If you are into cars, chances are you are into Ferrari. Obviously, Lennart feels the same and he built a very slick 360 Modena in 1/15 scale. His model not only features a smooth surface and attractive shape but also offers a cozy interior with opening doors, trunk and hood which reveal the engine and a suitcase.
There are many close-up shots in the Flickr album for your convenience. You can even see the pedals!
This impressive rocket by Tyler Clites depicts Tintin’s rocket in Explorers on the Moon, the 17th volume of the famous comic series The Adventures of Tintin by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The classic red and white chequered rocket is beautifully shaped with traditional slopes, wedges and curved slopes. The jet thrust gives rise to some fantastically simple but effective smoke, maintaining the original cartoon feel.
There is also a detailed interior allowing the construction of this LEGO creation to be admired. Tyler has used a mix of Technic and system parts to build the rocket, but you can see that the inner construction is not a hidden construction site but a functional part of the final build.
Fans of Tintin will also enjoy a previous build by Tyler of Tintin’s moon explorer vehicle from the same comic series. Tyler’s version of Tintin’s rocket is not the first time this vehicle has been featured here on TBB – Tintin’s Rocket by Gonkius was a previous, memorable version.
Master supercar builder Firas Abu-Jaber nails it again with his model of the Bugatti Chiron. Firas captured the balance of aggressiveness and beauty of the real thing, both interior and exterior, with the incredible quality building skills he is known for. Even the curved silver trim, constructed from flexible hose pieces combined with minifigure swords, is on point.
Flip through all 15 photos of Firas’s Bugatti Chiron, presented outstandingly with facts about the real supercar throughout, on his Flickr.
Nefarious Blacktron forces may inhabit the remote reaches of space, but that doesn’t mean they lack sweet infrastructure. We’ve already brought you a peek at Stephan Niehoff’s take on Blacktron’s new battle tank, the Scorpion II, and now Stephan lets us get a good look at the sleek Rhino, Blacktron’s on-planet wartime materiel supply solution.
Galaktek from Seattle has been working on some pretty cool vintage fire trucks recently and now we get to see them all together. Galaktek has particularly done some nice work on the classic open-cab hook and ladder truck. The smooth lines can be hard to accomplish in minifig scale. These fire trucks makes you want to build something red!
Huib van der Hart is a master of large LEGO cranes. His latest effort is a Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 mobile crane owned by Northwest Crane Service. At 1:16 scale, the model packs in loads of detail, and Huib tells us the crane uses close to 15,000 pieces, is over 4 feet in length and weighs 33 pounds. It’s even completely drivable with 18-wheel steering thanks to LEGO Power Functions. This isn’t Huib’s first humongous crane, either, as he previously built this crane’s sibling, the Liebherr LTM 11200 9.1. He’s continuing to work on the 1750 model, and has plans to make the boom arm fully extendable.
There are a lot of neat play features packed into this tiny space exploration vehicle. But it’s the ambiguous scale that tickles me. Is it a remote-controlled rover, barely larger than a cat? Or a mammoth-sized truck, so tall you could walk under it without ducking? It could hold fifty people — or less than five. Only Shannon Sproule knows for sure.
I’m not really into video games unless they have the name Zelda in the title. But the kids seem to dig some sci-fi game called Destiny, and there are a lot of great LEGO models based on its concept art. This FOTC Hawk from Jake Mundy is the latest example, and there are a heap of nifty techniques in this angular contraption. Check out the full gallery for some inspirational detail and cutaway pictures.
Carl Greatrix‘s Caterham 7 was recently revealed as the next LEGO Ideas set. The announcement was met with almost universal approval, mixed with some surprise that such an obviously adult-oriented and complex model had made it through the review.
The Brothers Brick got in touch with Carl to get some of his thoughts following the announcement…
TBB: So, you’ve got to be delighted about the news. How does it feel to have an official LEGO set coming out?
Carl: I’m obviously super-excited. It means that everyone who wanted one, will now be able to get one. The realization is slowly but surely sinking in — the fact there will be an official LEGO set, available in practically every LEGO shop around the world, it’s quite a humbling thought and feels like a huge achievement.
Click through to read the rest of the interview
Large-scale LEGO car builders never cease to amaze with their dedication to realism. Greg_998 specializes in Porsche racecars, and his Le Mans Porsche 962 is breathtaking. Not simply a plastic shell, the well-sculpted bodywork hides a host of details below, such as a fully detailed engine compartment and a fittingly spartan interior.
Not content with just the 1980s’ 962, Greg has built a several generations of Porsche racing.
In early February we announced that LUGNuts, which is the online group for LEGO car lovers, was celebrating its 100th monthly challenge by organising a car building contest. Prizes were sponsored by TBB, among others. The cars to be built were randomly assigned to the contestants from a list compiled by LUGNuts admin Lino Martins. He has announced the winners to the group’s members and it is my pleasure to present them here to you.
In first place: Firas Abu-Jaber with the very classy Rolls Royce Springfield Silver Ghost Playboy Roadster.
Thanks to a certain magazine, its name may not sound particularly classy nowadays, but it’s a beautiful car that is well built and very well presented. If you think you’ve seen it before, this may very well be because it was featured in a post by Elspeth little more than a week ago.
The entry that won the second prize is a bit gassy rather than classy: “El Laxante” by Andy Baumgart (D-Town Cracka). His assignment was to build a Chevrolet El Camino, which he brought to another level by putting it on tracks, among other things. It’s crazy, over the top and in real life would probably be smelly and very loud, but it’s fantastic.
Showing a degree of prescience, Elspeth’s earlier post also included the 3rd prize winner: Martien Nijdam (Pino) with his rendition of a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. It’s another classy classic car.
These winners were decided by combining top five lists of each of the five group admins and moderators.
The contest got an impressive 77 eligible entries and there were a lot of great models to chose from.
Other entries that were on several of the judges’ lists, but that didn’t quite gain enough points to end up among the prize winners, were the Volksrods by _Tiler, the Chrysler Town and Country woody by Velocites and the studly Ford F100 by TechnicNick. On behalf of TBB and LUGNuts, I’d like to congratulate the winners and thank everybody who participated for making this the best LUGNuts challenge to date.
Christopher Bassett‘s walker tank/rover looks to suit the needs of Futuron explorers. I enjoy treaded quadrupeds, especially this one where the exposed mechanical bits in the treads complement the slick cabin and body. While I myself am not nostalgic for many space themes pre-Exploriens, as they were before my time, Christopher’s rover is a great build to carry the Futuron colors.
Christopher has many more fascinating sci-fi builds (including more walker tanks!) on his Flickr.