Tag Archives: Off-Road

My Other Car’s a Bronco

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By American standards Ford’s new Bronco isn’t particularly large. But as this writer is not American, it still looks pretty massive. Which means this is much more to his liking, Suzuki’s diminutive Samurai.

Constructed only from the parts found within the LEGO Technic 42213 Ford Bronco set, damjan97PL / damianPLE shrinks the fat Ford into a rather smaller off-road alternative, complete with opening doors and hood, working steering and suspension, and a three-cylinder engine.

There’s more to see at both Eurobricks and Bricksafe, and you can put your Bronco on a B-Model diet via the links above.

6x6x2

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The Lego Car Blog Elves are running about making spacey noises today, courtesy of this; Gaurav Thakur’s enormous Classic Space ‘Enceladus Expedition Convoy’.

Consisting of two linked 6×6 mobile laboratories, Gaurav’s creation is packed with Classic Space goodness, including complicated control centres, beep-boop robots, and a variety of lab equipment.

A crew of Classic Spacemen (plus a few Space babies – perhaps there’s an board crèche too) studiously operate the convoy vehicle and its contents, and there’s heaps more Classic Spacery to see on Flickr.

Join the ‘Enceladus Expedition Convoy’ at Gaurav’s album of the same name via the link above!

Rust n’ Dust

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It wasn’t just British and Italian cars in the late-’70s and ’80s that failed to start in the morning and/or dissolved if they got wet. No, the French made some awful cars too, including today’s, the woeful Renault 20.

Sitting at the top of their line-up, there was (much like the aforementioned British and Italian cars) a lot to like about Renault’s executive hatchback, including some innovative engineering that included both crumple zones and side-impact protection.

But none of that mattered when the cars were heroically unreliable, tragically underpowered, and rusted within just a few years of leaving the forecourt, resulting in a resale value of almost nothing at all. Still, there is one Renault 20 we like, the pioneering Turbo 4×4 Dakar, with a 1.6 litre turbocharged rally engine and all-wheel-drive courtesy of the rear axle from a Renault Trafic van.

Constructed by Flickr’s NV Carmocs, this 8-wide replica of the Renault 20 Turbo 4×4 captures the 1982 Dakar-winning car beautifully, thanks in part to a superbly accurate livery and some brilliant photo editing.

There’s much more of NV’s Renault 20 to see at their photostream, and you can head to the desert in 1982 via the link above, where the lack of rain and a whole load of available spare parts were probably sorely missed by every other Renault 20 owner at the time…

Brickin’ Blazer

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‘What’s that crunchy sound?’ muttered this TLCB Writer to himself as he sat in TLCB Office. A weary trudge out to the corridor revealed the source, as a remote control 4×4 drove forwards and backwards over a small pile of flattened TLCB Elves.

On seeing a human the Elf at the controls abandoned its activity and fled the scene cackling maniacally, leaving its vehicle of choice (and the pile of Elves underneath it) behind. We’ll administer first-aid to the victims later, but first let’s take a look at the model!

It’s a K5-series Chevrolet Blazer, as recreated superbly in Technic form by Madoca 1977. A suite of Powered-Up electronics are packed inside, providing remote control four-wheel-drive, steering and a high/low gearbox.

Madoca has also engineered a properly clever drivetrain, with linked pendular suspension that automatically locks the differentials at high rates of axle articulation. No wonder it made such light work of squashing our mythical workers.

There’s lots more of Madoca’s model to see – including images of the ingenious engineering within – at the Eurobricks forum, plus you watch the Blazer in action via the video below. Click the links to take a closer look.

YouTube Video

Just a Jeep

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It’s been a day of decidedly weird vehicles here at The Lego Car Blog, so we’ll round off with something resolutely normal. Splendidly built with Technic gears for wheels, a miniaturised roll cage, and a dismembered mini-figure hand for a winch, 1saac W.‘s Jeep TJ is as good as small scale building gets. Take a look via the link.

Rallye Raid

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France may not be the first nation that springs to mind when thinking about the world’s best off-roaders. British Land Rovers, American Jeeps, Japanese Land Cruisers… sure, but the French? Except they are. By miles.

The originators of expedition rallies, French drivers have won the Dakar more times than any other nation, which makes sense seeing as the race used to start in Paris. This is one of the amazing machines that propelled a Frenchman to a Dakar win, the wild Citroen ZX Rallye Raid.

Based (kinda) on a small French family car, the ZX Rallye Raid won a total of four Dakar Rallies, cementing itself as one of the greatest rally-raid endurance racers of all time. This fantastic Speed Champions recreation of the 1994 Citroen ZX Rallye Raid Evo 4 encapsulates the iconic off-roader brilliantly in brick, and comes from regular bloggee SFH_Bricks.

With removable front and rear clamshells, superbly authentic decals, and mechanicals as detailed as the exterior, SFH’s Citroen ZX Rallye Raid is a winner in brick form too, and there’s more to see on Flickr. Jump to the desert somewhere in North Africa (or an autoroute just south of Paris) circa-1994 via the link above.

Dump Your Horse

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Revealed here earlier in the year, LEGO’s 42213 Technic Ford Bronco brings the blue oval’s newest, but retro-est, 4×4 to bedroom floors everywhere. It also provides just under a thousand pieces for B-Model building, with previous bloggee damianPLE doing just that, by turning his Bronco into this excellent Technic off-road dump truck.

Like the set on which it’s based, Damian’s alternate includes working suspension, ‘HOG’ steering, and a V6 engine under an opening hood, whilst adding a manually operable tipper too. Building instructions are available and you can find all the images, plus that instructional link, at Bricksafe and Eurobricks respectively. Dump your horse via the links above!

Splat!

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It’s been remarkably peaceful of late here at TLCB Towers. Elves have been finding creations, earning meal tokens, and barely inflicting extreme violence on one another at all. Which of course had to end at some point.

Cue this mighty Technic dune buggy by gyenesvi, which thundered into the office today, a jubilant Elf at the controls, and immediately flattened as many of our mythical workers as it could. Which with planetary hubs, remote control all-wheel drive courtesy of four third-party BuWizz motors, and monster suspension, was quite a lot.

Fortunately gyensvi’s buggy also has flaw in that after a particularly hard landing the steering can pop-out, which meant proceedings were halted when the Elf at the controls did indeed lose the ability to steer and crashed it forcefully into a potted plant before running away cackling maniacally.

There is still considerable cleaning up to do though, so whilst we administer some elven first-aid/disposal you can check out gyenesvi’s buggy at the Eurobricks forum (where a video and full details – including its steering shortcoming – can be found) plus you can find the complete image gallery on Bricksafe here.

The Toyota War

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Fought in 1986-’87, the ‘Toyota War’ was the last phase of the nine-year-long Chadian-Libyan War, which ended in defeat for Libya and Colonel Gaddafi (who started it by invading Chad) and the return of Chad’s seized territory.

It’s also possibly the only war named after the make of the pick-up trucks that primary fought it, with Toyota’s Land Cruiser 70-Series used prolifically on both sides, and – in Chadian hands – fitted with their French ally’s anti-tank missile launchers.

Of course countless wars since have been fought from the back of Toyotas, with the company’s trucks being the first choice of militias, terrorist groups, and legitimate armies, plus the UN and NGOs who try to piece broken communities back together again afterwards. In fact Toyota take this depressing usage so seriously in some markets they removed the ‘TOYOTA’ lettering from the back of their pick-ups to avoid the link with the conflicts in which they were so heavily used.

These two excellent 70-Series Land Cruisers from any one of the wars in which they so often feature come from TLCB debutant ORRANGE., who has photographed his models against a suitably deserty backdrop which we’re so familiar with seeing on the news.

A closer look is available at ORRANGE.’s photostream and you can head to a sad and usually pointless conflict somewhere in Africa or the Middle East via the link in the text above.

Jack of All Trades

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The Mercedes-Benz Unimog is not, technically, a truck. It is in fact a universal tractor, with literally dozens of different applications. Which probably explains why dozens of different Unimogs have appeared here to date. Today we can add one more, a 1980s Unimog U1400 Agrar courtesy of Sseven Bricks of Flickr. A front PTO allows any number of tools to be added in front of the cab, whilst a big cage behind it means any number can be added at the back too. There’s more of Sseven’s model to see on Flickr and you can take a closer look via the link above.

Putin It Out There

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It’s been a while since we’ve referenced Putin’s tiny todger. Well, he’s still an under-endowed despot, raining increasing numbers of drones and missiles on Ukrainian apartment blocks, shopping malls, and schools. Because NATO (which Ukraine aren’t in), or Nazis (which Ukraine isn’t ruled by), or something.

Increasing numbers of Russians are also being sent to the war, with vehicles such as this one taking them. It’s a BTR-90 armoured personnel carrier, which was actually only ever intended for use by the Russian National Guard, but with at least one captured in Ukraine, they are evidently now also on the front line.

Powered by a 510bhp turbodiesel the BTR-90 is capable of 100km/h on land, where it’s as capable off-road as a tracked vehicle, and – amazingly – 9km/h on water, as it’s also fully amphibious.

This incredible Technic recreation of the BTR-90 probably doesn’t float, but it is excellent in every other respect. A suite of Power Functions motors provide remote control eight-wheel-drive and four-wheel steering, there are opening side hatches, all-wheel suspension, and a motorised rotating gun turret.

It’s all the work of previous bloggee Samuel Nerpas who has engineered his creation superbly, and you can join the front line in the fight for whatever Putin’s trying to compensate for via the link to Flickr above.

Picking Cherries

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Cherry pickers seem to rarely pick actual cherries. Fixing telephone wires, street lamps, and lopping trees sure, but cherries no.

Cue Ralph Savelsberg and this excellent mini-figure scale Mercedes-Benz Unimog, complete with a rear mounted hoist able to elevate and rotate to pick the juiciest cherries. Or fix a rural community’s broadband after a storm. But whatever.

There’s more to see at Ralph’s Flickr album and you can take a look via the link above whilst this TLCB Writer heads to the fridge in search of fruit…

Monster Fight

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This writer was busy watching the nineteen of the world’s best drivers (and Lance Stroll) trying to handle the rain at the British Grand Prix, when a commotion erupted from the Elves’ cage room. Sigh.

After traipsing in, the cause was obvious; two Elves, each with a cartoon-esque monster truck, fighting in the middle of a circle formed of their compatriots. Mr. Airhorn duly separated the pair and dispersed the onlookers, and thus their two finds could be assessed.

Each creation comes from Flickr’s ianying616 and is a cartoon-version of a real Monster Jam truck. Both are blog-worthy two (which meant the Elf fight was pointless) and you can see more of his ‘tooned’ ‘El Toro Loco’ and ‘Silverado’ at his photostream.

Take a link via the link above whilst this writer tries to get back to watching the F1…

Trail Blazin’

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Here in the crumbling edifice that is TLCB Towers, surrounded by mythical Elves and perpetual piles of spam comments, sometimes we just want to escape into the wilderness…

Cue this splendid mid-’70s Chevrolet ‘K5’ Blazer constructed by damjan97PL / damianPLE. On lifted suspension and running oversize tyres, Damian’s Chevy looks the perfect tool to make a break from the office.

Which is what Damian has done himself, photographing his creation on location at a lovely looking riverbank. Working steering and opening doors accompany the functioning suspension, building instructions are available, and three’s more to see at both Eurobricks and Bricksafe.

Take a look via the links above whilst this writer tries to sneak out of the office before any of his colleagues have read this post…

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.