Tag Archives: 4×4

An Adventure 65 Million Years in the Making

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Lego Jurassic Park

Steven Spielberg’s incredible 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park isn’t a particularly car-y movie; most of the few cars that feature are the Ford Explorers used to shuttle tourists around the theme park. These were – being an American SUV built in the early ’90s – utter garbage, but in Jurassic Park livery they suddenly became very cool. So cool that Mercedes decided to sponsor the first Jurassic Park sequel in order to get its new ML-Class SUV in the spotlight.

Back to the Explorer, and it’s ripe for recreating in LEGO; it’s blocky and wonderfully colourful. TLCB regular (and Brothers Brick writer) Ralph Savelsberg has done just this in his usual brilliant studs-up style, and completed the build with the movie’s main characters (well, apart from the dinosaurs). See all the photos at Ralph’s photostream here, whilst we give the Elves a rare afternoon off to watch giant lizards running amok.

Russian Rubbish

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Lego UAZ 4x4

The Lego Car Blog favourite Karwik is back, with another beautifully recreated Soviet marvel, this time a UAZ 469. The UAZ, like most Russian metal from the era, was an anonymously-named off-road military vehicle with a reputation for not working properly. Unbelievably production of the 469 only ended last year, 41 years after it started, as UAZ try to switch to manufacturing passenger vehicles following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Looking at their latest efforts, we’re not too hopeful of a bright future, but we do like an underdog. You can check out Karwik’s wonderful build on Flickr.

Dakar Support

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Dakar Truck

The Dakar rally doesn’t actually go to Dakar anymore (thanks to the miserable fun sponges at al-Qaeda), but it is still an awesome race, routeing now through South America. MOCpages’ Yang Nam has built one of the vehicles that helps to keep the show rolling, with his superb Mercedes-Benz support truck. You can find all the photos and build details at the link above.

Unijeep

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Lego Technic 8110 Jeep 4x4

The LEGO Technic Mercedes-Benz Unimog (8110) might be the best model The LEGO Group has ever made. At 2000 pieces and including both Power Functions and Pneumatic systems, as well as a huge array of mechanical functions, 8110 is one of the most sought-after sets the company has produced to date. However, unlike most other Technic sets, it didn’t really come with instructions for an alternate – or ‘B’ – model.

Eurobricks member djshiver (aka Mr. Tekneex) has rectified this with his creation built solely from the parts found within the 8110 Unimog set. His Jeep features the Unimog’s superb 4×4 drive system and couples it to a two-speed gearbox whilst utilising the original model’s compressor motor to power a front-mounted winch. The Jeep also includes an inline 4-cylinder engine up front, superb all-round suspension, working steering, and full Power Functions remote control compatibility. Everything LEGO could’ve included had they designed a ‘B’ model themselves!

You can see all the photos, design details and discussion for the Unimog alternate model at the Eurobricks forum via the link above, or alternatively you can visit  Mr. Tekneex’s MOCpage here.

Saving Lives at Sea

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Lego RNLI Land Rover

The Lego Car Blog’s home nation has a close relationship with the sea. An island dependent upon the dangerous waters surrounding it for trade, Britain has pioneered sea travel for hundreds of years.

Sadly this means that countless lives have been lost over the centuries to the waters, piracy and the cold. In 1824 an organisation was established to save those in peril. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has operated in the waters around Great Britain since its creation almost 200 years ago and today has over 400 boats stationed in over 200 rescue centres. An average of 22 people are rescued every day, with over 140,000 lives saved since the charity’s foundation.

Ralph Savelsberg has built one of their most recognisable tools in Lego, the Land Rover Defender tow car and mobile RIB rescue boat. You can see all his photos on Flickr here, and read more about the work of the RNLI at their website.

Lego RNLI Life Boat

Super Sunday

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Lego Vivace Supercar

After a telling-off from TLCB Staff for yesterday’s un-car-y focus, the Elves are working hard to make amends (and earn dinner). Today they’ve found no less than three creations, and they’re all cars! It may be a sign of the coming apocalypse, but lets enjoy it while it lasts.

No.1: One of the highest quality own-designed cars we’ve seen, Flickr’s Lego Builders ‘Vivace’ supercar is something whole office would happily be seen in. See the full gallery at the link above.

Lego Mazda RX-7

No. 2: Very much a real car – and a legendary one at that – Mazda’s brilliant rotary powered RX-7. Senator Chinchilla is the brains behind a superb replica that’s available to view now on Flickr.

Lego Monster truck 4x4

No. 3: Last, but definitely not least, is this affront to decent handling and efficiency, _drdesignz_ awesome all-wheel-steered monster truck. What it lacks in economy and handling it more than makes up for in badassery, which is a word added to TLCB Dictionary just for this creation. See all the photos and the Doctor’s photostream via the link above.

All of today’s vehicles were found in the same group on Flickr, and were the last three models uploaded to the group gallery. Head Turnerz is the collective making it much too easy for the Elves, and you can join them on Flickr via the link. Enjoy your weekend, we’re off to the shops to stock up on Elf treats.

Tiny Trio

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3-Monster-Trucks

Whilst they do like fully functioning Technic supercars, big brick-built aircraft and especially working Transformers, our Elves’ tiny minds are also attracted to skillfully crafted small builds. Swedish builder LegoJalex has used a handful of bricks to produce three super little trucks. The Elves’ favourite is the red one, as they can squash nearly 4½ Elves into the back of it. You can count just how many bricks LegoJalex has used by clicking this link to Flickr.

If you’re a builder who doesn’t own thousands of bricks, check out our Creation Criteria and then fire up your imagination. You never know, the Elves might pay you visit.

Road Train

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Lego UnimogOne of the nicest Town creations we’ve seen in ages, nolnet‘s rail-adapted Mercedes Unimog is reminiscent of Lego’s own 4546 set from way back in 1991, at the dawn of the 9V train era. Check it out on Flickr.

Giant Panda

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Lego Fiat Panda 4x4Our American readers may laugh at Fiat’s tiny off-roader, but mock at your peril; the original Panda 4×4 will beat a Hummer off-road on a typical snowy European farm-track. Piterx’s Technic version of the little Fiat is remotely controlled and includes all-wheel-drive. See it in action at his blog, or join in the discussion on Eurobricks.

Don’t Show Me The Money

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Lego Technic 41999 Review

The story so far…

The LEGO Company make the 9398 Technic remote control Crawler. It works well and looks awful. LEGO launch a competition to design a prettier body. Said contest is won by a talented Russian gentleman called Egor Karshiev, whose ‘Boss Crawler’ design gets the nod. LEGO announce they will only make 20,000 of these sets, with many unique elements and extra features, and sell them for the same price as the standard 9398…

Cue the most ridiculous speculator-driven feeding frenzy since Beanie Babies tanked…

As I write, just one month after 41999 was released, these change hands, sealed, on eBay for around £350; or nearly three times RRP. Many are being bought by the same UK-based buyer (not me!) in the hope they’ll keep climbing.

I’ve just got the one, bought from LEGO for a very reasonable price, for the purpose of building it, displaying it, even *gasp* playing with it… I’m willing to bet that more than half of these plastic building toys will remain forever sealed in their boxes in the hands of collectors or, worse, speculators; unbuilt and unloved. A shame, because it’s a really good set, and here’s why:

Lego Technic 41999 4x4 Crawler

The box is pretty special. A simple, elegant design on the front showing a close-up of the distinctive dark blue panels that so lift this model; it’s made of sterner stuff than usual, too. Inside this treasure chest it’s fairly tightly packed with lots of good stuff; enough for a few hours of leisurely, pleasurable building.

There are four instruction books which are easy to follow, as we’ve come to expect, and there are no mistakes. The build is relatively straightforward, but there’s no shortage of cool features: Continue reading →

Here Be Monsters

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Lego Monster TruckPaul Boratko (aka Crowkillers) is one of our favourite builders here at The Lego Car Blog. His models look and function brilliantly, but it’s they way they’re built which sets them apart; they’re as easy to build as a LEGO set. His latest, entitled ‘Some kind of monster’ is another beautifully engineered modular build, and one that can be easily modified with Power Functions motors. See the gallery and be inspired on MOCpages.

Welcome to the Jungle

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Lego Land Rover Defender Camel TrophyWe don’t often post two vehicles from the same builder in one week, but after discovering Paliason‘s recent uploads to Brickshelf we decided to make an exception for his superb Camel Trophy spec Land Rover Defender from the early 1990s.

The Camel Trophy was a worldwide exploration challenge that visited the world’s most inhospitable places, running 20 years from 1980 to 2000. Named after the cigarette-making sponsor company (because nothing says outdoor adventure like lung cancer) the challenge used Land Rover vehicles throughout its 20 year history, which were all painted Camel’s iconic sand yellow colour. Following the demise of the Trophy in 2000 Land Rover restarted the event under its own sponsorship, renaming it the Land Rover G4 challenge and switching the famous cigarette-yellow paintwork for bright orange.

Sadly the global economic crisis in 2008/9 put an end to the G4, but you can still sometimes see ex-Camel and ex-G4 Land Rovers on the roads as they were sold after the completing the event. One careful owner, never used off-road…

Camel Trophy Land Rover

Tooth Whitening

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Lego Supercar Vampire GTWe fully expect to receive a lot of spam comments for home whitening kits following this title, but we couldn’t resist. Crowkillers’ spectacular Vampire GT Technic Supercar has undergone a colour change, swapping its previous midnight hue for something a whole lot more Apple. Normally this wouldn’t be worthy of another post, but when it looks this good we couldn’t let it go unnoticed. See more of the new Vampire on Brickshelf or at crowkillers.com.

And points to us today for keeping this post free from Michael Jackson jokes.

Acronyms

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Lego Technic 4x4Time for a confusing array of letters! PF RC AWD SUV. Points* to those of you who can decode that lot! If you’d like a hand, check out Madoca’s superb 4×4 on Eurobricks, or see it in action in the video below.

*Redeemable for Elf treats.

YouTube Video:

Anothermog

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Lego Military UnimogYes, it’s that time of the week again as another Unimog makes its way onto TLCB. This time round it’s a Town style version complete with what appears to be a couple of shady characters buying illegal weapons from the back of it. See what’s going down at Ironsniper’s Flickr page.