The Great Caribbean Battle

August 2, 2018, 12:48 am

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From 1989 to 1993 the waters of the Caribbean Sea were a turbulent place to sail. A battle was raging, between a band of pirates led by the blood-thirsty one-legged, one-handed and one-eyed Captain Redbeard (making him something of a Monty Python sketch), and Governor Broadside’s Imperial Soldiers (later the Imperial Guard) whose mighty forts and fleet fought piratical activity across the region.

Previous bloggee Versteinert MOC has captured the time brilliantly, with this ingenious homage to LEGO’s classic Pirates line. Recreated in cutesy-sort-of-mini-figure scale are three of the theme’s greatest sets, 6285 Black Seas Barracuda, 6286 Skull’s Eye Schooner, and 6274 Caribbean Clipper, all fighting it out in what looks like an outdoor swimming pool.

There’s much more to see of the miniaturised nautical battle at Versteinert’s Flickr album – pick a side and join the fight via the link!

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Not a Car

August 2, 2018, 8:10 am

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We’re not sure what’s got into the Elves but they seem to like boats at the moment. No matter, because this medieval ship by Flickr’s Gabriel Thomson is gorgeous, especially the clever brick-built hull. See more at Gabriel’s photostream by clicking here, whilst we issue a ‘find a bloody car you idiots’ directive…

Hippies Need Not Apply

August 2, 2018, 4:01 pm

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We’re back with a car (sort of), and one that’s been grossly overlooked by both the Lego and automotive communities. This is a Volkswagen T25/T3 ‘Autosleeper’, basically the 1980s version of VW’s Transporter camper.

Thanks to being a bit square and not breaking down all the time, the T25/T3 Transporter has just a fraction of the following of its T2 predecessor, despite being better in every way and even featuring water-cooled engines so you could hear yourself think on the highway.

This means that hippies aren’t interested in them and thus T25/T3s are far more affordable than their older brethren. Even more affordable still is this neat 5-wide Lego version by Flickr’s 1saac W, who has recreated the Autosleeper in late-’80s square-headlight configuration (the least cool of them all).

There’s more to see of 1saac’s excellent 5-wide Volkswagen T25/T3 camper at his photostream, within which there’ll be no tie-die, smelly bong-water, or smelly hippies to be found anywhere! Take a look via the link above.

DakaRC

August 2, 2018, 4:02 pm

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It’s seems like only the other day that Brickshelf’s marthart appeared here at The Lego Car Blog with a huge remote control Technic creation. That’s because it was, but his second upload of the week is just as worthy of a posting here.

This is Mammoet Racing’s 2018 Renualt Dakar truck, yup – the same company that made this, and it’s brilliant. With remote control all-wheel-drive and steering, working suspension, a V8 engine, opening panels, and a tilting cab, marthart‘s Technic recreation of the two-stage-winning truck is packed with working functions and there’s much more to see at the Brickshelf gallery – Click the link above to take a closer look.

The Bird & The Rat

August 3, 2018, 4:01 pm

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Soundling a bit like a British pub or a Simpsons episode, Sydag’s latest build pairs an F8F-2 Bearcat with a ’28 Ford pick-up rat rod, making the pilot/driver probably the coolest mini-figure in the world. See more on Flickr.

Mechstang

August 3, 2018, 4:02 pm

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The vintage fighter plane theme continues here at TLCB with this… er, we have no idea. Mixing a mech with a P-51 Mustang, Flickr’s Kobalt has created something that every single Elf here at TLCB Towers thinks is the coolest creation they’ve ever seen. Head to Kobalt’s photostream to see more of his ‘Mustang Blondi’, whilst we dust off a classic Transformers cartoon VHS.

The Other GTR

August 5, 2018, 4:01 pm

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Nissan may be the most obvious brand to use the ‘GTR’ moniker, but those three letters have found themselves on all sorts of cars over the years. Suggested by a reader, today’s post is simultaneously one of the most and least famous to use the GTR name; the mighty McLaren F1 GTR.

Built for endurance racing just nine F1 GTR’s were produced in 1995, with reduced weight, higher downforce thanks to modified bodywork, and – somewhat oddly – less power, as FIA rules restricted output.

Despite the F1 never being envisaged for racing at all the GTR proved phenomenally successful, winning the ’95 Le Mans 24 Hours race against the prototype class expected to dominate, encouraging McLaren to build a further ten GTRs in 1997.

This excellent Speed Champions recreation of the McLaren F1 GTR is the work of newcomer Sean Cox of MOCpages and it captures the mid-’90s icon superbly. See more via the link above.

It’s a Party in the Sky!

August 5, 2018, 11:53 pm

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Well we’ve now found our favourite airline safety video! Emmett and Wildstyle are ‘between films’ right now, and thus have time to star in Turkish Airlines’ latest safety instructional. Fasten your seatbelt, stow your tray table, and put your seat and window blind up via the video above!

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Two for Tuesday (In Space!)

August 6, 2018, 4:00 pm

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It’s a space double here at The Lego Car Blog, because… well, that’s what our Elves found. No matter though, because each is a brilliant build packed full of spacey goodness, a subject of which we know absolutely nothing.

First up (above) is Mladen of Brickshelf‘s M-Tron-esque Orbital Vanquisher, designed to vanquish orbits. Or to vanquish things whilst in orbit, we’re not really sure. But it is M-Tron and it’s nice to see that they’ve stopped nerding about collecting magnets and got themselves some real firepower at last.

Next up (below) and owned by none of the usual classic space protagonists is this huge ‘Gorgone 8×8 Space Rig’ by Flickr’s spaceruner. Apparently designed as a maintenance support vehicle for newly terraformed planets it’s nice to see a nod to both Octan and LEGO’s previous fuel supplier of choice on the side, and the rig features both working steering and suspension too.

There’s more to see of each creation on Brickshelf and Flickr respectively. Head into space via the links above for the complete galleries.

Ferrari SF71H | Picture Special

August 6, 2018, 4:01 pm

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We’re only at the mid-way break in the 2018 Formula 1 season and it’s already more interesting than the last few seasons put together (which still isn’t that interesting, but it’s a start). The arrival of the ‘halo’ and slightly laxer penalties (thankfully) were the only changes versus 2017, but such consistency allows teams to make progress, and gosh was that needed.

Years of Mercedes-AMG domination has, maybe, come to an end, as Scuderia Ferrari have at last got their act together and turned out a car that’s really quite good. Sadly Sergio Marchionne, Ferrari’s chairman, died this summer aged just 66, but what better way to celebrate his work than with a Championship win.

This is the car that Scuderia Ferrari and the whole of Italy hope will be able to take the Constructor’s Championship away from Mercedes-Benz, the SF71H. Powered by a 1.6 litre V6 with both an electrically driven turbocharger and an energy recovery system (as per the regulations) the SF71H produces arguably the most power of any engine on the current grid, allowing Sebastian Vettel to take four victories so far.

This stunning recreation of Ferrari’s 2018 title contender comes from previous bloggee Noah_L (aka Lego Builders) who, like the real teams competing in Formula 1, has heavily updated his 2017 car to meet the 2018 regulations. Modern Formula 1 aero is a mighty difficult thing to recreate in any form, let alone Lego, but Noah has done a superb job replicating the Ferrari’s incredible bodywork.

There are loads more images available to view the ingenious methods Noah has used to construct his model at his Flickr photostream and on MOCpages – click he links to take a look at how it’s done!

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

August 7, 2018, 8:04 am

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The year is 1889, and inventors Pierre and Jean are about to launch their brand new heavier-than-air-powered-flying-machine on its maiden journey! Photographer Jacques is back to capture the moment for the newspapers, whilst Brave Volunteer No.6 ready to take his shot at making aviation history in the pilot’s seat.

Flickr’s Tino Poutiainen is the builder behind this eccentric scene, which pre-dates the world’s first successful heavier-than-air-powered-flight by some fourteen years (it’d be embarrassing to think this was from the early days of manned flight wouldn’t it?), so we can all guess the fate of Brave Volunteer No.6…

Still, Pierre and Jean are adamant his death won’t be in vain. Welcome No.7… this time we’re sure we’ve cracked it!

Hunting Tigers

August 11, 2018, 1:44 am

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Are you the type of discerning gentleman who requires a vehicle for hunting tigers in Africa, plundering antiquities in the Middle East, or just keeping the peasants at bay? The Rolls Royce Condor is the vehicle for you!

Based on our exquisite limousine chassis, the Condor adds 4″ armour-plating, custom strengthened bumpers, and a 360-degree rotating gun turret equipped with a Browning .50 caliber machine gun. That’s a lot of tigers!

Direct all enquires to Joshua Brooks at certified Rolls Royce Distributor JBIronworks to arrange a viewing.

Grandalf the Gray

August 11, 2018, 2:35 am

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This is a late ’90s Jeep Grand Cherokee, and we hate it. Well not this one obviously, as we’ve blogged it, but the real car. Shoddily built, boringly styled, and with an enormous wheezy V8 making about 8bhp, the Grand Cherokee is everything we dislike in a car all rolled into one. The only grand thing about it was the name.

Still, the fact it was crap didn’t stop it selling in the hundreds of thousands, as families across America clamoured for a car essential for taking little Cody to school. One such owner is Flickr’s Thomas Gion (sorry about all the above Thomas…) who owns a grey ’99 Laredo edition, which he has recreated brilliantly in Lego form.

Constructed from 265 pieces, almost half of which are mounted sideways or upside-down, Thomas’ 7-wide model features more ingenious build techniques than many models five times the size. There’s more to see of his mini-figure scale Jeep at his album on Flickr – click the link above for a closer look.

Super Sabre

August 12, 2018, 7:12 am

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This is a North American F-100D Super Sabre, the U.S Air Force’s first fighter capable of supersonic speed in level flight. Launched in 1954 it’s hard to believe that the Second World War had ended just 9 years earlier in which planes looked like this.

The F-100D pictured here replicates one of the 58 planes that were supplied to the Royal Danish Airforce as part of the Military Assistance Programme after Work War Two. Denmark operated the Super Sabre for 23 years before retiring the aircraft for more modern designs.

This beautifully built recreation of one of the Danish F-100D Super Sabres comes from previous bloggee Henrik Jensen and you can read more about his build and further details on the real aircraft at both Flickr and MOCpages.

’80s Truckin’

August 12, 2018, 7:23 am

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We jump back to the 1980s now with two trucks that were everywhere in Europe back then. The DAF FT95 and Mercedes-Benz 1632 could be found on every highway in Western Europe, usually pulling anonymous curtain-sided box trailers full of anonymous things.

These two top quality Model Team versions by Flickr’s Arian Janssens are pulling more unusual loads though, as each has a huge three-axle steered dropside trailer in tow complete with an on-board crane.

Each is a wonderfully detailed model with a bunch of working functions thrown in too. Head over to Arian’s photostream via the link above to see the image shown here in full size, and to find the complete galleries and build details of each model.

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Golden Phage

August 13, 2018, 11:05 am

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Today’s creation might look like something from that box your Mom has for when her ‘special friends’ visit, but it in fact comes from the mind of Dwalin Forkbeard.

Dwalin’s mind harbours some unusual designs it seems, as a throughly weird mix of pieces has been used to create his ‘T3 Phage’ which is apparently a spacecraft of biological make-up. Or of course, Dwalin could be just one of your Mom’s special friends.

Either way there’s more to see on Flickr – click the link above for more.

Gigahorse

August 15, 2018, 11:45 am

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It’s been a while since the last ‘Mad Max – Fury Road’ vehicle featured here at The Lego Car Blog. This means the Elves haven’t watched the movie in ages, seeing as they’re only allowed to do so if they find an appropriate creation.

Cue much Elven celebration today therefore, when one of their number returned to the office with this, a rather excellent recreation of the Gigahorse stacked Cadillac from Flickr’s hachiroku24.

Not only has hachiroku replicated the movie car brilliantly, he’s also made instructions available so you can build one for yourself. Head over to his photostream via the link above for more.

A-MAZ-ing

August 16, 2018, 3:25 am

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Last time we mentioned something about a vehicle belonging to Russia’s government forces we got in trouble (despite having been positive in the past too) so today there’ll be no backstory. However none is needed, because this MAZ537 8×8 soviet military truck is incredible.

Built by gkurkowski of Brickshelf this 3.3kg behemoth is one of the most beautifully recreated replica trucks that we’ve ever featured. With superb detailing both externally and inside, gkurkowski’s MAZ is certainly befitting of the ‘Model Team’ category here at TLCB. However, this creation is much more than a static display piece…

Inside that brilliant body is a full Power Functions remote control drivetrain with power going to all eight wheels shod in LEGO’s huge 42054 Claas Xerion tyres. Each of the four axles is suspended and the first two offer four-wheel-steering powered by a Medium Motor. There’s also a V12 piston engine, LED headlights, a suspended fifth wheel/trailer hitch and opening everything.

It’s an incredible build and one that definitely deserves a closer look. A full gallery of over thirty images is available to view on Brickshelf, including CAD drawings of the drivetrain and WIP shots, plus you watch gkurkowski’s amazing MAZ537 8×8 in action courtesy of the video below.

YouTube Video:

McLaren P1 | Picture Special

August 17, 2018, 8:07 am

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This is a near perfect working replica of the McLaren P1, it’s really orange, and it might be the finest Technic Supercar of 2018…

Built by brunojj1 of Eurobricks, this incredible 1:8 model of McLaren’s flagship hybrid hypercar measures over 70 studs / almost 60cm in length and is constructed from over 3,000 LEGO pieces.

Bruno has designed two different versions of the model, one manual and the other remote controlled, and he’s made instructions available too. Both variants have adjustable front and rear suspension, opening butterfly doors, hood and engine cover, a working V8 engine, and a deployable airbrake/active rear spoiler.

The remote control version adds a suite of Power Functions motors to electronically operate the suspension, airbrake/spoiler and doors, plus drive and steer the model remotely. Two on-board LiPo batteries or third-party BuWizz bricks provide the power, whilst twin SBricks allow the McLaren’s working functions to be controlled via a mobile device.

A huge gallery of images is available to view through the Eurobricks discussion forum, where you can also find a link to Bruno’s McLaren P1 building instructions and watch a video of the remote control version of the model in action.

Find out more by clicking here, and you can read our reviews of the third-party BuWizz and SBrick parts used in the McLaren via the links in the text above.

Full Steam Ahead

August 19, 2018, 2:19 am

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As has been documented on these pages before, we don’t really understand the whole flying boat thing going on in the steampunk world. Nevertheless, the creations it produces are often spellbinding.

Markus Ronge‘s clever ‘Netbrix’ original series offers the hope that we’ll finally learn what this is all about, but if not we’re still going to see some magnificent creations, not least the incredible flying liner teased below.

There’s more to see of Markus’ beautiful Netbrix Original Series ‘Full Steam’ preview posters on Flickr via the link above, where you can follow Markus to ‘subscribe’ to Netbrix.