Tag Archives: power functions

Cor-Off-Roada

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As the world’s best selling car, the Toyota Corolla has been many things, but not often a 4×4 desert racer. Cue Randy Wilmenta, who has built his 1989 Corolla GT-S into an awesome all-wheel-drive off-roader, which Eurobricks’ 2GodBDGlory has faithfully recreated in Technic form.

With working all-wheel drive courtesy of two Power Functions L Motors (hooked up to both a transverse inline-4 piston engine and a remotely-operable 6+R gearbox), remote control steering, an electronic hand-brake, motorised clutch, pop-up headlights and differential lock, plus suspension, and opening doors, hood and trunk, 2God’s recreation of the unique Toyota packs in as much as its real-world counterpart.

3D-printed wheels and an excellent classic Toyota livery complete a superb build, and you can find out more about the model and the real off-road Corolla it replicates via the Eurobricks forum. Take a look via the link, where you can also watch a video of 2God’s brilliant build in action.

Al-tow-native

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With over four-thousand pieces, the LEGO Technic 42082 Rough Terrain Crane is one of the largest sets ever released. Which means there are plenty of parts with which to create something new. Cue TLCB Master MOCer Nico71, who has constructed a number of alternates from the vast set, with his latest being this; a fantastic Mercedes-Benz Unimog tow-truck.

Utilising around 3,500 of 42082’s pieces, Nico’s phenomenal B-Model features no less than five motorised functions, plus four-wheel-drive, an inline-6 piston engine under a tilting cab, working steering and suspension, and opening doors, toolboxes and compartments.

Like the donor set, a single motor provides motion to a huge array of functions via a sophisticated gearbox, with Nico’s B-Model cleverly including reverse switches so the battery box can be switched on and left.

Working stabiliser legs, an articulated towing-platform, an elevating and extending crane boom, and a winch (which is ingenuously synchronised with the boom to maintain its hook level) are all operable through a series of levers, allowing Nico’s Unimog to function exactly like the real thing.

It’s an astonishing alternate and perhaps the very best B-Model build that this site has ever published, with full details, engineering diagrams, and a link to building instructions available at the Eurobricks forum. Find all of the above and convert your own 42082 Rough Terrain Crane set into this amazing alternate via the link, plus you can watch the model in action via the video below.

YouTube Video

Bus Boy

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We’re travelling slowly through Westchester New York today, on a twenty-year-old Orion Industries V (05.505) bus. Over a hundred Orion Vs still operate on Westchester’s ‘Bee-Line’, and are the last not be hybrid or electrically powered.

This Orion V actually is battery powered though, as its maker JLiu15 has equipped it with full motorisation including the drive, steering, and doors.

There’s more of the model to see at JLiu’s ‘2005 Orion V (05.505) Bee-Line Bus’ album on Flickr, and you can take the No. 52 to Bronxville via the link above.

Trailin’ Low

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This neat Technic 8×4 truck and low-bed three-axle trailer comes from previous bloggee damianPLE, and despite the small scale there’s a full remote control drivetrain squeezed inside. The Power Functions Medium Motor and Servo are powerful enough to haul a load too, and you can see more (as well as find a link to building instructions) at Eurobricks and Bricksafe.

A Trained Eye

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Well this is a cute microscale steam train chuffing past a forest lake. But there’s more than meets the eye with jarekwally’s diorama. Go on a journey via the link above to see where it takes you…

Not in Iran

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If you’ve been vaguely aware of the news over the past few weeks it’s been getting a bit bomby in the Middle East.

That’s because President Trump knew that Iran were going to start a war with America, a war that they in fact started 47 years ago, and so he started a war himself, that’s not a war, that Iran started. Ok it might be a war, but it’s not about regime change. It’s about Iran’s imminent use of the nuclear weapons that America “completely and totally obliterated” only last year. Although the regime has also changed.

Anyway, the not-a-war will only last a few weeks, in fact it’s already been won. Although it might go on forever. And NATO need to grow a pair a get involved. Not that Trump needs them.

And if all that sounds like the ravings of an unfiltered toddler making the words up literally as they leave their mouth, that’s because it is.

Thus here’s NATO’s actual front line – the one designed to keep America safe from the Soviet Union behind the buffer of Europe, which isn’t in the Middle East at all – a tremendous Czech Tatra 815-7 8×8 Starkom electronics jammer.

Constructed by Samuel Nerpas (aka Tatrovak), this incredible creation features all-wheel-drive and all-wheel-steering via eight Power Functions XL Motors and two Servos, working all-wheel suspension with adjustable ride height via two M Motors, and pneumatically driven stabilisers via another M Motor. Two CaDa micromotors power the roof-mounted weapons system, with all fifteen operable remotely via a pair of BuWizz Bluetooth bricks, plus there’s a tilting cab complete with a fully detailed interior, opening doors and hatches.

It’s a hugely impressive build, and you can take a closer look at what is still the front line of NATO, which is not in Iran, via both Eurobricks and Flickr.

Mining Cornwall

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The Cornwall Peninsula in the very south of the United Kingdom is famous for its pasties, beaches, cider, and – at one time – mining.

This began with silver and tin, plundered by the Romans, and ended with coal, plundered by the Government.

Mines were a combination of dangerous ‘pits’ and open cast, with the latter exploited by enormous mechanisation in later years. This is one such machine from the time, the 390-ton Ruston-Bucyrus 195-B electric rope shovel.


Recreated in 1:28.5 form, this spectacular replica of the Ruston-Bucyrus 195-B comes from recent bloggee Beat Felber, to work alongside his Terex 33-11C mining truck.

Like his previously featured Terex, Beat’s electric rope shovel is packed with electronics to bring it to life, with four Power Functions motors driving the tracks, two the swing motion, another the main winch, and an eighth the dipper handle. No, we don’t know what a dipper handle is.

Finally two CaDA micromotors power the bucket door release and motorised access ladder, there are two sets of LEDs lighting the model, and the whole lot is controllable remotely via twin SBricks.

It’s a hugely impressive feat of engineering, with lots more of the model to see at Beat’s ‘Ruston-Bucyrus 195-B’ Flickr album – where it’s pictured alongside the Terex 33-11C with which it would have worked mining Cornish coal.

Grab a pasty and a cider and head to 1980s Cornwall via the link above.

Lime Crush

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It’s been a quiet week here at TLCB Towers. Elves have returned, creations have been published, and no-one’s been squashed at all. Until today.

This enormous lime green machine is a 1980s Terex 33-11C, actually one of Terex’s smaller mining trucks, and one that was used extensively in Britain’s open cast mines.

It comes from Flickr’s Beat Felber who has not only expertly recreated the 33-11C’s exterior, he’s fitted his spectacular creation with remote control drive, steering, and tipping, courtesy of an SBrick programmable Bluetooth controller and a suite of Power Functions motors.

Being a mining truck of course, Beat’s Terex is much too slow to run over any TLCB Elves, but the Elf that found it took great care loading it up with gravel from the pot plant in the corridor, reversed slowly up to some of its unsuspecting colleagues, and promptly tipped the load on top of them. And then ran them over. Sigh.

Points for Elven ingenuity we suppose. Anyway, whilst we tidy that up you can check out more of Beat’s superb Terex 33-11C at his Flickr album of the same name. Click the link above to take a look.

Technically Trucking

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From a tiny RC truck to one that’s rather larger, this is nico71’s splendid fully remote controlled 1:30 Scania.

Fitted with a pair of LEGO Power Functions motors for drive and steering, Nico’s truck also features opening doors, a tilting cab, lockable three-axle trailer steering, working support legs, and – if motors aren’t your thing – a manual version that switches the electronics for ‘HOG’ steering and a piston engine.

Building instructions for both versions are available, and you can find full details plus a video of the truck in action at the Eurobricks forum here, plus you can check out Nico’s interview in the Master MOCers series via this bonus link.

Printed Portals

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It’s not a purist day here at TLCB, as we follow four 3D-printed wheels with four more. And a canvas roof. And – most impressively – four exquisitely-made custom portal axles with reduction gears. Those gears are Technic, but the cases in which they are contained are bespoke and beautifully engineered by previous bloggee Michael Kulakov (aka Michael217), who has fitted them to his spectacular fully remote controlled Hummer H1.

LEGO Power Functions L Motors are combined with a third-party Geekservo motor to steer, with the model featuring all-wheel-drive, fully independent suspension, a detailed engine and interior, plus opening doors, hood and tailgate, alongside the aforementioned custom componentry.

Beautiful imagery accompanies Michael’s phenomenal creation, with lots more of the model to see at both his ‘Hummer H1’ Flickr album and at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the links above to take a look, and to see the unique engineering deployed in its making.

The Lego Multicar Blog

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This strange looking device is an IFA Multicar M25, a small cab-over truck built in East Germany designed to perform numerous jobs. This one comes from previous bloggee DamianPLE (aka damjan97PL) who has fitted it with motorised drive, steering, and tipper, all controlled remotely via a third-party SBrick.

There’s also a tilting cab, under which sits a working four-cylinder piston engine, opening doors, and a detailed interior too, with more to see – including a video of the Multicar in action – at the Eurobricks forum. A gallery of over two-dozen images is also available to view on Bricksafe, and you can find both via the links above.

Red Lorry, Yel… er, Red Lorry

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Despite the protestations of the Elf that found today’s creation, it is in fact only one lorry (and thus earns one meal token). But its creator (and TLCB Master MOCer) Nico71 has ingeniously engineered his design in no less than three different ways; manual, Power Functions, and Control+, with the option of BuWizz bluetooth control too.

All variants feature opening doors and hood, working steering, second-axle suspension, and a clever lockable steering mechanism for the three-axle trailer, whilst the Power Functions and Control+ variants add a motor to the steering (either via a rack and pinion or Servo, depending on the format) and remote control drive. It’s a brilliantly executed trio of options and you can find full details, plus a link to building instructions, at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the link above for red lorry, red lorry, red lorry, or on the video below to watch Nico’s truck in action.

YouTube Video

See You in Space Tonight*

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The Lego Car Blog Elves are running around making Beep-Boop noises today, as we’ve gone all spacey. Classic Spacey in fact.

The cause is this tremendous Neo-Classic Space satellite communications base by Flickr’s Kalais, complete with a motorised spinning satellite antenna, external walkways, a landing pad with a fantastic drop-ship, a power generator, and… a team of Blacktron agents about to commence a sneak attack.

It’s a wonderful homage to perhaps LEGO’s peak sci-fi era, and you can find further details of this expansive build at Kalais’ photostream via the link above, plus you can see how the base was constructed via the excellent video below. We’ll see you in space tonight.

YouTube Video

*Today’s title song.

Santa’s Day Off

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When Santa’s not making and delivering presents, looking after reindeer, or monitoring children’s behaviour, we’re pretty sure he enjoys some downtime in a biker gang. The beard. The extravagant outfit. The drinking. He’s a perfect fit.

Flickr’s Yuan He clearly thinks so too, having built this characterful mechanised vignette featuring a motorbike-riding Santa, a sleigh trailer in tow, and a very relaxed looking Rudolph.

Yuan has attached a motor to bring Santa’s Day Off to life, and you can see the creation in action via the link to their photostream in the text above.

Get Your Uniknicks

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We love weird old vehicles here at The Lego Car Blog. Whilst other automotive sites are enthralled by the latest Lamborghini, we’re more interested in obscure British saloons, communist-era economy cars, and Japanese boxes. Or this.

‘This’ is a Werner Uniknick UK52/60, a 1970s German forestry tractor based on the already awesome Mercedes-Benz Unimog, but cut in half and then re-attached with an articulated pivot in the middle.

This tremendous Technic recreation of our new favourite thing comes from previous bloggee and TLCB Master MOCer Nico71, who constructed it for the recent BuWizz Gathering 2025 in Slovenia.

Powered by a BuWizz bluetooth battery and four Power Functions motors, Nico’s Uniknick features remote control four-wheel-drive via portal hubs, articulated steering via twin linear actuators linked to the steering wheel, and a motorised winch, plus centrally-oscillating suspension, a working and removable four-cylinder engine, and opening doors and hood.

It’s a build as impressive as the real-world vehicle it replicates, and you can recreate it for yourself as Nico has produced building instructions too. There’s much more to see at the Eurobricks forum (including links to instructions) and you can articulate your way there via the link above.

YouTube Video