Tag Archives: model team

Not a Jaguar

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TLCB does not know much about Star Wars. 1970s British saloons yes, space battles between Jedis and an imperial galactic empire… not so much. Which is why if you said ‘XJ6′ to us we’d think of a classic luxury car rather than a vehicle from George Lucas’ famous movie franchise.

Unfortunately for TLCB Team, this ‘XJ6’ is not a Sir William Lyons-designed British sedan, but an Airspeeder from ‘Star Wars; Attack of the Clones’. However Swan Dutchman‘s replica of the ‘XJ-6 Airspeeder’ is nevertheless a stunning build, deploying some fantastic techniques to recreate the aircraft’s complex surfacing seen in the film.

There’s more of Swan’s ‘XJ-6’ to see on Flickr and you can head to, um… wherever it is that Airpseeders are via the link above. We’re better with cars…

Motorway Furniture

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Well this is a common sight for all of our European readers. The most nondescript of trucks, in the most nondescript of liveries, on its way to collect a nondescript load from a nondescript regional distribution centre. European motoring doesn’t get any more mundane than this. Flickr’s Arian Janssens is the creator of this excellent DAF XG+, and he’s constructed a mighty (and rather interesting) trailer to go with it. But that doesn’t fit the narrative we’re trying to weave, so you’ll have to look at it at Arian’s Flickr album. Head there via the link above!

Children of the Revolución*

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We’re rather partial to crap cars here at The Lego Car Blog, as proven by the myriad of shoddy American and Eastern European models to appear here over the years. But if you’re going to make an entrance into the Online Lego Community, picking an ultra-limited track-only variant of one of the world’s most exclusive hypercars to beautifully recreate in Lego form is a surefire way to do it.

Newcomer Mitchell van der Hart has done just that, with his exquisite brick-built replica of the wild Pagani Zonda Revolución, complete with opening doors, fully removable bodywork, and a chassis, engine and interior as highly detailed as the panels that clothe them.

The son of previous bloggee Huib van der Hart (aka Lifting Bricks), Mitchell is making his TLCB debut in the most spectacular way, and you can see more of his first published creation at his ‘Pagani Zonda Revolución’ album via the link above, where we expect more creations will follow.

*Today’s excellent title song.

Fleetline Fastback

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The 1940s to 1960s were not just the peak of American automotive design, but perhaps the peak of all automotive design. Even cheap American cars were penned with absolute joy, with fabulous curves, chrome highlights, and brilliant two-tone paint, as evidenced by this gorgeous 1940s Chevrolet Fleetline Fastback.

Powered by an inline-6 and built in half-a-dozen factories across the US, the Fleetline accounted for almost a third of all Chevrolets sold at the time, with this lovely Model Team recreation coming from Vibor Cavor of Flickr.

Working steering, opening doors, hood and trunk, and a wonderfully lifelike interior and engine all feature, and you can head back to when even base American cars were things of beauty via the link to Vibor’s ‘Chevrolet Fleetline Fastback’ album above.

Peak Mitsubishi

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It’s hard to believe today, but back in the 1990s Mitsubishi where one of the most advanced, dynamic and sought-after brands on the planet.

Dakar-winning 4x4s, World Rally Championship-winning sedans, and iconic street-racer favourites all came from Mitsubishi Motors, as did this – the wonderful 3000GT.

Available with a twin turbo-charged 24 valve V6, all-wheel drive, all-wheel steering, and even active aerodynamics, the 3000GT was a technical tour-de-force, becoming both a mainstay of ’90s racing games as well as proving to be quicker than much more exotic and expensive rivals on real roads.

Cue this fantastic recreation of Mitsubishi’s high water mark from Mihail Rakovskiy of Flickr. Opening doors, hood and tailgate, a highly detailed engine and interior, a brick-built drivetrain, and even accurate badging all feature, and you can check out more of Mihail’s stunning replica of the Mitsubishi 3000GT at his album of the same name via the link above.

And what of Mitsubishi Motors in 2025? Well their badge is now stuck, rather unconvincingly, on a Renault compact crossover… We’ll stick to the ’90s.

Due South

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A lot of 1970s American cars are described as ‘boats’. It’s not a compliment. However Buick, in a brief moment of unusual inspiration, decided to go all-in on the boat theme with their third-generation Riviera, giving it a spectacular ‘boat-tail’ design from ’71-’73.

The result is one of the most dramatic and iconic American automotive shapes of the ’70s, which became an immediate favourite of this TLCB Writer as a child due to its recurring appearance in an excellent early-’90s TV show.

This superb homage to the third-generation Riviera comes from Jakub Marcisz, who has captured the fabulous shape brilliantly in brick. Working steering, a detailed engine and interior, plus opening doors, hood and trunk all feature, and with building instructions available you can recreate it for yourself.

There’s more to see at both Flickr and Eurobricks, plus if you’re nostalgic for early-’90s crime television you can head Due South via the first link in the text above!

Topless Swede

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If you’re here for the first time, lured by the title, expecting to see something else, sorry… but you might as well stick around to take a look at this exquisite Koenigsegg CC850 by 3D supercarBricks of Flickr!

Constructed from just under one thousand pieces, including a few custom parts (the windscreen and wheels being amongst them), 3D’s model is a near perfect replica of the real 1,200bhp Swedish hypercar, with opening front and rear clamshells, scissor doors, and inner workings as detailed as the stunning exterior.

There’s more of the build to see at 3D’s ‘Koenigsegg CC850’ album via the link above, and – if you were duped into visiting us by a misleading title – here’s what you were hoping to see…

Chinese Six

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We’re not sure why trucks with two axles at the front and one at the back are known as ‘Chinese Sixes’. Probably something to do with casual racism. We won’t delve any further then, but we will highlight this splendid example by prolific DAF-builder Arian Janssens.

A DAF FAB 2500 DHS, Arian’s beautifully detailed model captures the classic truck in its unusual ‘Chinese Six’ configuration brilliantly, and includes a folded crane behind the cab and a drawbar trailer in tow too.

Excellent presentation compliments the model’s stunning realism and there’s lots more of the build to see at Arian’s ‘DAF FAB 2500 DHS (Chinese Six)’ album. Take a closer look via the link.

Folgore Flop

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If you’re in the market for a Maserati you’re likely to be the sort of customer who’s willing to overlook wildly variable panel gaps, wobbly interior stitching, haphazard ergonomics, and intermittent electric faults because of one thing; the engine.

Usually a shared with Ferrari, the soul of a Maserati is what’s under the hood, so you’d have to be a unique customer to decide you’d like a car with Maserati build quality, but without a Maserati engine to off-set it. Cue the GranTurismo Folgore, which swaps Maserati’s ‘Nettuno’ twin-turbocharged V6 for three permanent magnet radial motors and a 92kWh battery.

With an additional 200bhp over its petrol twin, 0-60mph in under three seconds, and capable of over 200mph, the GranTurismo Folgore has been a sales… disaster. So much so that Maserati have cancelled the ‘Folgore’ version of their MC20 supercar. Because if you want a Maserati you want one with an engine.

Which means the only Maserati GranTurismo Folgore we’re ever likely to see is this one, built by Flickr’s 3D supercarBricks, and replicating both the gorgeous looks and non-existent sound of the real car perfectly. The doors, trunk, and hood open, there are more superb images available to view, and you can take a look at 3D’s photostream via the link above.

Unnecessary Tinkering

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For every motorcycle on the road there seems to be another two in a garage somewhere being fixed. Which means they’re kinda like Range Rovers. We suspect it’s more of an unnecessary tinkering situation with bikes though, rather than a catastrophic electronics failure.

Whatever the reason, TLCB newcomer DePin0 has constructed a medley of motorcycles in their natural habitat, with an array of tools and removable bits so they can be tinkered with unnecessarily. There’s more to see at DePin0’s photostream and you can tweak the timing / adjust the outer sprocket / fine-tune the mixture / decombobulate the flux-capacitor via the link above.

Origins

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The BMW M3 is now in its eighth generation. Powered by a 470bhp turbocharged inline-6, weighing 1.7 tons, and fitted with the largest nostrils in the automotive industry. Which means it interests us not one bit.

But rewind nearly forty years and the M3 interests us very much indeed. Launched in 1986 the ‘E30’ generation M3 was built for German Touring Car Championship (DTM) homologation, featured a multitude of bodywork and chassis adaptations, plus BMW’s new S14 2.3 litre 4-cylinder engine making around 200bhp.

That might not sound a lot today but it was a serious figure for the 1980s, particularly as it used no forced induction, and it only had 1,200kgs to move – a full half-a-ton less than the latest M3.

The result was (and remains) one of the finest drivers’ cars ever produced, and this brilliant homage to the original M3 was constructed as a commission for (we presume) one very lucky owner of the real deal.

Flickr’s Leo 1 is its maker, who has captured the definitive ’80s sports sedan perfectly in Lego form. Ingenious construction techniques replicate both the E30’s famous shape and interior, and you can recreate them for yourself as Leo has made building instructions for his M3 available.

Head to Leo’s photostream to take a look at all of the stunning imagery, and to find the aforementioned instructional link so you can create BMW’s best M3 for yourself.

Custom Camping

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This unusual looking vehicle is a classic Chevrolet C30 pick-up, outfitted with a camper top, a dually rear axle (with LEGO’s weirdest wheels), suicide rear doors, and dropped to a completely impractical height. There’s also complete cabin and camper interior, an inline-6 Cummins engine, and an enormous amount of openings, including cabin doors, camper rear door, hood, and even fridge. Flickr’s Tim Inman owns the mind behind it and you can head to Camp Custom via the link above.

Bring a Trailer

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Oh… you already did. Well if there’s a car worth bringing a trailer for, the monstrous Metro 6R4 is it.

Loosely based on the oft-derided but actually phenomenally successful Austin/Rover/MG Metro, the all-wheel-drive, mid-engined 6R4 was developed by Williams Grand Prix Engineering for Group B rallying in the mid-1980s.

The result was… wild, so wild that the engine later went into the Jaguar XJ220, the fastest production car in the world at the time, with the 6R4 becoming an icon in rallycross after the demise of Group B rallying in 1986.

This fantastic homage to the 6R4 was found by one of our Elves on Eurobricks and comes from midlife crisis, making their TLCB debut. A highly detailed engine and interior plus a superb period-correct livery and sponsorship feature, and you can take a closer look at the maddest Rover ever made at the Eurobricks forum via the link above.

French Fighter

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Despite this site’s home nation mocking the French military for some eighty years, it is in fact one of the most formidable in the world. This is one of the reasons why, the Dassault Rafale fighter.

In operation since the turn of the millennium, the Rafale remains one of the most advanced fighters in the world, capable of air supremacy, ground strike, ship strike, and carrying France’s nuclear deterrent.

Entirely engineered and constructed in France, around three-hundred Rafales have been produced to date, operating across nine air forces. This one comes from previous bloggee John C. Lamarck, and as well as being superbly detailed includes an opening cockpit, adjustable canards, accurate landing gear, and an array of armaments.

There’s more of the model to see at John’s ‘Rafale’ album on Flickr, and you can fly there via the link above.

Towing Package Optional

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Arriving in the mid-’00s, the sixth generation Dodge Charger was a boring four-door sedan with an anaemic 2.7 V6, a four-speed automatic, and Chrysler-corporation interior plastics. Yay.

However, the Charger was also available with a much more interesting 5.7 litre ‘Hemi’ V8, and could be optioned up to 6.1 litres in SRT8 trim, with a further Road/Track package adding ten more horsepower, a sunroof, satellite navigation, a 322-watt stereo, a rear-seat DVD entertainment system, and a heavy-duty cage for pulling a bank vault. That last one may not have been on the official options list.

This incredible replica of the Dodge Charger SRT8 is the work of Michael217 / Michael Kulakov, who has equipped his remarkably detailed model with working steering and suspension, a V8 engine, plus four opening doors, hood, and trunk.

Better still, Michael has also fitted his creation with a suite of third-party remote control electronics including RCBric management, Geekservo steering and Buggy Motor drive, which we’re currently using to pretend we’re a giant bald-headed baby horrifically murdering Rio police officers with a bank vault on a cable. Well, we’re whacking TLCB Elves with a shoe-box on a string, but we’re still having fun.

Anyway, whilst we reenact the chase scene from ‘Fast Five’ in the corridors of TLCB office you can check out more of Michael’s fantastic build at both Eurobricks and Flickr. Click the links to take a closer look!