Tag Archives: Remote Control

BriksMax Light Kit (42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger)

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The LEGO Technic 42111 Fast & Furious Dom’s Dodge Charger set received a rather good review here at TLCB when we got our hands on it. Certainly a better one than movies did. But, like those awful awful movies, could there be sequel; one that’s even faster and furiouser?

Well no, neither of those adjectives. But we do have a 42111 sequel that’s more sparkly.

That’s because we’ve outfitted our 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger set with an array of LED lights courtesy of suppliers Lightailing, who have a huge range of LEGO compatible light kits available for sets including Creator, Modular Buildings, Star Wars, Harry Potter, City, and – as here – Technic.

Our 42111-compatible kit is produced by BriksMax, and it came in a neat box containing an instructions booklet, a 1 Year warranty card, a remote control, a battery box, and an alarming number of resealable bags.

Said bags were numbered and described, corresponding to the relevant point in the instructions denoting when to open each one. Inside each was a well-coiled set of wires, tiny circuit boards, sticky pads, or a combination of these.

So is adding the BriksMax light kit to your 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger set fun? Absolutely not. Fiddly – yes. Fun – no.

Despite the instructions being reasonable, the installation process is effectively threading needle around two hundred times. It makes us wonder if these LED lighting kit companies could design a little attachment that clips into Technic holes and holds the wire, removing the need to endlessly thread LEDs through Technic beams and making the instructions simpler to boot (you can have that recommendation for free Lighting People!)

The process is made harder by the wires being black and in this case the model being black too, although the BriksMax kit does sometimes differentiate between wire types via coloured band, plus each LED has the bag no. printed on its reverse, which is a thoughtful touch.

Only a few parts of the set need to be disassembled to install the LEDs, and only two pieces are replaced (the front indicator bricks switching from tiles to studs to give more room for the LED inside).

Overall though, the installation process is not fun one bit. However, the end result is, well… fantastic. Continue reading →

Phlattening Phoenix

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It was a peaceful morning here at TLCB Towers. Some Elves were quietly watching cartoons, some TLCB Writers were… er, quietly watching cartoons, and all was well with the world.

And then a BuWizz-powered truck ran a load of them over. Elves you understand, not Writers.

Built by Eurobricks’ blaz62, this monstrous Tatra Phoenix trial truck made easy work smushing our smelly little workers, thanks to twin motors, fully independent suspension, and six-wheel-drive.

The Elf at the controls was clearly enjoying itself, but fortunately we were on hand to promptly pick up the creation in question and end the violence, much to its annoyance.

A closer inspection of the model revealed modular construction, opening doors, and – for a Technic creation at least – a kinda detailed interior, but with a trial truck it’s really all about how the model drives.

Whilst we conduct some arduous ‘testing’ to determine this, you can see more of blaz62’s excellent all-wheel-drive Phoenix at the Eurobricks discussion via the link above, plus you can check out the creation in action via the video below.

YouTube

Blank Face

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Things with blank, expressionless faces are terrifying. How do you know what they’re thinking? That’s why car styling always sort of resembles a face, even if that face is an increasingly angry one these days.

Oshkosk didn’t get that memo though, and – in creating their HMETT 8×8 off-road truck – gave it a face of such horrifying blankness it could belong to a Cyberman.

Still, vacant serial-killer stare aside, the HMETT is a mega bit of kit, and so too is Thesuperkoala‘s Technic recreation, which includes eight-wheel-drive, four-wheel-steering, lockable differentials, a high/low gearbox, all-wheel springless suspension, a removable load bed, and BuWizz bluetooth remote control.

Which means it could drive around the house seemingly of its own free-will, which gives this writer shivers.

There’s more to see of Thesuperkoala’s excellent Technic Oshkosh HMETT 8×8 truck at both Flickr and via the video below; click the links to take a look, whilst this TLCB Writer draws smiley faces on anything vaguely resembling a head in TLCB office and tries to think happy thoughts…

YouTube Video

Hellraiser

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Purple is an interesting colour. It’s the best sweet in a box of Quality Street (that reference might not translate very well), the hue of a popular children’s TV dinosaur that – frankly – should stop bloody singing and just eat the children, and – more nerdily – it means you’ve set the fastest sector in a motor race. Despite these associations however, purple is not a popular choice for cars.

In the late ’00s Dodge changed that somewhat, with the arrival of their reborn Challenger, that not only brought the iconic muscle car back, it returned the gloriously-named ‘Hellraisin Purple’ to forecourts after about forty years.

Recreating the reincarnated Challenger, and the only colour you should consider owning a Challenger in, is Michael217, who has constructed this ace fully RC Model Team version of Dodge’s 00’s muscle car.

Remote control drive and steering, front and rear suspension, opening doors, hood, trunk and sunroof, and a whole lot of purple bricks make this a model worth a closer look, and you can do just that at both Eurobricks and Bricksafe. Click the links to raise some hell.

*Today’s title song. Of course.

B-Grade

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So often Technic’s B-Model, road graders like this Volvo G990 are the vehicles that give almost everything else we post a place to exist in the first place. So here to shine a light on their significance is Eric Trax, and this brilliant, er… 42114 B-Model…

OK, a B-Model this Volvo G990 may be, but it doesn’t feel compromised for it. Utilising around 90% of the parts from the 42114 6×6 Volvo Articulated Hauler set, Eric’s alternate redeploys the Control+ motors, control unit and app to give his grader remote control drive, steering, a three-speed automatic gearbox, and to power the main blade’s elevation.

The model features a few mechanical functions too, including a working piston engine, manually controlled ripper, and a seven-position blade angle. Best of all, Eric has released instructions for his road grader so you can build it for yourself if you own the 42114 set, and there’s more of Eric’s Volvo G990 B-Model to see on both Flickr and at the Eurobricks forum. Click the links above to earn yourself a B Grade.

YouTube Video

Smaller than Expected*

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This may look like a normal cab-over light duty truck, but it is in fact a kei car, Japan’s microcar class in which vehicles can measure no longer than 3.4m, no wider than 1.48m, and have an engine size no greater than 660cc.

It is, therefore, absolutely tiny. Plus, obviously, it’s a Lego model, so it’s even smaller than that…

This superb Technic kei-class truck is a Daihatsu Hijet S110P, and it comes from syclone of Eurobricks who has packed it with an unfathomably large amount of features.

Under the really rather good exterior is a full remote control drivetrain, complete with all-wheel-suspension, all-wheel-drive, servo steering (linked to the steering wheel too), opening and locking doors, dropping bed side walls, and even working headlights.

There’s loads more of syclone’s Daihatsu Hijet to see at the Eurobricks forum, including a video of the kei truck in action. Take a look via the link above!

*That’s what she said.

Wartime Willys

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The Lego Car Blog Elves are having a great time this morning. This lovely remote controlled Willys Jeep was discovered by one of their number today, and fortunately our eagle-eyed intern caught it before the model could be used for any smushing shenanigans.

That means no tidying up for us, and a gaggle of Elves being transported around TLCB Towers, much to their delight.

The model in question is properly good too, looking wonderfully like-like and featuring a complete remote control drivetrain, with four-wheel-drive, front and rear suspension, and working steering.

TLCB favourite Sariel is the builder and there’s more to see of his superbly presented 1940s Willys Jeep on Flickr and via the Eurobricks forum.

8 Out of 10 Nazis…

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It might sound like European cat food, but the Kettenkrad was altogether weirder than that. Half motorcycle, half tank, the Sd.Kfz 2 Kettenkrad was designed by NSU, powered by Opel, weighed 1.5 tons, and could climb slopes of over 24°, even in sand.

A unique drive system delivered power to both tracks simultaneously on hard ground, or – when the driver selected – operated via a subtractor to skid-steer on soft ground, and it was used throughout the Second World War to lay cables, transport troops, tow aircraft, oh – and to invade Russia.

This amazing motorised Model Team recreation of the Sd.Kfz 2 Kettenkrad comes from previous bloggee Samolot, and not only does it feature the most terrifying LEGO figure we’ve ever seen, it also includes a fully working remote controlled version of the real bike/tank’s ingenious steering system.

Exactly how it works is beyond the collective minds housed here at TLCB Towers, so the best way to see if you can figure it out is via the video below. There are also more images of both Samolot’s model and the real 1940s contraption at Bricksafe, and you can read the full build description and join the discussion via the Eurobricks forum here.

YouTube Video

Technic 42114 6×6 Volvo Articulated Hauler | Review

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It’s review time here at The Lego Car Blog, as we add another LEGO set to the by now pretty huge Review Library! This set review comes from one of our readers, who dons the Reviewing Anorak (which may or may not be a real thing) and takes on the enormous remote controlled LEGO Technic 42114 6×6 Volvo Articulated Hauler. Wojtek Hildebrandt is the reader in question, and so good is his review that TLCB Team are frankly a little worried for their jobs. That’s not true of course, as they don’t get paid… Anyway, over to Wojtek!

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LEGO has a long-standing tradition of recreating dominantly yellow construction equipment in Technic sets. This is rather a grateful theme for construction blocks after all – simple shapes and function over form. Recently these have mostly been Volvo licensed vehicles; wheel loaders, excavators, and haulers with different degrees of motorisation – from full (as in 42030 loader) via optional (to power 42053 excavator pneumatics) to none (for endless knob spinning fun with 42081 concept loader). The time has come for a fully remote-controlled articulated hauler – a Volvo A60H with the Control+ app.

Beauty is in the eye of the behauler.
First, let’s have a look from the outside. This is a looker, at least for a construction machine. We can see it already on the box cover, where the hauler is put in some blurred quarry environment. It fits well, but then the same image is sometimes used without the background, which makes the chassis twist look weird, like doing some unlikely stunt.

Speaking of weird: LEGO’s previous attempt to minify a Volvo hauler – the B model for 42030 – had it all wrong (even with the number of wheels), but if you’re generous enough, you can say it was a tribute to vintage, skeletal Technic sets. If so, then 42114 is more from a bloodline of Model Team or recent adult Creator sets, even if it uses mostly Technic parts. Of course, the pins and holes are there and some proportions and colors are off, but both overall shape and some neat details are very true.

Let’s start from the business end; the dump body – we’ll call it the body from now on – has a complex shape with clever usage of tapered panels (which are flat on both sides, unlike straight panels) and very few empty spaces. I guess you couldn’t haul sand in it, but it should be perfect for some beans or potatoes. Or lemons to match the colour. The driver’s cab is correctly centred and surrounded by a proper, orange safety railing as well as accurate big mirrors. There is a slightly surprising mudguard serving as a dashboard, my favorite seat made of a single curved panel 3x5x3 (which seems to fit the same purpose regardless of model scale), and a warning beacon on the roof that twists slightly to turn the Control+ hub on or off.

Further to the front, we have one of the best-looking parts – a nicely sculpted bonnet. The impression is improved by a few stickers, but even without them all the angles and curves feel just right, even if they’re not entirely true to the original, e.g. with headlights. One curved panel covers the limits of the other and everything works together nicely. It’s wobbly during construction but becomes solid enough eventually. The front bumper on the other hand is no match for a durable look of the original, but to me, it doesn’t harm the overall impression too much.

Green energy
Now we get to the hardware. Both real-life and miniature versions of the Volvo hauler are powered by six cylinders. In full scale, they are six, famously green inline cylinders of an internal combustion engine. For the set, they are 6 AA/R6 batteries. Which one is “greener” energy depends probably on whether your batteries are rechargeable and if so – how you recharge them. Continue reading →

Super Sub

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It’s the UEFA European Championship, when Europe’s best football teams (plus sometimes Israel for some reason) battle it out to win all the Coca Cola they can drink.

Cue the Subaru Impreza STI, a car that’s not even from the same continent, and the most tenuous title vaguely linked to a current event that we’ve managed yet. Well, it was either that or a pun linking ‘STI’ and your Mom, but we’re trying to phase out the ‘Your Mom’ jokes.

Anyway, not at all to do with the delayed European championship, nor your Mom’s list of venereal diseases, is this; Lachlan Cameron (aka loxlego)‘s magnificent fully remote controlled Subaru Impreza STI.

Powered by a third party BuWizz bluetooth battery, Lachlan’s Subaru features all-wheel-drive, working steering (that’s also linked to the steering wheel), all-wheel-suspension with electronic ride height adjustment, LED lights, and some properly realistic bodywork .

Lachlan has even created a wrapped version, like every talentless car YouTuber, turning his super Subaru into a Ken Block ‘[Hoonicorn]’ homage that looks, well… utterly brilliant (talentless YouTubers take note).

Top notch photography adds to the impression and there’s loads more to see at Lachlan’s ‘Subaru’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to take a look, whilst we get ready to watch TLCB’s home nation in action against the Czech Republic tonight. We may even have a few super subs on the bench to help us top the group…

Call the Emergency Serv… Oh

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It’d been a peaceful week here at TLCB Towers. Sure there was an Elf fight to break up after one of them found an almost empty (but evidently still delicious) glue stick in the bin, but otherwise creations have been found, meal tokens have been awarded, and no-one has been squashed. Until today.

This is a GAZ 66 fire truck, an all-wheel-drive Soviet water tank on wheels that is still used in Russia today. Well, this one isn’t, being rather smaller, but it’s just as impressive as the real thing.

Built by Danifill of Eurobricks, this fully RC Technic recreation of the Soviet-era fire truck proved to be a throughly capably Elf-smushing machine.

Lured in by the functioning flashing blue lights and the fact that, well – it’s a fire engine, the Elf at the controls drew in a crowd of Elven admirers, before promptly squashing them thanks to the GAZ’s genuinely surprising turn of speed.

An RC Buggy Motor, Servo steering, a BuWizz bluetooth battery, live-axle suspension, and four-wheel-drive deliver equip Danifill’s creation with impressive Elf-smushing performance, whilst a tilting cab, V8 engine, opening and locking doors, and detailed fire apparatus add nothing to that, but do look most excellent.

There’s lots more of Danifill’s remote control Technic GAZ 66 Fire Truck to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum, including further imagery and a link to a video of the model in action, plus you can see one of the builder’s earlier fire engines to feature here by clicking this bonus link.

Take a look via the links above whilst we apply some Elven first aid…

My Other Piece of Earthmoving Equipment is Also a Volvo

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Not our snappiest title. Still, we don’t mind, because this 42114 B-Model from Marek Markiewicz (aka M_Longer) is absolutely marvellous.

Built only from the parts found within the official LEGO Technic 42114 Volvo Articulated Hauler set, and utilising its Control+ app profile, Marek’s wheel dozer is packed with motorised functionality and looks so good it doesn’t appear like an alternate at all.

Three motors provide all-wheel-drive, articulated steering, and blade elevation, whilst a gearbox  not only provides three forward or reverse speeds, it also connects power to the rotating cooling fans and working six-cylinder piston engine when the model is either driving or positioning the blade.

It’s a superb model, and one you can build for yourself as Marek has produced instructions for his Volvo Wheel Dozer 42114 alternate too.

Full details including that link to building instructions can be found at the Eurobricks forum here, you can watch this brilliant B-Model in action via the excellent video below, plus you can find an alternate alternate for the 42114 Volvo Hauler set via a similarly titled past post by clicking these words.

YouTube Video

A Giant Red Digger

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Things TLCB Elves like; Things with Guns. Things with Racing Stripes. Megan Fox (although she’s equipped with neither). Giant Red Diggers. Today is therefore a good day.

This Giant Red Digger is the work of previous bloggee Levihathan, and it’s a Poclain HC 300 – or rather a 2,000 piece remote controlled fully working replica of a Poclain HC 300.

There are no less than six motors, two bluetooth hubs, dual differential tracked drive, a V12 piston engine, and some suspiciously metallic looking linear actuators.

An extensive gallery of imagery is available to view, showing the construction, inner mechanics, and the amazing reach of the excavating arm. Head to Levihathan’s ‘Poclain HC 300’ album  via the link above for more Giant Red Digger goodness.

Bug(gy) Squash

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The Lego Car Blog Elves, as regular readers of this crumbling ruin of the internet will know, are not a peaceful bunch.

If they find a vehicle that is capable of running over their colleagues, they will do it. It’s as certain as Russian athletic doping, Fox News bias, or your Mom putting out.

And so, with absolute inevitability, this (rather excellent) RC buggy was today used to squash dozens of our smelly little workers.

They didn’t stand much of chance in today’s mass smushing event, as this model by A_C of Eurobricks is one of the fastest, nimblest, and most agile remote control creations that we’ve ever seen.

At less than 400 parts LEGO’s enormously powerful Buggy Motor has an easy time of it, and – when hooked up to a third party BuWizz bluetooth battery delivering up to eight times the power of LEGO’s own – you can see why even the fastest Elf couldn’t escape it.

All-wheel-suspension and Servo steering also feature, and there’s more to see of A_C’s brilliant ‘RC Buggy’ at the Eurobricks forum, where a link to building instructions can also be found.

Check it out via the link above, and watch it in action in an empty tennis court below!

YouTube Video

My Other Car’s Also a Giant Piece of Earth Moving Equipment

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Not a particularly catchy title, but accurate, as this ace mining truck is indeed constructed only from the parts found within the LEGO Technic 42114 Volvo Hauler set.

Redeploying 42114’s ‘Powered-Up’ motors and Control+ bluetooth control, builder Eric Trax has built an excellent companion for the enormous LEGO Technic 42100 Liebherr R 9800 set, with remote control drive, steering, and tipping bucket, plus – ingenuously – a three-speed automatic gearbox.

Whilst the scale is much smaller than that of the donor vehicle – as evidenced by the ‘steps’ leading up the front which give a clue to how massive this would be in real life – Eric’s creation still requires a hefty 1,700 pieces (around 80% of 42114), and can tip an impressive 2kgs of load.

A complete gallery of images, including a few of the truck alongside the official Liebherr R 9800 excavator set, can be found on Flickr by clicking here, where you can also find a link to building instructions should you wish to turn your own 42114 Volvo Hauler set into this mining truck yourself.

Cleverly, Eric’s 42114 B-Model uses the same Control+ profile as the donor set, so if you do make the switch you can drive it straight away using your familiar Volvo controls. Take a look via the video below to see Eric’s alternative in action!

YouTube Video