This stunning scale copy of Mercedes-Benz Actros 4163 by YU KEE LIU is a very smart mixture of System and Technic parts. It’s no secret, brick-built cockpits are much heavier than those built with light Technic panels. Despite the weight of the body, this truck is fully remotely controlled and even features a number of motorised mechanisms attached to the trailer.
October has started, but we still have much to cover from SHIPtember — the month-long celebration of building massive LEGO spaceships. This particular addition, BSL Marcus Garvey by the OG LEGO builder Keith Goldman is actually a recreation of a concept art by another builder.
With dozens of top quality large spaceships built in the community each year, it is hard to be original, but Keith’s ship excels at being true to the concept art, nailing a color scheme, following complex angles and textures, and leaving no boring spots whatsoever.
You drove here in that? You’re braver than I thought. Lino Martins provides a LEGO reimagining of Star Wars as a 70’s buddy movie featuring a likable scoundrel named Stan Solo, his girlfriend Laura, and their big biker friend Chad Bacca. The car is the real star though — a beat-up 1977 Ford Falcon, so heavily patched it’s nicknamed the Aluminium Falcon.
This is a cracking model — it’s inspiration immediately apparent whilst being a decent build of a completely different style of vehicle. There’s an impressive depth of texture crammed into a relatively small footprint, with lots of lovely greebles nestled amongst the bodged repair work. As you’d expect, Lino brings his customary attention to detail to bear on the interior…
And don’t miss the group of miniland-scale reprobates created to go with the vehicle. It’s Stan Solo himself, along with the rest of the gang. I laughed out loud at Lino’s take on Artoo and Threepio…
With exotic colours, contrasts and aggressive angles, there is a lot to this little speedy spaceship by Chris Perron. The front prongs are simple, but they do not detract from the whole, and thicker ones would probably not even look as good with this compact construction.
The general shape somewhat resembles the once-popular Vic Viper spaceship style, with some deviations. I wonder if adding a tail fin to meet pre-existing templates would make it more impressive or whether it would feel less fresh. In either case, Chris is a very good builder and has probably considered both options and chose the better one.
The SHIPtember challenge is in full swing, when LEGO builders around the world look to build large-scale spaceships of at least 100-studs in length. German builder Stephan Niehoff breaks the mold of the more common microscale capital ships with this highly-detailed Gunboat from Star Citizen. The model is minifig scale and very impressive, particularly as it was put together in less than 3 weeks!
The bold colour scheme really stands out, aided with some carefully placed stickers. Yellow lines accent the complex angles well, and the use of different grays allowed Stephan to achieve some nice details. My favourite areas are the nose, with its rich collection of guns and utensils, and the “air intakes”, with the pin connector construction above it.
Of all modes of aerial transport, zeppelins are almost certainly the coolest (possibly because they are the least common). And while using one for raiding other aircraft may literally be the worst possible idea, that just adds to the fantasy. The sky pirates of The Travesty seem twice as crazy and intimidating for daring to raid aircraft in something as fragile as a zeppelin. The build is somewhat simple, using many large and specialized pieces, but Ted Andes manages to bring it all together quite well.
I may be biased by nostalgia for the Adventurers zeppelin piece, but I am sure the creation has something to offer for almost everybody. The deck looks like it was just slapped together and hardly supports the clutter it carries, which is exactly what one would expect from pirates. The light use of stickers breathes just that little extra life into the creation to make it quite memorable and recognizable.
Nothing evokes the 60s like a cyan-colored Cadillac — oozing the charm of the era of flower power. I always wonder why our modern cars don’t come in this shade any more? Anyway, buckle up, and put the pedal to the metal — now you can own a piece of nostalgia with this mini Cadillac build by Grantmasters.
Click for the parts required and a guide to build your own version
I never thought the fifth wheel of a car would be the most important one, but this incredibly unique VW Kübelkäfer built by Robert Heim makes me question my beliefs. The builder himself does not know exactly why anyone would drive or design a car like this, but the result is definetely original and interesting. While the central large tyre and its incorporation into the overall design of the vehicle is good, my favourite part has to be the cockpit, which appears to close up almost perfectly – just one of those satisfying moments when random bricks come together to create a very coherent shape.
The Duesenberg Motors Company was founded in 1913 by two German-born American brothers in Minnesota. They specialized in race cars and ultra-luxery cars — when a Ford Model A Town Car cost just $1,200, a Duesenberg might cost $15,000 (over $270,000 today). These cars were not for the average Depression era family! Dennis Glaasker has successfully captured the luxury and craftsmanship of these amazing cars with another stellar LEGO vehicle, full of custom chrome details and working features.
See more of this classic LEGO automobile
For his latest scale model Lasse Deleuran has chosen a magnificent Chevrolet Corvette C7.R Le Mans Edition, which is famous for its multiple victories in the most prestigious endurance races in the motorsport world. Lasse recreates the car’s wide hood with some sharp wedges and slopes so that the vehicle definitely looks more aggressive than the smooth original. Bonus points are for very accurate custom stickers, which are an inevitable part of a true racing car’s design.
Only five Lamborghini Venenos were ever produced to celebrate Lamborghini’s 50th anniversary back in 2013. While Lamborhini kept two, the other three were sold for US$4,500,000 each. Lachlan Cameron has built a LEGO version of the road-worthy, racing prototype Lamborghini Veneno, and it’s certainly a head-turner. Lachlan has mainly used Technic parts to achieve the aggressive, aerodynamic shaping, with some clever techniques to achieve the wheel arches and the steeply sloped hood.
Okay I may have got a little carried away, as it’s not quite the Blues Mobile. Put a giant megaphone on the roof and put a couple of suited, sunglassed musicians in the front seat and I reckon it’d look the part. Slovenian builder Primoz Mlakar has created a wonderful Speed Champions style Police Interceptor. Inspired by vehicles in Ken Block’s Gymkhana 7, the builder has captured the lines and curves of the classic black and white beautifully. Particularly impressive is the use of the tooth piece for a window pillar and the bad robot arms as nudge bars.
