Tag Archives: Aircraft

Battle Bus

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Confession time. This TLCB writer has never played Fortnite. It’s like admitting you’ve never seen Pulp Fiction. Or read 1984. Both of which are much too old for Fortnite players to know what we’re on about.

Anyway, apparently within the online sensation a school-bus-hot-air-baloon exists for reasons we don’t understand and Flickr’s Wookieewarrior has chosen to recreate it in Lego form. A quick Google of the real deal revealed that not only has Wookiee nailed it, his version looks better than the the slightly ropey looking pixelated one in the game.

Head to Wookiee’s photostream via the link above to see more of the brick-built Battle Bus, whilst we listen to an Oasis CD, read a newspaper, or do whatever it is us old folks are supposed to be doing instead of playing Fortnite.

Baron Von Sprokitt

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We have no idea what’s going on here, but we still rather like it. That said, there is a worrying likeness to TLCB Elves going on…

Baron Von Sprokitt and his biplane come from deep within the mind of Djokson (aka icemonster) and we’re assured any likeness to TLCB Elves is purely coincidental.

There’s more to see of the Baron at Djokson’s Flickr photostream or via Brickshelf here.

Thunderbolt II

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One of the most ‘interesting’ looking aircraft, the A-10 Thunderbolt II is certainly a tricky beast to build in Lego. However we have our second Thunderbolt in a month today, as Flickr’s Lennart C (aka Everblack) has constructed this brilliant mini-figure scale version, complete with an array of wing-mounted weaponry. Head to Lennart’s photostream via the link above for all the photos.

Skyboat

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Sky-fi is a sub-genre of a sub-genre of which we know absolutely nothing. Like, why do things in the air need hulls? Because clouds are made of water maybe? Whatever the reason it’s still much too complicated for us here at TLCB, but sylon_tw’s ‘skyboat’ is lovely nonetheless. See more of his quirky cloud cruiser on Flickr via the link and we’ll be back tomorrow with some cars.

Thunderbolt

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This might be the most beautiful recreation of a butt-ugly vehicle we’ve yet published. The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, nicknamed the ‘Warthog’, is a close air support aircraft – effectively providing air cover for front-line troops – that has served the USAF since the late ’70s.

Its, er… ‘unique’ appearance is dictated by the need for a short take-off and landing ability, significant firepower, and heavy armouring – due to the aircraft’s high likelihood of coming into contact with enemy forces.

This utterly brilliant Lego recreation of the A-10 Thunderbolt II comes from previous bloggee Plane Bricks of Flickr, who has nailed the challenging aesthetic thanks to a range of expertly deployed advanced building techniques, particularly evident in the engines and cockpit.

A huge gallery of images is available to view at Plane Bricks’ photostream – take a look via the link above.

Three Little Birds

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This is in the ‘Town’ category? Wait, what? Yup, these incredible aircraft are indeed mini-figure scale, and have been built by the astonishingly talented (and suitably named) BigPlanes of Flickr. Each is a beautifully accurate replica of one of Boeing’s narrow-body aircraft, with the classic 707, 727 and more modern 737 all represented, each featuring a wonderful real-world livery from a time-appropriate airline.

They’ve been photographed outside superbly too, as they’re probably too large for indoor shots, and there’s a huge gallery of images available to see at BigPlanes’ photostream, including close up details and a few insights into how such amazing accuracy was achieved. Head to the skies via the link above, and you can hear today’s most excellent title song here.

Harvard Reference

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Well we’re never going to write a title cleverer than that… On to the build. This is a North American T-6 ‘Harvard’ a World War 2 training aircraft, and sometime fighter, as built here beautifully by previous bloggee Henrik Jenson. Henrik’s Harvard is shown in Danish livery, one of the many airforces that operated the T-6 from the 1940s until the 1970s, including some that the U.S. has subsequently fought against. See more at Henrik’s album on Flickr via the link above.

Fictional Fighter

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From one strange vintage aircraft to another, only this one isn’t real. This oddly-shaped aircraft comes from the mind of Jon Hall, being constructed in his trademark ‘sky-fi’ style, and featuring some rather lovely detail and decal work. It’s called the ‘P-65 Tomahawk’ and it looks a bit like one of those terrifying crab thingies or the alien from Alien. Head to Jon’s photostream via the link above to check it out, whilst we enforce a strict ‘Bring Us Back a Bloody Car’ policy on our Elven workforce. We’ll see you in, er… a few days? A week? It depends on what you lot build…

Lightning Bolt!

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Lightning is always cool. OK, not always; this guy took some liberties. But other than that it’s cool. One of fastest and most terrifying forces in nature, lightning also makes a for a great aircraft name. It’s been used twice that we know of, the second being the unhinged English Electric Lightning and the first being this; the glorious Lockheed P-38J Lightning. The Lockheed P-38’s usual (and we think quite beautiful) twin boom design makes it an oddity in the aircraft world, and even more so considering it first entered service in 1941.

Deployed as a bomber, a long range escort fighter, a ground attack craft, for photo reconnaissance, and as a night fighter, the P-38 flew throughout the entire American involvement in World War Two in a vast array of theatres, with over 10,000 produced in just 4 years.

This colourful mini-figure scale version of the iconic warbird comes from previous bloggee John C. Lamarck of Flickr, who has done a wonderful job recreating the P-38 Lightning in lego form. The hand-drawn decals add to the cartoonish nature of the build too, and there’s more to see at John’s photostream by clicking here.

Coast Guard ‘Copter

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This excellent Sikorsky HH-52 U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr today. It comes from Robson M, features custom decals, folding rotors, a sliding side door and a hoist for rescuing drowning swimmers / apprehending Mexicans. See more of Robson’s top notch build at his photostream via the link above.

Little Floater

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The Second World War, for all the death and destruction it wrought, did provide the catalyst for some amazing technological advances. Sticking some floats underneath a Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter probably isn’t in the top three though, but the result is still rather cool. The Nakajima A6M2-N ‘Rufe’, developed from the infamous Zero, turned the land-based fighter/bomber into an amphibious floatplane. Just over 300 were produced between 1942 and the end of the war, with last being operated by the French following its capture in Indo-China. This ingeniously constructed small scale version comes from John C. Lamarck of Flickr, who has captured the Rufe’s unique asthenic brilliantly in miniature. See more at John’s photostream via the link.

Batwing

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Batman has piloted a lot of vehicles over the years. Some were excellent, some, er… let’s just say they they fit into the ‘Robin’ category. This one of those, the ‘Batwing’ from the Tim Burton-directed movie of 1989.

First appearing in the Batman comics in the 1930s the ‘Batwing’ is more accurately called the ‘Bat Plane’ (‘Batwing’ was actually a name given to a pointless spin-off character), and originally looked like a fairly normal aircraft before its wild 1989 reincarnation in the form of the Caped Crusader’s logo.

It’s the Tim Burton version that’s the most famous (although definitely not the best), and it’s been recreated rather wonderfully by Riskjockey in the image above. Head to Flickr via the link to see all the photos, and you can watch the original trailer for the 1989 movie in which the ‘Batwing’ stars by clicking here.

Little Fokker

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Coincidentally the title of today’s post describes not only the creation within it but also the Elf that found it. This neat Fokker D1 tri-plane, made famous by Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen aka ‘The Red Baron’, comes from Jonas Obermaier of Flickr, who has done a rather excellent job of recreating probably the First World War’s most famous aircraft in mini-figure scale.

Credited with over eighty air-combat victories, the Red Baron himself was killed aged 25 in 1918 by a bullet to the chest, although he managed to successfully land his aircraft in a field in France before he died. The D1 didn’t last long though, being stripped by souvenir hunters. Jonas’s lovely model shows us how his Fokker fighter would have looked, and there’s more to see at his photostream via the link above.

MiGnette

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The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 is perhaps the defining fighter aircraft of the 1950s (sorry America…). It had a career a lot longer than just the 1950s though, with an estimated 18,000 units built – making it one of the most-produced jet aircraft in history – some of which are still in active service in the air forces of the Republic of North Korea and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau. This neat MiG-15 vignette (hence our genius title!) comes from BigPlanes of Flickr, who is making his TLCB debut. Custom mini-figures and decals add to the build’s authenticity and there’s more to see at BigPlanes’ photostream via the link.

More Corsair

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This isn’t Henrik Jensen’s first Vought F4E Corsair. In fact he built one way back in 2014, which didn’t feature here as it didn’t quite meet our standards. Or we weren’t paying attention. One of those two anyway. Henrik’s second iteration updates his previous design with LEGO’s latest dark blue parts and folding wingtips, and adds a gloriously cool brick-built checkerboard engine cowling that frankly every plane should have. Custom decals complete the aesthetic accuracy and there’s more of Henrik’s superbly realistic F4E Corsair to see at his Flickr album by clicking these words.