But it was made by a car manufacturer, and very probably their most famous product too. This is of course a Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter from the Second World War, and it’s been neatly recreated in Lego form by James C of MOCpages. James’ updated build includes a mini-figure pilot, working landing gear, and custom decals, and there’s more to see on MOCpages via the link above.
Mitsubishi passenger cars haven’t appeared here at The Lego Car Blog all that often. In fact Mistubishi’s World War 2 fighter plane – the A6M Zero – has made more appearances. This is probably because the Japanese manufacturer’s current product range is a bit… shit, and thus it’s a bit of a bleak place from which to draw inspiration.
Mitsubishi’s woes are larger than a tiny market share cobbled together from a bland line-up of nothingness though. World news has been full of the Volkswagen ‘dieselgate’ scandal, where some crafty engineers (and morally bankrupt management) signed off a ‘cheat’ that means cars are producing up to forty times their stated pollution level, but what you may not know is that Mitsubishi Motors are currently the subject of a criminal investigation in Japan for undertaking similar practices.
In fact it’s been found that Mitsubishi have been falsifying the fuel economy figures of their domestic-market vehicles for twenty five years, with over 620,000 cars affected.
All of this has resulted in a company that’s now in a precarious position, but luckily for fans of the brand (and their thousands of employees), the Renault-Nissan Alliance has stepped in. No doubt helped Mitsubishi Motor’s falling share price, the French-Japanese partnership recently completed a $2.2Billion purchase of a controlling stake in the company, and simultaneously turned Renault-Nissan into the fourth largest automotive group in the world.
With both Nissan and Renault now on a roll after years in the automotive doldrums it can only be a good thing for Mitsubishi’s products, which will be able to share the platforms, engines and electrics of their parent brands. That’ll make things interesting for the bright spot in Mitsubishi’s current range, their highly successful L200 ‘Triton’ pick-up truck. With Nissan’s own Navara spawning a new pick-up for Renault (and one for Mercedes-Benz soon too), should the L200 end up platform-sharing as well there’ll be four pick-ups all spun from the same design.
Until then though, the current L200 remains a stand-alone* product (and quite a good one too), and TLCB favourite paave has recreated the popular pick-up superbly in Technic form. With remote control drive and steering, accurate independent front and leaf spring rear suspension, and opening (and locking) doors, hood and tailgate, paave’s double-cab Triton is packed with features too. Head over to MOCpages for all the images, plus a video of the model in action.
*Er… sort of. This is complicated. Nissan make the Navara, and are in partnership with Renault. Renault will re-badge the Navara themselves to create the Renault Alaskan next year. This platform has also been shared with Mercedes-Benz, who will make their first commercial pick-up truck, the X-Class, next year too.
Mitsubishi, now owned by Renault-Nissan, make their own truck, the L200 pictured here. This will likely also become a Navara clone when the current generation is replaced, but for now it’s a separate entity. Except the L200 platform has been sold to Fiat so that they can re-badge it to create their own pick-up, called the Fullback, which launched last month…
But none of these are a Toyota Hilux.
…but probably the most popular plane to appear here at The Lego Car Blog. Lego builders love the Mitsubishi Zero, and they keep finding new ways to recreate Japan’s most famous fighter. This version comes from MOCpages’ James C, and he’s captured the Zero’s iconic shape beautifully. There’s more to see at his MOCpage – click the link above to fly over.
If there’s one defining characteristic of Japanese cars from the 1990s it’s Black Plastic. Lots of Black Plastic. Despite this affliction the ’90s were something of a golden age for Japanese manufacturers, when Toyota, Mitsubishi and Subaru all ruled the WRC, Mazda won at Le Mans, and Honda were Formula 1 World Champions.
However, unlike today’s other ’90s Japanese post, this car isn’t one of the era’s highlights. The Mitsubishi Shogun / Pajero was quite a successful 4×4 (long before the term ‘SUV’ came into being), but it came from a time when all 4x4s were, frankly, a bit crap. This one is the three-door Pajero, which makes it particularly pointless. Oddly though, with the rise of the increasingly unnecessary small-SUV, it’d probably be quite popular these days.
This excellent Model Team replica of the Mitsubishi Pajero has been built by TLCB regular Senator Chinchilla, and he’s absolutely nailed the ’90s Black Plastic. There’s more to see at his photostream – click the link above to make the trip.
Ah the Eagle Talon. A car we know nothing about, seeing as it wasn’t available in our home nation. Or continent. Still, a re-badged Mitsubishi Eclipse sold by a company created by Chrysler that no-one had ever heard of would surely do well? Eagle folded (get it!) in 1999, eleven years after it launched, and the world kept turning, but this Model Team recreation of their (actually not bad) Talon sports coupe is rather nice. Serial bloggee Senator Chinchilla is the builder, and you can see more here.
The Lego Car Blog has featured numerous Mitsubishi A6M Zeros over the years, and Flick’s Daniel Siskind has been refining his mini-figure scale version of the famous fighter aircraft for almost as long. This is his latest version, and it’s pretty much perfect. See more at his photostream via the link above.
Good things come in fives. We tried to think of some examples to prove this but we got stuck after Oceans, Fingers and Toes, so we’ll move straight onto this; Senator Chinchilla‘s lovely Model Team replica of Mitsubishi’s Evolution V. The fifth in Mitsubishi’s now-discontinued line of four-wheel-drive rally weaponry, the Evo V was the performance car to have in the mid 1990s. Unless you were a Subaru fan of course. You can see more of this ace example on Flickr – click the link above to make the jump.
Mitsubishi might be best known for the Lancer Evolution (although we’re not sure if anyone’s actually buying them anymore), but it wasn’t a car that put the Japanese company on the map. It was this, the deadly A6M Zero fighter. This lovely recreation of the classic warplane has been built by Flickr’s LegoUli and you can see more at his photostream by clicking here.
The Elves love the Fast and Furious movie franchise. There’s very little plot but lots of explosions, and that’s pretty much all they need from television. Flickr’s Mad Physicist, a regular here, has built one of the most famous cars from the movies, a highly modified* lime-green Mitsubishi Eclipse. There’s lots more to see on Flickr – click the link above to hit the NO2 button.
*If our memory serves us correctly these mods included a 17 speed gearbox, a Nitrous Oxide System that defied basic chemistry, and magic.
This World War 2 Japanese A6M2 Zero fighter by Andrew Jodeit was found by one of our Elves on MOCpages. We’ve written a little about the history of Zero here before, se we’ll jump straight to the all-important link – click here to see more!
These two heavyweights of the performance car world were suggested by a reader, and they remind us of a time when Japan was on top of its automotive game. It’s a shame then that currently the entire Japanese auto industry makes almost nothing exciting, and both Mitsubishi and Subaru are virtually dead in the UK market. And don’t even get us started on Honda. Where’s your mojo gone Japan? We’re not the only ones missing it…
Oh, these excellent recreations of the Mitsubishi Evo X and Subauru Impreza WRX are the work of Alexander Paschoaletto on MOCpages – click here to see more.
Our usual articles here at TLCB publicise only new creations. Today though we take a trip back in time to look at the creations of one of the all time greatest Lego vehicle builders, someone who has featured not only on the top Lego websites, but also the likes of Top Gear and Jalopnik. He is of course, the amazing Firas Abu Jaber. In our second ‘Top 5’ list our collaborators Head Turnerz suggest their five favourite Firas creations. Over to the the Head Turnerz crew…
Much of the online Lego community know of the legendary Firas Abu Jaber, and most will have a favourite or two of his creations. Here at Head Turnerz we have teamed up with The Lego Car Blog to give you another HT x TLCB Top 5, this time to showcase the very best of what Firas built over several incredible years.
In fifth place is, without doubt, the best recreation of the iconic Mitsubishi Evolution X that you’ll ever find made from LEGO. We remember when we first saw Firas’ creation posted on the MOCpages home page – and we nearly fell off our chairs. With 15 stud wide body work and ingeniously recreated disc brakes Firas’ Evo is jam-packed with details, making it not just one of the best Evos, but one of the best Lego cars ever made.
What sort of Top 5 of the best Firas cars would this be without one of his famous Lamborghinis? Coming in at number four is this stunning Lamborghini Gallardo SE built way back in January 2009. The body shaping is – as with every Firas build – perfect, and with the freakishly great eye for detail that he has, this Lego Lamborghini does not let the famous marque down.
K.I.T.T could possibly be the most well known T.V/movie car of all time and Firas did not disappoint when he ‘dropped’ this one, again back in 2009. Firas’ model features everything the real ‘82 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am K.I.T.T had, including the infamous scan-bar. Of course, everything opens, including removable T-tops to complete the convertible roof!
The Pagani Zonda C12 S is one of the most beautiful Italian cars ever made, Firas somewhat cheesily describing it as “just like a beautiful girl”. We can see what he means though, and his Model Team version is just as eye-catching. The curves, his unique building techniques, and those remarkable headlights – it’s how a Lego car should be built. Firas even constructed his Zonda so that all the ‘elements’ were detachable – see how he did it at the link.
Taking the top spot in our Top 5 Firas Abu Jaber creations list is none other than his incredible Ford GT – possibly the greatest Model Team car ever made, and the most popular car in the history of MOCpages. Some may disagree with our previous choices, but we think we that all will agree that this is the car that cemented Firas’ reputation as the best Lego vehicle builder of his time. A legend if you will. This GT was so realistic it was even featured on the official Top Gear website! It’s the perfect MOC.
Some of you reading this may not have had the privilege to see first hand Firas’ builds show up on your ‘most recent’ listing on MOCpages, but to have witnessed it at the time was an absolute honour. Firas was and still is the true G.O.A.T of Lego car building. We think we speak for all when we say we hope to see him make a return some day…
So that’s Head Turnerz’ Top 5 Firas Abu Jaber creations. Do you agree with their choices or has your favourite missed the cut? Let them know what you think by joining in their discussions over on Flickr – click here to visit the group, and they’ll join us again soon for another Top 5.
Long before Evos, Mitsubishi made something else far cooler. This is an A6M Zero, and it was the pride of the Japanese Imperial Air Force from 1940 until their defeat that ended the Second World War. One of our favourite aircraft builders – Henrik Jensen – is the man behind it, and you can see more on MOCpages.
Back in the ’90s before SUVs became fashionable hatchbacks and every manufacturer added several to their line-up, the Japanese had a monopoly on compact 4x4s. Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi led the way with proper body-on-frame vehicles with genuine off-road ability.
One of the smallest was a three door version of Mitsubishi’s Pajero, known as the ‘Pinin’. Except we won’t call it the Pajero because here in the UK it had a far cooler name: the Shogun. Previous TLCB bloggee piterx has recreated the ’90s Shogun he owns in real life in Technic form, and it’s got some serious Lego engineering under its minimalist bodywork.
Squeezed into the tiny Pinin wheelbase is a proper all-wheel-drive system, remote controlled drive, steering, 4 speed sequential gearbox with reverse and an automated clutch. It doesn’t stop there either, as working brakes (with brake lights), MacPherson front suspension, live axle rear suspension and opening doors, hood and tailgate all feature too.
You can view all the photos of this brilliant engineering via Eurobricks at the link above, plus you can see the Shogun in action on YouTube – just click play below!
YouTube Video:
Mitsubishi A6M Zero
This beautiful looking aircraft is a Mitsubishi A6M Zero, as flown by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during the Second World War. The Zero entered service in 1940 and quickly gained a fearsome reputation as both a long range fighter and dogfighter, with a kill ratio into double figures.
Constructed as a single piece (unlike the American and European planes of the time) it weighed about half that of its opponents and could out-turn anything else that flew during the war. Unfortunately this strategy meant it was lightly armored and under-powered, and the Zero rapidly became obsolete during the ultra fast technology progression of Word War 2, ending its days as a Kamikaze weapon, long before Al Qaeda made it cool.
Mrutek on Flickr is the builder behind the Japanese warplane forever immortalized by one terrible day in December 1941.