Tag Archives: 4×4

To the Museum!

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TLCB Opinion of the Day; Archeologists are glorified looters. Whether it be an item of great reverence to a particular culture, the wealth of an entire people, or the bones of someone’s ancestor, they’re all ripe for digging up and sticking in a museum.

Cue Indiana Jon… um, we mean ‘Johnny Thunder’, who’s about to get his hands on the ‘Lost Sun Disk’ from the mouth of a hidden jungle totem. He may have to shoot a native or two, but that ancient treasure belongs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art!

Newcomer workhardbuildhard is the builder behind the aforementioned theft, with Johnny and an accomplice ready to make their daring escape in a neat grey Jeep CJ. The locals certainly won’t be able to keep up with that!

There’s more of the build to see at whbh’s photostream via the link above, or alternatively visit any Western cultural museum for innumerous items of great worth successfully looted by brave archaeologists.

Gran Turismo 2

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Much like Toyota’s ‘A80’ Supra is forever bound to ‘The Fast & The Furious’, Nissan’s ‘R34’ Skyline GT-R will be associated in perpetuity with the Gran Turismo video game franchise.

Although its production run spanned just three years, the R34 was – through those famous pixels – an automotive zeitgeist, defining an entire generation’s interaction with cars.

Cue this superb brick-built homage to Nissan’s legendary performance saloon, constructed by recent bloggee Mihail Rakovskiy, which is more lifelike than anything we drove on a Playstation.

Opening doors, hood, and trunk, a detailed ‘RB26DETT’ engine and drivetrain, and even an interior fit for a Technic figure all feature, and you can reimagine you’re back in an R34 at Trial Mountain in the early ’00s via the link to Flickr above.

Bowser’s Castle

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On to another ’80s German automotive icon through the medium of vintage cartoon characters, and this – a Mercedes-Benz Unimog U1700L ex-military truck turned into an off-road camper by a man named ‘Bowser’.

We suspect he’s not the fire-breathing arch-nemesis of an Italian plumber, but he still sounds pretty cool, what with this awesome ’80s Unimog as his home. Sseven Bricks is the creator of this brick-built replica of Bowser’s truck, and you can find it on Flickr via the link above.

Blue Blood

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The Lego Car Blog Elves have been peaceful of late. We have Febrovery to thank for that, what with there being a regular supply of whimsical space-based vehicles arriving at TLCB Towers, none of which have motors, remote control, or giant smushy wheels at all.

We knew it couldn’t last forever though, and thus today normal service was resumed as one of the Elves thundered into TLCB Towers atop this, gyenesvi’s giant ‘Blue Bird’ BuWizz-powered remote control Ultra4 off-road buggy.

The Elves serenely making beep-boop space noises in the corridor stood no chance, as twin BuWizz Buggy Motors, four-wheel-drive, and double-wishbone / trailing-arm suspension squashed them into the carpet, before the Elf at the controls – maniacal with glee – fled the scene on foot.

We’ve now got some tidying up to do, so whilst we do that you can check out gyenesvi’s Ultra4 buggy at Eurobricks and Bricksafe, where further images, renders, a video, and a link to building instructions can all be found.

Unimog For You

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LEGO’s fantastic Technic 8110 Mercedes-Benz Unimog set earned a near perfect score when it was reviewed on these pages nearly a decade-and-a-half ago. Which means that today it’s rather expensive. And it’s also rather large.

But fear not readers, because you can get your hands on your own Technic Unimog courtesy of prolific ‘mog maker (and Master MOCer) Thirdwigg, which is rather more affordable, and takes up rather less space.

His latest recreation of the Mercedes-Benz multi-purpose tractor comes in at 1:21 scale, and features working steering, an inline-4 engine, a tipping bed, and opening doors. Building instructions are available so you can create it for yourself, and you can find a link to them plus all the imagery at Thridwigg’s ‘Unimog U406’ album here.

When a Truck Overtook a Rally Car

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Back in the ’80s, motorsport rules were… loose. Group B rallying created monsters beyond anything seen before, and Dakar… well that was even wilder. Entered in the late-’80s, DAF’s unbelievable eleven-ton TurboTwin 95 X1 was powered by two engines with three turbochargers each, producing a combined 1,200bhp, and which – as this infamous helicopter footage from the 1988 event shows – made it so fast it could overtake the leading cars.

Piloted by Dutch legend Jan de Rooy, the TurboTwin won the truck category in 1987, before an awful 180km/h crash killed one of Jan’s teammates the following year, causing DAF to immediately halt all motorsport activities and withdraw the TurboTwin mid-competition.

Sadly we’d not see its like again, but we can still get up close to DAF’s astonishing Dakar racer courtesy of previous bloggee Nanko Klein Paste, and his spectacular brick-built replica.

Constructed in 1:16 scale, Nako’s TurboTwin recreation includes those two triple-turbo engines, complete with intake pipes, radiators and intercoolers, pressure vessels and ancillaries, a removable body liveried with superbly replicated decals, a hugely detailed interior behind opening doors, and full LED lighting from Brickstuff.

On display at the DAF Museum in Eindhoven later this year, there’s more to see of Nanko’s amazing creation at his ‘DAF TurboTwin 95 X1’ album on Flickr, and you can overtake a Dakar-winning Peugeot rally car at 200km/h in an eleven ton truck via the link above.

Short & Ugly

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Short, ugly, slow, and looks older than it is. No no, not this TLCB Writer (and he’s offended you thought so), but this neat render of the UAZ-469, a Soviet-era off-road vehicle that is still in production today. Flickr’s Thinh Thi is the creator of both these soft-topped military and civilian versions, which cunningly include four opening doors, and you can check them out via the link.

Off-Road Alternative

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The excellent LEGO Technic 42177 Mercedes-Benz G 500 set has successfully brought one of the market’s best known 4x4s to bedroom floors (or more likely Dads’ shelves) everywhere.

But what if you like retro-looking off-roaders but you’re not a wealthy Russian laundering money in the South of England? (Who seem to make up 100% of the G Wagen owners around TLCB Towers). Previous bloggee gyenesvi has the answer!

Using only the parts from the official 42177 Mercedes-Benz G 500 set, gyenesvi has created this superb Land Rover 90, complete with all-wheel-drive, all-wheel-suspension, working steering, an inline-4 engine, an operational gearbox, opening and locking doors, a detailed interior, and a whole heap of accessories.

The result is so good you’d be hard pressed to know it’s an alternate, and with building instructions available you can rebuild your own Mercedes-Benz G 500 into a Land Rover 90 too.

There’s much more of gyenesvi’s phenomenal 42177 B-Model to see at the Eurobricks forum, where a detailed description and further links can be found, plus the complete image gallery is available to view at Bricksafe.

All Fours

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The SUV dominates today’s new car market. Whether they’re four-wheel-drive or only look like they’re four-wheel-drive, all are tapping into the marketing of an outdoorsy lifestyle. Which usually means adverts showing impossibly handsome people parked at the beach. Or going hang-gliding off a mountain. Or unpacking some kayaks.

Of course the most adventurous thing the owners will actually do is watch a nature documentary on Netflix, but that hasn’t slowed the unstoppable rise of the pseudo-4×4. Today though, we have two proper all-wheel drive icons, the legendary Audi quattro, and the evergreen Jeep Wrangler.

The Audi (above) comes from Sam Andreas (aka Sseven Bricks), who has placed his superb Speed Champions Audi quattro Sport in its natural environment, navigating a perilous icy mountain pass high above Monaco. It’s here the quattro demonstrated to the world the benefits of all-wheel-drive in a performance car, and today almost every high performance saloon, estate, and yes – SUV, is driven by all four wheels.

At the other end of the four-wheel-drive scale is the Jeep Wrangler, a car derived from a vehicle so synonymous with off-roading it became the catch-all name for anything 4×4. This brick-built version of the Wrangler’s latest incarnation (below) is the work of yelo_bricks, who’s captured the ‘JL’-series in Speed Champions scale with aplomb.

There’s more to see of both four-wheel-drive icons on Flickr. Take a look via the links above whilst we – as SUV owners – go hang-gliding off a mountain or something.

Marble Run

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This skeletal-looking creation is a Mack Marble trial truck, and it comes from regular bloggee and TLCB Master MOCer Thirdwigg, who has eschewed his usual all-mechanical approach for a suite of Power Functions electronics. Which means his latest model has done 100% more Elf-smushing than all his others combined.

There are mechanical functions too though, with working suspension and a 5-cylinder piston engine present, and you can check out more of Thirdwigg’s Mack Marble at his Flickr album of the same name.

Technic Trials

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Technic building can be difficult. In fact the comment we receive most into The Lego Car Blog Inbox (besides spam for crypto currencies obviously) is ‘Can I have building instructions?’. Well yes, today you can! Because this superb fully RC flatbed trial truck by TLCB Master MOCer Kyle Wigboldy (aka Thirdwigg) has been published with free building instructions. One hundred TLCB Points to Kyle. Four-wheel-drive, steering, and all-wheel-suspension are on the features list and you can find all the (beautiful) imagery and the link to building instructions at Kyle’s ‘Off Road Pickup Truck’ album. Take a look via the second link above, plus you can click the first to read Kyle’s interview here at TLCB.

Insanity Incoming

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Is there any car more likely to be driven by someone with a looser grip on reality than the Hummer H1. You’ll notice there’s no question mark at the end of that sentence because no, no there isn’t.

Owned exclusively by those who don’t believe in vaccines, but do believe that 911 was a hoax, in staged mass shootings, giant space lasers, and that the government controls the weather, the Venn diagram for the Hummer H1, Collecting Canned Food, and Wildly Unnecessary Gun Display overlaps so tightly it’s just a circle.

As socialist Europeans, the Hummer H1 is very much Not Our Sort of Car, but no matter, because this Model Team replica of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s electoral chariot is fantastic.

Complete with the pre-requisite American Flag, Tony Bovkoon’s brick-built H1 features four Power Functions L Motors for drive, Servo steering, LED lights, working suspension, four opening doors, and is fully remote controlled. Just like the weather apparently.

There’s much more of the model to see at Tony’s ‘Hummer H1’ album on Flickr, and you can join the Flat-Earthers, members of QAnon, and Marjorie Taylor Greene hoarding ammo and decrying Socialism via the link above.

Mysterious Liking

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There are some things that this TLCB Writer probably shouldn’t admit to liking. Made in Chelsea. His own farts. Nickelback. Star Wars Episode I. And, most embarrassingly of all, the Opel Frontera.

Launched in 1991, the Opel Frontera (or Vauxhall Frontera in our home market) was based on the amazingly-named Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard, and is perhaps the most successful worst car ever, being rebadged around the world as the aforementioned Opel/Vauxhall Frontera, the Holden Frontera, Chevrolet Rodeo, Isuzu Rodeo, Honda Passport, and finally the Landwind X6/X9.

Each was a different flavour of awfulness, with appalling build quality, terrible ride and handling, leaking doors, an interior of the dreariest plastic imaginable, and yet… this TLCB Writer rather likes them. This is one of those occasions were it’s a good thing our identities are secret.

Cue a strange enthusiasm therefore, when one of our Elves found this brick-built example on Flickr, as created brilliantly by Fedor Kolbasin.

Featuring all-wheel-drive, working steering and suspension, four opening doors, plus one of the most realistic interiors we’ve ever seen fitted to a Technic model, Fedor’s Opel Frontera blends working functions with a beautifully executed exterior to create one of the nicest ’90s 4x4s we’ve published yet. (Even if you’re not as much of a Frontera fan as the writer of this inexplicably is. Ed.)

There’s lots more of the model to see at Fedor’s ”99 Opel Frontera / Isuzu Rodeo’ album, and you can head to peak ’90s SUV-ness via the link above. You might even leave with a mysterious liking for the real thing. (Probably not though. Ed.)

The Weird One

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The Mercedes-Benz section of our A-Z of Lego Trucks is about 85% Unimog. A licensed LEGO set, alternates built from other LEGO sets, fire trucks, snow plows, tippers, cranes… there are nearly as many brick-built variants of Mercedes-Benz’s famous off-road tractor as there are variations of the real thing.

Cue TLCB Master MOCer, and builder behind many of the Unimogs already in the Archive, Kyle Wigboldly (aka Thirdwigg), who adds another to his already expansive back-catalogue. And this time it’s the weird one.

Thirdwigg’s Technic 1:21 recreation of the Unimog U90 captures its strange asymmetrical form brilliantly and is packed with working functionality. An inline 5-cylinder engine under an opening hood is turned by the wheels, there’s working ‘HOG’ steering, a rear portal axle, rear hitch, tipping load bed, and a variety of attachments than can mount both fore and aft, including a winch, street-sweeper, and snow plow.

Building instructions are available and you can find a link to them plus all of the excellent imagery at Thirdwigg’s ‘Unimog U90 1:21’ album on Flickr. Take a look at the weirdest Unimog of the lot via the final link in this post, plus you can discover how Thirdwigg creates models like this one via his interview here at TLCB by clicking on the third.

Common Off-Roading Dangers

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We’ve all been there when off-roading; you get stuck in a muddy river bank, lose your glasses, and then you’re eaten by a velociraptor.

Flickr’s 1saac W. has captured the number one off-roading danger perfectly with his early-’90s Jeep Wrangler, resplendent in Jurassic Park livery and with the prerequisite velociraptor courtesy of a LEGO 76958 Dilophosaurus Ambush set.

Join the off-road adventure via the link above, or click here to see a velociraptor eat a fat guy.