Tag Archives: camper

Little Haulers

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After a few car-less days we have a trio of vehicular creations to showcase today. None are cars mind…

Still, they are excellent, hence their appearance here, and each proves you don’t need a million pieces or to know The Brothers Brick secret handshake to see your creation blogged.

First up is a vehicle from way back at the very beginning of the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise, Brian’s Ford F-150 Lightning, complete with ‘The Racers Edge’ decals and a bed full of rather easily stolen car parts. Previous bloggee IBrickItUp is the builder and you can drive to Toretto’s to order a ‘tuna on white with no crust‘ via the link above.

Today’s second small-scale vehicle comes from Justus M., whose classic RV is quite magnificently beige. It also features some simply ingenious suspension, deploying your Mom’s recently blogged ‘golden handcuff’ pieces to brilliant effect. You can see how Justus has done it via the link to his photostream above, where you can also find a video of the springy ‘cuffs in action.

Today’s third and final creation is two really, with Thomas Gion‘s ace 1969 Dodge A100 van and BBQ smoker trailer in tow. As Thomas also goes by the moniker ‘HotDogSandwiches’ it’s a rather appropriate pairing, and you can grab a bun and tuck in to a perfectly smoked sausage via the link in the text above.

Merc on a Mission

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After yesterday’s MAN 8×8 expedition truck, today we have a bonus build. Casually added into the Eurobricks topic alongside the MAN, collaborative builders MTC also published this brilliant-looking Mercedes-Benz Unimog outfitted for off-road adventuring. A complete Technic chassis is topped with an excellent Model Team body, consisting of a four-door cab and an integrated RV unit, and there’s more to see alongside the previously-blogged MAN 8×8 on Eurobricks. Click the link above for more off-road adventures.

MAN on a Mission

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If this TLCB Writer received paid holiday (no chance! Ed.), he’d like to go adventuring in something like this.

Built by collaborative building channel MTC, this MAN 8×8 off-road expedition truck includes everything you could need to escape to a place far away.

Two XL Motors power all eight fully suspended wheels, a Servo powers the steering, a Medium Motor drives a lift for a motorcycle/ATV platform mounted under the rear of the fully-equipped camper section, whilst another drives a compressor that can elevate the camper roof on four pneumatic cylinders.

All of the functions can be controlled via bluetooth courtesy of two SBricks, which you can watch in action via the excellent and appropriately sound-tracked video below, plus there’s more to see of this amazing rig at both Eurobricks and Flickr.

Click the links to join this TLCB Writer dreaming of places far far away.

YouTube Video

Iveco Overland Adventure

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Social media is bursting with #van/truck/buslife content. Attractive couples bedecked in hot pants and topknots regale their audience with tales of adventure, ethically-sourced all-natural vegan cuisine, and a life lived off the beaten track, only returning to civilisation to connect to Starbucks’ wifi to upload their latest vlog.

Back in 1995 though, a team of Italian overlanding experts did things properly. Using four amazing Iveco 330.30 6×6 trucks, each outfitted for a different overlanding purpose by specialists Mussa & Graziano, the team travelled over 170,000kms through 91 countries during the five year expedition.

Better yet, there wasn’t a ‘Like & Subscribe!’ in sight, with the expedition supporting Unicef (one of TLCB’s own chosen charities) and staffed by doctors, an Italian parachute regiment, Iveco mechanics, and other people that – whilst they might not have a topknot – do know what they’re doing.

This phenomenal Technic creation captures one of the four incredible Iveco vehicles from the epic expedition, and comes from previous bloggee Lucio Switch of Flickr.

With remote control 6×6 drive, steering, locking differentials, all-wheel suspension, and a fully-accessible cab and living quarter, Lucio’s model replicates the Mussa & Graziano modified Iveco 330.30 6×6 overland truck spectacularly, and there’s a whole lot more to see at both his Flickr album and via the video below.

Click the links to start your expedition. Topknot not required.

YouTube Video

Home is Where You Park(ed) It

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Some vehicles are more than the sum of their parts. They’ve transcended their original purpose to become, and stand for, something more. The Volkswagen Camper, the Toyota Prius, and the DeLorean DMC-12 to name a few, but each of those is still, at the end of the day, just a car. A car wrapped up in a million connotations, but a car nonetheless.

Occasionally though, a vehicle transcends its original purpose by actually, well… transcending it. These are rarely the cool cars. They’re the forgotten ones. The vehicles whose job as a vehicle has long been superseded in order to meet the more immediate needs of the owner.

Cue TLCB debutant pan noda, and their simply wonderful ‘RV House’, depicting a dead camper, extended, adapted and remodelled, to become a far better abode than when it was still rolling.

Gorgeous detailing and presentation abounds and you can click the link above to take a closer look. It’s not #vanlife. It’s something a whole lot more.

El Campino

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Aaaand at the other end of the Chevrolet cool scale we have this; a dilapidated El Camino camper, cobbled together from assorted junk, inhabited by someone you’d expect to see throwing dice in an alley, and parked in a swamp. It’s TLCB of cars.

Which means we feel right at home posting ‘Florida Man’s El Camino & Cab-Over Camper’ by previous bloggee IBrickedItUp, and you can join us huntin’ ‘gators in the swamp via the link above.

The Walking Dead

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In this TLCB Writer’s opinion, it’s only a matter of time before the dead rise up to feast on the squishy bits of the living.

What we’d want in those inevitably approaching times is a shotgun and an RV, so we could a) shoot at reanimated corpses from the safety of the roof, and b) take a crap in comfort.

Dale in ‘The Walking Dead’ had the right idea, well – until he went for a walk in a field and his squishy bits were pulled out, but had he stayed atop his classic Winnebago he’d have been fine.

Jonas Kramm has recreated Dale and his RV pre-zombie dinner, and a dead-good job he’s done too! All details are present and correct including the roll-out awning, radio arial, roof-mounted parasol and deck-chair arrangement, and a mini-figure Dale with shotgun.

Best of all, Jonas has made instructions available so you can recreate it too, meaning at least a mini-figure or two in your collection will be safe from the certain zombie apocalypse that’s coming.

Alternative Alternative Lifestyle

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It seems the ironic that those extolling the virtues of ‘alternative living’ all do it in exactly the same way. But you don’t have to be an all-natural-vegan-top-knot-wearing-bearded-Volkswagen-bus-driving-douchebag to live the ’60s bus life. You could do it in a Transit. And the Transit is better.

Faster, more comfortable, more reliable, less polluting, quieter, and easier to drive, the Mark 1 Ford Transit makes for a much better bus than the noisy, slow, absurdly expensive default.

This lovely recreation of the first generation Transit comes from Flickr’s OutBricks, who has captured the classic van wonderfully in 7-wide. There’s more to see of the build at Out’s photostream, and you can can explore his alternative to the alternative lifestyle vehicle of choice via the link above.

Honey, I Shrunk the 10220

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LEGO’s fab 10220 Creator Volkswagen Camper set has – after eight years on sale – finally been replaced. One of the earliest officially-licensed Creator sets, 10220 will likely become one of LEGO’s all time greats, and Flickr’s 1saac W. has channeled the Lego icon into his own astonishing miniaturised Volkswagen T1 Westfalia, some two years in the making.

1saac’s model looks every bit as detailed as its giant inspiration, with techniques used within it that seem to defy physics. Yet it’s all Lego, and the genius of its assembly is matched only by the perfection of the presentation.

We genuinely can’t figure out how it’s all been done, and if you’d like to try to work out how 1ssac has seemingly shrunk 10220 head to his photostream via the link above.

Camp Fire

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We love repurposed vehicles (or anything else for that matter) here at The Lego Car Blog. Taking something and transforming for a different purpose is not only far less environmentally damaging than making something new, the results are often way cooler. As evidenced by Beat Felber‘s wonderful 1984 Land Rover 110.

Beat’s real-world Land Rover served as an off-road fire engine for about twenty-five years, before it was retired and converted into the superb off-road camper it is today, and Beat has now recreated it in Lego form, capturing his real-life vehicle beautifully.

Underneath the brilliantly life-like exterior – complete with opening doors and hood – is a remotely controlled 4×4 drivetrain powered by an SBrick, with L-Motors driving both axles (each of which is suspended), a Servo the steering, and an M-Motor the high/low gearbox.

It’s a delightful build made all the better by its real-world counterpart, and there’s more to see of both Beat’s Lego Land Rover 110 and the real fire-engine-turned-camper that inspired it via the link above.

LEGO Creator 10279 Volkswagen T2 Camper | Set Preview

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The crack team of Elven ‘volunteers’ fired over The LEGO Company’s HQ permitter wall tasked with uncovering this summer’s new sets had – we thought – all returned/been eaten by guard dogs, but no! Today one last bedraggled Elf returned home to TLCB Towers with a final new-for-2021 LEGO set, at it’s a great one…

This is the brand new Creator Expert 10279 Volkswagen T2 Camper Van, LEGO’s officially licensed successor to the wonderful 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van that has been on sale for almost a decade (making it one of the longest serving LEGO sets ever).

Improving on the 10220 set is no mean feat – it achieved a full 10/10 review here at TLCB – and LEGO have certainly gone all-out, nearly doubling the parts count to a whopping 2,207 pieces.

Many of these are tiles too, as a new building technique deploys outward facing ‘SNOT’ to construct the bodywork in place of the original set’s traditional stacked bricks.

A fully detailed interior complete with a canvas pop-top, opening cabinets, a fridge, a stove (with all important tea pot), and a sink is included, whilst a brick-built surfboard (first seen on the 10252 Volkswagen Beetle set) along with two folding deck chairs ensure the T2 is suitably beachy.

Working steering, a sliding door, a brand new windscreen piece, and an opening engine cover add to the realism, whilst period-correct (and hippy default) ‘Peace’ and ‘Love’ decals ensure the model reflects the late ’60s – early ’70s era that still defines the T2 today.

Expect the new LEGO Creator Expert 10279 Volkswagen T2 Camper Van to cost around $180/£150 when it hits stores later this year, and LEGO’s successful Volkswagen Camper story to continue for some time yet. A T3 set in 10 years’ time? We wouldn’t bet against it!

Minnie Winnie

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This startlingly well-constructed classic camper is a 1977 Dodge B100-based Winnebago, or ‘Minnie Winnie’, and it comes from 1saac W. who is on an absolute roll at the moment.

1saac’s creation captures the aesthetic of the real deal brilliantly, including a brick-built take on the classic Winnebago livery, and a subtle shift from six to seven wide from the cabin to the camper.

It might not be fast, nor beautiful, but it’s nevertheless one of our favourite small-scale creations of the year so far. Head to an American campsite in the late ’70s via 1saac’s photostream above.

#vanlife

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Ergh, #vanlife.

Once the preserve of smelly hippies and families who liked to sleep in a field, the humble camper van has transformed into some kind of sustainable-living fashion statement, despite the fact that the occupants are literally burning oil with every unnecessary YouTube video uploaded following their drive to the nearest Starbucks. But if they only eat ethically-sourced all-natural vegan peace-crisps then it’s all OK…

This cheery mini-figure enjoying #vanlife has himself a 6-wide Volkswagen T3 Westfalia camper, complete with a brilliant pop-up roof, sliding door, and a fully fitted interior. Built by PalBenglat of Flickr it could only be more realistic if said mini-figure had a beard and a top-knot.

Join him trying to access the free WiFi at the nearest Starbucks via the link above!

Board Shorts

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Short things are sometimes good things. Shortbread for example. Being short-listed. Skirts. Salma Hayek. OK, we’re getting off track, but this Volkswagen T1 Camper ‘Shortie’ by 1saac W of Flickr is definitely a good thing, and you can see more of it at his photostream just a short click away.

Social Distancing

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In these times of social distancing, escaping to a campsite seems pretty tempting. Except it would likely be full of vloggers in Volkswagen Campers eating all-natural-ethnically-sourced-peace-crisps and claiming positive energy can cure Coronavirus whilst never being further than five feet from wifi.

Real wanderers forgo Instagram-friendly VW’s and #vanlife for far more practical vehicles, like this magnificent Ford Transit Mk2 camper, something this TLCB writer hasn’t seen in years but recognised immediately from this brilliant mini-figure recreation by Flickr’s November Juliett.

Hardly any Mk2 Transits have survived, because they were used hard, were never on trend, and were therefore pretty much worthless after a few years. Which makes them infinitely cooler than another $25,000 Volkswagen inhabited by people claiming they’ve given up materialism.

Head into the wilderness for some proper social distancing courtesy of November’s superb Ford Transit Camper via the link above.