Tag Archives: Truck

DAF Dakar racer

Today is the start of this year’s Dakar rally. This off-road race, for trucks, cars and motorbikes used to run from Paris to Dakar in Senegal, but because of worsening security in Northern Africa is nowadays held in South-America. Back in 1985, a Dutch team led by Jan de Rooy finished second in the truck category. They raced a much modified DAF 3300 known as The Bull, recreated by Nanko Klein Paste (nkle). The model has a Technic chassis and is remote-controlled using Power Functions, to participate in Truck Trial competitions organised by Lowlug.

DAF 3300 by nkle on flickr

I don’t think I’m particularly prone to nationalism, except when it comes to my choice of beer and the sort of trucks I like. Forget your Scanias, Volvos or Kenworths; to me DAF trucks are king of the road. DAF has its home base in Eindhoven, in the south of the Netherlands, where I lived for more than ten years. I used to see trucks operated by De Rooy Transport haul DAF cabs through town on a regular basis.

Classic Kenworth cab over

I am pretty sure that when most of you think about a large American truck, you imagine it being ornately decorated and having a long nose that sticks out in front of the cab. The type of truck with a flat front, known as a cab over, isn’t very common in the United States (with the exception of light trucks used in cities). In the seventies and eighties things were different, however. Many American truck manufacturers used to build cab over trucks, with the Kenworth K100 Aerodyne, represented by this great model by Maciej Drwięga, being a popular type.

Kenworth K100C VIT Aerodyne

Maciej is in the process of revamping many of his builds and this one isn’t brand new, but well worth having a closer look at. It has a detailed chassis and engine. The dark red colour and the striping give it an eighties look and it looks the part of a work truck. It does have the bells and whistles that you’d expect on an American truck, but without being overly flashy. I also like seeing some exposed studs on the top.

Mad Monster Masher

We don’t often feature Technic models on this blog. The Technic aesthetic is rather different from the ultra-realistic models that I tend to favour. In other words, I like models that look realistic (albeit with just the right sprinkling of studs), but don’t care too much whether or not it functions like the real thing. The subjects also tend to not excite me. I have great admiration for the cleverness that is involved in getting the mechanical bits to work, but the tenth Technic supercar, say, to me, looks just about the same as the first or second: both have got lots of gears and lots of holes in them. That said, sometimes a Technic MOC does hit the spot, like the Mad Monster Masher by Barry Bosman (Barman76).

Mad Masher Monster Truck 12x12

It is based on the eponymous toy from the eighties, which I thought was pretty cool, and looks great. Like the toy, Barry’s model is remote-controlled. The front and rear wheels are steered using a Power Function M-motor and the vehicle is driven by no fewer than three XL motors. If you’re in the Netherlands, you’ll be able to see it in action at Lego World Utrecht, which is due to take place next weekend.

Stobart Scanias rule the roads of Britain

In the last few days I have written blog posts about the latest creations by Dutch truck builders (Nanko Klein Paste’s DAF and Dennis Glaasker’s Scania), but now it’s my own turn.

Since about two years, I’ve been building a collection of British vehicles to display at shows. In the summer of last year, I travelled from Portsmouth to York in the company of a group of British LEGO-building friends, going to a LEGO-show. Along the way we discussed my plans for building more British vehicles. During the five-hour drive we saw at least two dozen trucks operated by the Stobart Group. This company was founded by ‘Steady’ Eddie Stobart and operates more than 2000 trucks, mostly Scanias. They are ubiquitous in Britain and instantly recognizable. It was obvious that, if I was going to build a truck for my collection, it had to be a Stobart truck (or lorry, as my friends insist on calling it).

Stobart Scania R420 (3)

It took me a while though. One of the things that make these trucks/lorries so recognizable is their rather funky-looking colour scheme and even though the graphics on the real vehicles are done with stickers, I wanted to build them out bricks. This was complicated, obviously, but the end result does give a decent impression of what it looks like on the real Scania.

In little more than a week, the 2013 Great Western LEGO Show will take place in Swindon in the UK. My collection of British vehicles will be on display there, including this truck, as well as my B-52 model.

Classic Dutch DAF

Hot on the heels of fellow Dutch truck builder Dennis Glaasker, Nanko Klein Paste (nkle) has also built a new truck. Unlike Dennis’ trucks, it’s not all shiny and full of chrome, however. It’s a much more utilitarian-looking Dutch DAF 2300 truck from the early eighties.

DAF FT 2300 ti-02a by nkle on flickr

There is much to like though, such as the construction of the radiator with a small edge around it, the SNOT construction on the side of the cab and front bumper and the detailed chassis, engine bay and working tilt cab. Growing up, I used to regularly see trucks like this and I absolutely love it.

Cool Scandinavian Scania

Many European truck lovers have a soft spot for the Scania brand. In some ways its reputation in Europe is comparable to that of a brand such as Kenworth in the US; they’re driven by proper truckers rather than by mere truck drivers. They are also popular among customizers, and Scandinavian custom trucks stand out, with lots of chrome and airbrush artwork. Truck builder extraordinaire Dennis Glaasker (bricksonwheels) has recreated this typical Scandinavian custom look in his latest Scania model.

Scania R560 V8 'Black Pearl' (1:16 in Lego)

This behemoth is more than 1.5m (5 ft.) long and remote controlled with Power Functions. The spectacular airbrush artwork, with a Pirates of the Caribbean theme, was made with a custom sticker and Dennis uses non-standard chromed pieces, with a very cool result.

Maximum Overdrive

I have a confession to make, constant reader, I’m a huge fan of Stephen King; the booze years, the coke years and even the post-accident years (for the most part). One of my guilty pleasures from the coked-out 1980’s was the cinematic gem Maximum Overdrive, directed by the author himself and starring the incomparable Emilio Estevez. The plot is brilliant in it’s simplicity: a handful of strangers find themselves trapped together in a truck stop diner after semi-trailers and other large vehicles are suddenly brought to independent life by an unknown force and proceed to gruesomely kill every human in sight. As anyone who has ever had the great fortune of seeing the King-directed horror flick will tell you, the real star of the show is the Happy Toyz Co. White-Western Star 4800 truck which has the face of the Green Goblin from Spider-Man mounted on its grill. It is without a doubt one of the coolest semi’s of all time and now it is immortalized in LEGO by -derjoe-, who did a wonderful job on both the Goblin-grill and the letters.

Western Star 4800 from "Maximum Overdrive"

Who made who?

Massive LEGO Tow Truck will get you moving!

This monster Peterbuilt tow truck by LEGO truck master Bricksonwheels looks just about big to move anything. It’s loaded up with chrome and neat details and seems equally ready for some serious towing or a bit of showing off at a car show.

Peterbilt 379 Century 1075 Rotator in Lego (1:13)
Peterbilt 379 C15 Cat engine

Truckin’ Through Poland

TBB travels to Poland, where apparently there are no lousy builders, as we continue our coverage of New Guy Saturday. Adam Glowacki (Jakeof_), has a fine stable of models waiting for you on Flickr, including this excellent DAF XF. TBB’s own Wreck-it-Ralph is a big fan of this model, calling the big-rig “amazingly accurate for its scale” and would surely have blogged it if not for my weekend campaign of terror on this once serene almost pastoral blog of blogs.

DAF XF105

Lublin-51 mobile cinema van & Volvo F89 truck by Karwik

You don’t have to go to a theater to enjoy a movie, as Karwik shows with this lovely rounded truck from the days of black & white cinema.

Lublin-51 - mobile cinema by Karwik on Flickr

Much more modern and colorful but no less impressive is Karwik’s Volvo F89 semi-trailer, with fantastic lettering on the cargo container:

Volvo F89 + Polar-Express

Toyota Land Cruiser HJ-47

Please indulge me again, constant reader and take a look at another model that isn’t as current as our usual fare. In December of 2012 a nice fellow called Arctic Fox posted a fine looking Toyota Land cruiser that made the best use of the much maligned rubber band that I’ve seen in a long while. I only discovered the model recently myself and I noticed that 5 months ago TBB’s own Mad Physicist called it “excellent”. Good enough for Ralph, good enough for me.

Toyota Land Cruiser HJ-47

Desert Blitz Krieg

It’s a good weekend for lovers of military builds. Vibor Cavor (veeborg) brings us an excellent rendition of a WW-2 German Army Opel Blitz truck, in desert camouflage. The model is highly detailed and just about everything on it opens.

OpelBlitz-front views

In the industrial age, armies require vast amounts of stuff to keep going. You can’t have a Blitz Krieg if your supplies can’t keep up with the pace of the advances, which is why armies invest heavily in trucks. Interestingly, even during the war, Opel was owned by General Motors, whose GMC division built the famous ‘Deuce and a Half’; the US Army’s standard truck.