It’s a tough life being a The Lego Car Blog Elf. You spend all day dodging dogs and seagulls in the hope of finding a Lego creation worth blogging so that you’ll get fed, and then whilst you’re asleep in the cage room one of your colleagues drives in a remote control tractor with a giant mechanical claw on the back, picks you up and dunks you in the toilet.
Still, they bring it upon themselves. The vehicle responsible is this rather impressive fully remote controlled Technic John Deere 648L by Brickshelf’s pipasseyoyo, complete with twin L motor drive, articulated steering via two mini linear actuators, a remotely raising/lowering front mounted blade, raising, rotating and opening claw, and an inline-6 piston engine.
It’s a lovely bit of kit and there’s more to see of pipasseyoyo’s build via Brickshelf, where there is also a link to a video of the model in action. Click the link above to take a look.
It’s Valentines Day here at The Lego Car Blog, and what better way to celebrate it than with a post about an epic dumping! This TLCB writer is totally fine about it though, and he’s not even thinking about you Laura.
Anyway, this is a Bucyrus RH400 mining shovel, one of the largest mining excavators in the world, and it’s capable of dumping 45m³ of rock, up to 75 tons, in a single bucket.
Built by previous bloggee Sheo this 1:48 Model Team recreation of the Bucyrus RH400 is an near perfect miniaturisation of the 900 ton excavator, right down to the way it operates.
LEGO’s Power Functions motors drive everything including the two-stage boom and tipping bucket, the tracked propulsion, superstructure rotation, folding service ladder, rotating cooling fans, and a gearbox to switch between these remotely operated functions.
There’s a whole lot more to see of Sheo’s Bucyrus excavator at Eurobricks and Flickr – click the links and join this writer in completely forgetting about Laura.
It’s Valentines Day here at The Lego Car Blog Towers, but with only the Elves bringing us anything we may as well get straight down to some tenuously-linked Lego models!
This is ArsMan064‘s Technic school bus, which on the face of it has nothing to do with the day of love whatsoever, but the humble school bus has probably had more teenage bodily fluids secreted into it than any other vehicle. Gross.
It’s powered by a Medium Motor with a Servo for steering, and another Medium motor opens the cabin door electrically. There’s nifty leaf-sprung suspension and LED lights too. Relive your high-school conquests/regrets via Eurobricks at the link above.
Regular readers of this little corner of the internet will know that our mythical Elven workforce is often spectacularly violent. Frankly we wouldn’t put up with them if it weren’t for the fact that TLCB Elves can sneak into places that we can’t, we only have to pay them in meal tokens and Smarties, and – if we’re honest – we have a strong aversion to manual labour. It’s better if we send the Elves out and sit in a nice comfy chair…
Anyhoo, this Elven love of violence is rarely matched in the creations they bring back (although they often find a way), but today one of our smelly little workers discovered a pair of creations that’s almost as violent as they are.
This wonderful pair of remote control Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em style Technic robots is the work of R. Skittle of Flickr, and not only can his creations remotely drive around, they can really punch one another too! Both arms have a remotely controlled action that aims to dislodge their opponents’ head, so you can ‘knock his block off’.
We like this idea very much and thus we’re going to conduct some ‘research’ with a couple of ‘volunteer’ Elves. Whilst we see who’s the better boxer, Elf or Robot, you can see more of R. Skittles’ robots on Flickr via the link above, where you can also find a link to Lego Ideas so you can vote for the concept to become an official LEGO set. Still not convinced? Take a look at the video below!
This stupendous vehicle is a Caterpillar 7495 HF electric rope shovel and it can carry 120 tons up to 9m high in its ‘dipper’ (or bucket to you and us). Well this one can’t obviously, as it’s made from Danish plastic, but it’s rather impressive all the same.
Built by previous bloggee Arjan Oude Kotte (aka Konajra) it is – almost unbelievably – mini-figure scale, and features a full array of LED lighting, Power Functions remote control, spectacular detailing, plus of course, a truly enormous shovel.
An evolution of Arjan’s original model that appeared here in 2014 there’s more to see of this brick-built masterpiece at his Caterpillar 7495 HF photo album – click the link above if you’re diggin’ this as much as we are.
LEGO’s 42056 official Porsche 911 GT3 RS set is a spectacular flagship for the Technic range. It’s just a shame it’s mostly spectacularly priced, rather than spectacularly engineered. Here’s what 42056 could have been, Paave‘s brilliant medium scale 911 GT3 RS.
Inspired by the official set, only downsized, Paave’s black GT3 features independent suspension, opening doors, hood and engine cover, adjustable seats, and – in lieu of the set’s (mostly hidden) flat-6 piston engine – a suite of Power Functions remote control goodness.
An on-board LiPo battery powers twin L Motor drive whilst a Servo motor allows for precise steering, all cunningly hidden away underneath the realistic bodywork. There’s more to see of Paave’s remote control Porsche 911 GT3 RS at the Eurobricks forum – take a look via the link above.
Digging cats. It normally means they’re doing something horrible in your garden. Not today though, because this CAT 434E backhoe is something rather wonderful.
Built by Zbiczasty of Brickshelf it’s near a perfect functioning replica of Caterpillar’s real 4×4 backhoe, complete with no less than fourteen working functions.
The all-wheel-drive is remotely controlled, including remotely operable pneumatic differential locks, pendular front suspension, and three steering modes (front, all, and crab), exactly as per LEGO’s own brilliant 42054 Claas Xerion 5000 tractor set.
Of course there’s a working front loader – also powered by remotely controlled pneumatics – with both bucket and boom movement, and a fiendishly complicated pneumatic backhoe with five different movements from elevation to slewing.
Finally there are pneumatic stabiliser legs mounted at the rear and a suite of LED lights. It’s a remarkable machine and one of the most realistically engineered Lego creations that we’ve ever come across.
There’s a whole lot more to see of Zbiczasty’s Caterpillar 434E backhoe at the Brickshelf gallery via the link above, but the only way to really appreciate how well this model works is to watch it in action – check out the video below to see just how good it is.
This little red box is a 1980s 3-door Mitsubishi Pajero, and we want one. Launched long before the SUV/crossover craze arrived, the humble Pajero came from a time when Japanese off-roaders ruled, and they really could go off-road. This made them horrible to drive on-road of course, but back in the ’80s if you bought a Pajero there was probably a good chance that you did actually want to take it away from the black stuff.
This brilliant Technic recreation of one of the finest ’80s 4x4s comes from Kevin Moo of Eurobricks, and not only does it look absolutely spot-on it’s packing some neat functionality too, with remote control drive and steering, LED head and tail lights, working suspension, and an opening hood, doors and tailgate. There’s lots more to see of Kevin’s remote controlled Mitsubishi Pajero model at the Eurobricks discussion forum – Click the link above to make a jump to 1982.
This is a Lamborghini Centenario, Lamborghini’s birthday present to, er… itself. Whatever, the world is better place for mental Lamborginis, and the Centenario is surely one of their most mental efforts to date.
Just forty Centenarios were produced from 2016-17 to celebrate the would-be 100th birthday of the company’s founder Ferruccio Lamborghini, with each car costing a ridiculous $2.2million. Powered by a version of the Lamborghini’s familiar 6.5 litre V12 producing 770bhp, the all-carbon Centenario is no faster than the Aventador upon which it’s based, but it is vastly more expensive, and it seems in world of limited-production supercars that a high price is almost as celebrated as a high top speed.
Not here at The Lego Car Blog though, so we’ll move on quickly from Lamborghini’s extravagant gift to itself in favour of this, Lachlan Cameron’s spectacular remote control Technic version. Controlled by two SBrick bluetooth receivers, with remote control steering and drive, electrically opening doors, a V12 piston engine, functioning gearbox, LED head and tail lights, and some trick in-board independent suspension, Lachlan’s model is a work engineering mastery.
There’s lots more to see of Lachlan’s Technic Lamborghini Centenario at his photostream plus you can read further details and join the discussion via the Eurobricks forum. Click the links to join the birthday party.
We’re not going to post a link that that hateful song* here, but it does make for a suitably tenuous title. This is a ZIL 4327 trial truck, designed to go anywhere. Truck trial motorsport is similar to motorcycle trials riding, in that a motorised vehicle must get as far along a fiendishly difficult obstacle course as possible with the fewest faults. Only in truck trial the competitors are trying to do it in a vehicle that weighs tons.
Lego truck trial miniaturises this unusual form of motorsport and sends its tiny competitors out into the forests of Europe armed only with a remote control and a battery pack. You could do worse than follow this bright yellow ZIL 4327 by ArsMan064 though, which like its full-size counterparts can go almost anywhere the road ends.
Drive comes from an XL Motor whilst three Medium Motors power the steering, winch and two-speed gearbox. With all-wheel-drive and huge ground clearance thanks to its long-travel suspension ArsMan’s ZIL is a wonderfully capable machine.
Click the link above to follow the yellow bricks off-road (see what we did there!) via the Eurobricks forum.
This is a Liebherr LR 11000 crane, and it’s seven and half meters tall in its full configuration (or 2.5 metres when indoors so it fits!). Built in 1:24 scale, this brick-built behemoth weighs 27kg, including 5kg of lead ballast. Other than that lead weight, some string, and a few 3D-printed pulleys, the entire model is completely constructed from standard LEGO pieces. Which makes it even more astonishing that this enormous replica works.
Dawid Szmandra is the engineering genius behind the build, and yes this 27kg Lego creation really does work. With four Mindstorms EV3 processors, nine motors, seven light sensors and a touch sensor, this incredible creation can do everything that the real Liebherr LR 11000 can do. Only at one twenty-fourth the scale. Which is still massive.
The drive to the tracks comes from two EV3 Medium Motors, whilst another can rotate the entire superstructure. Five Large Motors plus another Medium power the six separate winches, whilst the sensors can measure the load and winching distance.
The result is a crane, built entirely from little plastic bricks remember, that can lift a chair. There’s only one way fully appreciate what this incredible creation can do and that’s to view it in action. Join us watching in amazement via the video below, and you can see all the images of Dawid’s unbelievable model at his Flickr photostream and via the Eurobricks discussion forum.
Back in the 1960s a rather special deal was done. Hertz, recognising the interest in Ford’s new muscle car, signed a deal with Ford, who provided the company with 1,000 specially-painted Mustang GT350s. The cars joined the rental fleet and immediately gave both companies marketing gold, allowing almost anyone to drive the hottest car in America for a day.
After the rental arrangement concluded the cars were refurbished (hopefully very throughly!) and sold on as the Mustang GT350-H. Some of these cars survive complete with their iconic black and gold liveries, and they look gloriously cool in today’s world of white and sliver.
This spectacular replica of one of the original 1,000 Hertz Mustangs comes from previous bloggee Pawel Kmiec (better known as Sariel) and it captures the famous livery beautifully.
Sariel’s GT350-H isn’t just beautiful on the outside either, as underneath the removable bodywork sits a fully remote controlled drivetrain, with twin Power Functions drive, remote steering, plus a working V8 piston engine and front and rear suspension.
There’s lots more of Pawel’s brilliant Ford Mustang GT350-H to see on Flickr at his photo album, you can read our interview with him as part of the ‘Become a Professional’ series by clicking here, and you watch the model in action via the excellent YouTube video below.
Toyota’s legendary Hilux is now in its eighth generation, and it’s more impressive than ever. But we’d rather have this one, a glorious mid-’80s fourth gen. Still seen all around the world in the most inhospitable climates, the ’80s Hilux has become something of a cult car, helped no doubt by BBC Top Gear’s unsuccessful attempts to destroy one.
Which makes it a little strange that we don’t see more Hiluxes recreated in LEGO form. However today, after three years of engineering, we do have a LEGO Hilux to share, courtesy of Technic wizard Egor Karshiev (aka rm8).
Egor’s N40 series Toyota Hilux looks absolutely spot-on, even including the famous ‘TOYOTA’ script on the tailgate. Underneath the accurate Technic bodywork Egor has installed a wealth of superb off-roading goodies, allowing his model Hilux to do everything the real one can. Only in miniature obviously…
An XL motor provides power to all four wheels via differentials on each axle, both of which are solid and fitted with three or four link suspension. Remotely controlled steering is provided by a Servo motor, LEDs illuminate the headlights, and a third-party SBrick bluetooth receiver allows the model to be controlled via a mobile phone.
Finally the entire pick-up bed is removable, and the doors, hood and tailgate all open, revealing an engine bay and a detailed five-seat interior.
Egor has built both stock and ‘adventure’ versions of his remote control Hilux and has photographed them brilliantly both in-studio and in some awesome outdoor shots. There are lots more images available of both the stock and adventure versions on Flickr via the links above, you can read full build details at Egor’s MOCpage, and you can join in the discussion at the Eurobricks forum by clicking here.
Finally of course, no Technic model can be considered a proper remote control off-roader without a suitably cool video. Take at look at the Hilux in action below…
Sariel’s latest creation sure looks tough to squash. Not so our Elves, who are famously easy to smush into the office carpet. It’s been a while since the last Elven flattening, but fear not readers – today Elf-on-Elf violence returned in a big way.
With all-wheel-drive powered by two XL Motors geared for rock-crawling Sariel’s latest build wouldn’t normally be fast enough to claim any victims. Add in a third-party BuWizz battery and bluetooth receiver combo though, and up to eight times more power than LEGO’s own system can be delivered to the motors.
The aggressively low gearing still caps the top speed at a lowly figure mind, but if an Elf were to quietly sneak out of the cage room while its colleagues were seated around the old TV watching Transformers cartoons, and return at the controls of this, there really wouldn’t be much chance of escape.
Sigh. We now have some clearing up to do and a jubilant Elf needs a meal token reward (not for the smushing, just the find), so we’ll hand you over to Sariel’s photostream for all the photos. Click the link to take a look at his monster bug.
Missed by our Elves, but found by a reader, we’re handing over to a Guest Blogger today. Nils O picks up TLCB pen…
Some things are worth a second look and you’ll discover a hidden gem. This rover built by (Neo) Classic Space veteran David Roberts is such a gem. At the first glance you’ll see a good looking chunky rover in a cool NCS style. But if you look closer you’ll see a bit more…
The design is almost 100% SNOT, with a very detailed interior, and there are some very well hidden Technic functions… Look closely and you may notice the tip of an IR receiver. That’s because the whole model has aPower Functions remote control system hidden within, with an L motor for drive and a Servo motor for steering. And there’s still more. The steering has cunning Ackermann geometry, giving a different steering angle for each wheel, and there’s pendular suspension for the rear axle too. The more you look the more you’ll find. How cool is that?
Thanks to Nils for joining us as a Guest Blogger. If you’ve found a creation that our slovenly Elves have missed you can suggest it to us via the Feedback Page, and you may even be asked to pick up TLCB pen yourself!
