Tag Archives: vintage

The Hornsby Steam Crawler…

Leave a reply

…sounds like an English pub. Or a magical artefact at Hogwarts. Or a Victorian murderer. Or an unspeakable sex act. But is in fact this bizarre contraption from the 1909; a British steam-powered chain-track tractor that worked in the wilds of Canada where gas was scarce but coal was abundant, and the father of all Caterpillars.

Constructed by previous bloggee Nikolaus Lowe (aka Mr_Kleinstein), this marvellous brick-built remotely controlled recreation of the Hornsby Steam Crawler ingeniously replicates its two-speed gearbox and differential subtractor steering (which you can see in action here), with more to see at Nikolaus’ ‘Hornsby Steam Crawler’ album on Flickr. Click these words to murder someone with a magical artefact in an English pub, all whilst…

Bat-Man

Leave a reply

It’s ‘Bat Man’! Kinda… but he is bequeathed with as many super-powers as the actual one.

Pictured here doing top superhero work rescuing a cat from a tree, PigletCiamek‘s ‘Bat-Man’ includes everything a baseball-based interpretation of the Dark Knight could want. If what they want is a van shaped like a baseball cap on a ball.

Join him in the strike zone at Flickr Park via the link above!

Fifty Shades of Green

Leave a reply

Poop poop! It’s time for a vintage car here at The Lego Car Blog. Because vintage cars are cool. This one – inspired by the classic LEGO 5920 Island Racer set – uses parts from the Speed Champions 96907 Lotus Evija plus a raft of black hoses and clips beautifully. Entitled simply ‘#50’, there’s more to see courtesy of Flickr’s atp357; click the link above for a vintage race.

Steamy Erection

Leave a reply

A long time ago it wasn’t diesel, electricity, or gasoline that powered humanity’s vehicles, but steam. Very heavy, with minimal range and requiring regular impractical refuelling, steam-powered vehicles were nevertheless immensely powerful – far more so than those powered by other fuels – and thus they were the engines of choice for heavy duty applications, even as all other vehicle types moved on.

This is one such steam vehicle, Nikolaus Löwe‘s fabulous Fowler traction engine, here outfitted with a working crane. Connected to the tractor-part via a wonderfully complicated-looking arrangement of ratchets and gears, Nikolaus’ creation harks back to an era of coal, soot, noise, and perhaps a little magic.

Get steamy at Nikolaus’ photostream via the link above, whilst we ponder if today’s electric fuel of choice – being very heavy, with minimal range and requiring regular impractical refuelling, but nevertheless immensely powerful – really marks a century’s worth of progress from when this was trundling down the roads.

Is It a Train? Is It a Tram?

Leave a reply

No, it’s an NS omC! OK, that’s maybe not as catchy as the famous Superman musical lyrics, but we have at least learned something here at The Lego Car Blog, having had no idea what an ‘omC’ was before today.

What it is, is an ‘Oilmotor Vehicle’, a combustion-engined carriage used by the Dutch Railways during the 1920s as a cheaper, easier-to-run alternative to steam locomotives.

This one – being a ‘C’ designation – is for third-class passengers, which is where you’d probably find TLCB staff. There were ‘BC’ versions too, where first-class passengers such as The Brothers Brick’s Contributors could luxuriate away from the peasants.

Constructed by TLCB debutant Malik Geldermans, this 1:45th scale replica of the NS omC beautifully captures the real ‘Oilmotor Vehicle’ thanks to some truly fantastic building techniques.

Presented perfectly, there’s more of Malik’s model to see at his ‘NS omC’ album, and you can take a closer look on Flickr via the link in the text above.

Greeble Farm

Leave a reply

‘Greebling’, one of many nerdisms from the Online Lego Community, involves outfitting a creation – usually a spacecraft – with a myriad of tiny grey pieces to add texture, complexity, and to make them look more science-fiction-y.

But those little grey parts, so often individually lost in sea of their neighbours, can look brilliant in insolation, as proven here by previous bloggee Andre Pinto, and this wonderful vintage tractor.

Comprising only a handful of pieces, they form the engine, drive-line, light brackets, exhaust, rear hitch and PTO, and have been perfectly selected for each task.

There’s more to see at Andre’s ‘My First Tractor’ album, and you can head to the greeble farm via the link above.

Streamlining Deliveries

Leave a reply

The late ’20s and early ’30s are a much romanticised time. Art deco architecture, wild opulence, delightful dancing, extravagant hats, tuberculosis, fascism, the Great Depression…

Anyway, the vehicles and buildings from the time really were marvellous, and it’s these (rather than tuberculosis and unemployment) that Andrew Tate (no, not that one) has chosen to capture in brick form.

Andrew’s wonderful ‘Streamliner Van’ pictured above is part of a much larger – and absolutely stunning – ‘Metropolitan Club’ scene, and there’s much more to see of both it and the club at his photostream.

Put on your best hat and click the link above to join in.

Vintage Play

Leave a reply

A vintage tractor parked for children to play on is a common sight around TLCB Towers. Today  the happy scenes from outside farm shops and pubs across TLCB’s home nation are playing out in miniature within the crumbling carbuncle that is our office, thanks to Thirdwigg‘s lovely Technic vintage tractor and TLCB Elves. There’s working steering and a functional tow hitch, with more to see on Flickr. Take a look via the link above.

Ferg on the Farm

Leave a reply

Everyone’s favourite vehicle as a toddler was a red tractor, and as we’re basically toddlers here at TLCB, that’s what we have here today. Proving you don’t need a million bricks to build something blogworthy, Stefan Johansson‘s Massey Ferguson tractor recreates the toddler favourite beautifully, and there’s more to see at the link.

A Vintage Ploughing

Leave a reply

Don’t worry, that video of your Mom hasn’t resurfaced again. This lovely vintage tractor was discovered by one of our Elves on Eurobricks today, and it looks rather splendid pictured here against an actual agricultural backdrop.

Proran is the builder and they’ve included functioning steering, a three cylinder engine (with working pistons and valves), a rear power-take-off, and high/low gearbox, along with some rather clever parts usage.

There’s more of Proran’s vintage tractor to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum and you can head out to the farm via the link above.

Beast of Turin (Probably)

2 Replies

The inline four-cylinder petrol engine is the most commonly fitted engine to cars the world over. The optimum balance between smoothness, power, efficiency, and er… cheapness, the inline-4 needs only one cylinder head, there are always two cylinders going down as two go up, and when mounted transversely it takes up little space.

Despite all those worthy attributes however, these days the inline 4-cylinder can be seen as a bit dull, despite the efforts of the world’s best engineers to liven it up. Back in the earliest days of motoring though, it was anything but.

Bentley’s amazing ‘Blower‘ racing cars used 4-cylinders, and so too did Fiat, who – in 1911 – fitted a four-cylinder engine to their S76 World Record Car of twenty-eight litres capacity. The result was quite fiery, and allowed the ‘Beast of Turin’ to hit an unofficial top speed of over 130mph.

It’s this car that Joe Maruschak‘s ‘Vintage Race Car’ most closely resembles, itself being fitted with a working 4-cylinder engine utilising LEGO’s suitably vintage square pistons and featuring pushrod-operated valves.

A hidden Power Functions motor brings Joe’s creation to life and there’s more to see of his mighty 4-cylinder racing car on Flickr via the link above.

Mr. Kleinstein’s Steam Powered Amusements

2 Replies

Today at TLCB we’re trumpeting this glorious traction engine and trailer built by previous bloggee Nikolaus Löwe (aka Mr_Klienstien), who has opened up his own steam-powered amusement arcade!

Frogger, Time Crisis, and Sega Rally probably aren’t included, (and we’re not really sure what a steam powered amusement might consist of. Well, we had some ideas but they’re definitely not right), but you can see more of the beautiful traction engine that would power them along with the trailered living accommodation that accompanies it at Nikolaus’s ‘Showman’s Engine ‘ album on Flickr.

Click the link above to let one rip!

Hot and Steamy

1 Reply

Now that the title has pulled in a few people expecting to see something rather different, here’s a traction engine. This Case steam tractor comes from Nikolaus Löwe (aka Mr_Kleinstein) of Flickr, and not only does it look rather wonderful (unless you’re here hoping to see something else of course), it features remote control too, thanks to LEGO’s ace Power Functions system. Head to Nikolaus’ ‘Case Steam Tractor’ album via the link above to see more.

Huge Steamer

2 Replies

We’re much too mature to link this post with today’s other one, however tempting it is. If your mind has connected the two though, that’s on you…

Now we’ve got that out of the way, on to the vehicle. This is an 1870 Batho 25-ton road roller, a prototype that would become the world’s first mass-produced road roller (‘mass’ being a relative term we suspect).

It’s also both the oldest (we think) and most unusual vehicle that this site has ever featured, and it comes from previous bloggee and weird-vehicle extraordinaire Nikolaus Löwe, who has based this exquisite recreation of the 1870 Batho on a scale model of the original vehicle.

Working steering and a considerable quantity of old-timey cogs and gears are present and correct (they’re for-real cogs and gears too, not any of that steampunk nonsense), and there’s lots more to see of Nikolaus’s remarkable model of a remarkable machine at his Batho 25-ton Road Roller album on Flickr – click the link above to see more of his impressive steamer.

Christmas Coal

Leave a reply

We end today’s publications with this, a rather lovey looking vintage ‘convoi exceptionnel’ consisting of a six-axle truck, a low-loader trailer, and a fantastic mining excavator, on its way to supply coal to keep families warm over winter. Built by FiliusRucilo of Flickr each vehicle is wonderfully made and there’s more to see on Flickr via the link in the text above.