Tag Archives: Allies

What is it Good For?

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Humanity still enjoys a good war every now and then. And, because it’s been five minutes since the last conflict in the Middle East, a new one is pulling more and more nations, factions and regions towards it.

Of course for those caught within its gravity the conflict is a necessity, a fight for justice, freedom, and the will of God. Whichever side they are on.

The Second World War was perhaps a clearer fight between, perhaps not Good, but certainly against Evil. The Nazis’ ideology, with all of its death, pain and dehumanisation, was eventually defeated, and – whilst countless nations made enormous sacrifices – had the U.S remained neutral an Allied victory would have been all-but-impossible.

Hitler never sought to invade the Unites States, yet over 16 million Americans served during the conflict, of which 300,000 never returned home, and financing the war cost almost 40% of America’s GDP by 1945.

Capturing one tiny moment amongst the thousands in which the U.S contributed, previous bloggee Nicholas Goodman is here depicting the U.S push across Europe in the summer of 1944. A Willys Jeep, Sherman tank, and custom mini-figures pause to regroup, all carefully and accurately recreated in brick-form.

There’s more of Nicholas’ beautiful wartime builds to see on Flickr; take a look via the link above, and you can click here to see one way you can help today, as war spirals out of control once again.

Battle of Britain

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There are a few machines of the many that were borne out of the Second World War that changed the course of it. The Russian T34-85 tank, the American Willys Jeep, and this; the British Supermarine Spitfire.

First flying just before Britain entered the conflict, the Spitfire became the backbone of the Royal Air Force’s defence of the skies over the British Isles, which – had they been lost – would have enabled a German invasion and likely a very different world to the one we live in now.

Produced throughout the entire conflict, both the Spitfire and the formidable Rolls-Royce Merlin engine that powered it were upgraded and improved multiple times in just a few years, with the design operating not only with the Royal Air Force but with several Allied partners, with this example representing a unit flown by the Canadian Air Force.

It’s the work of Juliusz D., who has captured a ‘clipped wing’ variant of the Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk. XVIe beautifully in brick form.

Wonderful building techniques, excellent decals, and top quality presentation make this a model worth a closer look, and you can take to the skies over Europe in 1944 in the defence of liberty via the link above.

Easter Cors-Hare

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Today’s title is about as tenuously linked to Easter as it’s possible to get, but seeing as egg-laying rabbits have about as much to do with Easter as a 1940s fighter aircraft, we’re going with it.

This is a US Navy Vought Corsair, made Eastery with only a minor spelling amendment, created and presented in this wonderful vignette by Nicholas Goodman of Flickr. Pictured in the Solomon Islands in 1944, Nicholas has deployed superb attention to detail, using fantastic building techniques, custom mini-figures, and hiding a few period-correct easter eggs in the vignette too.

See, it was Eastery all along!

There’s more to see at Nicholas’ photostream and you can head to the Solomon Islands in 1944 via the link in the text above, or alternatively click here for something actually Easter-related.

I Fold

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The results of the last TLCB poker night have caused this writer to owe a substantial beer-based debt to our editor (You have until Monday. Ed.). Knowing when to fold is everything it seems, and whilst this writer definitely doesn’t, TLCB newcomer Dan Nguyen sure does, with this wonderful 1940s Vought F4U Corsair.

Being a carrier-based fighter, the F4U Corsair needed to fit inside flight-deck lifts and on-board hangars, and as such featured wings that could fold neatly upwards whilst in storage before returning to their horizontal position for flight.

Dan’s model captures this feature beautifully, using some cunning techniques to recreate the Vought’s complex wing shape and fuselage, and enhancing the realism further with accurately replicated US Navy decals.

There’s more to see at Dan’s ‘Vought F4U Corsair’ Flickr album, and you can learn when to fold via the link in the text above.

Kirov Your Enemies Close

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This is a Kirov-Class Cruiser, built between 1933 and 1944 for the Soviet Union and deployed on the Black Sea during the Second World War.

The largest ships operated by the Soviet Navy post the Russian Civil War, the Kirov-Class ships featured technology from a variety of nations, with the design being Italian, the radar systems American and British, the boilers British, and the aircraft catapults German.

All of which were countries that the Soviet Union was either at war with or directly hostile to during the time the Kirov-Class ships were in service. It’s a funny world.

This spectacular recreation of a Kirov-Class Cruiser comes from Kirill Simerzin of Flickr, who has replicated the real ship beautifully, from the Italian propeller on the bottom to the American radar systems at the top.

There’s more of the build to see at Kirill’s photostream – click the link above to keep your enemies close…

Show Your Metal

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This astonishing creation is a the uncovered airframe of a First World War Sopwith Camel F.1 fighter, and it’s not quite, entirely, all LEGO.

But it is wonderful, and the use of supporting metal throughout not only replicates the structure of the real biplane, where wood and canvas were tensioned by wires, it proudly showcases the metalwork that is doing exactly the same job for the plastic bricks surrounding it.

Builder Crash Cramer details how and why the metalwork is used, including for the functional control surfaces which are steered via the cockpit, at his Flickr photostream, where a host of beautiful images are available to view.

Join us in taking a closer look via the link in the text above.

Catalina

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This beautiful aircraft is a PBY-6A Catalina, as built by Henrik Jensen of Flickr. Introduced in 1936 over 3,300 Catalina were constructed, making it one of the most widely used flying boats during the second world war. The Catalina saw service in maritime patrol, night bombing, anti-submarine warfare, and search and rescue, with some still in use today as fire fighting water bombers.

The PBY-6A Catalina depicted here was operated by the Royal Dutch Air force, and has been recreated wonderfully by Henrik using a myriad of clever building techniques, with a few stickers enhancing the realism too. There’s more to see of Henrik’s Catalina at his photostream – click the link above to head there and take a look.

Dog Years*

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This is an M8 Greyhound 6×6 Light Armoured Vehicle (or something close to it, as builder Robson M doesn’t specify!), built by Ford in the 1940s for Allied troops during World War 2.

The British, who like naming their military hardware after animals and the weather, gave it the ‘greyhound’ name, as it could sustain 55mph on reasonable roads, which was very quick for the time. And – at least in this one’s case – it was grey.

Much like a real greyhound though, the M8 wasn’t particularly well armoured, especially underneath, and nor was it very good off-road, despite being a 6×6. However it was useful enough that 8,500 were made, and – again like its namesake dog – many found new homes after being retired from their first military owner, with some M8s still in service around the world as late as the 2000s!

This neat Town scale version captures the M8 Greyhound rather well, with Robson using a few custom decals and a custom machine gun mounted on top to add to the model’s realism. There’s more of Robson’s build to see at his photostream – click the link to make a visit to the dog track.


*Today’s lovely title song.

Silver Bird

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We’ve featured many creations here at TLCB that include custom chromed pieces. We don’t mind doing this as a) it’s not really against the spirit of LEGO and b) they usually look awesome. However, it is sometimes nice when a builder uses only LEGO’s own silver parts.

There aren’t many silver LEGO pieces, which makes BigPlanes‘ recently re-photgraphed (and superbly presented) Boeing B-29 Superfortress even more impressive. Custom decals and mini-figure crew complete the build and there’s more to see of this speculator recreation of the historic bomber at BigPlanes’ ‘B-29’ album on Flickr. Click the link above and head to the skies.

Killing with Kliment

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Sometimes we’re surprised we have any Elves left at all…

This is a Soviet Kliment Voroshilov KV-1/KV-2 tank, it comes from Lego-building genius Sariel, and it has caused considerable carnage within our Elven workforce here at TLCB Towers.

Sariel’s model faithfully recreates the 1940’s Russian battle tank, complete with remote control drive and skid-steering, torsion bar suspension, a rotating turret with elevating gun, and – in the case of the mad KV-2 version – a working firing mechanism.

It’s this feature the Elf that discovered today’s find chose to use on its colleagues, firing at them as they fled and then running those that got hit over. It’s not fun being an Elf sometimes. Unless you’re the one doing the firing and running over we suppose…

Anyway, we have the controls now so order has been restored, giving us a chance to examine the astonishing quality of engineering that has gone into this creation.

You can see it for yourself at Sariel’s KV-1/KV-2 Flickr album, the full gallery available at Bricksafe, or the Eurobricks discussion forum. You can also check out Sariel’s interview here at The Lego Car Blog via the first link in the text above, plus you can watch the Kliment Voroshilov tank in action in a Michael Bay-inspired short film below…

YouTube Video

 

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.

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.

Flying the Eastern Front

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Lego Vintage Aircraft

This delightful scene of calm in the midst of a Great War era conflict comes from Tino Poutianen of Flickr, who has created a lovely generic Allied fighter with its two dashing crew casually catching up on news from home whilst a pig steals some lunch.

Sadly we doubt they or the pig will be around this time next year. The early years of wartime flight were terrifically dangerous, and pigs are, well… really tasty. For now all is well though, and happily it’s this scene that’s been preserved in brick by Tino. See more at the link.

B is for Bomber

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Lego Avro Lancaster B Mk.1

It’s the 3rd of January and we still haven’t posted a car. No matter though, because just look at today’s find! This jaw-droppingly beautiful creation is a near-perfect replica of the Avro Lancaster B heavy bomber in Mk.1 specification, as built by Plane Bricks of Flickr.

The Lancaster was the RAF’s primary bomber during the Second World War, with over 7,000 built from 1941 to ’46. The aircraft was powered by four Rolls Royce Merlin liquid-cooled V12 engines, each making well over 1,200bhp, and was capable of carrying the largest payload of any bomber during the war, including the 10,000kg ‘Grand Slam Earthquake’ bombs and the amazing ‘bouncing bombs‘ used to take out German dams.

Lancaster bombers completed around 156,000 sorties during the Second World War, dropping bombs totalling over 600,000 tons, destroying dams, ships, bridges, railways, and armaments. The aircraft were also deployed to drop food aid over occupied Holland, preventing the starvation of thousands of people (a fine hour indeed), but also to indiscriminately fire-bomb the cities Hamburg and Dresden, resulting in their complete destruction and the deaths over 65,000 civilians (a less fine hour…).

Almost half of all the Lancasters built were lost during the war, with only thirty-five completing more than a hundred missions. Today seventeen Avro Lancasters survive of which two are airworthy, flying in Canada and the UK. For readers further afield Plane Brick’s stunning recreation of the Mk.1 Avro Lancaster offers a chance to see this war-defining bomber in incredible detail. With custom decals, superb brick-built camouflage, working land-gear, and a fully detailed interior, Plane Bricks’ mini-figure scale Avro Lancaster B is definitely worth a closer look. Join the fight on Flickr by clicking here.


Lego Avro Lancaster B Mk.1

To Battle!

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Lego Carro Armato M14/41

No, the other way…

This is a Carro Armato M14/41 tank, as manufactured by Fiat for the Royal Italian Army. That means we’re not sure which side this magnificently moustachioed mini-figure is on as Italy switched during World War 2. However as this tank is painted in the colours of the North Africa Campaign it suggests he’s fighting for Mussolini, a man known to have been ‘a bit of a dick’.

Luckily for TLCB’s home nation and the other Allies that this tank fought against, the M14/41 was absolutely rubbish, being obsolete when new, unreliable, cramped, and catching fire regularly. Which is most unlike a Fiat.

Fortunately these short-comings led to a less than successful military campaign, and likely hastened Italy’s overthrowing of Mussolini, abandonment of fascism, and switch to the Allied cause.

This brilliant mini-figure scale recreation of the Carro Armato M14/41 comes from Albert of Flickr, making his TLCB debut. Ingenious building techniques abound and there’s more to see at Albert’s photostream – click the link above to make the jump.