Well this beats those irritating little road trains that meander painfully slowly around children’s zoo farms. And the hunting party on board might make the petting zoo a more interesting place too.
There’s more to see of redfern‘s ‘Meat Wagon and Hunting Party’ on Flickr. Bring your gun!
This is, er… well, we think it’s an, er…
OK, we have literally no idea what this is for or what it does, but we do quite like it. David Steeves is the builder and there’s more to see of whatever it is here.
We’d better stick to cars…
This 1919 Kresowiec ‘armoured car’, based on a tractor plough chassis, is the absolute last place we would want to be in war-time. Horrendously slow, hugely unreliable, and a great big (and interesting) target for everyone to hit, we can’t image it was fun to be inside one bit. We’d have rather had a horse. Or this.
Anyway, the Kresowiec does make for an intriguing Lego model, especially when constructed by TLCB favourite Karwik. You can see more of this unusual vintage contraption at Karwik’s Flickr photostream via the link above.
It’s time once more for some TLCB history. This is a Russian T34-85 tank, the most-produced tank of the Second World War and the second most-produced tank of all time. Whilst America’s contribution to the outcome of WW2 cannot be underestimated, it was not America, nor the British, that first rolled into Germany to end the conflict. It was the Russians, who made the biggest sacrifice of anyone – with more casualties than the US, UK, France, Japan and Germany combined – that got there first, thanks largely to this vehicle.
Over 84,000 T34s were built, and they remained in service within the Soviet Union until the late 1960s. Which makes this tank’s role in humanity a muddled one. It is possibly the vehicle with the single biggest contribution to the liberation of people, helping to end the Nazi oppression of millions, only to be re-purposed post-war as a tool of the Communist regime to oppress millions itself. How awful it must have been to escape the tyranny of Nazism in Eastern Europe to then be shackled by Communism a few short years later.
Still, much as we dislike megalomaniacal, nationalistic, homophobic, war-mongering Russian presidents (and we may not just be talking about Stalin here), Russia’s sacrifice for peoples’ freedom is perhaps the most remarkable and incredible of any country in all of history. Without the T34 tank Russia’s story, and the story of the World, may have been very different.
The Lego T34-85 featured here is the work of previous bloggee LegoMarat. It has four motors (controlled by the third-party SBrick, allowing operation via mobile device) which power the tracks, turret rotation and gun elevation, plus an authentic working recreation of the T34’s clever suspension system. There’s lots more to see on Flickr – click the link above to make the jump.
This beautiful creation is so far outside of our vehicular knowledge that we’re not even going to attempt an explanation. Vince Toulouse of Flickr owns the brain that created it, so it’s probably best we simply throw you a link to his page. Click this link.
OK, we are miles out of our depth with these two posts, but despite our Steampunk ineptitude we do appreciate a bit of whimsical silliness on a Monday.
Creation no.1 is called ‘The Behemoth’, which seems an accurate title to us, and is the work of Flickr’s captainsmog. There’s more to see of whatever it is at the link.
Creation no.2 is relatively sensible in the world of Steampunk, being a steam-powered plough. These amazing contraptions actually existed, although 6kyubi6‘s invention is a far lovelier thing to behold than the real machines of the early 20th century. There’s more to see at the link above.
Two of our favourite builders are making an appearance here today; both have formed part of our ongoing interview series and their latest builds show why they were selected.
First up (above) is the most recent creation from the incredibly talented BricksonWheels, who is one of the builders in our Master MOCers series. His magnificent Harley Davidson lowrider shows what an amazing eye for detail, and access to a chroming machine, can do! You can see more of the Harley on Flickr, and you can catch up on BricksonWheels’ interview by clicking here.
Today’s second creation comes from fellow interviewee, and published author, Sariel. Sariel’s latest work is one of his smallest, yet features all the remotely controlled brilliance found in his work twice the size. You can see more of his Tiger tank on MOCpages here, and you can read his interview in our ‘Become a Pro’ series by clicking here.
This off-road tank transporting truck was suggested to us via the Feedback and Submission Suggestions page, and it’s the work of Hajdekr on Flickr. Whilst we’re not sure a roll-on/off system could lift something like a tank in the real world, Hajdekr’s model very neatly combines both System and Technic parts to make it work. You can see more at the link.
An almighty clang travelled up the office stairs from the Elf cage room today. A weary trudge down to uncover the source revealed an Elf of unusual flatness, and another sheepish looking Elf trying to push a stolen colander under one of the cages.
The cause of the conflict, as is often the way with our Elves, was competition. Two Elves, each with a spacey find, and the perception of only one available meal token reward. It’s survival of the fittest here at TLCB Towers.
Fortunately, and somewhat unnecessarily for the squashed Elf, both finds are deserving of a place on the blog today, and thus each Elf could be rewarded with sustenance. So we have two happy Elves (well, two fed Elves, one is still quite grumpy), and two creations to bring you.
The first (above) is the work of Flickr’s Lego Junkie, and he’s taken a trip back through Classic Space (although with a touch more ethnic diversity than was found in the ’80s range) and created this most excellent starship, launchpad and support vehicle. Click the link above to see the individual builds in more detail.
Our second creation comes from another Classic Space specialist, the wonderful Crimso Giger. Crimso’s ‘Zorg Light Tank’ is quite a thing to behold. We have absolutely no idea what it’s for, but we feel that way about most sci-fi builds so that’s not unusual for us. Flickr is once again your destination for more details – click the link above to be taken there.
This sci-fi armoured self-propelled gun isn’t our usual TLCB fodder, but the Elves made such a fuss it was safer for all concerned just to blog it. Blog newcomer Nathan Pownell is the builder, and you can see more of his creation on MOCpages here.
So you’ve 29,243 Lego pieces, perfectly stored in a wall of plastic draws, plus a custom building table and lightbox waiting for your finished creation. The only problem is what to build? How can you deploy that new gearbox or SNOT technique that you’ve invented? Where can you get some inspiration for a new style of Technic supercar or whatever this month’s sci-fi theme happens to be?
Fortunately Igor Tkac has come up with a family of blogs that feature the best of concept art from around the internet. The first blog, Concept Ships, was launched in August 2007 and was included in Wired.com’s list of best art websites that year. This blog was followed by ones for vehicles, robots, tanks, guns and aliens. The pages can be a bit slow to download but it’s worth the wait as the art is displayed at full resolution, so you can zoom in to the details.
We’ve only spotted one Lego post on any of the blogs (Jon Hall’s aeroplanes, below), so it’s still worth visiting The Lego Car Blog to see what the Elves have found on the web. If you’ve some spare time at home, or an idle moment at your desk, click the links in the paragraph above and be prepared to be inspired.
Today’s amazing creation comes from one of the best Lego builders in the world, the brilliant Sariel. Sariel has featured here a few times over the years (use the Search function at the bottom of the page to see his previous works), and this might be his most impressively engineered creation yet.
It’s a Second World War German Tiger tank, and it’s had a lot stuffed inside it.** Underneath the beautifully recreated armour are no less than nine(!) LEGO motors, powering the drive, skid steer, barrel, machine gun, V12 piston engine and a whole lot more besides. All this rides on some remarkable oscillating suspended tracks that allow the Tiger to float over obstacles.
You can see all the photos and specs on MOCpages via the link above, you can visit Sariel’s website via our Directory, and we highly recommend watching Sariel’s excellent video below, complete with that rarest of things in a Lego video – an ace soundtrack.
YouTube Video:
*Points to those of you who know the reference.
**Like your Mom.
This wonderful Second World War scene comes from TLCB newcomer Jeffrey Mille aka BeLgIum ww2 bUiLdeR. Jeffrey has recreated a typical European stone bridge crossing the river into a sleepy hamlet, which until the World Wars would have been a little dot on the map of little importance. Come conflict though, and river crossings matter.
The Germans guarding this one look pretty well armed, with mobile artillery well entrenched at either end. Crossing the bridge is a rather lovely column of assorted German vehicles, including a Panzer and the ubiquitous Opel Blitz truck.
The eight vehicles in this creation have given us a bit of headache here at TLCB, as the two Elves that found this are demanding eight meal tokens and Smarties. Which is not going to happen.
Whilst we sort out this workplace dispute you can take a trip to Flickr to see ‘The Bridge’ in more detail, including photos of each of the vehicles featured. Click the link above to visit Mr. Mille’s photostream.
The steady stream of Elves returning to TLCB office with a great build originating from Poland and/or the LUGPol group indicates that something special must be happening over there.
Marek Markiewicz (aka M_Longer) is one such builder, and his latest work typifies the excellent creations produced by LUGPol’s users. It’s a fully Power Functions remote controlled MAN tipper truck (pictured here with his L580 front loader), and the engineering inside is impeccable. See what Marek’s MAN can do in the video below!
YouTube Video
Our second creation comes from one of Poland’s most famous builders – and one of the most frequently blogged – the incredible Sariel.
His latest work is probably the most capable remote control Lego vehicle we’ve ever seen. See how unstoppable his Ripsaw XL is via the brilliant video – complete with a killer Death in Vegas soundtrack – below.
YouTube Video
Special thanks go to LUGPol for continuing to supply our Elves with so many high quality creations. We know many LUGPol members visit TLCB, so if you’re one of them and would like us to feature LUGPol as a Group of the Month* let us know how we can find out a bit more about you!
*Or Several Months. We’re quite unreliable with this feature!
We’re feeling a bit whimsical here at TLCB today, so here’s a vampire-hunting steampunk tank. It makes absolutely no sense what-so-ever, what with a wooden gun barrel and steam propulsion, but sometimes we like things weird. Join in the fun at Castor Troy’s Flickr page here.