Military Monday

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War is once again raging in Europe. However despite the shock of one country invading another in 2022, Europe has been involved in conflict almost constantly. From fear of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War (which this TLCB Writer fears may be about to return) to involvement in far-away combat, war is sadly never distant.

Today’s models remind us of this past, with the first (above) the undoubtedly beautiful but rather sinister Handley-Page Victor nuclear bomber.

Built as part of the UK’s nuclear defence in the late 1950s, the Victor was part of a long line of V-Bombers (that also included the incredible Avro Vulcan), before it was repurposed for high altitude reconnaissance and later air-to-air refuelling.

This wonderful recreation of the Victor comes from previous bloggee Henrik Jensen, who has recreated its amazing shape beautifully in brick form. A full description of the build and further imagery can be found at Henrik’s photostream, and you can bomb on over via the link above.

Today’s second military creation (below) recreates a scene from countless Vietnam War movies, with a Bell ‘Huey’ helicopter in front of a (superbly built) shell-damaged building. The Bell and background come from Nicholas Goodman, who – like Henrik above – has deployed a few custom pieces to enhance authenticity.

There’s more to see of Nicholas’ ‘Battle of Hue, February 1968’ on Flickr. Click the link above to fight a pointless war that ends in failure and retreat. In that respect we hope that history is about to repeat itself.

Oh My Gosh, It’s Oshkonoggin!

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We’re not sure if ‘Oshkonoggin’ cheese from the 1987 movie ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ is real, but gosh we hope it is.

SPOOKY MONKEY‘s ace Model Team trailer truck from the aforementioned comedy would be full the delicious hardened cow juice if it were (well, in brick form, which is probably less delicious), and there’s more to see of his homage to Steve Martin and the late John Candy’s chaotic road trip on Flickr.

Cut yourself a slice of classic movie cheese via the link above, whilst we raid TLCB fridge.

The Festival of Mundanity is Closed!

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Like all the best mundane things, like heading to the shop for milk and finding it shut, BrickNerd and TLCB’s Festival of Mundanity is now closed!

Around one hundred creations have been entered across the two categories (Objects and Vehicles, with a few cunningly spanning both!), many of which can be viewed at the Flickr Group of Mundanity here.

We’ll be rounding up some of the recent vehicular entries shortly, before judging begins (and some really rather excellent prizes are handed out).

Until then, thank you to each and every brilliantly boring, delightfully dull, and magnificently mundane entry, and best of luck!

Asshattery

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Wealthy criminals, Dubai-based influencers, rappers, and oil sheiks – this is your car.

The Mercedes-Benz AMG G63 6×6 is probably the most pointless vehicle produced today. OK, apart from this one, but the brief is pretty much the same; be an Ostentatious Asshat.

Still, if you’re reading this and you’re seven, a TLCB Elf, or one of the aforementioned Ostentatious Asshats, here at TLCB we cater to all tastes.

Cue w35wvi’s rather excellent recreation of Mercedes-Benz’s most improbable vehicle, which captures the absurdity wonderfully, and – rather appropriately – it’s presented in some kind of over-the-top underground garage too.

Instructions are available and there’s more to see at w35wvi’s ‘Mercedes-Benz AMG G63 6×6’ album on Flickr. Join us and other Ostentatious Asshats via the link!

906

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Porsche have made dozens of sports cars beginning with a ‘9’, although most are forgotten due to the dominance if the one that ends in an ’11’. Including this one, which we’d forgotten about too, and we’re a car blog.

The 906 (or ‘Carrera 6’) was a mid-’60s homologation racing car, with 50 examples built for road use to allow the design to compete in Group 4 Sports Cars.

Powered by a 2.0 litre flat-6, the 906 certainly wasn’t powerful, but weighing just half-a-ton meant it outperformed even the V12-engined Ferraris of the day.

This neat 8-wide Speed Champions version comes from Laszlo Torma utilising LEGO’s brilliantly versatile cockpit piece, and he’s made building instructions available too. Check it (and them) out via the link!

MAZter Builder

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Russia, and its puppet regime next door in Belarus, really know how to make a heavy duty off-road truck. It’s just a shame they’re currently using them for such evil.

Nevertheless, the Belarusian-made MAZ-537 8×8 military truck is a seriously impressive piece of equipment, and so too is gkurkowski‘s spectacular recently updated remote controlled Model Team version, which captures the real thing brilliantly.

A suite of Powered-Up components equip the model with an accurate 8×8 fully suspended drivetrain, along with a powered V12 piston engine underneath the detailed cab too.

An extensive gallery of images display the MAZ-537 on-location and in render, and you can take a closer look at this amazing machine on Brickshelf via the link above.

And finally, if you’d like to help the Ukrainians affected by the Russian MAZs like this one that have brought war to their home, please do take a look at the Disasters Emergency Committee, the Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal and the UN Refugee Agency Appeal, where donations are desperately needed.

Anglo-French Relations

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The British and French don’t often collaborate. In fact over much of their history it’s been quite the opposite, with the two countries regularly trying to blow one another up.

These days (and post-Brexit) there’s just a simmering dislike that only manifests itself in sport and stealing one another’s scallops, but despite this there have been some notable (and remarkable) collaborations between the two nations.

The longest under-sea tunnel in the world, the world’s first supersonic airliner, and Kristin Scott-Thomas are all worthy partnerships, and back in the 1930s Britain and France worked together on cars too.

This is the Bugatti Type 41 Park Ward, a luxurious grand limousine from the golden era of coach-building.

Park Ward, better known for re-bodying Rolls Royces, created this beautifully opulent vehicle upon Bugatti’s fourth Type 41 (Royale) chassis for Captain Cuthbert W. Foster, a department store heir, in 1933.

Still to this day one of the largest cars ever built, the car now resides in a museum in France, where it’s worth more than all the scallops in the English channel.

Fortunately Flickr’s 1corn has created one that – at 1:25 scale – is rather more attainable, and there’s more to see of his wonderful brick-built Bugatti Type 41 at his photostream; Click the link above to take the Channel Tunnel and fight over some marine molluscs.

Daily Delivery

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We’re into the last week of BrickNerd and TLCB’s Festival of Mundanity competition. There have been over fifty entries so far, with two today bringing the hum-drum world of daily deliveries to the brick.

First up (above) is ABrickDreamer‘s Piaggio Ape, which might seem interesting to our American readers, but in rural Italy (or India) these scooter-based pick-up trucks are everywhere, hauling improbable loads with as little as 50cc.

In production since 1948, the latest Apes can be fitted with 200cc petrol or 400cc diesel engines (although 50cc versions are still on sale!), and continue to be a common sight performing the most mundane of tasks, usually with a wearing-looking moustachioed driver on board perpetually wishing he had an extra 200cc.

A common sight in much of the world too is today’s second contest entry, the Volkswagen Transporter. An no, it’s not a camper.

Still in use by the thousand in South America, most Volkswagen T2s are not cool campers, surf buses or hippy time machines, they’re just… vans. And outdated noisy ones at that.

This splendid brick-built Transporter is transporting eggs, and comes from PalBenglat, who has captured its unpretentious simplicity beautifully.

There’s more to see of Pal’s Volkswagen Transporter van and BrickDreamer’s Piaggio Ape at their respective photostreams via the links, and there’s still time to get your Festival of Mundanity entry in, and be in with a chance of winning an awesome BuWizz Pro bluetooth battery (which we’ll be reviewing here very soon) along with some other fantastic prizes!

SWAT

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It’s the action movie favourite! Escalating explosions, an elaborate Michael Bay camera pan, and the hero shouting an expletive can only mean one thing, the SWAT team are here!

This TLCB Writer doesn’t live in America, so he doesn’t actually know what SWAT are or what they do, besides arriving late and looking cool in action movies, but he’d happily use de-marco‘s ace SWAT van to recreate said scenes in miniature in TLCB office.

Instructions are available so you can be Michael Bay at home too (click here for a ‘how to’ inspiration guide), and you can find out more at de-marco’s photostream via the link above.

Nothing Happens at This Venue

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Aaand here it is. The blandest, most uninspiring, default vehicular category of the 2020s; the crossover SUV.

This is the Hyundai Venue, part of the Hyundai/Kia group SUV line-up that includes the Bayon, Kona, Tuscon, Sante Fe, Palisade, Niro, Sportage, Xceed, Soul, Stonic, Seltos, Sorento, Carnival, Telluride… and that’s before we even get to the electric ones.

Forget counting sheep, Korean crossovers work twice as well.

Here in TLCB’s home market small SUVs often include the jazziest of styling cues. Big wheels, contrast roofs, absurd LED lighting signatures – all in the hope of elevating a particular nameplate above the infinite sea of rival crossovers that are all also deploying big wheels, contrast roofs and absurd lighting signatures…

There is nothing more automotively bland, which makes the modern small crossover SUV the perfect choice for the current Festival of Mundanity competition.

Tim Inman is the creator of soporific Hyundai Venue pictured here, and a marvellous job he’s done too! A superbly detailed exterior, life-like interior, realistic engine, and four opening doors create an excellent brick-built version of one of the most insipid vehicles in existence, and we love it!

There’s more of the Venue to see at Tim’s photostream here, just don’t start counting the images whilst operating heavy machinery.

One Week of Mundanity!

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There’s just one week to go in BrickNerd and TLCB’s Festival of Mundanity!

We’re looking for your builds of boring vehicles. No Lamborghinis, Ferraris or Porsches here! There have been over forty competition entries so far, including a white Toyota Corolla, a Geo Tracker, a Hertz rental car lot, and a (rather inspired) shopping trolley.

There are some awesome prizes on offer for the winners including Game of Bricks lighting kits, iDisplayIt display stands, and a BuWizz Pro programmable bluetooth control!

To be in with a chance of scooping the swag get your mundane entry uploaded before the end of March 2022!

Tomcat

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Not a car, but rather brilliant nonetheless, this glorious Grumman F-14A Tomcat was found by one of our Elves on Flickr. It comes from previous bloggee [Maks], and – unusually for a brick-built fighter jet – it’s mini-figure scale. Tremendous detail abounds though, which [Maks] has enhanced via some excellent custom decals, and there’s much more of the build to see at his ‘F14A Tomcat’ album via the link.

Poop-Poop!

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Is there any car more worthy of a Toad-of-Toad-Hall-style ‘Poop-Poop!’ exclamation than this one?

The 1928-’32 Mercedes-Benz SSK is the very definition of Gatsby-esque opulence, with this Speed Champions scale recreation by Flickr’s Pixeljunkie capturing its excess brilliantly.

Yellow bodywork, shiny bits, bonnet straps, and an over-sized Mercedes-Benz badge ensure the peasants can’t miss you, and there’s more to see at Pixel’s photostream via the link.

Click the link above for even more Poop-Poopery.

Boring. Except When it’s Not.

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Boring. Dull. White Goods. All things levelled at the Toyota Corolla (including by us), and all true. Except when they’re not.

Whilst there have been millions of tedious white boxes produced with the ‘Corolla’ name, there have also been some that really aren’t tedious at all. The AE86, Championship-winning rally cars, and even the current twelfth generation Corolla, which is both more interesting technologically and to look at than a Golf, a Focus or an Astra.

So the Corolla is boring, except when it isn’t, and this one ‘isn’t’; the lovely 1970-’78 ‘E20’ Coupe.

The second generation of Corolla, the ‘E20’ was available in sedan, coupe, station wagon and van variants (plus as a Daihatsu), with engines between 1.2 and 1.6 litres, and became the second best-selling car globally.

Built by Dicky Laban, this neat Technic recreation of the ‘E20’ Corolla coupe is interesting too, being equipped with LEGO’s Powered-Up system for remote control drive and steering cleverly packaged inside.

There’s more of Dicky’s creation to see at the Eurobricks forum and at his ‘Toyota Corolla E20 Coupe’ Flickr album, and you can make the jump via the links.

The Last Dragon

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We end the week with something rather special. Martin Vala has appeared here a few times with his incredible Dakar racers. This is apparently his final one, ‘The Last Dragon’, a phenomenal buggy concept deploying some of the finest Lego building techniques we have seen yet.

The spectacular exterior combines intricate Model Team and Technic, with butterfly doors opening to reveal an equally brilliant interior. The breathtaking detail continues to the brick-built V6 engine, accessible under a lifting engine cover, whilst underneath is a hybrid brick-built and functional Technic chassis and drivetrain, including working steering and suspension.

Martin has presented his build beautifully too, with fantastic lighting and editing making for some stunning imagery.

There’s loads more of Martin’s ‘Last Dragon’ to see at his Flickr album by clicking here, plus you can check out the other amazing Dakar racers that preceded it – both real-world and concept – along with the V6 engine in the middle of this one, at their individual Flickr albums via this link.