Tag Archives: Beetle

A beautiful brace of Beetles

What’s better than a cool LEGO VW Beetle? Two cool LEGO VW Beetles! That’s just what Flickr user RGB900 has served us up with. Although being largely the same in terms of construction, it’s a good example of how different colour combinations can convery different characters in builds. I get the feeling the white one is driven by your typical surfer dude or dudette – Beach Boys on the stereo, laidback driving style, not that fussed if they’re actually any good at surfing. The black one on the other hand is definitely driven by someone who wants to be the best surfer around. Probably playing heavy metal to drown out what is no doubt a very loud exhaust. And wishing they had a black surfboard to match their ride, no doubt. Lime green doesn’t strike me as a very cool colour, but then I wouldn’t know much about being cool…

bb055

A sick slammed cambered Beetle

In my neighborhood, you can measure douchiness by the angle of the cambered tires. You tilt those puppies more than fifteen degrees and you know that driver has a flat-brimmed ball cap, smells of Axe bodyspray, and never uses their blinkers. But as a car enthusiast, I think I can cool my judgemental jets for this amazing slammed cambered LEGO Beetle built by Hagen Oscarson. With its black and red color scheme, flashy rims and classic air-cooled Beetle shape, this slammed bug has all the makings of something that makes my heart go pitter-patter. It seems that this may be the first time we’ve featured Hagen’s work but with LEGO automotive styling this good, I think we’ll be keeping an eye out for whatever else he might do. And Hagen, this juuuust might inspire me to camber my own snazzy Bug. But then again, maybe I won’t. My blinkers get a lot of use.

Where’s Herbie these days?

It’s been a long time since everyone’s favorite love-bug hit the big screen. From 1968 to 2005, millions of hearts were warmed by the sentient VW Beetle’s escapades. But somehow, with as awesome as he is, he still winds up broken down and abandoned from time to time. (Lame humans!) But who knows where he is these days? According to Hachiroku92, he’s in a barnyard someplace, needing a little love. This sad but adorable LEGO version of Herbie makes great use of the small quarter-round curved slopes for that iconic body shape, and adds frying pans for headlights. That windmill is excellent too!

Stick around and you’ll find more Volkswagen builds and news in our archives! How do you feel about the new LEGO Volkswagen T2 Camper Van? Tell us what you think in the comments?

The Blue Beetle Brigade

Grant Davis must know I am partial to a good brick-built insect. It is my dream to one day have framed Entomology display made entirely out of LEGO bricks. Now all I have to do is convince my partner that this is suitable decoration for a living room. These wonderful bugs by Grant might help me convince him. The body of the beetle is build using the vehicle spoiler for the antennas Grant used minifigure whips. There is an interesting mixture of brown parts used in the making of the branch. The flower on the branch must be some sort of parasitic plant species because it looks like it is not part of the branch itself. The eggs used for flowers petals is a very lovely touch and the presentation of this creation is simply sublime.

The Blue Beetle Brigade

A beetle with a bit of style

Japanese tiger beetles are one of the coolest bugs on the planet. Not only is this epic predator shrouded in a rainbow, but it also sprints the equivalent of a human ultramarathon every day. It’s one of the fastest-running critters out there. I certainly wouldn’t want to mess with those mandibles either. Takamichi Irie is known for his exceptional LEGO beetles, and this is one of his best. The body shape and mosaic-like exoskeleton really make it stand out and come to life.

Tiger Beetle

Takamichi’s unique style involves the use of loads of minifigure hands. You have to wonder how he gets them. Does he have a hundred poor minifigs without hands, or does he get them in bulk? Maybe our past interview with him will shed a little light on his work.

Before skateboarding and punk rock there was Krass and Bernie

LEGO builder Chris Vesque tells us that in a very specific time of his life, before skateboarding, before hip hop, before punk rock, before geeks and fandom…just a bit past Star Wars and Classic Space, there was Krass & Bernie. He goes on to say how CARtoons Magazine and the art of George Trosley captured his imagination and his funny bone. Krass and Bernie is a comic penned by Trosley about two car customizing enthusiasts who are short on good sense but long in creativity and ingenuity. Their misadventures often culminate in something as ridiculous and over-the-top as this dragster-beetle. The beefy tires, the blown V-8 and the Beetle that seems to defy gravity are the stuff that can only exist in CARtoon dreams. I’m smitten! Whether it be the screaming hand Santa Cruz skateboarding logo or the Beastie Boys License to Ill album cover we’ve been smitten with Chris’ counterculture LEGO stuff before.

Krass & Bernie

Roofs? Where we’re going, we don’t need roofs [Video]

Iconic cars need no makeovers, but one way to make a car even more special is to make it topless. This is exactly what Alexey Tikhvinsky did to the famous 10187 Volkswagen Beetle set from 2008. More than a decade ago, a bulky model in a rare dark-blue color became an outstanding example of car model-making, which later resulted in a lineup of LEGO Creator Expect cars. Tan/brown pieces give the car some strong retro vibes. Although most of its body has a great resemblance to the original model, there is a fully functional chassis hidden underneath. Equipped with an independent suspension and a functioning gearbox, this Beetle has to offer much more than meets the eye.

Volkswagen Typ 1

The car is driven with three new Powered Up motors (just like the recent LEGO Technic 42099 4×4 X-treme Off-Roader set). The new powerful motors are perfect for such a heavy body. Bonus points are for a functioning gearbox. Thanks to the two sets of gears the car can be turned into a crawler, capable of conquering some of the steepest terrains outdoors. The winch in the front of the car is also functioning and can easily pull the car’s weight.

Volkswagen Typ 1

It would be unfair to leave our readers without a video of the model in action. As usual, the nearest skate park turns out to be one of the most suitable filming locations.

These Volkswagens will leave you with the BUG to GOLF

When it comes to building classic cars out of LEGO bricks, Volkswagens have remained a popular subject. While there are plenty of great LEGO Beetles and Transporters out there, it’s nice to see something from the 1980s like Brixe63’s VW Golf Cabriolet. One of the challenges in building the Golf is capturing the subtle angles of the body. Brixe63 has managed to pull it off, right down to the tilt of the windshield. The 1×1 tiles placed within clips work well as mirrors, and the silver barbs make for nice door handles.

VW Golf I Cabrio.01

The builder also made a slick-looking version of the classic VW Beetle. Here, Brixe63 proves as adept at replicating the Beetle’s curves as she is with the subtle angles of the Golf.

VW Beetle .01

She even built a fleet of Beetles, including a convertible and police car. With the top down and a lovely tan and green color scheme, the convertible is my favorite of the three.

3 VW Käfer

LEGO Bumblebee in beetle form is one sweet ride [Instructions]

The new, much-anticipated Bumblebee movie has inspired LEGO fans to build some fantastic creations recently, from this large-scale figure by Ekow Nimako to this transforming model by Jerry Builds Bricks and this cute model in Volkswagen Beetle form by hachiroku24 is the latest. One of my favorite details is the gently curving back of the car, which very closely matches its real-life inspiration. The extra curvy front wheel well is also a very nice detail and helps to complete this iconic car profile.

Lego Bumblebee car MOC

Click through to see the parts list and instructions to build your own LEGO Bumblebee

The dark art of LEGO building

I completely understand YOS Bricks‘ fascination with the black brick, having been featured myself on TBB before for this reason. You can see the appeal in his build of a Thestral from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which uses the black elements to capture the creature’s eerie silhouette.

Thestral

Again, in a more complex form such as this giant horned dung beetle, the dark colour allows individual bricks to read together as single forms — the insect’s antenna and wings being particularly good at showing this.

Giant Dung Beetle 01

Black also works marvellously against brighter colours. The turquoise eyes of the Mooncalf from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, glow magically in YOS Bricks’ final example.

Mooncalf

Like an elephant, the trunk’s in the front of this Volkswagen Beetle

Lennart C is no stranger to the pages of The Brothers Brick and returns with another iconic vehicle, the Volkswagen Beetle Type 1! While the Beetle may have been knocked off the best-selling charts by the ubiquitous, evolving Toyota Corolla, the world’s longtime “Most Popular Automobile” can live on in our hearts with this stunning, slick black edition.

Volkswagen Beetle (1)

The model boasts some really great features for being such a compact creation, including working doors and engine lid, and teeny tiny foot pedals. Printed pieces from the official 10252 Beetle are smartly placed, and I’m pretty sure the seats have some degree of reclining action. Lennart is also already putting newer pieces to good use: the new 1×2 plate rounded with open studs is tucked away in the tail lights.

Volkswagen Beetle (3)

If you like this Beetle, check out more Volkswagen action in our archives!

Transformation from a classic Beetle to an Off-road adventure

Larger LEGO sets always have enough pieces to make a decent alternate build — after all, that’s what LEGO bricks are meant to be, an unlimited configuration for limitless creations. This offroad vehicle was made by Nathanael Kuipers from the 10252 Volkswagen Beetle, and the colour scheme likely gave it away at the very first glance.

10252 Offroader back

I find it pretty interesting how the Round Corner 5 x 5 x 1 without Studs element usually reserved for the shaping of the wheels is now used for the shaping of the engine hood compartment. And of course, no vehicle can run without an engine block — the only mystery is that we just don’t know what the brick power is that keeps it running. My guess is a single H-block engine 4 studs wide!

10252 Offroader engine

Alternate Build VW Beetle