Tag Archives: show

British Sea Power*

Of the world’s seven largest off-shore wind farms, six reside in TLCB’s home nation, including the four biggest. Of course the UK is the perfect country to capture the power of the wind because, well… there’s a lot of it. Plus a huge coastline and considerable expertise in how to build along it thanks to the legacy of North Sea Oil.

But despite the normality of off-shore wind farms in the UK’s waters, this TLCB writer is continually amazed at how the enormous turbines are placed where they are, considering the violence of their location.

Rather calmer, yet somehow just as remarkable to watch, are Master MOCer mahjqa and AppieNL, whose collaboration for the LEGO World 2026 show saw a pair of Technic tug boats and enormous crane barges construct modular ‘floating’ wind turbines entirely remotely.

Power Functions and Powered-Up motors, pneumatic compressors, magnets, and some seriously clever mechanics saw an entire wind farm gradually rise out of the floor, without a single human hand touching even one LEGO brick.

It’s one of the most enrapturing 7 minute Lego videos we’ve ever seen, and you can harness the power of the wind via the embedded player below, plus you can see more of the Technic components contained within it (including the remote control tug boat featured in this post) via the link to mahjqa’s associated Flickr album here.

YouTube Video

*Today’s wonderful title band.

Steamy Show

Here at The Lego Car Blog we don’t get out much. Partly this is because we work secretively in the shadows, but mostly it’s because TLCB Elves are banned from many public spaces.

However if you lead more exciting lives than we do, you can get out to the subject of today’s post, the huge LegoWorld 2024 show in Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Over two decades old, LegoWorld is the largest LEGO show on earth, and this year Flickr’s Tamás de Groot is making his exhibitor debut, leading the collaboration behind this epic (and enormous) railway layout.

Beautifully landscaped with trees, embankments, fields and bridges, there are multiple lines, locomotives, and a range of rolling stock travelling though the display, and you can see the whole thing (plus much more besides) at the LegoWorld 2024 show for the remainder of this month.

If like us you’re unable to make it to LegoWorld 2024 in person, head to Tamás de Groot’s Flickr album of the same name to see his fantastic display, or click here to take a look at a round-up from 2023.

The Lego Steam Company

Extinction Rebellion wouldn’t like this. Steampunk, that odd mashup of Victorian tech applied to modern inventions, is thankfully pure whimsy. Sure the brass, iron and wood look damn cool, but that’s a whole lotta coal, and however many times the orange man-child in charge of the free world puts the word ‘clean’ in front of it, coal just isn’t.

Fortunately most of the world (we said most, and we’re looking at you China…) have moved off burning the black stuff, and its use in the modern world is now solely a retro throwback for train and traction engine enthusiasts. Which in a way makes dioramas such as this one all the more magical, as coal is now largely a historical relic.

This gorgeous (and enormous) steampunk display has been built for the Lego World Utrecht 2019 show by builders Brick Rebel and Monstrophonic and is certainly the most stunning display we’ve seen this year. An assortment of delightfully impractical vehicles feature, including airships, a monorail, a steamboat, and even an elevator, all powered by coal in the imagination and by Power Functions electric motors in the display, bringing this spectacular collaboration to life.

There’s loads more to see of this incredible display at both Brick Rebel and Monstrophonic’s photostreams via the links above, plus you can see their ‘Lego Steam Company’ build in person at the Lego World Utrecht 2019 show.

Acceptable in the ’80s

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This is about as much epic as we can fit in one post here at The Lego Car Blog! Stephan Sander on MOCpages has recreated the coolest cars from the coolest shows of the 1980s, and every one is as good as anything we’ve blogged here to date. Built in LEGO’s own ‘Miniland’ style each vehicle even includes the lead characters from the relevant TV show. See if you can identify them all! Oh, and check out Stephan’s website here – where there’s even more ’80s automotive goodness available.