Tag Archives: Bus

Build Small

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Sometimes you don’t need ten thousand pieces to build something blogworthily good. A few hundred might be all that’s required, and previous bloggee IBrickedItUp is proving that today with three top-quality small-scale creations.

Each combines clever techniques, an eye for detail, and excellent presentation to great effect, and all have building instructions available too.

IBrickedItUp’s Jeep Wangler crossroads (plus some neat street furniture), City Bus, and ‘Back to the Future’ DeLorean DMC-12 time-machine can all be found at their Flickr photostream, alongside a range of other real-world vehicles recreated in miniature from a small number of relatively available pieces.

Click the link above to take a closer look, and see what your pieces could create.

Flying Across New York

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Many Marvely-type superheros have flown across New York. Or run. Or swung on spiderwebs. Or been propelled by their supersuit/hammer/insertmagicspaceitemhere.

The real heroes of New York however, take the bus.

Nurses, firefighters, police officers, teachers… the people that keep NYC’s engine running, whilst simultaneously not being able to afford to live in it.

Cue the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New Flyer XD40 buses, transporting hundreds of unsung heroes across New York City every day.

This superb brick-built recreation of true hero transport comes from previous bloggee JLui15, who has not only captured the New Flyer and its MTA livery beautifully, he’s packed it with working functions, including motorised drive, steering, and opening doors controlled via an SBrick.

There’s much more of the New Flyer XD40 to see at Flickr, Eurobricks, and in the video below, and you can join the everyday heroes transiting New York on board via the links in the text above.

YouTube Video

 

Gaseous Emissions

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A fart on a bus is a most unwelcome travelling companion. Although it is immensely funny if you cut one just before your stop. Anyway, here’s a bus powered by compressed natural gas, being a Gillig CNG. Emitting around 20% less CO2 than diesel equivalents, CNG buses run mostly on the same stuff that exits your body, with this one (the bus, not a fart) being formed by previous bloggee 1saac W. of Flickr. There’s more to see at 1saac’s photostream and can toot on over via the link above.

Welcome to Russia!

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The news this week contained the exciting announcement that four peoples’ republics, previously under the oppression of the Ukrainian Neo-Nazi regime, decided  – through definitely-not-rigged-in-any-way-referendums – to join the Russian Federation!

A concert in Moscow’s Red Square celebrated President Putin’s signing of the republics into becoming Russian territory, with many in attendance stating they were kindly bused in for free by the Russian authorities, with a few so in awe and wonder they seemed not even to know why they were there!

Here at The Lego Car Blog we’re joining in the celebrations marking the return of the Soviet Union by busing in our own Soviet Union, er… bus, courtesy of previous bloggee Samolot.

This Kavz 3270 was built from the 1970s until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and was based on the GAZ-53 truck. Samolot’s Technic recreation captures the Soviet-era bus brilliantly, with remote control drive, steering, 4-speed gearbox, and a rotating destination board all controlled by a LEGO Mindstorms robotic brain, plus there’s working suspension, a V8 engine, and opening doors too.

There’s lots more to see of Samolot’s lovely Kavz 3270 bus at Bricksafe and via the Eurobricks forum, where you can also watch a video all the motorised features in action, including the neat rotating destination board above the cab.

Come to think of it, Russian buses will be able to add four new locations to their boards now, because when President Putin wields pen, it definitely makes something so, and certainly negates any words such as ‘sham’, ‘in violation of the United Nations Charter’, and ‘illegal under international law’.

For information on Russia’s annexation, whoops; we mean ‘liberation’ of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, take a look at these pages from United Nations, Amnesty International, or Wikpedia.

Where Eagles Dare

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1968’s ‘Where Eagles Dare’, starring Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton, is widely regarded as one of the finest war movies of all time. That’s despite it featuring hairstyles, make-up, pharmaceuticals, and a red bus from a decade (or even two!) later than the time of its setting.

Said bus, a 1952 Steyr, stars prominently in the closing scenes, as the characters make their escape to an airfield where a Junkers JU-52 is waiting.

This brilliant brick-built recreation of that iconic ‘Where Eagles Dare’ scene is the work of SirLuftwaffles, who has captured not only the wrongly-cast Steyr bus and Junkers JU-52 from the movie wonderfully, he’s placed them within a stunning forced-perceptive alpine setting that looks so good we feel as though we’re making the escape too.

Style your hair for the ’60s, climb aboard a ’52 bus, and head to a snow-covered European airfield in 1944 via the link above.

#buslife

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#buslife. It’s like #vanlife, only harder to park. But with the end of civilisation a genuine possibility thanks to mankind’s continued CO2 output, perhaps now is the time to buy an old bus and park it in readiness for the arriving apocalypse.

Norton74 thinks so too, having equipped two of his mini-figures with this beautifully ramshackle bus for the post-apoc world, built while he (and we) sweltered in record 40°C heat. Thanks Climate Change.

A myriad of wonderful details make Norton’s heatwave-built bus an absolute delight, and you can take a closer look at his mini-figures’ post-apoc future (and perhaps ours too…) on Flickr. Click the link above to join dystopian #buslife.

Get Bent

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Ah the bendy bus. Commonly used at airports when those raised tubey tunnel things are too far away, and – until recently – found clogging up the streets of TLCB’s home capital.

However whilst the bendy bus works a treat on the wide open concrete of an airport (unless you’re the unfortunate sole stuck standing on the articulation point as it meanders back to Terminal 4), they absolutely do not work on the streets of a two-thousand year old city.

Many American cities though, are rather like airports, what with their wide open concrete, multitude of fast food outlets, and overly-zealous armed security. This makes the bendy bus a much more appropriate method of public transportation there than in London*.

Fortunately this bendy bus, a New Flyer Xcelsior XD60, is transporting commuters in the right place, as evidenced by the excellent ‘Newark Penn Station’ destination boards. And the American flag on the side.

Constructed by JLui15’s Studio, this brilliant brick-built bendy-bus not only looks spectacularly accurate inside and out, there’s a full remote control drivetrain hidden within it too.

Custom replica decals enhance the realism, as does the working articulation in the middle, and there’s loads more to see of JLui15’s incredible creation at their ‘Motorized New Flyer XD60 Articulated Bus’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to ride to Newark Station, New Jersey.

*On the flip side of course, the average American bus passenger would probably get wedged in the winding stairs of a Routemaster double-decker, so the inappropriateness goes both ways.

On the National Express

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On the National Express there’s a jolly hostess
Selling crisps and tea
She’ll provide you with drinks and theatrical winks
For a sky-high fee
Mini-skirts were in style when she danced down the aisle
Back in ’63
But it’s hard to get by when your arse is the size
Of a small country

We have Flickr’s Vince_Toulouse to thank for allowing this tenuous link to a Divine Comedy song, and his delightfully strange ‘Intercity Express’. Art deco style, an inspired colour choice, and the ingenious repurposing of previously-useless ‘Life on Mars’ air-pump pieces make us want to hop on-board to wherever this is going. We’ll have some crisps and tea, thanks.

Enhanced Bust

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Redfern1950s has given himself a lift. Published here earlier in the month, we titled Red’s rat rodded school bus after the name your Mom used ‘professionally’, and – just like your Mom – Red’s recently enhanced things to make them a whole lot more… noticeable. Jacked suspension and comically enormous tyres complete the look and there’s more to see of Red’s enhanced Busty Rusty on Flickr here.

Busty Rusty

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Coincidentally the name your Mom had when your Dad first met her at the bar where she worked, and also today’s title, befitting this glorious rat rodded school bus by previous bloggee and Master MOCer Redfern1950s (aka red 2).

With an exposed Cummins diesel up front and a roof-chop the length of the seating area this probably isn’t as comfortable transport as it once was, but kids are short and who wouldn’t want to go to school in this?

There’s more to see of Red’s brilliant creation on Flickr via the link above, plus you can read how he builds models like this one via his Master MOCers interview by clicking here.

B-Model Bussing

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We’re in the final two weeks of TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model Competition, where you could win an incredible SBrick Bluetooth Control Pack! Hoping to do just that is Davide Bersia, with his superb Technic city bus, built only from the parts found within the 42098 Car Transporter set.

Featuring working steering, suspension (cleverly re-using the donor set’s rubber pieces), a working rear-mounted V6 engine, and mechanically operated opening doors, Davide’s 42098 alternate is both unusual and brilliant. Davide has also made building instructions available too, so you convert your own 42098 set into this bus at home. Click here to head to Flickr to find out more!

YouTube Video

All Aboard the Space Bus!

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These Classic Spacemen are off to work, doing important jobs holding strange pieces of equipment close to the ground. They must enjoy it too, as you’ll never find a Classic Spaceman who isn’t smiling! Even their ride to work is a happy one, as shown here by Jerac and his simply marvellous Classic Space Bus. An opening door, vintage Technic wheels, and the obligatory satellite dish and giant spacey aerial all feature and you can hop on board (as long as you’re smiling) via the link above!

Caught a Bug

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If you’re going to catch a bug, it may as well be as big one. Flickr’s Vince_Toulous owns the mind behind this ‘Myriapodobus’, which is complete with a lavish interior and a great many legs. With the passengers all having caught it there’s no need for them to enact ‘social distancing’ so they can have a chat over a drink from the bar-segment. That said, as no one really likes sitting next to one another on the bus, letting alone talking to fellow passengers, we’re not sure Coronavirus has made any discernible difference to public transport etiquette. Catch Vince’s bug for yourself via the link above.

Rapid Bus

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The Speed Champions line-up may be filled with fast and exotic vehicles, but none of them can carry twenty-five mini-figures at once. The Eleventh Bricks‘ ‘Rapid Bus KL’ can though, being a neat Speed Champions scale replica of one of Kuala Lumpur’s city buses. Accurate decals and LED lighting adds to the already impressive realism and you can hop on board yourself via the link above.

Into the Wild

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In April of 1992 a young man by the name Christopher McCandless set out across Alaska on foot. With minimal supplies, a rifle, and a new alter ego (Alex Supertramp), McCandless left civilisation behind to live simply off the land in Alaska’s remote wilderness.

After hiking along the snow-covered ‘Stampede Trail’, McCandless discovered the old Fairbanks Bus 142, a 1946 International Harvester K-5 that was one of several that had been outfitted as shelters for a construction crew repairing the trail in the early 1960s.

When the mine that used the trail closed in the 1970s the buses were removed, all apart from Bus 142 which – thanks to a broken axle – was left behind in the wilderness. Already fitted with beds and a wood burning stove, it became McCandless’s new home.

McCandless attempted to leave the area in which the bus was abandoned several times, but the thick Alaskan undergrowth and swollen rivers made progress impossible, and so he returned, trapped in the shelter.

After 113 days, and weighing just 30kg, McCandless died of starvation and poisoning from wild potato seeds, his final diary entry on day 107 simply reading “Beautiful Blue Berries”. Days 108 to 112 contained only unintelligible slashes, whilst day 113 contained nothing at all.

Two weeks later a group of hunters entered Bus 142 looking for shelter, and discovered McCandless’ decomposing body inside a sleeping bag.

McCandless’ tragic story has since become a book and a movie, and the bus – deteriorating more each year – is now an attraction for Alaskan tourists. This beautiful recreation of the International Harvester that became Chris McCandless’ tomb comes from TLCB favourite and Master MOCer Andrea Lattanzio (aka Norton74), of which there is more to see at his ‘Into the Wild’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to take a trip to the wilderness around Fairbanks Bus 142. Just don’t eat the wild potato seeds.