If we saw a cloud of gas this colour floating our way we probably wouldn’t stop to find out what it smelled like. Still Tim Inman is made of braver stuff than us, because he’s taken one of LEGO’s rarest hues and somehow found enough parts to create this glorious 1933 Willys ‘gasser’ hot rod. With absurd side-pipes, an octuplet of engine trumpets, and packing a parachute, Tim’s ride isn’t messing about, and you can gas your way over to his photostream for a sniff at the link above.
*Today’s
Humanity still enjoys a good war every now and then. And, because it’s been five minutes since the last conflict in the Middle East, a new one is pulling more and more nations, factions and regions towards it.
Of course for those caught within its gravity the conflict is a necessity, a fight for justice, freedom, and the will of God. Whichever side they are on.
The Second World War was perhaps a clearer fight between, perhaps not Good, but certainly against Evil. The Nazis’ ideology, with all of its death, pain and dehumanisation, was eventually defeated, and – whilst countless nations made enormous sacrifices – had the U.S remained neutral an Allied victory would have been all-but-impossible.
Hitler never sought to invade the Unites States, yet over 16 million Americans served during the conflict, of which 300,000 never returned home, and financing the war cost almost 40% of America’s GDP by 1945.
Capturing one tiny moment amongst the thousands in which the U.S contributed, previous bloggee Nicholas Goodman is here depicting the U.S push across Europe in the summer of 1944. A Willys Jeep, Sherman tank, and custom mini-figures pause to regroup, all carefully and accurately recreated in brick-form.
There’s more of Nicholas’ beautiful wartime builds to see on Flickr; take a look via the link above, and you can click here to see one way you can help today, as war spirals out of control once again.
The original 1948 Land Rover (long before it was called a ‘Defender’) was a vehicle borne out of necessity. Luxury car maker Rover needed to restore revenue after the war, but with Europe in ruins and steel rationing in place, car production wasn’t going to get running for some time.
The need for a utilitarian off-road tractor was obvious though, and thus – with surplus aluminium and left-over airplane cockpit paint – the Land Rover was born. What is less known however, is that the first Land Rover prototypes used the chassis from another surplus wartime item; the Willys Jeep.
It’s fitting then that this incredible Willys Jeep MB, complete with a Browning machine gun and an M3 37mm anti-tank gun in tow, is constructed solely from the official (and excellent) LEGO Icons 10317 Land Rover Defender 90 set.
Built by TLCB Master MOCer Eric Trax, this astonishing alternate includes a range of wartime accompaniments, from the aforementioned weaponry to jerry cans, radio equipment, and ammunition boxes, with the beautiful Jeep itself also featuring steering and suspension.
The result is so perfect you’d never know it was built using such restricted parts – which makes it much like the original Land Rover – and there’s much more to see, including a link to building instructions, at Brickshelf and the Eurobricks forum.
The Lego Car Blog Elves are having a great time this morning. This lovely remote controlled Willys Jeep was discovered by one of their number today, and fortunately our eagle-eyed intern caught it before the model could be used for any smushing shenanigans.
That means no tidying up for us, and a gaggle of Elves being transported around TLCB Towers, much to their delight.
The model in question is properly good too, looking wonderfully like-like and featuring a complete remote control drivetrain, with four-wheel-drive, front and rear suspension, and working steering.
TLCB favourite Sariel is the builder and there’s more to see of his superbly presented 1940s Willys Jeep on Flickr and via the Eurobricks forum.
Toy cars aren’t made of tin anymore, so they’ll be played with for a few years and then take another 10,000 to degrade. Still, we suppose LEGO’s no different being plastic too. Back from an era when toy cars were made from tin though, Tintin was the Belgian hero of the moment (and perhaps the only one ever if you don’t count Jean-Claude Van Damme).
One of his (Tintin, not Van Damme)’s many vehicles was this neat red Jeep, and being a popular toy at the time it meant children could have a tin Tintin Jeep. Not made from tin (but no less lovely) is this plastic recreation of the classic Willys, which comes from Johnni D of Flickr. Tintin and Snowy are nowhere to be found, but there’s more to see of their ride from ‘The Land of the Black Gold’ at Johnni’s photostream – click the link above to make the jump.
*If you’re from Yorkshire in the UK, today’s title also means ‘It isn’t in the tin’.
Biggie…
A double post today, from both ends of the scale spectrum. Here at The Lego Car Blog we appreciate models of all sizes; our Elves return to the office with a variety of vehicles, from tiny 4-wides up to monster Technic supercars. However, unfortunately for us, this week the Eves got into our secret supply of drumstick lollies and as such everything they’ve found for the past few days has been red or yellow.
We’ll have a think about what we can do about our workforce’s colour fixation (maybe force them to eat blue urinal cakes?), but in the mean time here are two more red and yellow vehicles, from Nick Barrett and Starscream Soundwave respectively.
…smalls