Tag Archives: Coronavirus

Wear Your Mask

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If 2020 had a word (aside from ‘dumpsterfire’), it would be ‘mask’. Enacted to protect the vulnerable and elderly from an unknown and deadly disease, laws requiring the wearing of masks were widely adopted across the world, much to the anger of a small but very vocal minority of morons.

It’s also rather ironic that the ideology displaying said anger about being asked to wear a mask for protection seemed to have no qualms with carrying a gun… for protection. Sigh.

Anyway, with winter approaching and COVID on the rise again, we may have to get used to another round of mask wearing, which leads us neatly-and-in-no-way-tenuously on to these rather good creations by nickgreat.

Suggested by a reader, Nick’s models recreate the vehicles from the mid-’80s cartoon TV show ‘M.A.S.K’, in which the ‘Mobile Armoured Strike Kommand’ (because ‘M.A.S.C’ wasn’t as cool) fought ‘V.E.N.O.M’, the Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem, whilst wearing super-powered helmets (or masks. Ah… it all makes sense).

And if that isn’t the ideal marketing recipe for a range of plastic toys we don’t know what is.

With vehicles such as the ‘Rhino’, ‘Switchblade’, ‘Thunderhawk’ and ‘Jackhammer’ – that could transform into fighter jets, gun turrets, and hydroplanes – plus a protagonist named ‘Matt Trakker’, you’d be forgiven for thinking M.A.S.K might be the most American thing since excessive patriotism, but it was in fact French, and animated in Japan.

Nick has created seven of the transforming vehicles from the ’80s TV show superbly in mini-figure scale, three of which are pictured here, and you find the full array of ‘M.A.S.K’ models at his album on Bricksafe.

Put on your mask and take a look via the link above, or alternatively shout angrily about masks being part of a global conspiracy or something, depending upon your IQ.

Pestilence

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This horrifying creation is ‘Pestilence’, a spindly mech described thusly by its creator; “Cries of suffering echo from the wake of this Horseman’s travels. No area of the planet is spared as contaminate spreads far and wide from the bowels of this mechanical beast”.

We would say thankfully it’s only sci-fi, but it’s probably more accurate to say it’s more like a mechanised DuPont; whose carcinogenic pollutant from producing teflon is now in every single organism on earth, or Volkswagen; who knowingly poisoned the air breathed by millions by cheating emissions regulations.

A more current analogy of course, is the global Coronavirus pandemic, created by shocking animal welfare and food production standards. The U.S. President is very keen to point out Coronavirus is ‘China’s fault’, yet is simultaneously reducing America’s meat production regulations, which already result in a faecal and disease contamination rate ten times higher than that of TLCB’s home nation.

Builder Adam Dodge has included a mini-figure in the driving seat of this mechanical plague, and it is perhaps the most apt metaphor for what’s causing the suffering of both our planet and ourselves…

Failari

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The 2020 Formula 1 World Championship has been weird. Months late, races cancelled, double-header races to make up for lost time, but no spectators, the season will probably be remembered more for Coronavirus than anything else. Well, that and Ferrari turning up in what seems to be an FSO Polonez.

Despite the 2020 SF1000 apparently being based on last year’s car and having one of most talented young drivers on the grid, Scuderia Ferrari have been awful. Currently sitting fifth in the standings behind a newly resurgent McLaren (who are finally exiting their own period of woe), and even Force India/Racing Point/Aston Martin/Stroll F1/whateverthey’recalledthisweek, with Leclerc in 7th place and multiple World Champion Vettel in 10th. Sheesh*.

The Scuderia Ferrari SF1000 at least looks rather nice, as demonstrated here by Noah_L’s superbly presented Model Team replica, itself an updated version of his recreation of Ferrari’s 2019 Formula 1 car. Give it a really hard push and might even beat the real thing.

There’s more to see of Noah’s excellent creation at his ‘Ferrari SF1000′ album – click the link to take a look, and then sit back and watch Mercedes-Benz AMG dominate the field as usual in today’s British Grand Prix, before they do the same at next week’s er… British Grand Prix. This double-header thing is going to take some getting used to…

*Still, maybe it’s karma for Ferrari’s active participation in the gradual killing of children.

TLCB Lock-Down B-Model Competition | Winners Announcement!

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Winners Announcement!

After two months of brilliant B-Model building, forty of your amazing alternates have made the competition shortlist and appeared here at The Lego Car Blog!

Many entrants also saw their work featured here for the first time too, so an extra congratulations to those of you who debuted at TLCB with your contest entry. Our Elves now know who you are (which is far less scary than it sounds), and will be watching your builds with interest!

Judging the forty creations that made the shortlist was incredibly tough, with some genuinely stunning models created only from the parts found within an official LEGO set. Ford Mustangs were turned into AC Cobras and Citroen DS19s, LMP1 racers into Formula 1 cars and Dodge Chargers into LMP1 racers, there were trucks of all kinds; including tow trucks, roll-off trucks, hook-lift trucks, and even Bugatti trucks, Fiat 500’s became aircraft, and so much more besides.

Well done to all our shortlisted entrants, we hope you had fun building your B-Models, and we may be back with another competition at some point with more chances to win some awesome loot!

 

Winner: SBrick Pro Pack; James Tillson (Ferrari Enzo)

Includes SBrick Plus, Wire, 2x Lights, Servo, L-motor, Battery Pack, & colourful cases

Runner-up: SBrick Starter Pack; mpj (JCB Telehandler)

Includes SBrick Plus, Wire, & colourful cases

There were no less than six creations that fought it out at the top, with ridiculously close scores making for ‘heated considerations’ here at TLCB Towers.

Well done to our Winner and Runner-Up, we’ll be in touch soon to obtain your delivery details which will passed to our wonderful competition sponsor SBrick, and if you’d like to learn more about the 5-star rated prize bundle that our winners have won take a look at our review of the SBrick programmable bluetooth brick by clicking here – it’s one of the coolest things ever to enter the Lego-building arena.

Thank you to all our entrants, and stay safe if lock-down continues where you are.

TLCB Team

 

 

Lock-Down’s Over!

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Lock-Down is over. Except where it isn’t of course, but TLCB Lock-Down B-Model Competition has now ended! We’ve published dozens of entries that have made it onto the shortlist to win a 5-star rated SBrick Plus Pro Pack, and now comes the tough judging bit.

If you’ve seen your B-Model entry appear here at TLCB, Congratulations! – You’re in the shortlist! If not thank you so much for your entry, we hope you had fun building your B-Model, and if you uploaded it today due to time-zone differences it may yet still appear.

We’ll publish the winners soon, with whom we’ll be in contact afterwards to obtain delivery addresses. Until then thank you to all our entrants, and if you are still in a Coronavirus Lock-Down, please observe the rules, look out for those more vulnerable, and stay safe.

TLCB Team

The Final (Lock-Down) Countdown

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There’s less than 48 hours to go in TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model Competition, with a flurry of builds joining the shortlist to win a fantastic SBrick Plus Pro Pack!

That doesn’t mean lock-down is ending of course (for those of you in it), particularly when morons shout “I’ll die for that flag!” during a protest against protective measures, as if somehow wearing a face mask to prevent the spread of a deadly disease is contrary to that bit of cloth at the top of a pole. Still, they may well ‘die for that flag’ by not wearing one. Unfortunately they might cause a few others to as well.

Rant over (but seriously, do as you’re told. Unless you’re an expert in infection disease control, sit down and shut up), and on to the first of today’s entries; this awesome Sherp-looking 4×4 tipper built from the 42099 Technic set. BadIdeasPoorlyExecuted is the builder behind it, and in the current situation a vehicle which allows escape into the wilderness doesn’t look to be a bad idea at all. The Elves rather like it too, seeing as it’s bright orange and remotely controlled. There’s more to see of BadIdeas’ B-Model build on Bricksafe – click here to take a look!

The second contest entry in today’s post utilises a set we’ve seen chosen a few times, the 42098 Technic Car Transporter set, but deploys its pieces in a rather unusual way. Scraping through our image quality criteria, but making up for it in mildly-unhinged inventiveness, Saberwing of Eurobricks has constructed this wild-looking attack helicopter.

The model features working rotors with – somewhat amazingly considering the unlikely source set – collective pitch control. A brick-built swash plate joins working landing gear and an enormous mechanically operated gun turret with both rotation and elevation functions. You can guess which feature is the Elves’ favourite…

The final entry in today’s Lock-Down B-Model update is actually two. Or three. Built by Kostq of Bricksafe, this ‘Big Rig’ is constructed from the parts found within the 42106 Technic Stunt Team set, and for added points it’s towing another two alternates, with a trailer made from 42103 and racing car from 42104.

Kostq’s B-Models are shown here in digital format but they have also been built for real, the photos of which you can find here, along with links to building instructions should you wish to build them for yourself. Plus, proving you can enter a B-Model no matter how small, here’s a bonus build too.

The Chances of Anything Coming to Mars…*

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TLCB debutant First Order Lego is taking coronavirus quarantining to the extreme with this vignette. Still, the bat-based biological agent is unlikely to be on Mars, so perhaps this jovial mini-figure has got the right idea. Join him on the red planet via the link, although that might scupper the whole point of his trip…

*Today’s marvellous title song.

Lego in Lock-Down

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Lock-down is easing here in TLCB’s home nation, but for many of you it’s still very much in force. Plus it’s not like Coronavirus has gone away, so we fully expect it to return, with the world watching on in horror, like a second Trump presidency.

However you guys have been busy during your time indoors, utilising your existing LEGO sets to create new models and maybe bag yourselves an awesome SBrick Plus Pro Pack! We’ve got three blog-worthy competition entries for you today, starting with  David Bersia’s brilliant Formula E racing car, built only from the parts found within the 42093 Technic Chevrolet Corvette.

Being electric the Corvette’s V8 engine naturally makes no appearance here, but Davide’s model does include working steering and a properly good execution of Formula E’s Gen 2 bodywork. Click here to head to Flickr to see more of Davide’s creation, where building instructions and two other Lock-Down B-Model contest entries can also be found.

You don’t need a Technic set to enter TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model competition though, as our next two entrants demonstrate. On the left newcomer 14sandee has redeployed the pieces from the excellent 75895 Speed Champions Porsche 911 Turbo set to create his neat single-seat racer, whilst on the right previous entrant Tomik has used the 40171 Friends Hedgehog to construct, er… a hedgecopter? Points for originality with that one!

There’s more to see of 14sandee’s Porsche 911 Turbo B-Model via the link above, and Tomik’s hedgecopter on Flickr and Eurobricks, where he has published some other ingenious B-Model contest entries too…

WIN an SBrick Plus Pro Pack!

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You could win a 5-star rated SBrick Plus Pro Pack and give your Lego creations programmable bluetooth remote control!

The SBrick Plus Pro pack comes complete with wires, lights, a servo motor, an L motor, a battery pack, and colourful cases! Enter TLCB’s Lockdown B-Model Competition by building a new vehicle from the pieces of an existing LEGO set to be in with a chance of winning this awesome prize! What better way to spend Coronavirus Lock-down!

Click here for full competition details!

TLCB Lock-Down B-Model Competition!

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You’re stuck inside, we’re stuck inside

Build us a B-Model to win an AWESOME prize!

Whilst we’re all stuck inside we want to see what you can build with your LEGO pieces locked-down, whilst in lock-down! That means creating a new vehicle from only the pieces found within an existing official LEGO set.

There are some incredible prizes on offer from the awesome guys at SBrick, the leading remote control solution in the building toy market, allowing you to control your models remotely using a smart device like a phone, tablet, gamepad, or even Chromebook, MAC or PC!

 

The Rules

  • Build us a B-Model from only the pieces found within a single official LEGO set. The set can be from any era or theme, including Technic, Creator, Town, Space, Pirates… everything except Galidor. You may also choose to use the pieces from two official LEGO sets if the RRP of each set was below $25. 
  • Photograph and upload your B-Model to Flickr, MOCpages, Brickshelf, or Eurobricks between May 1st and June 30th 2020.
  • You must include the words ‘TLCB Lock-Down Competition’ or a link to this page somewhere in the creation’s title or description, so that we know you’re entering it.
  • You don’t actually have to be in Lock-Down to enter, although do please abide by whatever the COVID-19 advice is in your country of residence.

How to Enter

If you upload your B-Model to one of the free-to-use creation-sharing sites above with ‘TLCB Lock-Down Competition’ in the title or description our Elves will find it. You can also contact us in the usual ways or post a message on our Facebook page with a link to your creation if you want to make sure we’ve seen it!

You may enter as many creations as you like and the winners will be chosen based upon the designs that best meet our usual Submission Guidelines and our completely subjective opinions on what we think is cool.

Prizes!

Winner: SBrick Pro Pack;

Includes SBrick Plus, Wire, 2x Lights, Servo, L-motor, Battery Pack, & colourful cases

Runner-up: SBrick Starter Pack;

Includes SBrick Plus, Wire, & colourful cases

 

Legal Stuff

  • TLCB Lock-Down B-Model Competition runs from May 1st to June 30th 2020 GMT, and no late entries will be considered.
  • All entries must be your own work and be built and photographed during the eight-week competition.
  • If you’re under the age of 18 you must get parental permission before entering the competition, as winners will need to provide TLCB and SBrick with their contact details.
  • TLCB and SBrick are not responsible for any additional tariffs, taxes, customs, bus tokens, or traffic tickets your country may impose on you when claiming your prizes.

 

Good luck to all our readers, and don’t forget you can join the discussion, ask questions, submit complaints etc. via the comments here at TLCB or via our Facebook page. You can find TLCB’s Facebook page here, SBrick’s Facebook page here, and you can read our 5-star review of the awesome SBrick bluetooth brick by clicking here.

 

Stay Safe, and Happy B-Model Building!

 

Dark Knight Distancing

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Batman’s job has got a lot easier lately. Gone are the days of people holding up banks (they’re closed), robbing stores (closed), even walking out of a restaurant without paying (closed). Instead the Dark Knight is enforcing social distancing rules and breaking up groups of teens in the park. Still, at least he’s still got the Tumbler, which means he remains unbelievably cool. This brilliant Lego version comes from Riskjockey, there are instructions available, and you can see more on Flickr. Click the link above to order that old lady to stop hoarding toilet paper.

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.

Make Like a Banana…

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And split.

It’s 1969, Man has landed on the moon, the Jumbo Jet makes its debut, and Woodstock hosts 350,000 spectators at the greatest musical festival the world has ever known. Things couldn’t get any cooler. And indeed they didn’t, as the era of free love ended almost as precisely as the decade did, the oil crisis hit, the world went on strike, and everything became a shade of beige or brown.

Hot Wheels ended the decade on a high too though, with their spectacular concept ‘Splittin’ Image’, recreated here in beautiful accuracy by TLCB favourite Lino Martins, complete with oversize engine and twin canopies.

A little over fifty years later and history seems to be repeating itself, with the world spiralling towards some kind of bleak apocalypse, factories shut, hospitals full, and even brown making a comeback on cars. It seems a perfect time to revisit Splittin’ Image then, not just because it hinged on the pivot between two very different times (as we suspect we are too right now), but also because with two separate cockpits it’s perfect for social distancing!

Head to Lino’s photostream via the link above, isolate yourself in one of the cockpits, and hope things aren’t about to go all 1970s on us.

SXSW

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The world isn’t flying very much at the moment. With countries locked down due to Coronavirus many airlines have had to ground their entire fleets, with rows of parked airliners visible from – ironically – the air at airports globally.

Mini-figures seem unaffected however, as this marvellous Southwest Boeing 737-800 by Flickr’s BigPlanes is packed! Southwest are America’s busiest domestic carrier and use a fleet of only 737s. The airline has over seven-hundred, making it the world’s largest 737 fleet, and BigPlanes has recreated one their hundreds of aircraft with a complete mini-figure scale interior and a kinda-brick-built livery (a few decals have helped) that’s beautifully accurate.

Head south via BigPlanes ‘Southwest Boeing 737-800’ album at the link above.