We’re switching asphalt for rails today, thanks to Pieter Post and these utterly beautiful turn-of-the-century boxcars. Almost 50,000 G10 boxcars such as these were in use across Germany before the First World War, when they transported pretty much everything across the country. The two wonderfully created examples shown here join a host of others, and you can see more of Pieter’s exquisite brick-built freight cars on Flickr. Click the link above to take a look.
The First World War was pretty pointless, but it did hasten aircraft technology at a rate so astonishing we’re unlikely to see any sector advance so quickly ever again. At least until AI becomes sentient, and then we’re all doomed anyway.
One of the products borne out of this intense pace of development was this, the British Sopwith Camel. Entering service in June 1917, the Camel was the peak of fighter aircraft technology. Powered by a hefty radial engine, armed with twin synchronised machine guns, and with 90% of its weight in its first two meters imbuing it with incredible agility, the Camel scored numerous kills… Until the middle of 1918, when it was obsolete.
This lovely brick-built Camel comes from Thinh Thi, who’s recreated and presented the (briefly) dominant World War 1 fighter superbly, complete with posable ailerons, ‘wire’ wing bracing, and an appropriately attired mini-figure.
There’s more of the model to see at Thinh’s ‘Sopwith Camel’ album, and you can claim air superiority in 1917, or air mediocrity in 1918, via the link above.
Just a decade on from the aeroplane’s invention and there were already international races occurring. One of the most famous was the Schneider Trophy, in which teams from across Europe sent their finest flying inventions to race a course to glory.
Racing ceased in 1914 due to an international disagreement, but returned again in 1919, when said dispute had been mostly-kinda-not-really-resolved. The aforementioned wrangle had continued to dramatically further the development of the aeroplane though, so that was nice.
Cue these two superb brick-built entrants into the Schneider Trophy, as constructed by TLCB debutant Hod Carrier of Flickr. Above is the Sopwith Tabloid, Britain’s valiant entry into the 1913 Monaco event, whilst below is the remarkable Italian Savoia S-21 floatplane, which went on to be flown by a cartoon pig for some reason.
Each recreates its real-world counterpart beautifully in miniature, and there’s more to see of both aircraft, plus other Schneider Trophy entrants in both digital and real-brick forms, at Hod Carrier’s album of the same name. Click here to race through the skies above a European sea over a century ago!
…sounds like an English pub. Or a magical artefact at Hogwarts. Or a Victorian murderer. Or an unspeakable sex act. But is in fact this bizarre contraption from the 1909; a British steam-powered chain-track tractor that worked in the wilds of Canada where gas was scarce but coal was abundant, and the father of all Caterpillars.
Constructed by previous bloggee Nikolaus Lowe (aka Mr_Kleinstein), this marvellous brick-built remotely controlled recreation of the Hornsby Steam Crawler ingeniously replicates its two-speed gearbox and differential subtractor steering (which you can see in action here), with more to see at Nikolaus’ ‘Hornsby Steam Crawler’ album on Flickr. Click these words to murder someone with a magical artefact in an English pub, all whilst…
Nowhere has the pace of development through conflict been faster than in early aeronautics.
Less than a decade-and-a-half after the first ever powered flight – in which the Wright Brothers climbed 10ft into the air and travelled 120ft at 6.8mph – pilots could climb to 19,000ft and fly for 300 miles at well over 100mph. At least, you could if you were piloting a Sopwith F.1 Camel.
In service from 1917, the Camel scored more enemy kills than any other Allied aircraft during the Great War, and was a formidable fighter in both dog-fights and ground attacks. Until a year later, when it was obsolete.
Today just eight Sopwith Camels survive, but you can take a closer at this one courtesy of Flickr’s _Tiler, who has recreated the famous First World War fighter beautifully in brick-form, and presented it rather nicely too.
Head into the skies over France in 1917’s top fighter aircraft via the link above.
Four cylinders, twenty-eight litres, 290hp, and many flames. Fiat’s incredible S76 – nicknamed ‘The Beast of Turin’ – was built to claim land speed records, thanks to that astonishing engine that was also used to power airships.
This wild Technic interpretation of the 1910 racer was found by one of our Elves on Eurobricks, and comes from JoKo, who has created a working approximation of the S76’s enormous engine complete with functioning double overhead cams, valves, and timing chain.
Control+ components allow for remote control drive and steering, there’s leaf-spring suspension, a working hand-crank, and – perhaps most importantly – a marvellously moustachioed gentleman sitting in the cockpit.
Fire up all 28.4 litres via the link above, and click here to see (and hear!) the real Beast of Turin come to life.
We’re a car blog here at the, um… Lego Car Blog, but we do like other forms of brick-built transport too. Cue today’s array of vintage railway-based machinery, all of which come from Franz of Flickr, who has created them beautifully to fit with LEGO’s traditional 6-wide tracks.
Whilst LEGO’s own trains and rolling stock were 6-wide too, Franz has added an extra stud to allow for enhanced realism, with his lovely steam and SLB E11 locomotives also fitted with Power Functions motorisation.
Flatbed wagons (complete with vehicular cargo) and a tanker car accompany the power units, with all superbly presented at Franz’s photostream. Take a look via the link above, where you can find the four fantastic creations pictured here and much more besides.
A long time ago it wasn’t diesel, electricity, or gasoline that powered humanity’s vehicles, but steam. Very heavy, with minimal range and requiring regular impractical refuelling, steam-powered vehicles were nevertheless immensely powerful – far more so than those powered by other fuels – and thus they were the engines of choice for heavy duty applications, even as all other vehicle types moved on.
This is one such steam vehicle, Nikolaus Löwe‘s fabulous Fowler traction engine, here outfitted with a working crane. Connected to the tractor-part via a wonderfully complicated-looking arrangement of ratchets and gears, Nikolaus’ creation harks back to an era of coal, soot, noise, and perhaps a little magic.
Get steamy at Nikolaus’ photostream via the link above, whilst we ponder if today’s electric fuel of choice – being very heavy, with minimal range and requiring regular impractical refuelling, but nevertheless immensely powerful – really marks a century’s worth of progress from when this was trundling down the roads.
This is a Russo-Balt C24/40, one the Russian Empire’s earliest cars, originally founded in Riga (now in Latvia) before production moved to St Petersburg. Funded by Germany, designed by a Swiss engineer, and built in Russia (or its empire), the Russia-Balt was an early example of excellent cross-border collaboration.
Of course that didn’t last long, and the Russo-Balt company switched to making military aircraft (of Sikorsky design, who would later create many famous U.S helicopters), before Lenin’s Bolshevik October Revolution closed the factory, Sikorsky fled to France, and the company director was murdered whilst attempting to flee to Finland. Which means that if not for the Bolshevik’s brutality, Sikorsky may never have left Russia and gone on to design the aircraft that opposed it during the Cold War. It’s a funny old world.
Today the remnants of the Russo-Balt company in Latvia builds trailers and, er… this, but we’re staying with the company’s origins and its early C24/40, built here in both ‘Torpedo’ luxury car and work-van form by Flickr’s Kirill Simerzin.
There’s more of each version (plus a third) to see at Kirill’s photostream, and you can head to the pre-revolutionary years of the Russian Empire’s automotive industry via the link in the text above.
This fictional First World War era biplane was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr, and you can practically hear the rush of the propellor. Kirill Simerzin is the builder and you can take the skies a century ago via the link to his photostream above.
This is a Baureihe 57 / Prussian G10, a German steam locomotive built in the 1910s-’20s for heavy goods transport. Around 2,600 Prussian G10s were produced, with an extra one – pictured here – arriving courtesy of Pieter Post, who has recreated the steam train in beautiful detail. Powered by a hidden Power Functions L Motor and BuWizz bluetooth battery, Pieter’s Prussian G10 is depicted navigating a wonderfully constructed forest track, complete with a transformer building and the best pine trees we’ve ever seen. Top of the billing however, is the smoke – which looks as real as anything made from plastic bricks could possibly be. Click the link above to smoke your way through a German forest in the 1920s.
Russia, currently undertaking a humiliating withdrawal from occupied Kherson in Ukraine following their illegal invasion, haven’t always been the scumbags of Europe. In fact, the Russian T34-85 Tank made one of the greatest contributions to saving Europe from the last set of scumbags intent on invading their neighbours.
Prior to the success of the T34-85 however, Russia’s tanks were a little more… experimental. Looking like a cross between something from Battle Bots and a child’s tricycle, this is the Netopyr or ‘Tsar Tank’, a 60ft long 1914 prototype armoured vehicle, crewed by ten personnel and powered by two 240bhp Maybach engines taken from a captured German airship, one for each enormous front wheel.
Those wheels measured almost 30ft in diameter, and were followed by a 5ft rear wheel, in-between which was a 26ft hull festooned with cannons. The idea was that the Tsar Tank could traverse large obstacles thanks to the massive front wheels, although little thought seemed to be given to the much smaller rear one.
This promptly got stuck in soft ground during the tank’s first test run, and even the most powerful engines of the time couldn’t get it out. Various extractions failed too, and thus the tank was left in-situ for a further 8 years before it was finally removed and scrapped.
Still, it looked bloody awesome, and so too does TLCB favourite Sariel’s spectacular recreation of Russia’s 1914 engineering failure. Propelled by two Power Functions motors, with a further three operating the various cannons, Sariel’s replica looks every bit as mad as its 60-ton counterpart, and there’s lots more to see at his ‘Tsar Tank’ album on Flickr.
Click the link above to take a look at easily the weirdest vehicle you’ll see today, and here to watch it in action, where it is – frankly – every bit as rubbish as the real thing was over a century ago.
Today’s beautiful brick-based image comes from previous bloggee Pieter Post, who – in collaboration with two other builders – has created this gorgeous Prussian P8 steam locomotive, tender, prisoner car, post and luggage car, and passenger coaches, along with the stunning heather-landscape in which it is pictured.
Produced for a Lego train show in the Netherlands, Pieter and his compatriots’ 1920s steam train includes a BuWizz bluetooth battery powering bespoke LED lighting and three L Motors concealed within the tender and boiler driving custom wheels.
Full details can be found and Pieter’s photostream and you can traverse the heather on board his Prussian P8 steam locomotive via the link in the text above.
This magnificently obscure vehicle is a 1910s Holt 75hp Caterpillar, a part-track tractor produced by the company that would later become the world-renowned Caterpillar brand. Powered by a 23 litre 4-cylinder gasoline engine, and weighing 10 tons, the Holt Caterpillar was quite fantastically slow, but was reliable and could haul almost anything almost anywhere.
With war raging in Europe and limited photos of the newfangled British ‘tanks’ operating in the mire, Holt even converted one of their 75hp Caterpillars into a ‘tank’ as a PR exercise to parade to U.S citizens with the phrase ‘America First’ painted on it, dubiously attempting to take credit for something they had nothing to do with. Make your own Trump link…
This charming replica of the Holt 75hp Caterpillar (in conventional tractor form) comes from previous bloggee Nikolaus Löwe (aka Mr_Kleinstein), and includes BuWizz controlled drive and steering, as well as accurately reflecting the bizarre exterior of the original.
There’s more to see of Nikolaus’ Holt 75hp tractor at his photostream via the link in the text above, and if you think this is weird here’s a bonus link to the ‘tank’ version, which might just be the oddest thing you see today….
No, not your Mom’s old movies, but this rather lovely steam tractor by Flickr’s Nikolaus Löwe. Working ‘chain’ steering, a spinning flywheel, and other old-timey steamy things are all included, and there’s more to see at Nikolaus’ photostream. Click the link above for more steamy blue action.