Tag Archives: Scale Model

We need to go bigger with our digger!

When it comes to enormous LEGO machinery, there are few modelers out there better than Dennis Bosman. So when he turns his hand to an excavator that’s already pretty hefty by industrial plant standards, you know it’s going to be great. And when he combines it with a truck that was impressive enough to be featured on its own a few months ago, that results are downright spectacular. Not to mention enormous – this whole thing is some 1.75m (5’10) long. On a good day, that’s almost as long as I am tall!

Scania R143E H.C. Wilson Ltd.

When we first featured the lorry, it had a skip on the back rather than a flatbed trailer. But make no mistake, this whole convoy was designed as a unit! Dennis tells us that the trailer is used by H.C. Wilson – which is a real company – in the UK. So it’s feasible that this could be seen trundling up and down the motorways and highways, transporting the Liebherr 964 to its next big job. Speaking of which – here’s a closer look at it! If you want a clue as to how big this colossus is, that guard on the windscreen is a 9×13 lattice piece. Yeah, this is big!

Liebherr R964C

Prototype by name, prototype by nature

If you know your motor racing, the 1999 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will probably have you picturing a Mercedes-Benz CLR somersaulting the Mulsanne straight. Spare a thought for BMW, though – they won the race, and almost no one remembers their car! The aptly-named LEGO builder PROTOTYP sure does, though. This model painstakingly recreates the BMW V12 LMR in the brick, with the help of a few custom decals and wheels.

BMW LMR '99

Make no mistake, though – the bricks are doing the heavy lifting here! The detail is evident underneath the bodywork and on top, and this is where my motorsport nerd heart starts fluttering. The engine is there, of course: all 12 cylinders of it. But so are the radiators, the wiring, the cooling hoses, the driveshafts, and – my personal favourite – the shock absorbers, with red 1×1 round studs standing in for springs. This is attention to detail truly worthy of a winner!

BMW LMR '99

Bringing modern WRC to life in LEGO bricks

As much as we’d love to spend all day writing about LEGO, we at TBB Towers do have day jobs to attend to. Without giving too much away, mine involves working very closely with rally cars like the one Instagram user dak_yuki has built. For those not familiar, this is the – deep breath – Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid. Not the most catchy name, perhaps, but it has just ended a dominant season in the World Rally Championship with a victory in dak_yuki’s native Japan. So what better time to enjoy this fantastic scale model?

Follow the link to see more of this rallying beast!

The Tantive IV of the Star Wars prequels, in LEGO

Every AFOL has what I call their ‘white whale’ set. One that they longed for as a kid (and probably still do as a grown-up), but never owned. For me, that’s 7665 Republic Cruiser. In hindsight, it’s perhaps not the finest recreation of the Radiant VII. But when I was staring longingly at it in the pages of Argos catalogues, it looked as good as Fuku Saku‘s 1:250 scale model does! The subtle curves of the conical pod at the front look great; the way it meshes with the angles elsewhere is so satisfying. To be fair, the same could be said of the whole build. This ship did get a mostly grey militarised variant in the Clone Wars, but I much prefer its diplomatic livery from the opening scene of The Phantom Menace. It looks resplendent in red and white. You could even say it looks… Radiant!

Radiant VII Consular-class Cruiser

You don’t know jack!

For this year’s Rogue Olympics, Pohaturon has come up with quite the eye-catching LEGO ethernet cable. And clocking in at only 16 pieces, it’s quite the tiny blue marvel! The whole build centers around this light brick from the Exo-Force era, normally used to generate a red beam. But in this case, its shape is perfect for the standard RJ45 connector. The partially-connected 1×2 plate sitting on top if it is the perfect touch.

Ethernet Cable

“The foot stud’s connected to the leg tube...”

No bones about it, builder ZiO Chao knows their LEGO anatomy! Their impressive hybrid of System and Technic parts gives us a peek into our innermost core while still providing quite the possible finished model. The cranial crafting here is spot on, with an excellent pair of eye sockets and two dazzling rows of 1×1 plate teeth. And at the opposite end of the model, Mr. Skeleton’s feet are well-crafted. I particularly like the detail of a distinctly larger hallux, or “big toe,” compared to the rest of the foot. And the use of the robot arms for the metatarsals gives each pedal construction the perfect arch on their underside.

Mr. Skeleton

This enormous LEGO dragline excavator model is nearly 6 feet long and includes 9 motors

With small LEGO builds, it often takes ingenuity to make for an impressive creation. We are of course partial to these builds, but sometimes nothing beats the brute force of a gigantic, multi-thousand (if not tens of thousands) piece build. It’s hard to tell, but I think Beat Felber‘s colossus falls into the latter category. Just. Don’t you think?

P&H 2355

This isn’t a new build: Beat first uploaded a video of its operation a couple of years ago, which we’ll get to in a moment. But he has now uploaded a host of pictures of every nook and cranny on this P&H 2355 dragline excavator. Which is the perfect excuse for us to cover it in some more detail!

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Schloss Drachenburg in LEGO: Here there be dragons!

There are castles that are blocky grey fortresses, and there are castles that look like fairytales come to life. One such castle is the ornate Schloss Drachenburg, which bears resemblance to the more famous Neuschwastein. Just a few miles south of the German city of Bonn, this 19th century villa was the passion project of builder Caleb Schilling who replicated this building with an attention to accuracy. A range of earthen tones dominate most of the exterior, while the dark grey adorns the top sections. The overall appearance of this build already satisfies my hunger for beautifully built architecture, but there are plenty of details yet to savour.

Schloss Drachenburg

Click here to take a closer look at the many architectural details!

Life-size LEGO Iron Man model revealed ahead of San Diego Comic-Con [News]

LEGO has taken the wraps off the next life-size brick-built attraction to be displayed at their booth during San Diego Comic-Con this week. This six-and-a-half foot model portrays Tony Stark in his Mark LXXXV suit from Avengers: Endgame wearing the infinity gauntlet, with what appears to be light-up energy effects snaking up his arm. It took LEGO master builders 35,119 bricks and 255 hours to construct.

Check out this time lapse video chronicling the model’s construction, along with more photos below.

This LEGO Lancia rally racer almost looks real

When it comes to crafting scale LEGO car models, there are few better than builder Bricksonwheels. This amazing 1:11-scale Lancia Delta depicts the winning car from the Tour de Corse in 1992, and it’s marvelously detailed. The eye-catching decals were designed in collaboration with fellow builder JaapTechnic, and the slew of sponsor emblems and stripes bring the car to life.

Lancia Delta HF Integrale EVO - 1992 Tour de Corse

The full name for this magnificent little hot hatch is a Lancia Delta HF Integrale EVO, and the LEGO version uses about 1,700 pieces. It’s got a full interior, including an accurate roll-cage, and all four doors open, along with the rear gate and hood. The builder created this slick overlay to show off all the goodness inside.

Lancia Delta HF Integrale EVO - 1992 Tour de Corse

 

A cuckoo clock so good it will drive you mad [Instructions]

If you’ve ever wanted for a masterfully crafted LEGO timepiece, Sven Franic has you covered with this immaculate cuckoo clock created for an exhibition contest. Sven will be displaying this in the LEGO House as part of the celebration of the 60th birthday of the LEGO brick. The hands point to the exact time when the patent for the LEGO brick was registered.

Cuckoo Clock

Click to see more

Musicians will be bricking it when playing at this amazing LEGO concert hall

The University of Colorado Boulder has an ongoing project to construct a LEGO version of its campus, built by a team of LEGO builders. Imagine Rigney has just finished building a LEGO version of the Macky Auditorium Concert Hall, where dozens of major College of Music performances take place each season. The auditorium is over a century old, and its Neo-Gothic architecture style has been nicely captured in LEGO bricks

Macky Auditorium, CU Boulder, Colorado

Click to see the inside of the concert hall