Tag Archives: Technic

eHatch

The piston engine, a staple fixture in any mid-size Technic vehicle and up, will one day become a rarity. The immediate future of propulsion is electric, and it’s surely not long before Technic sets shift to reflect their real-world counterparts.

Previous bloggee and Master MOCer Thirdwigg is there already, with this neat ‘eHatch’, a small, all-wheel-drive electric hot hatchback.

A brick built ‘motor’ in each axle is driven as the wheels turn, the front wheels steer by both ‘HOG’ and the steering wheel, and the doors and hood open too.

Free building instructions are available if you fancy going electric yourself, and you can find them along with further details and imagery at both Eurobricks and Flickr.

Technically Roving

The annual space-based buildathon that is Febrovery is here for another year, in which a myriad of mini-figure scale lunar rover of all shapes, themes, colours and sizes will join the thousands already present in the long-running Flickr group.

Previous bloggee Nikolaus Lowe is roving rather differently however, having built his Febrovery entry in Technic-figure scale. It’s also rather contemporary looking, owing more than a little of its aesthetic to the 1971 ‘LRV’ (or ‘moon buggy’), the only actual manned lunar rover to exist.

Working steering and a constantly rotating radar dish are included, and you join Nikolaus technically roving at his photostream. Click the link above to get your rove on.

Brickin’ Bronco

Ford have decided to stop selling anything that’s not an SUV. Or a Mustang. Which is both a shame and very possibly a mistake. However their renewed SUV-focus has brought about the return of one of the brand’s most famous 4×4 nameplates; the Bronco.

Aimed squarely at the Jeep Wrangler, the new Ford Bronco looks pretty cool, in the blocky-retro way that is in-vogue with car designers at present. It also looks pretty cool when made from actual blocks, as today’s Technic example proves.

Built by newcomer GoldenBrickDesign, and suggested by a reader, this superbly-engineered recreation of the latest Bronco is packed with functionality. There’s remote control all-wheel-drive, steering, winch, sequential gearbox, and locking differentials, removable (and opening) doors and roof, a 4-cylinder piston engine (which is also motorised and can even ‘idle’) under the opening hood, and seriously capable all-wheel-suspension.

It’s a technical tour-de-force and you can check all of that out at GoldenBrickDesign’s ‘Ford Bronco Everglades’ Bricksafe album and via Youtube, where a link to building instructions can also be found.

It almost makes us think the Bronco makes up for losing the Fiesta and Focus. Click the links above to take a look.

One Man Went To Mow

LEGO’s new 42168 John Deere 9700 Forage Harvester recreates a machine designed to cut enormous fields of crops. But what if your pasture is rather… smaller?

Previous bloggee damjan97PL / damianPLE has the answer, having deconstructed his 42168 set to create this humble lawn tractor, complete with working steering and a mower that rotates when lowered.

Building instructions are available and there’s more of Damian’s ride-on mower to see at both Eurobricks and Bricksafe. Now we just need him to deconstruct this to build an even smaller push-along mower for us here at TLCB Towers…

My Other Piece of Machinery’s a Combine Harvester

The LEGO Technic 42186 John Deere 9700 Forage Harvester has only been on sale a few weeks, yet previous bloggee M_longer of Eurobricks has already built it, un-built it, built something else, and created building instructions.

His ‘something else’ is this, a rather excellent forklift truck, constructed from around 500 pieces (90%) of the 42186 set.

Featuring rear-wheel-steering, a fork tilt mechanism, and – with no linear actuators available – fork elevation via a clever scissor-lift, M_longer’s forklift packs in as many working functions as the set upon which its based.

There’s much more to see, including a link to building instructions, at the Eurobricks forum, and you can fork off over there via the link above.

Trailing Fast

The Lego Car Blog Elves are very excited today, because – after a few were inevitably run over – they are now riding around the office in this stupendous JCB Fastrac 3185 and Oehler ZDK 180 combo.

Built by TLCB Master MOCer Eric Trax, this incredible Technic replica of the world’s fastest production tractor (and a trailer about which we know nothing) is powered by four Technic motors controlled via bluetooth thanks to a third-party SBrick. These power the steering, all-wheel-drive, rear three-point hitch and power-take-off, whilst a fifth is fitted within the Oehler trailer.

It’s this we’re about to surprise the Elves with, as Eric’s trailer can remotely tip by up to thirty degrees in two directions, dumping the contents very effectively indeed.

Whilst we have some fun with the trailer’s Elven cargo you can check out more of Eric’s astonishingly detailed JCB Fastrac tractor and Oehler trailer in tow at his Flickr album by clicking here, you can read his Master MOCers interview via the link above, and you can watch the model in action via the video below.

YouTube Video

Safety Fast

Recent bloggee Nathan Hake is continuing to find ways to put his newly acquired vintage Technic figures in peril. Today’s is behind the wheel of a racing go-kart, with all the speed of a racing car, and all the safety of a paper bag. Still, if he needs a few replacement body parts his last Technic figure won’t be needing them anymore before long. Join the race on Flickr via the link above!

Forest Fire

Following Master MOCer Thirdwigg’s recent appearance here with his superb Mercedes-Benz Unimog U4000, he recently uploaded a few other variants, which is fitting as the Unimog is available in a bewildering choice of applications, each of which can be equipped with an even wider array of attachments, tools and machinery.

This one is a U5000 off-road fire truck, constructed via an excellent combination of Model Team and Technic techniques, and features a tilting cab, piston engine, working steering and suspension, and a fully equipped four door cabin with fire-fighting equipment behind.

Building instructions are available and there’s much more to see at Thirdwigg’s photostream, plus you can find out how he builds his amazing models such as this one at his Master MOCers page via the link above.

Organ Donor

Flickr’s Nathan Hake decided to get himself some of LEGO’s wonderfully posable vintage Technic figures. With flexibility comparable to a human (or more so if the human is chubby), they’re a rather under-utilised component of LEGO’s back-catalogue.

Fortunately Nathan is rectifying this by building vehicles for his newly-acquired figures, with this superbly-proportioned motorcycle able to be ridden by the aforementioned plastic humanoid.

And, being a motorcycle, Nathan will inevitably be able to take advantage of the other key feature of LEGO’s Technic figures; their body parts can be separated to be swapped or donated to another figure. Expect to see those black arms and blue legs appearing on another Technic figure or two in Nathan’s collection sometime in the future, probably after it rains and a truck drops some diesel on a blind bend.

Get on the transplant list at Nathan’s photostream via the link above, and perhaps consider registering as a donor yourself if you’re yet to think about it. We can be dismantled just like LEGO’s Technic figures, and with 100,000 people on the waiting list for a transplant in America alone, there simply aren’t enough bikers.

Mechanimog

We love the Mercedes-Benz Unimog here at The Lego Car Blog. Designed as a multi-purpose tractor for both civilian industry and the military, the Unimog is simple, highly adaptable, and incredibly capable off-road. Which means it’s only a matter of time before AMG create a black-on-black luxury version for the terminally-insecure to enhance their Instagram clout.

Until then though, we’ll continue to enjoy the Unimog as the workhorse it’s meant to be, with this example being a most-workhorsey U4000 tipper.

Constructed by our latest Master MOCer Thirdwigg, this excellent Technic U4000 is a fully mechanical miniaturisation of the Mercedes-Benz multi-purpose tractor, and includes a working piston engine under the tilting cab, a multi-way tipper that cleverly raises via spinning the fuel tanks, a high/low gearbox, functional suspension, steering, front and rear winches, plus opening doors and hood.

It’s all beautifully engineered and there’s lots more of it to see on Flickr, where a link to building instructions can also be found, plus you can find more variants of this U4000 at Thirdwigg’s Bricksafe page, where – as per any good Unimog – the model can be adapted to suit a number of jobs, including pulling a trailer, being outfitted as a camper, and even equipped as a fire truck.

Take a look via the links above, plus you can find out how Thirdwigg creates his models such as this one via his Master MOCers page, which is available alongside the other talented builders that have proceeded him by clicking here.

Mechanical Master MOCer

You thought we’d forgotten about the Master MOCers Series hadn’t you? Well, um… we had. But no longer! Because a builder who has appeared here so frequently over the years he’s got his own section in our Archives has become the latest builder to join the Master MOCers Series 2 Hall of Fame!

Kyle Wigboldy, better known as Thirdwigg, creates some of the best all-mechanical Technic models anywhere in the world right now, and they’re being built all around the world too, as he also produces top quality building instructions to accompany them. Best of all, many of these are downloadable for free (a hundred TLCB points to Thirdwigg!).

From supercars to off-road trucks, and everything in-between, Thirdwigg’s enormous back-catalogue is filled with superb mechanically-driven creations, and you can find out what makes him tick in our 9th Master MOCers interview of Series 2.

You can read Thirwigg’s LEGO-building story via the link below, where you might find a few models that you’d like to build for yourself at home!

Master MOCers [Series 2] | Thirdwigg

Super 8

The Lego Car Blog Elves are winding down for Christmas. They don’t need to of course – they’re Elves, basically designed to work during the festive period. And they don’t have rights.

However, we (TLCB Team) do shut up shop for the holidays, and thus we set the cat-flap to operate in-only, so as they return to TLCB Towers in the run up to Christmas they can’t get back out again.

Which means there are rather a lot of them in the office right now. This is a) very annoying, and b) means that if one of their number returns with a remote controlled creation, there is going to be considerable Elven carnage.

And so it proved today, as this mighty Tatra 813 8×8 Kolos thundered into the cage room where a number of Elves had gathered to watch terrible Hallmark Christmas movies, and were promptly squashed where they sat. Still, that’ll learn them for making poor cinematic choices.

Samuel Nerpas is the owner of the machine responsible, which is packed with multiple motors, eight-wheel-drive, twin-axle-steering, and incredible suspension, and there’s more of this amazing model to see at his photostream.

Take a look via the link above, whilst we tidy up the mess and get ready to turn the lights out…

The Last RWD Champion

From one wild almost-unrestricted racing car to another; this is the Lancia 037, the last rear-wheel-drive car to win the World Rally Championship, and one of the earliest entrants into the insanity that was Group B rallying.

Powered by a mid-mounted supercharged 2.0 engine and built from kevlar and fibreglass fitted around a space-frame, the 037 won half of the events it entered in the 1983 season, enough to take the Championship ahead of the all-wheel-drive Audi quattros.

This excellent Technic recreation of the iconic Group-B racer was discovered by one of our Elves on Eurobricks, where it was posted by newcomer Shuzbut.

With a working mid-mounted engine complete with supercharger, a 5-speed gearbox, all-wheel suspension, steering, a functional hand-brake, sprung pedals, and opening bodywork, it’s quite a debut, and there’s more of this incredible creation to see via the link above.

Alone Time

Are you a Ford GT owner who’s tired of your partner/friend/relative’s side-seat driving? Then damianPLE has the answer! Constructed only from the parts found within the LEGO Technic 42154 Ford GT set, Damian’s alternate removes the passenger seat, along with four cylinders and the roof, replacing them instead with track thrills for one.

Working suspension, ‘HOG’ steering, and a mid-mounted inline-4 engine all feature, and you can turn your Ford GT into this single-seat track car via the Bricksafe gallery and Eurobricks, where a link to building instructions can also be found.

Grab some alone time via the links above.

My Other Vehicle’s an Articulated Hauler

The remotely controlled LEGO Technic 42114 Volvo 6×6 Articulated Hauler is not only an excellent set, earning a 9/10 rating in TLCB’s review, but also a great source of parts. Two fantastic B-Models have appeared here to date (this and this), and today gyenesvi becomes the third builder to create a blog-worthy 42114 B-Model.

Deviating from the construction equipment genre, gyenesvi’s alternate repurposes the pieces from the Volvo 6×6 set to create a neat pick-up based wrecker, complete with a remotely operable two-stage towing arm.

The Control+ goodies don’t end there either, with working drive, steering, and a three-speed gearbox, alongside pendular suspension, opening doors, and a straight-6 piston engine.

Building instructions are available and there’s more of the model to see at Eurobricks and Bricksafe, where over thirty images are available to view.