We can’t let a weekend slip by without something for our valued Train-heads, the progenitors of our shared hobby. To that end, Poland’s Maciej Drwięga would like to share his latest effort with you the very orange “PKP WM15A heavy rail truck“, a staple of the Polish rail system. Not only is the design pleasing to the eye, it has some nice play features as well like moving crane and a tilting bed. The builder credits Mrzumbi’s 2006 version for inspiring this build.
In January of this year we featured Ryan McNaught’s (TheBrickMan) king of helicopters, the Erickson Air-Crane Elvis. As many of you have no doubt read by now, Elvis was on public display at Cairns Central shopping center in northern Queensland, Australia when the unthinkable happened: a group of misguided “youths” pushed mighty Elvis to the ground with predictable results.
We’ve all seen accidental damage to models at conventions before, most often caused by enthusiastic butter-fingered youngsters, gawking public day attendees leaning too far over the ropes or rotund builders trying to squeeze between tables…but nothing like this…nothing so deliberate. Fortunately the flight-recorder survived the crash and the authorities are hard at work piecing together the final seconds of Elvis’s life.
TBB reached out to Ryan for a comment and found him in remarkably good spirits considering the scope of this brick-tragedy and very much willing to speak about it. Because of the ongoing criminal trial taking place with 2 youths charged over the death of Elvis, Ryan cannot get into the specifics of the incident.
“I was asleep in bed when the phone rang, you always know when it rings and its late that its bad, and well it was, I drove about 40 minutes into the centre where it was on display and there it was just as pictured (see my Flickr) to see hundreds of hours worth of work ruined is pretty surreal, and something I’ve never experienced before.
To pull down and destroy your own MOC can be very satisfying, I’ll never forget the Brickvention of 2009 where by 9 foot Eiffel tower was brought down at the end of the show Team America World Police style!
Needless to say I had to pack it up that night after the police came and did their thing, and got back to bed at about 2am. The next morning the media were swarming, but of course nothing to see, so that was fun watching the media look like idiots.
Anyway I was up there building a giant LEGO rainforest where people came along built a bit of the rainforest and added it to the display, I felt it was really important to keep that going so that people could still have fun and enjoy it. As people either asked where the chopper was, or came to sympathize it kind of hit home, the usual anger then sadness kicked in, but that was all fairly temporary, because to be honest its LEGO right? anything can be rebuilt, so whilst it sucks to lose such a big model, its not like its a 2,000 year old Ming vase.
So I’m kind of circumspect about it, and a bit relaxed about it now (my wife holds the anger and frustration for me!) and to be honest, when I rebuild/repair it (who knows when I can find the time) it will be just as cool as what it was, and its got a hell of a cool story behind it.
Plus doesn’t rebuilding it stick it up the nose of those who ruined it? To me LEGO has this thing where its cool to return back to its original form and then become something else, so i guess this is kind of like that.”
I think it does stick it up their collective nose Ryan, but for the violent American inside me…it isn’t quite enough. It used to be the most you had to worry about while displaying your model at a convention was the occasional petty theft or jackassy question, but this is a whole new ballgame. Stay tuned to TBB for a follow up on the court case.
This is probably not a sentence you read every day, but I happen to have a weak spot for well-built cranes. It’s the reason why I absolutely love the minifig-scale Liebherr 1050-3 mobile crane built by Polish builder Maksymilian Majchrzak (MAKS).
I built one of these myself more than a year ago, on a larger scale, and consequently am very familiar with the shape and the details. We have also previously blogged a Liebherr 1050 built by Makorol, who also happens to be from Poland (what do they put in the water there?). This model, which was remote controlled with Power Functions, was even larger than mine.
What is particularly impressive about the crane built by MAKS is that, despite being only 8 studs wide, it really isn’t a lot less detailed than either of the larger models. In fact, it looks just like the photographs of die-cast models I used as an inspiration.
…because it is too big to fit out the door.
Ryan McNaught has built quite possibly the coolest helicopter ever to be created with LEGO. His Erickson Air-Crane “Elvis” has been created with over 100,000 LEGO elements, and was built in only a month! Those of you lucky enough to be attending Brickvention will be able to see it in person this weekend.
I was having trouble deciding which photos to include in the post, so please be sure to click through the photoset, but this engine detail shot puts a gigantic smile on my face.
The only thing left to say is; let’s see a swoosh pic Ryan!
I love non-combatant variants of military vehicles. Thomas Coleman (Malravion) designed his Short Horn APC a while back, and recently posted this new version.
The shaping of the underlying vehicle is nice, with great angles and lovely light-gray highlights, but the crane, cargo net, and bulldozer blade add even more visual interest.
Thanks for the tip, Evan!
Bricksonwheels has a well-deserved reputation for building beautifully crafted trucks, cars and motorcycles. However, even the best trucks break down some times. “The Mighty Thor” will be on the scene in no time. This wrecker includes all the details that we’ve come to expect from this builder. It includes side hatches, safety cones, three-stage stinger and a crane. The chrome bits are always nice too.
This Liebherr LTM 1200, by Sqiddster is huge. Not only is it huge, but its very well-detailed. Not only is it huge and detailed, it’s also functional!
I think I need one of these around the house. It would be useful for pulling cars out of ditches and such things.
LUGPol proves that even their TFOLs can build with mad skills. Take Makorol and his Liebherr LTM 1050-3.1 mobile crane. I don’t feel qualified to guide you through all the details, but I will mention that like every LUGPol vehicle, adding Power Functions is obligatory (see the video). See more pictures on Brickshelf.
We know Aleksander Stein best for his impressive military hardware, but he’s branched out lately with civilian versions of those vehicles. His latest is a highly detailed 6×6 crane truck:
The pneumatic crane on Aleksander’s truck isn’t just for show. Here, it’s lifting his Dragoon APV:
The best thing I can say about this model of a Jelcz 315 crane truck by Maciej Drwiega is that from the thumbnail I wondered if someone had mistakenly posted a real truck to a LEGO flickr group. To my pleasant surprise and awe, it’s all LEGO. Apparently I’m not the only one who thought so.
I just discovered Maciej Drwiega‘s flickr gallery today and was really impressed by both the models and photography. This railroad support crane struck as particularly nice due to its use of studes out tiles, plates and wings to create a visually interesting monochrome surface. The windscreen is also particularly nice.
This six axle crane, by M Longer, is more than ready for the task. All that orange is pretty sweet too.
