This is a Sikorsky HH-53C Pave Low ‘Super Jolly Green Giant’ helicopter, here shown in search and rescue configuration and, um…. not green.
But it is excellent, having been recreated beautifully by Flickr’s bigwilly2492, with bespoke decals and an opening ramp adding to the realism. There’s more to see at 2492’s ‘HH-53C Super Jolly Green Giant’ album and you take to the skies via the link above.
Here at The Lego Car Blog we’re big fans of up-cycling. Repurposing one thing into another thing is both advantageous to the wallet, and means that one fewer new thing has had to be made, usually by digging something out of the ground/cutting down a tree, melting/refining it in a factory, and shipping it in a giant box full of other new things half-way round the world.
Of course LEGO by design is an up-cycler’s dream. Endlessly reusable, reconfigurable, and hand-down-able, it is the antidote to crappy single-use plastic toys that will last a thousand times longer in landfill or our oceans than they will in the hands of a child.
Cue previous bloggee M_Longer, who today demonstrates LEGO’s greatest attribute brilliantly by up-cycling two 2025 entry-level Technic sets into entirely new models.
M_Longer’s JCB Fastrac (above) uses every one of the parts from the 42199 Monster Jam DIGatron set, whilst his helicopter (below) swaps the ocean depths of the 42201 Deep-Sea Research Submarine for the skies, and includes a pitching main rotor and a hand crank that turns it and the tail rotor simultaneously.
There’s more to see of M_Longer’s 42199 JCB Fastrac, or alternatively his 42201 helicopter, at both Eurobricks (where links to building instructions can also be found) and Bricksafe, and you can take a look at each up-cycled alternate via the links below;
Helicopter: Eurobricks / Bricksafe, JCB Fastac: Eurobricks / Bricksafe
The Soviets may have been reasonably good at making things to blow up other things, but their naming department was terrible. Whilst in the West we got Cold War aircraft called ‘Apache’, ‘Electric Lightning’, ‘Vulcan’, and ‘Phantom’, the communists got ‘Mil Mi-8 MTV-2 HIP’. Which reads like a secure password.
Despite its crap name, the MIL Mi-8 _Gy72%& is world’s most produced helicopter, and is still in production today, some 56 years after its introduction. This one is from the German ‘Democratic’ Republic (East Germany) in the 1980s, and has been reproduced beautifully by Flickr’s [Maks].
Some light painting adds to the realism, there’s more to see of [Maks]’s MIL Mi-8 @-4Jx7z0P# at his album of the same name (kinda), and you can click here to ensure no-one’ll guess entry to your laptop.
Russia, or the Soviet Union before it, are the world’s most prolific maker of military helicopters. Tens of thousands of MiL helicopters have been built since the first design way back in the late 1940s, and are operated by dozens of nations the world over. Including a few you might not expect.
Cue Flickr’s Francis Bibeau, here making their TLCB debut, and these two incredible brick-built replicas of Russia’s finest rotary-wing aircraft.
The first (above) is a Mil Mi-17V-5, as leased by the Canadian military for extraction duties in Afghanistan, whilst the second (below) is a Polish Air Force Mil Mi-8T, the world’s most numerous military helicopter, depicted here on a fast-roping training exercise.
Wonderfully realistic, Francis’ models display forensic attention to detail, clever construction, and deploy custom mini-figures to great effect to bring the scenes to life.
There’s much more to see of each MIL helicopter diorama at Francis’ ‘Bird’ album, and you can hover under rotating Russian wings via the link above.
Today’s diorama above is an all-too-familiar scene from current news. A helicopter hovers above, a self-propelled gun lurks below, a rocket-launcher fires from behind a tank-defence, whilst power lines, crops, and a humble home remind us of the daily life upended by the arrival of war. Yet this scene isn’t borne of a maniacal Russian President intent on restoring the Soviet Union, but rather a glimpse into a possible near future, wherein Russia has divided and is fighting itself. Flickr’s PelLego has published this fictional conflict in collaboration with several other builders, and you can take a look into their world-that-might-be via the link above.
Monochrome, minimalist, and Scandinavian is very en-vogue right now. We’re not sure said design philosophy applies to rotary-wing aircraft much, but judging by this creation by Aero Explorer it should do.
With a title as straightforward as its colour palette, Aero Explorer’s ‘Lego Helicopter’ is beautiful in its apparent simplicity, but there’s some clever techniques in play to create an exterior of such cleanliness.
Superb presentation matches the construction and there more to see at Aero’s photostream. Click the link above to take flight.
We’re back, although not with a car… This is a U.S. Navy Sikorsky MH-60S Seahawk, a multirole helicopter in service since the mid-’80s. Based on the U.S Army UH-60 Black Hawk, the Seahawk features folding rotor blades and tail, allowing it to store more easily on the ships from which it operates, and serves in Search and Rescue, Medevac, Anti-Submarine Warfare, Special Naval Warfare, and various other types of Naval airborne operations.
This splendid replica of the MH-60S Seahawk comes from Ralph Savelsberg, who has recreated the U.S Navy helicopter with fantastic attention to detail detail. Enhanced by accurate markings and photographed beautifully, there’s lots more of Ralph’s creation to see at his ‘Lego MH-60S Seahawk’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to land on a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship and take a look.
Despite a simmering disdain for one another, France and TLCB’s home nation are more alike than we’d both like to think.
Separated by just 21 miles of water, each has just undergone a snap election called by an incumbent leader (who has then lost), and both also saw a notable rise in what was once ‘the far right’ – but is now perhaps just ‘the right’, such is its popularity – thwarted by left-wing politics.
Of course that’s where the similarities end, as post-election the British ‘far right’ will have gone to the pub to drink and bemoan the archaic first-past-the-post voting system, whilst their French counterparts will no doubt be setting fire to buses for the rest of the week.
Cue this rather good Airbus EC 145 helicopter by TLCB newcomer Smilt Spartane, constructed in French ‘Sécurité Civile’ livery, and most often used for Search and Rescue and in combatting forest fires.
Smilt’s EC 145 includes a detailed interior, opening doors, and rotating rotors, and there’s more to see – including a link to building instructions – on Flickr. Click the link above to take off over a burning pile of car tyres somewhere in Paris, or here to see LEGO’s own rather larger version.
This excellent 1:32 scale SH-14D Lynx helicopter was found by one of our Elves today. Built by Master MOCer Ralph Savelsberg aka Mad Physicist, the Lynx is constructed in Royal Netherlands Navy livery and includes powered rotor blades, courtesy of a vintage 12V LEGO motor hidden within it. There’s more of the model to see at Ralph’s ‘LEGO SH-14D Lynx helicopter album’ plus you can check out his interview here at TLCB via the first link in the text above.
It’s been quiet. Too quiet…
Not because TLCB Elves were plotting anything, although that is a perennial concern, but because they hadn’t found anything blogworthy in ages. Fortunately the quiet was shattered today by a multitude of Elves all screaming ‘NEE NAW!!’ as loud as they could.
We have necomer lukarepinc, here making their TLCB debut, to thank for ending the drought, with not one, nor two, but a whole fleet of superb Model Team emergency vehicles.
Uploaded simultaneously to Flickr, these include a Slovenian Volkswagen ambulance (pictured above), a NYPD Bell 429 helicopter, ERV-1, and – in the absence of a title or description – a Giant Fire Truck (all pictured below).
Each is a fantastic brick-built recreation of its real-world counterpart and there’s more to see of all of the creations featured here, plus a lot more besides, at lukarepinc’s photostream. Switch on your siren via the link above!
The LEGO Company likes an ultralight helicopter. Like this one. And this one. And this one. Which were all slightly tragic.
However today’s example of the diet helicopter looks actually rather cool, particularly in this clever upwards shot. Flickr’s atp357 is the builder, there are cunning techniques in abundance, and you can take to the air via the link above.
The year is 1994, and LEGO’s Technic range is riding high. The line-up’s flagship may have been a high water mark, but there were some absolute gems to be had lower down the range too.
The 8062 Briefcase Set was one of them, a brilliant multi-model set that could be handily stored in a plastic, er… briefcase. One of the six models that could be constructed from 8062’s parts was a neat twin-rotor helicopter, and it’s this that previous bloggee Thirdwigg has rebooted for the modern age.
Constructed from smooth new panels and lift-arms, Thirdwigg’s 8062 Helicopter Redux recreates the set’s hand-cranked counter-rotating rotors and opening loading ramp, whilst adding (very clever) collective pitch control and retracting landing gear too.
There’s more of the model to see at both Flickr and Eurobricks, where we hope Thirdwigg will have a go at rebooting the other five models from 8062 using shared pieces too.
This is a Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship, a 1970s product of the Soviet Union that remains a formidable aircraft even today.
The MI-24’s speed, size, troop carrying, and attack capability have led to its use in a depressingly long list of wars, conflicts and insurgencies over the last five decades, with over fifty operators worldwide, including countries in direct conflict with one-another, and some less-than-reputable dictators, despots, and militias.
The U.S even have a few, as does much of the former Soviet Union, with this excellent brick-built example by Flickr’s Steffan Johansson flying in Ukrainian colours. Ukraine’s former Soviet comrade Russia flies the greatest number of Mi-24’s of course, with many currently deployed in the ‘Special Military Operation’ (read ‘Illegal War’) in Ukraine.
At least five Russian and one Ukrainian Mi-24 helicopters have been lost in the conflict to date, which is a number that is at least the right way round, and you can see more of this one at Steffan’s ‘Mi-24/35 Hind’ album on Flickr.
Click the link above to take a look, or here to donate to those whose lives have been devastated by Russian aggression against their former ally. Both sides may be deploying the Mil Mi-24 Hind in the current conflict, but one deserves your support.
…is the sound a helicopter makes. Also Batman.
This is the ‘Batcopter’ from the Batman TV series, which was a little more, er… ‘festive’ than the dark and secretive Batman we know from the 2010s. Still, if every time you fought crime giant bubble writing appeared shouting ‘KAPOW!’, there was probably little point being stealthy.
Andre Pinto’s ‘Batcopter’ captures the camp flamboyance of the ’60s caped crusader brilliantly, and there’s more to see at his ‘Batcopter TV’ album on Flickr. Dananananana…
Our Elves have been sneaking again! Although we forgot to write about their discovery of the new H2 2022 Technic sets until we saw that LEGO had released them for sale on Monday. Never mind…
So, although you can find these on LEGO.com for sale right now, here are the two new LEGO Technic sets for August 2022!
First up (above), and looking excellent, is the brand new 42144 Material Handler, an 835-piece recreation of those giant grabby crane things that operate in scrapyards. And seeing as literally everyone wants to have a go at smashing a giant grab through the roof a scrap car, LEGO’s decision to create a fully working Technic version looks rather inspired.
The new 42144 set returns proper pneumatics to the Technic line-up, with a boom extending to 35cm courtesy of two large pneumatic cylinders pressurised by hand, whilst a small pneumatic cylinder opens and closes the grab.
A decent level of mechanical functions are present too, with 42144 including working outriggers, steering, a rotating boom superstructure, and an elevating cab.
It all looks rather good, but so it should do, as the new Technic 42144 Material Handler costs an enormous £105 / $150.
This sizeable price-tag generates a figure of 13p / 18c per piece, which is exactly double that of the 42054 Claas Xerion 5000 from five years ago, and 50% more than the 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger set from just two years ago.
Perhaps you might not want to scrap that old car after all…
LEGO’s second new arrival for August 2022 brings a helicopter back into the Technic range, a vehicle type that always seems to translate well to the theme. Unlike past iterations though, 42145 is an officially licensed replica of a real-world helicopter, in this case the Airbus H175.
Now as a car blog we have no idea what an Airbus H175 is, and would have been just as happy with a ‘generic’ helicopter, but aircraft fans are likely to enjoy its real-world basis as much as we do LEGO’s officially licensed cars and trucks.
Measuring over 70cm long and aimed at ages 11+, 42145 includes a motor that powers both the main and tail rotor, the rescue winch, and the retractable landing gear, whilst also spinning the engines too, which is a nice touch.
42145’s mechanical functions are limited to opening doors and a working swash plate to control rotor pitch, but seeing as the latter is fiendishly difficult to create that’s probably sufficient.
On sale now, the new Technic 42145 Airbus H175 Rescue Helicopter costs £180 / $210, making it even more expensive than the 42144 Material Handler above. However with a far more reasonable price per piece figure (even with a motor included), it 42145 looks to be the much better value of the two.
Both new Technic sets are available now via LEGO.com and other retailers, alongside all of the Technic sets from H1 revealed here at TLCB earlier in the year.