Tag Archives: container

Future Containment

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Most Lego sci-fi builds are ginormous interplanetary spaceships designed for various important space-based assignments.

Which is all very well, but we suspect that – even when we’ve colonised other planets – 99% of both persons and vehicles will still be driving about on a paved surface. After all, mankind has been flying for a hundred years, but only a tiny fraction of us are in the air.

Thus it’s rather refreshing to see a sci-fi builder turn their hand to what will inevitably be the vast majority of future transport; the stuff that looks pretty much the same as it does now.

Cue Flickr’s Shuppiluliumas, here making their TLCB debut, and these two ace sci-fi trucks. Both are packed with details such as tilting cabs, posable steering, and brick-built drivetrains, and each design features just enough futurism to transport the viewer to a time ahead of our own. Plus one of them’s transporting a giant positron cannon, which helps.

There’s more of each truck to see at Shuppiluliumas’ photostream, and you can jump to future normality via the link above.

My Other Vehicle’s a Giant Excavator

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The 4,100-piece LEGO Technic 42100 Liebherr R 9800 Excavator is the largest and most expensive Technic set ever released. With seven motors, two ‘Smart Hub’s, and programmable control via the PoweredUp app, it’s LEGO robotics for the post-PC era.

It is also the ideal set to create an alternative model from, because if you’re going to pick a set for parts, it might as well be the one with the most!

Cue TLCB Master MOCer Nico71, and this amazing… er, honestly we’re not sure. Nico describes it as a ‘Container Handling Vehicle’, which probably doesn’t do it justice, what with it looking like a cross between something from ‘Thunderbirds’ and that ‘Hibernia‘ place that seems to feature here from time to time.

Four suspended tracks, each of which is driven with the front two also steering, are controlled remotely, as is a huge two-stage hook-lift arm and a motorised container locking mechanism.

Building instructions are available and there’s more to see of Nico’s fantastic 42100 B-Model at both Brickshelf and his excellent website. Click the links to take a look, plus you can watch the ‘Container Handling Vehicle’ in action below.

YouTube Video

Skippy

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Following a vehicle that appeared here earlier in the week (which the builder has now updated with an indolent, tracksuit-wearing, oxygen-wasting, fly-tipping scumbag after reading the post, earning themselves 100 TLCB points), this is how you should actually dispose of waste, via a properly licensed skip company.

Cue previous bloggee damjan97PL (aka damianPLE), and this rather excellent Technic Scania P-Series skip lorry. (Damian also earns 100 TLCB Points for calling his build a ‘skip lorry’, rather than a ‘container truck’ as LEGO would.)

Wonderfully realistic, Damian’s Scania not only looks the part, it also features some fantastic manually-operated and pneumatic functions, including rear outriggers, ‘HOG’ steering, a working inline 6-cylinder engine underneath a tilting cab, and a pneumatically-powered boom, able to perfectly lower and hoist a neat brick-built skip.

Damian has made building instructions available and there’s more of his top-quality Technic Scania skip lorry to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum, his ‘Scania Skip Loader’ Bricksafe gallery, and via the video below.

Click the links above to dispose of your waste without vandalising the local environment, and keep indolent, tracksuit-wearing, oxygen-wasting, fly-tipping scumbags out of business.

Hook*

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TLCB’s thought for the day; 1970s trucks all looked like toys. This primary-coloured block of magnificence is a classic DAF NAT 2800 hook-lift truck, as created by previous bloggee Arian Janssens, and it proves said thought wonderfully. Check it out on Flickr via the link, and then come back here later to learn other gems such as ‘Why Pandas are Pointless’ and ‘How the Pontiac Aztek is be the Most Underrated Car of all Time’.

*Today’s deeply catchy title song.

Scandi Grey

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Scandinavian design is very ‘in’ right now. Grey, white, with a dash of a calming colour like blue, it’s the default for every upper-middle class redecoration. Here at The Lego Car Blog we don’t follow such fads though, which is why TLCB Towers hasn’t been redecorated since the late ’80s. That, and our redecoration budget stretches to a roll of duct tape and some blu-tack.

Representing Scandinavian design minimalism beautifully however, is MCD‘s 2022 Volvo FH500 truck, which utilises the aforementioned nordic colour palette to great effect. MCD’s monochrome tractor unit successfully blends Technic and System bricks to capture the real truck, whilst a Maersk Sealand container sits atop an excellent three-axle trailer behind.

There’s more of the MCD’s build to see at the Eurobricks forum, and you can sit in a monochrome chair drinking a coffee from an exquisitely designed cup, enjoying 18 hours of daylight via the link in the text above.

Big Green Boxes

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This is a Tatra PR3333 6×6 truck, outfitted with a hook-lift system and depicted in Dutch Army specification by Flickr’s Arian Janssens.

We’re not sure what’s in the big green box it’s carrying, nor the second one towed behind via the neat drawbar trailer, but as we assume it’s army stuff we probably wouldn’t understand anyway.

The truck, trailer, and boxes are all superbly built, and there’s more to see of all components at Arian’s photostream. Click the link to take a look.

*Points for us for not going down the ‘Dutch Hooker’ route with this post! Until now. Damn.

Sanctioning Bricks

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought a surprisingly unified response for the world. Freezing of assets, exclusion from banking systems, and sanctions on everything from luxury cars to hamburgers (and, we assume, LEGO products), there’s not much unaffected by Putin’s aggression.

Of course Russia is a large country that produces much itself, but in a time where everything is globalised, it’s difficult to see how even domestic Russian manufacturers can continue production indefinitely.

One such domestic manufacturer is Kamaz, today a world-leading maker of off-road trucks, with the 5410 pictured here produced by the company from the mid-’70s until 2006.

This wonderful recreation of the Kamaz-5410 comes from previous bloggee Vladimir Drozd, and features Power Functions remote control drive and steering, a functioning fifth wheel hitch, working suspension, and some simply lovely detailing.

An excellent container trailer is pictured in tow, complete with a Maersk shipping container (one of the many businesses no longer operating in Russia), and there are more superb images of all three components to see at Vladimir’s ‘KamAZ-5410’ album on Flickr or at the Eurobricks forum here.

Click the link above to take a closer look at Vladimir’s brilliant Russian a truck, back when there would actually be produce in a container for it to haul.

Ukrainer Container

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The war in Ukraine (or ‘Special Military Operation’ to our Russian and Belarusian readers) continues, with more devastation, civilian killings, and Kremlin lies. So far though, the Ukrainian flag continues to fly, being raised over areas retaken from the invading Russian forces in recent days.

Showing his support is Jonathan Elliott, whose neat hook-lift truck is pictured raising the Ukrainian flag in container form. If you’d like to show your solidarity with Ukraine too, please do build in blue and yellow, and you can donate to the enormous refugee crisis Putin has created via organisations such as the Disasters Emergency Committee.

Mack and Cheese

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This beautiful creation is a Mack R Series, one of America’s most ubiquitous heavy duty trucks, introduced in the 1960s and built for almost forty years, they were even made under license in Iran.

R Series trucks came in a huge variety of cab and drive configurations, with this lovely Lego version depicting a simple 6×4 single cab hauling a container trailer.

It’s the work of previous bloggee Vladimir Drozd, who has captured the Mack’s subtle curves brilliantly using a wealth of ‘cheese slopes’, curved bricks and wedges.

Underneath the superbly replicated bodywork Vladimir has fitted a Power Functions remote control drivetrain, with motorised drive and steering, working suspension, and a mechanised fifth-wheel trailer hitch, whilst the trailer itself also includes suspension and working support legs.

Photographed and presented beautifully, there’s more to see of Vladimir’s wonderful Mack R Series on Flickr – click the link in the text above to take a look.

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

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This one’s both. And it has a name as tricky as the tongue-twister title. This is a DAF FAQ CF 430 8×2 hook-lift truck (with three axle trailer), and it comes from Arian Janssens of Flickr.

Constructed to carry a variety of big metal boxes, Arian’s DAF FAQ CF (etc.) is a beautifully built Model Team version of the real truck, complete with a working hook-lift, three steering axles, and an unfurling grab crane mounted behind the cab.

An extensive gallery of images shows the DAF ReallyLongName in a variety of configurations, with and without various containers, the trailer, and the crane operating.

Make the jump to Arian’s album on Flickr to see the complete set of photos via the link in the text above.

Jumbo Hooker

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Nope, we’re not referring to your Mom again, this is a DAF FAC CF 530 8×2 Space Cab truck, complete with a hook-lift system, three-axle Jumbo trailer, a load of two hefty containers, Which makes it a very lengthily-titled creation indeed. It’s also rather a good one, and there’s more to see courtesy of Arian Janssens  at his ‘DAF FAC CF 530 Space Cab‘ album on Flickr.

Fuchs with a Magnum

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This is a Fuchs MHL 320 material handler, essentially a full size arcade claw game. It comes from regular bloggee Damian Z. (aka Thietmaier), who has recreated it with absurd realism using all manner of interesting Lego pieces.

The Fuchs is pictured here alongside a Renault Magnum (named after a gun, or an ice cream, or a condom, we’re not sure) hook-lift container truck, which is just as life-like – we particularly like the splendidly battered and rusting scrap metal container it’s carrying.

Each model is beautifully built and presented, and there’s more to see of the Fuchs MHL 320 and the Renault Magnum hook-lift at their respective albums on Flickr. Click the links to take a look.

Hooker

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This is a Volvo FH ‘hooklift’ truck, as built by Volvo Trucks employee and previous bloggee Sebeus I.

Sebeus’s Model Team recreation of the latest version of FH-series includes Power Functions drive and steering, flashing warning lights, and motorised lifting axle and hooklift mechanisms.

There’s more to see at Sebeus’s ‘Volvo FH’ album on Flickr, at the Eurobricks discussion forum, and via the video below.

YouTube Video

Contain This

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Most of what’s around you (unless you’re reading this on your phone in a field) got to where it is via a shipping container. They might just be big metal boxes, but the entire global economy hinges on their transportation (cue headlines when said transportation stops). This Detroit Diesel-powered Skoda Xena is pulling two such monuments to global capitalism, which Martin Nespor has recreated brilliantly in brick form. A neat three-axle trailer with lifting axles and an extending rear overhang follows the Skoda, which itself features Power Functions and SBrick bluetooth remote control. Excellent custom decals complete the build and there’s more to see at Martin’s ‘Container Semi-Trailer’ album on Flickr; click here to take a look.

A-Game

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Those working in Mercedes-Benz’s commercial vehicle naming department are much better at their jobs than their counterparts in the passenger car division. Whilst Mercedes-Benz cars are just a nonsensical collection of letters, their trucks all have proper names. Although they must begin with the letter ‘A’ for some reason.

We have two here today, each found on Flickr and each recreating an A-named Mercedes-Benz truck brilliantly in Town(ish) scale.

First up (above) is Fuku Saku‘s exceptional Mercedes-Benz Arocs tipper truck, with detailing equal to what we would expect to find on a Model Team creation several times larger. There’s a superbly lifelike cab, a realistic tipping mechanism, and building instructions are also available. Head to Fuku’s photostream via the link above to take a look.

Today’s second small-scale Mercedes-Benz truck is the work of fellow previous bloggee Keko007, who has recreated the Antos in skip lorry form. Although just six-studs wide, Keko’s model not only looks recognisable, the skip hoist kinda works too, and there’s more to see at his ‘Mercedes Antos 2133 album’. Click the link above to make the skip over to Flickr.