Tag Archives: Lunar Rover

Sci-Fi Sunday

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OK, we’re not always strictly a car blog here at The Lego… er, Car Blog, but today’s sci-fi creations do have wheels! Well, two of them do, and enough to average 4.67 wheels per model in today’s post, which is good enough for us!

First up is Capt. Dad‘s Neo-Classic Space ‘Mobile Research’, because there’s nothing the mini-figures of Classic Space (or indeed, Neo-Classic Space) like more than researching stuff. Much greebling, many opening compartments, and a brilliant interior all feature, and you join in the research via the link above.

Next up is a creation from Neo-M-Tron, a sub-theme which we’ve just invented. This is the ‘Gigatron Flux Inductor’, a giganormous 6×6 cross between the mole thingy from Thunderbirds, a steam train, and a petrol tanker. Created digitally in Bricklink Studio plus copious editing programmes, Ghalad‘s creation is apparently the latter, and you can fill up your stranded lunar rover via the link in the text above.

Today’s third and final sci-fi build features no wheels at all, but it does use two LEGO transparent ball pieces for, um… reasons. Sylvain Daunais‘ ‘Universe Explorer’ looks superb however, and there’s more to see of his excellent Neo-Classic Spaceship on Flickr. Click the link above to take a look, whilst we find some things that have definitely got wheels…

Classic Space Sprog

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This is the ‘Classic Space Baby Mobile Rocket Transport Mech’, or C.S.B.M.R.T.M. for short, a triple rocket transportation and launch system that can transform into a giant space-baby mech. Because shut up, that’s why.

Angus MacLane is the owner / father responsible for this mildly terrifying Classic Space roving automaton, and there’s more of his otherworldly insanity to see at his photostream. Pack some giant space diapers and head to lunar daycare via the link in the text above.

They Think It’s Febr-Over…

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…It is now!

Yes the annual festival of all things other-worldly is over for another year, with a smorgasbord of wonderful roving contraptions entered, about which we know exactly nothing. We’re not sure what our strong suit is, or even if we have one at all, but we certainly know it isn’t sci-fi.

But before TLCB staff can breathe a collective sigh of relief and return to writing about the engine capacities of 1960s British sedans, here are two final Febrovery rovers, as entered by Julius Kanand and Nathan Hake of Flickr, and about which – as is customary – we know exactly nothing.

Both look great though, with Julius’ final Febrovery ’23 rover (above) available to view at his photostream (where an array of other rovers can also be found), and Nathan’s fully remote controlled entry (below), complete with articulated steering, 8×8 drive, and an ingenious LEGO Spikes Colour Sensor front light, available to view at his.

Take a look via the links above, and you can check out all the Febrovery madness from this year by clicking here.

R is For…

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It’s February, and that means the month-long annual rover-based building bandwagon of FebRovery has begun!

Not aimed at creating brick-built versions of the products produced by the defunct British car brand (although some members of TLCB Team wish it was), FebRovery entrants are instead tasked to create machines of a sci-fi complexion, capable of roving other worldly environments. Which means of course, that this site will comprehensively struggle to write anything about them whatsoever.

Anyway, this one comes from Flickr’s Frost, who is a fan-favourite during the contest each year, and there’s more to see of his FebRovery, er… rover at his photostream. Click the link above to start roving.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Squeee!

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LEGO’s ‘Classic Space Plush‘ is one of their more unusual – and adorable – ‘pieces’. However a real Classic Spaceman, no matter its cuteness, needs a vehicle with which to conduct Classic Spacey things. Cue Daniel Church, and his ‘Awwwstronauts’!

Built to Plushie scale, Daniel has created a fully RC lunar rover and segway to allow his Classic Space Plushies to go about their delightful cuddly space business. Both contain Powered-Up Motors hidden inside and there’s more to see at his ‘Awwwstronauts’ album on Flickr.

Cutely go where no spaceman has gone before via the link!

Ukrovery

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The news from Ukraine is heartbreaking. Almost eight decades of peace in Europe has ended, and the human cost is going to be enormous.

We’ve pilloried Putin before (and received threats as a result), but the mask is off now, and what lies beneath it is monstrous.

As such we hope blue and yellow vehicles might feature here a bit more prominently for a while following our recent call, which Flickr’s Frost has answered, rounding off Febrovery with his final lunar rover looking wonderful in Ukrainian colours.

So that’s it for Febrovery 2022, but sadly not Putin’s ‘Special Military Operation’, which – thanks to the heroism of those defending Ukraine – looks far from being over. If you’re one of the 5,000 TLCB readers from Ukraine, or indeed one of the 17,000 from Russia and are as dismayed as the rest of us, a special welcome to these pages to you.

If you’re looking to help the situation in Ukraine but don’t know how, check out the Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal and the UN Refugee Agency Appeal where donations are now open.

Under the Mask

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Most LEGO pieces can be used in almost infinite ways. It’s the very purpose of LEGO. However there are a few parts that seem to be defiantly single-use. The Primo ride-on elephant. Anything from the awful Galidor range. And the wearable Bionicle mask.

Designed so that kids could pretend to be defending Mata-Nui or something, the mid-00’s were clearly a difficult time for LEGO. And yet out of adversity comes triumph, in the form of Scott Wilhelm‘s magnificent ‘Mobile Reactor Transport’.

Wearing the life-size Toa face like a tortoise wears its shell, the until-now-pointless-part looks purpose-made for Scott’s half-track rover. Delightful greebling is visible through the mask’s orifices and there’s more to see of the build, including the epically inventive parts usage, at Scott’s photostream.

Click the link above to see what’s under the mask.

Clearly Roving

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2022’s Febrovery is drawing to a close, in which Lego builders from around the world have united in their creation of other-worldly transports. Today we round out the roverest of months with four intriguing space-based builds, each of which has deployed a few of LEGO’s more unusual pieces in the pursuit of roving brilliance.

First up is Robert Heim‘s ‘Spaceport Fire Rover’, which features so many LEGO pieces of which we know nothing it’s making us doubt we can do this job. The wheels look like cupcake cases and the rotating cockpit appears as if it’s made from a kid’s sand bucket. We have absolutely no idea what sets they’re all from, but you can find out more at Robert’s photostream via the link.

Next we have martin.with.bricks‘ impressive eight-wheeled rover, which actually looks rather like something we could well see in our lifetime. A determined-looking mini-figure sits at the controls inside the same clear buckety-brick cockpit, whilst a minimalist brick-built lunar surface passes beneath the tyres. Centre articulation and an opening rear hatch add to the fun and you can see more of Martin’s rover on Flickr at the link above.

No longer used as the cockpit, but still featuring prominently in the design, Frost‘s colourful ‘Biotron Corp Spaceplant Relocation Rover’ utilises the same transparent buckets, this time for some sort of lunar re-wilding project. A trans-lime half-dome continues the funky cockpitting however, and there’s more to see of Frost’s space-based conservation via the link above.

Today’s final Febrovery creation takes a rather more utilitarian approach, and is very possibly the reason that Frost’s ‘Spaceplant Relocation Rover’ above is required. Andreas Lenander‘s ‘Dome-rover’ is smoothing its way across a lovely brick-built moon-scape, thanks to some genius tracks and a wonderfully pink classic spaceman sealed within a transparent orb. Andreas has used said orb in other cunning ways during Febrovery ’22 too, and there’s more to see of this and his other Febrovery builds at his photostream via the link above.

And that completes our Febrovery 2022 round-up, which took on quite a transparent theme this year. Febrovery will be back in 2023, but until then there is still a whole month to go in TLCB and Bricknerd’s ‘Festival of Mundanity’ competition, in which we’re looking for vehicles that are rather more earth-bound. What better way to move on from other-wordly oddness than a white Toyota Corolla looking for a parking space…

Lunar Landing

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It’s fifty years since the coolest vehicle ever made (apart from the Citroen DS obviously) first landed on the moon.

The Lunar Roving Vehicle (better known as the ‘Moon Buggy’) was a foldable all-wheel-drive EV designed to enable the Apollo astronauts cover a greater area of the lunar surface.

The LRV was used three times between 1971 and ’72, and Flickr’s VALARIE ROCHE has recreated the momentous event five decades later, with a brick-based tribute to the lunar landings suggested to us by a reader.

Valarie’s build includes a fully-foldable LRV, a pair of astronauts (with the names of all twelve to walk on the moon inscribed on the vignette’s base), and a recreation of the LLRE (Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment), which can still be used today to disprove those who think that the above occurred in a studio in L.A.

Valarie is hoping the build will become an official LEGO set, and you can check it out in more detail (and help to make that a reality) by visiting Valarie’s photostream. Click the link above to rove the lunar surface fifty years ago.

We’re Going to Need a Bigger Cracker

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Everybody knows the moon’s made of cheese. Which means that the ‘Moonmouse MkII’ makes perfect sense to us. Horcik Designs owns the mind behind it and you can check it out on Flickr by clicking these words.

Galactic Piratic

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Uh oh! Space Pirates! You know, pirates… but in space! Flickr’s captainsmog owns the mind that has magnificently merged two of LEGO’s most beloved themes and you can see more of his piratical antics via the link above.

Oh, Go On Then

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FebRovery really is over… (isn’t it Markus Rollbuhler and Chris Perron?). Luckily Markus and Chris’s building skills are significantly better than their timekeeping, so here are two more rovers before we really will get back to posting cars. Probably.

Markus’s effort (above), entitled ‘Stardust Snooper’, harks back to LEGO’s earliest space themes in its purpose, being solely an exploratory rover. A living space and research lab support the crew of two and there’s more to see on Flickr by clicking here.

Today’s second rover comes from Chris Perron, whose Blacktron ‘Surface Scout’ is also apparently an exploratory vehicle. Just one with a giant double laser cannon thingy on the roof. Four wheel steering and a beautifully built cockpit for one feature alongside the ginormous death ray and there’s more to see of Chris’s build on Flickr.

And here endeth the FebRovery Rovers. Unless someone uploads a cool one tomorrow. Now let’s find some cars…

Febrovery Finale

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There was a whole extra day in this year’s Febrovery competition, with many builders taking advantage of this to squeeze their creations across the finish line. And some still missed it…

In celebration of those that didn’t quite manage the deadline, which was fittingly extended this year for space-based reasons, here are three of our favourite rovers that might be more Marovery than Febrovery.

First (above) is Scott Willhelm‘s enormous entry, complete with magnificent brick-built wheels fitted to ends of whatever you all those chassis-arm-thingies. Those chassis-arm-thingies are a bit of a theme this year, kinda like full-width light bars appearing on literally every new car design of late, but much like them they do look cool. See more at the link!

Our second fashionably-late Febrovery entry comes (above) from Faber Mandragore, who has also deployed chassis-arm-thingies to great effect. A transparent domed cockpit and an assortment of science fictiony equipment keep the build suitably futuristic and there’s more to see at Faber’s photostream via the link above.

Our final featured Febrovery creation (above) is very possibly our favourite, eschewing cool chassis-arm-thingies for a single slightly tragic looking jockey wheel, reminiscent of those miserable looking tractor tugs you see at the airport.

Spectacularly inappropriate for a surface littered with craters and rocks, and with an exhaust stack that raises unanswerable questions about how an internal combustion engine works without air, ‘Benny’s Space Trike’ is clearly our winner and you can see more courtesy of Blake Foster by clicking here.

Until next year, keep rovin’…

Wheelie Big Cheese

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FebRovery is nearly over, but as we approach the end of the annual rover-building bandwagon we’ve got time to squeeze a few more in. Today’s is a fine way to finish, as surely all good events end with cheese. David Roberts‘ is the builder behind this ‘Edam Rover’, a giant wax-skinned contraption used in the Cheese Mining industry that has been so famously represented in countless Lego creations. Grab yourself a cracker and head to David’s photostream via the link above for a taste.

Double Bubble

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It’s Valentine’s Day, and what better way to show the Classic Spacewoman in your life that you love her than through a romantic journey across the wilderness of an empty moon? Flickr’s Horcik Designs has built the perfect tool for the job, with this brilliant Neo-Classic Space rover able to transport two mini-figures in style thanks to separate bubble canopies suspended above the rover’s six wheels. This setup may make conversation difficult of course, but perhaps that’s the secret to a long and happy relationship. Click the link above to head out on a date across the moon.