Tag Archives: power functions

[HOONIGAN]

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Lego Ford Mustang Gymkhana Ken Block Hoonicorn

Ken Block might be a less-than-successful racing driver, but he makes one hell of YouTube video. DC Shoes owner Block’s ‘Gymkhana’ series has become an internet phenomenon, with views in the hundreds of millions and major corporate backing from the likes of Monster Energy and Ford.

The seventh film in the ‘Gymkhana’ series took the formula to the sheets of Los Angeles, and with it brought a new car into the Gymkhana garage; very probably the wildest first generation Ford Mustang ever built. With twin-turbos, almost 900bhp, and all-wheel-drive, Block’s ‘Hoonicorn’ Mustang is a very different proposition to the lovely but (let’s be honest here), rather comfy cruiser that was the original.

Lego Ford Mustang Gymkhana Ken Block Hoonicorn

The results are as spectacular as you would expect, and have inspired previous bloggee Lachlan Cameron to build his very own Gymkhana 7 ‘Hoonicorn’ Mustang in Lego Technic form.

With accurate decals, wide arches, and wheels from the official 42083 Bugatti Chiron set, Lachlan’s Mustang certainly looks the part, and with a full remote control Technic ‘Supercar’ chassis, including all-wheel-drive, all-wheel-independent suspension, and a beautifully chromed V8 engine (complete with two turbos), it goes the part too.

Lego Ford Mustang Gymkhana Ken Block Hoonicorn

There’s much more to see of Lachlan’s incredible creation at his Ford Mustang Hoonigan album by clicking here, and you can watch the real car tearing up the streets of Los Angeles in ‘Gymkhana  7’ by clicking this link, which will absolutely be the coolest thing you’ll watch all day!

Mantis

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Lego Technic RC Mantis Supercar

The mantis is surely one of Nature’s weirdest creations. Only not terrifying because they’re pretty small, if you saw a picture of one with no concept of scale you’d undoubtedly flee to the hills convinced mankind was about to be enslaved by a superior alien race.

Car makers love naming their vehicles after odd animals though, and the mantis is no exception, being used on Marcos’s early-’70s sports car that looked every bit as horrific as the insect which gave its name.

Fortunately their mid-’90s sequel was – if still not brilliant – far more palatable, but neither were as good to look at as this concept supercar from Flickr’s R. Skittle. Suggested to us by a reader, Skittle’s ‘Koncept Mantis’ is an interesting looking thing, with a full remote control drivetrain hidden under the unusual bodywork.

A pair of Power Functions motors drive the rear wheels whilst another controls the steering, there’s clever pushrod suspension, and an even cleverer automatically deploying airbrake that raises when the car ‘brakes’.

There’s much more to see of R. Skittle’s ‘Mantis’ Technic supercar on Flickr – click here to see the complete gallery and a video of the car in action.

Lego Technic RC Mantis Supercar

Grindr

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Lego Technic Red Alert Grinder Tank

It’s been a while since the last act of outrageous Elven violence here at TLCB Towers, but fear not readers, the little scumbags were back in business today. This is Desert752 aka Kirill Mazurov’s ‘Grinder’* tank from the classic video game Red Alert 3, and it’s nuts.

Controlled via bluetooth thanks to no less than three SBricks, Kirill’s Grinder* features ten Power Functions motors, six alone just for drive. A seventh powers the articulated chassis steering, the eighth the boom lift, and a ninth the huge rotating cutter on the end of it.

But what about the tenth you say? Well the lucky Elf that discovered this remote control monstrosity kept that one secret for a bit.

Driving it through the halls of TLCB Towers, Kirill’s Grinder* was frustratingly slow, certainly much too lethargic for the Elf in question to mow down any of its brethren. The other Elves in the office quickly got cocky, taunting the Elf at the controls by standing in front of the approaching tank with its whirling cutter, before jumping out of the way at the last second to much cackling and – we suspect – Elven profanity.

But that tenth motor had yet to be used, and after lulling its colleagues the Elf in control deployed motor No.10. With the secret high-gear engaged the Grinder’s* speed instantly trebled, and the taunters simply couldn’t get out of the way quickly enough.

Fed under the wheels by the cutter, then squashed by the Grinder’s* huge tyres, before being rolled flat by the tracks that followed thereafter, there has probably never been a worse machine to be run over by than this.

We were quite impressed by the Elf at the controls’ subterfuge too, and it’s now enjoying a blue Smartie whilst we have a go with the Grinder* ourselves.

There’s more to see of Kirill’s remote control behemoth at the Eurobricks discussion forum, the complete Red Alert Grinder* gallery can be viewed on Flickr, and you can watch the machine in action via the video below.

YouTube Video

*No, not that Grindr.

Sherping Through the Snow

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Lego Sherp ATV Remote Control BuWizz

Another day in TLCB Office. It’s cold outside, there’s snow on the ground, and pictures of Margot Robbie won’t look at themselves. Sadly TLCB Elves care not for this writer’s quiet contemplation and a cacophony of noise smashed through the doorway from the corridor. Sigh. Considerable past experience meant this writer knew that a long morning was in store.

A weary trudge to the source of the commotion revealed a grey box on wheels spinning furiously atop several decidedly squashed Elves. Mr. Airhorn was deployed, the spinning box ceased its rotation, and an unseen Elf jumped down from a low shelf and ran off, cackling wildly.

With the box now stationary we could uncover what it was, and what it was was a small Technic version of the amphibious Russian oddity known as the ‘Sherp’, and it was ridiculously powerful.

Just how ridiculously powerful? Well take a look at the video below…

YouTube Video

With a separate and fully-suspended motor powering each of the four wheels, plus a BuWizz bluetooth battery brick providing up to eight times the power of LEGO’s own battery, there has probably never been a more capable Elf-smushing creation than this. Ever.

Technic-building legend Sariel is the evil genius behind the Technic Sherp ATV and he’s made a wealth of high-quality images available via Flickr. Click these words to take a look at the model in greater detail at Sariel’s photostream, whilst we spend a morning trying to get Elf blood out of the carpet, and maybe dispatch a few of the fallen to the ‘Elf Hospital‘…

Lego Sherp ATV Remote Control BuWizz

A Super Car

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Lego Technic Supercar RC

Since the Technic Car Chassis set back in 1980, LEGO have brought increasingly realistic ‘supercar’ sets to market, from the all-wheel-drive and directly-named 8880 ‘Supercar’ of ’94 and the beautifully styled 8448 ‘Super Street Sensation’ of ’99, to the latest Porsche and Bugatti partnership sets which include everything from W16 engines to working paddle-shift gearboxes.

The Lego Community has also got in on the action, building Technic Supercars that rival (and even eclipse) the official sets. To qualify for ‘supercar’ status a model must include a functioning drivetrain (engine, gearbox and driven wheels), working suspension, and functioning steering.

Lego Technic Supercar RC

These days with the prevalence of Power Functions remote control components the lines have become a bit blurred, but we’re willing to overlook a few missing functions in today’s post because a) it does indeed replace a piston engine and gearbox with a suite of electric motors, and b) it’s all been squeezed into a model considerably smaller than we’re used to from Technic Supercars.

Designed by previous bloggee Kevin Moo, this Porsche-esque ‘supercar’ is powered by twin L Motors, with a Servo providing steering. All-wheel-suspension is taken care of independently up front and via a clever Watts multi-link system at the rear. Opening doors and hood also feature, and there’s a whole lot more to see on Flickr, where Kevin’s album also contains renders of the drive and suspension systems, and on Eurobricks, where a video of the model is also available to view. Take a look via the links.

Lego Technic Supercar RC

42065 Technic Tracker Racer | Review

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LEGO Technic 42065 Tracked Racer

We’ve been a bit lazy on the reviewing front here at The Lego Car Blog of late. We do have a large review coming, but in the meantime our pals over at, er… BrickPals, have joined us to add another LEGO set to our ever-expanding Set Review Library (which is now contains over 100 reviews!). Over to Jack from the BrickPals team….

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Hey guys, Jack here, and today I’ll be bringing you a review of LEGO’s 42065 Technic RC Tracked Racer, a set first released in 2017. Featuring some 370 pieces, 42065 retails for £74.99 in the UK, $99.99 in the US and 79.99€ in Europe and comes with a range of Power Functions parts; an IR receiver, a remote control, a battery box and 2 medium motors. With that in mind it seems like great value, but how good is the racer itself?

The Box

This is your pretty standard Technic box with the orange Power Functions strip on the side. Opening it up you’ll find three bags. Two have parts and smaller bags in them, and the other contains the Power Functions components. Interestingly, the battery box was not included in this bag and instead is loose inside the box.

The Build

You start off by building the base of the racer. This is very straightforward and provides no real interesting building techniques but a sturdy support for what’s to come.

Next, the battery box, receiver and two medium motors are added. I was a bit surprised that the receiver was mounted on top of the battery box, but this does not interfere with the removal/inserting of the battery pack.

After this, we start to build the outer layer of the racer. This is built separately from the existing build and uses white and green panels to achieve the desired shape. A few interesting techniques are used when constructing and angling the ‘bonnet’. Two clear pieces sit at the front and represent lights – I was impressed with how well the angles line up to the triangular green pieces. There are nine stickers to be applied to the racer, and these are all added on to this green shell. This is somewhat frustrating as it means many stickers applied one after the other, due to no stickers being placed on the chassis of the car.

The completed and be-stickered bodywork is then attached to the chassis of the car at the front, where it can hinge roughly 160 degrees at the point it sits above the battery box.

LEGO Technic 42065 Tracked Racer Review

Playability

This was a very straightforward build, predominately for one reason – this set’s main purpose is to be a remote control car, unlike other Technic sets which attempt to replicate different functions of a vehicle.

So how does it drive? There is one medium motor which powers the left track and another medium motor powering the right. These are connected to the IR receiver which is connected to the battery box. The remote control communicates with the receiver.

There are two levers on the control, and they each control one motor. To go forwards, both levers must be held in the forward position. To go backwards, both leavers must be held in the backwards position. This is pretty simple, but what happens if you want to turn? Assuming the racer is driving away from you, only holding down the left control will make it turn right (so you’re essentially ‘dropping power’ on the side you want to turn). If the racer is coming towards you and you want to turn right, you hold down the right control. The opposite applies in both cases for turning left. Anyways, it takes a while to get used to the steering – especially for someone like myself who’s built RC cars where one motor does all the turning and the other powers the two back wheels.

How does 42065 perform on different surfaces? The racer works best on smooth surfaces but it also works well on carpet, being able to negotiate obstacles (or TLCB Elves, Ed.) and climb small inclines (or over TLCB Elves… Ed.). Continue reading →

Kolos Krush

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Lego Technic Tatra Kolos 8x8

The Lego Car Blog Elves have been peaceful in 2019 thus far. Too peaceful. Fear not though avid readers, today the little scumbags were back on form courtesy of this; MajklSpajkl’s incredible remote control Tatra T813 KOLOS 8×8 trial truck.

Sitting atop eight of the enormous wheels found within the 42054 Claas Xerion set is a wonderfully be-stickered body, within which is hidden a wealth of Technic brilliance. Two Power Functions XL Motors drive all eight independently-suspended wheels, the first four of which steer via an L motor, whilst a further Power Functions motor operates a high/low range gearbox. A working V12 piston engine is placed under the cab, and the model can be driven via bluetooth thanks to a third-party BuWizz brick that delivers up to eight times the power of LEGO’s own battery system.

Lego Technic Tatra Kolos 8x8

That makes for a model with a seriously impressive off-roading capability, which also means the Tatra had no trouble driving over a multitude of Elves here at TLCB Towers. Even in the highest of its two gears, MajklSpajkl’s KOLOS is pretty slow beast, however the Elves have learned of ways to navigate this hindrance – in this case the lucky Elf responsible for finding the Tatra slipped away unnoticed whilst its compatriots were watching cartoons, and simply arrived back in the room riding on top of it to run them over from behind. There’s no honour in Elven battle it seems.

Lego Technic Tatra Kolos 8x8

Those that escaped the smushing promptly dragged the assailant from its vehicle and fed it into the VHS machine, as has become customary, so now we have many broken Elves, and possibly a broken VHS machine too. Whilst we continue the clear-up you can see more of MajklSpajkl’s brilliant Technic Tatra at the Eurobricks forum by clicking these words, where you can find a full description, some superb build and on-location shots, and a video of the creation in action too.

Technic Traction

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Lego Traction Engine

We’re not sure what’s got into The Lego Car Blog Elves this weekend, but they’re bringing back builds of a very classical nature. From the inventively old to the actually old now, and two absolutely beautiful Technic steam tractors from Flickr’s Nikolaus Lowe.

An unusual choice for a Technic build we think these – somewhat oddly – qualify for ‘Technic Supercar’ status, being equipped with working steering, brakes, piston and valve gear, and a two-speed transmission.

Head over to Flickr for the complete gallery of images, where you can also find a link to vote for Nikolaus’ design on LEGO Ideas, whilst we figure out how the Elves have been watching ‘Downton Abbey’.

Lego Traction Engine

Moon City

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Lego Steampunk City

We do not understand steampunk. Effectively what sci-fi would look like if it were devised in the late 1800s, it’s a genre so alien to TLCB staff it may as well be the plot of ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’. The creations that steampunk produces however, are not like the Kardashians at all. They’re wonderful.

Lego Steampunk City

This is one such build, the Moon City originating from the mind of Dwarlin Forkbeard, which is filled with such gorgeous detail that we want to move straight there and get a job mining cheese. Complete with a marvellous motorised train (although the journey does look a bit samey), working elevators, and a rotating orrery, Dwalin’s city is packed with ingenious movement too. Click on these words to head to the moon sometime in the 1880s…

Lego Steampunk City

The Coolest Fire Truck

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Lego Technic Tatra T815 Fire Truck

All fire trucks are cool. OK, maybe not this one, but pretty much everything else. The coolest of the lot could well be this, the awesome Tatra T815-CAS32. With six-wheel-drive and a 360-degree rotating turret-mounted water canon, there’s nothing we’d rather put out a fire with.

This fantastic Technic replica of the Tatra fire truck comes from previous bloggee Horcik Designs of Flickr, and not only has he nailed the exterior of his T815, he’s engineered a fully-working miniaturisation of the Tatra’s drivetrain, suspension and fire-fighting apparatus underneath too.

Horcik’s model features six-wheel-drive courtesy of LEGO’s Power Functions Motors, with remote control steering, powered hose-reel winches, an on-board compressor, and a motorised elevating and rotating turret.

There’s more to see of Horcik’s superb creation at his photostream, including a money-shot of how all of that lot has been squeezed in. Head to Flickr via the link above to dial 911.

Monster Mash*

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Lego Technic Monster Truck

It’s the final day of 2018 and most of the Elves – caged over Christmas – are away searching hungrily for the very best Lego vehicles the interweb has to offer. A few Elves returned with finds pretty quickly, and another joined them today at the controls of this, a rather cool looking remote control Monster Truck from previous bloggee and TLCB Master MOCer Nico71.

Unfortunately for the Elves already back in TLCB Towers, the speed of their return meant they became unwilling participants in the latest (and hopefully last – for 2018 at least) smushing.

With all-wheel-drive, torsion bar suspension, and portal drive for mega ground clearance, the Elf at the controls of Nico71’s monster truck had no problem running down several of its unsuspecting colleagues in the halls of the office.

With the truck now in the hands of TLCB staff and the squashed Elves mostly patched back together the perpetrator has wisely absconded back from whence it came, meal token in hand, whilst we clean a variety of Elven bodily fluids out of the office carpet.

You can check out Nico’s remote control monster truck at his website, where an extensive gallery of images is available and – to the joy of those that reply to TLCB inbox – instructions can be found too. Click the link above to make the jump.

Lego Technic Monster Truck

*The final title song of 2018! Enjoy.

Great & Small

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Lego Technic Suzuki Jimny

This is the new Suzuki Jimny, and we absolutely LOVE it. Like the new Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon, Suzuki have taken a retro approach to the styling of their new car (to much success), but unlike the new G-Wagon – which will be bought by rappers, wannabe rappers, and hedge-fund managers – the Jimny will be bought by people who will actually take it off-road. A lot.

With a proper four-wheel-drive system, body-on-frame construction, and tiny overhangs the little Jimny will trounce any SUV off-road, despite having just 1500cc and only 100bhp (which is actually a fair bit more than the previous one). The result is a car which, in TLCB’s home nation at least, already has sizeable waiting list. But then it has been twenty years since Suzuki last redesigned it, which is rather a long wait.

Lego Technic Suzuki Jimny

Don’t worry though, if you’d like to get your hands on the new Jimny we have an alternative! A 1:10 scale alternative…

This wonderful little Technic replica of the new Jimny comes from filsawgood, and not only has he recreated the dinky Suzuki 4×4 superbly, he’s made instructions available too!

Underneath the delightful exterior is a remotely controlled all-wheel-drive system complete with solid-axle suspension and powered by a third-party BuWizz bluetooth brick, which enables the model to be controlled via mobile phone and delivers up to eight times the power of LEGO’s own Power Functions battery. Two L motors drive all four wheels whilst a Servo powers the steering, plus there are LED lights, opening doors, hood and tailgate.

Lego Technic Suzuki Jimny

There are loads more images of filsawgood’s remote control Suzuki Jimny available to view on both Flickr and at the Eurobricks forum, where you can also find a video demonstrating the model’s features and a link to building instructions so that you can build your own!

School Run Mom

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Lego Lexus RX450H

The Lexus RX450h may sound like it’s named after a photocopier, but it is in fact one of America’s best selling luxury SUVs. Because how else is little Cody supposed to get to school? Still, at least the RX450h is a hybrid, so Cody’s Mom won’t be poisoning the other kids outside the school gates as she wafts up silently in electric mode. Although she might run them over if they don’t hear it coming…

Lego Lexus RX450H

The Lexus RX isn’t really a TLCB sort of car, but nevertheless it looks absolutely stunning in Model Team form thanks to previous bloggee dgustafsson1317 of Flickr. A superbly accurate model, dgustafsson’s creation recreates the big SUV’s rather complex shape beautifully thanks to some ingenious parts usage that is further enhanced by custom badging and wheels.

Lego Lexus RX450H

The model also includes working suspension, drive and steering that are remotely controlled via bluetooth, and LED headlights. There’s a whole lot more to see of dgustafsson’s incredible Lexus RX450h at his Flickr album – click the link above to waft up to school gates. Just don’t run over any kids.

Christmas Carnage

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Lego RC Tank

With only two days until Christmas most of the Elves here at The Lego Car Blog have returned to the crumbling ruin that is TLCB Towers ready for their enforced ‘break’ over the holidays. This makes the office a noisier and messier place in the build up to their re-caging, and is something we’ve gotten used to over the years, but nothing prepared us for just how much noisier and messier this year would be.

With the office stereo playing Christmas songs loudly on loop we weren’t paying attention to any sounds emitting from the Elves’ cage room or the corridor outside. Mistake.

When we finally did notice that something was amiss, the Elven casualties were higher than anything that had gone before. There were Elves squashed into the carpet, Elves staggering around in circles, and even Elves unconscious on the top of shelves. One Elf though, was probably the happiest we have ever seen an Elf be, and it was at the controls of This.

‘This’ is shadow_elenter‘s ‘Transforming Tank / Howitzer’, a fully remote controlled, eighteen motor and five SBrick behemoth that can do, well… a lot. Take a look via the video below and you’ll understand how the situation here at TLCB Towers unfolded…

With an amazing Howitzer gun capable of deploying remotely and firing a Technic rubber-ended bullet (complete with re-coil), four remotely firing cannons up front, remotely controlled (but non-firing) gatling and anti-aircraft guns, and huge tracks driven by four Power Functions XL Motors, shadow_elenter’s tank is an incredible (if mad) example of the very best Technic engineering.

There’s much more to see of this gloriously unhinged build at the Eurobricks discussion forum via the link above, whilst we undertake a big Christmas tidy up…

Lego RC Tank