Tag Archives: Technic

Czech Mate

We are SO BORED of Brexit. Every day, all day, people shouting at one another. Racism, classism, elitism… every ‘ism’ you could wish for in one painfully tedious and never-ending argument.

So whatever your political persuasion (and as Americans make up the largest nationality of our readership we suspect the answer is probably this), here’s a celebration of European achievement in the face of considerable adversity.

This is the Tatra T600 ‘Tatraplan’, an almost spectacularly futuristic design produced by Tatra from 1948 from within a country battered by war and then shackled by the yoke of Communism thanks to a coup d’état that took place in the same year the car launched.

Unfortunately Czech Communism lasted considerably longer than the T600 (right up until the Velvet Revolution of 1989), by which point Tatra had almost completely wound down car production to focus on its (excellent) heavy-duty trucks, but we look upon the quirky Tatra with considerably more favour than the Communist regime that ruled during its production run.

The T600 was a large (six seat) family car powered by a 2-litre flat-four engine, featuring a monocoque chassis and with a wonderful streamlined body. Just over 6,000 units were produced during its three-year production run and the whole TLCB team would take one over a typical modern family car (which are mostly as boring as Brexit) in heartbeat.

This lovely Technic recreation of the Tatra T600 comes from Kent Kashiwabara of Flickr, and not only has he captured the car’s beautiful lines rather well in Technic form, he’s also given his model a flat-four engine, working steering, and full suspension underneath. There’s more to see of Kent’s excellent T600 on Flickr via the link above, which is where we’ll be pretending we live somewhere else other than the UK right now….

Two Boxes and Eighteen Wheels

This wonderful Technic Kenworth W900 with container transport trailer was discovered on Eurobricks today, and it might be the most understatedly cool truck of the year so far. It’s not Christmas-treed with lights, festooned with stickers, or even bedecked with chrome. What it is, is quietly brilliant.

Built by MajklSpajkl for his LUG’s Lego exhibition, the truck and trailer measure well over 100 studs long and include some superb functionality. The truck itself includes remote control drive (thanks to a single L Motor) and steering (via a Servo), with another L Motor operating the fifth-wheel lock. A battery box hidden inside the cab provides the power whilst LEGO’s own IR Receiver or a BuWizz bluetooth brick allow the functions to be controlled remotely.

The trailer isn’t devoid of functions either, with its own concealed battery box providing power to raise and lower the support legs via a Medium motor. Pendular suspension features on the both the truck and trailer, and the Kenworth W900 truck also includes opening can doors, plus a moderately detailed interior and engine.

There’s more to see of this superb creation at the Eurobricks discussion forum via the link above, and you can read our review of LEGO’s own container truck set, the enormous 42078 Mack Anthem, by clicking here.

Ride-On LEGO

Every Lego fan has wanted to do it. We’ve all imagined what it would be like, dreaming that one day, if we tried hard enough, it might just be possible. And some have even got close. No, we’re not referring to talking to a girl, but building a real, ride-on, controllable Lego creation.

That unrealised dream has now become a reality for the guys at third-party bluetooth brick builders BuWizz, who have built an actual ride-on go-kart (OK, ‘mobility scooter’ might be a better description…) from seven thousand LEGO pieces!

Thirty-two Large Power Functions motors power all four wheels (via individual in-wheel motors actually, meaning their creation could feature torque vectoring!), with eight BuWizz bricks providing the power and control via the BuWizz mobile app. They’ve even managed to talk to a girl and convince her drive it.

You can watch their amazing creation in action via the video below and read more about it at the BuWizz website, plus if you’d like to learn more about the little bluetooth battery control that allows a creation like this to happen you can read our review of the BuWizz brick here.

YouTube Video

Scania S730

Every so often one of our Elves finds a creation that makes us all go ‘whoa’. This is one of those times. This spectacular Scania S730 comes from mpj of Eurobricks at it’s beautiful. One of the finest looking Technic trucks we’ve seen, helped by some brilliant custom decals, mpj‘s Scania also features remote control drive and steering, SBrick bluetooth control, pneumatic rear suspension and a highly detailed cab interior. There’s more to see of this superb build at the Eurobricks discussion forum via the link above or at the Brickshelf gallery here – click the links to make the jump.

Ghostly Creation

It’s nearly Halloween!* The unique time of year when kids can pressure the elderly into giving them chocolate, girls can make literally any outfit sexy, and we find a tenuous link between the season of spookiness and an almost completely unrelated Lego model…

This is an almost completely unrelated Lego model. Created by Master MOCer and Technic building legend Paul Boratko (aka Crowkillers) it’s called the ‘Copia’ and has been built in homage to the Swedish rock band ‘Ghost’, of whom we have never heard but who have enabled this year’s tenuous Halloween link.

With all-wheel-drive, working steering, a mid-mounted V10 engine, D-N-R gearbox with functioning steering wheel paddles, independent suspension, and opening doors, hood and engine cover, Crowkillers’ latest creation checks every Technic ‘Supercar’ box and a few more too. Although it does have very little to do with Halloween (and Swedish rock bands as far as we can tell).

Suggested to us by a reader there’s much more to see of Crowkillers’ ‘Copia’ supercar tribute to ‘Ghost’ at his Bricksafe album and on Brickshelf, plus you can watch a video demonstrating the model’s features complete with a ‘Ghost’ soundtrack on YouTube by clicking here.

*Or – as a one-off for 2019 only – Brexit-geddon

Sand’s Going to Get Everywhere…

If you think sand gets everywhere at the beach, try driving one of these things. Fifteen minutes in a sand buggy and there’ll be sand in places you didn’t know you had.

This excellent Technic rendition of a skeletally-framed sand-insertion device comes from Dicky Laban of Flickr, and includes front and rear suspension as well as working steering thanks to LEGO’s x136 wishbones and new wheel hub pieces. See more to see via the link.

Plus Size

LEGO’s new Control+ app has finally brought bluetooth control to LEGO sets. Available on the new 42100 Technic Liebherr R 980 excavator set, the largest set LEGO have ever produced, the Control+ app allows all seven motors to be operated, and programmed, via a mobile device.

But what if the new app was used to control something a bit… larger?

Weighing 890 tons and with around 4,000 bhp the real Liebherr R 9800 excavator is the third largest excavator in the world and it has, courtesy of LEGO and TLCB Master MOCer Sariel, been turned into the world’s largest remote control toy.

With a suite of ingenious motorised Technic mechanisms installed in the cab the real Liebherr R 9800’s controls could be operated remotely through the new LEGO Control+ app, allowing it to drive, steer and excavate via a mobile phone just like the 42100 set. Only on a much much bigger scale.

Take a look a video above to see how the team did it, and get some ideas for how to control your annoying neighbour’s Honda Odessey through your phone…

Honey, I shrunk the 42100

LEGO’s 42100 Technic Liebherr R 9800 is the largest Technic set ever produced. With over 4,100 pieces, seven electric motors, bluetooth control and a $450 price tag, we’re fairly sure that most MOCs will be quite a lot smaller than LEGO’s latest Goliath. Cyberdyne Systems hasn’t let that stifle his ambition though, building this tiny mechanical version of the mighty 42100 set and equipping it with all* the functionality of its much bigger brother.

The bucket arm can swing, raise and extend mechanically via linear actuators (and much finger twiddling we suspect), whilst the bucket itself can both tilt thanks to a worm gear and open by pulling on a string.

There’s more to see of Cyberdyne’s 42100-in-miniature at the Eurobricks discussion forum via the link above where you can also find a video of it in action.

*Kinda.

Tanky Picker

This is a Foremost Chieftain R, a high-speed rubber-tracked personnel and cargo carrier, and it looks like a cherry picker and a tank have had one hell of an accident.

This amazing Technic version of Foremost’s bizarre tank-cherry-picker-thingy has been built by Thesuperkoala of Flickr who has packed it with incredible mechanised functionality.

Like the real Chieftain R, Koala’s Technic version features four powered tracks separated front to rear by a central articulated pivot. LEGO’s linear actuators operate the steering of Koala’s model whilst Power Functions motors provide the drive for these and the four tracks.

Mounted upon the rear section of the Chieftain is a large motorised cherry picker crane, with further linear actuators driving the boom raising/lowering and extension. The crane superstructure can also rotate, with four motorised stabilisers ensuring the Chieftain doesn’t tip over whilst it’s, er… picking cherries(?).

Koala’s creation is a hugely impressive build and one well worth a closer look. Head to Thesuperkoala’s Foremost Chieftain R album on Flickr via the link above to view the full gallery of excellent imagery.

Dozing Dozers

‘Twas a night nowhere near Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring…

Until a remote controlled bulldozer powered through the Elves’ cages. Elven screaming, fleeing and smushing followed, until the jubilant Elf at the controls was apprehended and removed from TLCB Towers. Annoyingly we’ll have to give it a meal for its mischief too.

Until then, let’s take a look at the cause of the ruckus; this superb fully remote controlled Technic bulldozer built by damjan97PL / damianple. With twin XL motors, one powering each track, and a motorised front blade and rear ripper courtesy of two Medium motors, damjan’s ‘dozer is a simple yet very effective machine.

A third-party SBrick allows the model to be operated via Bluetooth and it also includes opening cabin doors and a suspended driver’s seat. There’s much more to see of the RC bulldozer at both the Eurobricks forum (where a video can also be found) and via Brickshelf – click the links to make the jump.

Pick-Me-Up

After this week’s earlier incident we’re a bit light on Elves at the moment, and thus when another ridiculously capable remote controlled creation was found by one of our smelly little workers we feared another violent event.

Fortunately the creation in question was much too slow to meet out any vengeance (much to the Elf at the controls’ annoyance), but it is no less excellent for that, which has cheered TLCB office immensely.

Built by Attika of Eurobricks it’s entitled ‘Ultimate Pick-Up’, which is a bold claim, but a potentially accurate one.

A raft of Power Functions motors provide all-wheel-drive through planetary hubs, whilst a high/low range gearbox allows Attika’s truck to climb gradients in excess of 50 degrees.

A full compliment of LEDs light the head and tail lamps whilst a third-party SBrick enables all of that to be controlled via Bluetooth, plus there are opening and locking doors, hood and tailgate and adjustable seats.

There’s a whole lot more to see of Attika’s ‘Ultimate Pick-Up’ at the Eurobricks forum, where you can also find photos showing the chassis and driveline construction and a video of the truck in action. Click the link above to take a look.

Mechanical Mehari

Citroen are not known for their off-roaders. Ok, these days all they seem to make are – like every car company – SUVs, but they’re about as good off-road as Kim Kardashian is at plumbing.

However Citroen’s roots are far more off-roady than you might think; one of the 2CV’s key objectives was to cross a field without breaking any eggs.

And that’s where this comes in; the delightful 2CV-based Mehari.

Produced from the late ‘60s the Mehari was designed as a utilitarian two-wheel-drive off-roader (although four-wheel-drive versions followed) for civilian and military use, and – just like the models we have here – it was made out of plastic.

The models we have here come from TLCB favourite Nico71, who has recreated the Mehari beautifully in Technic form.

Nico’s design features steering, a removable roof, opening doors, hood and tailgate, and – most importantly – an accurate recreation of the Mahari’s superb suspension system.

There’s loads more to see of Nico’s wonderful build at his website by clicking here, where full details, an extensive image gallery, and building instructions are all available.

Extinction Rebellion

What the…?

This TLCB Writer stepped into the office this morning to find a scene from a horror film.

Well, if you’re an Elf at least. For humans it just looked like someone had dealt with a rodent problem via one of those comedy mallets. Squashed Elves were everywhere; on the floor, against the walls, even on top of shoes left in the corridor. But what could cause such total Elven carnage?

The answer was to be found in the office where – lying crashed on its side – a tracked buggy lay dormant.

Marxpek’s Technic recreation of the Howe & Howe Ripsaw EV1 had caught and smushed almost every single Elf on the floor of TLCB Towers, methodically running them down until it finally overturned in the office, whereupon the Elf at the controls had fled into the night.

Powered by eight Buggy Motors and four BuWizz Bluetooth control bricks, we have never featured a creation as powerful as this one. Ever.

A trick suspension and a track tensioning system allow that ludicrous power to be deployed on any surface, making Marxpek’s Ripsaw the most capable off-road Lego creation yet.

The Elf responsible for last night’s mass extinction attempt will be back for a meal token later, giving us some time to patch up the wounded. In the meantime you can check out more about this incredible machine at the Eurobricks forum here, and you can get an idea of how it managed to dispatch so many Elves last night in the video below.

YouTube Video

KAMAZ Flatbed

Another day, another Elf returns to TLCB Towers with a find in the hope of getting fed. It has been too, as this Technic KAMAZ 43118 truck is thoroughly excellent. The Elven happiness has extended beyond the discoverer of this creation too, as there are currently several Elves riding around in the back of it.

Built by ArsMan064 (is there a theme with today’s builder names?) this KAMAZ 43118 flatbed includes a remote control drivetrain courtesy of LEGO’s Power Functions motors and a third-party SBrick bluetooth control. An XL motor provides the drive whilst two Medium motors power the steering and the front winch.

ArsMan has also given his model some brilliant suspension, with all six wheels able to articulate over rough ground or any Elf that gets in the way today, as well as opening cab doors and drop-sides for the truck’s flatbed.

There’s loads more to see of ArsMan’s KAMAZ at the Eurobricks forum via the link above, where a complete gallery of images, video of the model in action and a link to building instructions can all be found.

On Wings of Gold

This a Honda Gold Wing GL 1800, and it has – despite quite clearly being a motorcycle – an engine twice the size and with twice the cylinders of the most popular cars in TLCB’s home nation.

The Gold Wing first arrived in 1974, being aimed squarely at the American touring market. In continuous production since, apart from in 2011 when production moved from the U.S. back to Japan, almost 650,000 Gold Wing motorcycles have been built, with the latest versions such as this GL 1800 featuring cruise control, a stereo, a reverse gear and even an airbag.

This brilliant Technic recreation of Honda’s fattest motorcycle comes from Fanylover of Eurobricks and like the real bike it’s packed with features, including a flat-6 piston engine, front and rear suspension, steering, and a two-speed gearbox.

Build details and more images, including photos of the frame construction, can be found at the Eurobricks forum. Click the link above to go touring.