The kiddie-based cuteness continues here at the Lego Car Blog. Recreating what their kids imagine when they’re riding on their toys outside, Cecilie Fritzvold‘s ‘Baby Mario Kart’ captures all the madness of Nintendo’s finest work, complete with shells, banana skins, item boxes, Lakitu’s cloud, and some very hungry plants. And with LEGO releasing their own officially-licensed Mario line, perhaps an official LEGO Mario Kart set is just a rainbow road away.
It’s been over a decade since Breaking Bad (AKA The Best Thing That’s Ever Been on TV Ever) concluded, yet the seminal show is still inspiring Lego builds. Cue Nick Kleinfelder and this wonderful recreation of the infamous 1986 Fleetwood Bounder RV methlab that starred throughout out the series.
Complete with mini-figure Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, Nick’s cooked up a model of incredible detail, using a complex formula of ingenious building techniques. You can see how Nick’s done it at his photostream, and you can jump to the New Mexico desert via the link above.
We all know that James Bond can seduce any woman in less time than it takes to read this sentence. Yup, if you’re a girl (What? We have female readers! Probably…), you’d already be, well.. you know.
Cue László Torma, and this magnificent Speed Champions Lotus Esprit S1, the star the 1977 Bond film ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’. Of course in the aforementioned movie, Bond’s Lotus was fitted with a few optional extras courtesy of Q-Branch / the Pinewood special effects department, which meant that his Esprit could get rather more aquatic than most.
A car submarine chase of utter ridiculousness was the obligatory result, in which Bond seemed to spend as much time no-doubt-successfully seducing his female passenger as he did trying to evade the generic goons sent in pursuit.
Eventually 007’s Lotus sprung an inevitable leak (because even non-aquatic Esprits would do that), but by then he’d already defeated his adversaries and secured certain relations with his glamorous fellow submariner.
With building instructions available and the ability to become (well, be rebuilt as) a submarine, we’re looking forward to the effect László’s Lotus Esprit will have on the females here in TLCB Office. You can give it ago yourself via the link above, plus you watch the real car submarine in the iconic movie scene here.
Everyone needs some support now and then, even the perennially-smiling spacemen of Classic Space. And what better way to support them than via the perennially-smiling Spaceship Support Team, shown here at the wheel of their tractors, on hand with tools, refuelling, and a lift. Flickr’s David Roberts is the man in charge and you can see more at his photostream via the link above.
Streamlining is rather de-rigueur at present. In the world of electrification, eking every last mile of range – when recharging is a royal pain in the socket (sorry EVangelists, but it is) – is of the utmost importance.
Proving that fashion is always circular, some seventy years ago streamlining was also the height of vehicular design. The ‘jet age’ of 1950s saw super-smooth almost art-deco like shapes because… well, it was cool.
Cue Andrew Tate (no, not that one) and this gorgeous Octan fuel tanker streamliner, shown paused in the desert as the driver takes a break. 1950s aerodynamics were a bit ropey, so we’re not sure the designs of the time actually generated increased efficiency, but they looked so good.
There’s more to see of Andrew’s streamlined truck on Flickr, and you can make the jump to the cutting-edge aerodynamics of the ’50s via the link above.
Formula 1 today seems to largely be an advert for crypto currency. Which is dodgy. But not as dodgy as it was in the 1930s, when Grand Prix racing was propaganda for naziism.
Yes, much like the Football World Cup, Olympics, and LIV Golf are used by various human-rights trampling regimes today, Hitler distracted the world – with huge success – through the display of Germany’s sporting and technological might. A triumphant 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin were followed by various state-sponsored Grand Prix winners – nicknamed the ‘Silver Arrows’ – from Mercedes-Benz and the company that would eventually become Audi; Auto Union.
Powered by a monstrous and innovatively mid-mounted supercharged V16 engine, the Auto Union Type C won basically everything in 1936, and the Nazis used this success to continue convincing the German people (and the rest of the world) that they were alright really.
Previous bloggee [Maks] has captured Hitler’s ‘sports-washing’ beautifully, with this wonderful scene depicting the Auto Union Type C taking a starring role in one of many expertly-produced Nazi propaganda films.
By the late-’30s of course, the Nazis’ engineering prowess was being used rather differently, and world realised that Hitler may not have been completely honest about his intentions in films such as the one being shot here. Still, at least the world learned, and hasn’t made that mistake since*…
There’s more to see of [Maks] brick-built homage to one of the Nazis finest achievements via his photostream; click the link above above to jump back to Germany in 1936. Just don’t believe everything you see..
TLCB Staff may not know much about sci-fi, speeder bikes, or beautifully built trees, but they can still be enthralled by them despite their ignorance. Cue SweStar‘s gorgeous speeder bike vignette, titled simply ‘Tree’, and featuring a wonderfully constructed contraption hovering over the surface of the water. There’s more of the creation to see at SweStar’s photostream, and you can take a look via the link in the text above, even if you know as little about sci-fi as we do.
You don’t need a million pieces and to know The Brothers Brick secret handshake to see your creation blogged. A few dozen, cunningly deployed (sideways in this case), combined with careful presentation is all we need, as proven here by previous bloggee David Roberts and this delightful ‘Off-Road Tow Truck’. Working winches, a lovely Technic crane, and a cheery mini-figure make David’s model reminiscent of LEGO sets gone by (if LEGO built sideways), and there’s more to see on Flickr. Click the link above to jump sideways to David’s photostream.
No, not this TLCB Writer (despite the fame and girls that writing about Lego cars brings*), but this rather lovely and decidedly old-school replica of a Vallée 4DA20 forklift, as built by Philippe Moisan, here making their TLCB debut.
Articulated steering, a worm-screw lifting mechanism, a detailed engine under a hinged cover, and a whole lot of studs make Philippe’s forklift a charming build, and you can check it out in full at his ‘VALLEE’ album on Flickr. Click the link above for fork-load more.
*Which is none at all.
TLCB Elves are rather fond of Lego Ferraris. Particularly red ones. Which means we have a happy contingent today, because here are no less than three of them.
Each is the work of previous bloggee Fabrice Larcheveque, who has captured the Ferrari LaFerrari, 512 BB, and 288 GTO brilliantly in 8-wide Speed Champions scale.
Fabrice’s updated builds are presented beautifully, and there’s more to see of the LaFerrari, 512 BB, 288 GTO, and many more models besides at his Flickr photostream.
Click here to take a look, where you might also find a link or two to building instructions, should you wish to create your very own Lego Ferrari at home. Or three.
It’s been a relatively quiet week here at TLCB Towers, but we can end it with three thoroughly excellent models in one. This fabulous ‘Van der Vlist’ liveried DAF XF-105 truck, Gebruder Recker gooseneck trailer, and Claas Tucano 320 combine harvester are all the work of TLCB Master MOCer Ralph Savelsberg, who has captured each in astonishing detail.
More amazingly, each model is only mini-figure(ish) scale, yet packs in as much realism as models several times the size. There’s more to see of the whole superbly presented rig and its constituent parts at Ralph’s ‘DAF XF-105 and Claas Combine Harvester’ Flickr album, plus you can read his interview here at TLCB via the first link in the text above.
Cosmic Crystal. Space Speed. Galactic Gak. Lunar Cookie. It’s absolutely definitely not what is going on inside Thomas of Tortuga‘s exquisitely-rendered ‘Humbert Radar Vehicle’.
Board your Rocket Ship* to join the cook via the link above!
*Yes, we have just Googled slang words for methamphetamine and turned them spacey.
TLCB Staff, being curmudgeonly bores, think that Rovers are old British cars of increasing mediocrity. The Online Lego Community however, thinks the word means something far more whimsical.
2024’s ‘Febrovery‘ – wherein dozens of extraordinary planetary exploration vehicles are constructed – is well underway, and we have another two wonderfully diverse rovers-of-the-spacey-type here today.
The first (above) is the delightfully hued ‘Greeble Transport Rover’, built to carry the tiny grey pieces that make up the most science-fictiony parts of spaceships. Ironically needing none itself, the ‘Greeble Transport Rover’ is instead a riot of colour, and there’s more to see courtesy of Febrovery veteran Frost.
Our second rover (below) forgoes the colour of Frost’s machine replacing it with earthy greys. Four sets of tracks and a great many triangles complete the utilitarian look, and there’s more to see of Horcik Designs‘ ‘Rover Expedition Ready’ at his photostream on Flickr.
Click the final two links above to see more of each rover, and the first if you fancy checking out the Febrovery building bonanza in full, where there’s not an old British car to be found anywhere. We promise.
As revealed when we recently interviewed, er… ourselves, the single worst thing about running a world famous moderately well-known Lego website is having to remove endless spam comments.
Crypto currency, luxury goods that are absolutely definitely genuine, pills to make things bigger, pills to make things smaller, and – of course – escorts.
Thus today’s post is for the aforementioned escort commenters (most likely ‘bots from East Asia), as we have not one, not two, but four escorts appearing on the site today.
All come from previous bloggee Ralph Savelsberg, and represent (from left to right) two Mercedes-Benz Sprinters, a Volkswagen Transporter, and a Volkswagen Caddy, each perfectly capturing its real-world counterpart in mini-figure scale, with more to see on Flickr.
Book your escort via the link in the text above, whilst we delete another dozen comments advertising dubious services.
The early design philosophy of LEGO’s Classic Space theme was to take an item of mundane earthly equipment, paint it grey, and add a satellite dish. Cue Dump trucks, mini-diggers, floor-buffers, and – in this case – a horse-box and trailer.
Taking LEGO’s 452 ‘Mobile Ground Tracking Station’ (aka Space Horsebox), Flickr’s Frost (aka TFDesigns!) has rebooted the vintage set with parts four decades newer, to marvellous effect.
Opening the rear reveals no horse, but handily there’s an array of delightfully spacey equipment available to track one down.
There’s more of Frost’s fantastic 452 Redux to see at his photostream, and you can join the Classic Space shenanigans via the link above.
