From a truck-based flight of whimsy to a hauler altogether more real-world. Ralph Savelsberg’s Scania T730 with stepframe trailer is an exact miniaturisation of one of the trucks in use by Hodge’s of Scotland, pictured here with a Volvo excavator in tow. A replica livery adds to the realism and there’s more of the models to see at Ralph’s album by clicking here.
A few months ago the coolest car we’ve ever published appeared on this page. A mildly modified Volvo 242 Coupe, it was everything we could want in a 1980s Volvo. Except of course, to be a proper 1980s Volvo, it should’ve been an estate…
Now its maker Stephan Jonsson has constructed a station wagon counterpart, in the form of this fabulous Volvo 245, also lightly modified and fitted with a brick-built T6 Turbo engine. There’s even a tow-bar. Don’t be fooled by that rear ‘spoiler’; it’s a wind deflector for a caravan.
We’ve never wanted a car more, and there’s more to see of Stephan’s wonderful Volvo 245 T6 Turbo at his album of the same name. Click the link above to make the jump.
Wind turbines are massive, able to service a whole community, and difficult to move. Just like your Mom. But they are also vital for a de-carbonised future, which means we need a lot more of them harnessing the power of the the earth’s atmospheric currents and turning it into electricity if our species is not to die a hot and miserable death.
Cue Ralph Savelsberg‘s enormous Volvo FH16 heavy haulage transport, as operated by Dutch transport company Van der Vlist, which is depicted here carrying the huge nacelle of a wind turbine.
Despite being only 1:43 scale Ralph’s model measures almost a metre long, and includes the split trailer and hydraulic rams (in this case brick-built) that support and raise the massive turbine nacelle on the real truck.
Over twenty images are available to view and you whirl your way there via the link above, plus you can check out the transport’s accompanying escort that appeared here earlier via this bonus link.
We don’t care what anyone says, this is the coolest car we’ve ever posted. Yes, this magnificent slab of Swede, a Volvo 242, is so deeply cool that The Brothers Brick can’t look at it directly. We on the other hand, being connoisseurs of cool, can’t get enough of Stephan Jonsson’s glorious grey box. Even more so as it’s the ‘Coupe’ variant.
Of course being an ’80s Volvo the 242 is the single squarest coupe ever devised, and – unlike every other Volvo of the time – your Ikea boxes have to go on the roof rather than in the boot, but that just makes it cooler.
A beautifully detailed engine, opening doors, hood and boot, a spectacularly orange interior, and accessories like a roof rack and tow bar add to our delight, and there’s more to see of the coolest car we’ve ever posted at Stephan’s ‘Volvo 242 Group H’ album on Flickr. We like really like old Volvos.
Or rather, top tanker, because this is perhaps the cleanest tanker truck build we’ve seen yet. The aesthetics of MCD‘s Volvo FMX 8×2 are even more impressive when you consider this is a Technic creation, not a Model Team one, and is entirely LEGO, even down to the rubber bands holding the pipes. There’s more of MCD’s model to see at the Eurobricks forum, and you can tank on over via the link above.
This is a Volvo PV 831, built from the end of the 1930s, through the ’40s and ’50s, primarily as a taxi. However this PV 831 has swapped one form of public transport for another, as there won’t be any fare-paying passengers sitting in its back seat.
Instead this PV 831 has been adapted to run on the rail tracks, in order to perform its job as an inspection vehicle for Sweden’s railways. Built by Flickr’s SvenJ, a third-party motor and bluetooth receiver bring the model to life, and there’s more to see at his ‘Volvo PV 831 Railroad Inspection Car’ album. Click the link above to inspect some Swedish tracks in the 1940s.
This astounding creation is a Volvo FH16 750, and it’s one of the finest Technic creations of the year so far.
Packed with working functions, it took builder blaz62 over two years to complete, with a remote control 8×6 drivetrain linked to an inline-6 engine that resides under a fully suspended cab, all-wheel suspension, LED lights, working front, middle and rear outriggers, and an incredible three-stage folding ‘knuckle boom’ crane.
Based on the Palfinger PK 165.002 TEC 7 crane (ah yes, that one. Ed.), blaz62’s amazing feat of engineering can unfurl (via much knob twiddling) to reveal a three-stage first boom, with a further second two-stage jib and third single-stage jib thereafter. It offers 360° of rotation, a 400g payload, and a reach longer than a 1983 Monty Python sketch.
Building instructions are available and there’s much more to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum and Blaz62’s ‘Volvo FH16’ Bricksafe album.
Scandinavian design is very ‘in’ right now. Grey, white, with a dash of a calming colour like blue, it’s the default for every upper-middle class redecoration. Here at The Lego Car Blog we don’t follow such fads though, which is why TLCB Towers hasn’t been redecorated since the late ’80s. That, and our redecoration budget stretches to a roll of duct tape and some blu-tack.
Representing Scandinavian design minimalism beautifully however, is MCD‘s 2022 Volvo FH500 truck, which utilises the aforementioned nordic colour palette to great effect. MCD’s monochrome tractor unit successfully blends Technic and System bricks to capture the real truck, whilst a Maersk Sealand container sits atop an excellent three-axle trailer behind.
There’s more of the MCD’s build to see at the Eurobricks forum, and you can sit in a monochrome chair drinking a coffee from an exquisitely designed cup, enjoying 18 hours of daylight via the link in the text above.
This giant claw with a vehicle attached to it is a Volvo L180HL, a front-loader-based machine designed for moving logs. Lots of them.
This brilliant Technic recreation of the log-grabbing Volvo is the work of Akassin of Eurobricks, who built it for a recent Technic competition in which it took the silver medal.
A wealth of mechanical and pneumatic functions accurately replicate the real machine, with articulated steering, an enormous (and rather clever) two-piece boom powered by compressed air, plus a mechanical claw that’s able to grab bundles of ‘logs’.
It’s a hugely impressive creation with much more to see at the Eurobricks forum, and via the excellent video below. Grab some wood via the links.
YouTube Video
We’ve nearly reached our Christmas closedown here at The Lego Car Blog, but we still have time for a few more creations before we turn off the lights and get drunk.
This one has amused us immensely, being perhaps the single least Christmassy creation that it’s possible to conceive.
The gloriously grey Volvo FM12 cement mixing truck pictured here comes from regular bloggee Damian Z. (aka thietmaier), who has applied his usual brilliant attention to detail to create a model that looks much, much larger than it actually is.
It’s also wonderfully mundane, and we like that. Because we’re weird. Weird enough to encourage more boring builds in 2022…
Was that a hint for a ginormous 2022 Building Competition?…
Moving on, there’s more to see of Damian’s excellent Volvo FM12 cement mixer truck at his photostream – click the link in the text above to jump into the mix.
It’s a Volvo truck double here at The Lego Car Blog, much to the joy of the Elf that found this pair of Model Team creations, thus earning itself two meal tokens. Will it save one for another day or use both to pig out? We think we all know the answer to that…
Anyway, the models. Both are the work of newcomer MCD of Eurobricks, who has recreated Volvo’s ’90s F16 truck beautifully in 1:21 Model Team form. Twice. Each build includes a linear actuator operated raising axle, ‘Hand of God’ steering, opening doors, and superbly replicated interior and exterior details that incorporate both Technic and System pieces.
Further imagery and full build details can be found at the Eurobricks discussion forum, and you can make the jump via the link in the text above.
It’s time for some double Volvo goodness here at TLCB, thanks to the super-talented TLCB regular Damian Z. (aka thietmaier).
Damian’s latest builds are a Volvo FH12 truck, hefty three-axle low-loader trailer, and a wonderfully life-like Volvo EC240 excavator, each of which has been both built and presented beautifully.
All three builds demonstrate stunning attention to detail, with some brilliant building techniques used to achieve it, and there’s more to see of Damian’s Volvo truck, excavator, and the trailer that allows one to transport the other at his album on Flickr. Click the link above to take a closer look.
Ferrari’s F12 Berlinetta is not the only vehicle to carry the F12 moniker. Volvo Trucks got there first, way back in 1977, and – because we’re a bit weird – we prefer their one…
This beautiful 7-wide Volvo F12 comes from builder Duq, whose recreation of the classic cab-over contains some of the finest detailing we’ve ever seen at this scale, from that wonderful grille and a life-like interior to even a realistic driveshaft.
There’s more to see of Duq’s F12 at both Flickr and Eurobricks, you can check out a rather larger version of the vintage Volvo here, and you can view a model of Ferrari’s (frankly less interesting) namesake by clicking here.
So often Technic’s B-Model, road graders like this Volvo G990 are the vehicles that give almost everything else we post a place to exist in the first place. So here to shine a light on their significance is Eric Trax, and this brilliant, er… 42114 B-Model…
OK, a B-Model this Volvo G990 may be, but it doesn’t feel compromised for it. Utilising around 90% of the parts from the 42114 6×6 Volvo Articulated Hauler set, Eric’s alternate redeploys the Control+ motors, control unit and app to give his grader remote control drive, steering, a three-speed automatic gearbox, and to power the main blade’s elevation.
The model features a few mechanical functions too, including a working piston engine, manually controlled ripper, and a seven-position blade angle. Best of all, Eric has released instructions for his road grader so you can build it for yourself if you own the 42114 set, and there’s more of Eric’s Volvo G990 B-Model to see on both Flickr and at the Eurobricks forum. Click the links above to earn yourself a B Grade.
YouTube Video
It’s review time here at TLCB! The guys over at Game of Bricks, makers of bespoke LED lighting kits for LEGO sets, offered us a few of their products for review, and because either a) we’re awesome, or b) this site is too incompetent to be sent sets from LEGO, this time we’re handing over to our readers!
Wojtek Hildebrandt was one of the readers to respond to the offer of a free lighting kit (via our Facebook page) the fastest, and fortunately for us he’s a throughly good reviewer too. Check out his thoughts on Game of Bricks’ lighting kit for his recently reviewed Technic 42114 6×6 Volvo Articulated Hauler set below! The answer was (b) by the way…
They see me hauling, they lighting.
The LEGO Technic set 42114 6×6 Volvo Articulated Hauler is a big and very yellow piece of equipment that I really like and that’s hard not to notice. That is of course if there’s light outside. But what if you need to haul whatever it is you are hauling around when it’s dark? The Game Of Bricks lighting kit comes to the rescue and frees you from filling in endless Health and Safety forms so I’m glad that TLCB together with GoB came up with this review idea. The kit I got is the full version – lights and sound with remote control. How does it look? How does it sound? What about installation and control? First things first.
The package comes in a nice black box with components divided into steps and packed in separate string bags containing required wiring, boards, and LEDs as well as any additional LEGO pieces needed to install it. Depending on the version of the kit – standard, remote, or remote + sound – there are different motherboards and additional equipment like remote or speaker. There is also a user manual, but it’s not the one that gets the user through the installation. It’s rather a general description of components and how to handle them. An actual step-by-step instruction is available on the Game of Bricks website, which is mentioned both in the user manual and in the order confirmation email from GoB. For the 42114 lighting kit, it is a series of pictures showing where to put which components, how to route the wiring, and sometimes what to remove from the set and when to put it back. Some other sets get video instruction – perhaps this one will get it too at some point.
Read twice, place once.
Before you start your installation or even before you open the bags, have a good look over the entire web instructions. Twice. Game of Bricks’ pictures are usually rather clear but not as much as LEGO’s own instructions. Black wires can sometimes hide in the shadows, other times some important details can get unnoticed as there is no description to point it out – this is, in particular, the case for rear lights that have two different LED colours. Still, I was able to follow the instructions with only a minor slip so I guess everybody should be fine. But knowing what to do is one thing and knowing how to do it is another thing entirely.
Do you fancy some knitting after a day of hauling? Have I got news for you!
Installing the lighting kit is a totally different experience to building the LEGO set itself. It feels more like knitting or sewing – at least I guess so. LEDs and wires seem fragile (even if they aren’t, excuse me for not running the stress test) so be gentle and patient. Get a pair of trusty tweezers, maybe even a magnifying glass, and make sure you have a good strong light on your workplace. You’re thinking of a headlamp? Why not. It takes light to install the lights, let’s call it a “circle of light”.
As for the LEGO set, you will need to remove or collapse the side mirrors to be able to lay the hauler on the side, and some wheels will need to be temporarily removed too. The beacon can be a problem when the hauler needs to be put upside down, so prepare for that as well. I need to say it quickly became tricky to handle this heavy set with an increasing number of wires leaving less and less space to firmly grasp the vehicle without worrying. The wires are a bit springy which is both a blessing and a curse. You will need to force them to your will, but eventually, they will obey. Connectors are tiny, they need to be put into ports precisely and with a click. Motherboard, extension boards, and optional speaker are attached to the set with double-sided adhesive tape. It seems to keep things together well, even the big speaker sits firmly in place. My only fear for the future is how to uninstall the lighting kit when I’d like to disassemble the set – will I be able to put it all back together?
Anyway, slowly but surely – like the hauler stuck on the first gear – you will get to the final step of the instructions; plugging in the power source. You can choose either the battery box that’s included in the lighting kit or any power bank – power goes through a USB connector so there are plenty of possibilities. Where to store it? If only there’d be a vast free space on the rear part of the hauler… Finally, the set should be ready to shine… Continue reading