Mercedes-Benz might make some brilliant cars, but their naming policy is madness. We’re not sure if Germans play ‘Scrabble’, but we suspect the naming department at Mercedes do, as their cars seem to be whatever letters Klaus pulled out of the Scrabble bag that day. A, B, C, E, S, GLA, GLB, GLC, GLE, EQC, CLA, CLS, SL, SLC, and lastly AMG GT. And that’s not including all the past combinations of letters Mercedes-Benz have recently dropped in a (failed) attempt to make their range less complicated than the large hadron collider.

This is one of brand’s more sporting collection of letters; the AMG GT, a name so anonymous we’d forgotten it existed at all. Built by previous bloggee Alexander Paschoaletto this Model Team replica of Mercedes-Benz’s V8 sports car captures the look of the real thing superbly, and includes opening doors, hood and trunk too. There’s more of Alexander’s excellent creation to see at his ‘AMG GT’ album on Flickr – click the link above and try to get a triple world score.

We’re in the final two weeks of TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model Competition, where you could win an incredible SBrick Bluetooth Control Pack! Hoping to do just that is Davide Bersia, with his superb Technic city bus, built only from the parts found within the 42098 Car Transporter set.

Featuring working steering, suspension (cleverly re-using the donor set’s rubber pieces), a working rear-mounted V6 engine, and mechanically operated opening doors, Davide’s 42098 alternate is both unusual and brilliant. Davide has also made building instructions available too, so you convert your own 42098 set into this bus at home. Click here to head to Flickr to find out more!

YouTube Video

LEGO’s slightly uninspiring Technic 42108 Mobile Crane set has certainly proved, er… inspiring, with several awesome B-Models being built from it for TLCB Lock-Down B-Model Competition. Joining previously blogged 42108 alternates like this roll-off container truck and this rotator tow truck, Brickshelf’s mpj has constructed this fantastic JCB telehandler.

With a wealth of mechanical functionality mpj’s B-Model is every bit as technical as the model from which it’s derived, and includes working stabilisers, boom elevatation, extension and fork tilt, all-wheel-steering, and a rotating superstructure. It’s a brilliant build, showcasing both why LEGO is such an incredible toy and the reason why we started this contest; to use what you have to make something new. And awesome.

There’s much more of mpj’s 42108 B-Model competition entry to see on Brickshelf, and there’s still time to enter your own B-Model into TLCB Lock-Down B-Model Competition; click here to read the competition rules and see how to enter.

One of LEGO’s weirder themes, Dino Island (basically Jurassic Park meets Indiana Jones without paying the licensing) did feature some rather nice vintage vehicles. 5920 was one of them, and TLCB favourite Chris Elliott has rebuilt it in his trademark style; with beautiful attention to detail and gorgeous presentation. Suggested by a reader, there’s more to see of Chris’s 5920 Redux on Flickr – take a look via the link above.

The world’s emergency services battle to save us every single day, with the current Coronavirus pandemic highlighting in particular what an incredible job they do. Of course they need the tools to do the job, and that’s what they’ve got in the Netherlands with their Mercedes-Benz Sprinter ambulances. Flickr’s Ralph Savelsberg is the builder behind this one, recreating both the converted van and its complicated Dutch chevrons over EU-mandated yellow paint job with brilliant accuracy. Opening doors reveal a life-like interior too, and there’s more of Ralph’s Sprinter to see at his photostream – click here to call an ambulance.

This superbly built MAN LE 4×4 tipper/crane truck was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr today. It comes from previous bloggee Damian Z aka Thietmaier and it’s a deceptively brilliant bit of building.

Firstly Damian’s MAN looks excellent, with lovely attention to detail adding much realism to the model, despite it only being eight studs in width. That realism extends to an ingenuously constructed Plafinger crane mounted between the cab and the load bed, which can unfurl and sort of work thanks to some clever parts usage that employs both System and Technic peices.

The load bed properly works though, being able to tip left or right whilst the dropsides rotate upwards (does that still make them dropsides?) to allow the load to discharge.

It’s a mighty clever design and adds a level of realism to the model that’s typically found on creations far larger. There are loads more images to see of Damian’s MAN LE 4×4 crane/tipper truck at his Flickr album, which demonstrates presentation skills as good as the model itself. Take a look via the link above.

LEGO have a history of making incredible life-size replicas of both real-world vehicles and their own sets. This is their latest creation, and it’s a little different…

LEGO’s new 42107 Technic Ducati Panigale V4 R set joined the range earlier his year, and to celebrate the two firms’ collaboration they have worked together to create this; a fully working Ducati Panigale V4 R with a faring built entirely from LEGO Technic beams and pins, with no glue, no supporting structure, and no CAD.

Certified LEGO Professional Riccardo Zangelmi spent 400 hours creating the Ducati’s brick-built faring, using an estimated 15,000 Technic parts. The completed motorbike weighs 180kg (that’s the LEGO bricks and the real Ducati Panigale platform underneath them), and was unveiled at the Modena circuit in Italy by Ducati MotoGP rider Andrea Dovizioso.

It’s quite a cool looking experiment, and if you’d like to read more about the official 42107 Ducati Panigale V4 R set, LEGO’s first collaboration with Ducati, you can check out our set preview via the link in the text above.

This mega MAZ-537 8×8 truck, complete with an enormous logging trailer, was inspired by a similar creation by Pavol Vanek that featured here back in 2015. Following appropriately slowly is this version by Matt’s Lego Creations, whose own MAZ logging truck has arrived here half a decade later. Measuring over a metre long it’s quite a beast, and one you can see more of on both Flickr and Eurobricks.

Summertime is here at TLCB Towers, when skirts get shorter (the pedestrians outside, not TLCB staff), it doesn’t get dark until 10pm, and a select group of Elven ‘volunteers’ are fired over the walls of The LEGO Group’s HQ tasked with bringing back the second half of the year’s new Technic sets.

Those that successfully dodged LEGO’s guard dogs (who surely look forward to this biannual event), have returned with their finds which – thanks to the magic of the internet – we can share with you today! So here they are; the three brand new for H2 2020 LEGO Technic sets…

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42112 Concrete Mixer Truck

The first new addition to the Technic line up is an interesting one, being hefty eight wheel concrete mixer truck that adopts Technic’s recent more detailed aesthetic and includes a brand new bespoke mixing drum piece. Whether this giant single part is a welcome addition or is at odds with the very point of LEGO is open to debate, but the model itself does look rather excellent, with almost Model Team levels of detail yet also retaining decent Technic functionality.

The front two axles offer mechanical steering via a roof mounted gear, whilst that new mixing drum can rotate either as the truck is pushed along or via a gear on the side, allowing it to ‘unload’ its contents all over the kitchen floor. 42112 also adds a few more dark blue pieces to range, with its attractive colouring enhanced with a few neat decals, and it’s expected to cost around €100 when it reaches stores in August.

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42113 Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey

The second set to join the 2020 Technic line-up is as interesting as the first, and it adds another officially-licensed partnership to LEGO’s impressive list to date. It’s also a partnership we never expected, as this awesome looking tilt-rotor aircraft is based on the real (and amazing) Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey.

LEGO have dabbled with tilt-rotor aircraft only once to our knowledge, back with the 8082 Multi-Model Control set from 1993 (come to think of it, why don’t LEGO make multi-model sets anymore? They were great), making 42113 one of the most unusual and original Technic sets in years.

It’s also the first set to feature LEGO’s new ‘Powered Up’ battery box, which when combined with the ‘Powered Up’ Motor drives the set’s two rotors and (we hope) the tilting mechanism that converts the V-22 Osprey from helicopter to plane. An opening cargo door and working landing gear also feature, as do a few orange panels to break up the military grey.

42113 will place towards the top end of the Technic range upon its arrival (although the mid-point definitely seems to be shifting upwards), is aimed at ages 10+ (as per the 42112 Concrete Mixer Truck above), and is estimated to cost around €130 when it reaches stores later this year.

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42114 6×6 Volvo Articulated Hauler

The final new addition to the 2020 line-up is another complicated and expensive set, meaning that all three of LEGO’s H2 sets cost upwards of €100. 42114 sits at the top of the trio, costing an enormous €250. It is itself rather large though, which helps off-set some of that eye-watering cost, and it brings an old favourite back to the range; Volvo Trucks.

Often the ‘B-Model’ (which is ironic, as all three of the new sets don’t seem to offer a B-Model at all), articulated haulers have appeared a few times in the Technic range, but never on this scale. The 42114 6×6 Volvo Articulated Hauler is huge, and packed with LEGO’s latest components, chief amongst which is the Control+ bluetooth brick, which enables the set to be operated remotely via a mobile phone or other bluetooth device.

42114 includes three of LEGO’s new ‘Powered Up’ motors, which deliver the all-wheel-drive, articulated steering, and power the massive linear actuator-driven tipping bucket. High levels of visual realism are present once again, with the set enhanced by both accurate decals and a level of detail that was only present on Model Team sets not that long ago. It’s an impressive combination, and one that has created a set that looks to be both a fine display piece and gloriously playable. But it still looks mightily expensive…

42114 is aimed at ages 11+ and joins 42112 and 42113 in stores later on this year. Better start saving. A lot!

Lots of them. They seem to be highly contagious too, seeing the rate at which they’re spreading around Flickr for reasons unknown. First (above) we caught Patrick Briggs‘ ‘CRABCO UNMB-TZKC Excavator’, a six-legged bucket-wielding mechanical creature that looks like it would be brilliant at making sand castles.

Joining the CRABCO Excavator in the pubic hair of the internet that is TLCB is AlexParkDesigns‘ ‘Galaxy Crab’, a cosmic crustacean of completely unknown purpose, complete with an orrery inside its transparent head. As with Patrick’s crab above, there’s more to seen Flickr via the links.

Today’s final crab-based creation is the ‘Crabvanced Diving Suit’ by Tino Poutianen, who has equipped a crab with a giant, er… crab. No we don’t know why either, but we’re so far beyond understanding at this point there’s no point trying to now. Tino’s crab mech joins the others above in a considerable crab infestation on Flickr. Click the links in the text to find out more, whilst we make a very awkward phone call to your Mom.

There’s just one week to go in TLCB Lock-Down B-Model Competition! We’ve featured dozens of blogworthy entries so far, with more in the queue due to appear soon, and there’s still time to get your entry in before the competition closes at end of the month.

If your creation has appeared here during the contest so far, you’re in the shortlist to win an awesome SBrick Plus Pack! If not, and you’d like to check that we’ve seen you entry, firstly make sure you’ve used ‘TLCB Lock-Down B-Model Competition’ in the title or description (it will help our Elves find your entry), and you can also let us know via the comments, Contact page, Flickr, or on Facebook.

To read the competition rules and see the amazing prizes on offer take a look here, and make sure you get your B-Model online by June 30th!

This cartoonesque (hence the title) Subaru Impreza WRX STI was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr today. It comes from previous bloggee Fuku Saku who has created the GC8 version of the car that featured in the Japanese phenomenon ‘Initial D’. There’s much more of Fuku’s Impreza to see at his Flickr album – click the link above to make the jump!

The ‘LEGO Masters’ TV show is generating some incredible creations wherever it airs around the world. But it’s not just the contestants building amazing models from LEGO bricks, the pros are too; as demonstrated here by Certified LEGO Professional Ryan McNaught (aka TheBrickMan) who has constructed this enormous RC car track based upon a well-known Australian circuit, in collaboration with Honda.

Using a rare (and largely forgotten) genuine LEGO remote control chassis, Ryan and his team have constructed an impressive homage to the famous Bathurst track, complete with the pit-lane, spectators, start-finish gantry, Goodyear bridge, an array of brilliant Honda machinery, and – of course – Mount ‘Hondarama’ itself.

Two current generation Honda Civic Type R’s can be driven around the circuit thanks to their RC internals, whilst a range of other Honda products line the track, from the first generation Civic to the NSX, with everything from lawnmowers and scooters in-between. There’s loads more of Ryan’s ‘LEGO Masters’ build to see at his ‘Mount Hondarama’ album on Flickr – join the race via the link above!

With less than a week to go in TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model Competition we have three more alternate builds to share, each of which has made the shortlist to win an awesome SBrick Plus Pro Pack!

First up (above) is a B-Model from one of LEGO’s newest sets, the 42111 Fast & Furious Dom’s Dodge Charger. Built by Matt Walker aka cleansupgood, this excellent prototype endurance racer features working steering, a mid-mounted flat-8 engine driven by the rear wheels, front and rear suspension, and an opening engine cover. Matt let us know about his competition entry via Facebook and there’s more to see of his 42111 B-Model on Bricksafe via the link above or on Flickr here.

Today’s second competition entry comes from Kieran Gutteridge who is making his TLCB debut with his 42093 alternate off-roader. Using only the parts found within the official LEGO Technic Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 set, Kieran’s off-roader features a working inline-4 engine, rear suspension (cunningly using a flexible axle from the donor set), and working steering by both ‘Hand of God’ and the steering wheel. Head to Kieran’s photostream by clicking here to see more!

Today’s third and final entry is also the work of a newcomer, 13 year old Ondra Chlopcik, whose father let us know about his entry. Using the parts from the 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS set which has been chosen a few times in the competition so far, Ondra has crafted this brilliantly accurate Porsche 918 Cayman GTS, complete with opening doors, hood and trunk, a removable ‘convertible’ roof, a 6-cylinder engine and a two-speed gearbox.

There’s more to see of Ondra’s excellent 52056 alternate on his publicly available Google drive, and if you’d like to enter your own B-Model into the competition you have until June 30th to upload your creation. You can do so on Flickr, Eurobricks, or Brickshelf (or any other freely available platform if you let us know where we can find it!), and you can read the competition rules by clicking here.

The emergency services are the everyday heroes that have been thrown into the spotlight both during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, and in the subsequent protests, riots, and social disorder that seems to be infecting Western society as much as the disease the proceeded it.

It’s a hard enough job to do without having bottles thrown at you, but sadly that’s what’s happening, despite the fact that the emergency services will work just a shard to save the bottle thrower as the innocent bystander in the event they’re needed.

This superb FDNY ambulance comes from TLCB regular Ralph Savelsberg in his trademark Miniland style. Based on a Ford Super Duty extra cab, Ralph’s model replicates the livery and details of the real ambulance beautifully, and he’s included a neat paramedic figure too. There’s more of the build to see at Ralph’s photostream – click the link above to dial 9-1-1.

*Today’s excellent title song

We’re sure that many helicopter owners also have an Aston Martin in the garage. Flickr’s Serge S thinks so too, having turned the 10262 Aston Martin DB5 ‘Goldfinger’ set into this rather neat helicopter for TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model Competition. There’s just two days to go to get your entry in, which is how long Serge took to build this one. Head to Flickr to see more of his ‘Bond’s Helicopter’ by clicking here, and you can see the original LEGO set from which this model has been built via the link above.

There’s less than 48 hours to go in TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model Competition, with a flurry of builds joining the shortlist to win a fantastic SBrick Plus Pro Pack!

That doesn’t mean lock-down is ending of course (for those of you in it), particularly when morons shout “I’ll die for that flag!” during a protest against protective measures, as if somehow wearing a face mask to prevent the spread of a deadly disease is contrary to that bit of cloth at the top of a pole. Still, they may well ‘die for that flag’ by not wearing one. Unfortunately they might cause a few others to as well.

Rant over (but seriously, do as you’re told. Unless you’re an expert in infection disease control, sit down and shut up), and on to the first of today’s entries; this awesome Sherp-looking 4×4 tipper built from the 42099 Technic set. BadIdeasPoorlyExecuted is the builder behind it, and in the current situation a vehicle which allows escape into the wilderness doesn’t look to be a bad idea at all. The Elves rather like it too, seeing as it’s bright orange and remotely controlled. There’s more to see of BadIdeas’ B-Model build on Bricksafe – click here to take a look!

The second contest entry in today’s post utilises a set we’ve seen chosen a few times, the 42098 Technic Car Transporter set, but deploys its pieces in a rather unusual way. Scraping through our image quality criteria, but making up for it in mildly-unhinged inventiveness, Saberwing of Eurobricks has constructed this wild-looking attack helicopter.

The model features working rotors with – somewhat amazingly considering the unlikely source set – collective pitch control. A brick-built swash plate joins working landing gear and an enormous mechanically operated gun turret with both rotation and elevation functions. You can guess which feature is the Elves’ favourite…

The final entry in today’s Lock-Down B-Model update is actually two. Or three. Built by Kostq of Bricksafe, this ‘Big Rig’ is constructed from the parts found within the 42106 Technic Stunt Team set, and for added points it’s towing another two alternates, with a trailer made from 42103 and racing car from 42104.

Kostq’s B-Models are shown here in digital format but they have also been built for real, the photos of which you can find here, along with links to building instructions should you wish to build them for yourself. Plus, proving you can enter a B-Model no matter how small, here’s a bonus build too.

A Technic Supercar must contain many things. It must steer, include an engine driven by the wheels, a working gearbox, and suspension. This tends to make them rather large and parts intensive, but not so this one, which features all of that (and more) in a model about 1/4 the size of most of the Supercars we feature here.

Built by 1980SomethingSpaceGuy of Eurobricks, this ‘Vintage Rally Coupe’ packs in so much technical goodness we’re beginning to think that LEGO themselves need to step up their game a bit. A V4 engine up front is driven by the rear wheels via a working gearbox, all four wheels are suspended (with a period-correct combination of independent shocks up front a leaf springs at the rear), the steering wheel turns the front wheels, and the doors, hood and hatchback all open.

In summary, it’s glorious; a proper old school Supercar, just a whole heap smaller. And we absolutely love it. See more at the link above, it’s well worth your click.

It’s the final day of TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model Competition, where you can win an amazing SBrick Plus Pro Pack! An array of B-Model machinery has been posted in the last hours (and there are still a few to go should you wish to enter your own alternate build), the best of which we’ll be sharing today. Before the big guns we’re kicking-off with two of the smaller entries; previous entrant Davide Bersia‘s 10242 Mini Cooper-based racing car and newcomer truckman aka T M‘s Tron-based truck. There’s more to see of each alternate via the links above, and we’ll be back shortly with a lot more…

You may not be familiar with Matra, but they’re probably the most important car company you’ve never heard of. Enormously successful on track, Matra won the Formula 1 World Championship in 1969, and the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1972, ’73 and ’74. They designed the first MPV, the first crossover, and – for a while – they made this, the delightfully weird three-seat Bagheera sports car.

Powered by 1.3 or 1.5 litre Simca engines, the lightweight Bagheera was faster than most other European small sports cars of the time, and cheaper too. It was a trend-setter in other ways however, being appalling built to the point of winning the ‘Silver Lemon’ award in 1975 for poorest quality, which when combined with a chassis without any rust protection whatsoever, makes the Bagheera a very rare sight today.

One Bagheera that won’t rust is this excellent Model Team version by previous bloggee monstermatou, who has constructed his entirely from the parts found within the Creator 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper set. Following his stunning Citroen DS19 built for TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model competition, Monster’s Matra continues his weird-French-cars-built-from-LEGO-sets theme, and his run of incredible B-Model builds that you can find at his photostream.

There’s more to see of monstermatou’s Matra Bagheera on Flickr via the link above, along with a host of other ace alternates including the aforementioned Citroen, a Morgan built from a Mini, and a Fiat 500 constructed from the same Camper set as this classic French oddball.