Tag Archives: World War 2

Like a Cat Outta Hell…

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z 109

The Elves have just returned from a dawn raid on MOCpages. They swooped out of the sun to scoop up two models of classic WWII fighter aircraft. First up is c bigboy99899’s Bf 109. As he says, this was one of the first truly modern fighter aircraft of its era, with its all metal, stressed skin construction and closed cockpit. The Bf 109 was incredibly successful, with somewhere around 34,000 being built, which is a bigger production run than many of the cars that we feature here. Examples were used by airforces all over the world, with the Spanish retiring their last example in 1965. Click this link to see more of this Bf 109, plus a pair of LDD versions in alternative colour schemes.

Early in the Second World War, the Bf 109 easily outclassed many of the aeroplanes flown by the Allies, especially the carrier based Sea Gladiators and Martlets (Wildcats) of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm. This was also true in the Pacific, where the famous Zero could outmanoeuvre anything in the sky. Pilots such as the RN’s Eric “Winkle” Brown had to use cunning and tactics to stay alive. Things changed when Grumman produced the Hellcat, with vastly upgraded performance. Jim McDonough normally builds ships but is building a whole squadron of Hellcats (and another of Avengers) to put on the deck of his next creation. This epic project is going to be an impressive sight when it’s finished. Click this link to Jim’s MOCpages to see more of his aeroplanes and ships.

z Hellcat

Before we go, if you’ve some spare time, click this link to BBC Radio 4’s website and listen to the stories and music of Capt. Eric “Winkle” Brown on Desert Island Discs. It’s classic edition of the programme with a man who has lived a life of real adventure. The Lego Car Blog writers also hope to be buying their latest sports car when they get to the age of 95!

Typhoon

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Lego Hawker Typhoon

The RAF like aircraft named after tropical storms and their current BAE Systems Eurofighter Typhoon is one of the world’s finest fighter planes. 70 years earlier the Eurofighter’s grandfather was too. The Hawker Typhoon evolved from the Hurricane as a high altitude fighter, but teething problems meant it never fulfilled this role quite as was intended.

However, the monstrous 2000bhp engine meant that the Typhoon found a new role as a ground attack aircraft (in addition to its job shooting down the BMW-engined Focke-Wulf Fw 190), and it could carry a payload close to that of a dedicated light bomber.

Sadly only one Hawker Typhoon survives today, but K Wigboldy aka Thirdwigg has recreated the legendary World War 2 aircraft so well there might as well be two. His 1:13 Lego replica features the huge 24 cylinder engine that made the Typhoon such an effective weapon, plus an electrically powered variable pitch propellor, working landing gear, flaps, ailerons, elevator and rudder.

More photos can be found on MOCpages via the link above, and you can see all the details plus a video of the working functions by visiting Thirdwigg’s excellent website – find it in the Directory in the main menu.

Jet Set

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Lego Messerschmitt Me 262

Being a car blog we best know the Messerschmitt company for stuff like this, but first and foremost they were an aviation manufacturer. This particular aircraft is probably the peak of the company’s achievements; The world’s first operational jet fighter, the Messerschmitt Me 262.

The 262 arrived too late in the Second World War to have an affect on its outcome, but it did change the course of aviation for ever, instantly making conventionally powered fighters obsolete. Today several examples of the 262 survive in museums, but sadly none that we know of are airworthy. We’ll make do with this one then, a wonderful recreation of the Luftwaffe’s finest aircraft by MOCpages’ Henrik Jensen. You can see more of the 262 and his other historic aircraft at the link.

Put a Tiger In Your Tank*

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Lego Tiger Tank

Today’s amazing creation comes from one of the best Lego builders in the world, the brilliant Sariel. Sariel has featured here a few times over the years (use the Search function at the bottom of the page to see his previous works), and this might be his most impressively engineered creation yet.

It’s a Second World War German Tiger tank, and it’s had a lot stuffed inside it.** Underneath the beautifully recreated armour are no less than nine(!) LEGO motors, powering the drive, skid steer, barrel, machine gun, V12 piston engine and a whole lot more besides. All this rides on some remarkable oscillating suspended tracks that allow the Tiger to float over obstacles.

Lego World War RC Tank

You can see all the photos and specs on MOCpages via the link above, you can visit Sariel’s website via our Directory, and we highly recommend watching Sariel’s excellent video below, complete with that rarest of things in a Lego video – an ace soundtrack.

YouTube Video:

*Points to those of you who know the reference.

**Like your Mom.

The Bridge

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Lego WW2 Bridge

This wonderful Second World War scene comes from TLCB newcomer Jeffrey Mille aka BeLgIum ww2 bUiLdeR. Jeffrey has recreated a typical European stone bridge crossing the river into a sleepy hamlet, which until the World Wars would have been a little dot on the map of little importance. Come conflict though, and river crossings matter.

The Germans guarding this one look pretty well armed, with mobile artillery well entrenched at either end. Crossing the bridge is a rather lovely column of assorted German vehicles, including a Panzer and the ubiquitous Opel Blitz truck.

Lego German Military

The eight vehicles in this creation have given us a bit of headache here at TLCB, as the two Elves that found this are demanding eight meal tokens and Smarties. Which is not going to happen.

Whilst we sort out this workplace dispute you can take a trip to Flickr to see ‘The Bridge’ in more detail, including photos of each of the vehicles featured. Click the link above to visit Mr. Mille’s photostream.

Lego World War II mini-figures

Not An Evo

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Mitsubishi A6M Zero

Long before Evos, Mitsubishi made something else far cooler. This is an A6M Zero, and it was the pride of the Japanese Imperial Air Force from 1940 until their defeat that ended the Second World War. One of our favourite aircraft builders – Henrik Jensen – is the man behind it, and you can see more on MOCpages.

Reimagine

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Lego Titanfall Mech

The Second World War is endlessly glorified on TV, in video games, and in Lego. Whilst the reality was nothing glorious, it nevertheless captures the imagination of all of us who never served in the conflict, but who owe such an enormous debt to those who did.

TLCB veteran Kosmas Santosa is the latest a long line of builders to recreate scenes from the war years, however he reimagines things a little differently. Standing in the ruins of a nondescript wartime European village is a Titanfall mech, and never has a sci-fi build resided so comfortability in historical setting.

You can see more of Kosmas Santosa’s ‘Titanfall: World War II’ imagining on Flickr, and as we occasionally do here at TLCB, here’s a more important link that we’d like you to click if you have the time.

Dear Marie

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Lego Lockheed P-38 Lightning

One of our favourite aircraft builders returns to TLCB today. MOCpages’ Henrik Jensen‘s Lockheed P-38 Lightning ‘Marie’ is worth a click. See more via the link.

Mosquito Net

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Lego Mosquito Fast Bomber

Our second LDD creation in as many weeks! What’s going on? The Elves are pretty grumpy about this as they don’t like digital creations as a rule. Plus this isn’t even a car, so they’re doubly annoyed.

This amazing digitally rendered creation is in fact a 1941 De Havilland Mosquito fast bomber, one of the most important aircraft for the Allies throughout World War Two. Built almost entirely from wood, the Mosquito was one of the fastest aircraft in the world at the time. Not just fast for a bomber, but faster than many fighters too. Digital Lego specialist Peter Blackert (aka Lego911) is the builder, and he’s got a rapidly growing portfolio of famous aircraft on Flickr. You can see more of the Mosquito and his other planes via his excellent photostream.

And if you’re of an Elvish persuasion, don’t worry – we’ve got a busy day that’s back to normal cars (mostly) after this post!

Go Wildcats!

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Lego Wildcat

Fighter aircraft seem to always have cool names. Well, apart from Russian ones, as the Soviets apparently banned creativity and decreed that everything must be called only by a number. Anyway, Tornado, Jaguar, Lightning, Typhoon, Thunderbolt all feature in our ‘cool names’ list, but this is perhaps the best; the FM-2 Wildcat.

Ralph Savelsberg is the builder of this exquisite Lego recreation, and you can see more of his latest work via his Flickr photostream. Ralph also recently joined us as the penultimate builder in our Master MOCers Series; Read his interview here!

Thunderbolt

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Lego P-47D Thunderbolt

Time for a brief trip outside the world of cars with Henrik Jensen’s superb P-47D Thunderbolt. Used throughout the Second World War and the Pacific, the P-47 was the heaviest fighter ever built to be powered by a single piston engine, the huge turbocharged Pratt & Whitney R-2800. This gave the Thunderbolt a massive payload capacity; on short flights it could carry more than half the payload of a dedicated B-17 bomber. You can see more of Henrik’s Lego recreation on MOCpages by clicking here.

Hot Wax

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Lego Graham Hollywood

This extraordinary car is, apparently, a 1941 Graham-Paige. Some research by the TLCB office has deduced Graham-Paige were founded in 1927 by three brothers, and were one of the few ‘new’ car manufactures to survive after the Second World War, albeit only for a few short years. This particular model was called the ‘Hollywood’ (hence the title), and was based on the leftover bits from Cord, Hupmobile and other now long-defunct manufacturers.

Graham-Paige vehicle production ceased soon after the Hollywood’s launch and the Graham brothers transferred their attention to property – buying Madison Square Garden amongst other assets – whilst their cars slipped into obscurity, becoming just a footnote in American automotive history. Flickr’s Tim Inman however, hasn’t forgotten them, and has recreated their early ’40s Hollywood in wonderful detail. See all the photos of the 1941 Hollywood at his photostream by clicking here.

Winged Horse

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Lego P51 Mustang

The Lego Car Blog becomes The Lego Plane Blog momentarily as we feature a Mustang without a Ford badge; an ace P-51D Mustang fighter by MOCpages’ Henrik Jensen. The P-51 was built for the Allies as high altitude fighter by North American Aviation and – once fitted with Rolls Royce’s Merlin engine – it became a formidable machine throughout the Second World War. Henrik’s mini-figure scale version is based upon a surviving P-51D now in private hands that saw service with the US Air Force, Swedish Air Force, and finally the Dominican Republic Airforce all the way until the 1980s. You can read more about the plane and see more images of Henrik’s model on MOCpages here.

Lego P-51D Mustang

Tan Lines

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Lego B-25 Mitchell

Winter is finally coming to end here at The Lego Car Blog Towers. Good news for us, as skirts outside the office get shorter, and good news for the Elves, who require a lot less de-frosting than they did a few weeks ago when returning from their hunts. A perfect time to publicise a tan-coloured Lego creation then, a colour that’s not often employed in Lego builds due to its rarity, but one that looks superb if it’s used well.

Aircraft-building extraordinaire Sydag has done just that with his wonderful mini-figure scale B-25 Mitchell bomber. Flown throughout the Second World War in all regions of combat the B-25 was adopted by almost all the major Allied airforces and continued in service until well after the war ended. You can see more of Sydag’s beautiful tan recreation of the American classic on Flickr at the link above.