Tag Archives: Pneumatics

Home Built Hypercar

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Barely a week goes by without some announcement of a new 2,000bhp, 300mph hypercar from a start-up company no-one’s heard of that will absolutely never get built. But this one is different, because this incredible Technic Supercar captures a hypercar that is currently being built for real by a man named Benjamin in his garage. And as he’s already built a Ford GT40 replica from scratch, we have every reason to believe this will drive in anger too.

Created by previous bloggee Levihathan, this incredible Technic imagining of Benjamin’s to-be-completed hypercar is an engineering masterpiece in its own right, with mid-mounted V6 engine (a replica of Nissan’s VR38DETT), working steering that locks and unlocks the rear differential based on steering angle, inboard fully-independent suspension with anti-roll bars, push-button scissor doors, and a six-speed paddle-shift gearbox with gear indicator.

There’s also an opening front trunk (revealing spinning cooling fans connected to the engine), an opening rear clamshell, a three-seat central-driver cockpit, full exhaust plumbing, and even pneumatically operated ‘air’ jacks to raise the car off the ground for wheel changes.

It makes for one of the finest Technic Supercars we’ve ever featured, and you can check out all of the stunning imagery at Levihathan’s ‘Hyperpilote 1:8’ Flickr album plus find full build details and a link to building instructions at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Take a closer look via the links above and perhaps even build this astonishing creation for yourself, ready for when Benjamin’s full-size version one day hits the road.

Tractors in Space

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LEGO surprised us all in 2024 with the shock arrival of the Technic Space line, becoming the mash-up we never knew we needed. Flickr’s Tung Pham has taken his terrestrial Technic into space too, converting the 42136 and 42157 John Deere sets into vehicles rather more other-worldly. Tung’s speeder, floating front-loader, and maintenance mech alternates each requisition the pieces from their donor sets and include both mechanical and pneumatic functions. There’s more to see – including a link to building instructions – on Flickr, and you can click here to take your tractors into space.

Gray Giant

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The monochrome vibe continues at The Lego Car Blog today with this, Lucio Switch’s immense European heavy-duty truck.

Lucio’s creation is amongst the most visually lifelike of any Technic models we’ve featured, assisted by the enormity of its scale, and is packed with working functionality. This includes a tilting and sprung cab and opening engine access panel, motorised remote control, and a pneumatically raising/lowering second axle, with air pressure built via an on-board compressor.

It’s a hugely impressive (and hugely sized) creation, and one that’s presented to perfection, with over twenty stunning images available to view at Lucio’s ‘Heavy Duty Tractor Truck’ album on Flickr. Join us there via the link above.

Dump Day

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It’s two days after ‘Liberation Day’, when the enormous global tariffs enacted by the Trump administration bite. And bit they are, as investors are dumping stocks at the fastest rate since 2020.

Cue today’s creation, this classic dump truck by Flickr’s JLiu15. A working piston engine resides under the opening hood, there’s remote control steering / (all-wheel) drive, and you can dump stocks faster than the Nasdaq thanks to the hefty load bed which tips pneumatically.

There’s more to see at JLiu15’s ‘Classic Dump Truck XL’ album, and you can head there to take a dump via the link above.

Howo Wowo!

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This is a SinoTruk Howo 8×4 tipper truck, and it’s incredible. OK, the real thing isn’t particularly, being just another generic-looking Chinese state-owned truck, but newcomer P McCatty’s Technic recreation sure is.

Powered by two BuWizz bluetooth batteries, MCatty’s model features eight-wheel-drive, four-wheel steering, live-axle suspension, a six-cylinder engine, and an on-board pneumatic compressor.

Said compressor generates pneumatic pressure that can be used to both tilt the cab or raise the huge tipping load bed, which alone uses six pneumatic cylinders in its operation.

There’s also opening and locking doors and tailgate, and opening hood revealing the radiators and spinning cooling fan, adjustable sun visors, windshield wipers and glovebox, and custom foam-filled RC off-road tyres.

It’s a seriously impressive piece of Technic engineering, and you can see how it’s been done courtesy of an extensive photo album on Flickr and a huge Bricksafe gallery, both of which include renders of the mechanics within, plus an incredibly detailed build description can be found at the Eurobricks forum.

Click the links above to take a closer look at one of the most impressive working Technic trucks of the year, you can watch McCatty’s SinoTruk Howo in action via the excellent video below, and you can even find building instructions so you can recreate it for yourself via the various links above.

Monster MAZ

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This astonishing vehicle is a MAZ 543, an enormous Soviet 8×8 truck developed in the 1960s as a strategic missile carrier. Powered by a near 40-litre tank engine, the 543 could weigh up to 41 tons loaded, featured eight-wheel-drive, four wheel steering, planetary hubs, and an on-board tyre inflation system.

The single-cab ‘M’ variant followed in 1976, with the amazing creation pictured here representing part of the ‘A222 Bereg’ coastal defence force, which consisted of around half-a-dozen artillery units, a couple of support vehicles, and a central command centre (which is this one), all based on MAZ 543 M platforms.

Samuel Nerpas’ incredible Technic recreation of the MAZ 543 M-based central command centre recreates the enormity of the real ‘A222 Bereg’ coastal defence force vehicles brilliantly, and is packed with working functionality.

Six Power Functions L-Motors drive all eight wheels, a Servo steers the first four, two M Motors power pneumatic compressors that operate the stabiliser legs and engine compartment blinds, whilst three more lift a rotating radar antenna and observation equipment through an opening roof hatch.

It’s a terrific example of Technic engineering, and you can take a closer look at this gargantuan creation via Samuel’s Flickr photostream and at the Eurobricks discussion forum, where a full build description and several videos of the model in action can be found.

Backwithanotheroneofthose…

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…block rockin’ beats!* OK, we don’t often feature a title referring to the builder rather than model, but seeing as Flickr’s Beat Felber appeared here only two days ago with another spectacular model, it’s warranted.

His follow-up is even more impressive, an enormous 1:28 scale fully remote controlled (and working) replica of the world’s largest hydraulic excavator, the near 1,000-ton Caterpillar 6090.

Powered by two Cummins diesel engines the 6090 makes over 1,400bhp, and is able to move 43 cubic meters of material with each chomp of its bucket. It’s also, like Beat’s recently-blogged coal excavator, actually an O&K design that now wears Caterpillar branding.

Unlike his previous build however, Beat has chosen to recreate the 6090 in its current Caterpillar livery, creating one of the most visually lifelike creations this site has ever featured. But it’s the lifelike mechanicals that we’re more interested in…

Powered by three Power Functions battery boxes and controlled by four third-party SBricks, Beat’s creation features (deep breath); motorised crawler tracks (one XL Motor per track), a slewing superstructure (two M Motors), a fully operational boom, stick, bucket tilt and clamshell opening (each operated by pneumatic cylinders, controlled via four servo-motorised valves, and an on-board compressor driven by twin Buggy Motors), two motorised boarding ladders (one M Motor each), spinning engine and oil cooling fans (two 9V Motors), plus full LED lighting (five pairs of Power Functions LEDs).

It’s a truly spectacular feat of Lego engineering, and there’s much more to see at Beat’s ‘Caterpillar 6090 FS’ Flickr album, where over thirty incredible images and a video of the model in action can also be found. Click the link above to take a look, where we get the feeling we might be back again with some block rockin’ beats imminently…

*Today’s (excellent) title song.

Radar Love

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This fantastic creation is a ZIL 131, a Soviet V8-powered 6×6 off-road truck built from the 1960s right up to 2012, as used by all manner of dodgy dictatorships and communist regimes around the world. And Finland.

It’s also a vehicle that has appeared on this site several times over the years. This one however, is a little different from most…

Fitted to the bed of Samuel Nerpas’ Technic version is an enormous radar system, as was mounted on the real AMU variants of the ZIL 131. Powered by two separate gasoline engines, the P19 radar antenna would raise, unfurl, and rotate, allowing the Soviet Union to deploy radar in even its most inhospitable parts.

Samuel’s incredible recreation of the ZIL 131 AMU includes that P19 radar system, with four Power Functions motors raising and unfolding the antenna, powering a decoupling clutch, and rotating it 360°.

Four more motors drive all six fully-suspended wheels, whilst another powers the steering, and yet another a compressor to deploy the pneumatically-operated stabiliser legs.

There’s loads more to see of Samuel’s astonishing build at both his Flickr photostream and at the Eurobricks forum, where full build details, imagery of the amazing antenna deployed, and videos of the model in action can also be found. Click the links above to get on the radar.

Today’s (excellent) title song.

Technic 42174 Emirates Team New Zealand AC75 | Set Preview

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It’s new set time here at The Lego Car Blog! And this one… isn’t a car.

Boats have rarely appeared in the Technic line-up over the years, still less those that don’t have an engine. However for 2024 LEGO aren’t just returning Technic to the waves, they’re doing so using only the power of the wind. This is the brand new LEGO Technic 42174 Emirates Team New Zealand AC75!

Authentically replicating the Emirates Team New Zealand racing yacht, the new 42174 set brings the world-famous America’s Cup race to the Technic range for the first time.

Huge sails printed with the accurate sponsors including Omega, Toyota, and Emirates are among a number of never-seen-before parts and colour combinations, with just under 1,000 pieces in all making up the set.

Those sails can be controlled correctly too, thanks to accurately replicated ‘sheets’ (ropes to non-sailing people) and mechanics, plus the AC75’s cleverest trick is also faithfully recreated in Technic form; two deployable hydrofoils that extend via hand-cranked pneumatics.

A display stand, an 18+ black box, and a £105 price-tag make 42174 a set squarely aimed at adults, and if you like the way the wind is blowing you can set sail with Emirates Team New Zealand from August of this year.

Even More Mogin’

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There are almost as many variants of Mercedes-Benz’s Unimog as there are tasks for them to do. Which is probably the point. Endlessly adaptable, the Unimog is also the perfect choice for Technic builders, as proven by Flickr’s Thirdwigg, who’s back here with another fully-functioning brick-built replica of the heavy-duty tractor.

This one is a U530, complete with a three-way* tipping bed, working steering, a piston engine, under the tilting cab, pendular suspension, plus front, centre and rear selectable PTOs.

There’s a rear pneumatic outlet too, which mean’s Thirdwigg’s model can be fitted with nearly as many pieces of additional equipment as the real thing, with a folding crane, trailer, and snow-plow some of those included in his extensive Flickr gallery.

Building instructions are available (and they’re free!), with much more to see at Thirdwigg’s ‘Unimog U530′ album. Click the link above for even more mogin’.

*Snigger

My Other Tractor’s… er, Also a John Deere

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The LEGO Technic 42157 John Deere 948L-II Skidder set is one that – after a look through our archives – we must’ve missed, what with it not being there. Still, we’ve never claimed to be competent, and the set does look rather good. Cue Dyens Creations of Flickr, who has repurposed the 42157 John Deere to create, well… another John Deere.

Dyens’ is the 9R, an XL wheeled tractor with up to 700bhp (there’s a tracked one too, which looks mad), outfitted in this case with a pneumatically operated bulldozer blade. There’s also articulated steering, a working piston engine, and a rear hitch with PTO, and there’s more to see of Dyens’ 42157 John Deere B-Model on Flickr.

Skippy

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Following a vehicle that appeared here earlier in the week (which the builder has now updated with an indolent, tracksuit-wearing, oxygen-wasting, fly-tipping scumbag after reading the post, earning themselves 100 TLCB points), this is how you should actually dispose of waste, via a properly licensed skip company.

Cue previous bloggee damjan97PL (aka damianPLE), and this rather excellent Technic Scania P-Series skip lorry. (Damian also earns 100 TLCB Points for calling his build a ‘skip lorry’, rather than a ‘container truck’ as LEGO would.)

Wonderfully realistic, Damian’s Scania not only looks the part, it also features some fantastic manually-operated and pneumatic functions, including rear outriggers, ‘HOG’ steering, a working inline 6-cylinder engine underneath a tilting cab, and a pneumatically-powered boom, able to perfectly lower and hoist a neat brick-built skip.

Damian has made building instructions available and there’s more of his top-quality Technic Scania skip lorry to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum, his ‘Scania Skip Loader’ Bricksafe gallery, and via the video below.

Click the links above to dispose of your waste without vandalising the local environment, and keep indolent, tracksuit-wearing, oxygen-wasting, fly-tipping scumbags out of business.

Wheelie Big

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Nothing makes our smelly little workers happier than flattening one another with a remote control find. Cue much excitement from the Elf that found this enormous fully remote controlled Komatsu WD900-3 wheel dozer as it entered TLCB Towers, high on the expectation that it could smush any number of its colleagues into the office carpet.

Fortunately for us, that number was zero, seeing as Beat Felber‘s 1:28.5 scale replica of the 100-ton dozer is much too slow to catch any of them. But whilst it is indeed slow, it’s also incredible, with remotely operable all-wheel-drive, articulated linear-actuator controlled steering, a fully adjustable blade positionable via three pneumatic cylinders, each equipped with their own Servo-actuated valve, and an on-board pneumatic compressor.

That enormous blade can lift, lower, pitch fore and aft, and tilt left to right courtesy of the compressor, valves and pneumatic cylinders, all of which can be controlled remotely via bluetooth thanks to two third-party SBricks and an on-board rechargeable Power functions battery.

A work of engineering brilliance, there’s lots more to see of Beat’s Komatsu WD900-3 replica at his album of the same name, where twenty stunning images can be found along with further build details and a link to a video of the model in action.

Click the first link in the text above to make the jump, whilst we cheer up a despondent TLCB Elf with a well-deserved yellow Smartie.

MAN on a Mission

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If this TLCB Writer received paid holiday (no chance! Ed.), he’d like to go adventuring in something like this.

Built by collaborative building channel MTC, this MAN 8×8 off-road expedition truck includes everything you could need to escape to a place far away.

Two XL Motors power all eight fully suspended wheels, a Servo powers the steering, a Medium Motor drives a lift for a motorcycle/ATV platform mounted under the rear of the fully-equipped camper section, whilst another drives a compressor that can elevate the camper roof on four pneumatic cylinders.

All of the functions can be controlled via bluetooth courtesy of two SBricks, which you can watch in action via the excellent and appropriately sound-tracked video below, plus there’s more to see of this amazing rig at both Eurobricks and Flickr.

Click the links to join this TLCB Writer dreaming of places far far away.

YouTube Video

Say Yes to the Dress(ta)

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This is a Dressta TD-25M bulldozer, and it’s about as good a Lego creation as you’ll see this year.

Built by Bricksley of Flickr, this incredible model blends Model Team aesthetics, PoweredUp motors, pneumatics, and Mindstorms to create a perfectly working 1:18 replica of the Polish crawler-dozer.

A LEGO Mindstorms hub can be operated by an Xbox controller to remotely drive the four PoweredUp motors that power both the tracks and the pneumatic system that provides movement the front blade and rear ripper, whilst LED lights and even a working horn and back-up warning sound feature.

It’s an amazing build and one of which you can see more at Bricksley’s ‘Dressta DT-25M’ album on Flickr – Click the link above to say yes to the Dressta.