Tag Archives: model team

Cruise Control

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Cruiseliners. Giant floating shopping malls filled with the terrifically fat, the terminally elderly, or the terrifically fat and terminally elderly. And if you’re reading this thinking ‘But I went on a cruise ship…’, then yes, you are one of the above.

Today’s creation is a truck that takes its name from that dreadful excuse for tourism, and comes from newcomer Lecz, making their TLCB debut.

Skilfully blending Technic and Model Team styles, Lecz’s classic Mack Cruiseliner features a working V8 engine under a tilting cab, ‘HOG’ steering, and a functioning fifth wheel lock, with lots more to see – including high quality digital renders and a link to building instructions – at the Eurobricks forum and Bricksafe.

Click the links above to fight off a fat lady at the buffet before docking in a quaint fishing village and ruining it.

Speed in the ’50s

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The fastest cars in the world weren’t always million-pound Bugattis, Koenigseggs or Hennesseys. They used to be Jaguars.

Launched in 1954, the XK140 was an evolution of the equally gorgeous XK120, a car that held the production car top speed record for six years, even though it only cost relatively normal sports car money.

This beautiful replica of Jaguar’s fabulous mid-’50s sports car has been created by the hands of the legendary Firas Abu-Jaber, who has captured its graceful shape brilliantly in brick.

Ingenious building techniques, working steering, a life-like interior, and the finest presentation in the Lego Community make Firas’ Jaguar a jaw-dropping build, and there are more stunning images to see on Flickr.

Click these words to visit Firas’ ‘Jaguar XK140’ album for the complete gallery, plus you can find out about the man behind the model via his Master MOCers interview by clicking here.

Gran Turismo 2

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Much like Toyota’s ‘A80’ Supra is forever bound to ‘The Fast & The Furious’, Nissan’s ‘R34’ Skyline GT-R will be associated in perpetuity with the Gran Turismo video game franchise.

Although its production run spanned just three years, the R34 was – through those famous pixels – an automotive zeitgeist, defining an entire generation’s interaction with cars.

Cue this superb brick-built homage to Nissan’s legendary performance saloon, constructed by recent bloggee Mihail Rakovskiy, which is more lifelike than anything we drove on a Playstation.

Opening doors, hood, and trunk, a detailed ‘RB26DETT’ engine and drivetrain, and even an interior fit for a Technic figure all feature, and you can reimagine you’re back in an R34 at Trial Mountain in the early ’00s via the link to Flickr above.

Arabian Nights

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Truck drivers travel a looong way. Few however, travelled quite so far as those on the overland haulage route from Europe to the Middle East.

Crossing more than a dozen countries and over 4,000 miles, trucks such as this ‘Rynart’-operated Scania LB141 journeyed from Holland to Saudi Arabia (and back again) in the late-’70s and early-’80s, before the existence of most highways, and long before Google Maps and sat-nav. We’re guessing they probably weren’t transporting vegetables or milk…

This astonishingly life-like recreation of one of the trucks to travel that epic route has been constructed by Dennis Bosman (aka legotrucks), who has replicated the Scania LB141, trailer, and ‘Rynart, Holland – Saudi Arabia Express’ livery in stunning detail.

Fantastic presentation matches the phenomenal build, and you can join Dennis on the long road from Europe to the Middle East at his ‘Scania LB141 “Rynart” album on Flickr, plus you can check out how he creates spectacular models just like this one via his Master MOCers interview here at TLCB.

Big Fifty

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Turning fifty is a big occasion, and especially so for today’s birthday boy. Yes Big Foot, the original car-crushing monster truck, is half-a-century old!

This spectacular brick-built replica of the Ford F-250-based colossus is the work of Orion Pax aka Alex Jones (no not that one), complete with custom chrome, superbly authentic decals, plus LED lights and remote control drive and steering.

It’s a monstrously good build and there’s more to see of Alex’s fantastic fiftieth birthday homage to the all-time monster truck great at his photostream. Click the link above to take a look, or here to see more of Big Foot doing what it does best.

Three-Hundred Zeds

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In 2025, in TLCB’s home market, Nissan sell exactly nothing that we would want to buy, own, sit in, or be seen in. Back in the early ’90s though, and Nissan were altogether more exciting.

This is just one of several sports cars Nissan used to sell before they gave up trying to do anything at all, the fabulous second-generation 300ZX.

Launched in the late ’80s, the 300ZX was ridiculously futuristic, and utilised one of the first supercomputers (and – at the time – the world’s fastest) in its design. It was also powerful, with a naturally-aspirated V6 producing over 220bhp or a twin-turbo over 300bhp – big figures for the time.

Cue this brilliant Model Team replica of Nissan’s high water mark, created by previous bloggee Mihail Rakovskiy, who has captured the 300ZX beautifully.

Opening doors and hood, a ‘glass’ targa roof, and a superbly detailed interior, engine bay, and drivetrain all feature, and you can jump back to a time when Nissan made something other than wheeled sleeping pills at Mihail’s ‘Nissan 300ZX’ album.

Click the link above for a very different sort of Z to ones Nissan induce today.

Nice Wheels

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Almost exactly one year ago, builtbydave_’s wide-body ‘Magic’ Mazda RX-7 appeared on these pages. It drew much admiration from TLCB Team, who secretly wish they were part of Japan’s underground car modifying scene, instead of secretly writing for a janky car website held together by sticky tape and hope.

Dave’s evolution of his RX-7 is doing nothing to dull those dreams, as he’s now equipped his creation with a set of superb 3D-printed Rays TE37 wheels, which are icons in car culture.

First learning Fusion 360, Dave designed his TE37s from scratch, before 3D-printing them at his local library (what a cool library!). The results are – as you can see – fantastic, and add even more authenticity to his already top-drawer build.

There’s more to see at Dave’s ‘TCP Magic Rx7’ album on Flickr, and further details on the tools and training he used to design and produce his very own wheels can be found there too.

Cruisin’ in ’53

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This gorgeous creation is a 1953 Buick Skylark Convertible, from way back when the American auto industry was the peak of style.

This fabulous Model Team version comes from Jakub Marcisz, who has captured the classic convertible beautifully inside and out.

The hood, doors and trunk all open (via clever double-hinges for smoothness), whilst the interior and engine bay are as carefully detailed as the bodywork.

It’s a fantastic example of the high point of automotive Americana, and you can cruise in the mid-’50s via both Flickr and Eurobricks where’s there’s much more – including building instructions – to see.

My Other Car’s a Countach

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Is Lamborghini’s Countach just a bit too everyman for you? With fourteen times fewer units produced, the Bugatti EB110 is an altogether rarer machine, and now you can swap your all-too-common Countach for Bugatti’s briefly-made early-’90s supercar.

Yes, this spectacular recreation of the EB110 is built only using the pieces of the LEGO Icons 10337 Lamborghini Countach set, meaning if you own that frankly ordinary Italian supercar you can rebuild it into something far more exclusive.

Previous bloggee and TLCB Master MOCer Firas Abu-Jaber is its creator and you can find all the images of his stunning Bugatti EB110 10337 alternate on Flickr. Click these words to make the jump and end your automotive embarrassment.

Household Crap

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Right, that’s enough far-fetched other-worldly rovers for a bit, here’s a bland 1990s truck, pulling an even blander trailer, filled with bland plastic kitchen products. But built beautifully…

This Curver-liveried DAF FT 85.360 ATI and trailer comes from previous bloggee Arian Janssens, and mundane though a mid-’90s DAF may be, the techniques Arian has deployed to create it are exceptional. Subtle custom decals and chrome wheels add to the authenticity and there’s more of the model to see here.

But we’re not just about humdrum haulers of household items today, because Arian has also turned his building talents to something altogether weirder. This is the Vervaet Hyrdo Trike XL, ‘the best self-propelled liquid manure (slurry) processor’, according to, um… the people that make it. And who are we to argue with that!

A giant rolling tank of poo, there’s more to see at Arian’s ‘Hydro Trike XL’ album, and you can process your slurry via the link above!

Mystery Box

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Concept cars are often little more than an empty shell, made from wood, clay, and papier-mâché, draped over four-wheels and fresh air. But not today, because this 1960s Lincoln Continental road-race concept has as much thought and ingenuity put into its inner workings as it does its right-angled exterior. Which, incidentally, is the amongst the coolest we’ve ever seen.

Inside the boxy brilliance of the Lincoln’s bodywork are ridiculously well detailed modular mechanics, including brick-built pushrod suspension, a Cosworth DTV engine with independent throttle bodies, exhaust headers, radiators, brakes, steering linkages… It’d be impressive enough if it were based on a real racer, but it’s all the more so considering builder PROTOTYP. has designed the lot in his head.

A wealth of imagery is available to view at both PROTOTYP.’s ‘Lincoln Continental ARRC’ album and at the Eurobricks forum, where you can also read the model’s fictional backstory and mechanical details, plus find a link to building instructions should you wish to create it for yourself. Take a look at the coolest conceptual creation we’ve seen in a long time via the links above.

Rolling a Six

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Are you an ostentatious wealthy douchebag but your name’s Tanner rather than Al Mahmood? Then have we got the vehicle for you!

Powered by a 700hp V8, and with two extra wheels because… more, this is the Hennessey Ford Velociraptor, the perfect vehicle in which to win America’s ongoing pick-up truck arms-race.

Built by previous bloggee Rolic, this excellent Model Team recreation of the pointless pick-up features opening doors, tailgate and hood, a detailed interior and engine, working steering, and suspension on all six wheels.

There’s lots more to see at Rolic’s ‘Ford velociraptor’ Flickr album and you can one-up that guy in the Dodge Ram 3500 via the link above.

When a Truck Overtook a Rally Car

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Back in the ’80s, motorsport rules were… loose. Group B rallying created monsters beyond anything seen before, and Dakar… well that was even wilder. Entered in the late-’80s, DAF’s unbelievable eleven-ton TurboTwin 95 X1 was powered by two engines with three turbochargers each, producing a combined 1,200bhp, and which – as this infamous helicopter footage from the 1988 event shows – made it so fast it could overtake the leading cars.

Piloted by Dutch legend Jan de Rooy, the TurboTwin won the truck category in 1987, before an awful 180km/h crash killed one of Jan’s teammates the following year, causing DAF to immediately halt all motorsport activities and withdraw the TurboTwin mid-competition.

Sadly we’d not see its like again, but we can still get up close to DAF’s astonishing Dakar racer courtesy of previous bloggee Nanko Klein Paste, and his spectacular brick-built replica.

Constructed in 1:16 scale, Nako’s TurboTwin recreation includes those two triple-turbo engines, complete with intake pipes, radiators and intercoolers, pressure vessels and ancillaries, a removable body liveried with superbly replicated decals, a hugely detailed interior behind opening doors, and full LED lighting from Brickstuff.

On display at the DAF Museum in Eindhoven later this year, there’s more to see of Nanko’s amazing creation at his ‘DAF TurboTwin 95 X1’ album on Flickr, and you can overtake a Dakar-winning Peugeot rally car at 200km/h in an eleven ton truck via the link above.

The Seventies Were Cool (I)

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Today, Lancia make just one car; an electric / hybrid supermini based on a Peugeot with as much dynamic ability as your Mom. And she’s really fat.

But back in the ’70s Lancia had rather more verve, with a range of dynamic drivers cars capped by this, the wild rally-engineered and Ferrari-engined Stratos.

This lovely 1:16 brick-built example comes from previous bloggee danielsmocs, and includes opening doors, front and rear clamshells, a detailed engine and interior, plus working pop-up headlights.

There’s more to see at the Eurobricks forum and you can jump back to when Lancias were cool via the link above.

Truxcavator

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What do you get if you cross a Polish Star 660 military truck with a Waryński KM-251 excavator?

This absurd contraption is a KS-251, which did just that, mounting the superstructure of the aforementioned excavator onto the bed of the 6×6 military truck. Honestly we have no idea why, but it looked so cool, particularly in the baby-blue pictured here.

This fantastic recreation of the KS-251 comes from Maciej Szymański, who has captured its magnificent weirdness beautifully, and engineered his model to function too. A suite of third-party CaDa electronics provide remote control drive and excavator operation, and there’s much more of Maciej’s tremendous creation to see at his ‘KS-251′ album on Flickr. Take a closer look via the link above!