Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s 007 with Little Nellie

James Bond is well known for his often slightly wacky gadgets. The gyrocopter used in You only Live Twice, recreated in minifig scale by Brian Williams (BMW_Indy), is a prime example. This odd little contraption was nicknamed Little Nellie and in the flying scenes in the movie, it was piloted by its designer, Ken Wallis, who was a former RAF WW2 bomber pilot turned inventor. He died last year, aged 97, and was tinkering with and flying gyrocopters until shortly before his death.

Little Nellie - Overview

Brian’s model uses a fair few BrickArms parts, which may upset LEGO purists, but in my opinion they are a great addition to the model. It just wouldn’t look complete without its rocket pods. The model is also complemented by some really nice custom stickers.

3 comments on “Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s 007 with Little Nellie

  1. Mnemonyx

    It’s a great model. Part of me would like to see how could it would be using only ‘real’ LEGO parts, but the other part recognises how much better the ‘real’ LEGO parts become when supplemented by a few outside parts. It’s a great model.

  2. Ralph Post author

    I’m somewhat of a purist myself, so I too would have preferred to see a model fully built with LEGO parts. However, it’s hard to imagine how it could have been on this tiny scale.

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