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Two Trucks Tuesday

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Lego Mack Granite Truck

A peaceful morning in TLCB Towers was shattered today by the sound of something heavy and metallic hitting something soft and fleshy. The two objects in question turned out to be a desk lamp and an Elf, which was itself armed with a stolen hole-punch for defence-by-body-piercing.

With the two combatants separated, one of which was sporting a newly (and no doubt unwanted) pierced ear, we could investigate the cause of the ruckus.

Two Model Team style trucks, both remotely controlled by Power Functions, and both discovered on the image-sharing site Flickr. Luckily for the two aforementioned Elves both creations are worthy of appearing here, and so each of them has earned a meal token, making the lamp vs. hole punch fight somewhat necessary.

Anyway, the models! First up (above) is previous bloggee Ingmar Spijkoven‘s Mack Granite truck, with RC drive and steering, solid axel suspension and a working fifth wheel. Click on Ingmar’s name to see more of his mighty Mack.

The second of today’s trucks (below) comes from another previous bloggee from Flickr, Marek Mankiewicz aka M_longer. Marek has reconstructed a superb replica of MAN’s TGS 8×4 dump truck, and he’s added a drawbar trailer for good measure too. There’s lots more to see at the link above.

N.B. We often get asked for instructions here at TLCB. Usually the answer is a No, however both of today’s builders have made instructions available for their respective models. To access these building steps simply click on the links above!

Lego MAN TGS Truck



Batman’s Back! Probably.

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Lego Matman Movie

The surprise movie hit of 2014 was surely the The LEGO Movie, which received both rave reviews and piles of cash at the box office. Such has been its success that The Lego Movie’s sequel, snappily titled ‘The LEGO Movie Sequel’ is already in the works and set for release sometime around 2018.

However production company Warner Brothers is rumoured to want even more from their new franchise, and so everyone’s favourite very very dark grey crimefighter might be getting his very own movie!

The as-yet-untitled LEGO Batman film is expected in around two years’ time, with the fantastic Will Arnett reprising his role as the Dark Knight.

We’ll bring you more on this story once we’ve catapulted a few more Elves into the Warner Brothers’ offices, but for now you can click this link to see what Batman got up to after The Lego Movie ended.


The Lego Boat Blog

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Lego Tug Boat

We don’t just do cars here at The Lego Car Blog. See, here’s a boat! You can see more of Konajra’s beautifully detailed Serco Marine SD tug boat by clicking here.


Pagani Huayra Picture Special

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Lego Technic Pagani Huayra

Here at TLCB we regularly mock the efforts of ambitious but rubbish millionaires who promise the arrival of a new Bugatti-beating supercar every other month. Most such companies never start production, and the few that do go bankrupt within weeks after delivering the square root of F-all. All that is, except one…

Pagani was founded in 1992 by Argentinian-Italian ex-Lamborghini engineer Horacio Pagani. Seven years later the company’s first supercar reached production, via a partnership with Mercedes-Benz, and it quickly became the new poster car of eight year olds everywhere and cemented Pagani’s membership into the premier league of supercar makers.

Fast forward thirteen years to 2012 and it was time for the risky second album. Pagani responded by launching the incredible Huayra hypercar, a car capable of pulling over 1.6 lateral G at 230mph.

Lego Pagani Supercar

A car as astonishing as the Huayra deserves an astonishing Technic Supercar build, and today’s post sure meets that criteria. Much like the Pagani company the builder of this Technic recreation is a new entrant into the premier league of supercar builders, having only been building for a few years, but with this build Francisco Hartley has made sure he’s going to get noticed.

Underneath the remarkably accurate bodywork Francisco has engineered a working V12 engine, 6-speed gearbox with clutch, independent suspension, damped gull-wing doors and – most impressively of all – the Huayra’s ingenious active aerodynamics.

Lego Technic PaganiAll of the working features are mechanical, there’s not a Power Functions motor or pneumatic cylinder anywhere, and all are exquisitely engineered. You can see all the details of this beautiful Technic supercar on MOCpages at the link in the text above, plus you can see the features in action via the slick video below. Welcome to the premier league Francisco!

YouTube Video:


Space Rods

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Lego Space Hot Rods

Because aliens need nice rides too. Adam Dodge is the builder of these two and you can see more here.


Slick Ships!

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FW 190

Variety is spice of life“, and here at The Lego Car Blog we like to add flavour to our diet of automotive builds with the occasional aeroplane, train, ship or spacecraft. Our Elvish workers hate variety. They much prefer a predictable diet of Lego, Smarties and violence: sometimes varying it in the form of violence, Smarties and Lego; or just violence served on its own.

First on today’s menu is Damien Labrousse’s “Space Wulf 190″. This sleek machine features a ventral fin almost as large as the one on top. Fortunately it folds neatly out of the way when the undercarriage deploys, allowing the ship to land safely.

Featured below is Chris Perron’s aggressively agile “Kronos” fighter. This features smoothly brick-built wings and some great trans-fluorescent details, which add some zing to the subtle, grey colours. You can see more of each ship by clicking the links in the text.

Kronos


Asphinctersayswhat?

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Wayne's World LegoWhat? Ahh… the Mirth-Mobile… You can see more of this AMC Pacer from the 1992 cult movie ‘Wayne’s World’ at Ralph Savelsberg (aka Mad Physicist)’s Flickr photostream.


The Last Crusade*

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Lego Indiana Jones The Last Crusade Motorcycle

There’s only been one post between Ralph Savelsberg‘s last creation to appear here and this one, but unlike the Indiana Jones movie franchise all of Ralph’s efforts continue to yield excellent results.

His latest model is the BMW R75 military motorcycle and sidecar that starred in the superb 1989 film The Last Crusade, complete with Indiana himself and his father as passenger. There’s lots more to see at Ralph’s photostream – click the link above to make the jump.

Lego Indiana Jones

*If only. Someone please tell George Lucas to stop. Aliens? Really?!



The Force Awakens

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Lego Technic Star Wars X-Wing

Before we get called out on whether the X-Wing is going to feature in the new Star Wars movie ‘The Force Awakens’, we’ll be honest and say have absolutely no idea – today’s title is shameless click-bait!

Anyway, whether or not the X-Wing is set for a reappearance, Flickr’s Jeroen Ottens has built it superbly from Denmark’s finest plastic bricks. His recreation isn’t simply a static model either, as he’s packed it with pneumatic functions, including moving wings, opening canopy, weapons and landing gear.

More to see at the link above there is*.

*See, we can do Star Wars too… a bit.


A Clockwork Elf – 42034 Quad Bike – Set Review

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42034_Quad-Bike_01

What could be more fun than a hoard of The Lego Car Blog Elves, balanced on top of a careering vehicle, powered by a large, metal spring? For just £17.99 for 148 pieces from our local toy shop, we decided to find out!

Opening the box revealed two bags of Lego parts and a pull-back motor plus four tyres packed loose. As usual, the tyres rolled off under the TLCB office champagne cooler and had to be retrieved by a skinny Elf. The sticker sheet was also packed loose, resulting in the usual slight crumples (come on Lego put them in a bag with some cardboard!). Lastly, came the 60 page instruction book, which thankfully no longer features the terrifying, screaming child on its back cover. Why was he so angry?

60 pages of instructions, might seem a bit over the top but remember that this model is at the “fun” end of the Technic range and aimed at builders from 7 to 14 years old. That said, some of the steps did seem a bit small, such as adding two decorative bushes to the wheel axles in the final step. If you are ever in need of a mental challenge, go and build one of the big Technic sets from the early 1980s and you’ll be thankful for Lego’s modern day approach to instructions.

Disappointingly, there is no “B” model for this set. You can buy the other “Pull-Back” model in this year’s range (42033) and combine the two sets. However, that was too much of an investment for us as we weren’t sure if this model would survive the Elves “testing” regime for long enough to be re-combined.

Having distracted all 271 Elves in the office by giving them a Smartie to fight over, we started the build. The model starts with the chassis, in short rapid steps. By step 8, the pull-back motor is already fitted. For us, the motor was the exciting, interesting bit. How powerful would it be? How long would it last? How many Elves could we smush? Just 40 more pages and we’d be there…

The build continues in, what is now, traditional Technic style, strongly embedding the motor in a frame. Disappointingly there is no gearing in this model. It’s great introduction to Technic for younger builders but perhaps some gearing would have added to the educational value and interest? Maybe the motor wasn’t up to it? Just 35 more pages to go…

The decorative “engine” of this model is a two cylinder “V”. It’s neatly made from a 57585, 3 Branch Cross Axle and a pair of wheel hubs. The stickers start to come in at this point too. Applying them looked quite fiddly. We prefer to leave our pieces clean and ready for re-use in MOCs, so fortunately we skipped that part. The instructions now moved on to make the bodywork. Lego leave adding to wheels until the end of the build. How fast would our quad bike zoom?

Page 27 has a fiddly, combined axle and peg connection, with three things to go in. It’s a bit tricky and builders at the younger end of the age range will probably need a hand here. Page 30 adds an axle to the pull-back motor and the front axle too. It turns out the at the steering handle bars are just decorative. Perhaps a simple, friction based, steering could have added to the fun by allowing the quad bike to go in straight lines or in curves? It seemed quite hard to wind the motor up. Perhaps it would be easier once the wheels were on?

A few more steps, adding familiar Technic parts and panels (there were no exciting new components hidden in this build for the collector). Then it was time to add the wheels! Even though this model is aimed at younger builders, this took three whole pages of the instructions, which seemed a little excessive. The finished article is a nicely chunky, good looking, strong toy. It easily survived being dropped 30cm onto a table, thanks to its balloon tyres.

We loaded 13 and ¾ Elves onto the quad bike in the style of the White Helmets and started to wind up its motor. After four sets of easy 30cm pull backs, which stored a lot of energy in the spring, a ratchet cut in to stop it being over-wound and broken. The model easily covered the 6 metres across the TLCB executive sun deck, spraying Elves as it went. Fortunately it is light and has a strong front bumper built into it. Parents might want to guard some of their more delicate furniture.

To sum up. Value for money: perhaps not for the parts but you can buy this model online for a couple of pounds cheaper than we bought it in a shop. The palette is just black, yellow and grey, so the parts will easily combine with parts from your other Technic sets in MOCs. There are also two pairs of useful wheels, unlike the 42033 set. The model looks good, even without the stickers and is strong, fun and fast to play with. This is the model’s best point: it’s a fun introduction to the Technic style of building and a great toy to play with once it’s built.

42034_box1_na_1488x841

P.S. If you’re wondering what an Elf on a quad bike looks like, click this link.


24 Heures du Mans

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Lego Technic Le Mans LMP1 Racer

This mighty-looking Technic LMP1 endurance racer was discovered on Eurobricks by one of our happy little helpers. It the work of bj51 and it’s packed full of Technic functions. These include all-wheel independent suspension, a working V8 engine, steering and transmission. There’s lots more to see at the Eurobricks discussion forum or at bj51’s website, and you can read our review of the offical Technic endurance racer set by clicking here.

Lego Technic Endurance Racer


Druid Princess

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Lego Druid Princess Hot Rod

This odd-looking vehicle comes from Flickr’s Tim Inman. It’s a recreation of one of Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roth’s show rods from way back in 1966, ‘Druid Princess’. There’s lots more to see at Tim’s photostream – click here to make the jump.


Space Gun Ship

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Lego Space Ship

The Lego Car Blog office knows collectively the square root of nothing about spaceships. What we do know is we quite like spaceships that look like… er, ships, in space. This is one such creation, the USS Avenger. It’s the work of Flickr’s JBIronWorks and there are some truly spectacular images available to view. Click the link above to see how good sci-fi photo editing can get!

Lego USS Avenger Ship


Tugs in Space

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Lego Space Tug

If you have a spaceship like this one, parking it might be tricky. Luckily Billyburg‘s classic space heavy lifting tug is here to help. You can see more of his beautifully creative ‘4 K-Lifter’ at the link above.


Speed Champions Italia

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Lego Speed Champions Ferrari 458 Italia

LEGO’s Speed Champions series has been warmly received by the online community and we’re starting to see some excellent additions to LEGO’s original line-up. This is one of our favourites, ER0L’s lovely Ferrari 458 Italia. You can see more of the mini-figure scale Ferrari here, and if you’d like to get started building your own Lego cars the Speed Champions series is a great place to begin – and you may even get to see your creation blogged!

Lego Ferrari 458 Italia GT2



24 Heures du Mans (Partie Deux)

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Lego Le Mans LMP1 Race Car

French made, French raced, Technic LMP1 cars are like buses

The second LMP1 car to appear here this week arrived courtesy of a reader via the Feedback and Submission Suggestions page. It comes from previous bloggee Nico71, and it is – as you can see – gorgeous. Underneath the swoopy prototype-class bodywork sits a fully functioning chassis complete with authentic double-wishbone push-rod suspension, a working V8 engine, steering, and opening doors and engine cover.

Lego Technic Suspension

At the time of writing Nico’s Technic LMP1 racer isn’t present at any of our Elves’ usual haunts, but fortunately it is available at Nico’s own (and excellent) website, where there is also a huge gallery of detailed photos with instructions to come. For all the details click on these blue words to visit Nico’s website.

Lego Le Mans LMP1 Racer


Home Delivery

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HD 01

Our Elves almost missed this charming creation from Galaktek, on Flickr. Unusually for a sci-fi build it isn’t covered in guns & missiles and our workforce has a proven penchant for such things. This delivery lorry could easily be from the near future of Lego’s “City” range and features some very neat “wheel” units. Click on this link to see how Galaktek made them.

HD 02


Twin Turbo

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Bricksky boat

Ever since they discovered this build by Tyler Sky on Flickr, the Elves have been splashing around in the TLCB Executive Jacuzzi, making engine noises. Inspired by his wife’s present of mini-figs and seagulls, Tyler has built a super-fast Octan catamaran. We can tell it’s fast, thanks to the brilliant, brick-built rooster tail which he has created. Click on the links to see more details, including which of the twin pilots isn’t enjoying the ride.


Three Garys

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Lego Technic Gaz Trucks

Today, like every pub in Birmingham, TLCB has three Garys present. These beautifully built Technic GAZ 51 trucks – in dropside, tipper and crane flavours – were discovered on Eurobricks. They’ve been built by newcomer super-jaschka and each one features a range of Technic functionality.

Lego GAZ 51 Crane Truck

Our favourite is this one, the crane truck, which features a working engine, steering, stabilisers, lifting boom, winch, crane rotation and opening doors and bonnet. There’s more to see of all three of super-jaschka’s GAZ 51 trucks at the Eurobricks forum – click on the link in the text above to join the discussion.

Lego Technic GAZ 51 Truck


Suburgatory

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Lego Chevrolet Suburban

If there’s a car that sums up everything that was wrong with the American auto industry in the 1990s and 2000s, it’s probably this; the Chevrolet Suburban. Or the Cadillac Escalade. Or the Hummer H2. Or this. OK, there were a few, but the Chevy makes a strong case for itself. This Suburban is the work of TLCB regular Ralph Savelsberg and it’s considerably nicer than the real thing. Click the link above to see more.


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