This superb SH-60F Seahawk as used by the anti-submarine unit aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt comes from old favourite Ralph Savelsberg aka Mad Physicist on Flickr. With beautiful detailing and custom decals it’s a fine way to kick off 2017’s aircraft here at The Lego Car Blog. There’s more to see, including photos of the nifty sliding cabin door and folding rotors, at Ralph’s photostream via the link above.
…Green Giant. We’re not convinced that the marketing department at Green Giant canned vegetables were being completely original when they came up with their tagline, but in fairness if Father Christmas hadn’t trademarked it first it was a bit short sighted of him. Anyway, it does allow us a tenuous link to Christmas with this blog post title, so we’re cool with it.
This superb military helicopter, complete with some of the best brick-built camouflage that we’ve ever seen, is a Sikorsky HH-3E ‘Jolly Green Giant’. Launched in the early 1960s the big Sikorsky has been in continuous use ever since, with both it and the UK variant (the Westland Sea King) forming the backbone of American and British search and rescue fleets.
The brilliant Lego recreation of the Jolly Green Giant featured here comes from Flicker’s [Maks] and it’s without doubt one of the finest Lego helicopters that we’ve come across since this site was founded. There’s lots more to see at [Maks]’ photostream – click the link above to take off.
This has got to be one of the ugliest vehicles that we’ve ever posted. It’s even uglier than this. But it’s also one of the most beautiful examples of LEGO building we’ve posted too. It’s a Russian Mi-24 ‘Hind’ helicopter gunship, in service (and production) since 1972, and it’s a gloriously inventive build. The work of TLCB regular Daniel Siskind, there’s more to see on Flickr – click here to take off.
Nope, not the slightly dodgy remake of the slightly dodgy film of the 1969 book by American novelist Paul Gallico, but this – the King of the Sea, the Sikorsky/Westland SH-3 Sea King helicopter – the aircraft of choice for maritime rescue agencies the world over. This lovely 1:40 scale mini-figure version of the iconic helicopter comes from Flickr’s [Maks] and there’s more to see at the link.
Today’s final post comes from TLCB newcomer Сергей Антохин, who has built a MIL Mi-171 helicopter rather brilliantly in Town / mini-figure scale. We’ve robbed this from The Brothers Brick, as they beat us to it (so no prizes for our Elves for this one), and there’s lots more to see including interior shots and close-ups of that superb tail on Flickr at the link above.
We don’t understand sci-fi here at TLCB, but we do understand good building, so here – despite us having no subject knowledge at all – are three sci-fi builds of much goodness.
First up is Dead Frog inc.‘s expertly engineered unofficial excavator Transformer that really, er.. transforms. There’s more to see on Flickr – click the link above to check it out.
Next up is another original design spun from a well-known nerdy franchise. Chris Maddison‘s ‘Incom T-47 Advanced Snowspeeder’ has been built to fit into the Star Wars universe, and it looks seriously swooshable. You can make the jump to see more via the link above.
Our third and final sci-fi build comes from Flickr’s Horcik Designs, and what his VTOL dropship lacks in swooshability (it is a word…), it more than makes up for with menace. Click the link above to visit Horcik’s phototream for more.
LEGO’s vintage Technic sets may not have the visual or mechanical sophistication of today’s products, but their basic pieces and simple studs-up construction make them wonderfully playable.
Brickshelf’s tab models demonstrates this vintage versatility beautifully with his gallery of alternative builds, all built using the pieces from the ancient 851 Tractor set.
Amongst his creations are a motorcycle, road-roller, dragster, helicopter and lawn-mower, with many more available to view at his Brickshelf gallery. All include working features, and all prove you don’t need a Bricklink account to build a range of quality creations from our favourite brick-based toy.
Check out the full gallery of 851 Alternates on Brickshelf via the link above.
After today’s earlier sci-fi aircraft* we have another to post – although this one is slightly more modest. This inventive recreation of Far Cry 4’s gyrocopter was found on Flickr. It’s the work of Wookieewarrior and there’s more to see here.
*We’ll try to get back to cars tomorrow!
It’s that time of year again! A crack team of Elves was dispatched a couple of weeks ago into LEGO’s closely guarded HQ, and those successful at avoiding German shepherds have been returning to TLCB Towers over the past few days. We now have the complete range of Technic sets for the first half of 2016, so without further ado, we can bring you the brand new 2016 LEGO Technic line-up!
42048 Go Kart
An interesting colour choice for LEGO’s first 2016 set, and also one that sets the tone for 2016’s use of stickers; 42048 uses a lot of them. Underneath that be-stickered body is a model that we rather like, and one with some excellent proper Technic functions too. Working steering and a rear-wheel driven single-cylinder engine feature in 42048, which contains approximately 350 parts and will retail for an estimated price of £25/$30. A thumbs up from TLCB.
42044 Display Team Jet
On to the smallest set in the 2016 line-up; the circa-115 piece Display Team Jet. Again there are lots of stickers in evidence, but this time there’s not much substance underneath them. Retractable landing gear is the only working function here. Still, 42044 will be cheap at around $15. Next…
42045 Hydroplane Racer
There hasn’t been a Technic boat for some time (that we can remember anyway), so the 2016 Hydroplane Racer is a welcome return for anyone into water-borne vehicles. 42045 features even more stickers than its entry-level counterparts, although they do look rather nice to this reviewer’s eyes, and includes just under 200 pieces. Amongst these are a working straight-4 engine which is turned by a pair of hidden wheels underneath the bodywork. Expect 42045 to retail for around £15/$20 when it’s launched next year.
42046 Getaway Racer & 42047 Police Intercepter
We’ve not much to say about LEGO’s new pull-back racers because, well – they look like this. More stickers and nothing else to see, although 42046 and 42047 can be combined to create something that is – somewhat unbelievably – even more hideous than the two individual models above. Each will have an RRP of £15/$20 and contain 170-ish pieces. Moving swiftly on…
42049 Mine Loader
On to the bigger stuff… This peculiar looking device is a mining loader, built for travelling the subterranean roads in the world’s deep mines. 42049 contains nearly 500 pieces, including a huge turntable for central articulation, a two-cylinder engine (which seems rather small), and a manually controlled grasping clamp, meaning it has both adequate mechanical functionality and play value. Expect 42049 to cost around £30/$40 when it reaches stores early in 2016.
42050 Drag Racer
If TLCB seems a little underwhelmed by LEGO’s 2016 Technic offerings so far it’s because, er… we are. But our mood changes a bit with this; the brilliant-looking 42050 Drag Racer! Designed to resemble the ‘Funny Car’ silhouette drag racers that light up the tarmac at strips across the U.S, 42050 is the most exciting mid-size Technic set to be launched in ages. With circa-650 pieces – including some lovely new blue panels – a huge working V8 engine, lifting bodywork and working steering, 42050 is something of a supercar-lite. There’s a traditional drag racer B-Model too, which is actually rather good itself. £60/$70 is our estimate, and this is one model we hope to add to our Set Review Library next year!
42052 Heavy Lift Helicopter
The final set for 2016 sits at the top of the Technic tree; the 1,042 piece Heavy Lift Helicopter. Featuring Power Functions motorisation, co-axial rotors, a working winch and retractible landing gear, 42052 leads the 2016 range with functionality. The orange and white colour scheme looks rather nice we think, and is further enhanced with (you’ve guessed it) lots of stickerage. The new Heavy Lift Helicopter will reach stores in early 2016, with a heavy price to match; you’ll need to save up over £100/$120 to lift this set home.
Overall 2016 looks a bit of a mixed bag, much like 2015, but just like this year we can expect the really cool stuff to arrive in the second half of the year… did someone say ‘new supercar?’…
You can read our reviews of some of the sets in 2015 Technic line-up by visiting the Set Review Library – click here to see what our experts made of this year’s official LEGO Technic products.
…Or a plane. Or a helicopter.
Bell-Boeing’s ingenius V-22 Osprey is in fact a tilt-rotor aircraft, the first of its kind in the world. Powered by two mighty Rolls Royce AE engines unique to the V-22 (and therefore frighteningly expensive), the Osprey can both take off and land like a helicopter and cruise like a turboprop plane.
Conceived way back in 1983 the V-22 first flew in 1989, and just over half of the planned 400 aircraft have been built to date.
This superbly engineered Technic recreation of one of the world’s most remarkable aircraft has been built by Brickshelf’s leinhardt and it features folding rotors, working landing gear and an opening rear loading ramp. There are more images available on Brickshelf at the link above – click the link to take off.
It’s an RC kinda day here at TLCB. LEGO’s beautifully versatile Power Functions motors can be used to enhance almost any model, and one of the more unusual we’ve found recently is this Sikorsky CH-54 Skycrane helicopter. Eurobricks’ juGSI16V is the builder and you can see more of his brilliant remote control Technic helicopter at the link above.
Spindly building doesn’t always work, but it does here. Sinan Bitisik‘s light helicopter uses some clever techniques in its featherweight frame – click the link to check it out.
This has got to be one of the weirdest aircraft that we’ve featured, and almost unbelievably it’s an accurate miniature replica of a real-world helicopter – the 1960’s Soviet-made Kamov Ka-26.
Like much of what was produced behind the iron curtain in the early post-war years the Kamov Ka-26 was a bit rubbish. It required its two unreliable radial engines to be working constantly at almost full power to stay in the air, meaning it needed ridiculously frequent maintenance. Despite the design faults over eight-hundred Kamov Ka-26s were built, with many of them employed as crop spraying aircraft in Eastern Europe like the Hungarian version we have here.
This neat Lego recreation of the Soviet oddity is the work of Flickr’s Dornbi, and there’s more to see at his photostream – click the link above for take off.
Today’s incredible Lego creation comes from newcomer Chrismo72, who has built one of the most astounding Technic models of the year.
Featuring five Power Functions motors controlling the pitch, roll and rotation of the rotors, two sets of LED lights, two IR controllers and two IR receivers, Chrismo’s Air Ambulance helicopter is amongst the most advanced Lego aircraft ever built.
As well as some brilliant Technic engineering Chrismo’s helicopter also includes some neat brickwork, such as the clever tail-rotor housing shown above.
There’s also a fully detailed interior, opening doors, and working control sticks. You can see all of the photos and read more about the build by visiting the discussion topic in the Eurobricks Technic forum.
