Tag Archives: Vehicles

LEGO planes, trains, and automobiles! Well, maybe not trains, since they don’t like to play with the other LEGO themes, but here you’ll find all our favorite cars, buses, boats, ships, helicopters, and anything else with an engine (and some without).

This fire CAT is red hot!

When firefighters pull out the big equipment…I mean really big equipment, chances are there is going to be a traffic jam for miles. But chances are, they are also doing some big, important work; this scene by Steven Asbury is not your standard saving-a-cat-from-a-tree fare. The fire department excavator can perform a variety of tasks including pulling down severely damaged structures, clearing mudslides, and assist with debris removal in wildfires. It often responds with the Urban Search and Rescue team. Like so much of Steven’s work, this scene demonstrates rather cinematic photography and a keen sense of foreground, middle and background. Clearly he cares deeply about firefighting as this isn’t his first rodeo on the subject. Here’s a previous time we featured his work. You can see the inspiration for this particular excavator in action via this video.

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This awesome 1:13-scale LEGO model of a Maz airfield firetruck uses more than 9,000 pieces

Usually, when you accumulate a whole lot of red LEGO pieces in your collection, there are two things you would consider for your next building project: a Ferrari or a firetruck. Since Ilya Luashkin had also got huge off-road Technic tires, it was a no-brainer. This 1:13 scale copy of the MAZ-7313-AA60 airfield firetruck is the result of more than 400 hours of meticulous planning and building. Consisting of more than 9,000 pieces, the model is nearly 47 in (120 cm) long and weighs almost 20 lbs (9 kg).

The exterior of the truck might seem a little bit boring, but Ilya made sure to precisely copy all 22 doors and compartments that the real truck has. And it would not be a proper LEGO Technic build without a custom-designed chassis featuring fully independent suspension. Because of the sheer weight of the model, the body rests on 13 pairs of the hardest LEGO Technic shock absorbers. Continue reading →

A car designed to win

Last year, British Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton won his 6th world champion title. Although he has to win one more championship to equal Michael Schumacher’s achievement, his career statistics are remarkable, to say the least. Half of his success is, of course, his outstanding driving talent, but the other half is always the car. Noah_L pays tribute to incredible Mercedes-AMG F1 W10, which Lewis piloted during 2019 season. The scale of the model, which appears to be around 1:15, sets a whole bunch of designing challenges.

Formula 1 cars are known for their supersophisticated aerodynamic elements, which are always hard to build. But according to the builder’s comment, matching the livery was the most challenging part. Certain parts of the car’s body are colored in turquoise, which is the signature color of Mercedes’ sponsor, Petronas. Although more and more types of LEGO pieces appear in dark turquoise since 2018, the assortment is still pretty limited. However, Noah did a fantastic job recreating the livery as precisely as possible.

When you’ve got a ’69 Charger, a mullet and a GED the world is your oyster!

Sometimes you just want to shirk all responsibilities, grow a mullet and get a ’69 Dodge Charger R/T. I mean, come on, look at it! It’s beautiful! Clearly, Tony Bovkoon knows what I’m talking about. The Statue of Liberty only further illustrates that this car is classic American muscle. That’s freedom right there! In this car, shirts don’t need sleeves, jeans are acid-washed and the radio dial never veers away from anything that doesn’t play Freebird or Born to be Wild on a continuous loop. When you’ve got a ’69 Charger, a mullet and a GED the world opens up to a myriad of possibilities. Some of them involve getting burgers, drag racing, raisin’ hell, and maybe smoking a doobie or two.

Click here to go for a ride into the sunset.

A perfect meld of classic design with modern performance

Indian Motorcycle is one of the most iconic brands of two-wheeled road machines out there. It may not have the same name recognition today as Harley-Davidson, but it is the first American motorcycle company (beating H-D by two years) and had an amazing peak before going bankrupt in 1953. The trademark bounced around for a while before being bought up by Polaris Industries, famous for their snowmobiles and other recreational vehicles, and today Indian Motorcycles are going strong and cruising the open roads once more. Henrik Jensen brings the Chief Classic, a bike with old-school looks but modern technology, to life in LEGO bricks, with a two-tone blue-and-black colorway and lots of beautiful sparkly chrome. The trademark bulky fenders are lovingly rendered in brick form, and I can practically hear the throaty roar shaking that tailpipe. Who wants to do some cruising?

Made for a purpose but destined for greater things

Every custom builder’s LEGO bin of parts would likely have elements that would leave them bewildered and likely a sigh of defeat can be heard. Elements that fit into this category are typically purpose-built and typically only have one use for its intended purpose. One such example is a cockpit fuselage of a helicopter. Oscar Cederwall (o0ger) is not daunted by such a challenge and seamlessly integrates the part into his Assisted Robotic Maintenance ship and made immensely amazing.

Two mechanical arms sweep out with multiple sensors surrounding the shell of the ship. Maintenace activities in space never looked so good.

From Mustang to Pantera

When some folks buy LEGO sets, they are quite content to follow the instructions and build exactly what the designers had in mind. They build a set, admire the item on the shelf, shampoo, rinse, repeat, and that is the extent of their LEGO experience. But us builders are a different breed entirely. When Serge S bought the 10265 Ford Mustang set he had a different plan in mind for the parts. Taking us to a time when automotive designs were drawn by hand and without the assistance of computers, he constructed the mid-engined De Tomaso Pantera GT5.

This alternate view proves that all doors open and that the engine occupies what would normally be the trunk or boot as it’s called elsewhere. Once again this creation uses only the parts from the official Mustang set. I don’t know about you, but I’m smitten!

Oh, truck yeah!

Some LEGO builds look like they are made from tiny studded pieces of plastic. That’s appropriate, because that is what they are. However, some builds are done so sleekly that nary a stud is showing, save for representation of a specific detail. These builds cause the viewer to do a double take, and this author has been known to utter a muffled “holy bleep, that’s LEGO” from time to time when seeing them. This truck by Dennis Bosman is one such build. It’s a refrigerated Volvo F12 truck, branded for the Stie’s Termo Transport company from Norway. It is way too big for minifigs (it’s 1:13 scale, as opposed to roughly 1:25-1:42 for minifigs, depending on the relevant dimensions), and scaling it that way allowed Bosman to include mind-boggling details. The cab lifts open to reveal a fully equipped engine, the cab is plushly furnished, the trailers are studded both inside and out, and even the refrigeration units on the trailers have motors inside them.

Click to see this truck in greater detail

Not the hero we deserve, but the hero we need.

Every now and again, the LEGO community will be overtaken with a slew of builds in a common theme. The Baby Yoda builds are slowing down a little, but you can usually count on a new take on a Batmobile to surface every week or two. That’s understandable, what with the hype around LEGO’s UCS version of the 1989 Tim Burton design. I’m no different; I love the Batmobile in all its myriad designs. I didn’t think I could bring anything particularly new or interesting to the already amazing fan-builds that we’ve seen, though. So I took things a different (some may say “wacky”) direction. It’s probably safe to say you haven’t seen a Batmobile like this one before…

Yeah, I mashed the Burton Batmobile with the Unikitty! theme. It just seemed like the right thing to do. My first intention wasn’t to build this scale. In fact I had somewhat bigger plans. But, for now, I have both a minifigure and microscale version to share.
Continue reading →

Juxtaposition in Japan

It’s a bit of a cliché, undoubtedly, but Japan is a land full of contrasts. Last year I was lucky enough to travel to Japan in order to attend Japan BrickFest. It’s a two-day LEGO exhibition that takes place on Rokko Island, an artificial island in Osaka bay, off the coast of Kobe.

Fighting crime like it’s 1966

Throughout Batman’s illustrious career, he has driven a wide range of Batmobiles — and LEGO fans have built several wonderful representations over the years. While many people might point to the 1989 Batmobile as their favorite, mine would have to be Adam West’s ride from the 1960s Batman TV series. Custom car legend George Barris owned the 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car and modified it into a bat-classic. Therefore, I squealed like a bat with glee when I saw Lucas‘ LEGO version of this iconic car.

Have a closer look at this classic Batmobile.

This sweet ride will soon be an official giveaway set!

There’s something about a 50s era car that gives me a deep sense of longing for a time and a place that I was never a part of. Well, it turns out so many others share in this notion. The term for that is not nostalgia but rather… anemoia. Versteinert likely knows what I mean as evidenced by this fabulously 50s convertible. The good news for anyone not a sexagenarian but still in love with that 50s style is this ride was the grand prize winner in the LEGO Ideas contest and will soon be an official Gift with Purchase set. Details as to exactly when and which sets you’d need to purchase haven’t been released yet, but our not-too-distant future is looking bright!

Contest rules state that any entry would need to be a generic design. I say “generic” meaning no particular model or brand, but I’m seeing a little bit of ’59 Impala, little bit of ’57 Chevy Bel Air, little bit of Ford, little bit of Cadillac and all things that make my heart go pitter-patter. The ice skate blade hood ornament is inspired, and the Dagmars (named after this actress) on the bumper are an excellent touch, but the pièce de résistance would have to be these surfboards. It would seem giving us all a sense of anemoia just might be this builder’s thing. Here’s a prior time we featured his vintage Chevy truck.