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.

Pre-SUV

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Mazda have just launched their most powerful production car ever. And it’s a crossover SUV. Because of course it is. Is anything not a going to be a crossover SUV these days?

Back in the ’90s things were far more varied, with a whole array of sports and GT cars available from mainstream brands. This was one of the most interesting; the rotary-engined Mazda RX-7.

Powered by a 1.3 litre twin-turbo twin-rotor wankel engine, the third generation RX-7 was produced from 1992 to 2002 during which, in TLCB’s home market at least, only a few hundred were sold. Sigh, perhaps we only deserve crossover SUVs…

Of course subsequent popularity meant thousands more RX-7s were ‘grey imported’ from Japan, and the car now enjoys a cult following with prices that go along with it, so the closest most of us will get to one now is in brick form.

Fortunately Flickr’s Fuku Saku has got us covered, with this glorious Speed Champions style third-gen. Mazda RX-7 for which building instructions are available so you can create it too. There’s more to see at Fuku’s photostream and you can take a look via the link above.

Future Fuelling

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Uh oh – cyberpunk! A genre about which we know less than your Mom does about portion control.

Still, despite this incompetence, we absolutely love this scene by Flickr’s Slick_Brick, which is packed with so much brilliant detail even TLCB Staff have stopped to take a look. And usually that only happens for some obscure car from 1976.

See if you can spot; the jet bike, the tracked robot helper, the pot plant, and the ingenious dog water bowl with the rest of TLCB Team at Slick’s photostream.

Festival of Mundanity | The Winners!

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It’s Winners time in BrickNerd and TLCB’s Festival of Mundanity!

Over the past two months we’ve been looking for the delightfully dull, brilliantly bland and monumentally mundane; no supercars, monster trucks or powerboats this time!

Across both the Object and Vehicle categories almost one hundred entries were submitted, with BrickNerd looking after your boring Objects and The Lego Car Blog your soporific vehicles.

You can check out the fantastic winning entries within the Object category via BrickNerd’s Winners Announcement, whilst here at TLCB we’re delighted to announce the Vehicle category winners!

Four key criteria were considered by the judges:

  1. Mundanity – Does the MOC represent something you wouldn’t really think about in real life?

  2. Concept – Does the topic matter show creativity in its idea and overall execution?

  3. Quality – Is the MOC built well, feature any NPU (nice parts usage), and make you look twice?

  4. Presentation – Is the MOC photographed/presented and composed in a way that compliments the subject matter?

Honourable Mentions

It was really close, with vehicles or all types, sizes and functionality entered. Three entries scoop the prizes, but lots caught our eye, so before we move on to the winners here are few honourable mentions!

Caleb Flutur‘s ‘3x Upscale 6654’ recreated both a mundane vehicle and object in one go, whilst iBrickedItUp spanned both categories too with his Cozy Coupe parked by the bins on a grey Tuesday, which came seriously close to a prize spot! IBrickedItUp also entered a slew of boring vehicles, with the ‘Hurtz’ Rental car lot making us chuckle the most. Thomas Gion captured the height of dreary ’90s econo-SUVs, whilst Zsolt Nagy and Saberwing007 impressed with excellent technical functionality packaged with vehicles of utmost tedium.

There are plenty of other entries that scored highly too; from lawn-mowers to removal vans we can’t mention them all, but a big boring thank you to everyone who entered!

Winners!

1st Place | Toyota Corolla Sedan (1saac W.)

Scoring highly in every category, it’s the most default, boring, and unimaginative vehicle in existence, looking for a parking spot and finding only a loading zone. 1saac W. is the, um… lucky owner of a mid-’00s Toyota Corolla Sedan in real life, and has captured one of life’s most mundane tasks in brick-form. Keep looking 1ssac, there’ll be a space around the corner. Probably.

1saac W. wins a Golden Nerdly Trophy & BrickNerd Swag Box, a $50 LEGO Gift Card (or local equivalent) from BrickNerd, an awesome BuWizz 3.0 or 2.0 Bluetooth Brick, an iDisplayIt case/stand bundle for LEGO models, and a Game of Bricks lighting kit of their choice!

2nd Place | Hyundai Venue (Tim Inman)

In second place is what will undoubtedly overtake the Corolla Sedan as the most dreary vehicle on the roads; the Korean crossover. Bought to give an impression of adventure and dynamism, crossover SUVs instead portray nothing more than an imagination deficit created by the force-feeding of endless marketing drivel. Tim Inman‘s Model Team Hyundai Venue captures the segment brilliantly, being about as interesting as your Aunt’s Facebook feed. We’re bored just thinking about it.

Tim Inman wins a $25 LEGO Gift Card (or local equivalent) from BrickNerd, and a Game of Bricks lighting kit of their choice!

3rd Place | Er… Shopping Cart (Nikolaus Lowe)

Yes it is a vehicle. We’ve all driven one, they’re all crap, and if you do try to extract fun from one it immediately veers towards the watermelons and your parents / security / other shoppers shout at you. There is nothing more disappointing than a shopping trolley. They even make you put a coin in to gain access to the trundling misery. Nikolaus Lowe takes third spot (and very nearly earned a podium over at BrickNerd too) with his inspired homage to modern-day mundanity.

Nikolaus Lowe wins a Game of Bricks lighting kit of their choice!

And so concludes The Festival of Mundanity. Thank you to our amazing prize sponsors, BrickNerd for choosing to partner with us idiots here at TLCB, and to all of you who participated! Winners; we’ll be in touch via your online channels to discuss your prizes!

A Real American Hero

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Hasbro’s ‘Moveable fighting man’ G.I. Joe wasn’t called that in TLCB’s home nation. He was known as ‘Action Man’, and this Writer’s parents still didn’t let him have one, what with him being ‘too violent’. In hindsight, they may have had a point.

But no matter, because here at TLCB we’re fantastically violent. Probably something to do with not being allowed Action Man toys as children…

Thus today’s creation, in the original American ‘G.I. Joe’ Action Man form, is a giant tracked ‘Wolverine armoured missile vehicle’ that was somehow deemed to be an acceptable toy. Not by this Writer’s parents of course.

Recreated in brick-form by Big Easy Bricks, there’s a rotating rocket launcher, opening ammo store and cockpit, plus authentic-looking G.I. Joe decals, and there’s more to see at Big Easy’s ‘G.I. Joe Wolverine’ album on Flickr.

Click the link above to take a look, whilst this TLCB Writer investigates counselling…