Tag Archives: rc

Crossbreed

Porsche are now an SUV maker, with a small sideline in sports cars. Lamborghini are the same. And so are Aston Martin, Bentley, and even Lotus. It was inevitable then, that Ferrari would cave too, and build a four-wheel-drive, off-road capable two-ton monstrosity for the terminally wealthy.

Of course Ferrari, like every other sports-SUV-maker, claim the Purosangue (which translates as ‘thoroughbred’*) isn’t actually an SUV at all. Which is of course nonsense. But it is fitted with a naturally-aspirated V12, so it does at least sound like a supercar.

This fantastic Technic recreation of the Ferrari Purosangue has one too, along with an 8-speed sequential gearbox, all-wheel suspension, four opening doors, hood and tailgate, and remote control drive and steering courtesy of a third-party BuWizz bluetooth battery and LEGO Buggy Motors.

New comer brictric is the creator behind it, building instructions are available, and there’s lots more to see of their incredible replica of Ferrari’s ‘not-an-SUV’ at both the Eurobricks forum and Flickr. Take a closer look via the links whilst we await a letter from Ferrari’s lawyers.

*Which is trying just a bit too hard.

Mad Maximum Squashing

Longstanding readers of this stagnent puddle in the corner of the Internet will know that TLCB Elves – the mythical creatures whose unending and unpaid job it is to find the creations that appear here – have a penchant for extreme violence towards one-another. This usually takes the form of a hit-and-run (see here, here, here, here and here), and today normal service was resumed as one of their number found this.

‘This’, is a fully remote controlled replica of the wild ‘Big Foot’ monster truck from ‘Mad Max – Fury Road’, as built by TLCB Master MOCer Sariel, and powered by twin Control+ L Motors driving all four wheels. Said wheels are shod in huge non-LEGO RC tyres, plus there’s working suspension, a V8 piston engine, and two bed mounted guns for maximum movie authenticity.

All of which means that for the Elves that weren’t squashed, it’s probably the Best Creation Ever. And even for those that were, it was still the Best Creation Ever right up until the moment it smeared them into the office carpet. There’s more of the model to see at Sariel’s ‘Mad Max Big Foot’ album, you can watch it in action via the video below, and you can read the builder’s interview here at The Lego Car Blog by clicking these words.

YouTube Video

Super Skyline

It’s the early-’80s, and everything is ‘turbocharged’; sunglasses, baseball caps, pens… plus, in rare cases, cars. This is one of them, the nuts Nissan Skyline KDR30 ‘Super Silhouette’.

First racing in 1982, the KDR30 was built on a tubular steel space-frame, with sort-of-Skyline sedan bodywork placed over the top, hence the moniker.

A 2.1 litre straight-4 engine was mounted upfront, attached to the mother and father of all turbos. The result was nearly 600 flame-splitting horses, powering the KDR30 to multiple race wins in Group 5 from 1982 to 1984. And many a Grand Turismo racer – as that’s how most readers will know this car – into the digital armco.

This spectacular brick-built replica of the Skyline KDR30 ‘Super Silhouette’ is the work of TLCB Master MOCer Nico71, who has recreated the formidable 1982 racer in astonishing detail.

Underneath the wonderfully accurate body – which wears the real car’s racing livery – is a fully remote controlled drivetrain, courtesy of a third-party BuWizz bluetooth battery, an L Motor powering the rear wheels, and a Servo the steering.

A detailed working replica of the 4-cylinder engine, and the massive turbo that accompanied it, can be found up front, with it – as well as the trunk and hood – easily removable.

3D-printed wheels complete the incredible realism, and the car is available to build in both remote control and manual configurations via Nico’s excellent building instructions, which he’s released alongside full details and imagery.

You can find them and the complete specifications at Nico’s website, the full gallery on Brickshelf, and you can watch both the model and the real car in action (the real one spits considerably more flame) via the video below.

YouTube Video

Orangler

Here at a high-mid northern latitude, TLCB Team have been waiting for the arrival of spring. It’s getting light into the evenings, plants are waking up, and adventures are easier to find.

Cue today’s creation, this splendidly orange fully remote controlled Jeep Wrangler by previous bloggee gyenesvi. With Powered-Up four-wheel-drive and steering, live-axle suspension, and removable doors, hard-top, roll-bar, and winch, gyenesvi’s Wrangler is just the thing for springtime adventures.

It’s been duly taken on a few too, with some superb on-location shots on the mountain trails outside the city. There’s more of the model to see at the Eurobricks forum and on Bricksafe, where links to building instructions can also be found. Start your off-road adventure in an orange Wrangler via the links above.

Heavyweight Boxer

This is the Boxer Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV), a cross-European military project led by Germany and the Netherlands. In production since 2009, the 1,000bhp multi-role armoured truck has seen service in Afghanistan and forms part of the NATO Response Force, with around 700 units built to date. TLCB’s home nation is about to double that number, with Australia, Lithuania, Ukraine and various other countries also current or prospective customers.

This enormous brick-built replica of the Boxer comes from Rolands Kirpis, who has successfully recreated the IFV in spectacular fashion, despite the technical imagery and specifications of the real thing being rather secret!

Twin Power Functions XL Motors drive all eight fully-suspended wheels, the front two axles steer, and there’s a fully-kitted interior, gun turret, and cockpit too. It’s a spectacular build and there’s plenty more to see at Rolands’ ‘Boxer IVF’ album – take a look at all of the excellent on-location imagery via the link above.

Easter Egg Hunt

We’re not sure how The Lego Car Blog Elves recreate (although we have ideas…), but recreate they must do, because despite the loses to dogs, seagulls, and one-another, we always seem to have around the same number. This means there is always a proportion of newer ones that are not yet office-trained, but that’s OK, they’re confined to their cage-room at night.

Except when someone [shoots daggers across the office at our intern], doesn’t lock their door. Thus now there are little Easter Eggs laid around the building, and we have to go on the most depressing of Easter Egg Hunts.

Luckily however, one of the older Elves discovered a creation that can help us, this spectacular – and utterly enormous – fully remote controlled Liebherr R964 tracked excavator.

Constructed by Master MOCer Dennis Bosman (aka legotrucks), this gargantuan creation is not only a perfect 1:17 visual replica of the 75 ton machine, it moves like the real thing too, with a suite of Control+ electronics hidden inside to recreate the movement of the tracks, superstructure, and the massive bucket-arm.

Of course being primarily a truck-builder, Dennis’s Liebherr R964C is transported on an equally brilliant Scania T143 truck and a huge low-loader trailer, each wearing the livery of the British transport firm H.C. Wilson.

It’s a monumental combination, measuring 175cm in length, and presented beautifully via nearly thirty stunning photos at Dennis’ ‘Liebherr R964C’ album on Flickr. Click on the link above to take a closer look at one of the most impressive vehicular creations you’ll see this year, whilst we use it to find, and dispose of, some Elven ‘Easter Eggs’…

Roving Big

Febrovery, the annual building bandwagon in which ground-based science-fiction vehicles take over Flickr, is complete for another year. Which means it’s complete here too, which is good news for TLCB Team – who are uniformly crap at sci-fi – but not before we have one final rover to showcase. And what a rover it is.

Measuring 117 studs in length and riding on eight enormous tyres from the 42054 Claas Xerion 5000 amongst other Technic sets, Scott Wilhelm’s ‘Ridiculously Oversized Vehicular Element Repository’ features remote control drive and steering (via XL and L Power Functions motors), a working cargo crane, five airlock doors, a retractable solar array, a fully fitted interior, and spectacular internal and external LED lighting.

More pictures are due to follow, but until they do you can check out this one at Scott’s photostream via the link above. Until next year, happy roving!

Do As The Romans Do

Or, in this case, do as everyone else does. This a Roman SR 113/114 truck, built in Romania in the 1960s, using – as many Communist manufacturers did – designs licensed from Western companies.

Early Roman trucks were clones of Soviet ZIL designs, however by the late ’50s Roman looked west for their engineering sources. Launched in 1958 the SR 113/114 truck used a Ford-designed engine mounted ahead of a French cab, and was available in a tipper, crane, military specifications.

Mercedes-Benz and Perkins engines powered export versions, and the model was built for around a decade before being superseded by designs licensed from West Germany’s MAN.

This excellent recreation of the Roman SR113/114 is the work of newcomer Pufarine, who has captured the classic Romanian truck beautifully. Fitted with Power Functions remote control drive and steering, Pufarine’s model also features opening doors, a raising hood, and a dropping tailgate, and there’s more to see at both Flickr and Eurobricks.

Click the links above to do as the Romans did. Which, as it turns out, was whatever the Soviet Union, America, France, and West Germany were doing.

Bubbly Chocolate

Volvo’s newly announced FH Aero truck has got this TLCB Writer thinking about bubbly chocolate. Because he’s very distractible. And he likes Aeros. But do the bubbles mean there’s less actual chocolate?

Whatever, back on task, this splendid brick-built replica of the new Volvo FH Aero 62 comes from Stefan Eeckman, who had some insider knowledge in order to create his model so swiftly after the actual truck’s reveal.

A tilting cab, Powered-Up remote control drive and steering, and some really very tricksy building techniques are available to view on both Flickr and Eurobricks, and you can take a look via the links above whilst this Writer hunts down some bubbly chocolate.

Big Tip

Discovered by one of our Elves on Eurobricks, this fantastic model is an Iveco T-Way, a heavy-duty 8×4 truck outfitted – in this case – as a huge tipper.

Built by previous bloggee mpj, the truck includes remote control drive on the rear two axles, steering on the front two, all-axle suspension, and – of course – a massive tipping body driven by a motorised linear actuator.

LEGO’s Powered-Up components allow the truck to be operated via bluetooth, and you can see more (and find a link to building instructions) at the Eurobricks forum. Click the link above for a big tip.

Brickin’ Bronco

Ford have decided to stop selling anything that’s not an SUV. Or a Mustang. Which is both a shame and very possibly a mistake. However their renewed SUV-focus has brought about the return of one of the brand’s most famous 4×4 nameplates; the Bronco.

Aimed squarely at the Jeep Wrangler, the new Ford Bronco looks pretty cool, in the blocky-retro way that is in-vogue with car designers at present. It also looks pretty cool when made from actual blocks, as today’s Technic example proves.

Built by newcomer GoldenBrickDesign, and suggested by a reader, this superbly-engineered recreation of the latest Bronco is packed with functionality. There’s remote control all-wheel-drive, steering, winch, sequential gearbox, and locking differentials, removable (and opening) doors and roof, a 4-cylinder piston engine (which is also motorised and can even ‘idle’) under the opening hood, and seriously capable all-wheel-suspension.

It’s a technical tour-de-force and you can check all of that out at GoldenBrickDesign’s ‘Ford Bronco Everglades’ Bricksafe album and via Youtube, where a link to building instructions can also be found.

It almost makes us think the Bronco makes up for losing the Fiesta and Focus. Click the links above to take a look.

Trailing Fast

The Lego Car Blog Elves are very excited today, because – after a few were inevitably run over – they are now riding around the office in this stupendous JCB Fastrac 3185 and Oehler ZDK 180 combo.

Built by TLCB Master MOCer Eric Trax, this incredible Technic replica of the world’s fastest production tractor (and a trailer about which we know nothing) is powered by four Technic motors controlled via bluetooth thanks to a third-party SBrick. These power the steering, all-wheel-drive, rear three-point hitch and power-take-off, whilst a fifth is fitted within the Oehler trailer.

It’s this we’re about to surprise the Elves with, as Eric’s trailer can remotely tip by up to thirty degrees in two directions, dumping the contents very effectively indeed.

Whilst we have some fun with the trailer’s Elven cargo you can check out more of Eric’s astonishingly detailed JCB Fastrac tractor and Oehler trailer in tow at his Flickr album by clicking here, you can read his Master MOCers interview via the link above, and you can watch the model in action via the video below.

YouTube Video

Super 8

The Lego Car Blog Elves are winding down for Christmas. They don’t need to of course – they’re Elves, basically designed to work during the festive period. And they don’t have rights.

However, we (TLCB Team) do shut up shop for the holidays, and thus we set the cat-flap to operate in-only, so as they return to TLCB Towers in the run up to Christmas they can’t get back out again.

Which means there are rather a lot of them in the office right now. This is a) very annoying, and b) means that if one of their number returns with a remote controlled creation, there is going to be considerable Elven carnage.

And so it proved today, as this mighty Tatra 813 8×8 Kolos thundered into the cage room where a number of Elves had gathered to watch terrible Hallmark Christmas movies, and were promptly squashed where they sat. Still, that’ll learn them for making poor cinematic choices.

Samuel Nerpas is the owner of the machine responsible, which is packed with multiple motors, eight-wheel-drive, twin-axle-steering, and incredible suspension, and there’s more of this amazing model to see at his photostream.

Take a look via the link above, whilst we tidy up the mess and get ready to turn the lights out…

My Other Vehicle’s an Articulated Hauler

The remotely controlled LEGO Technic 42114 Volvo 6×6 Articulated Hauler is not only an excellent set, earning a 9/10 rating in TLCB’s review, but also a great source of parts. Two fantastic B-Models have appeared here to date (this and this), and today gyenesvi becomes the third builder to create a blog-worthy 42114 B-Model.

Deviating from the construction equipment genre, gyenesvi’s alternate repurposes the pieces from the Volvo 6×6 set to create a neat pick-up based wrecker, complete with a remotely operable two-stage towing arm.

The Control+ goodies don’t end there either, with working drive, steering, and a three-speed gearbox, alongside pendular suspension, opening doors, and a straight-6 piston engine.

Building instructions are available and there’s more of the model to see at Eurobricks and Bricksafe, where over thirty images are available to view.

Route 66

The war in Ukraine drags on, as tiny-penised Putin continues his folly to return the region back to the days of the Soviet Union.

Those days, marked with oppression, fear, and the eradication of freedom of movement, religion and speech, also included some fine engineering. Most of this was of course of the nuclear-weapon or space-race type, but the Soviet Union created some excellent off-road vehicles too. This is one of them, the GAZ-66.

Produced from the mid-’60s until ’99 – and still in use today in a variety of despotic authoritarian regimes including North Korea, Iran, and Syria – the GAZ-66 was a 4×4 military truck available in a bewildering array of configurations.

This one is a ‘K66V’, fitted with a box body behind the cab. Built by Samuel Nerpas (aka Tatrovak), this brilliantly engineered Technic version is remotely controlled via a BuWizz bluetooth battery powering four drive motors, servo steering, and two sets of LED lights.

Planetary hubs, all-wheel-suspension, and all-wheel-drive ensure Samuel’s GAZ-66 is suitably capable off-road, and the model also includes a tilting cab, opening doors, and a removable superstructure.

There’s more to see at both the Eurobricks forum and via Samuel’s Flickr photostream, where you can find all the imagery, build details, and videos of the model in action.