Tag Archives: helicopter

Seasprite

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This is a Kaman SH-2 Seasprite, a U.S Navy ship-based anti-submarine and search & rescue helicopter. Introduced in 1963, the Seasprite saw service in the Vietnam and Gulf Wars, and flew until 1993 with the U.S Navy, as well as being operated in small numbers by a several other nations.

This excellent (and rather wonderfully liveried) SH-2 Seasprite is the work of Robson M (aka BrickDesigners), who has captured both it and the rather exciting looking weaponry slung underneath beautifully.

Top quality building techniques and presentation abound, and there’s more to see of the SH-2, including its folding landing gear, opening doors, and cartoonesque missiles, at Robson’s photostream. Click the link above to get airborne.

Military Monday

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War is once again raging in Europe. However despite the shock of one country invading another in 2022, Europe has been involved in conflict almost constantly. From fear of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War (which this TLCB Writer fears may be about to return) to involvement in far-away combat, war is sadly never distant.

Today’s models remind us of this past, with the first (above) the undoubtedly beautiful but rather sinister Handley-Page Victor nuclear bomber.

Built as part of the UK’s nuclear defence in the late 1950s, the Victor was part of a long line of V-Bombers (that also included the incredible Avro Vulcan), before it was repurposed for high altitude reconnaissance and later air-to-air refuelling.

This wonderful recreation of the Victor comes from previous bloggee Henrik Jensen, who has recreated its amazing shape beautifully in brick form. A full description of the build and further imagery can be found at Henrik’s photostream, and you can bomb on over via the link above.

Today’s second military creation (below) recreates a scene from countless Vietnam War movies, with a Bell ‘Huey’ helicopter in front of a (superbly built) shell-damaged building. The Bell and background come from Nicholas Goodman, who – like Henrik above – has deployed a few custom pieces to enhance authenticity.

There’s more to see of Nicholas’ ‘Battle of Hue, February 1968’ on Flickr. Click the link above to fight a pointless war that ends in failure and retreat. In that respect we hope that history is about to repeat itself.

Sea Stallion

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Military things, like cars, are often named after exciting or deadly animals. Unless they’re from the Soviet Union of course, in which case an array of numbers and letters was sufficient.

Cue the Sikorsky RH-53D ‘Sea Stallion’, so called because ‘Sea Horse’ was already taken by another Sikorsky aircraft, but mostly because ‘Stallion’ sounds far more masculine.

The RH-35D was operated by the U.S Navy Marines from 1975 until 1997, primarily for mine clearing and heavy lifting, and it’s been recreated in incredible detail in Lego form by previous bloggee [Maks].

At 1:40 scale, [Maks]’s Sea Stallion measures 80cm across, and took almost a year to complete, with his spectacular attention to detail further enhanced by some beautifully authentic decals.

There’s a whole lot more of the Sikorsky RH-35D to see at [Maks]’s ‘RH-53D Sea Stallion’ Flickr album, including imagery showing those enormous rotor blades cleverly folded, and you can take a look via the link above. Just don’t call it a horse.

Rainbow Rescue

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This year literally everything become rainbow coloured for a bit. Utah’s Bell 407 search and rescue helicopter was ahead of the curve though, already sporting a fantastic rainbow colour scheme that might just be the most difficult paint job to recreate in Lego bricks ever devised.

That didn’t stop Eurobricks’ droomangroup though, who has replicated the Utah Bell medevac helicopter in Model Team form, somehow managing to recreate the rainbow livery in bricks with such precision it’s made our heads hurt.

There’s more to see of drooman’s monumentally clever model at the Eurobricks forum, where you can also find an image of the real Utah Bell 407 search and rescue unit for comparison. Click the link above to follow the rainbow.

Fortunate Son

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If there are two things associated with America’s involvement in the Vietnam War more than any others, it’s the incessant use of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Fortunate Son’, and the Bell UH-1N ‘Huey’ helicopter.

Fortunately we like Fortunate Son, and we like the Bell UH-1N Huey too, at least in brick form from Flickr’s [Maks].

[Maks]’s USAF Twin Huey captures the real military helicopter brilliantly, with flex hose skids, brick-built camo, and accurate decals.

There are more superb images of [Maks]’s build to see at his ‘UH-1N Twin Huey’ album – click the link above and start humming Fortunate Son on loop.

Horse Truck

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Surprisingly we don’t think we’ve ever blogged a horse truck here at TLCB (and we’re reluctant to go into the Archives to check properly as there are rumours of a feral band of TLCB Elves inhabiting them).

Today doesn’t change that though, despite the title, as this lovely Dodge M-37 truck is not a horse truck per say, rather it’s here as ground support for [Maks] previously blogged UH-34D Seahorse U.S Navy helicopter.

That means no attractive horsey girls called Arabella, but still an ace scene that would have been commonplace in the 1960s U.S Navy. There’s more to see of [Maks] Dodge M-37 truck and superb Sikorsky Seahorse on Flickr – click the link above to take a look.

I Can’t Hear You, There’s a Helicopter

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President Trump is going to have to return to his own helicopter from February. Whilst we’re sure this will still offer plenty of toupee-glue testing moments, incoming President Joe Biden’s numerous cosmic alterations seem not to include a wig, more’s the pity.

Anyhoo, whichever cosmetically enhanced face is in the White House, it will be flown about in this, the specially adapted Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King ‘Marine One’.

Often a feature on the White House lawn, doing its best to drown out whatever spur-of-the-moment nonsense is being spouted to the press, Marine One has been a Presidential fixture for decades, with almost twenty (Marine One and Twos) in operation the current Presidential fleet.

This superb mini-figure replica of the world’s most famous helicopter comes from BigPlanes of Flickr, who has recreated the real VH-3D Marine One beautifully, including custom decals and a fully-fitted interior, although there’s no angry orange mini-figure shouting from underneath it, which is surely a missed opportunity.

No matter, there’s more to see of BigPlanes’ creation at his ‘LEGO VH-3D Marine One’ album on Flickr, plus you can find his amazing previously blogged recreation of Air Force One by clicking here.

Simply Flying

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This odd contraption is a gyrocopter, a sort-of-helicopter with an un-powered lift rotor, which instead spins in the wind as the rear propellor drives the vehicle forward. It looks terrifically dangerous as only the maddest (and usually cheapest) form of transport can, with paave‘s minimalistic looking Technic version being pretty much as robust and complex as the real thing.

Paave’s version includes complete flight controls with the main rotor pitch and yaw controlled via the joystick, the rudder via pedals, and a working two-cylinder piston engine linked to the propellor.

Head to Eurobricks to see more, and you can see the controls in action via the video below.

YouTube Video

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!