Fiat might only make small shopping cars these days, but their history is much more exciting. This lovely Lego pre-war Fiat racer was found on Flickr, built by TLCB debutants Omar + Kazumi Ovalle. There’s more to see at the link above, but before you do we highly recommend seeing what a vintage race car like this can do – turn your volume up…
The Elves love the Fast and Furious movie franchise. There’s very little plot but lots of explosions, and that’s pretty much all they need from television. Flickr’s Mad Physicist, a regular here, has built one of the most famous cars from the movies, a highly modified* lime-green Mitsubishi Eclipse. There’s lots more to see on Flickr – click the link above to hit the NO2 button.
*If our memory serves us correctly these mods included a 17 speed gearbox, a Nitrous Oxide System that defied basic chemistry, and magic.
How extreme can Lego can be? MOCpages’ Desert752 Kirill decided to found out with a 4×4 off-road racer fitted with four Technic buggy motors. And then he took it abseiling. See how in the video below…
YouTube Video:
Ever since they discovered this build by Tyler Sky on Flickr, the Elves have been splashing around in the TLCB Executive Jacuzzi, making engine noises. Inspired by his wife’s present of mini-figs and seagulls, Tyler has built a super-fast Octan catamaran. We can tell it’s fast, thanks to the brilliant, brick-built rooster tail which he has created. Click on the links to see more details, including which of the twin pilots isn’t enjoying the ride.
The ’80s theme continues here at The Lego Car Blog, and today it’s our own workforce of horrible little Elves that are the delighted beneficiaries.
Such is their well-documented love for all things Transformers-related that we were forced to instate a ‘No Transformers until you find a MOC’ policy, often reinforced by the use of the office air-horn.
Mr. Air-Horn is slumbering silently today though, because the Elves are downstairs happily watching the original 1980s Transformers ‘G1’ cartoon series. This rare demonstration of staff generosity is reward for today’s find; two superb G1 Transformers Nissan 300ZXs created by Alex Wong of MOCpages.
‘Smokescreen’ and ‘Bluestreak’ can both fit a mini-figure inside and they feature some of LEGO’s awesome retro printed pieces, but their real party-trick is – naturally – a very slick transformation. You can see how Alex has done it by visiting his MOCpage via the link above, whilst we join the Elves for a bit of cartoon watching…
Flickr’s Red Spacecat has produced this beautifully sleek space racer, but unfortunately we know nothing more about sci-fi than that. We suggest heading over to Flickr where there’s lots of appropriately spacey chat, and we’ll get back to cars…
It’s time to reveal the final new LEGO Technic sets bound for stores in 2015! Yesterday we previewed five of the eight new Technic models due at the start of next year, including the new 42037 Formula Off-Road Racer.
Today we move on to the bigger stuff, including the rather lovely looking green endurance racer above. But more on that in a bit. Firstly, let’s look at two wheels…
We start with the smallest of the more complex 2015 Technic sets, the 375 piece 9+ 42036 Street Motorcycle. 42036 looks a nice mid-range set, featuring working front and rear suspension, steering, and (we suspect) a chain driven two cylinder engine. It also comes in a rather attractive light blue hue and includes the common-for-2015 decals seen on many of the new sets that add a bit more visual interest.
Downsides are the matching tyres front and rear – which isn’t particularly realistic – and (possibly) the longevity of those aforementioned decals on the large curved Technic panels. Overall though we like the look of 42036 – a good effort from The Lego Group.
We’re now into the big sets! New for 2015 is this, the 42038 Arctic Truck, aimed at ages 10+ and containing over 900 pieces – many of which are in the ace 8110 Unimog orange. 42038 goes back to the days of good old fashioned mechanical Technic, and fits a wealth of functionality into its 40cm length, including a linear-actuator operated crane boom, suspended tracks and working steering.
As with some of the other new Technic sets for 2015, LEGO seem to have upped the detail level, possibly at the cost of robustness (how long is that communications ariel going to stay in place for example), but this does look to be a conscious effort to make Technic more visually appealing to those progressing from LEGO’s simpler product themes.
The 42038 Arctic Truck set will reach stores next year, and like most of the new LEGO Technic sets it includes a colourful sticker sheet plus instructions for a second vehicle.
And finally, the flagship new Technic set for 2015, the 1,200 piece 42039 24 Hours Race Car! We’re not sure what 42039 features in the way of technical functionality, apart from steering and an opening engine cover, but we’re hoping for pushrod suspension and a big piston engine – it’s aimed at ages 11+ after all!
However, we can tell you that 42039 does feature some as-yet unreleased parts/colour combinations that will probably get certain quarters of the online Lego Community very excited, though we’re just happy because it looks a bit like the incredible Toyota TS040, Audi R18 and Porsche 919 hybrid racers from this year’s LeMans endurance race (although LEGO have missed the regulation stabilising fin from their version).
Like the other new sets for 2015 42039 includes a colourful set of stickers as well as instructions for a second model, although perhaps more surprisingly it contains no Power Functions electric components. This means that there are no new motorised sets in the 2015 LEGO Technic line-up at all – something that we’re in no doubt change mid-way through the year.
So until then, which is your favourite? As always our resident experts may review some of these sets after their release (plus you can check out all The Lego Car Blog’s reviews of sets past in the Set Review Library), and if you missed Part 1 of our preview detailing the first five new Technic sets for 2015 you can catch up here.
The Pikes Peak hillclimb features some properly weird vehicles, and none more so than in the truck category. This remote control hillclimb truck is the work of Ingmar Spijkhoven, and it’s nearly as mad as the real things. It’s powered by LEGO’s Buggy Motors and you can see more of it on either MOCpages or Flickr, or via Ingmar’s YouTube video below.
YouTube Video:
It’s not often that one of the Lego community’s most diminutive vehicle scales – Tiny Turbo – puts detail on full-scale models to shame, but every now and then one does. This GTR by Tommy ñ over on Flickr has enough intakes, greebles, and realistic details to go toe-to-toe with models tens of times its size (and look good doing it). You can check out this and more of Tommy ñ’s cars over on Flickr.
This incredible creation, suggested to us by a reader via the Feedback and Submission Suggestions page, is a Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) racing car. DTM is Germany’s Touring Car Championship, in which the world’s top drivers – including names from both LeMans and F1 – compete across Germany and Europe in 500bhp V8 ‘silhouette’ monsters. Only a handful of car manufactures take part, but the grids are huge, the action frantic and the crashes… m.a.s.s.i.v.e.
This amazing recreation of Audi’s 2013 RS5 DTM racer is the work of Eurobricks and Brickshelf regular Lipko. Underneath the spectacular aero-bodywork Lipko has perfectly engineered a monocoque chassis with integrated roll cage, working independent pushrod suspension, and a V8 engine complete with four speed gearbox. You can see all of this in detail too, as Lipko has made chassis images and the engineering details available. Click on either of the links above to see more, and then get lost in YouTube’s extensive DTM library…
Another day, another Elf, another meal token issued. Today’s lucky recipient found this superb remote control Trophy Truck on Eurobricks. Underneath the Technic bodywork sits some wonderfully bouncy suspension attached to a faithful RWD set-up, and it’s powered by LEGO’s out-of-production buggy motors that give it a surprising turn of speed. gsia17 is the builder, and you can see all the photos plus a great video of the truck in action at the link.
The Elves have been thoroughly useless at finding anything remotely Easter-related this weekend. The best they could do was a camper from a year ago. However all is not lost, because it’s a little-known fact that the Easter Bunny, who’s death in the Galactic Asteroid Race Circuit we remember at this time of year, was a highly skilled space pilot. Sylon-tw pays his tributes to the fallen rabbit with this excellent GARC ship. See more and pay your respects too on Flickr via the link above, or you can check out an alternative Easter theory here.
The racing-livery theme of the last few days continues, only this time we’re looking far into the future, where the Galactic Asteroid Rally Circuit (GARC) is the new number one motorsport. First up (above) is 4estFeller‘s Micro GARC, complete with Pirelli decals. No, we don’t know why either, but it looks damn cool! Our second entrant from Flickr’s GARC group is the work of Simon Liu aka Si-MOCs (below), which features some ace-looking day-glo speed lines. See more of both builds and the GARC group that spawned them via the links.
The Elves are a bit grumpy this morning, as this post wasn’t found by them, but by one of our readers. Still, they should’ve been quicker. Alexander Paschoaletto is a previous ‘Featured TFOL’ here at TLCB, and he joins us as a Guest Blogger to explain his find:
If you’re looking for amazing recreations of remarkable Le Mans cars, then Greg 998 must be in your favorite builders list. From iconic Porsches to historic Ferraris, Greg knows how to ally functions to design.
His latest model, the great Ferrari 312 P(b) in 1:8 scale, features both steering and suspension. Not only this, he also made it according to the original colours and stickers! Having built the ’71 model myself and knowing how difficult is it to keep the proportions, I can only hope to be as skilled as him in the future. Keep building, Greg!
You can check out Alexander’s recommendation on MOCpages here.
Probably the most lusted after car of the Playstation Generation, Nissan’s R34 Skyline became one of the most fearsome giant slayers ever built. And – being Japanese – it’s tuneable to produce truly epic power figures. Yakov Selutin makes his second appearance on TLCB this month with his spectacular Model Team recreation of the incredible ’90s legend. See all the photos, including close-ups of the superb engine and interior, at Yakov’s MOCpage here.
