do your duty.

BuWizz 3.0 Pro & BuWizz Motor | Review

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Regular visitors to this smoking hole in the ground will have seen countless creations featured with the word ‘BuWizz’ included in the description. Over the last half decade the third-party bluetooth battery has brought remote control to thousands of Lego models, delivering levels of power previously impossible.

Our four star review of the BuWizz 2.0 back in 2018 highly commended the product for ease of use and – as we’re children – the enormous power it could deliver, whilst recognising a few areas for development.

Now, four years on, we have the BuWizz 3.0 Pro (and a pair of BuWizz Motors) to see how the BuWizz team have spent their last couple of years…

BuWizz 3.0 Pro

Our BuWizz 3.0 Pro arrived in a professional looking box, inside which was the bluetooth battery brick itself, a slim instruction booklet, and a USB-C charge cable. Points already awarded for progress, as the BuWizz 2.0 included no such cable to enable charging.

The booklet amounts to only two pieces of information; charging, and the app. Charging is simple, just plug in the cable, watch the lights blink, and come back later. The app too, is an ease. Replacing the original BuWizz app (which now becomes a ‘legacy’ one), we quickly found our device, completed a required firmware update (super easy, barely an inconvenience) and began building a controller.

There are plenty of pre-loaded controllers, but BuWizz now allows you to create your own customised controller – something that was lacking from the software when we reviewed the 2.0 several years ago – bringing it bang in line with its chief rival SBrick.

The new BuWizz 3.0 allows control of up to four Powered Up motors (or sensors) and two Power Functions (or old 9V) motors, all of which are powered by the in-built high-performance Li-Po battery, and each of which can be measured via the on-board current sensors and identified by individual port RGB LEDs – clever stuff.

Quality is excellent, with the plastic feeling perhaps slightly shinier than an official LEGO item, but otherwise its equal, and a good step up over the 2.0. Where the 3.0 Pro really scores though, is in its programmability.

A giant leap forward compared to the 2.0, the 3.0 now offers not just immense power, but programable power, and – as per the famous tyre slogan – ‘Power is Nothing Without Control’.

A range of sliders, buttons, joysticks, and even a tilt function (so you can use your phone’s own accelerometer) can be created, assigned to ports, and labelled, plus there are now a suite of gauges available too, including g-meters and voltage. This makes the BuWizz 3.0 and ideal tool not just for creating custom motorised Lego creations, but to learn (or teach) robotics and programming too.

BuWizz Motor

We attached two BuWizz Motors to the Power Functions ports of our BuWizz 3.0 Pro for our test, and they are mega.

Comparable with LEGO’s own discontinued Buggy Motor, the BuWizz Motor matches the dimensions, weight, and connections of LEGO’s most powerful ever motor, but brings 20% more power (and at a higher RPM), with nominal gains in torque and efficiency too.

Like the 3.0 Pro, quality is excellent. Soldering is visible through the motor cooling vents (which – although these are larger than the official LEGO item – we suspect LEGO wouldn’t countenance), but nevertheless this is a top quality item, well moulded, and robustly assembled. BuWizz back this up with a 2 Year guarantee, which is double LEGO’s standard warranty for electrics.

Our motors delivered prodigious power, now easily controlled via the BuWizz app, which meant only a few TLCB Elves were run over during testing (and – if we’re honest – some of them may have been on purpose). With the old BuWizz system all the power but none of the finesse meant almost anything within sight was a potential accident.

A PF-compatible cable is integrated into the BuWizz Motor too, so it can be powered and controlled by an official LEGO system (likewise the BuWizz 3.0 Pro can power and control an official LEGO motor also), but to really take advantage of the most powerful LEGO-compatible motor on the market, you can’t beat BuWizz’s programmable control with ‘Ludicrous Mode’…

Verdict

And that’s where the BuWizz ecosystem really excels. Always the place to go for the most power, BuWizz have not only improved their core bluetooth battery with even more power, up to 100m range, and increased ports – in doing so producing the only product on the market able to control Powered Up and Power Functions simultaneously – the BuWizz app now enables all of that to be programmed and customised without a computer and without programming skills.

Whether creating a simple skid-steer rig as we did, or a complex multi-motor, multi-sensor creation, the BuWizz 3.0 Pro (and the accompanying motors if you so choose) are the best thing to happen LEGO since the invention the brick. Maximum score.

★★★★★

Take a look at the BuWizz 3.0 Pro & BuWizz Motor here

Twin Tatras

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You wait ages for a Czech off-road truck, and then two come along at once. Or something like that.

Anyway, we do have two awesome brick-built Tatras today, each representing a real world counterpart and chosen LEGO building style beautifully.

First up (above) is Horcik Designs’ T813 8×8 Technic trial truck, complete with remote controlled eight-wheel-drive and four-wheel steering, functioning suspension, and much more besides.

Building instructions are available and you can find a link to them and a video of the model in action at the Eurobricks forum, plus you can check out all the images via Bricksafe by clicking here.

Today’s second Tatra switches from Technic to Model Team, but is just as feature packed. Arian Janssens‘ T815 6×6 also includes a working drivetrain and steering, plus a neat tipping container that can stand on its own legs to allow the truck to back up underneath it.

A variety of other trailer options fit Arian’s T815 and there’s more to see of the them and the iteration pictured here on Flickr – click the link above to take a look.

Ferg on the Farm

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Everyone’s favourite vehicle as a toddler was a red tractor, and as we’re basically toddlers here at TLCB, that’s what we have here today. Proving you don’t need a million bricks to build something blogworthy, Stefan Johansson‘s Massey Ferguson tractor recreates the toddler favourite beautifully, and there’s more to see at the link.

Sanctioning Bricks

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought a surprisingly unified response for the world. Freezing of assets, exclusion from banking systems, and sanctions on everything from luxury cars to hamburgers (and, we assume, LEGO products), there’s not much unaffected by Putin’s aggression.

Of course Russia is a large country that produces much itself, but in a time where everything is globalised, it’s difficult to see how even domestic Russian manufacturers can continue production indefinitely.

One such domestic manufacturer is Kamaz, today a world-leading maker of off-road trucks, with the 5410 pictured here produced by the company from the mid-’70s until 2006.

This wonderful recreation of the Kamaz-5410 comes from previous bloggee Vladimir Drozd, and features Power Functions remote control drive and steering, a functioning fifth wheel hitch, working suspension, and some simply lovely detailing.

An excellent container trailer is pictured in tow, complete with a Maersk shipping container (one of the many businesses no longer operating in Russia), and there are more superb images of all three components to see at Vladimir’s ‘KamAZ-5410’ album on Flickr or at the Eurobricks forum here.

Click the link above to take a closer look at Vladimir’s brilliant Russian a truck, back when there would actually be produce in a container for it to haul.

A Super Car

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Technic Supercars are one of our very favourite things in the Lego Community, and despite LEGO’s foray into officially-licensed replicas of real-world vehicles, we do still like seeing interpretations of the fictional Technic Supercars that used to be LEGO’s flagships.

Cue this rather lovely example by IA Creations, whose fictional supercar nods to several real-world counterparts as well as LEGO’s own past flagship sets, and includes a wealth of Technic functionality.

Working suspension, opening doors, front trunk and engine cover, LED lights, and a V8 engine all feature, with IA going a step further by including full remote control drive and steering, plus an electronically deployed rear spoiler, courtesy of four Power Functions motors and a BuWizz 2.0 bluetooth battery brick.

It’s a fantastic build and one of which you can see more at both Eurobricks, where a link to building instructions can be found, and Bricksafe, where over forty high quality images are available.

Click the links above to see more of IA Creations’ super car.

Bukhanka

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Grey, ugly, and slightly depressing. Most Soviet items, whether architecture or vehicular, seemed to follow these designs rules, but at least the UAZ-452 got a good nickname.

‘Bukhanka’ means ‘bread loaf’*, and became attached to the UAZ-452 thanks to its slightly loaf-like aesthetic.

The 452 has maintained said shape since its launch in 1965, and it’s still being sold virtually unchanged today, even taking until 2011 to gain seatbelts and anti-lock brakes.

Used as a van, ambulance, pick-up truck, military vehicle, minibus, and countless other applications, the ‘Bukhanka’ is common sight across Eastern Europe, and has been recreated brilliantly in brick-form by previous bloggee PalBenglat.

Pal’s 6-wide ‘Bukhanka’ captures the design of the original wonderfully and there’s more to see at his ‘UAZ-452 Bukhanka’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to loaf on over.

*And not, as it turns out, when several gu… nevermind. Google carefully kids…

Insert Terrifying Child

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Why is it that kid’s toys are used as horror movie staples (LEGO thankfully excepted)? Sentient dolls, those horrific clapping monkeys, and tricycles pedalled around a creepy old hotels.

Perhaps our subconscious is dialled into imagined horrors thanks to said genre of film, but we’re wary of this seemingly unridden tricycle by Flickr’s dicken lui.

We won’t be taking a closer look for fear of blood-filled elevators and terrifying twins, but you can make the jump to the probably-innocent brick-built toddler transport via the link above.

The Graduate

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The second most visually arresting thing in 1967’s ‘The Graduate’, the Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider is surely one of the most beautiful cars ever made.

Costing the same as a Jaguar E-Type, early Spiders were fantastically expensive for a 1.6 litre 108 bhp 4-cylinder, but none of that mattered when they looked this good.

Marco Q thinks so too, having constructed this glorious early Duetto Spider, with opening doors, hood and trunk, working steering, and a brick-built recreation of the stunning mid-’60s Pininfarina styling.

There’s much more of Marco’s beautifully presented Alfa Romeo Duetto to see at his photostream, where further top quality images are available, and you can click the link above to graduate.

Vintage Haulin’

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There’s little cooler than a hot rod, but a modified classic car hauler will do it. Flickr’s  Johnni D is the builder behind this one, and he’s thrown a hot rod in too for good measure. See more at his photostream via the link.

Jurassic Re-Boot

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Hollywood loves a reboot. Cue ‘Top Gun, Maverick’, ‘Fast and Furious 10’, anything with ‘Star Wars’ in the title, and ‘Jurassic World’. That said, a genetically-modified dino-weapon running amok in a theme park is a winner in TLCB Office. Because we’re 6.

Also rebooting a dinosaur-based classic is chriselliott.art, whose marvellous vintage half-ton ute inspired by the 5975 ‘T-Rex Transport’ Adventurers set was suggested to us by a reader.

Clever techniques, gorgeous presentation, and a conspicuously absent T-Rex can all be seen at Chris’ photostream. Click the link above to reboot.