Tag Archives: redux

Activision Blizzard

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We like simple mechanical models here at The Lego Car Blog. LEGO’s 1988 Town set 6524 ‘Blizzard Blazer’ (or simply ‘Snow Plough’ in TLCB’s home nation) was a small, fairly ugly tractor, featuring Technic tyres, a posable plough, and a smiling mini-figure. It’s also the inspiration behind previous bloggee Thirdwigg’s upscaled Technic version, which – whilst somewhat larger and considerably more complicated – still flies the flag for mechanical simplicity.

Equipped with a posable plough, a rear-mounted rotating thresher thingy, or a neat drawbar trailer, Thirdwigg’s creation is nicely adaptable too. A working power-take off, adjustable hitches, and ‘HOG’ steering add to the playability, and you can see more – including a link to free building instructions – at Thirdwigg’s ‘Blizzard Blazer’ album, plus you can read his interview in TLCB Master MOCers series via this bonus link.

Horse Tracking

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The early design philosophy of LEGO’s Classic Space theme was to take an item of mundane earthly equipment, paint it grey, and add a satellite dish. Cue Dump trucks, mini-diggers, floor-buffers, and – in this case – a horse-box and trailer.

Taking LEGO’s 452 ‘Mobile Ground Tracking Station’ (aka Space Horsebox), Flickr’s Frost (aka TFDesigns!) has rebooted the vintage set with parts four decades newer, to marvellous effect.

Opening the rear reveals no horse, but handily there’s an array of delightfully spacey equipment available to track one down.

There’s more of Frost’s fantastic 452 Redux to see at his photostream, and you can join the Classic Space shenanigans via the link above.

2790

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LEGO’s first large-scale highly detailed models arrived between 1988 and 1990, when the Model Team line launched with three new sets. The 5580 Highway Rig was one of them, and has become something of a cult set three decades on.

Cue this marvellous half-size redux of the 1988 set, constructed by brickphisto, and capturing not just the detailed exterior of the original, but also the opening hood and cab doors, whilst adding a working V8 engine too.

There’s more to see at both Flickr and Eurobricks, where a link to free building instructions can be found (100 TLCB Points brickphisto!), plus you can check out our review of the original 5580 set via the first link in the text above.

The Best 4×4+1

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LEGO’s 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender is a rather nice little 150-piece pocket-money set. But add just a single extra stud to the dimensions (and a few more advanced building techniques) and it can become something altogether more authentic. Cue SvenJ.‘s excellent 7-wide Land Rover Defender 90, which adds the Defender’s famous ‘barrel side’, triple-rear-window, posable steering, and a whole heap more interior and exterior detail. Building instructions are available and you can upgrade your own 40650 set via the link above.

8062 Redux

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The year is 1994, and LEGO’s Technic range is riding high. The line-up’s flagship may have been a high water mark, but there were some absolute gems to be had lower down the range too.

The 8062 Briefcase Set was one of them, a brilliant multi-model set that could be handily stored in a plastic, er… briefcase. One of the six models that could be constructed from 8062’s parts was a neat twin-rotor helicopter, and it’s this that previous bloggee Thirdwigg has rebooted for the modern age.

Constructed from smooth new panels and lift-arms, Thirdwigg’s 8062 Helicopter Redux recreates the set’s hand-cranked counter-rotating rotors and opening loading ramp, whilst adding (very clever) collective pitch control and retracting landing gear too.

There’s more of the model to see at both Flickr and Eurobricks, where we hope Thirdwigg will have a go at rebooting the other five models from 8062 using shared pieces too.

4970 Redux

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You wait ages for a reimagining of a long-forgotten phallically-symboled LEGO theme and then two come along at once. Yes we have another Rock Raiders redux today, with this one coming from F@bz of Flickr, who has redesigned the 4970 Chrome Crusher set and added a whole lot more… well, everything. Except chrome. There’s less of that.

Monster wheels, a frankly terrifying drill, some sort of rail-gun, and a whole heap of superb building techniques make this a model well worth digging into, and you can tunnel over to F@bz’s photostream for more via the link above.

4950 Redux

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‘Rock Raiders’ was one of LEGO’s weirder themes. Somewhere underground some mini-figures were mining energy-giving crystals (because every LEGO theme at the time had energy-giving crystals), there was a monster trying to stop them, and everything was brown and turquoise. Oh, and the logo looked rude.

It was all over in just two years, but BobDeQuatre is keen not to forget the Rock Raiders theme, reimagining the 4950 Loader-Dozer set to keep the memory alive. A working bucket, an opening cockpit, and a brick-built ‘rock monster’ all feature, and you can hunt for energy crystals underground circa-1999 whilst sniggering at the logo via the link above!

600 Redux

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Britain feels like it has returned to the 1970s. Inflation is ludicrous, everyone’s on strike, and it’s only a matter of time before brown patterned wallpaper makes a comeback.

Cue Jonathan Elliott, who has also returned to 1971 via this superb remake of one of the first ever LEGO vehicle sets, the 600 Ambulance. Whilst the original set is a somewhat low-res right-angled affair, Jonathan’s remake is a gorgeous, highly detailed, and surprisingly functional model, wonderfully recreating the station-wagon-based ambulances that were commonly used half a century ago.

There’s more to see of Jonathan’s beautifully presented 600 Ambulance Redux at his photostream, and you can head back to the early ’70s with the rest of us via the link above.

Honey I Shrunk the 8880!

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Like, really shrunk it. 1994’s 1,300 piece LEGO Technic 8880 Super Car is one of the all-time great sets, and therefore these days it’s worth about as much as Twitter. With all-wheel-drive, all-wheel-steering, all-wheel-suspension, pop-up head lights, a 4-speed gearbox and a V8 engine, it’s one of the most feature-packed LEGO sets ever produced. Suggested by a reader, this tiny homage to 8880 is, er… not. However -Brixe‘s ‘Micro Super Car’, at a fraction of the cost and using a fraction of the pieces, really does look like the iconic set. Only much, much smaller. Take a look at 8880 in miniature via the link above!

8859 Redux

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Technic used to look rather, er… basic., with early sets such as the 8859 Tractor a far cry from today’s ultra realistic (and complex) offerings.

Cue TLCB debutant Christoph Ellermann, who has recreated the primary-coloured 1981 set for the modern Creator era. Gone is the Technic functionality, replaced by a more realistic aesthetic, and yet hidden inside is a full remote control drivetrain.

There’s more to see at Christoph’s photostream, plus you can check out the original set – and see just how far Technic tractors have come in four decades – via the links in the text above.

Jurassic Re-Boot

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Hollywood loves a reboot. Cue ‘Top Gun, Maverick’, ‘Fast and Furious 10’, anything with ‘Star Wars’ in the title, and ‘Jurassic World’. That said, a genetically-modified dino-weapon running amok in a theme park is a winner in TLCB Office. Because we’re 6.

Also rebooting a dinosaur-based classic is chriselliott.art, whose marvellous vintage half-ton ute inspired by the 5975 ‘T-Rex Transport’ Adventurers set was suggested to us by a reader.

Clever techniques, gorgeous presentation, and a conspicuously absent T-Rex can all be seen at Chris’ photostream. Click the link above to reboot.

6644 Redux

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LEGO’s town vehicles used to be rather narrow and upright, somewhat at odds with the squat mini-figures that drove them. Of course real vehicles used to be rather more narrow and upright than they are today too, as these days every vehicle seems to be ‘lower and wider’ than the one it replaces.

LEGO have also moved in this direction, presumably to more accurately reflect the cars we see on the roads, with Town (now City) vehicles a full 50% wider than they used to be.

Cue previous bloggee RGB900, who has updated the classic 6644 car and motorcycle set to the new 6-wide standard, adding a dose more detail in the process.

There’s more of RGB’s 6644 Redux to see at his photostream – take a look via the link above, where you can also see the original 4-wide Town set that inspired it.

Cyber Monday

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It’s Monday, and it’s cybery here at TLCB for some reason. Perhaps the title would’ve worked about three weeks ago…

On to the models! With much talk in the car world about converting classic cars to EV powertrains, we hope this is the next logical step.

Previous bloggee Sergio Batista has heavily modified the rather lovely 75895 Speed Champions Porsche 911 Turbo set to become something rather more… hoverable. What? – It’s a word!

Sergio’s ‘Porsche 911 2073’ means we only have 52 years to wait, when this TLCB Staffer will be the approximate age that you need to be to become president.

Join us in hope of the hovercar revolution at Sergio’s photostream – click here to float on over and take a closer look!

Today’s second cyberpunk creation also has its roots in an official LEGO set, this time from waaaay back in 1971, when Joe Biden was still cheating in law school and Donald Trump was dodging military service.

LEGO were being far more productive however, releasing the ace 605 Taxi set. All seventeen pieces of it.

Constructed from rather more is Jonathan Elliott‘s 605 Redux, a wonderful cyberpunk homage to the fifty-year-old original. Back in 1971 they probably thought that taxis would look like Jonathan’s in 2021, but instead we got the Prius. Which looks like a melted iron.

Oh well, we can dream of the shape of things to come at Jonathan’s photostream, and you can join us there hailing the taxi of the future via the link above.

Go-Kart Redux

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Constructed for a Eurobricks contest, this is dazzz99‘s homage to the vintage 8842 Technic Go-Kart set, re-engineered using modern studless pieces, and with some rather lovely details too, including a radiator, oil filler cap, and air-filter attached to the working single-cylinder piston engine.

It’s an engine that’s far more appropriate than that found on original set too, which pre-dated LEGO’s purpose-built cylinder and piston parts and instead used an enormous brick-built mechanism that would’ve been larger than the driver. And probably killed them.

There’s more to see of dazzz’s lovely 8842 redux on Flickr via the link above, plus you can check out the contest in which it’s entered, the original 1980s Technic set that inspired it, and our review of a multitude of LEGO Technic Go-Kart sets via the respective links in the text.

Oriental Redux

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Ah, ‘Orient Expedition’, one of the ‘Adventurers’ sub-themes that we had completely forgotten about. Still, Kevin J. Walter hadn’t, and as such he’s recreated the 7420 Thunder Blazer set from 2003, only his is much, much better.

Johnny Thunder’s wings will no doubt help him to plunder some valuable antiquity of great significance from a vaguely far-eastern culture, and return it to its proper place in the British Museum, where it belongs.

Join the expedition somewhere in the Orient via Kevin’s photostream at the link above.