Tag Archives: Technic

My Other Vehicle is Also a Mercedes-Benz

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In the moronic SUV arms-race that rages around TLCB Towers it’s only a matter of time before someone swaps their G-Wagen for an even larger 4×4 from the Mercedes-Benz portfolio.

Of course you can’t get much larger than a G-Class, and thus any prospective winner of the SUV one-upmanship will have to step away from Mercedes-Benz’s cars and into their truck line. Which is exactly what TLCB Master MOCer Eric Trax has done with his Technic 42177 Mercedes-Benz G 500 Professional Line set.

Constructed from 87% of the donor set, Eric’s Unimog U423 B-Model is so good it doesn’t feel like an alternate at all, featuring four-wheel-drive, HOG steering, all-wheel-suspension, two diff-locks, front and rear two-speed PTOs, a six-cylinder engine under a tilting cab, an adjustable front hitch, and a two-way tipper.

It’s surely one of the best alternate builds we’ve ever published, and there’s loads more to see – including a link to building instructions – on Flickr and Eurobricks, plus you can watch Eric’s phenomenal 42177 B-Model in action below.

Click on the links above to trade in your Mercedes-Benz G 500 for a Unimog, and put your neighbours in their place!

My Other Car is Also a Ferrari

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The average Ferrari owner doesn’t own only one. In fact two-thirds of Ferrari owners own at least one other prancing horse amongst their five car garage. Which makes today’s post very apt for Ferrari ownership, as this spectacular Technic recreation of Ferrari’s latest 12-cylinder super car, the 12Cilindri (yes, Ferrari are still crap at names) has been constructed solely from the parts of another.

Like the 42143 Ferrari Daytona SP3 set on which it’s based, Alex Ilea’s alternate features a working engine, steering and suspension, an 8-speed paddle-shift gearbox, and opening doors, hood and trunk, with the model presented beautifully to boot.

Building instructions are also available, so if you own a 42143 set and you’d like to become a proper Ferrari owner (i.e. have access to more than one), then head to the Eurobricks forum where a link can be found, plus you can click here for the full Bricksafe gallery of top quality imagery.

Star Trek

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It’s been a while since a remotely controlled vehicle trundled down the halls of TLCB Towers in pursuit of a fleeing group of Elves.

However today normal service was resumed, thanks to previous bloggee keymaker, and this excellent Star 266 trial truck, driven by twin XL motors, steered by a Medium motor, and powered and controlled by a BuWizz Bluetooth battery.

All-wheel suspension and a detailed cab also feature, with the model built for a Polish truck trial competition.

Best of all, free building instructions are available, and you can find all the details of keymaker’s Star 266 at Eurobricks, plus the complete image gallery via Bricksafe. Take a look via the links above whilst we see how the ongoing machine vs. Elves chase here in the office plays out.

LEGO Technic Mercedes-Benz G 500 Professional Line | Set Preview

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The Lego Car Blog Towers is surrounded by Mercedes-Benz G-Wagens. And none of them look like this. This is the brand new 42177 Technic Mercedes-Benz G 500 PROFESSIONAL Line!

Available from today, LEGO’s latest 18+ set brings one of the world’s most iconic, and douchiest, 4x4s to the Technic range.

Constructed from 2,891 pieces, 42177 is one of the largest officially-licensed car sets yet, and is packed with working functions. These include a six-cylinder engine, all-wheel suspension, all-wheel-drive with two working diff-locks, functioning steering, a D-N-R gearbox with high/low transfer, opening doors, tailgate and hood, new off-road tyres, and a host of off-roady accessories.

It also looks properly accurate, no doubt helped by the G-Class’s breeze-block proportions, with some subtle stickerage to enhance the realism.

So why doesn’t it look like any of the actual G-Wagens that surround our office? Because it isn’t a matt-black private-plated AMG G 63. And for that alone, we love it.

The new LEGO Technic 42177 Mercedes-Benz G 500 PROFESSIONAL Line is available now, and you can get your hands on the only six-cylinder not-black G-Class we’ve ever seen for £220/$250.

Wheelie Big

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This amazing machine is a Komatsu WE2350 wheel loader, a 270-ton, 2,300bhp leviathan designed to load the world’s ‘ultra class’ 400-ton mining dump trucks.

Originally a LeTourneau design launched in 2000, the WE2350 remains the world’s largest wheel loader, and – somewhat appropriately – rides upon the largest tyres ever produced. Which is a bit of a problem if you’re trying to build the WE2350 out of LEGO.

Cue Flickr’s Beat Felber, who – over the past week of so – has uploaded an entire mine’s worth of equipment in 1:28 scale.

His incredible recreation of the Komatsu WE2350 is the latest in his series, and rides upon brick-built wheels measuring a huge eighteen studs in diameter, each centred on a twenty-two-sided cylinder wrapped in Technic rubber lift-arm connectors.

Each if those remarkable wheels is powered, with two XL Motors driving the axles, an M Motor the articulated steering, whilst another XL and M Motor operate the mammoth loading arm and bucket, the real version of which can lift 41 cubic meters of material.

It’s all remotely operable thanks to two third-party SBricks, plus there’s working head and tail-lights, an oscillating rear axle, deployable ladders and stairs, plus opening doors and hatches.

It’s a spectacular piece of Technic engineering, and you can see more of Beat’s Komatsu WE2350, and the other amazing mining machines that accompany it, on Flickr. Click the link above to take a closer look.

Top Grades

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After extolling the virtues of creations that don’t need a suite of electronics earlier today, here’s one with a suite of electronics. Because shut up, that why.

It is astonishing though, coming again from Flickr’s Beat Felber who is on something of a mass upload. This one is a Champion 100-T motor-grader, a Canadian design from the 1970s, and the world’s largest.

Powered by one LEGO Power Functions L Motor and eight third-party CaDa micromotors, Beat’s grader can drive, steer, lean its front wheels, pivot the cab articulation, plus raise, lower, angle, pitch, and side-shift the blade, all remotely operable via bluetooth thanks to three SBrick controllers. Which would make it an unmatched Elf-squishing device if it wasn’t so slow.

Still, whilst the TLCB Elf that found Beat’s Champion grader may be disappointed, we certainly aren’t, and there’s more to see of this astonishing creation at his ‘Champion 100-T’ album. Click the link above to receive top grades.

Get the Fire Brigade*

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Here at The Lego Car Blog we can be a bit guilty of leaning towards creations with twelve motors, fifteen sets of LEDs, and six programmable bluetooth controllers. Because we are (and this will no doubt come as a surprise to readers of a niche website about Lego cars), nerds at heart. Not Brothers Brick levels of nerdiness, but still.

Creations featuring the aforementioned suite of electronics are often amazing in their operation (there’s one before this post and there’ll be another after it too), but they’re also out of reach for many Lego fans due to the cost of the components within them.

Thus today we’re replacing resources with intellect, thanks to this superb fire truck by Flickr’s Jeroen Ottens.

Featuring just a single Powered-Up motor, Jeroen’s fire truck can rotate, raise, and extend its ladder, all of which can be controlled independently, plus deploy four stabiliser legs too. An ingenious gearbox – activated mechanically by levers mounted on the sides and rear of the truck – takes the motorised power to where it’s needed, whilst the model also features mechanical steering (front and rear), as well as opening doors and hatches.

It’s a brilliant example of Technic engineering ingenuity, and you can take a look at how Jeroen has done all this with just one motor at his photostream. Click the link above to get the fire brigade.

*Today’s wonderful title song, featuring equally wonderful moustaches.

Enormous Dump

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Nope, not Detroit, but this; an utterly gargantuan Terex Unit Rig MT 6300AC. Designed to work alongside the world’s largest rope shovels, this 400-ton truck operates in an Australian open-cast ore mine, and is pictured here – to scale – alongside a Hilux-style pick-up, showing just how huge it really is.

Powered by a twenty-cylinder with electric assistance, the MT 6300AC produces 3,750bhp, and is now – like every piece of mining equipment it seems – part of the Caterpillar empire.

This incredible replica of the Unit Rig MT 6300AC still wears its Terex livery however, and has been recreated in phenomenal detail by recent bloggee Beat Felber, who is on something of an upload spree.

His latest build merges System and Technic building with several well chosen third-party components, including RC tyres (LEGO don’t make any large enough), SBrick bluetooth control, and a CaDa micro-motor, along with a suite of Power Functions parts to provide remote control drive, steering, tipping, and lighting.

There’s also working suspension, opening doors and hatches, plus deployable ladders, with much more to see at Beat’s fantastic ‘Terex Unit Rig MT 6300AC’ album on Flickr. Take a look via the link above, whilst we await an angry comment from a Detroit resident.

Backwithanotheroneofthose…

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…block rockin’ beats!* OK, we don’t often feature a title referring to the builder rather than model, but seeing as Flickr’s Beat Felber appeared here only two days ago with another spectacular model, it’s warranted.

His follow-up is even more impressive, an enormous 1:28 scale fully remote controlled (and working) replica of the world’s largest hydraulic excavator, the near 1,000-ton Caterpillar 6090.

Powered by two Cummins diesel engines the 6090 makes over 1,400bhp, and is able to move 43 cubic meters of material with each chomp of its bucket. It’s also, like Beat’s recently-blogged coal excavator, actually an O&K design that now wears Caterpillar branding.

Unlike his previous build however, Beat has chosen to recreate the 6090 in its current Caterpillar livery, creating one of the most visually lifelike creations this site has ever featured. But it’s the lifelike mechanicals that we’re more interested in…

Powered by three Power Functions battery boxes and controlled by four third-party SBricks, Beat’s creation features (deep breath); motorised crawler tracks (one XL Motor per track), a slewing superstructure (two M Motors), a fully operational boom, stick, bucket tilt and clamshell opening (each operated by pneumatic cylinders, controlled via four servo-motorised valves, and an on-board compressor driven by twin Buggy Motors), two motorised boarding ladders (one M Motor each), spinning engine and oil cooling fans (two 9V Motors), plus full LED lighting (five pairs of Power Functions LEDs).

It’s a truly spectacular feat of Lego engineering, and there’s much more to see at Beat’s ‘Caterpillar 6090 FS’ Flickr album, where over thirty incredible images and a video of the model in action can also be found. Click the link above to take a look, where we get the feeling we might be back again with some block rockin’ beats imminently…

*Today’s (excellent) title song.

Audi + Batman =

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What do you get if you cross an Audi RS Q with the Batmobile? A Toyota Tacoma-ish pick-up truck. Obviously.

This superb Technic truck is the work of newcomer mirrorbricks, and is constructed using only the parts from the excellent 42160 Technic Audi RS Q e-tron and the rather less excellent 42127 The Batman Batmobile set.

Remote control four-wheel-drive and steering, a V6 piston engine, front and rear suspension, opening doors, hood and tailgate, plus LED lights all feature, as do some glorious retro decals and ‘KC’ lights, and there’s more to see of mirrorbricks’ brilliant double-B-model at the Eurobricks forum.

Click the link above to take a look at the best and only Batmobile-Audi mash-up we’ve seen. Unless you count Bruce Wayne’s Lamborghini of course…

Coal’s OK

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This astonishing creation is an O&K RH 120 C, a 200-ton mining excavator used in British open-cast coal mines in the 1980s, and – as the most successful excavator in its class – all around the world.

Subsequently built by Terex and then Caterpillar, the RH 120 C is still in production today, with this spectacular brick-built replica paying homage to the design’s first incarnation.

Constructed by Flickr’s Beat Felber, this 1:28 scale model recreates not just the O&K’s exterior in brilliant detail, but the operation of the excavator too, thanks to a suite of Powered-Up, Control+, and Power Functions components hidden within.

A pair of Powered-Up L Motors drive the tracks, another the slewing, whilst a Power Functions XL Motor drives the huge boom. A further two motors operate the bucket, with all six able to be controlled remotely via two Control+ hubs.

Authentic period-correct decals, superb attention-to-detail, and fantastic presentation make Beat’s O&K one of the finest models to appear here this year, and you can find the full gallery of incredible imagery at his ‘O&K RH 120 C’ album on Flickr. Click the link above to visit a British coal-field c1985, and take a closer look.

#MorePatriotism

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The misplaced patriotism continues here at The Lego Car Blog, with another American automotive icon. The Ford Bronco first appeared in the 1960s, and now – after a twenty-five year absence – the new sixth-generation model has reignited Ford’s rugged go-anywhere reputation.

Powered by a range of turbocharged engines with up to 400bhp, the 2021 Bronco continues the nameplate’s legacy, with body-on-frame construction, two and four-door variants, a removable roof and doors, and about two hundred different trims named after various outdoorsy-things.

This phenomenal Model Team/Technic replica of Ford’s most sought-after 4×4 comes from previous bloggee DamianPLE, who has recreated the off-road icon brilliantly in brick form.

Underneath the superbly recreated exterior Damian’s model features four-wheel-drive, a high/low gearbox, locking centre and rear differentials, working suspension and steering, a highly detailed V6 engine, folding seats, and – like the real thing – easily removable doors and roof.

A huge gallery of stunning imagery is available to view at Damian’s Bricksafe gallery, which includes close-up photos of the chassis as well as on-location shots, plus you can find the model’s discussion topic and further details at the Eurobricks form, where an excellent video of the Bronco’s working features can also be found.

Take a closer look via the links above, whilst we try to remember our own automotive heritage and post a model of a Morris Marina or something…

#Patriotism

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America is in the news of TLCB home nation rather a lot at the moment. Whilst we’ve quietly called, held, and politely delivered the outcome of an election in six weeks, America’s year-long campaign season continues, and – with perhaps a depressing inevitability – the barrage of political slurs, plus an argument about golf handicaps for some reason, has spilled over into something far worse.

Thus to remember that America isn’t just gun violence and two old men insulting one another, today we have the most American thing we can think of short of chanting ‘Freedom!’ on loop or a Mustang crash; the Chevrolet Corvette C7.

Built by Eurobricks’ mihao, this stunning Technic recreation of the last front-engined Corvette is so realistic we can almost see the retired dentist behind the wheel. Working steering, adjustable suspension, a V8 engine connected to a paddle-shift gearbox, opening doors, hood and trunk, plus a removable targa-roof all feature, and the model can also be fully motorised, with remote control drive, steering, and LED head and tail lights.

Building instructions for both the mechanical and motorised versions of mihao’s model are available, and you can find them and lots more besides at the Eurobricks forum. Click the link above to take a look at mihao’s fantastic American icon, and whichever old man you vote for, neither the other one, nor his supporters, are your foe.

YouTube Video

Radar Love

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This fantastic creation is a ZIL 131, a Soviet V8-powered 6×6 off-road truck built from the 1960s right up to 2012, as used by all manner of dodgy dictatorships and communist regimes around the world. And Finland.

It’s also a vehicle that has appeared on this site several times over the years. This one however, is a little different from most…

Fitted to the bed of Samuel Nerpas’ Technic version is an enormous radar system, as was mounted on the real AMU variants of the ZIL 131. Powered by two separate gasoline engines, the P19 radar antenna would raise, unfurl, and rotate, allowing the Soviet Union to deploy radar in even its most inhospitable parts.

Samuel’s incredible recreation of the ZIL 131 AMU includes that P19 radar system, with four Power Functions motors raising and unfolding the antenna, powering a decoupling clutch, and rotating it 360°.

Four more motors drive all six fully-suspended wheels, whilst another powers the steering, and yet another a compressor to deploy the pneumatically-operated stabiliser legs.

There’s loads more to see of Samuel’s astonishing build at both his Flickr photostream and at the Eurobricks forum, where full build details, imagery of the amazing antenna deployed, and videos of the model in action can also be found. Click the links above to get on the radar.

Today’s (excellent) title song.

LEGO Technic 42172 McLaren P1 | Set Preview

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LEGO’s long-standing relationship with McLaren has borne all manner of models over the years, from classic Formula 1 cars to Extreme-E racers, and life-size replicas to Speed Champions miniatures. This though, has instantly become our favourite LEGO McLaren collaboration to date; it’s the brand new 42172 Technic McLaren P1.

Part of LEGO’s flagship Ultimate Collector Series, the new 42172 set recreates McLaren’s iconic P1 supercar in a huge 1:8 scale from a whopping 3,893 pieces, many of which make their debut on this set.

These new parts include never-before-seen curved wheel-arch panels, lovely gunmetal wheels, and the utilisation of flame yellow, with the resulting model looking wonderfully accurate to the mighty 900bhp decade-old supercar.

Underneath that well executed exterior are a V8 engine linked to a 7-speed transmission, all-wheel independent suspension, opening butterfly doors (which required an all-new mechanism), working steering, and deployable rear wing.

There’s also a serious level of attention to detail, both within the engine bay and interior, making 42172 one of the few sets to carry the ’18+’ age stamp that we can well believe.

The brand new LEGO Technic 42172 McLaren P1 set will be available to purchase exclusively from LEGO online/stores from August 1st 2024, carrying a price-tag to match the set’s enormous scale. Expect to pay £389.99 / $449.99 / €449.99, with each set including a unique serial number that unlocks bonus content, and even your non-LEGO-fan friends to want it.