John O’Neill has a long one. This brilliantly detailed replica of a real-world truck comes from Ralph Savelsberg, who has recreated Irish heavy hauler John O’Neill’s rare Renault T 8×4 and Dennison 3-axle trailer.
Ralph’s model includes the real truck’s fold-out crane and working stabiliser legs as well as its fetching livery, and you can take a look on Flickr via the link.
Much like when your Mom sits at one end of a picnic bench and someone else has to quickly sit at the other so it doesn’t cartwheel across the park, cranes need a counterweight. Cue this excellent Mercedes-Benz Actros MP4 truck, pulling a huge Nooteboom OVB-95-07 trailer.
Those big boxes on the Nooteboom are crane ballast, and they are very heavy indeed. As they need to be, because the crane boom’s length multiplies the effect of the load it’s lifting.
This ballast transport comes from Keko007 of Flickr, accompanying his recently recently featured Liebherr crane, and there’s much more to see at his ‘Mercedes Actros MP4 6×8 & Nooteboom OVB-95-07 Ballast Trailer’ album on Flickr. Head there now via the link above – just make sure someone else sits down on the picnic bench before you get up…
We love an unpretentious workhorse here at The Lego Car Blog, and things don’t come more unpretentious and workhorsey than an FSC Star 200. In white.
This wonderful Model Team recreation of the humble ‘80s lorry comes from previous bloggee damjan97PL / damianPLE, whose model captures the truck from his native Poland beautifully.
Damian’s model includes a mechanical tipper with a locking tailgate, a working inline-6 engine under a tilting cab, opening doors, and steering by both the wheel and ‘HOG’.
Building instructions are available and you can follow the Star on both Eurobricks and Bricksafe, where there’s lots more to see.
TLCB’s home nation likes a neatly painted truck. Most trucks are still plain white of course, but many firms go the extra mile with their visual identity, painting their vehicles in beautiful colours that hark back to the days of horse-drawn carts, canal boats, and traction engines. This is one such truck, a Volvo FH12 operated by Newis heavy haulage and constructed superbly by Flickr’s Ralph Savelsberg. There’s more to see at Ralph’s photostream and you get your brushes out via the link above.
If you’ve been vaguely aware of the news over the past few weeks it’s been getting a bit bomby in the Middle East.
That’s because President Trump knew that Iran were going to start a war with America, a war that they in fact started 47 years ago, and so he started a war himself, that’s not a war, that Iran started. Ok it might be a war, but it’s not about regime change. It’s about Iran’s imminent use of the nuclear weapons that America “completely and totally obliterated” only last year. Although the regime has also changed.
Anyway, the not-a-war will only last a few weeks, in fact it’s already been won. Although it might go on forever. And NATO need to grow a pair a get involved. Not that Trump needs them.
And if all that sounds like the ravings of an unfiltered toddler making the words up literally as they leave their mouth, that’s because it is.
Thus here’s NATO’s actual front line – the one designed to keep America safe from the Soviet Union behind the buffer of Europe, which isn’t in the Middle East at all – a tremendous Czech Tatra 815-7 8×8 Starkom electronics jammer.
Constructed by Samuel Nerpas (aka Tatrovak), this incredible creation features all-wheel-drive and all-wheel-steering via eight Power Functions XL Motors and two Servos, working all-wheel suspension with adjustable ride height via two M Motors, and pneumatically driven stabilisers via another M Motor. Two CaDa micromotors power the roof-mounted weapons system, with all fifteen operable remotely via a pair of BuWizz Bluetooth bricks, plus there’s a tilting cab complete with a fully detailed interior, opening doors and hatches.
It’s a hugely impressive build, and you can take a closer look at what is still the front line of NATO, which is not in Iran, via both Eurobricks and Flickr.
TLCB top tip; want a rear-wheel-drive Japanese V10-engined icon but can’t afford a Lexus LFA? Get yourself a 1970s Isuzu truck!
Yes the Isuzu V10ss had a V10 engine under the curvy cab, providing the power for all sorts of heavy duty applications across Asia.
This spectacular replica of the classic Japanese truck comes from previous bloggee TsungNing Lee, who has recreated the V10ss beautifully.
There’s working steering, a functional tipper, a tilting cab, and of course a brick-built V10 engine. Take our tip and visit Tsung’s ‘Isuzu V10ss Truck’ album for more stunning imagery.
It’s been a quiet week here at TLCB Towers. Elves have returned, creations have been published, and no-one’s been squashed at all. Until today.
This enormous lime green machine is a 1980s Terex 33-11C, actually one of Terex’s smaller mining trucks, and one that was used extensively in Britain’s open cast mines.
It comes from Flickr’s Beat Felber who has not only expertly recreated the 33-11C’s exterior, he’s fitted his spectacular creation with remote control drive, steering, and tipping, courtesy of an SBrick programmable Bluetooth controller and a suite of Power Functions motors.
Being a mining truck of course, Beat’s Terex is much too slow to run over any TLCB Elves, but the Elf that found it took great care loading it up with gravel from the pot plant in the corridor, reversed slowly up to some of its unsuspecting colleagues, and promptly tipped the load on top of them. And then ran them over. Sigh.
Points for Elven ingenuity we suppose. Anyway, whilst we tidy that up you can check out more of Beat’s superb Terex 33-11C at his Flickr album of the same name. Click the link above to take a look.
When is a DAF not a DAF? When it’s a GINAF. No, us neither, but this is indeed a GINAF, specifically a M3132-S 360 ATI, which admittedly sounds like a washing machine.
It comes from DAF-building specialist Arian Janssens, who has captured the enormous three axle hook-lift / tipper / crane / trailer arrangement superbly.
Multi-axle steering, a working crane, removable tipping container and hook-lift all feature, and you can see more of this giant GINAF on Flickr via the link.
We’ve featured a lot of Unimogs over the years here at The Lego Car Blog. Some of which are very big, very detailed, and packed with working features. Today’s is very small, very detailed, and packed with working features.
Built by Flickr’s Reddish Blue, this Unimog U5023 isn’t reddish-blue at all, being rather yellow, and has got as much going on as models ten times its size. There’s working steering and suspension, three drop-sides, working stabiliser legs, and an incredible posable Palfinger crane complete with a functional winch.
An astonishing amount of visual detail joins this wealth of functionality, and is all the more impressive given the model is barely 8-studs wide.
Exquisitely presented, there’s a huge amount more of Reddish Blue’s phenomenally rendered creation to see at his ‘Mercedes-Benz Unimog U 5023’ album, where links to building instructions can also be found. Take a look via the link above at the best small-scale ‘mog you’re likely to see this year.
From a tiny RC truck to one that’s rather larger, this is nico71’s splendid fully remote controlled 1:30 Scania.
Fitted with a pair of LEGO Power Functions motors for drive and steering, Nico’s truck also features opening doors, a tilting cab, lockable three-axle trailer steering, working support legs, and – if motors aren’t your thing – a manual version that switches the electronics for ‘HOG’ steering and a piston engine.
Building instructions for both versions are available, and you can find full details plus a video of the truck in action at the Eurobricks forum here, plus you can check out Nico’s interview in the Master MOCers series via this bonus link.
One of our Elves is rather grumpy today. You see, despite finding a blogworthy creation (and therefore getting fed), our mythical workers also hope to find something remotely controlled, and large and fast enough to flatten as many fellow Elves as possible. Today’s creation is, well… not that.
But it is – amazingly – remote controlled, thanks to tiny Circuit Cube electrics hidden within the cab. Just seven studs wide, this neat MAN TGX tanker truck by previous bloggee Ts_ can remotely drive and steer, and even the trailer has mechanically operable support legs too.
Thus whilst it can’t squash a TLCB Elf (much to the annoyance of the one that found it) it is a thoroughly intriguing creation nonetheless, and you can see how it all works at the Eurobricks forum via the link above.
The early-’90s were a golden era for LEGO’s ‘Town’ theme. Shops, restaurants, race tracks, 9V trains, and – our favourite – sea ports. The pinnacle was 6542 Launch & Load Seaport, which included two ships, a marvellous crane, and a truck, from which containers of various loads could be transferred to sea or rail, with LEGO ingeniously standardising the container mounts across a wide variety of sets.
Friend of TLCB Thirdwigg (aka wigboldy) is on a mission to recreate this glorious Town set in Technic form, including an upscaled version of 6542’s truck and the containers it carried. With working steering, deployable trailer support legs, and a piston engine under the tilting cab, the increased scale affords a few more working features than the four-wide original, and you can check out further images of Thirdwigg’s fantastic truck and the other components within his 6542 project created so far via the link above.
We’re trucking across the Netherlands today, thanks to two brilliant brick-built Dutch trucks. Well, one’s German, but it’s in use by a Dutch building materials company, so it still counts.
The first (above) is the work of serial bloggee Arian Janssens, and is a lovely classic DAF FA 3300 ATI with a matching drawbar trailer in tow. Working steering, openable load areas, and beautiful detailing all feature, and you can see more of Arian’s DAF via the link above.
Our second Dutch truck (below) is a 2010s MAN TGX, also outfitted with a three-axle trailer, plus a crane, a superbly replicated livery, and a suite of remote control motors to bring it to life. Flickr’s z_onno is its maker and you can see all the images of this excellent modern-day MAN via the link in the text above.
No we’re not talking about the utter scumbags who tip their trash on the side of the road, but – today – all of us, because this lovely mini dump truck can be built for free, courtesy of previous bloggee Thirdwigg.
It features working steering, a mechanically raising tipper, opening doors and dropsides, plus those free building instructions (a hundred TLCB Points to Thirdwigg), and you can dump for free on Flickr via the link above.
No we’re not talking about ‘Immigration and Customs Enforcement’ officers again, but rather this utterly splendid Volvo FH 8×4 truck, complete with a rear-mounted Fassi knuckleboom crane. Constructed by TLCB Master MOCer and regular bloggee Ralph Savelsberg, the model recreates a truck in use by British heavy haulage firm ‘Rawcliffe and Sons’, with accurate decals replicating the livery of its real-world counterpart. Brick-built outriggers and posable four-wheel steering also feature, and you can drag your knuckles over to Ralph’s photostream for more superb imagery via the link above.