Tag Archives: helicopter

Hippocampus Helicopter

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The seahorse is a funny little animal. Delicate looking but with bony armour, they swim upright, have no scales, and the female gives birth to eggs which the male then carries before giving birth live young. That’s shared parenthood right there. It’s also not like a horse in any way, but most things in the sea seem to be named after things on land that they aren’t really like.

Cue the Sikorsky UH-34D Seahorse, which isn’t really like either the sea or land based versions of it’s namesake either. But it is quite a cool device, being one of the last piston-engined helicopters in use in the U.S Navy, operating from the mid-’50s to the 1970s. This one, built by [Maks] of Flickr, is in a rather fetching (and highly visible) orange due to its use in the arctic, and has been quite wonderfully recreated.

Finding the orange parts needed to construct this model must have been tricky as it’s a rather rare colour, and you can see the excellent fruits of [Maks]’s efforts at his photostream. Swim over to Flickr in an upright fashion via the link above.

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.

My Other Helicopter’s an Aston Martin

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We’re sure that many helicopter owners also have an Aston Martin in the garage. Flickr’s Serge S thinks so too, having turned the 10262 Aston Martin DB5 ‘Goldfinger’ set into this rather neat helicopter for TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model Competition. There’s just two days to go to get your entry in, which is how long Serge took to build this one. Head to Flickr to see more of his ‘Bond’s Helicopter’ by clicking here, and you can see the original LEGO set from which this model has been built via the link above.

Flight of Fiction

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This incredible looking co-axial(?) helicopter is not a recreation of a real aircraft. But it is ridiculously cool. Flickr’s Robson M (aka BrickDesigners) is the designer behind it and there’s more to see of his superbly built and presented concept helicopter gunship at his photostream via the link.

T’was a Telehandler

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There are three weeks to go in TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model Competition and there have been so many brilliant entries so far! Eurobricks’ Tomik has entered several builds in the hope of bagging an awesome SBrick Plus Pro Pack, with his latest B-Models both coming from the parts found within the 42061 Technic Telehandler set.

An off-road buggy with working steering and a mid-mounted piston engine, and a light helicopter with simultaneously turning main and tail rotors are the products of Tomik’s ingenuity, and there’s more to see of both creations by clicking here, where you can also find a link to building instructions if you’d like to rebuild your own 42061 Telehandler set too!

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…

My Other Car’s a Helicopter

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We’re nearly half way through TLCB Lock-Down B-Model Competition, where we’re looking for your awesome set alternates the could win you an incredible SBrick Pro Pack!

This is Tomik’s of Eurobricks entry, using the Technic 42075 First Responder set to create an alternate which unusually switches wheels for rotors, and includes one of the most ingenious hand-operated mechanisms we’ve seen yet!

Tomik’s ‘Pull-Back Helicopter’ uses the shock-absorber from 42075’s suspension to store energy from winding a gear, releasing it to simultaneously turn both the main and tail rotor. It’s a mighty clever use for the humble shock-absorber and it makes us think LEGO’s own Pull-Back efforts, derided upon their release here every year, are even weaker.

An opening cockpit is also included and there’s more to see of Tomik’s B-Model competition entry at the Eurobricks forum – click here link to see more – including a video of the ‘pull-back’ mechanism in action – and here to find out how to enter your own B-Model into the contest!

Smile, and the World Smiles with You

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The Bell Huey UH-1 was used for all sorts of things during the Vietnam War. Other wars too (in fact the UH-1 is still in widespread service today), but it’s the pointless Vietnam conflict for which it is most famous. From medical evacuation – the role the aircraft was originally designed for – to troop carrying, reconnaissance, search and rescue, and an attack gunship, the ‘Huey’ proved to be an incredibly versatile design, and it’s the latter variant that has the Elves most excited today.

Modified with the addition of machine guns, plus rocket and grenade launchers, the UH-1 made for a fairly terrifying gunship, especially when a giant pointy-toothed smiling shark mouth was painted on the front. A smile we don’t think the Vietnamese locals would’ve returned…

This superb recreation of the Bell Huey UH-1 in U.S Army gunship configuration is the work of Robson M (aka Brick Designers) who has replicated the real aircraft beautifully in brick form. With top-quality custom decals, a highly detailed interior, opening doors, and super-accurate brick-built weaponry, Robson’s Huey is well worth a closer look. Head to Flickr via the link above to see all the photos and give it your best smile.

Flying Dolphin

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The Lego Car Blog Elves have never met a dolphin, and thus they have little knowledge of what one looks like. The naming department of Eurocopter must only have had a loose idea too, because the clever aquatic mammals definitely don’t have rotors. Still, we suppose the barracuda doesn’t have wheels and that provided a cool car name for Plymouth.

The Eurocopter HH-65 does have a sort-of-dolphinish nose though, recreated here in superb detail by Robson M of Flickr. As well as the nose Robson has successfully replicated the Dolphin’s complex tail rotor, fitted a complete interior (with neat sliding door too), and has enhanced the accuracy with some excellent custom decals.

There’s more to see of Robson’s wonderfully realistic Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin at his photostream – click the link above to watch it do a backflip for some fish.

Classic Space Redux

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A few Elves got into the stationary cupboard over the weekend and between them ate four entire glue sticks. The result was some very sticky Elf droppings, and also some fairly trippy Elves, which may explain today’s somewhat spaced-out theme.

These two wonderful Neo-Classic Space builds were built for The Brothers Brick (wut!?), each rebooting LEGO’s ancient ‘Classic Space’ line with the latest parts and a whole lot more detail than the original sets achieved back in the early ’80s.

The first (above) comes from space-building legend Alec Hole, who has taken inspiration from the classic 6970 Beta Command Base set from 1980, with its launch pad, control room, and a funky little monorail thing that moved between the two. Alec’s version uses the same recipe but knocks it up a notch with some incredible attention to detail and enough ‘greebling’ for a model five times its size. We love it, and there’s more to see at Alec’s photostream by clicking here.

Today’s second Neo-Classic Space build (below) forgoes the usual rocket-propulsion system for good old fashioned rotors, creating a spacey helicopter that bears a strong resemblance to any one of a number of irritating drones. With Classic Space’s vintage colour scheme, a trans-yellow cockpit, and a smiling Classic Spaceman at the controls, Tim Goddard’s ‘Dragonfly‘ is much more our bag than annoying people in the park with a remote control helicopter (sorry drone owners). Head to Tim’s photostream via link above to see more, whilst we figure out how to remove some insanely sticky Elf droppings.

Holiday Heroes

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We’re back! After a few days of being shut in their cages, TLCB Elves have been released back onto the internet to hunt down the best Lego vehicles that the community has to offer. It hasn’t taken long for the first of our smelly little workers to return, motivated by the promise of a meal token and the possibility of a Smartie.

Our first post-Christmas creation is this, a rather wonderful H145M Swiss Air-Rescue helicopter built as a commission by Jonah Padberg aka Plane Bricks, and it’s a fabulous reminder that whilst we were off for Christmas the heroes of the emergency services were still at work, putting out fires, calming board-game related domestic arguments, and – in this case – saving lives.

Jonah’s spectacular H145M is a joy to look at, bursting with brilliant building techniques and including a sliding side-opening door, an opening barn-door tail exit, and folding rotor blades. There’s much more to see at Jonah’s photostream on Flickr – click the link above to make the jump and remember those that were hard at work doing the most amazing jobs that anyone can do whilst we were eating turkey.

Whirl ‘n Wheel Again

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As 2019 draws to a close might have found our favourite model of the year so far! The 5590 ‘Wheel ‘n Whirl Super Truck’, thankfully called something far less silly in our home nation, was one of the three sets that launched the Model Team range almost thirty years ago.

Three models in one, 5590 included a cab-over truck, trailer, and helicopter, all of which were detailed beyond any other LEGO sets of the time. Things have moved on a bit since then though, and Flickr’s Havoc has brought the classic Model Team set bang up to date with his incredible reimagining of the original.

Built at a considerably larger scale, Havoc’s 5590 Redux packs in even more detail, becoming a Freightliner cab-over with a working V8 mounted under the tilting cab, a TV screen inside the sleeper area (playing the movie ‘Convoy’!), and even a to-scale box containing 5590 set sitting on the bench, whilst the helicopter also gets taken up a notch, now replicating a real life Bell 206 Jetranger.

Havoc’s stunning redux of one of LEGO’s most important sets is available to view in more detail at his photostream via the link above, where several high-quality images of each part of the build can be found. You can also check out our review of the brilliant original 5590 set that inspired Havoc’s build by visiting TLCB’s Review Library, where it and over a hundred other reviews can be found!

Coast Guard ‘Copter

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This excellent Sikorsky HH-52 U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr today. It comes from Robson M, features custom decals, folding rotors, a sliding side door and a hoist for rescuing drowning swimmers / apprehending Mexicans. See more of Robson’s top notch build at his photostream via the link above.

Fly to the Store from Far Cry 4

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We’re not sure how much shopping you’d be able to take home, but flying by gyrocopter is surely the coolest way to get to the general store that there is. This beautiful gyrocopter, tuk-tuk, and general store scene from the video game Far Cry 4 comes from Markus Rollbuhler of Flickr, and the details are simply wonderful. Make the trip for yourself via the link above, and we’ll be back tomorrow with another of Markus’ superb vehicle-based dioramas.

Tilt!

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Lego Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) XC-142

From one weird aircraft to another today, only this one was real (sort of). Built in the 1960s, the Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) XC-142 was an experimental tilt-rotor vertical take-off/landing aircraft, and it really did look as odd as it does here.

It worked too, with five prototypes performing successful test flights in the mid-1960s. However with four 2,850bhp engines the XC-142 probably wasn’t a particularly fuel efficient way to transport 4,000kgs of military stuff, and thus the project didn’t prove financially viable, being shelved in 1966.

Today just one prototype XC-142 survives, but Henrik Jensen has added another with his rather excellent recreation of the tilting oddity. There’s more to see at Henrik’s Flickr photostream and on MOCpages – click the links to tilt the table.