Tag Archives: truck

The Weird One

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The Mercedes-Benz section of our A-Z of Lego Trucks is about 85% Unimog. A licensed LEGO set, alternates built from other LEGO sets, fire trucks, snow plows, tippers, cranes… there are nearly as many brick-built variants of Mercedes-Benz’s famous off-road tractor as there are variations of the real thing.

Cue TLCB Master MOCer, and builder behind many of the Unimogs already in the Archive, Kyle Wigboldly (aka Thirdwigg), who adds another to his already expansive back-catalogue. And this time it’s the weird one.

Thirdwigg’s Technic 1:21 recreation of the Unimog U90 captures its strange asymmetrical form brilliantly and is packed with working functionality. An inline 5-cylinder engine under an opening hood is turned by the wheels, there’s working ‘HOG’ steering, a rear portal axle, rear hitch, tipping load bed, and a variety of attachments than can mount both fore and aft, including a winch, street-sweeper, and snow plow.

Building instructions are available and you can find a link to them plus all of the excellent imagery at Thirdwigg’s ‘Unimog U90 1:21’ album on Flickr. Take a look at the weirdest Unimog of the lot via the final link in this post, plus you can discover how Thirdwigg creates models like this one via his interview here at TLCB by clicking on the third.

The A-Z of Lego Trucks

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If you want to find all the best Lego models of your favourite car brand that the web has to offer, then look no further than our A-Z of Lego cars. A multitude of manufacturers from Alfa to Volvo are present, which admittedly doesn’t quite get the list to Z yet, but a few more Zastavas and we’ll be there.

We don’t stop at cars either. If you prefer your vehicles with two wheels and a predisposition to make you an organ donor, the A-Z of Lego motorbikes packs in everything from BMW to Vespa.

But what if you’re reading this from your cab in a truck stop, or you just like really big Lego vehicles? Well here at The Lego Car Blog we haven’t forgotten you… this is the A-Z of Lego Trucks!

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DAF

We kick off our truck list not with A, but with DAF. Which at least has an A in it. Dozens of DAFs are in the Archive, with most from just a single builder. Find them all via the link above.

Freightliner

Famously flat fronted, except when they’re not, the American heavy-duty truck maker has appeared here half-a-dozen times so far. Click here to find all the brick-built Freightliners in the Archive to date.

GAZ

Mostly Soviet-era military off-road trucks designed to go where the roads end. Many of the models we’ve featured have been designed with that in mind too, being powered by a suite of motors, and you can find them all – motorised or static – by clicking here.

Hino

Toyota’s truck building subsidiary has appeared here at The Lego Car Blog only a fraction of the times of its car-making parent company, but the brick-built Hinos are excellent nonetheless. Find them here.

Isuzu

Fellow Japanese truck maker Isuzu bank rather more entries, including fire trucks, flatbeds, and of course Lego versions of their box trucks that are prolific the world over. Find them all in the Archives here.

Iveco

The fifty year old Italian truck maker’s products have featured here around a dozen times over the years. Find every Iveco to appear via the link above.

Kamaz

Back to the USSR, and a Soviet brand which surprisingly isn’t almost exclusively military. Kamaz are a modern success story too, and you can find an array of their trucks old and new in the Archives here.

Kenworth

Some of the largest and most visually stunning trucks ever built in Lego are those of the century-old American brand. If you’re into Lego trucks at the absolute peak, click this link and gawp.

Mack

Aircraft haulers, garbage trucks, movie trucks, and even official LEGO sets, all manner of Mack models have appeared here to date. Find them all via the link above.

MAN

A vast variety of MAN models reside in the Archives, with the brand’s tippers, wreckers, heavy haulers, mobile cranes, and even off-road racers all represented. Find every MAN at the link above.

MAZ

Back to the Soviet Union, which of course means that many of the Archival entries are trucks designed to blow things up. But not all of them. Find trailers of cabbage alongside ballistic missiles here.

Mercedes-Benz

As famous for their trucks as they are their cars, over one-hundred Mercedes-Benz truck images are in the Archive to date. About 80% of which are Unimogs. Find them all, including several official LEGO sets, by clicking here.

Mitsubishi

Trucks don’t get any more workday than these. As white-goods as the brand’s air-conditioners, yet just as important to everyday life in East Asia, you can find each Mitsubishi truck to appear via the link.

Peterbilt

One of the most numerous brands in the Archive, there are some spectacularly detailed creations wearing the Peterbilt logo. Lights, chrome, and even a trailer full of beer are available here.

Renault

France’s national truck maker is most famous for one particular model, named after a champagne bottle. Or an ice cream. Or a condom. Find all the Magnums (plus a few other Renault trucks too) by clicking here.

Scania

Europe’s most stylish truck brand. So we’ve picked something square from the seventies for the thumbnail… Find a huge quantity of Scanias past and present by clicking these words.

Tatra

The highest average wheel-count of any truck manufacturer in the Archives, most Lego Tatras have eight. And nearly as many electric motors. A truck-trial favourite, join the off-road fun here.

Volvo

Dozens of Volvo trucks have appeared here to date, plus a whole array of construction equipment to wear the iron logo too. Find fan-built models and official LEGO sets alike by clicking here.

Ural

Named after the mountains in their Russian homeland, most Urals in the Archive are – unsurprisingly – of a military flavour. They’re also really very good indeed. Click the link above to see them all.

ZIL

We couldn’t start with A, but thanks to ZIL we have Z in the bank! Tipper trucks, tankers, Arctic expedition vehicles, and – of course – weird Soviet military contraptions are all available here!

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That’s Lego creations representing twenty of the top truck manufacturers from DAF to ZIL, where there are sufficient entries in the Archives (and that we could remember when writing this…).

Of course if we’ve missed the one you’re looking for you can search for any truck make or model via the search function on every page. Plus a whole lot more besides. Happy trucking!

Howo Wowo!

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This is a SinoTruk Howo 8×4 tipper truck, and it’s incredible. OK, the real thing isn’t particularly, being just another generic-looking Chinese state-owned truck, but newcomer P McCatty’s Technic recreation sure is.

Powered by two BuWizz bluetooth batteries, MCatty’s model features eight-wheel-drive, four-wheel steering, live-axle suspension, a six-cylinder engine, and an on-board pneumatic compressor.

Said compressor generates pneumatic pressure that can be used to both tilt the cab or raise the huge tipping load bed, which alone uses six pneumatic cylinders in its operation.

There’s also opening and locking doors and tailgate, and opening hood revealing the radiators and spinning cooling fan, adjustable sun visors, windshield wipers and glovebox, and custom foam-filled RC off-road tyres.

It’s a seriously impressive piece of Technic engineering, and you can see how it’s been done courtesy of an extensive photo album on Flickr and a huge Bricksafe gallery, both of which include renders of the mechanics within, plus an incredibly detailed build description can be found at the Eurobricks forum.

Click the links above to take a closer look at one of the most impressive working Technic trucks of the year, you can watch McCatty’s SinoTruk Howo in action via the excellent video below, and you can even find building instructions so you can recreate it for yourself via the various links above.

The Western Front

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Today’s diorama above is an all-too-familiar scene from current news. A helicopter hovers above, a self-propelled gun lurks below, a rocket-launcher fires from behind a tank-defence, whilst power lines, crops, and a humble home remind us of the daily life upended by the arrival of war. Yet this scene isn’t borne of a maniacal Russian President intent on restoring the Soviet Union, but rather a glimpse into a possible near future, wherein Russia has divided and is fighting itself. Flickr’s PelLego has published this fictional conflict in collaboration with several other builders, and you can take a look into their world-that-might-be via the link above.

Model Team Truckin’

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The release of LEGO’s Model Team line in the late-’80s / early-90’s (depending where you live) was a momentous shift in the trajectory LEGO building. Aimed at older children, the three debut sets in the Model Team range took the visual realism of LEGO to a whole new level compared to the simple blocky sets that were the limit just a few years before. The 5580 Highway Star set is perhaps the most iconic of those early offerings, and previous bloggee SvenJ. is giving us strong reminiscing vibes with his fantastic Peterbilt 359 flatbed truck (which is surely the real-world vehicle that inspired the original 5580 set). Sven’s beautiful construction is matched by top quality presentation, and you can check out this superb ode to Model Team past via the link in the text above.

Hooked

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The Lego Car Blog Elves love a big red truck, and they don’t come much bigger, redder, and truckier than this one. It’s a DAF FAW XF 450 hook-lift container truck, as built (and presented) beautifully by TLCB regular Arian Janessens. Working steered axles and a functional hook-lift feature, and there’s more to see on Flickr via the link above.

I Like to Move It*

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Technic vehicles are one of the reasons this backwater of the internet was created over a decade ago. Making things move is one of our favourite aspects of Technic, and today’s brilliant crane tipper truck by Alex Ilea exemplifies this wonderfully.

Controlled via BuWizz bluetooth brick, Alex’s creation replicates the movements of its real-world counterpart thanks to three Power Functions L Motors, and ingeniously a fourth M Motor that switches the model between ‘drive mode’ and ‘crane mode’ via a gearbox.

In drive mode the aforementioned electronics allow the model to drive and steer, and tip the load bed, whilst switching to ‘crane mode’ automatically deploys the stabilisers, with the motors then operating the crane’s rotation and two-stage elevation.

It’s a great example of how motors and mechanics can bring motion to a Lego model, and there’s lots more of the build to see at both Eurobricks and Alex’s Bricksafe gallery.

*Today’s title song. Or alternatively…

Multiple Loads

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Big trucks. Small trucks. Box trucks. Semi-Trucks. Long Nose. Cab-Over. Countless brick-built trucks have appeared here over the years, but often we forget why trucks exist in the first place. To pull stuff.

Cue Arian Janssens, who remembers the most important part of a truck is the thing it’s pulling.

Arian’s superb curtain-sided three-axle trailer complete with rear-mounted forklift, container trailer with shipping container, and container trailer with tank, each of which is built and presented beautifully (as is the DAF FT XD 450 Sleeper Cab pulling them).

There’s more to see of each (and the truck) on Flickr, and you can check out Arian’s multiple loads via the link above.

Tow Plow

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Summer is waining here in the northern hemisphere, which means for many readers, and perhaps TLCB Team, we’re on the path to winter snow. Fortunately previous bloggee M_longer is ready, having converted his LEGO Technic 42175 Volvo FMX Truck & EC230 Electric Excavator set into this spectacular Volvo VHD snow plow, complete with a gritter and secondary plow trailer in tow. A ‘tow plow’ if you will.

Utilising around 2,100 pieces from the 42175 set’s 2,274, M_longer’s alternate features working steering, a piston engine under the opening bonnet, a disengageable salt spreader / gritter, a pneumatically elevating front blade and – very cleverly – a pneumatically elevating trailer blade too, driven by the truck’s pneumatics.

Building instructions are available and you can find a link to them, full build details, and a reference image of the real ‘tow plow’ truck that inspired this build at the Eurobricks discussion forum, there are over forty high resolution images at M_longer’s ‘Tow-Plow’ Bricksafe gallery, plus you can check out this fantastic alternate in action via the video below.

YouTube Video

Ice Blocks

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Here at The Lego Car Blog we’re the best place to find the highest quality images of the finest Lego vehicles anywhere on the internet. OK… we’re a place to find said vehicles, but whist the quality of this site may be dubious, the vehicles and the imagery that appear here are top class.

Our Submission Guidelines set out what we look for, and key among these are clean, clutter-free images, preferably on a white background. This is the easiest way to ensure your creation is blog-worthy, but if you want to play in ‘hard mode’, then you can take your images to a whole new level…

Recent bloggee Nathan Hake has done just that, taking his previously blogged remote control MAZ-537 8×8 off-road truck (presented beautifully on a clean, clutter-free, white background), and chucking it onto the snow and mud.

The results are spectacular, with the Model Team MAZ looking almost life-size when set against a backdrop that the real vehicle was built for, and it also gave Nathan the chance to test his model’s off-road credentials.

You can watch how Nathan’s MAZ-537 got on in the snow by clicking here, where you can also find these stunning new on-location photos alongside the studio-based originals. Take a look via the link above, and perhaps be inspired to take your models outside too.

Acceptable in the ’80s

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A simple, efficient, small, pick-up truck would probably do brilliantly in 2024. But because they don’t cost much less to produce that monstrosities like this, guess what manufacturers choose to make…

Back in the ’80s though, and you could buy a simple, efficient, small, pick-up truck, with Toyota’s being so simple it didn’t even have a name, being called simply the ‘pick-up’.

It did in the rest of the world though, where the ‘Hilux’ gained a legendary reputation. This neat grey Technic recreation of the ’80s icon (pictured in front of some equally grey ’80s wallpaper – buy some white card paave!) comes from previous bloggee paave, and features four-wheel-drive linked to a 4-cylinder engine and a high/low gearbox, leaf-spring suspension, working steering, plus opening (and locking) doors, hood and tailgate.

There’s more of paave’s ’85 Toyota Hilux to see at the Eurobricks forum, where a link to building instructions can also be found. Build yourself a simple, efficient, small, pick-up truck in 2024 – even if it is from the ’80s – via the link above!

*Today’s (fantastic) title song.

Crapper

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We like merging words here at TLCB, but – much like a bulldog and a shih-tzu – we’re not sure merging ‘crane’ and ‘tipper’ has worked particularly well…

No matter, because the creational cause of the linguistic faux-pas is rather excellent, being both a crane and tipper truck, and a beautifully engineered one at that.

Constructed by previous bloggee Thirdwigg (aka Wigboldy), this neat all-mechanical Technic crane-tipper combo features functioning steering, working support legs, a 6-cylinder engine under a tilting cab, a two-way tipper, and a three-stage extending and rotating crane grab.

It’s all brilliantly packaged and highly playable, and there’s more to see of Thirdwigg’s model on Flickr. Click the link above for a cracker of a crapper.

Monster MAZ

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This astonishing vehicle is a MAZ 543, an enormous Soviet 8×8 truck developed in the 1960s as a strategic missile carrier. Powered by a near 40-litre tank engine, the 543 could weigh up to 41 tons loaded, featured eight-wheel-drive, four wheel steering, planetary hubs, and an on-board tyre inflation system.

The single-cab ‘M’ variant followed in 1976, with the amazing creation pictured here representing part of the ‘A222 Bereg’ coastal defence force, which consisted of around half-a-dozen artillery units, a couple of support vehicles, and a central command centre (which is this one), all based on MAZ 543 M platforms.

Samuel Nerpas’ incredible Technic recreation of the MAZ 543 M-based central command centre recreates the enormity of the real ‘A222 Bereg’ coastal defence force vehicles brilliantly, and is packed with working functionality.

Six Power Functions L-Motors drive all eight wheels, a Servo steers the first four, two M Motors power pneumatic compressors that operate the stabiliser legs and engine compartment blinds, whilst three more lift a rotating radar antenna and observation equipment through an opening roof hatch.

It’s a terrific example of Technic engineering, and you can take a closer look at this gargantuan creation via Samuel’s Flickr photostream and at the Eurobricks discussion forum, where a full build description and several videos of the model in action can be found.

Building Bridges

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Slightly less Russian military hardware will be unleashed on Ukraine of late, what with the latter’s decision to bring the conflict of Russia’s warmongering president to his own soil.

At least two Russian bridges, used to transport weaponry amongst other things, have been destroyed by Ukraine in recent weeks, making the scene above a little less common than it was a fortnight ago.

Said scene comes from previous bloggee Nathan Hake, whose MAZ-537 and gorgeous bridge-based diorama was built for a recent Lego show.

Fantastic attention to detail, presentation, and construction techniques are evident in abundance, with the MAZ packed with working functionality too, featuring remote control all-wheel-drive, steering, and trailer hitch lock, whilst the trailer also includes motorised legs and ramps.

There’s more to see at Nathan’s photostream and you can head to a bridge somewhere in Eastern Europe via the link above.

I’m Lovin’ It

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Created in 2003 by a German marketing agency to revitalise a stagnant McDonald’s, the Justin Timberlake voiced “I’m Lovin’ It”* campaign has been the brand’s tagline for over two decades. As have animal welfare violations, immediate-landfill plastic toys, and french fries with nineteen ingredients.

Cue previous bloggee Arian Janessens‘ excellent McDonald’s-liveried DAF FAR 85.360 truck and drawbar trailer, which would no doubt be loaded with the meat from miserable chickens, pointless plastic toys, and nineteen different fries ingredients if it were real.

Superb brickwork, top-notch presentation, and opening doors and ramps all feature, and you can place your order for Type 2 diabetes and heart disease via the link above.

*You may be able to tell but we are not, in fact, lovin’ it.