Tag Archives: Tug Boat

Dutch Rudder

Rolling coal‘ is for idiots. Aside from blasting a load of carcinogenic particulates into the air as some sort of moronic ‘anti-environment’ protest, plumes of black smoke actually signify wasted fuel, ergo less power. Which is why we don’t use steam engines any more.

That said, we do still like a good steam engine (which is possibly the saddest sentence in the English language), and so too does TLCB debutant Jebbo, who has built three unfathomably beautiful Dutch steam tugs from our favourite plastic bricks.

Each model is an exquisitely detailed replica of a real steam tug boat, of which two are apparently still running on coal.

Amazing attention to detail and ingenious building techniques are in abundance and there’s more to see of Jebbo’s ‘Furie’, ‘Hercules’, and ‘Noordzee’ steam tug boats at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the link above to roll coal the right way.

Chumdinger

This gloriously grey steamer comes from Daniel Church of Flickr, whose ‘Chumdinger’ steampunk tugboat plies the dirty waters of a Victorian Thames. And what waters they are too, with Daniel creating the bow waves and paddle churn absolutely beautifully in trans tiles. That’s not a very ‘TLCB’ thing to write, as we’re normally focussed on engines and whatnot, but fortunately the Chumdinger has one of those too, with the pistons pumping and paddle turning brilliantly via a hidden Power Function motor. There’s more to see of Daniel’s superb creation at his photostream – click the link above to head to the past on London’s river.

Last of the Steam Tugs

Lego Saturn Steam Tug

This is the ‘Saturn’, a 1908 German steam tug which saw active duty right up until 1979. That made it the very last serving steam tug in Germany and earned it a place in the Rostock Shipping Museum, where it still resides today. This gorgeous 1:40-scale replica of the last steam tug comes from Flickr’s koffiemoc who has recreated the little ship beautifully in Lego form. There are lots more images to see – including highlights of the brilliant detailing and ‘how to’ pictures of the hull construction – at koffiemoc’s photostream. Steam ahead via the link above.

Not a Car

Lego Tug Boat

This beautiful Lego tug boat is not a car, but for reasons unknown this TLCB writer quite like tug boats, and thus it’s appearing here! Built as a commissioned piece by Arjan Oude Kotte it’s an example of exceptional Lego model-making, and there are more superb images to see at Arjan’s album on Flickr. Tug yourself off at the link above.

Shipping Forecast

Lego Tugger

TLCB Towers is located in an island nation (over 6,000 islands in fact). This means that – if we so wish – we can listen to a uniquely crap bit of radio. The Shipping Forecast can be heard four times a day courtesy of our state broadcaster and the Coastguard & Maritime Agency, updating the sailors in our waters to the incoming weather, sea conditions and currents, and boring everybody else into a gentle coma.

Still, it’s useful stuff if you’re tug boat captain. Fortunately this hi-vis adorned mini-figure is, and the Lego tug boat under his helm is a work of maritime art. Previous bloggee Konajra is the builder behind it, and he’s constructed an absolutely beautiful harbour scene to accompany his stunning ship too.

There’s lots more to see at Konajra’s Flickr photostream – click here for the complete gallery of superb images.

Lego Harbor

Not a Car

Tug 01

“Not a Car” is The Lego Car Blog’s default title for the ‘planes, trains, boats, spaceships and other stuff that we occasionally feature here which is not a car (or truck, or lorry, or other motorised thing with wheels). JPascal Taipei has created this tug boat, only it’s not a tug boat, it’s sort of a spaceship. Only it floats in the air, so it’s an airship but it doesn’t have a gas bag, so it’s not an airship. You begin to see why sci-fi causes chaos and confusion in the TLCB editorial suite. Regardless, we think that it’s rather nicely designed and we like the clockwork winch play feature. You can see more of it and its Lego siblings from the strange world of Ian McQue by following this link to JPascal’s Photostream.

tug02