Much like the news, TLCB seems to be quite military focussed currently. We’ll try to rectify that and send some Elves further afield to happier places, but in the meantime here’s today’s military creation – Dornbi’s 1:22 McDonnell-Douglas F-18C Hornet in Swiss airforce specification. Grey and warfare-y it may be, but it’s also an absolutely superb build, with working landing gear, aeronautics and an opening cockpit. There’s loads more to see at Dornbi’s photostream which you can access here.
We don’t blog planes all that much here at The Lego Car Blog, but sometimes a model arrives that is so stupendously brilliant that we forget our car bias for a bit. This is one of those times.
This magnificent creation is a 1:15 scale, 8,000 piece replica of the formidable carrier-based F-14A ‘Tomcat’. It’s been built over the last 9 months crash_cramer of Flickr, and it’s a truly remarkable build. With LEGO Power Functions operating various aeronautical functionality, custom LED engine sequencing, custom decals, and a vacuum-formed canopy, the attention to detail, even if it’s not quite all LEGO, is astonishing.
The whole model measures well over 1.2 metres long and it’s really worth a closer look. You can see all of the incredible images on Flickr – click the link above and wind the catapult back.
When a scorched & smouldering Elf staggered back from Flickr with this magnificent flying machine we immediately kicked him straight back out of The Lego Car Blog offices. Sadly, we weren’t quite fast enough and the smoke detectors triggered the sprinkler system. We’ve spent the rest of the morning hiring an industrial dehumidifier and hanging 169¾ Elves out on the washing line. This looks quite pretty and is really rather decorative. We might just leave them there. Then we got quite excited, as we thought that we’d never blogged a hot air balloon before. It turns that we have, but we have blogged a lot of stuff since the start in November 2011.
This particular balloon was built by Pete Strege. It’s a brilliant assemblage of all shapes and sizes of plain, angled and curved plates. The neat way that the basket is attached is obvious from the photos but not so much the internal structure of the balloon itself. Follow the link in the text and see if you can zoom in to the detail and figure it out.
As regular readers will know, we are not a sci-fi blog, and frankly we struggle with anything that doesn’t have wheels in multiples of two. However this brilliantly designed Transport Shuttle is too cool for us to pass up, and it’s staffed by some of the meanest-looking mini-figures that we’ve ever seen. Flickr’s Horcik Designs is the creator behind it and you can see more via the link above. Just don’t ask what’s in the briefcase…
But lovely nonetheless. This beautiful recreation of the Vought F4U4 Corsair is the work of Flickr’s Dornbi, making his return to TLCB. You can check out all of the images at Dornbi’s photostream – click the link above to make the trip.
This absolutely beautiful creation is the work of Cecilie Fritzvold, and it’s apparently Teemto Pagalies’ Podracer. Unfortunately we have zero subject knowledge with which to verify the accuracy of this, but what we do know it that this build is one of the finest and most original sci-fi creations that we’ve seen in ages. There’s much more to see at Cecilie’s photostream – click the link above to travel to a galaxy far far away…
Nope, not the slightly dodgy remake of the slightly dodgy film of the 1969 book by American novelist Paul Gallico, but this – the King of the Sea, the Sikorsky/Westland SH-3 Sea King helicopter – the aircraft of choice for maritime rescue agencies the world over. This lovely 1:40 scale mini-figure version of the iconic helicopter comes from Flickr’s [Maks] and there’s more to see at the link.
Flickr’s Stefan Johansson has appeared here several times this year with his meticulously recreated Saab aircraft. His latest is one of Saab Aero’s newer offerings – the fearsome JA37 Viggen – and this time Stefan has branched away from his usual stealthy grey to brick-build a full camouflage livery. There’s more to see on Flickr at Stefan’s photostream – click the link above to take off.
This glorious contraption is apparently a Cargo SkyBoat, and it’s utterly wonderful in every single way. Not knowing anything about Cargo SkyBoats, and having pinched this from Bricknerd, we’ll leave it there, but you can see lots more courtesy of Alexis Dos Santos on Flickr. Click on these words to get airborne.
This magnificent Dassault Rafale-M complete with carrier-deck was found on Flickr today. Previous bloggee Kenneth Vaessen is the builder and he’s recreated France’s current maritime fighter beautifully in brick-form.
Designed to replace France’s various military aircraft with a single multi-role fighter, the Rafale was introduced in 2001 and it’s been in action over Syria, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan since, most notably launching strikes on the utter shitbags that are Daesh (otherwise known as Islamic State).
There’s lots more to see of Kenneth’s top-quality recreation of the French fighter at his Flickr photostream – click the link above to take off.
…but probably the most popular plane to appear here at The Lego Car Blog. Lego builders love the Mitsubishi Zero, and they keep finding new ways to recreate Japan’s most famous fighter. This version comes from MOCpages’ James C, and he’s captured the Zero’s iconic shape beautifully. There’s more to see at his MOCpage – click the link above to fly over.
Neither Brains nor Lady Penelope but the United States’ Airforce aerobatic display team feature in this model from Jme Wheeler. Whilst other militaries use lightweight trainer aircraft to equip their teams, the USAF and the US Navy have traditionally used front-line fighters. At one point, both teams displayed using the large, heavy McDonnel Douglas Phantom II, a machine not exactly noted for its manoeuvrability.
This model is neatly chibi version of the current mount of the Thunderbirds: the Lockheed-Martin F-16. Jme Wheeler has captured the shape of the Viper in compact form, including its chines. He’s made a good choice in the big, bubble canopy that has allowed him to squeeze a minifigure into the cockpit too. It’s all topped off with a suitably abbreviated version of the Thunderbirds’ distinctive markings. Sadly, a group of Elves has got hold of the model and are busily trying to fly it across the TLCB offices by launching it from a high shelf. To get a view of the ‘plane when it was still in one piece, click this link to Flickr, where you can see more of Jme Wheeler’s Lego cars and ‘planes.
If there’s one thing we understand even less than sci-fi here at The Lego Car Blog, it’s sci-fi that isn’t really sci-fi. This is sky-fi, where the laws of physics are only very loosely respected. This particular sky-fi contraption comes from Flickr’s Sylon-tw and there’s more to see at the link.
We’re not sure why this Panavia Tornado ECR is wearing a tiger-stripe paint-job – if anything it’s more conspicuous – but we must admit that it looks ridiculously good. It’s the work of previous bloggee Kenneth Vaessen and you can see more at his photostream by clicking here.
Company names are bit weird these days. Saab automotive died a few years ago when General Motors killed it off, but the Saab Aerospace and Defence business, which separated from the automotive company in 1990 (in the same way that the Rolls Royce aero engine and vehicle companies used to be one business until 1973) is going strong.
Powered by an RM12 after-burning jet engine produced by Volvo Aero (which no longer has anything to do with Volvo cars. Or trucks for that matter, although Volvo trucks do own Renault trucks, which have nothing to do with Renault cars… This is getting confusing…) the Saab JAS 39 Gripen can reach Mach 2 and is currently in service with four national air forces. Around 250 Gripens have been produced since launching in 1997, with several other air forces recently placing orders for the latest versions.
This superb Lego recreation of the Swedish fighter comes from previous bloggee Stefan Johansson, who is continuing his chronology of Saab aircraft. There’s lots more to see at his Flickr photostream at the link above, and you can see Stefan’s past Saab (aerospace) builds to feature here via this bonus link.