Tag Archives: tractor

The Alternative

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Here at The Lego Car Blog we’re big fans of up-cycling. Repurposing one thing into another thing is both advantageous to the wallet, and means that one fewer new thing has had to be made, usually by digging something out of the ground/cutting down a tree, melting/refining it in a factory, and shipping it in a giant box full of other new things half-way round the world.

Of course LEGO by design is an up-cycler’s dream. Endlessly reusable, reconfigurable, and hand-down-able, it is the antidote to crappy single-use plastic toys that will last a thousand times longer in landfill or our oceans than they will in the hands of a child.

Cue previous bloggee M_Longer, who today demonstrates LEGO’s greatest attribute brilliantly by up-cycling two 2025 entry-level Technic sets into entirely new models.

M_Longer’s JCB Fastrac (above) uses every one of the parts from the 42199 Monster Jam DIGatron set, whilst his helicopter (below) swaps the ocean depths of the 42201 Deep-Sea Research Submarine for the skies, and includes a pitching main rotor and a hand crank that turns it and the tail rotor simultaneously.

There’s more to see of M_Longer’s 42199 JCB Fastrac, or alternatively his 42201 helicopter, at both Eurobricks (where links to building instructions can also be found) and Bricksafe, and you can take a look at each up-cycled alternate via the links below;

Helicopter: Eurobricks / Bricksafe, JCB Fastac: Eurobricks / Bricksafe

Training Day

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We’re a car blog here at the, um… Lego Car Blog, but we do like other forms of brick-built transport too. Cue today’s array of vintage railway-based machinery, all of which come from Franz of Flickr, who has created them beautifully to fit with LEGO’s traditional 6-wide tracks.

Whilst LEGO’s own trains and rolling stock were 6-wide too, Franz has added an extra stud to allow for enhanced realism, with his lovely steam and SLB E11 locomotives also fitted with Power Functions motorisation.

Flatbed wagons (complete with vehicular cargo) and a tanker car accompany the power units, with all superbly presented at Franz’s photostream. Take a look via the link above, where you can find the four fantastic creations pictured here and much more besides.

Scrumping Season

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Scrumping – the thievery of fruit from orchards – is a traditional English pastime. Said bounty is then often fermented into cider, which encourages more thievery. We realise we’re not helping to dispel the myth that rural Britain is stuck in 1933 here…

Anyway, the aforementioned low-level fruit-based criminality leads us nicely to a low-level fruit-based vehicle, and this neat Case IH 695 orchard tractor.

Constructed by Jacob Sitzberger a whole basket of imagery is available on Flickr, and you can head to the orchard for a bit of scrumping via the link above!

Activision Blizzard

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We like simple mechanical models here at The Lego Car Blog. LEGO’s 1988 Town set 6524 ‘Blizzard Blazer’ (or simply ‘Snow Plough’ in TLCB’s home nation) was a small, fairly ugly tractor, featuring Technic tyres, a posable plough, and a smiling mini-figure. It’s also the inspiration behind previous bloggee Thirdwigg’s upscaled Technic version, which – whilst somewhat larger and considerably more complicated – still flies the flag for mechanical simplicity.

Equipped with a posable plough, a rear-mounted rotating thresher thingy, or a neat drawbar trailer, Thirdwigg’s creation is nicely adaptable too. A working power-take off, adjustable hitches, and ‘HOG’ steering add to the playability, and you can see more – including a link to free building instructions – at Thirdwigg’s ‘Blizzard Blazer’ album, plus you can read his interview in TLCB Master MOCers series via this bonus link.

Support System

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Everyone needs some support now and then, even the perennially-smiling spacemen of Classic Space. And what better way to support them than via the perennially-smiling Spaceship Support Team, shown here at the wheel of their tractors, on hand with tools, refuelling, and a lift. Flickr’s David Roberts is the man in charge and you can see more at his photostream via the link above.

Steamy Erection

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A long time ago it wasn’t diesel, electricity, or gasoline that powered humanity’s vehicles, but steam. Very heavy, with minimal range and requiring regular impractical refuelling, steam-powered vehicles were nevertheless immensely powerful – far more so than those powered by other fuels – and thus they were the engines of choice for heavy duty applications, even as all other vehicle types moved on.

This is one such steam vehicle, Nikolaus Löwe‘s fabulous Fowler traction engine, here outfitted with a working crane. Connected to the tractor-part via a wonderfully complicated-looking arrangement of ratchets and gears, Nikolaus’ creation harks back to an era of coal, soot, noise, and perhaps a little magic.

Get steamy at Nikolaus’ photostream via the link above, whilst we ponder if today’s electric fuel of choice – being very heavy, with minimal range and requiring regular impractical refuelling, but nevertheless immensely powerful – really marks a century’s worth of progress from when this was trundling down the roads.

Case Study

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Whilst we are predominantly a Car Blog, we do like a Big Red Tractor. Because we’re children. And this one is excellent.

Constructed by newcomer Jacob Sitzberger it’s a Case IH 395, the smallest of Case’s 1990s 95-series tractors.

No only is Jacob’s model beautifully detailed, it also includes a working three-cylinder engine, a steered front axle with pendulum suspension, a rear power-take-off and three-point-hitch, and it comes with a variety of attachments.

An extensive gallery of images is available to view at Jacob’s ‘Case IH 395’ album on Flickr, where a link to its LEGO Ideas page can also be found. Click the link above to make the jump if you like Big Red Tractors as much as we do.

One Man Went To Mow

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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…

Greeble Farm

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‘Greebling’, one of many nerdisms from the Online Lego Community, involves outfitting a creation – usually a spacecraft – with a myriad of tiny grey pieces to add texture, complexity, and to make them look more science-fiction-y.

But those little grey parts, so often individually lost in sea of their neighbours, can look brilliant in insolation, as proven here by previous bloggee Andre Pinto, and this wonderful vintage tractor.

Comprising only a handful of pieces, they form the engine, drive-line, light brackets, exhaust, rear hitch and PTO, and have been perfectly selected for each task.

There’s more to see at Andre’s ‘My First Tractor’ album, and you can head to the greeble farm via the link above.

Trailing Fast

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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

My Other Tractor’s… er, Also a John Deere

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The LEGO Technic 42157 John Deere 948L-II Skidder set is one that – after a look through our archives – we must’ve missed, what with it not being there. Still, we’ve never claimed to be competent, and the set does look rather good. Cue Dyens Creations of Flickr, who has repurposed the 42157 John Deere to create, well… another John Deere.

Dyens’ is the 9R, an XL wheeled tractor with up to 700bhp (there’s a tracked one too, which looks mad), outfitted in this case with a pneumatically operated bulldozer blade. There’s also articulated steering, a working piston engine, and a rear hitch with PTO, and there’s more to see of Dyens’ 42157 John Deere B-Model on Flickr.

Trio of Tractors

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The Elves, being simple creatures, like tractors very much. TLCB staff, being simple creatures, also like tractors very much. Today we have three, so everyone is very happy, and there’ll be rather fat Elf waddling around the office later. Flickr’s Frank is behind this lovely trio of tractors and there’s more to see of each – as well as his other excellent vehicular creations – via the link in the text above.

Typical Porsche Driver

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Porsche – as per Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, Lamborghini and almost every automotive brand – are today mostly an SUV manufacturer. Sigh.

But they haven’t abandoned their roots quite as much as would first appear, as they – like Lamborghini – have off-road vehicles as much a part of their early history as their current line-up.

Many of these were of a military purpose designed for a certain moustachioed maniac, which Porsche don’t seem keen to highlight in their corporate history, but Porsche also built tractors, such as this rather cute Porsche-Diesel Standard 218.

Powered by a two-cylinder 25bhp air-cooled diesel engine, the Standard 218 could be outrun by even the fattest TLCB Writer, but unlike the fattest TLCB Writer it could also lift over half-a-ton on its three-point-hitch.

This lovely Model Team replica of the Porsche-Diesel Standard 218 recreates the tractor (and hitch) beautifully, with superb attention to detail paid in particular to the Porsche’s visible mechanical parts.

TLCB newcomer dimnix is the builder behind it, and there’s more to see of this excellent classic Porsche-Diesel at their Brickshelf gallery. Click the link above to jump back to when an off-road Porsche didn’t mean an aggressively-driven Cayenne.

A Claas Act

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It’s not all supercars and hot rods here at The Lego Car Blog. Mostly this is because we’re pretty rubbish at sticking to our brief, but it’s also because we rather like trucks, diggers, tractors, and other workhorse-like machinery. This example was discovered by one of our Elves on Bricksafe, it’s a Claas Axion tractor by mpj, features working steering and rear hitch mechanisms, and there’s more to see via the link. Plus if you’re as into green farm machinery as we are (frankly it’s a miracle we have partners…) you can check out LEGO’s own officially-licensed and throughly brilliant Claas tractor set by clicking here, and its smaller brother here, back from the earliest days of this website. We’ve clearly been nerding out over tractors for some time…

A Lot of Front

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This is a New Holland TD90 tractor, and it’s large, slow, and rather front-heavy. Just like your Mom. Unlike your Mom however, it has been recreated superbly in brick form by Flickr’s Damian Z, and comes complete with a range of attachments including a forklift, straw bailer, and the front-loader bucket shown here. A full gallery of excellent imagery is available and you can take a look at all the pictures by clicking these words.