And so has Daniel Church. This is his ‘Wayward Wanderer’, a spectacular twin-sail concept yacht with a gorgeous curved jib formed of tessellating hexagons. The Wanderer’s beautiful brick-built hull is equally well crafted, with the only wonky element of the whole photo being the horizon. Point your bow towards it and set sail via the link above.
We hadn’t heard of Lauren Landers until today, but thanks to Brick.Ninja and this beautiful brick-built recreation of her ‘Soul de la Mar’ sailing yacht, this TLCB Writer has been able to conduct extensive research.
Balanced on just three studs above a coral reef, Brick has captured Lauren’s 1993 Beneteau Oceanis 510 in wonderful detail, including one of the neatest hulls we’ve seen yet.
There’s lots more of this fabulous build to see at Brick’s ‘Soul de la Mar’ album via the link above, and if you wish to conduct your own ‘research’ on the real life vessel (and the girl captaining it) you can take a look here. You’re welcome.
It’s new set time here at The Lego Car Blog! And this one… isn’t a car.
Boats have rarely appeared in the Technic line-up over the years, still less those that don’t have an engine. However for 2024 LEGO aren’t just returning Technic to the waves, they’re doing so using only the power of the wind. This is the brand new LEGO Technic 42174 Emirates Team New Zealand AC75!
Authentically replicating the Emirates Team New Zealand racing yacht, the new 42174 set brings the world-famous America’s Cup race to the Technic range for the first time.
Huge sails printed with the accurate sponsors including Omega, Toyota, and Emirates are among a number of never-seen-before parts and colour combinations, with just under 1,000 pieces in all making up the set.
Those sails can be controlled correctly too, thanks to accurately replicated ‘sheets’ (ropes to non-sailing people) and mechanics, plus the AC75’s cleverest trick is also faithfully recreated in Technic form; two deployable hydrofoils that extend via hand-cranked pneumatics.
A display stand, an 18+ black box, and a £105 price-tag make 42174 a set squarely aimed at adults, and if you like the way the wind is blowing you can set sail with Emirates Team New Zealand from August of this year.
‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, the Toyota Corolla, and the Monaco Grand Prix. All simultaneously the greatest examples of their respective genres, and also the most boring.
But Formula 1 in Monaco wasn’t always a procession. Before the cars were the size of school buses, which these days makes overtaking impossible, Monaco could put on quite a show.
Back in 1988, even with the complete dominance of the McLaren-Honda MP4/4, the ’88 Monaco Grand Prix delivered. Twenty-six cars started – two of which were even called ‘Megatron’ (seriously, look it up!) – just ten finished, and Ayrton Senna was the class of the field.
Out-qualifying his team-mate Alain Prost by a staggering 1.4 seconds, Senna led the race by almost a minute… until he didn’t. A momentary lapse of concentration eleven laps from the finish and he hit the wall, whereupon he exited his broken McLaren and walked home.
Prost took the win (his forth and final Monaco GP victory), followed by Gerhard Berger’s Ferrari some twenty seconds back. Which means there’s perhaps some artistic license with the cars’ proximity in alex_bricks‘ stunning 1988 Monaco Grand Prix vignette, but in every other respect this is a spectacularly realistic homage to the Monte Carlo street race.
Recreating the circuit as it was in the late-’80s required Alex to watch old race footage (which is surely some of the most fun research required to build a Lego model), matching his brick-built version of the Mediterranean Principality to the televised imagery from the time.
The result is a replica of the streets of Monaco as they were in 1988 so perfect we can practically hear the noise from the Formula 1 cars bouncing off the walls of the buildings, with Alex displaying his incredible build at the Brickfair show earlier in the year.
Fortunately he’s uploaded a few images to Flickr too, so you can join TLCB Team immersing themselves in Monaco in 1988 via his photostream. Click the link above to head the greatest race on the Formula 1 calendar, long before it was boring.
TLCB’s luxury yacht, paid for by the riches that blogging Lego brings, doesn’t get mentioned much here. We like our privacy, and it’s hard enough keeping the multitude of attractive girls away as it is, without them knowing about the boat.
Ted Andes has no such qualms however, uploading this rather wonderful Technic yacht ‘Sundancer’ to Flickr.
A mini-figure cabin, keel, rudder, plus marvellous fabric sails fashioned from the LEGO Carousel set’s canopy create a boat very nearly as beautiful as TLCB’s, and you’re welcome on board via the link above. Ted’s of course, not ours.
*Today’s excellent title song.
Ok, this writer isn’t on a boat. He’s on a wheelie chair in the crumbling hovel that is TLCB Towers. But it’s nice to dream.
Flickr’s Edwin Korstanje (aka VFRacingTeam) makes dreaming slightly easier with his incredible commissioned replica of the AMELS 180 Superyacht ‘Driftwood’. Built over two months from 14,000 LEGO pieces, Edwin’s 1:53 model of the 180 foot ship measures over a metre long, and both Edwin and his daughter had a tour of the real yacht as part of the commission.
There’s more to see of this spectacular commissioned build on Flickr and at the Eurobricks forum, you can read our interview with Edwin as part of the Master MOCers series via the link above, and if you’re over 18 you can watch today’s title track video here (strongest possible language warning!).
No these aren’t cars, but they are wonderful. Plus we like boats, and we’re the ones with access to TLCB Keyboard. Anyhoo, these two beautiful yachts complete with superb brick-built hulls and fully tuneable rigging come from Flickr’s Felipe Avelar, and each is a masterclass in fine detailing. There are more brilliant images available to view at Felipe’s photostream – click the link above to set sail.
This astonishing ship comes from Flickr’s Konajra, who appeared here last week with this, and who has now reconstructed one of the world’s most iconic vessels in Lego form. It is of course, the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior.
This is Greenpeace’s third Rainbow Warrior ship and the first to be purpose-built for the charity. As you would expect (although certainly not the case with the ship’s predecessors), Rainbow Warrior III is one of the greenest ships afloat – and not just in colour. Launched in 2011 the ship mostly functions as a sailing yacht, with additional hybrid propulsion used when necessary. It dumps no waste water into the ocean and all components have been sustainably sourced where possible. Sounds like a good approach to building any ship to us.
Konajra’s Lego replica of the 190ft Rainbow Warrior III is actually mini-figure scale, which makes it simply enormous. Every conceivable detail has been finely recreated in Danish plastic and Konajra has uploaded a wealth of photography to his Flickr photostream to support the build – click here to visit the ship’s Flickr gallery.
Finally, whilst we don’t always agree with Greenpeace, if you’d like to check out what they do and why they need the Rainbow Warrior you can click here to visit their website.
Today we’re calling upon the collective experience of the entire TLCB staff to bring you some top quality dating advice this valentines day, in Lego form.
First up is the beautiful classic yacht above, built by TLCB favourite ER0L. There’s nothing more romantic than a luxury boat, and if we were a mini-figure this would be our vehicle of choice with which to woo the limited supply of LEGO womenfolk. ER0L’s even added mood lighting by the way of Power Functions LEDs, and you can see more via the link above.
Our second love-inducing creation is probably at the other end of the romantic scale being, well – what looks like a hospital bed with a steering wheel. Still, it’s got some plastic flowers and there’s a camera to capture the ‘special’ moment, and that works for your Mom every time.
Billyburg is the builder and you can see more of his Lunar Love Buggy on Flickr.
Because millionaire mini-figures need to get from Long Island to Manhattan too.
JBIronWorks has built one of the more luxurious ways to commute to Wall Street with his beautiful recreation of the 1929 motor yacht ‘Mohican’, and it looks the perfect bath-toy for TLCB executive jacuzzi.
The real classic yacht is currently up for sale for a cool $1million, but if that’s a bit out of your reach you can pretend with JB on Flickr. Money can’t buy you happiness anyway. Although it can buy you a $1million motor yacht.