Surprisingly lucrative, easy to grow, and in demand just about everywhere, grass is bigger business than you might think.
Cue Arian Janssens, whose dope DAF 95.360 Space Cab hook-lift and drawbar trailer are designed solely to transport the stuff.
Both the truck and trailer can tip their respective containers independently, and share them with the world’s weirdest lawnmower for filling during the cutting process.
Hash your way to Flickr via the links above to roll one up.
It’s not all supercars and hot rods here at The Lego Car Blog. Mostly this is because we’re pretty rubbish at sticking to our brief, but it’s also because we rather like trucks, diggers, tractors, and other workhorse-like machinery. This example was discovered by one of our Elves on Bricksafe, it’s a Claas Axion tractor by mpj, features working steering and rear hitch mechanisms, and there’s more to see via the link. Plus if you’re as into green farm machinery as we are (frankly it’s a miracle we have partners…) you can check out LEGO’s own officially-licensed and throughly brilliant Claas tractor set by clicking here, and its smaller brother here, back from the earliest days of this website. We’ve clearly been nerding out over tractors for some time…
Pieces of farm equipment, like American cars, are often named after scary things. Cue the Claas Scorpion telehandler, so called because it looks precisely nothing like the desert-dwelling arachnid.
It is a good bit of kit mind, as is regular bloggee Damian Z’s brick-built recreation, which not only looks the part, it functions like it too.
A variety of implements can be attached to the telescopic elevating boom, including a pair of forks, a tipping bucket, or a horizontal grabby thingy.
Said thingy can be used to manoeuvre bales onto the drawbar trailer, which can then be towed behind, and there’s more to see of Damian’s excellent creation at his ‘CLAAS Scorpion’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to get out on bale.
This spectacular creation is a Claas Torion 1914 wheel loader, a two-thousand piece fully remote controlled behemoth from mktechniccreations of Eurobricks.
With four Powered-Up motors, mk’s creation can drive, steer, and generate its own air pressure in order to power the pneumatics that operate the loading arm and bucket tilt functions.
Superbly lifelike aesthetics, enhanced by accurate decals, are showcased via top quality presentation, and there’s more of the Powered-Up Claas to see at the Eurobricks forum, where a full suite of imagery can be found. Click the link above to take a look and one of the most well engineered creations of the year so far.
After recently publishing an other-worldly Blacktron combine harvester (what it harvests we have no idea, but we probably don’t want to know), here’s one that’s far more terrestrial. And just as terrifying.
Despite the fact that this Claas Lexion 750 will be harmlessly harvesting wheat, barley, maize, or some other cereal, it – like all combine harvesters – looks like a post-apocalyptic doom-bringer, not helped by the fact that its various components are called names such as ‘reciprocating knife cutter bar’.
Accurately recreating the whirling thresher, spiky blades, rear-wheel steering, and unloading auger of the Claas Lexion 750 is previous bloggee Keko007, whose Lego version looks so life-like we’re surprised he didn’t lose a finger building it.
We’ll be keeping our extremities well away from it then, but you can take a closer look at Keko’s Lexion on Flickr. Click the link above to make the jump and start reaping.
This a Claas Xerion 5000 tractor, and it has a rather neat party trick; the cabin can rotate 180 degrees. Flickr’s colognebrick has replicated the Xerion in miniature perfection, and – like the official LEGO Technic 42054 Claas Xerion set (or the terrifying girl from The Exorcist) – this model includes the ability for the cab to turn to face rearwards. Click the link above to visit colognebrick’s photostream and ace both ways.
*Today’s title song. Gosh ’80s music videos were crap.
This is a Claas Arion 650 with Pottinger Ploughs. We have no idea what a Pottinger Plough is, but it sounds like either a British sandwich or something you might find in the karma sutra. Whatever it is, it looks great here, as built by previous bloggee Keko007, and there’s more to see at his ‘Claas Arion 650 with Pottinger Plows’ album.
And now, later than billed, it’s the all new 2020 Technic line-up! OK, we’re well into 2020 now (and have already previewed the new 42109 Top Gear Rally Car and 42110 Land Rover Defender sets), but one of our Elves got caught at The LEGO Company’s HQ and securing its release was harder than removing a U.S President from office. We wouldn’t have minded (we have lot of Elves) but it had some great intel…
This intel in fact, the new 42101 Buggy aimed at aged 7+ and featuring 117 pieces. 42101 looks like a modern reinterpretation of the classic (and awesome) 8818 Dune Buggy set from 1993. It’s not as good as the 1993 version obviously, which had a single-cylinder piston engine, but it does feature steering and rear suspension, making it a worthwhile entry point into the Technic range. Expect to pay around $12/£9 in stores.
The second entry point into the 2020 Technic range brings back the familiar green and red we’ve come to know from one of LEGO’s official partnerships. The original 42054 Claas Xerion 5000 set is – we think – one of the best Technic sets of all time, and the 130 piece 42102 set resembles a tiny (like, really really tiny) version of the 2017 flagship. Accurate decals, working steering, and a lawn mower thingy that rotates as the model is pushed along make the Mini Claas Xerion a neat set for ages 7+, and like the Technic Buggy above it’s available for pocket money. Good stuff.
Uh oh, the Pull-Backs. The Scrappy-Dos of Technic, we haven’t yet been impressed by any of these. However 2020 looks like it might be the exception, because we rather like this one! Featuring nothing but a pull-back motor (boo), the new 42103 Dragster set displays the usual extensive stickerage we’ve come to expect from these sets but it looks… well, really rather good. Aimed at ages 7+, 42103 includes 225 pieces, a ‘Christmas tree’ light, and a wheelie-bar. Could 2020 be the first year of decent pull-back sets?
No. Because back to form, here’s the 42104 Race Truck. With 227 pieces – all of which can be put to better use elsewhere – a plethora of stickers, and a pointless start/finish gantry thing, 42104 includes literally nothing that a Technic set should do. Oh, the bonnet opens, does that count? Next…
Breaking momentarily away from the Pull-Backs comes 42105, one of LEGO’s most unusual Technic sets ever, although perhaps 2016’s 42074 Racing Yacht proved there is a market for Technic sailing boats. With 404 parts including a pair of new two-piece hulls and those huge sails, 42105 features complete mechanical controls for the rudders, hydrofoils and sails and can be re-built into a more traditional powerboat should you wish to deploy those sail pieces elsewhere. It also floats(!), which immediately makes it cooler than any other set in this line-up (because who doesn’t like a good bath toy?). Aimed at ages 8+ expect to pay around $40/£35 for 42105, and for bath time to become much more interesting.
42106 pulls us back from bath time fun to, well… pull-back fun, but it could have good play value. Not much else mind. The 42106 Stunt Show includes three models in one; a pick-up truck, trailer/ramp, and a motorcycle, each looking fairly terrible despite the flame decals. The trailer features mechanically operated legs to turn it into a ramp and the truck includes steering, but that’s all. Which is nowhere near enough for a set costing $50/£45. Admittedly jumping the bike through the flaming hoop does look rather fun, but not $50 of fun, and we suspect even the Elves would tire of it quickly. We’ll be leaving this one on the shelf…
The final set of H1 2020 is the largest of the line-up (not withstanding the officially licensed 42110 Land Rover Defender and 42109 Top Gear Rally Car sets revealed here at the end of 2019), the near 1,300 piece 42108 Mobile Crane. Forgive us for not being particularly excited by this one, because it does look like a reasonable set. It’s just that LEGO have released countless eight-wheel mobile cranes over the years and they’re all becoming much the same.
42108 does feature a wealth of mechanical operations, with eight-wheel steering, boom elevation, rotation and extension all via hand-powered mechanisms, a working winch with a ratchet to allow it to lift loads, and four functioning stabilisers. However despite the increase in detail that we’ve come to expect from modern Technic sets and enhanced realism thanks to a few well-judged decals, 42108 is an utterly unmemorable product. It’s also priced at around $95/£85 which – particularly as it includes no B-Model – is rather a lot.
We’ll go sailing on 42105 instead…
No, not that awful movie with the Rock in it, but this rather splendid looking Claas Scorprion 756 telehandler by previous bloggee and tractor-building legend Eric Trax.
Underneath that Claas lime green paint job (and some excellent Model Team detailing) is a model packed with motorised functionality, all of it remotely operable via bluetooth thanks to two third-party SBrick control bricks.
A Large Power Functions Motor drives all four wheels whilst a Servo steers all four too. A further three Medium motors operate the boom, giving it the ability to raise, extend, and tilt the variety of dangerous looking implements that can be attached to the end of it.
Fortunately for our Elves Eric’s model is a bit too slow for the Scoprion’s motorised weaponry to have been deployed on them, so they’re riding around on it instead, which they seem pretty happy about.
There are loads more images to see of this superbly engineered and photographed creation at Eric’s Claas Scorprion 756 album on Flickr and at the Eurobricks forum where you can also find a video showing all of the model’s features. Take a look via the links!
It’s a gloriously sunny spring day here at TLCB Towers, and whilst it’s nowhere near hay season yet we’re looking forward thanks to Eric Trax and this spectacular New Holland TM140 and Claas Quadrant 2200 baler combo.
Eric’s superb New Holland tractor not only looks fantastic, it’s packed with remote control functionality all of which can be controlled remotely via bluetooth thanks to a third-party SBrick. The drive and steering are driven by Power Functions motors, as are the front and rear hitches and power-take-off.
That PTO sends drive to the Claas Quadrant baler, powering a variety of complicated-looking mechanisms which ultimately culminates in the machine excreting a block of tan pieces (hay) in a manner similar to a horse doing its business. It’s a mighty clever build and one that you can recreate for yourself as Eric has made instructions available too!
There’s much more to see of both the New Holland TM140 tractor and Claas Quadrant 2200 baler at both the Eurobricks forum and via Eric’s Flickr photostream, plus you can watch the models in action via the video below. Click the links above to make hay, whilst we await the outcome of the office sweepstake betting on how long it’ll be before we have to extract a TLCB Elf from the inner workings of that baler…
YouTube Video
It’s time for another official LEGO set review here at The Lego Car Blog, and it’s a big one. Welcome to the Claas Xerion 5000 Trac VC.
This TLCB staff member has wanted to get his hands on LEGO’s 42054 Claas Xerion set ever since he first saw it. A large lime-green tractor now sits next to him as he types, so has it met expectations?…
42054 sits, a little surprisingly, in the middle of the current Technic range. A little while ago it would have probably been the Technic flagship, but so huge are the current models getting that the Claas is less than half the price of the Volvo L350F and Porsche 911 GT3 RS. However at almost 2,000 pieces 42054 actually features a few hundred more than the big Volvo.
Many of these are new too, with brand new (awesome) tyres, and a wealth of new bushes and pin connectors making their debut in this set. LEGO have employed a few interesting techniques in building with these, as some of these parts are used purely as a construction aid (think an unseen bracket on a car bodyshell that serves no purpose once the car is built, but allows a robot to align a laser or something during manufacturing), and all are coloured in a way that aims to assist with the build process (as opposed to the colour being chosen to best suit the finished model’s aesthetics).
If that makes you concerned about how authentic the Claas looks, don’t be. 42054 is one of the finest looking Technic sets ever produced, and it continues the trend of featuring almost Model Team levels of detailing, with Technic lift-arm holes concealed by smooth plates, lights, mirrors, and some very well chosen stickers.
The downside of the aforementioned colour choices is that black and dark grey parts can look almost identical in the instruction booklet, and when you first come across one of the new pieces you may spend ages looking for it amongst a sea of 2,000 bricks, scanning for black, when it is in fact nestling in a pile of grey. Not that this reviewer did that of course. He’s far too experienced to make that mistake.
Colours aside the instructions are clearly laid out, and feature some huge sub-assemblies. Which brings us neatly on to a new phenomenon that the Claas Xerion demonstrates wonderfully; Density of Engineering.
Yes, we have just made that phrase up, but 42054 features some of the most compressed and tightly-packed mechanics of any LEGO set. Ever.
It’s the first set where the design has genuinely amazed us in its complexity – it’s so far above our building ability that we could never hope to better it. Some of this engineering brilliance fulfils relatively simple tasks, for example when the motor isn’t in use the battery box is automatically switched off (a thoughtful piece of design), whilst other elements, such as the three-mode steering, are mind-bendingly fantastic. Continue reading
It’s been Harvest Festival at TLCB Towers this morning. One of the Elves returned triumphantly from Michal Skorupka’s PhotoStream driving this superb remote controlled Claas Lexion 760 combine harvester. With thirteen Power Functions motors powering everything from the drive and steering to the combine head rotation and elevation, the feeder, and the rear spreading mechanism, there was plenty for the aforementioned Elf to do.
As is traditional with Power Functions models, he proceeded to use the machine to reap his colleagues. So whilst we clear up the mess, we suggest that you enjoy the video of the harvester in action below. Michal has chosen a rocking backing track for his video. Those of our readers who might prefer a more traditional track should follow this link.
Farming is tough work, but you do get to drive some very exciting machinery. Often both more expensive and more exotic than most supercars, farming vehicles have got seriously high-tech. At the forefront are Claas, with tractors like this Xerion 5000. Built by Flickr’s Jakeof_ it’s packed with neat detailing and there’s more to see via the link above.
Today’s second piece of agricultural equipment, and looking like some sort of mechanised harbinger of doom, is this fictional ‘TUC’ combine harvester from Flickr’s Smigol. If and when the Zombie Apocalypse happens, we want to be in one of these! There’s more to see at Smigol’s photostream – click the link above to make the jump.
This Claas Jaguar looks pretty dangerous up front – it’d be the perfect vehicle for a zombie apocalypse! Just us? OK.
You can see more of the Claas at Eric Trax‘s Flickr photostream, whilst we imagine mowing down the undead hordes…
Basket Case
With 2013 just round the corner, The Lego Car Blog Elves detained over Christmas were re-released last night. Their search for 2013 is unchanged from 2012; to find the best car-related LEGO creations, news and groups on the web. After a period of hunger and boredom whilst locked in their cages they do seem rather keen to earn themselves some dinner. As such today we have three great MOCs to share with you right out of the box. By coincidence, or through some kind of Elf pact, all today’s posts are on the green side.
The first (above) is this stunning Claas Arion tractor from Flickr builder thietmaier, complete with mowing attachments. View more at thietmaier’s Flickr page or on MOCpages.
Know Your Enemy
The second MOC of today comes from Andy L on MOCpages. Based on a childhood toy, Andy’s truck is a 1950’s rocket launcher platform. It really fires rockets too. See more at Andy’s MOCpage via the link above.
Hitchin’ a Ride
Our final Green Day post is from a TLCB regular; the incredible Malte Dorowski. Famous for his beautifully detailed Porches, Malte sees out 2012 in style with this absurdly green RWB Porsche 964. Underneath the curves the MOC features working suspension and steering, plus one the most detailed interiors we’ve ever seen. View more of Malte’s stunning cars by clicking the link above.
And with that we end our green-themed finale to 2012. Thank you for your readership, comments and suggestions during the past year – we look forward to hearing from you all in 2013, where we’ll continue to bring you the best LEGO cars on the world wide web : )