Tag Archives: Technic

My Other Car is a Raptor. And a Giant Truck

Retro-inspired off-roaders are all the rage right now, with many buyers swapping their sleek modern-looking SUVs for vehicles with a more rough-and-ready pastiche. They’re still only used to drive to Walmart of course, but at least the parking lot looks more interesting.

Cue previous bloggee gyenesvi, who has recreated Ford’s newest/oldest model, the rather excellent looking Bronco, trading in an F-150 Raptor. And a Mercedes-Benz Zetros truck.

Yup, this superb fully remote controlled 2022 Bronco, complete with four-wheel-drive, steering, live-axle suspension, opening doors, hood and trunk, plus an ‘expedition kit’ for those particularly arduous trips to Walmart, is constructed only from the parts found within the official LEGO Technic 42126 Ford F-150 Raptor and 42129 Mercedes-Benz Zetros Trial Truck sets.

The bright orange body panels of 42126 and the Control+ remote control hardware (and wheels and tyres) from 42129 provide the perfect combination, with the model further enhanced by some excellent custom decals to recreate the Bronco’s distinctive front-end.

Building instructions for gyenesvi’s double B-Model Bronco are available and there’s lots more to see at both the Eurobricks forum and an extensive Bricksafe gallery. Click the links above to take a look, you can watch the model in action via the video below, plus you can click here to see gyenesvi’s previous alternate for 42129.

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Wheelie Big

Nothing makes our smelly little workers happier than flattening one another with a remote control find. Cue much excitement from the Elf that found this enormous fully remote controlled Komatsu WD900-3 wheel dozer as it entered TLCB Towers, high on the expectation that it could smush any number of its colleagues into the office carpet.

Fortunately for us, that number was zero, seeing as Beat Felber‘s 1:28.5 scale replica of the 100-ton dozer is much too slow to catch any of them. But whilst it is indeed slow, it’s also incredible, with remotely operable all-wheel-drive, articulated linear-actuator controlled steering, a fully adjustable blade positionable via three pneumatic cylinders, each equipped with their own Servo-actuated valve, and an on-board pneumatic compressor.

That enormous blade can lift, lower, pitch fore and aft, and tilt left to right courtesy of the compressor, valves and pneumatic cylinders, all of which can be controlled remotely via bluetooth thanks to two third-party SBricks and an on-board rechargeable Power functions battery.

A work of engineering brilliance, there’s lots more to see of Beat’s Komatsu WD900-3 replica at his album of the same name, where twenty stunning images can be found along with further build details and a link to a video of the model in action.

Click the first link in the text above to make the jump, whilst we cheer up a despondent TLCB Elf with a well-deserved yellow Smartie.

Honey I Shrunk the 8110

First appearing here in December with a suitably rubbish Christmas pun, Thirdwigg’s Mercedes-Benz Unimog U423, complete with working steering, suspension, piston engine, power take-offs and free building instructions, is just the sort of creation we like.

Of course to be a proper miniature Unimog, an array of attachments and implements should also be available, to which Thirdwigg had duly obliged, with a snow plow and gritter, three-way tipping bed, and knuckle-boom crane all able to be mounted to the truck.

One combination that was missing however, was the set-up from the spectacular and considerably larger official 8110 Mercedes-Benz Unimog set, where a tipper is combined with a rear-mounted triple-boom crane and stabiliser legs.

If you missed the chance to get hold of an 8110 set when it was available, Thirdwigg may have added just what you need, creating a small-scale version of the 8110 configuration for his 1:20 scale Unimog U423.

As with the previous iterations, free building instructions are available so you can create your very own miniature 8110 at home, and you can see more of Thirdwigg’s excellent model on Flickr by clicking these words.

Super 8

What’s better off-road than a 4×4? Two 4x4s. Bolted together. This is a Tatra T813 8×8 off-road truck, as recreated in Technic form by previous bloggee Horcik Designs for a Lego Truck Trial Championship.

Two LEGO Buggy Motors power all eight fully-suspended wheels, the front two axles steer, plus there’s a removable body and cab (re-used from Horcik’s previous Truck Trial entry).

Full details and further imagery can be found at Horcik’s Bricksafe album, in the video below, and at the Eurobricks forum, where video footage of the Tatra and its rivals competing in the Truck Trial Championship can be viewed too.

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Terra-Tired Transporter

This is a Foremost Delta, a 6×6, articulated, multi-terrain, terra-tired transport, and the best thing to come out of Canada since maple syrup and Elisha Cuthbert.

This incredible fully remote controlled Technic recreation of the amazing Canadian machine comes from TLCB master MOCer Nico71, who has replicated the Delta’s 6×6 drivetrain, articulated steering, and improbably suspension in Lego form.

A suite of Control+ components deliver power to the all-wheel-drive system and linear-actuator driven articulation, whilst the model also includes opening doors, a removable bed and cab, and can be equipped with front and rear winches.

Building instructions are available and there’s more to see of Nico’s superbly-engineered Foremost Delta on Brickshelf and via the excellent video below, plus you can read Nico’s Master MOCers interview here at TLCB by clicking these words. Take a look whilst this TLCB Writer returns to thinking about maple syrup and Elisha Cuthbert. Or somehow combining the two.

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Tank Top

Or rather, top tanker, because this is perhaps the cleanest tanker truck build we’ve seen yet. The aesthetics of MCD‘s Volvo FMX 8×2 are even more impressive when you consider this is a Technic creation, not a Model Team one, and is entirely LEGO, even down to the rubber bands holding the pipes. There’s more of MCD’s model to see at the Eurobricks forum, and you can tank on over via the link above.

Big Tow

Mining trucks are slow. But even slower are the tracked vehicles that fill them, designed as they are to move very heavy things very short distances.

Which means if you need to relocate an enormous bulldozer or tracked excavator to the other end of the mine, you’d better clear your schedule for the next few weeks.

Which is where this curious machine comes in. Effectively a Komatsu mining truck with a gooseneck hitch in place of the dump body, it can tow the aforementioned mining machines to their new location aboard a specially-designed single-axle TowHaul Lowboy trailer, capable of transporting 250 tons. We bet parking isn’t fun.

This spectacular fully remote controlled recreation of the world’s biggest vehicular trailer comes from previous bloggee Beat Felber, whose converted Komatsu HD785-5 mining truck features motorised drive, steering, and gooseneck hitch, enabling the model to load and tow a huge TowHaul Lowboy trailer and its Komatsu D575A-3 ‘Super Dozer’ load.

There’s loads more to see of the both the Komatsu HD785-5 truck and the TowHaul Lowboy 250 ton trailer behind it at Beat’s Flickr album, and you can watch the whole rig in action courtesy of the video below.

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Combining Technic

TLCB Elves like aggressive-looking farm equipment, and Thirdwigg’s recently-updated combine harvester more than fits the bill. With working steering, thresher, spreader, extractor, hopper, header lift, cut-bar, auger, and grain extractor, there are all sorts of mechanised implements capable of impaling a TLCB Elf. Whilst we stop them trying to feed one-another into it you can check out the complete image gallery on Brickshelf, where a link to building instructions can also be found.

Six in the Sand

Much like sandwiches and body crevices, LEGO Technic gears do not like sand. Sand however, as per the aforementioned lucheon staple and your belly button, loves to get all up in there, first causing horrible noises, then a jamming drivetrain, and finally broken pieces. But not today, as this simple yet superbly engineered 6×6 trial truck can withstand not just sand, but snow, mud, and 8cm of water!

Built by Eurobricks’ keymaker there’s 6×6 drive via three Power Functions L Motors, Servo steering, all-wheel suspension, and – crucially – complete underbody protection thanks to some strategically placed curved Technic panels.

It’s such a simple solution we’re amazed it a) hasn’t been done before and b) expect it will soon be fitted to every remotely controlled off-road Lego creation, particularly as keymaker has published instructions for his creation that are available for free. We don’t normally link directly to instructions but if you release them free of charge we will!

There’s more to see of keymaker’s sand-proof truck at the Eurobricks forum, and you can take your truck trial to the beach via the link above.

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More Power to the People

First appearing here over a decade ago (in fact it was one of our earliest posts!), the Honda CG 125 continues to be one the great mobilisers of the people. Whilst many assume the most influential vehicles are the Toyota Corolla, the Volkswagen Beetle, or the Ford Model-T, this humble Japanese moped has moved people than probably every other private transport method combined.

First produced in 1976, the Honda CG 125 is still being made today, and units built forty years ago are still carrying entire families, shops, and livestock the world over.

This beautiful Technic recreation of the world’s greatest people mover comes from Master MOCer Nico71, who has updated his decade-old design with newer parts, excellent presentation, and building instructions so you can create it for yourself.

There’s much more to see at Nico’s Brickshelf gallery; join the millions of people who ride a Honda CG 125 every day via the link in the text above!

You Better Bolide It

Revealed here at The Lego Car Blog as part of the new Technic line-up for 2023, the new 42151 Bugatti Bolide set is not a TLCB favourite, being an expensive officially-licensed version of a car we hadn’t heard of, with limited technical functionality.

But that hasn’t stopped previous bloggee M-Longer, who has used 42151’s 905 pieces to create something rather better.

M_Longer’s fantastic 42151 B-Model, which not only looks far more appealing than the set from which it has been built, appears completely unconstrained by the Bolide’s 905 pieces. In fact the only giveaway to the model’s origins are a few upside-down stickers.

Better yet, the Bolide’s black-and-yellow colour scheme works a treat on this alternate, creating a Formula 1 car reminiscent of those that wore the Renault-Sport livery in the late 2010s.

Working steering and a V6 engine turned by the rear wheels feature, and there’s more to see of M-Longer’s brilliant Bugatti Bolide B-Model at both Bricksafe and Eurobricks, where a link to building instructions can also be found.

Tank Hunter

Does anyone else remember that fiendishly addictive early computer game in which the player was tasked with manoeuvring around a seeming infinite plain populated by the outlines of various 3D shapes, hunting and destroying enemy tanks? Just us? OK.

Anyway, perfect cubes and prisms aside, the concept of hunting tanks was based on reality, with specific machines (themselves looking rather like tanks) designed for their destroy enemy counterparts.

This is one such device, the Sturmgeschütz III tank-hunting assault gun, as deployed by Germany during the Second World War (and Syria until 1973).

Handily known as the STuG III, it saw service on almost every front, from Russia to Europe to Africa, and proved very successful at destroying Allied armour.

This excellent fully remote controlled Lego version of the STuG III comes from TLCB favourite Sariel, who – despite the model measuring just 32cm in length and weighing under 1kg – has packed in drive and steering, fully suspended tracks, and an oscillating and slewing gun barrel, all powered by a LEGO battery and controlled via bluetooth courtesy of a third-party SBrick.

There’s more to see of Sariel’s STuG III at his Flickr album of the same name, plus you can watch the model in action via the video below. Go tank hunting across a plain of cubes via the links!

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Ferrari LaFerrari | Picture Special

You might think Japan has the stupidest car names. The Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard, the Daihatsu Naked, the Mazda Bongo Friendee, and (most ironically) the Mitsubishi Carisma – to name a few – are all incredibly daft, but the most ludicrous car name of all is surely the Ferrari The Ferrari.

The Ferrari LaFerrari is stupid only in name though, as in all other respects the Ferrari Ferrari Ferrari is one of the greatest hypercars of the modern age.

The first production car to feature an F1 kinetic energy recovery system, the LaFerrariFerrari produced 950bhp from its combination of a 6.3 litre V12 and an electric motor, whilst – somewhat superfluously – improving fuel economy over past V12 Ferraris by around 40%.

This jaw-dropping Technic replica of the Ferrari FerrariLaFerrari comes from T Lego of Eurobricks, who has recreated the 2013 hybrid hypercar in astonishing detail.

An unbelievably accurate exterior, complete with opening butterfly doors, engine cover and  front trunk, hides a modular chassis equipped with a V12 engine hooked up to an 8-speed sequential paddle-shift gearbox, dynamic suspension with nose-lift connected to the working steering, a deployable spoiler and aero flaps, and bespoke 3D-printed wheels.

It’s an incredible Technic creation and one you can take a complete in-depth look at via the Eurobricks forum, where a wealth of incredible imagery and full build details can be found. Click the link above to check out T Lego’s amazing model of the car so good that Ferrari named it twice.

Weekend in Drag

This a dragline crawler crane, used in open-cast mining for digging really big holes. Built by previous bloggee Beat Felber, this incredible creation is a fully-working replica of one the world’s largest; the 700-ton P&H 2355 diesel-electric dragline that worked the Rix Creek Mine in Australia.

Remotely controlled by three SBricks, Beat’s creation can hoist and drag the bucket, rotate the superstructure, raise the boom, drive and skid-steer, and even raise the two access ladders thanks to seven Power Functions and two Micro Motors.

Four pairs of LEGO LEDs illuminate the floodlights and interior, whilst removable panels give access to the motors and winches within.

It’s a spectacular build, with a fully detailed machine room and interior to match the astonishing working mechanisms, and you can head to the mine via Beat’s ‘P&H 2355’ album to get in drag.

Vintage Play

A vintage tractor parked for children to play on is a common sight around TLCB Towers. Today  the happy scenes from outside farm shops and pubs across TLCB’s home nation are playing out in miniature within the crumbling carbuncle that is our office, thanks to Thirdwigg‘s lovely Technic vintage tractor and TLCB Elves. There’s working steering and a functional tow hitch, with more to see on Flickr. Take a look via the link above.