Whilst this crumbling ruin in the corner of the internet is (mostly) a Lego Car Blog, we do like a Good Train. Which is probably the nerdiest sentence written outside of The Brothers Brick. Still, this is a very Good Train indeed, and it comes from previous bloggee Nikolaus Lowe.
A replica of a 1908 German steam locomotive ‘PtL 2/2 Glaskasten’, Nikolaus’ creation includes gorgeous detailing, some wonderful brick-built valve gear, remote control drive, and custom LED lighting front and rear.
Built for a competition there’s more of Nikolaus’ lovely locomotive to see on Flickr, and you can jump back to Germany in 1908 via the link in the text above.
Does anyone else remember that fiendishly addictive early computer game in which the player was tasked with manoeuvring around a seeming infinite plain populated by the outlines of various 3D shapes, hunting and destroying enemy tanks? Just us? OK.
Anyway, perfect cubes and prisms aside, the concept of hunting tanks was based on reality, with specific machines (themselves looking rather like tanks) designed for their destroy enemy counterparts.
This is one such device, the Sturmgeschütz III tank-hunting assault gun, as deployed by Germany during the Second World War (and Syria until 1973).
Handily known as the STuG III, it saw service on almost every front, from Russia to Europe to Africa, and proved very successful at destroying Allied armour.
This excellent fully remote controlled Lego version of the STuG III comes from TLCB favourite Sariel, who – despite the model measuring just 32cm in length and weighing under 1kg – has packed in drive and steering, fully suspended tracks, and an oscillating and slewing gun barrel, all powered by a LEGO battery and controlled via bluetooth courtesy of a third-party SBrick.
There’s more to see of Sariel’s STuG III at his Flickr album of the same name, plus you can watch the model in action via the video below. Go tank hunting across a plain of cubes via the links!
Today’s beautiful brick-based image comes from previous bloggee Pieter Post, who – in collaboration with two other builders – has created this gorgeous Prussian P8 steam locomotive, tender, prisoner car, post and luggage car, and passenger coaches, along with the stunning heather-landscape in which it is pictured.
Produced for a Lego train show in the Netherlands, Pieter and his compatriots’ 1920s steam train includes a BuWizz bluetooth battery powering bespoke LED lighting and three L Motors concealed within the tender and boiler driving custom wheels.
Full details can be found and Pieter’s photostream and you can traverse the heather on board his Prussian P8 steam locomotive via the link in the text above.
This is where it all began. Supercars, muscle cars, minivans, Tesla, drive-thus, The Fast and the Furious franchise, Magic Tree air fresheners, and the Pontiac Aztek. All trace their existence back to this, the 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the world’s first commercially-available motorcar.
Designed by German engineer Carl Benz, and financed by his wealthy wife, around twenty-five Patent-Motorwagens were produced, each powered by a 950cc single-cylinder four-stroke engine making between 2⁄3hp and 1.5hp. The car transported Carl’s wife Bertha and their two sons on the first ever long-distance car journey (66 miles) to raise publicity for the machine, a feat that she undertook without Carl’s knowledge or approval from the authorities. Which makes her excellent.
It worked of course, and began Benz’s journey to becoming one of the most well known companies on earth, ushering in the complete dominance of the internal-combustion-engined motorcar too, with all the planetary consequences that followed.
This lovely recreation of the motorcar’s genesis comes from Simon Pickard, who has built and presented the Benz Patent-Motorwagen beautifully in brick form. Click the link above to take a look at where it all began.
This is a Lanz HL12 Bulldog, a 1920s German tractor powered by a single cylinder ‘hot bulb’ engine that was so ubiquitous, in some parts of Germany tractors are still known as ‘bulldogs’.
‘Hot bulb’ engines featured very few moving parts, no carburettor, no cooling system, and – much like the flux-capacitor in Doc Brown’s time machine – could run on almost anything.
This one has been recreated wonderfully by Nikolaus Löwe, who has replicated not only the engine but the Lanz’s full suite of 1920s mechanicals, and there’s more to see at his ‘Lanz HL12 Bulldog’ album via the link above.
15,000 pieces, 4½ years, and 1.8 metres. A few of the astonishing statistics associated with Ciamosław Ciamek‘s breathtaking 1:38 scale Second World War U-Boat.
Constructed in six sections, each with a removable sides to reveal the spectacular detail within, Ciamosław’s incredible mini-figure scale replica of a German ‘Typ VII C U-Boot’ accurately recreates the control room, front and rear messes, bow, engine rooms, and stern, all of which were designed digitally before being built from thousands of LEGO pieces.
A crew of dozens of mini-figures are shown throughout the interior of the boat, many operating the equipment, engines, and weaponry, whilst others are off-shift in the mess.
It’s a jaw-dropping creation, with hundreds of images across two albums required to capture the model’s scale and complexity, and you can check out the first of these on Flickr via the link in the text above. Click it, sit back, and take in the most amazing World War 2 creation you’re likely to see in 2022…
This is a BR44, a heavy steam locomotive built from 1926 to 1949 to haul giant loads across Germany’s mountainous regions.
Able pull 1,200 tons through the hills, or 600 tons up steep inclines, the BR44’s were hugely impressive machines. We suspect much of what they hauled from the late-’30s was rather different from that originally intended though, with a simplified versions (ironically given the least simple title of ‘Übergangskriegslokomotives’) designed to speed up production during Germany’s phase of, er…. European ambition.
This brilliant brick-built recreation of the BR44 comes from Bricks_n_Trucks, who has not only replicated the design beautifully, there are two Power Functions L-Motors and a BuWizz 2.0 hidden inside to bring it to life.
There’s more of Bricks’ creation to see on Flickr, and you can travel into the mountains of wartime Germany via the link in the text above.
This bizarre looking vehicle is a Porsche 356 Carrera GTL Abarth, a lightweight racing car from 1960 resulting from a rare collaboration between Germany and Italy.
Previous partnerships between the two European powers were – thankfully for mankind – disastrous failures, but the Porsche 356 Carrera GTL Abarth was… OK, not great either.
It overheated, the steering couldn’t turn enough, and there were a few ‘differences of opinion’ between Porsche and Abarth when it came to acceptable build quality.
However unlike their 1940s effort, the two nations persevered and re-engineered the 356 Carrera GTL to the point where it became a rather excellent racing car, successfully competing across Europe and taking three consecutive class wins at Le Mans.
This neat Model Team recreation of the German-Italian racer comes from Tim Inman, who has managed to replicate the 356 Carrera GTL’s decidedly odd bodywork in brick form.
Opening doors and a lifting engine cover reveal a detailed interior and rear-mounted engine respectively, and there’s more to see of Tim’s Porsche 356 Carrera GTL Abarth at his photostream.
Click the link above to join the Axis Powers’ 1960 campaign, which was a lot better than their 1940 effort…
LEGO have produced several Porsche 911 sets, from Speed Champions to Technic, but there’s still room for fan-made models of the famous rear-engined sports car.
This is one of them, a beautifully built and photographed 911 Carrera by Flickr’s Dornbi, and unlike most 911 builds (including one of Dornbi’s own past creations), his latest Porsche sports no wings, stripes, or racing numbers, simply being a base naturally-aspirated narrow-body classic, and we think it’s all the better for it.
There’s more to see of Dornbi’s stunning classic 911 by clicking here, and if you can figure out today’s title a hundred TLCB Points to you!
Designed by Daimler-Benz, this the Panzer III Sd.Kfz 141, the German military’s primary medium battle tank built to take on the formidable Soviet T-34 during the Second World War. It was powered by a 300bhp Maybach V12 giving it a top speed of just over 20mph, which wasn’t fast (but then it did weigh around twenty-two tons), and it was armed with either a 37mm, 50mm, or 75mm gun, depending on specification.
Around 5,700 Panzer IIIs were built between 1939 and 1943, seeing service in Poland, the Soviet Union, France, North Africa, the Netherlands, and Italy – amongst other theatres of war. This superb Lego version of the Sd.Kfz 141 comes from previous bloggee Rebla, who has recreated the design brilliantly, including a rotating turret, elevating cannon, and a crew of custom mini-figures.
Rebla has presented his model beautifully too, and there’s more to see at his photostream – click the link above to make the jump to all the imagery.
We have some very exciting news (if you speak German)!
Television Production company Endemolshine Germany have contacted us in their search for Lego Masters; the TV show where pairs of builders compete to build amazing creations for certified LEGO Professionals. The show has run for a few seasons in the UK already, with the US version’s first season just finished too.
Endemolshine Germany are looking for enthusiastic Lego modellers who are unafraid of the camera, and who live for MOC-making. Anyone over the age of 16 can apply, although remember they are looking for pairs (friends, partners, family members, work colleagues etc.) and applicants must speak German.
How to apply for LEGO Masters Germany!
To apply for the LEGO Masters Germany TV show you can enter via the Endemolshine Germany application page by clicking the link below;
Endemolshine Germany have asked us for our recommendations. If you would like us to consider you for endorsement please send us a message at the Contact Us page, via Facebook, or by leaving a comment, and we’ll get back to you.
For further details take a look at the (slightly rough translation) LEGO Masters poster below, and we hope to see a TLCB reader or two on LEGO Masters Germany TV show when it airs later in the year!
The staff cars here at The Lego Car Blog are, as revealed way back in 2013, all Austin Allegros. Not so the Wehrmacht, who got themselves a vehicle much cooler.
This a Mercedes-Benz W31 Type G4, a three-axle, straight-8 engined, all-terrain limousine as used by Nazi senior management for parades, inspections, and the annexation of other countries.
Only 57 Mercedes-Benz W31 G4s were produced, all of which were used as staff cars by the Nazi regime as the model was deemed much too expensive for normal military use.
This most excellent recreation of the G4, complete with neat caricature of a certain moustachioed despot, comes from Flickr’s Redfern1950s, who has captured the vehicle brilliantly in his trademark cartoon style. Head to Red’s photostream via the link above to join the parade.
Once the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, Fokker are now perhaps best known for supplying the German Army during the first World War. The company wasn’t actually German though, instead being founded by Dutchman Anthony Fokker in 1912 whilst he studied in Germany, before moving back to the Netherlands in 1919.
The company that once supplied Germany then fought against them in World War 2, before the Germans invaded the Netherlands and requisitioned Fokker’s factories.
The bombing by the Allies that followed completely destroyed Fokker’s manufacturing facilities, and with a glut of cheap ‘lightly used’ aircraft available at the end of the war the company barely survived. But survive it did, right up until 1996 when the might of Boeing and Airbus finally put an end to Fokker aircraft production.
These two wonderful models depict Fokker in their glory days, when they designed arguably the best fighter aircraft in the world for the German Army during the First World War (and we won’t begrudge them that as the First World War was, as previously explained here, completely pointless).
Built by Dread Pirate Wesley they are a Fokker D.VII and Fokker Eindecker E.IV, both recreated (and photographed) beautifully in mini-figure scale. There’s more to see of each aircraft (plus many more) at Wesley’s brilliant ‘Lego Aircraft’ Flickr album – click the link to take off.
It’s been a bit of a Military Monday here at The Lego Car Blog, with three war-themed creations none of which are cars. Oh well, here’s the third, a Junkers Ju-87 ‘Stuka’ fighter, and it’s marvellous. Built by aircraft-building legend Dornbi of Flickr, it’s a superbly accurate recreation of one of Nazi Germany’s earliest fighters of the Second World War, made all the more impressive by some cunning brick-built camouflage. There’s much more to see of the ‘Stuka’ at Dornbi’s photostream – click the link above for all the pictures – and to counteract today’s glorification of war, here’s a super secret link.
Britain in the Second World War was under siege. V1 flying bombs dropped out of the skies, the Luftwaffe bombed cities relentlessly, and a deadly terror lurked unseen under the waves offshore…
Germany’s U-Boat, shorthand for Unterseeboot (which literally meant ‘under sea boat’ – the allies were definitely better at naming things) was a stroke of genius. Able to destroy a military ship (plus a few civilian ones too…) almost undetected, it must have been a terrifying time to navigate the cold waters of Northern Europe.
Awfully effective though the U-Boat was, it’s not often we see one in Lego form. Discovered by one of our Elves today, this superb mini-figure recreation of U-Boat VIIc comes from Luis Peña of Flickr. Beautifully constructed inside and out Luis’ model features a wonderfully detailed interior underneath the cleverly sculpted hull, including a submariner using a torpedo for weights training, the captain manning the periscope, and a fully stocked galley complete with rat (aka tomorrow’s dinner).
It’s a stunning build and we highly recommend visiting Luis’ photostream to see the complete gallery of images. Get ready to dive via the link to Flickr in the text above.
