This is the Confederate R-131 Fighter, and it is really very shiny indeed. The real bike achieves this through unpainted aluminium, whilst Flickr’s ianying616 has had to use more chrome than a fifties Cadillac. Either way, it’s not a vehicle we’d want to leave out in the sun and then sit upon. Don your sunglasses and head to ianying’s photostream via the link above to see more of the shiniest motorcycle ever made.
Everyone likes building sandcastles at the beach. OK, not everyone – some people are more Sandcastle Destroyers than Sandcastle Makers. Which is probably a microcosm for society or something. Anyway, we like building sandcastles, and today Porsche96, who last appeared here 5 years ago, is here to help.
Pictured at the beach, this is his 1.2m tall Liebherr HS 8040 dragline excavator, a seven motor bluetooth controlled engineering masterpiece. The first two motors drive the tracks, with a Medium motor in between them operating the linear actuators that widen or contract the track spacing. Another Medium motor rotates the superstructure whilst two XL and an L motor lift control the bucket and lift the enormous boom via a series of winches.
It’s a magnificent build and one you can learn more about at the Eurobricks forum, where Porsche96 has detailed the full specification and posted a video of the dragline in operation, plus you can view the full image gallery of the Liebherr HS 8040 on Flickr by clicking here. Head to the beach via the links above.
Parts of Russia may look a bit like a post-apocalyptic wasteland (and even more so in the former Soviet Union), but that has meant Russians have needed to build some awesome vehicles in order to traverse the wild landscape. We’ve featured many such off-road cars and trucks over the years, but none quite like this.
Based on a ZIL 130, this is Samolot’s ‘Peacemaker’, a 6×6 skid-steer monster that imagines what Mad Max would be like if were set in Russia.
With each of the six wheels driven by a Power Functions XL Motor and offering eight studs worth of articulation, Samolot’s creation can drive over pretty much anything, particularly as the twin BuWizz bluetooth batteries on board can deliver up to eight times the power of LEGO’s own system.
If that wasn’t enough, the ZIL also features a trebuchet mounted on the rear for… er, we’re not sure – shooting down airliners? Whatever it’s for it makes Samolot’s build one of the wildest we’ve featured yet, and you can guess what happened when one of our Elves brought it into the office earlier today.
It’s safe to say we have some tidying up to do, so whilst we do that you can visit Samolot’s post-apocalyptic Soviet future at the Eurobricks forum, where you can also watch a video of the Peacemaker in action.
The Future Belongs to the Mad. Especially when they collaborate. 2015’s ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ thundered into cinemas to surprising critical acclaim. Directed my George Miller (he of Happy Feet fame!), ‘Fury Road’ followed the terribly-named ‘Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome’ film released a full three decades previously, and it was bloody brilliant!
It’s not often that TLCB Staff and TLCB Elves are in agreement, but this is a movie that brought harmony between TLCB’s human overlords and its irritating mythical workforce. Until the little turds started reenacting scenes from the film in the corridors of TLCB Towers at least.
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ starred many incredible vehicles, all of which were build for real, and many of these have been recreated in Lego form over the past five years (you can use the search function to find those that have appeared here). However, despite only appearing briefly in the third Mad Max instalment, it’s the V8 Interceptor that has endured as the franchise’s most iconic car.
Based on a 1970s Ford Falcon XB GT Hardtop, the V8 Interceptor appeared in all three movies, and is arguably more associated with the Mad Max story than the fleshy meatbag/s that drove it. This is the version of the Interceptor from the final (for now) film, and it’s been created through the collaboration of builders Mikhail Biktimirov, FX6000, and photographer Nikolay Gamurar.
With remote control drive and steering, working independent front and solid-axle rear suspension, and opening doors and hood, Mikhail, FX6000 and Nikolay’s beautifully presented V8 Interceptor is definitely worth a closer look. FX6000 has also made building instructions available too, should you wish to pretend your kitchen floor is post-apocalyptic wasteland and reenact scenes from the movies.
The Elves will certainly be doing that, so whilst we keep a careful eye on proceedings you can see more of Mikhail, FX6000 and Nikolay’s brilliant Mad Max V8 Interceptor collaboration at the Eurobricks discussion forum by clicking here.
Your Mom rang us this weekend so we’ll be busy today, but before we sign out here’s a creation with a not-entirely-coincidental title. Previous bloggee damjan97PL (aka damianple) is back with a model that he’s not afraid to get very dirty indeed. His Technic 4×4 includes remote control steering and all-wheel-drive, a high/low range gearbox, and an operable diff-lock (both also remotely operable). There’s also fully independent suspension all round, opening doors, and a kinda-detailed interior. Head to the Eurobricks discussion forum or Damian’s Brickshelf album for both clean and dirty shots and we’ll see you again after the weekend.
First featured here a year ago, Jeroen Ottens’ beautiful Technic interpretation of Marco Van Overbeeke’s spectacular design concept had us all wishing the car was real. It still isn’t, but Jeroen has refined his creation adding these stunning new images to his ‘Il Toro Azzurro’ album. The name may have changed but the car is if anything even more gorgeous to look at, with Jeroen’s model including four-wheel steering, a V10 engine, working gearbox, and independent suspension. There’s more to see of both the original and new images at Jeroen’s ‘Il Torro Azzurro’ album on Flickr – click the link to take a look.
We’re much too mature to link this post with today’s other one, however tempting it is. If your mind has connected the two though, that’s on you…
Now we’ve got that out of the way, on to the vehicle. This is an 1870 Batho 25-ton road roller, a prototype that would become the world’s first mass-produced road roller (‘mass’ being a relative term we suspect).
It’s also both the oldest (we think) and most unusual vehicle that this site has ever featured, and it comes from previous bloggee and weird-vehicle extraordinaire Nikolaus Löwe, who has based this exquisite recreation of the 1870 Batho on a scale model of the original vehicle.
Working steering and a considerable quantity of old-timey cogs and gears are present and correct (they’re for-real cogs and gears too, not any of that steampunk nonsense), and there’s lots more to see of Nikolaus’s remarkable model of a remarkable machine at his Batho 25-ton Road Roller album on Flickr – click the link above to see more of his impressive steamer.
TLCB Elves are all making ‘NEE-NAW’ noises today, which isn’t annoying at all. The cause is this, ilya_laushkin‘s incredible MAZ-7313-AA60 8×8 airport fire truck. Catchily-named it isn’t, but masterfully-engineered it is, with eight-wheel-drive, four-wheel-steering, fully independent suspension (via twenty-six shock absorbers!), LED lighting, and bluetooth remote control courtesy of two SBricks. There’s much more of ilya’s amazing MAZ-7313 to see on Flickr, including some shots alongside the real thing. Click the link above to make the jump.
Porsche 911s are everywhere in the car scene, so it’s apt that it’s the car of choice for Lego builders too. Having published our first ‘Powered-Up’ creation utilising LEGO’s new bluetooth components yesterday – a classic Porsche 911 – here’s another ‘Powered-Up’ equipped model, a… er, classic Porsche 911.
Flukey similarities aside, it’s a mega build by previous bloggee and TLCB Master MOCer Mahjqa, who has deployed LEGO’s new components to great effect in his ’80s ‘whale tail’ Porsche.
LED lights feature alongside the bluetooth-controlled drive and steering and there’s more to see of Mahjqa’s build at both his Flickr photostream and the Eurobricks forum.
LEGO have finally entered the bluetooth-controlled era with their new Control+ app and ‘Powered-Up’ sets, such as the 42109 Top Gear Rally Car revealed here last year.
Taking the new electrics from the 42109 set, Eurobricks’ apachaihapachai has re-fitted them in excellent classic Porsche 911, giving his model remote control drive and steering via bluetooth. Head to the Eurobricks forum via the link above to see all the images and join the discussion.
And now, later than billed, it’s the all new 2020 Technic line-up! OK, we’re well into 2020 now (and have already previewed the new 42109 Top Gear Rally Car and 42110 Land Rover Defender sets), but one of our Elves got caught at The LEGO Company’s HQ and securing its release was harder than removing a U.S President from office. We wouldn’t have minded (we have lot of Elves) but it had some great intel…
This intel in fact, the new 42101 Buggy aimed at aged 7+ and featuring 117 pieces. 42101 looks like a modern reinterpretation of the classic (and awesome) 8818 Dune Buggy set from 1993. It’s not as good as the 1993 version obviously, which had a single-cylinder piston engine, but it does feature steering and rear suspension, making it a worthwhile entry point into the Technic range. Expect to pay around $12/£9 in stores.
The second entry point into the 2020 Technic range brings back the familiar green and red we’ve come to know from one of LEGO’s official partnerships. The original 42054 Claas Xerion 5000 set is – we think – one of the best Technic sets of all time, and the 130 piece 42102 set resembles a tiny (like, really really tiny) version of the 2017 flagship. Accurate decals, working steering, and a lawn mower thingy that rotates as the model is pushed along make the Mini Claas Xerion a neat set for ages 7+, and like the Technic Buggy above it’s available for pocket money. Good stuff.
Uh oh, the Pull-Backs. The Scrappy-Dos of Technic, we haven’t yet been impressed by any of these. However 2020 looks like it might be the exception, because we rather like this one! Featuring nothing but a pull-back motor (boo), the new 42103 Dragster set displays the usual extensive stickerage we’ve come to expect from these sets but it looks… well, really rather good. Aimed at ages 7+, 42103 includes 225 pieces, a ‘Christmas tree’ light, and a wheelie-bar. Could 2020 be the first year of decent pull-back sets?
No. Because back to form, here’s the 42104 Race Truck. With 227 pieces – all of which can be put to better use elsewhere – a plethora of stickers, and a pointless start/finish gantry thing, 42104 includes literally nothing that a Technic set should do. Oh, the bonnet opens, does that count? Next…
Breaking momentarily away from the Pull-Backs comes 42105, one of LEGO’s most unusual Technic sets ever, although perhaps 2016’s 42074 Racing Yacht proved there is a market for Technic sailing boats. With 404 parts including a pair of new two-piece hulls and those huge sails, 42105 features complete mechanical controls for the rudders, hydrofoils and sails and can be re-built into a more traditional powerboat should you wish to deploy those sail pieces elsewhere. It also floats(!), which immediately makes it cooler than any other set in this line-up (because who doesn’t like a good bath toy?). Aimed at ages 8+ expect to pay around $40/£35 for 42105, and for bath time to become much more interesting.
42106 pulls us back from bath time fun to, well… pull-back fun, but it could have good play value. Not much else mind. The 42106 Stunt Show includes three models in one; a pick-up truck, trailer/ramp, and a motorcycle, each looking fairly terrible despite the flame decals. The trailer features mechanically operated legs to turn it into a ramp and the truck includes steering, but that’s all. Which is nowhere near enough for a set costing $50/£45. Admittedly jumping the bike through the flaming hoop does look rather fun, but not $50 of fun, and we suspect even the Elves would tire of it quickly. We’ll be leaving this one on the shelf…
The final set of H1 2020 is the largest of the line-up (not withstanding the officially licensed 42110 Land Rover Defender and 42109 Top Gear Rally Car sets revealed here at the end of 2019), the near 1,300 piece 42108 Mobile Crane. Forgive us for not being particularly excited by this one, because it does look like a reasonable set. It’s just that LEGO have released countless eight-wheel mobile cranes over the years and they’re all becoming much the same.
42108 does feature a wealth of mechanical operations, with eight-wheel steering, boom elevation, rotation and extension all via hand-powered mechanisms, a working winch with a ratchet to allow it to lift loads, and four functioning stabilisers. However despite the increase in detail that we’ve come to expect from modern Technic sets and enhanced realism thanks to a few well-judged decals, 42108 is an utterly unmemorable product. It’s also priced at around $95/£85 which – particularly as it includes no B-Model – is rather a lot.
We’ll go sailing on 42105 instead…
LEGO enormous 42078 Technic Mack Anthem set both impressed and infuriated us in equal measure when we reviewed it here last year. One of the set’s major plus points though is the huge quantity and variety of parts included, making it a superb acquisition for builders looking to expand their brick collection. Or build a C-Model…
This is mpj’s Volvo 8×4 crane truck C-Model (so called because the set already includes instructions for a rather nice B-Model), built entirely from the parts found within the 42078 Mack Anthem set – although with a few new stickers added.
Volvo Trucks own Mack Trucks (but not Volvo Cars weirdly) so there is a neat link between mpj’s model and the truck from the set. Like the original, mpj’s build features purely mechanical functions, with the outriggers, crane rotation, three-stage boom, and two-axle steering all controlled by hand.
The design also leaves around 1,000 of the 42078 set’s 2,500 parts unused, so there’s plenty left over to create all sorts of items for the Volvo’s flatbed.
There’s more to see of mpj’s excellent C-Model at the Eurobricks forum, where you can also find a link to instructions should you wish to turn your own Mack Anthem into a Volvo 8×4 crane truck for yourself. Take a look via the link above, and you can read our review of the original 42078 Technic set by clicking on the first link in the text.
Batman may have been a bit… camper back in the ’60s, but Adam West was considerably more violent, at least if this Technic recreation of the ’66 Batmobile is anything to go by. Created by previous bloggee James Tillson it features working steering, a flame afterburner, a rocket launcher, and a ‘chain slicer’; basically a giant circular saw that appears out of the front like something from Robot Wars. That’ll leave a mark…
Head to James’ Flickr photostream or the Eurobricks discussion forum to see more.
LEGO’s cool-looking 42110 Technic Land Rover Defender set – revealed here last year – has been on sale a while now, and we think it looks pretty good. However we’re less sure about real Defender which is yet to go on sale, and seeing a prototype on the roads of the UK hasn’t helped the cause. We couldn’t afford one anyway though – despite the vast fame and riches we have accrued through this website* – so we guess it’s not aimed at us.
For those in our camp of not really knowing who the new land Rover Defender is aimed at, and maybe preferring something a little more authentic, Flickr’s Milan aka grohl might have the answer.
This marvellous looking ‘stadium truck’ complete with working suspension, four-wheel-drive, a three-speed sequential gearbox, steering, and a V8 engine has been built solely from the parts found within the 42110 Technic Land Rover Defender set, allowing you to make something with a little more off-road pedigree should the new Defender turn out to be just another posh SUV for well-healed city-dwellers.
Milan has produced video instructions for his 42110 ‘B-Model’ too, so if you own the Technic Land Rover Defender set and the real car turns out to be more ‘organic vanilla latte please’ than ‘dude, let’s abseil down this mountain’, you can turn your Defender into a stadium truck yourself.
There’s more to see of Milan’s 42110 B-Model on Flickr, where full details and the all-important link to instructions can also be found. Click the link above to take a look.
*Which you can learn about here.
2019’s excellent and surprisingly moving film about the development of the Ford GT40 and the amazing men behind it was a joy to watch last year. Whilst the film did gloss over the fact that car isn’t really American at all, it did pay tribute to the unsung hero of its creation; Englishman Ken Miles, who was tragically killed during testing just a few short months after winning Le Mans.
The GT40 would go on to win the event multiple times and achieved success in numerous endurance races around the world during the 1960s. Built by previous bloggee James Tillson, this particular GT40 finished in second place at the 1967 12 Hours of Sebring, and has been recreated superbly in both digital and Technic-brick forms.
James’ GT40 features all-wheel independent suspension, a working V8 engine hooked up to a four-speed gearbox, functioning steering, and an opening clamshell front and rear. There’s more to see of James’ build in both digital and real-brick forms on Flickr, plus you can join the discussion at the Eurobricks forum by clicking these words, where there are also instructions available.
