The Power of Dreams

March 20, 2015, 5:18 pm

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The 2015 Formula 1 Championship kicked off in Australia last week, and with a long-absent name back on the grid. Or should we say back of the grid? Honda’s F1 return with McLaren has not been an easy one, and due to ever more ridiculous FIA rules restricting development, innovation, and fun, the once mighty engine supplier will probably be at the back for some time yet. But we like Honda here at TLCB, so we’re going to take a trip back to when they were allowed to do what they do best – innovate.

This gorgeous 1967 Honda RA300 is the work of previous bloggee Nico71, and not only does his Technic recreation of one of Honda’s finest moments look completely beautiful, it works too. There’s Power Functions controlled steering and drive, functioning suspension, and of course, a replica of Honda’s masterpiece V12 engine which powered the car to victory in its first ever race.

There’s lots more to see of Nico’s RA300 Formula 1 car on the image sharing platform Brickshelf – click here to make the jump.

 

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Crane, Truck, Van

March 23, 2015, 12:29 am

≫ Next: High Roller

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There’s a very fat Elf somewhere in the office today. Fat because it legitimately earned – and spent – three meal tokens in one go. Flickr’s Barry Bosman aka Barman76 has caused the temporary obesity through his wonderful trio of complimenting creations; a huge Mercedes-Benz heavy haulage truck, its mobile crane load and, our favourite, a simply brilliant Volkswagen Transporter escort vehicle. Each is a work of art and all are available to view via the link to Flickr above.

High Roller

March 23, 2015, 7:49 am

≫ Next: Rainbow Warrior Picture Special

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I left the Jag and I took the Rolls, if they aint cutting then I put ‘em on foot patrol.
How you like me now, when my pinky’s valued over three hundred thousand,
Lets drank you the one to please, Ludacris fill cups like double D’s.
Me and Ursh once more and we leave ‘em dead, we want a lady in the street but a freak in the bed

Indeed. The sage words of Ludacris and Usher there, on why driving a Rolls Royce is a splendid thing to do. This one is a classic 1934 Phantom, built by martijnnab of Eurobricks. It’s fully remote control with a working engine, functioning rear suspension, and side-opening bonnet, suicide doors and trunk. You can see more of the Roller at the link above.

Rainbow Warrior Picture Special

March 23, 2015, 8:45 am

≫ Next: Truckin’

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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.

Truckin’

March 25, 2015, 3:29 pm

≫ Next: Jeremy Clarks-gone

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Today’s creation is one of the simpler models to appear here in recent times, but it’s no less lovely for that. Artemy Zotov makes his TLCB debut with this neat Technic Peterbilt 379. It’s got hand-of-God steering, opening doors, and – somewhat oddly – a working two cylinder engine. There’s more to see on MOCpages at the link above.

Jeremy Clarks-gone

March 25, 2015, 3:45 pm

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The news today that the BBC have taken the decision not to renew Jeremy Clarkson’s contract, and that Top Gear – at least as we know it – is no more, has meant that our Elvish workforce are currently inconsolably sad.

Whilst extreme violence towards colleagues is an almost hourly occurrence here at TLCB Towers, this particular blogger thinks there really could only be one outcome to Jeremy’s moronic outburst. Much as we love the show, it’s probably time to move on – Top Gear existed long before Clarkson, Hammond and May, and it’ll hopefully exist long after them too.

But sadly the news of Jeremy’s axing from the BBC does mean that our Elves are likely to be incredibly mopey for a bit, and that we’re going to be a little more reliant upon you – our readers – for good blog-worthy content.

If you’d like to suggest a creation that should feature here at The Lego Car Blog you can do so by commenting on the Feedback and Submission Suggestions page, or if you have a Flickr account by sending us a Flickr Mail. If you’re feeling especially productive you may even get to write a post yourself – just let us know in your comment that you’d like to give guest blogging a go and we’ll arrange for you to be able to submit your content.

In the meantime you can join our Elves in mourning by clicking here and here to read our Top Gear related posts from times past, including the great recreation of Jeremy, Richard, James and the Stig by Flickr’s Ralph Savelsberg shown above.

Buggery

March 27, 2015, 4:29 pm

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The Elves, forced into action by hunger, are back on the hunt for the best Lego creations the web has to offer. Today’s find comes from Flickr’s Peteris Sprogis, who has created this charming Model Team style classic Volkswagen Beetle. There’s more to see of Peteris’ Bug at his photostream – click the link above to make the jump.

Smashing Truck

March 29, 2015, 11:14 am

≫ Next: Blue Wonder

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The Homeworld strategy game burst onto the scene in late 1999. It soon gained a cult following, both for its game-play and its distinctive graphic design. Many of the ships were brightly patterned, reminiscent of designs from 1970s pulp book covers by the likes of Chris Foss and Peter Elson. The designs have inspired many Lego builders, most notably TLCB bloggee Pierre E Fieschi, who has built a variety of space and ground vehicles in this style.

Flickr’s curtydc has joined in the Homeworld inspired building with a micro-scale build of massive proportions. The Baserunner is a 6×6 truck, powered by two XL motors and steered using two M motors. Neatly tucked behind X-pod lids are 6 radio control car tyres. Although they’re not Lego, were very much appreciated by our Elves for their smushing potential. The rear of the vehicle features a hangar, with space for a fleet of micro-machines. You can see these in detail by clicking this link to curtydc’s Flickr Photostream.

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Blue Wonder

March 30, 2015, 2:39 am

≫ Next: Elf For a Day

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Mercedes-Benz are the racing team to beat at the moment, and back in the 1950s it was a similar story. Teams were run a bit differently half a century ago, with budgets very much smaller than they are today. Racing cars would turn up on the back of a transporter, go racing, and then go home again – there were no fancy mobile workshops, catering trucks or hospitality suites.

We quite like this approach, but the downside was that if one of your racing cars broke, there were few spare parts, and certainly no spare car, with which to fix it. To get around this Mercedes came up with a genius solution; they built a vehicle capable of racing across Europe at high speed to get back to the factory to collect another car – the amazing Rennwagen Schnelltransporter nicknamed ‘Blue Wonder’.

Underneath the weird car-transporting bodywork the Schnelltransporter was a 300SL Gullwing supercar, complete with its three-litre straight-six petrol engine, the first engine ever fitted with direct-injection. And that made it the fastest car transporter in the world.

A vehicle as legendary as that needs a legendary builder, and they don’t come much more so than Firas Abu-Jaber. Firas’ beautiful Model Team recreation of the famous Mercedes even features a stunning 300SL Gullwing to transport. There’s loads more to see on both MOCpages and Flickr – click the links for all the details.

Elf For a Day

April 2, 2015, 6:47 am

≫ Next: Anglo Aircraft

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It’s time for one of your finds now, suggested to us via the Feedback page. This neat Audi R8 LMS is the work of mordecai mordecai of MOCpages. There’s more to see by clicking on the second link, and if you’d like to suggest a creation that our Elves have missed simply check to see if it meets our blog guidelines and get in touch!

Anglo Aircraft

April 2, 2015, 9:25 am

≫ Next: Become a Lego Professional!

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We’re mostly a Lego car blog here at the, er… Lego Car Blog, but occasionally we do take a look at the other forms of transport available to the Lego builder. Today our Elves discovered recreations of two of the most famous aircraft to come out of Britain, the De Havilland Mosquito light bomber and the beautiful Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic airliner.

The World War 2 Mosquito is the work of building-team Jon and Catherine Stead, whilst the gorgeous Concorde model comes from newcomer Table Top Models. Click the links above to see all the photos.

Become a Lego Professional!

April 3, 2015, 4:03 am

≫ Next: Bolt From The Blue

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It’s Easter weekend and TLCB Team are much too full of chocolate eggs to blog. Luckily for us we’ve been joined by a special guest to keep the content coming. Yup, it’s No.3 in our How to Become a Lego Professional series!

Not put off by his first encounter with TLCB Elves, Nick Barrett joined us here at TLCB Towers for a second time to tell the next chapter of his incredible Lego-building journey.

Since his last visit as a Master MOCer Nick has been hired by the Certified LEGO Professional building company Bright Bricks and is now earning a living through his building. How did he do it? Click the link below to find out!

Click here to read Nick Barrett’s Bright Bricks Story…

Bolt From The Blue

April 3, 2015, 7:21 am

≫ Next: Mod My MOC

≪ Previous: Become a Lego Professional!

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Another day, another Elf, and another car to bring you. This one is the work of previous bloggee Alexander Paschoaletto and it is quite fantastically blue. There’s more on MOCpages.

Mod My MOC

April 6, 2015, 1:56 pm

≫ Next: Fast and Furious

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The Lego City Police Department must be fighting a whole new breed of mini-figure criminal these days, judging by the ferocity of their latest vehicles.

Both this Town style helicopter and armoured personal carrier have been enhanced considerably by the addition of some killer third party accessories. Normally we don’t post non-LEGO components here at TLCB, but the examples above compliment the creations superbly.

Suggested by a reader, Andrew Sommers is the builder and you can see more of his police force’s impressive armoury on Flickr.

Fast and Furious

April 6, 2015, 2:04 pm

≫ Next: Keep it Simple

≪ Previous: Mod My MOC

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’80s-’90s Nissans may be named after old ladies, but that hasn’t stopped them becoming very cool in the hands of street racers, drifters and tuners. This one is a Silvia S14, it was suggested to us by a reader, and it’s been built by Davanchi M. There’s more too see on MOCpages at the link above.

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Keep it Simple

April 6, 2015, 2:09 pm

≫ Next: Emergency in New York

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Proof that you’d don’t need a million parts to build something great has never been so concrete. This marvellous miniature tractor by hajdekr was discovered on Flickr – click the link to see how it’s been done!

Emergency in New York

April 6, 2015, 4:34 pm

≫ Next: Two for Tuesday

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These two FDNY vehicles are the work of TLCB regular Ralph Savelsberg (aka Mad Physicist) who has recreated brilliantly the Seagrave ladder truck and Ford F350 ambulance common to the emergency crews of Manhattan. There’s more to see of each on Flickr – click this link to make the jump.

Two for Tuesday

April 7, 2015, 5:56 am

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We’ve got a classic Town two-some for you today. Above is a very pretty 5-wide late ’50s Opel Rekord by Nik J Dort whilst below is piratecox‘s equally lovely Ford Model T hot rod. Both are available on to view Flickr – click on the builders’ names to see their respective photostreams.

Ticket to Ride

April 7, 2015, 4:13 pm

≫ Next: 1.5 Million!

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Getting a ticket isn’t fun, and in many cities if you’ve parked particularly poorly you might come back to find an empty space where your car used to be*.

Brickshelf’s pipasseyoyo has recreated the traffic warden’s favourite tool – the hoist truck – in Technic, and he’s included a whole host of Power Functions components too.

His build includes four motors running through three gearboxes, meaning the truck can drive, steer, tilt and lower the ramp, rotate, extend and lift the crane boom, and deploy stabilisers. Which is a lot more than most official LEGO Technic sets. You can see how it’s all packed in via the link to Brickshelf above.

*Or – if you’re an unsuspecting TLCB Elf – where your cage used to be, courtesy of a mischievous colleague.

 

1.5 Million!

April 9, 2015, 7:34 am

≫ Next: You Gotta Roll With It

≪ Previous: Ticket to Ride

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A lot of rubbish things have happened over the last few months; the Charlie Hebdo attack, the cancellation of Top Gear due to a fight over a steak, and the arrival of ‘that bloody Lemur‘ (as it’s collectively known in TLCB office) at The Brothers Brick, a creature that generates such violent hate amongst our Elves that it’s difficult to keep them from storming TBB compound.

As years go then, 2015 has had a pretty rough ride so far, but thanks entirely to you guys TLCB has bucked this depressing trend brilliantly. For reasons we simply can’t fathom this ropey brick-based car blog has racked up another half a million views in the few short months since the one million mark was reached at the end of last year, taking the total to;

1,500,000!

In celebration we’ve decided to bring back a feature that we parked a little while ago, with an eleventh addition to TLCB’s Master MOCers series. He’s probably the most well known, well loved, and inspirational Lego vehicle builder on the planet – join us tomorrow to find out more!