Tag Archives: bmw

Slingshot

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It’s not just Dennis the Menace and old-timey scallies in the park who were armed with catapults. Because this is an Arado Ar 196, a Second World War German reconnaissance floatplane, powered by a 1,000bhp BMW radial engine, and stationed on every German capital ship during the war – from which it was launched by catapult.

This splendid recreation of the Ar 196 – and the ship-mounted catapult from which they were propelled – is the work of Flickr’s Veynom, who has captured the floatplane brilliantly in brick form. Catapult yourself over to Veynom’s photostream to take a closer look via the link in the text above.

Two-Wheeled Adventure

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This site regularly mocks American consumers for buying enormous, uncomfortable, inefficient pick-up trucks that carry nothing more than an overweight driver and a handgun to Walmart.

In TLCB’s home nation we are far more sophisticated, because the best-selling motorbike in the UK is… the BMW GS Adventure. Um… ok, perhaps we’re not so different.

Built to tackle the trails of South America, deserts of Nabia, and the Australian outback, the BMW GS Adventure is spectacularly over-specified for the outskirts of London. But it looks so cool!

This excellent Technic example comes from moc-nemooz, and captures BMW Motorrad’s off-road touring motorbike brilliantly, with a host of working functions and an accurate livery too.

There’s much more of the model to see at nemooz’s ‘BMW GS 1250’ album and you can cross the desert the London ring-road via the link above.

Wait For It…

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These days, everything is turbocharged. Which normally means a tiny engine, often with three-cylinders, fitted under the hood of a homogenous crossover. Sigh. But turbos used to be cool. Albeit laggy.

This is the BMW 2002 Turbo, one of the first turbocharged production cars, and powered by a 2.0 litre engine fitted with a 0.55 bar twin-scroll KK&K turbocharger that boosted power to almost 170bhp. Well, it did once the turbo-lag was over, usually a few seconds after you asked for it.

Launched in 1973, the 2002 Turbo’s arrival coincided exactly with the oil crisis, which meant it wasn’t exactly a success. The technology it pioneered however, is now fitted to almost every new non-electrified car on sale, and with the lag left in the past.

This excellent brick-built homage to the 2002 Turbo comes from brickphisto of Flickr, who has recreated it beautifully in 8-wide form. The doors, trunk, and hood all open, under the last of which is a replica of the M10-turbo engine that powered it, and there’s more of the model to see at brickphisto’s photostream. Put your foot down and wait a few seconds via the link above.

LEGO Technic H1 2026 | Set Previews

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It’s just a few weeks ’til Christmas
And all through LEGO’s HQ
Our Elves have been stealing
Next year’s sets to preview!

Yes it’s time to preview the 2026 LEGO Technic sets, and we have nine brand new vehicles to bring to you! Plus one already previewed that really annoyed us. So is the rest of the H1 2026 Technic range any better? Let’s find out…

42218 John Deere 1470H Wheeled Harvester

The 2026 Technic range kicks off with this, the 42218 John Deere 1470H Wheeled Harvester. With just over a hundred pieces 42218 is about as small as Technic sets get, and yet it looks to be rather a good one. Pivoted ‘steering’, mechanical worm-gear boom elevation, and a simple grab mechanism feature, as does John Deere licensing that probably wasn’t really necessary at this scale but is nice nonetheless. Aimed at ages 7+ 42218 will cost pocket-money when it arrives next year and we rather like it.

42225 Yellow Motorbike

A refreshingly simple title from LEGO for a refreshingly simple set, this is the new 42225 Yellow Motorbike. Constructed from 151 pieces, 42225 features steering, a working chain-driven inline-triple piston engine, and zero licensing or stickers. It’s like mid-’00s Technic never went away. A decent pocket-money starter set.

42219 Monster Jam Grave Digger Fire and Ice & 42220 Monster Jam Sparkle Smash

It’s time for the obligatory Pull-Backs, and LEGO have certainly found a sweet-spot with the Monster Jam series. We’d have thought they would have run out of Monster Jam trucks by now but no, two more join the line-up for ’26. And one’s pink!

Aimed at ages 7+ 42219 Monster Jam Grave Digger Fire and Ice & 42220 Monster Jam Sparkle Smash bring around 150 pieces each, an array of colourful stickerage, and – in the case of the sparkly pink unicorn – may well be bought by a few adults for the pink and purple parts alone.

42221 NASA Artemis SLS Heavy Lift Rocket

LEGO Technic Space is back! After the surprise Space range of 2024, LEGO have decided to bring a real-world rocket to the Technic line-up. This is the brand new 42221 NASA Artemis SLS Heavy Lift Rocket.

Constructed from 632 pieces the new 9+ model offers a very unusual feature set (which makes sense as rockets don’t really have any moving parts to replicate). Hidden within its base, 42221 includes a tightly packed set of gears and a crank handle that allows the NASA Artemis to blast-off via the mother of all corkscrews, with the booster rockets separating as it does so.

Original and rather ingenious, expect 42221 to cost around $60/£50 when it’s cleared for launch in 2026.

42222 Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport

There have been a myriad of officially licensed Bugatti LEGO sets over the years, echoing the myriad of special edition real-world Bugattis. This is the latest, the 771-piece 42222 Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport Hypercar with functioning steering, a working W16 piston engine, opening doors and hood, a few choice stickers, and a continuation of the tie-in with the ‘Asphalt Legends’ video game that we still don’t understand.

Aimed at ages 9+ and arriving in stores next year for around $65/£60, 42222 makes the previously revealed 793-piece 42223 1966 Ford GT40 MkII Race Car‘s ’18+’ marketing look even more cynical…

42224 Porsche 911 GT3 R REXY AO Racing

Now we’re moving up a gear. This is the brand new 42224 Porsche 911 GT3 R REXY AO Racing Race Car. Dual-licensed by both Porsche and REXY AO Racing, 42224 recreates one of GT3’s most strikingly liveried racers in Technic form, and brings a whole lotta green to the 2026 line-up. And stickers. A lot of stickers.

42224 is a racing car though, so they’re rather appropriate here, and the model includes a suite of working functions to ensure it’s not simply a display piece. All-wheel suspension, working steering, a flat-6 engine (with the correct firing order), opening doors and front truck, plus functioning mechanically-operated ‘air’ jacks feature, as do a few new parts including transparent oval headlights.

With 1,313 pieces and an age of 11+, expect a price-tag around $140/£130 when 42224 races into stores in 2026.

42226 BMW M4 GT3 EVO

Next to join the 2026 Technic range is another GT3 racer, although whilst this one keeps the 11+ age of the 42224 Porsche 911 GT3 above, it drops the parts-count and scale back to that of the 42222 Bugatti. There must be some trickier building techniques at play…

The new 42226 BMW M4 GT3 EVO doesn’t seem to offer any more complexity than the other mid-size sets joining the 2026 Technic range though, with just shy of 750 pieces, working steering, opening doors, and a piston engine. It also looks every bit as hideous as its real-world counterpart, despite the stickers doing their best.

A few parts appear in new colours, the model ties-in with the ‘Asphalt Legends’ video game as per the Bugatti, and you’ll be able to get your hands on 42226 for around $65/£60 when it arrives in stores next year.

42227 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon

Wait, wasn’t this yellow? There was indeed a yellow Technic Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, but the new 42227 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon adds 10% more parts to its 2022 predecessor and 100% more turquoise. It also adds a working engine, whilst retaining its predecessor’s working steering, pendular suspension, and – perhaps our favourite detail of a Technic model ever – a rubber duck (Google it).

With many parts making their debut in turquoise we suspect 42227 will be rather sought after when it lands in 2026, and it’s probably our pick of the line-up too. Expect to pay £55/$60 and to see this on the dashboard of many a real Wrangler Rubicon – alongside a rubber duck – by this time next year.

Dixi Chic

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Mini are these days owned by BMW. But before the ‘new’ Mini was the 1959 original, which was actually first called the Austin ‘Seven’ and not the ‘Mini’ at all. And that’s because it had an even smaller predecessor, the pre-Second World War Austin 7, a car that was also – weirdly – BMW’s first.

Produced under license in-between Britain and Germany killing one another and then Britain and Germany killing one another again, almost 10,000 Austin 7-based BMW Dixis were built, before BMW designed their first in-house model in the early-’30s (although this still used a licensed Austin engine).

This lovely recreation of the BMW Dixi 3/15 comes from SvenJ. of Flickr, who has captured the German Austin 7 beautifully. There’s more to see at Sven’s ‘BMW Dixi 3/15’ album and you can head back to 1920s Germany via the link above.

Build-a-Bimmer

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Two years ago we blogged Thirdwigg’s excellent ‘E30’ generation BMW 3-Series, which is very possibly the best car BMW have ever made. In contrast BMW’s latest M-Cars are very much not the best they have ever made. But there is one that at least retains rear-wheel-drive and the option of a manual gearbox (and it is an option, costing more than the automatic for, um… reasons).

The BMW M2 is possibly the last rear-wheel-drive BMW M-Car, and whilst it sure isn’t an E30 3-Series, it is perhaps as close as it’s possible to get in 2025. Like his previous Technic BMWs, Thirdwigg’s top-notch recreation of the M2 includes a working inline-6 engine, ‘HOG” steering, opening doors, hood and trunk, and free building instructions. Because Thirdwigg is a hundred-times more awesome than BMW’s gearbox department.

There’s more to see at Thirdwigg’s ‘BMW M2 G87’ album, plus you can read more about the builder in our Master MOCers section via this bonus link.

Origins

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The BMW M3 is now in its eighth generation. Powered by a 470bhp turbocharged inline-6, weighing 1.7 tons, and fitted with the largest nostrils in the automotive industry. Which means it interests us not one bit.

But rewind nearly forty years and the M3 interests us very much indeed. Launched in 1986 the ‘E30’ generation M3 was built for German Touring Car Championship (DTM) homologation, featured a multitude of bodywork and chassis adaptations, plus BMW’s new S14 2.3 litre 4-cylinder engine making around 200bhp.

That might not sound a lot today but it was a serious figure for the 1980s, particularly as it used no forced induction, and it only had 1,200kgs to move – a full half-a-ton less than the latest M3.

The result was (and remains) one of the finest drivers’ cars ever produced, and this brilliant homage to the original M3 was constructed as a commission for (we presume) one very lucky owner of the real deal.

Flickr’s Leo 1 is its maker, who has captured the definitive ’80s sports sedan perfectly in Lego form. Ingenious construction techniques replicate both the E30’s famous shape and interior, and you can recreate them for yourself as Leo has made building instructions for his M3 available.

Head to Leo’s photostream to take a look at all of the stunning imagery, and to find the aforementioned instructional link so you can create BMW’s best M3 for yourself.

The Ultimate Driving Machine

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At the time of writing, everything BMW makes (and it’s a rather long list) is a very expensive, very heavy, overly powerful, visual assault. BMW’s tagline might still be “The Ultimate Driving Machine”, but their cars sure aren’t.

Which is why today we’re travelling back to the late-’60s to early-’70s, when BMW made joyous cars such as this, the fantastic 02-Series.

This one is a two-door 2002, being powered by BMW’s then-new ‘M10’ engine making between 100 and 120bhp. It was a peach of an engine too, becoming one of the first to offer fuel injection and turbocharging, and in production for a quarter of a century. It was also developed into BMW’s 1980s F1 engine, making an unbelievable 1,400bhp in qualifying trim…

But back the 2002, and this lovely Speed Champions scale example comes from The G Brix of Flickr, who’s captured the sporty compact sedan beautifully in brick form. There’s more to see at G’s photostream, and you can jump back to when BMW did indeed make “The Ultimate Driving Machine” (and not whatever this is supposed to be) via the link above.

Humble Beginnings

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The Lego Car Blog is a site with humble beginnings. We’re not famous Lego Show exhibitors, Lego User Group leaders, or even upstanding members of the Online Lego Community. Nope, this site was created by idiots, but look how far we’ve co… Wait, that probably isn’t a good example.

But there are great examples of automotive humble beginnings, including two now-titans of the German motor industry; Porsche and BMW.

Porsche’s first car (depicted above) was the 356, which looked a lot like the Volkswagen Beetle, because… well, it kinda was one. BMW on the other hand began by making aero engines during both World Wars. Fortunately for this site’s home nation, the military machine to whom they were supplied didn’t win either of them, and strict metal rationing after Germany’s defeat meant creating cars like the one depicted below, the tiny BMW Isetta ‘bubble car’.

They were simple, slow, and not very expensive, and both shown here are the work of TLCB debutant Filippos Tsialidis, who has created them rather humbly too, using just a handful of pieces for each. They join a host of other classic cars at his ‘Cars’ Flickr album, and you can take a look at beginning of Porsche, BMW, and many others too via the link above.

My Other Car’s a Porsche

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Germany have a reputation for making iconic sports cars. The Z4 M is probably not one of them, but it was a worthy entry into the faster end of the class in the 2000s. Launched in 2003, the Z4 was available with a variety of engines from a mundane 2.0 4-cylinder making 150bhp, through a variety of straight-sixes with around 200bhp.

The fastest was of course the Z4 M, which deployed a wider track, the rear axle from an M3 CSL, hydraulic power steering, and the M-Division’s 340bhp S54 engine, for a 0-60mph time of 4.8 seconds.

This neat recreation of the first-generation Z4 M is the work of FanisLego, who has built it entirely from the pieces from the Creator Expert 10295 Porsche 911 set.

There’s a detailed engine under the opening hood, opening doors, working steering, and a remarkably good rendition of the famous Bangle-era ‘flame surfacing’, particularly given the constrained parts choice.

Building instructions are available and you can swap your own 911 for a Z4 M via the link to Fanis’ Bricksafe gallery above.

Better from the Back

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BMW’s current design language is… um, challenging. Stupid aggressiveness, stupid grilles, stupid lighting, stupid grilles with stupid lighting… ‘The Human Centipede’ is less visually offensive than some of BMW’s latest offerings.

Which is why we’ve chosen to show the rear of Drop Shop‘s fantastic BMW M3 Competition rather than the front. Because so good is his brick-built replica of BMW’s latest iteration of their super saloon that its face is every bit as difficult to stomach as the real thing.

There’s much more to see at Drop’s photostream, if your constitution is more robust than ours…

The M3 in an M3

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Running around 100km between the south coast of England and London, the M3 motorway is used by millions of people every year to drive to / escape from the capital.

It’s also a road driven by thousands of business-types every day from their homes in green suburbia to their business desks in London, from where they do business things. Back in the early 2000s, this was one of the most popular business-person choices for that journey, the BMW ‘E46’ 3-Series.

Typically driven four feet from the car in front, by a sunglasses-wearing business-person, they were loved by their customer base, and hated by everyone else. These days however, the aforementioned business-persons have moved onto electric Mercedes-Benzes and Teslas, and the E46 has become – whisper it – rather cool.

The best of all the E46 3-Series derivatives is this one, the 350bhp M3 Coupe. Launched in 2000, the E46 was powered by a straight-6 naturally-aspirated engine, was mostly manual, and looked… well, not at all like BMWs do now. Which means it’s TLCB’s kind of car.

Recreating his father’s own E46 M3 (lucky man), Flickr’s Leo 1 has constructed the early-’00s coupe beautifully, including a detailed interior and some trick techniques to accurately replicate the handsome exterior.

Building instructions are available, and you can drive along the M3 to an important early-’00s business meeting in your own M3 via Leo’s photostream at the link above.

8-Wide-8

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Remember when BMW’s were understated and classy? Well this was not one of those cars. But by today’s BMW standards it’s positively minimalist.

Launched in 1990, the E31 8-Series was a technical tour-de-force, featuring the world’s first drive-by-wire throttle and the first combination of a V12 engine with a manual gearbox. And BMW were going to go further still, with an even more powerful ‘M8’ version.

However it wasn’t to be, with a global recession and the Gulf War (thanks Saddam) killing the M8 before it could be released. That hasn’t stopped Flickr’s LegoSEB77 from imagining what could have been though, and you can check out his excellent 8-wide BMW ‘M8’ via the link above.

Bygone Motorsport Win

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Endurance racing is about to get properly exciting. After years of single team dominance due to limited competition, this year nineteen entrants across nine manufacturers will compete for the outright win.

One of several new or returning manufacturers, BMW will rejoin the top tier of endurance racing nearly a quarter of a century since they competed with this, the wild V12 LMR.

Using the same the engine as the Le Mans winning McLaren F1 GTR, the BMW V12 LM was developed with then-Formula 1 World Champions Williams, and deployed the new open-cockpit prototype rules against the old-school sports car designs in use by other teams. And it was… rubbish.

Slow, unreliable, and retiring after just a few dozen laps, the 1998 car was a disaster. So BMW and Williams started again, and returned in 1999 with this, the radically re-designed V12 LMR.

The all-new bodywork transformed the car, with it qualifying on pole and winning the first race it entered, at the 12 Hours of Sebring.

The big prize however was Le Mans, and despite fierce competition from Audi, Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and others, it was a BMW V12 LMR that took (perhaps thanks to a little bit of luck) the overall win. Quite a turnaround from the embarrassment of the year before.

The team entered again in 2000, but a decade-long period of total Audi dominance had begun, and thus BMW withdrew the V12 LMR before the season was up.

BMW turned their attention instead to Formula 1, where the team continued their successful partnership with Williams. Thus without the V12 LMR, a BMW engine may never again have powered a race-winning Formula 1 car.

Suggested to us by a reader, PROTOTYP. of Flickr remembers BMW’s Le Mans glory with his fantastic V12 LMR model, riding atop 3D-printed replica wheels and with stunning period-correct vinyl decals.

Superbly presented, there’s more of the model to see at PROTOTYP.’s ‘BMW LMR LMP Le Mans 1999’ album, and you can click the link above to jump back to Le Mans 1999. BMW will sure be remembering it too, as they return to Le Mans later this year, some 25 years on…

Mechanical Master MOCer

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You thought we’d forgotten about the Master MOCers Series hadn’t you? Well, um… we had. But no longer! Because a builder who has appeared here so frequently over the years he’s got his own section in our Archives has become the latest builder to join the Master MOCers Series 2 Hall of Fame!

Kyle Wigboldy, better known as Thirdwigg, creates some of the best all-mechanical Technic models anywhere in the world right now, and they’re being built all around the world too, as he also produces top quality building instructions to accompany them. Best of all, many of these are downloadable for free (a hundred TLCB points to Thirdwigg!).

From supercars to off-road trucks, and everything in-between, Thirdwigg’s enormous back-catalogue is filled with superb mechanically-driven creations, and you can find out what makes him tick in our 9th Master MOCers interview of Series 2.

You can read Thirwigg’s LEGO-building story via the link below, where you might find a few models that you’d like to build for yourself at home!

Master MOCers [Series 2] | Thirdwigg