The finest brick-built livery ever? If not it’s a sure top three. This brilliant Iveco Scuderia Ferrari transporter from the 2008 F1 season is the work of Ryan Link of Flickr, and it has some of the most intricate brick-work we’ve ever seen. The whole truck opens up too, with a double-deck car ramp, sliding tool storage and a flip-up awning. See more via the link above.
Featuring two Mercedes-Benz Actros 8×4 trucks, a Nooteboom steered-trailer and a Volkswagen Transporter, this heavy haulage team is very probably the most impressive multi-model build of the year.
The complete set has been designed and built by the immensely talented Jaap Technic, and each vehicle is one of the most astonishingly well detailed Lego creations that we’ve ever published.
Each Mercedes-Benz Actros truck includes a fully detailed cab inside and out, with the interior reached through opening doors and the V8 engine accessed via a tilting cabin.
Twin XL Motors power the trucks’ driven wheels whilst a Servo Motor turns the front two steering axels of each tractor unit, plus there are working LED lights front and rear, all controlled by a third-party SBrick bluetooth-compatible receiver.
The Volkswagen Transporter convoy support van isn’t left out either, with a trick Brickstuff sourced working light-bar and custom decals throughout.
Jaap has photographed the complete haulage team beautifully and we highly recommend taking a look. Click here to see the full gallery on Flickr and here to read further details of the build and join the discussion on Eurobricks.
LEGO’s 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper set is a firm favourite with builders and TLCB staff alike. Suggested by a reader, xin zhao‘s 10-wide version looks like the official set was put on too hot a wash, yet it’s much more than simply a small-scale version of LEGO’s own VW. Underneath the famous microbus bodywork is a full remote control drivetrain, with an L Motor for drive, Servo steering, an infrared receiver and a battery box – all cunningly concealed inside where you’d usually expect to find a collection of tie-die garments and some medicinal herbs. There’s more to see on MOCpages – click the link above to make the trip.
This magnificent 1953 Esso service station is the work of previous bloggee Andrea Lattanzio (aka Norton74) and it’s probably as close to perfect as a Lego creation can possibly be.
Designed by Dutch architect Willem Dudock 112 of these beautiful structures were built across the Netherlands following World War 2 in order to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding road network. Dudock’s brief was to design a station that was cheap and simple to construct, and that minimised the raw material usage – a critical factor for a country rebuilding itself after years of conflict.
Andrea’s incredible recreation of Dudock’s ingenious design is not light on raw material however, as every conceivable detail has been replicated perfectly in Lego form, from the beautiful art deco fuel pumps (attended by Andrea’s previously blogged Volkswagen Transporter) to the brilliantly detailed workshop tooling.
We highly recommend taking a trip Andrea’s wonderful Flickr Photostream where you can see more of the Netherlands in 1953, and we may also be seeing more of Andrea here at TLCB soon…
“Medic!!”, is a cry that can often be heard screamed in Elvish across the TLCB executive editorial penthouse. Our research team enjoy every possible opportunity to smush each other into the deep shag carpet. Well, we assume that’s what they’re shouting. To be honest we’re a monoglot lot and haven’t a clue what they’re saying. We tend to conduct negotiations with our crew in terms of the carrot and stick (Mr. Airhorn and Smarties).
If Elvish paramedics were to respond to the call, they’d do well to turn up something like this vintage VW Splitscreen Barndoor Ambulance from redfern1950s on Flickr. Included in its description are details of how these vehicles differed from the minibuses from which they were converted. Redfern’s photostream is well worth a visit. It also contains fire engine, pick-up and hearse versions of this classic vehicle, plus his interpretation of Colin Furze’s hoverbike.
This gorgeous replica of Volkswagen’s classic T1 Transporter comes from TLCB favourite and previous bloggee Andrea Lattanzio aka Norton74. The latest version in his line of classic Volkwagens, Andrea’s newest build depicts the iconic van in an unusual 1950s canvas pick-up specification, and it looks absolutely wonderful. Complete with an Esso oil barrel load and some superb exterior decals it’s one of the most realistic models that we’ve found this year. We highly recommend further viewing via Andrea’s Flickr photostream – put a tiger in your tank at the link above.
LEGO might have launched their own (and thoroughly good) Volkswagen camper, but that doesn’t stop you guys from having a go too. Senator Chinchilla has done just that, and although his VW Transporter camper takes many cues from the licensed 10220 set, he’s able ramp the detail up far beyond that of an official LEGO product. The biggest change is at the front – which is gloriously intricate when compared to the simplicity of LEGO’s – and it looks superb. There’s lots more to see at Senator’s photostream – click the link above to smell the bong-water.
We’re pretty sure that over the years quite a few custodians of Volkswagen’s iconic Transporter have been on a trip to outta space. And then woken up spooning a stolen traffic cone and smelling of something foreign. Seriously kids, don’t do drugs. Anyway, back to the model; this neat VW Camper-esque creation comes from piratecox as part of the Febrovery fun over on Flickr, and we can only imagine what that mini-figure spaceman has got inside his ‘air’ tanks. See more via the link above.
This year’s Febrovery kicks off with a vehicle from Shannon Sproule that harks back to the days of Victorian motoring, mixed with NASA and Classic Space aesthetics. What do you mean, “It’s still Ma.Ktober?”. We’ve got a chicken transporter, complete with its own wattle, by Angus McLane to post too. One of these days The Lego Car Blog staff will finally understand sci-fi…
Normal service will now be resumed.
Volkswagen’s original Transporter is an undeniably cute vehicle, but it probably isn’t the best platform on which to build a fire engine. Still, despite it being their slowest response equipment since the horse, the T1 did indeed find use with fire departments. We hope the fires were small…
This neat recreation of the world’s most slovenly fire engine comes from previous bloggee sm01. As well as looking rather nice it’s also remote control, and you can see more on both Flickr and MOCpages.
LEGO’s latest flagship, the Technic 42043 Mercedes-Benz Arocs set, is currently generating a bit of a buzz in the online Lego Community, and Polish Lego group LUGpol has tasked its members with diversifying the official set by building a new vehicle from the original cab.
We featured a superb remotely controlled Arocs flatbed rescue truck here earlier, which we thought would be tough to beat, but Brickshelf’s GIJack might have taken the lead with his excellent 3-vehicle car transporter. Yes, you can fit not one, but three broken Fiats on-board. Or some nice shiny new cars of course.
There’s a full gallery of high quality images available on Brickshelf via the link above, plus you can read our Review of the official 42043 Mercedes-Benz Arocs set by clicking here.
Wise if slightly ironic words from the late King of Pop. Today’s two opposingly-hued Town creations show that even the trickiest of colours can be photographed beautifully.
Above is -derjoe-‘s wonderfully accurate Volkswagen Transporter, whilst below TLCB regular _Tiler is making another appearance, this time with a gorgeous classic Chevrolet Camaro.
There’s more to see of each 6-wide masterpiece via the links above, and if you’d like a few tips on how to take photos as good as these two, click this link.
We’d steer clear of this flower-laced Volkswagen T2 camper – it’s most likely filled with smelly hippies and dirty bong water. But it does make for a neat Lego model. Filip Gabryel is the builder and there’s more to see here.
