In more batshit crazy news this week, serial divorcee, bunkruptee, fake-tan enthusiast and convicted felon Donald Trump has indicated he might decide to invade sovereign territory of Denmark.
Yes, the nation of LEGO, bacon, and Hans Christian Andersen may well be pitched against their ally the United States by its orange-hued President. Despite the fact that the U.S already has an F-35 Lightning II equipped airbase in Greenland, and that Denmark is an F-35 customer.
Of course America operates more than just the F-35, with over two hundred F-15E Strike Eagles like this one still in service. The example here is of the 391st ‘Bold Tigers’, and is wearing its Afghanistan deployment livery where it fought an extreme religious autocracy responsible for numerous human rights abuses, rather than a small European nation responsible for delicious pastries.
Anyway, there’s more to see of this splendid F-15E Strike Eagle courtesy of TLCB Master MOCer Ralph Savelsberg (aka Mad Physicist) at his Flickr album of the same name. Click the link above to take a look, and perhaps invade a longstanding ally.
It’s fight night! And we have two long-time adversaries (and previously allies) in the diesel locomotive category. Starting in the yellow corner, from America, it’s the EMD GP 38-2! Aaaand in the black corner, from Russia, it’s the TEM-18DM!
Each is pulling the finest hardware from their respective militaries, and you can place your bets courtesy of TLCB debutant Konstantin on Flickr via the link! Let’s get ready to railrooooad!
This is the Northrop Grumman B-2A Spirit, otherwise known as the ‘Stealth Bomber’. In service since 1997 and designed to be invisible to radar, the B-2 is the only known stealth bomber capable of carrying nuclear bombs, which means it’s probably a good thing there are only twenty-one of them.
Well, twenty-two today, courtesy of previous bloggee Kenneth Vaessen. Constructed a decade ago but only recently photographed, Kenneth’s spectacular 1:36 scale B-2A Spirit is built from around 12,000 pieces, with working bomb bay hatches, flaps and landing gear doors, a folding crew entrance, refuelling receptacle, and a wing-span of nearly five feet (146cm).
It’s a jaw-dropping replica of one of the world’s most recognisable (and feared) aircraft, with more superb imagery available to see at Kenneth’s ‘LEGO Northrop Grumman B-2A Spirit 1:36’ album. Click the link above to be spirited there for a stealthy closer look.
Military marketeers get to use the coolest names (unless they’re Soviet of course, when it’s just a collection of letters), including Lightning, Storm Shadow, Typhoon, Tomahawk, and – as with today’s creation – Raptor.
Named after a pointy-beaked, pointy-footed bird, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor supersonic stealth fighter is used only by the Unites States, with just under 200 units currently in operation.
This spectacular brick-built version of the F-22A single-seat variant comes from Flickr’s Kenneth Vaessen, and includes an opening cockpit canopy, working landing gear, and opening bomb-bay doors, alongside some simply superb shaping.
A gallery of half-a-dozen excellent images is available to view and you can wing your way there via the link above.
This is a Vought F-8E Crusader II, one of the first supersonic carrier-based fighters, and it flew from the decks of U.S aircraft carriers from the late-‘50s right up until the mid-‘70s. Which of course meant it served in the Vietnam War, where it earned the nickname ‘MiG Killer’ because it, well… killed MiGs, with an astonishing 19:3 kill ratio.
This exceptional brick-built replica of the F-8E is the work of Flickr’s Juliusz D., and includes working landing gear, the Crusader’s trick variable incidence and folding wings, an opening cockpit, a deployable air-brake, functioning flaps, a full compliment of missiles and bombs, and phenomenally accurate period-correct markings.
It’s one of the finest Lego fighters we’ve ever featured, and you can take flight from a carrier deck somewhere in the South China Sea in 1967 via the link above.
The ‘Golden Warriors’ might sound like a Japanese kid’s cartoon or an army in ‘Game of Thrones’, but they are in fact a U.S Navy strike fighter squadron based out of Virginia.
Flying the F/A-18A since 1986, the VFA-87 ‘Golden Warriors’ were deployed in Operation Desert Storm, Bosnia, and the second Iraq War, before switching to the upgraded F/A-18E Super Hornet in 2015, in which they shot down the first manned aircraft since 1999 (a Syrian Su-22), in the skies over Syria.
It’s the upgraded F/A-18E Super Hornet we have here, courtesy of TLCB Master MOCer Ralph Savelsberg (aka Mad Physicist), whose phenomenal recreation of the U.S Navy fighter is pictured on a slice of the carrier deck from which the aircraft operates.
Folding wing-tips, detailed armaments, and retractable landing gear all feature, and you can find all of the superb imagery at Ralph’s ‘F/A-18E Super Hornet’ album.
If you subscribe to ‘Guns n’ Ammo’, election conspiracy theories, and the NRA, this post is for you!
The U.S military’s High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (or ‘Humvee’ more colloquially) has been in service since the mid-’80s, operating in a quite staggering number of conflicts, wars, counter-terrorism and anti-drug operations.
The invasion of Panama, the Gulf War, the Somalian Civil War, the Invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, the Philippines, Iraq again, and – currently – the Yemeni, Israeli, and Ukrainian conflicts, have all involved Humvees, with over sixty nations (plus independent militaries, armed groups, and even dickbags Islamic State) on the operators list.
It could be argued that few vehicles have had as much of an impact on the world as the Humvee, and this splendid ‘M1025’ variant captures the immense U.S. military export brilliantly in brick form.
Constructed by previous bloggee Jakeof_ there’s more of the build to see at his ‘M1025 HMMWV’ album on Flickr, where it’s photographed and presented beautifully. Shout ‘Freedom!!’ whilst clicking the link above, plus you can click here for a bonus civilian Hummer, which really is driven solely by ‘Guns n’ Ammo’ reading, election conspiracy theorising, NRA members.
Longstanding readers of this smoking hole in the corner of the internet will know that we’re not overly patriotic towards the United States of America (see here, here, here, here, and here). Firstly this is because we aren’t American, but mostly it’s because blind patriotism is simply believing mass marketing.
Today however, we are very much on the ‘Freedom!’ bandwagon, because this – America’s McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle – is very probably the greatest fighter aircraft ever made.
In operation for nearly fifty years, over 1,000 of the twin-engine all-weather tactical fighters have been produced, in that time scoring over a hundred victories without a single loss in aerial combat. Not one.
Still flying with the USAF, Japanese Air Force, Royal Saudi Air Force, Republic of Korea Air Force, and Israeli Air Force, F-15 Eagles remain one of the primary fighters of the democratic world some five decades after they were first introduced.
This particular variant is an F-15E Strike Eagle, developed in the 1980s for long-range missions, and in production until 1997. Built by previous bloggee [Maks] of Flickr, this spectacular replica of the F-15E recreates the iconic aircraft in incredible detail. Depicted in Desert Storm livery, [Maks]’s creation is complete with detailed landing gear, control surfaces, and weaponry, and features some ingenious building techniques to hold it all together.
There’s lots more of this astonishing model to see at [Maks]’s ‘F-15E Strike Eagle’ album, where nearly a dozen superb images are available to view. Take flight via the link above, whilst – just this once – we chant “USA! USA!”…
America’s ‘Air Force One’ has been flying Presidents since 1945. Beginning as a converted C-54 Skymaster transport plane during the Second World War, the distinctive Raymond Loewy-designed livery we know today first appeared in 1962 with this; ‘SAM 26000’, one of three Boeing 707s used for presidential transport throughout the ’60s and ’70s.
This spectacular replica of SAM 26000 is the work of the appropriately-named BigPlanes of Flickr, who has recreated the presidential Boeing 707, as used by John F. Kennedy prior to his assassination in 1963, in jaw-dropping detail.
A complete mini-figure scale interior and cockpit are contained within the astonishingly life-like exterior, which includes working flaps and retractable landing gear, and forty spectacular images are available to view at BigPlanes’ ‘LEGO Air Force One 707 SAM 26000’ album on Flickr.
This is a Kaman SH-2 Seasprite, a U.S Navy ship-based anti-submarine and search & rescue helicopter. Introduced in 1963, the Seasprite saw service in the Vietnam and Gulf Wars, and flew until 1993 with the U.S Navy, as well as being operated in small numbers by a several other nations.
This excellent (and rather wonderfully liveried) SH-2 Seasprite is the work of Robson M (aka BrickDesigners), who has captured both it and the rather exciting looking weaponry slung underneath beautifully.
Top quality building techniques and presentation abound, and there’s more to see of the SH-2, including its folding landing gear, opening doors, and cartoonesque missiles, at Robson’s photostream. Click the link above to get airborne.
In recent years most military vehicles – such as these these American ‘Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected’ (MRAP) light tactical vehicles – seem to be painted tan, what with all the oil being in the desert. Er, we mean the ‘complicated political nature of the Middle East’, or something.
Of course a certain minimally-endowed despot has changed the landscape somewhat, bringing war back to the greeny-brown lands of Europe, and we suspect many national militaries will be re-painting a proportion of their equipment accordingly, even if they have no intention of joining in.
However the ’90s-2010s will be remembered, in a military context at least, for desert-based conflicts, and the tan-coloured vehicles that operated in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other sandy locales.
Cue Robson M (aka BrickDesigners), and these excellent Middle-East spec MRAPs, armoured trucks, and personnel carriers. Each captures its real-world equivalent brilliantly, helped by custom decals and weaponry, and there’s more to see of all of Robson’s desert warfare vehicles on Flickr via the link.
Not a car, but rather brilliant nonetheless, this glorious Grumman F-14A Tomcat was found by one of our Elves on Flickr. It comes from previous bloggee [Maks], and – unusually for a brick-built fighter jet – it’s mini-figure scale. Tremendous detail abounds though, which [Maks] has enhanced via some excellent custom decals, and there’s much more of the build to see at his ‘F14A Tomcat’ album via the link.
Military things, like cars, are often named after exciting or deadly animals. Unless they’re from the Soviet Union of course, in which case an array of numbers and letters was sufficient.
Cue the Sikorsky RH-53D ‘Sea Stallion’, so called because ‘Sea Horse’ was already taken by another Sikorsky aircraft, but mostly because ‘Stallion’ sounds far more masculine.
The RH-35D was operated by the U.S Navy Marines from 1975 until 1997, primarily for mine clearing and heavy lifting, and it’s been recreated in incredible detail in Lego form by previous bloggee [Maks].
At 1:40 scale, [Maks]’s Sea Stallion measures 80cm across, and took almost a year to complete, with his spectacular attention to detail further enhanced by some beautifully authentic decals.
There’s a whole lot more of the Sikorsky RH-35D to see at [Maks]’s ‘RH-53D Sea Stallion’ Flickr album, including imagery showing those enormous rotor blades cleverly folded, and you can take a look via the link above. Just don’t call it a horse.
President Trump is going to have to return to his own helicopter from February. Whilst we’re sure this will still offer plenty of toupee-glue testing moments, incoming President Joe Biden’s numerous cosmic alterations seem not to include a wig, more’s the pity.
Anyhoo, whichever cosmetically enhanced face is in the White House, it will be flown about in this, the specially adapted Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King ‘Marine One’.
Often a feature on the White House lawn, doing its best to drown out whatever spur-of-the-moment nonsense is being spouted to the press, Marine One has been a Presidential fixture for decades, with almost twenty (Marine One and Twos) in operation the current Presidential fleet.
This superb mini-figure replica of the world’s most famous helicopter comes from BigPlanes of Flickr, who has recreated the real VH-3D Marine One beautifully, including custom decals and a fully-fitted interior, although there’s no angry orange mini-figure shouting from underneath it, which is surely a missed opportunity.
No matter, there’s more to see of BigPlanes’ creation at his ‘LEGO VH-3D Marine One’ album on Flickr, plus you can find his amazing previously blogged recreation of Air Force One by clicking here.
This astonishing creation is a fully working replica of the U.S Glomar Explorer, constructed by Master MOCer and world-renowned builder Paweł ‘Sariel’ Kmieć, and you’re in for a truly remarkable story…
It’s 1968, and the Soviet ballistic missile submarine K-129 has been lost with all 98 crew, plummeting over 16,000ft to the ocean floor. It’s just a few years after the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War is very real indeed. The Soviet Union is looking for its lost submarine, but 150 miles in the wrong place. The U.S. however, knows where it is…
And so begins one the strangest and most expensive recovery efforts in history, as the CIA commission the building of a ship designed solely to pluck the wreck of K-129 from the seabed to learn its secrets, without the Soviet Union knowing.
Costing $1.4billion, it was one seriously expensive recovery truck, although of course its true purpose was hidden behind a ‘drilling for magenese’ cover story, fronted by millionaire aviator and film-maker Howard Hughes.
Six years later and the 50,000 ton 600ft long ship was ready. Named the Transocean Glomar Explorer, it was positioned above the wreck using radio beacons (GPS being some way off) and the CIA began the enormous recovery of the 330ft, 2,700 long ton (before it was filled with water) nuclear-armed submarine.
A giant claw dropped through a moon pool in the centre of the ship, gripping the wreck of K-129 and winching it to the surface. However during the 16,500ft ascent a mechanical failure occurred, and two thirds of the submarine broke loose and sunk back to the ocean floor, taking with it the sought-after nuclear missiles and code book. However, two nuclear-tipped torpedoes and cryptographic machines were recovered, along with the bodes of six crew members, which were not returned to the Soviet Union, but back to the sea.
The Glomar Explorer was purposeless after the mission was (partly) completed, and in 1976 it transferred to the U.S Navy for storage in a dry-dock. In 1978 however, the ship was leased to test prototype deep sea mining equipment, before being converted to a drilling ship in the 1990s. It was finally scrapped in 2015.
Recreating this incredible feat of engineering is Sariel, whose floating brick-built replica of the Glomar Explorer measures over 3 metres in length, uses 60kg of LEGO pieces, and can really (partly) recover a lost Soviet submarine, thanks to a fully working recreation of the monumental grapple crane fitted to the real ship.
We won’t write too much more here as there’s really only one way to appreciate this spectacular build – take a look at the video above (or click here to find it in the Eurobricks discussion), and watch how one of the most impressive Lego creations of all time was built, and how it can recover nearly all of a brick-built submarine from the bottom of a swimming pool…
