Tag Archives: 3D-Printing

Printed Portals

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It’s not a purist day here at TLCB, as we follow four 3D-printed wheels with four more. And a canvas roof. And – most impressively – four exquisitely-made custom portal axles with reduction gears. Those gears are Technic, but the cases in which they are contained are bespoke and beautifully engineered by previous bloggee Michael Kulakov (aka Michael217), who has fitted them to his spectacular fully remote controlled Hummer H1.

LEGO Power Functions L Motors are combined with a third-party Geekservo motor to steer, with the model featuring all-wheel-drive, fully independent suspension, a detailed engine and interior, plus opening doors, hood and tailgate, alongside the aforementioned custom componentry.

Beautiful imagery accompanies Michael’s phenomenal creation, with lots more of the model to see at both his ‘Hummer H1’ Flickr album and at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the links above to take a look, and to see the unique engineering deployed in its making.

Enter the Dragon

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Is Godzilla a lizard? Probably. We’re not up to speed on Japanese myths. But we do know that a lizard with wings is a dragon. Unless it’s a wyvern. Which actually Godzilla would be if it did have wings. And then the title wouldn’t work. We digress, this is a Nissan GT-R (R35) – a car nicknamed ‘Godzilla’ – and this one has wings.

They’re fitted – along with some marvellous 3D-printed Advan wheels – by builtbydavedesigns, who’s taken inspiration from Nismo’s wild GT-R GT3 racers. Opening doors, a detailed interior, and a superbly replicated engine bay also feature, and you can take a closer look at Dave’s beautifully presented dragon at his Flickr album via the link above.

ZIL 130 | Picture Special

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It’s time for a truck here at The Lego Car Blog, and today’s is something rather special. Created by previous bloggee Michael Kulakov / Michael217, this gorgeous ZIL 130 captures one of the workhorses of the Soviet Union spectacularly in LEGO bricks. Plus a few items that aren’t strictly LEGO…

Powered by a mix of genuine LEGO motors and third-party electronics, Michael’s model can drive, steer, and change between high and low gear ratios remotely, and also features a working V8 engine under the raising hood, opening cab doors, a mechanically locking trailer hitch, plus all wheel suspension.

Those wheels are non-LEGO parts, beautifully replicating real truck rims from the period via 3D printing, and are shod in RC tyres. The steering arms too are 3D-printed, and include metal inserts, which – along with some metal driveshaft components – toughen the drivetrain to handle the remote control system.

The rest of the build, including that wonderful bodywork, engine bay and interior, is all LEGO, and demonstrates superb attention to detail. Over a dozen perfectly presented images are available to view at Michael’s ‘ZIl 130’ Flickr album, plus you can find full build details, further links, and a video of the model in action at the Eurobricks discussion forum.

Topless Swede

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If you’re here for the first time, lured by the title, expecting to see something else, sorry… but you might as well stick around to take a look at this exquisite Koenigsegg CC850 by 3D supercarBricks of Flickr!

Constructed from just under one thousand pieces, including a few custom parts (the windscreen and wheels being amongst them), 3D’s model is a near perfect replica of the real 1,200bhp Swedish hypercar, with opening front and rear clamshells, scissor doors, and inner workings as detailed as the stunning exterior.

There’s more of the build to see at 3D’s ‘Koenigsegg CC850’ album via the link above, and – if you were duped into visiting us by a misleading title – here’s what you were hoping to see…

Carbon Fiber Lego Wheels

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Carbon Fiber. (Or ‘Fibre’ if you spell it correctly. Ed.) The wonder material from which Formula 1 cars, the Ferrari F40‘s bodywork, the Lexus LFA‘s tub, and fancy road bikes are all made.

Which also means that, inevitably, carbon fiber fakery is everywhere too. Car interior trim, vinyl wraps, even wallets, laptops and suitcases can all be found in finest farbon ciber, mostly looking terrible.

But today we have the real deal, because this is the world’s first genuine carbon fiber Lego wheel. It may not look much, but it’s bona-fide carbon fiber, and its maker PlasticGear has detailed how he constructed it.

Take a look at PlasticGear’s pioneering project in the video above, you can join the discussion at the Eurobricks forum, and don’t even think about wrapping your wing-mirrors/spoiler/centre console in fake carbon, because we’ll laugh at you.

Digging Dirt

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The Elves here at TLCB Towers eat all sorts of things. These include actual meals, awarded to them for finding a blog-worthy creation such as this one, but also glue sticks, dog treats, erasers, and anything else they deem edible.

This means that everyone’s least favourite job is cleaning out the Elves’ cage room, but today this TLCB Writer doesn’t have to get close to the little turds’, um… turds, because he can clean remotely thanks to this spectacular fully motorised Volvo EC300E excavator!

Built by Nura of Eurobricks, this incredible creation blends the best of Technic and third-party suppliers, with three SBricks delivering Bluetooth control to eight Power Functions motors, a suite of Bricktec LED lights, and two custom pneumatic units, with the result being that the 3D-printed bucket can move just like the real thing.

The tracks, rotating superstructure, two-stage boom, bucket, and twin pneumatic compressors are all operable remotely, with the electronics hidden inside a superbly realistic and authentically liveried exterior.

It’s a masterpiece of Lego engineering, and you can see more of Nura’s amazing creation at the Eurobricks forum, and via the video below. Take a look via the links whilst we put this Volvo to work.

Nice Wheels

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Almost exactly one year ago, builtbydave_’s wide-body ‘Magic’ Mazda RX-7 appeared on these pages. It drew much admiration from TLCB Team, who secretly wish they were part of Japan’s underground car modifying scene, instead of secretly writing for a janky car website held together by sticky tape and hope.

Dave’s evolution of his RX-7 is doing nothing to dull those dreams, as he’s now equipped his creation with a set of superb 3D-printed Rays TE37 wheels, which are icons in car culture.

First learning Fusion 360, Dave designed his TE37s from scratch, before 3D-printing them at his local library (what a cool library!). The results are – as you can see – fantastic, and add even more authenticity to his already top-drawer build.

There’s more to see at Dave’s ‘TCP Magic Rx7’ album on Flickr, and further details on the tools and training he used to design and produce his very own wheels can be found there too.

Mystery Box

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Concept cars are often little more than an empty shell, made from wood, clay, and papier-mâché, draped over four-wheels and fresh air. But not today, because this 1960s Lincoln Continental road-race concept has as much thought and ingenuity put into its inner workings as it does its right-angled exterior. Which, incidentally, is the amongst the coolest we’ve ever seen.

Inside the boxy brilliance of the Lincoln’s bodywork are ridiculously well detailed modular mechanics, including brick-built pushrod suspension, a Cosworth DTV engine with independent throttle bodies, exhaust headers, radiators, brakes, steering linkages… It’d be impressive enough if it were based on a real racer, but it’s all the more so considering builder PROTOTYP. has designed the lot in his head.

A wealth of imagery is available to view at both PROTOTYP.’s ‘Lincoln Continental ARRC’ album and at the Eurobricks forum, where you can also read the model’s fictional backstory and mechanical details, plus find a link to building instructions should you wish to create it for yourself. Take a look at the coolest conceptual creation we’ve seen in a long time via the links above.

Super Supermarine

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It’s the 29th of December 1944, and RCAF Squadron 411 is in a battle with a group of Luftwaffe fighters over Osnabrück in western Germany.

At the controls of his Supermarine Spitfire IXe, Fight Lieutenant Dick Audet has an FW190 in his sights. The Spitfire’s guns tear into the enemy aircraft, until – after a moment – it rolls over and plunges downwards to destruction.

Audet watches for a few seconds, before snapping back to the fight raging around him, and turns his sights to the next German fighter. Over the next five to seven minutes Audet destroys a further four enemy aircraft, astonishingly becoming both an ‘Ace-in-a-Day’ and the only Spitfire pilot to achieve Ace status in a single sortie.

Audet would go on to fly over fifty sorties, claiming eleven enemy kills, before he too was killed in action, brought down in March of 1945 by the anti-aircraft defences of the German train he was strafing.

This spectacular homage to Fight Lieutenant Dick Audet was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr, and comes from crash_cramer, who has recreated Audet’s glorious Supermarine Spitfire IXe in massive 1:9 scale.

Measuring over a metre long and with a 120cm wingspan, this incredible brick-built replica doesn’t look like LEGO at all, such is its phenomenal realism. Admittedly, that might be because a few components are not in fact LEGO, with the propellor spinner, exhausts, wheel caps, guns, aerial, and outer-wing leading edges meticulously 3D-printed, whilst the cockpit canopy is vacuum-formed.

A green vinyl wrap recreates the Spitfire’s camouflage, with superb decals replicating the roundels and squadron markings of Audet’s fighter.

The result is very probably the most accurate aircraft that this site has ever featured, and you can find all of the stunning imagery, plus read more about the build and the amazing story of Fight Lieutenant Dick Audet, at crash_cramer’s photostream. Join us there via the link in the text above.

Smoking Silhouette

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Lancia’s magnificent mid-engined Stratos is one of World Rallying’s most famous cars, winning the Championship three years in a row from 1974 to ’76.

But less well known is that the Stratos lived beyond its World Rally Championship success, becoming a turbocharged silhouette circuit racer in the wild late-’70s Group 5 ‘Special Production Car’ era.

Only the hood, roof, and doors had to remain production spec, leading to some pretty loose interpretations of ‘Production Car’, with Lancia’s Group 5 entry no different.

Created by Alan Guerzoni, this homage to the Group 5 Stratos Turbo captures its bizarre aesthetic brilliantly, with custom decals (including obligatory ’70s cigarette marketing) and 3D-printed wheels adding to the accuracy. Head to a circuit c1976 and hold on tight.

Red One

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We’re only three models in to the new year and already we’re publishing one of the finest trucks this site has featured yet. And a title to piggy-back off a crappy movie for clicks…

Discovered on Eurobricks, this is Michael217‘s fully remote-controlled Kamaz 5410 6×4 truck, complete with some unique 3D-printed pieces and a partially – cough – un-LEGO drivetrain.

Riding on custom wheels under bespoke polycarbonate fenders, Michael’s Kamaz is powered by a combination of a LEGO Buggy Motor, GeekServo, and an RCBric Management controller, with 6×4 drive, working steering, a two-speed gearbox, tilting cab, and a V8 engine.

The resultant truck looks spectacular and there’s more to see of Michael’s superbly-presented model at the Eurobricks forum. Click the link above to find the full build details and further top quality images.

Four-in-a-Fiesta

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Ford’s Fiesta might recently have (inexplicably) ceased production, but it remains one of the most popular cars on the World Rally Circuit.

Cue Zerobricks’ fantastic Technic recreation of the Fiesta WRC, based on a real car run by the Slovenian ‘GM’ racing team.

Underneath the remarkably well-replicated bodywork, Zerobrick’s creation packs in a seriously impressive remote control drivetrain, centre of which are four (yes four!) BuWizz motors, one powering each wheel. A LEGO Powered-Up L Motor operates the steering, with twin BuWizz 3.0s controlling all five motors via bluetooth.

Long-travel suspension, a transverse inline-4 engine (powered via the aforementioned BuWizz drive motors), plus opening doors, hood and rear hatch also feature, with the visual realism enhanced by superb 3D-printed wheels and custom graphics.

It’s every bit as impressive as the real Fiesta WRC car, and if you’re interested in seeing what four BuWizz motors and all-wheel-drive can do (a lot!), you can check out Zerobricks’ incredible Technic rally car at the Eurobricks forum and via the video from the official BuWizz YouTube channel below.

Black Box

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Previous bloggee 3D supercarBricks doesn’t just build, well… supercars. No, he also builds mediocre European hatchbacks, such as this 2010s Opel/Vauxhall Corsa. The model includes a detailed engine, opening everything, and is enhanced by his trademark 3D-printed parts (in this case the door window frames and wheels). Take a look at 3D’s photostream via the link above, where more exotic vehicles are also available.

Sabre-Rattling

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McLaren have released more near-identical looking cars than even Porsche, despite only being around a sixth as many years. Cue another modern McLaren we’ve never heard of nor will ever see, the Sabre.

Built only for the American market, the Sabre is powered by the same V8 as every other recent McLaren, but looks very slightly different. Which means McLaren can charge $3million for it, as there will be enough rich idiots… er, we mean collectors, keen for some one-of-fifteen exclusivity.

Well, one-of-sixteen, as 3D supercarBricks has created this one. 3D-printed wheels and what look to be custom door frame pieces help to recreate the Sabre’s aesthetic, and there’s more of the model to see at 3D’s photostream. Click the link above to take a look at the most exclusive McLaren there is, before the brand reveals another one sometime next week.

Only By the Night*

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From a tiny and beautifully packaged vehicle to… er, not that. The Ram 1500 is a ‘full-size’ (read ‘bloody massive’ for non-Americans) pick-up truck, marketed first as a Dodge, and today spun-off as an independent brand.

Now in its fifth generation, the 1500 is available with an array of enormous engines and – as pictured here – also as a ‘Night Edition’, which according to Ram’s own website means “Boasting a menacing monotone exterior and backed by equally intimidating capability”.

The words ‘menacing’ and ‘intimidating’ appear a few times on the first page in fact, which suggests both that Ram really need a thesaurus, and also that the 1500 ‘Night Edition’ is very much not our kind of vehicle.

Despite the real truck’s pointless dick-waving, this Model Team recreation of the Ram 1500 ‘Night Edition’ is rather excellent however, and comes from previous bloggee 3D supercarBricks.

Featuring working steering and suspension, plus opening doors, hood, load cover and tailgate, 3D’s creation also includes a few 3D-printed pieces and custom wheels. Presumably to enhance the truck’s menacing monotone exterior and intimidating capability.

There’s much more to see at 3D’s photostream, and you can click the link above to check out all of the superb imagery.

*The first track from today’s title album. It’s a good one.