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).

Cruising in style with the Auburn Speedster

By his own admission, in terms of LEGO builds Vibor Cavor didn’t have a very productive 2014, building just one model. As far as I am concerned, however, quality trumps quantity and his new year is off to a good start. His latest model, the 1935 Auburn Boattail Speedster from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, has quality in spades.

The Boattail Speedster is a prime example of thirties American luxury cars, with sleek Art Deco styling and high performance to match. I is also rare, with only a few hundred built before Auburn went bust in the Great Depression. Arguably, the original car looks even sleeker and more curvaceous than the model does, but to me it is not at all obvious how one could actually achieve that. With its beautifully sculpted mudguards, angled panels and working steering, this is one stylish build.

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A golden age of racing

While not on the grand scale of Lino’s Hot Rod to Hell that we featured last month, this entry in the recent LUGNuts Steampunk Motorworks challenge by CaptainSmog still manages to hit all the right Victorian notes:

These are not the bricks you’re looking for

For hard-core Star Wars fans, even LEGO’s latest incarnation of the iconic X-34 landspeeder leaves something to be desired, with all it’s studs and tubing. Over the years, various builders have crafted their own versions, often with entertaining results. But now expert car builder Calin has created probably the classiest minifig scaled version of this vehicle to-date.

At first you’re drawn in by the color scheme, patterning and smooth surfaces. But then the details hit you: the brick-built turbines, the exposed wiring, the front hitch, and the use of a bucket handle piece for the pilot’s controls. Of course, the builder has chosen to keep that sweet curved windscreen piece, for which there’s just no substitute.

Two generations of Dutch DAF trucks

Apart from a few manufacturers of exotic sports cars and an assembly plant for Minis, the Netherlands don’t have much of a car-building industry. Things are different when it comes to trucks, however, with the Eindhoven-based truck builder DAF being market leader in several European countries. Dutchman Nanko Klein Paste has built several DAFs in the last few years. His latest is a classic T 2400 DO, which represents an early attempt by DAF at building a truck for the international market.

Versions of this truck were in production until 1975 and when I was a child they were still a fairly common sight on Dutch roads. The characteristic sloped front of the cab is particularly well captured. This classic model is flanked by a modern XF105, in the livery of the heavy lifting company Mammoet (Mammoth), which makes for a particularly nice comparison between the two generations.

Tequila Tuk-Tuk

What’s the best way to deliver tequila to the masses on a distant planet? Pico van Grootveld (Brixnspace) presents the Tequilatron Tuk Tuk to get the job done, and it even features a portable parasol and table.

Chibi Micro LEGO sets

There’s still one lazy Sunday left to enter the TBB Chibi Micro Contest! We’ve seen tons of fantastic ‘Chibi Micro Fighter’ versions of lots of planes, trains and automobiles from all over the film, television and videogame properties. But don’t forget, you can also rebuild your favorite LEGO sets too!

Here’s a round up of some of my favorite LEGO sets, now in Chibi form:

A Classic Space set the 6989 Mega Core Magnetizer by Andrew Lee (onosendai2600):

One the newer Space sets: 7066 Earth Defense HQ by John Kupitz (Phuonom):

And last but not least, 9446 Destiny’s Bounty by Robert4168

So break out those bricks! You have one more day to build something. Full rules and entries can be found in the Chibi Micro Flickr group.

Red Heron Space Truck

I’m a firm believer that adding ‘Space’ to anything makes it more awesome. So what do you get when you add Space to trucks (which are already awesome), you get Jason Corlett‘s epic Space Truck:

This build actually started off as two separate builds that Jason tells us wasn’t working for him, so he combined it into one really cool mash up:

What I’ve always loved with Jason’s build is his attention to detail and realistic feel to his out of this world creations. A great example is the the awesome cab opening and the engine in the back:

LEGO Vespa – Lean, Clean, Stylish and Smart.

Lucie Filteau built this model as a Christmas present for her brother-in-law, who owns a Vespa. Lucie has done a great job capturing the iconic look and feel of a vintage Vespa. Her choice of scale is spot-on as those complex slopes accurately mimic the clean lines of actual vintage Vespas and make this build really believable. I have to say that I’m rather jealous of her brother-in-law!

Lucifer’s Advocate – A Hot Rod to Hell

According to Lino Martins, he combined hot rod and steam engine in equal parts and sprinkled in a dash of black magic. When the thunder and lightning stopped and the earth ceased to shake, this wicked beast rolled out of the smoke and up to the curb.

I really dig this one. The locomotive motif, the color scheme and the steam-punk detailing all combine in a most excellent and cohesive way. One of my favorite touches is the open rib-work on the hood, showing off the spinning turbine. This is definitely another masterpiece from the Master.

The top of the coach also opens to display the crushed red velvet interior.

’32 Deuce Coupe from American Graffiti

Calin just rolled out this awesome little yellow hot rod, as a a tribute to John Milner’s ’32 Deuce Coupe from the iconic film American Graffiti. The lines and styling are incredible. It’s an amazing that the builder was able to achieve this shape in such a small footprint. You have to admit that the the use of bananas for fenders is a great touch too!

Bringing home the groceries on two wheels

Fujiia just posted this awesome bicycle. It is built using a nice minimalistic approach that really appeals to me. As they say, less is often more.

Montage of Sky-Fi Fighters by Jon Hall

Jon Hall built five incredible planes this year. To commemorate that, he just posted this montage. Somehow we dropped the ball and only posted one of them here. That lapse has now been rectified. Here they are, all together in their breath-taking awesomeness.

Jon’s planes are truly works of art. So smooth, so seamless, so beautiful. He does paint some of them and uses custom stickers, which probably irritates somebody, somewhere. But he does it so well, I feel it just adds to the “realism” and makes the suspension of disbelief that much easier.

Crimson Storm

R-16 Vindicator

F49A Patriot

S-15 Vulture

He-98 Halberd