We’re in the mood for terrible title puns today… Anyway, these three classic fire trucks from Flickr’s Galaktek aren’t terrible at all. In fact we think they’re rather lovely, and they perfectly juggle play value with realism. There’s lots more to see of each via Galaktek’s photostream – click the link above to dial 911.
At the opposite end of the scale from today’s other post is this; an absolutely monstrous Mercedes-Benz Unimog 401. Somewhat simpler on the outside than its modern U400 descendant, the 401 was just as ridiculously hardcore underneath, but is also very probably the slowest vehicle that this site has ever featured, and we’re even including this.
Tamás Juhász aka Mbmc is the builder and he’s built one hell of a machine. Underneath the simple green bodywork is a full RC drivetrain complete with a remotely operated 2-speed gearbox and some of the toughest looking suspension we’ve ever seen. There’s also a beautifully recreated working 4-cylinder engine, power take-offs front and rear and opening doors and hood.
There’s lots more to see, including images of the incredible chassis, on several of the key creation-sharing platforms; albums and build details on Flickr, Brickshelf and Eurobricks can be reached via the links.
This spectacularly beautiful Peterbilt truck is the first large scale build by Flickr’s jarekwally, and he’s absolutely nailed it. Featuring custom chrome and engraved bricks, a full remote control drivetrain courtesy of LEGO’s versatile Power Functions components, and a suite of LED lights, jarekwally’s creation is one of the most polished* builds we’ve seen this year. There’s lots more to see on Flickr at the link above – click the link to make the jump.
*Ha!
We have a pair of lucky Elves here at TLCB Towers today, each having found multiple creations in one hit.
Elf no.1 uncovered these excellent little off-road buggies courtesy of Tamotsu Nobusawa on Flickr, of which there’s more to see by clicking here.
Elf no.2 returned home with these lovely Town-style Chinese flatbed trucks from Flickr’s Kosmas Santosa. They’re part of a wider (and brilliant) Chinatown scene, and you can see more of the trucks and their surroundings at Kosmas’ photostream via the link above.
We’re not sure why this classic Citroen DS and Mercedes-Benz truck have been pictured together, but they’re both lovely and thus can appear here. Peter Schmid is the builder making his TLCB debut and you can see more of the two Town vehicles above as well as his other builds by clicking here.
This incredible 1970s DAF FTT 2600 crane truck arrives courtesy of previous bloggee Nanko Klein Paste, and it’s one of the most beautifully detailed models of the year so far. Behind the stunning realism Nanko’s truck is built for play too, and features a host of remotely controlled functions.
A third-party SBrick gives Nanko bluetooth control for the DAF’s drive, steering and that superb rotating crane. There’s lots more to see of this beautifully built, decalled, and photographed model at Nanko’s Flickr photostream – click the link above to make the trip.
Like one of those T-shirts showing the evolution of man, Flickr’s Galaktek has been charting the evolution of the fire truck, from its beginnings as a motorised vehicle before the Great War until the mid-’60s (with more to come we hope), and our ingenious special effects department* has collated Galaktek’s three builds chronologically above.
From top to bottom; 1912 Mercedes-Benz Feuerwehr-Motorspritze, 1950s Mercedes-Benz L6600, and 1960s Seagrave open-cab tiller.
There’s lots more to see of each historic fire truck at Galaktek’s photostream – click the link above to dial 911 through time.
*Hah!
The Lego Car Blog Elves, as has been well documented on these pages, like bright colours, shiny things, and remote control. Today therefore, was a Good Day, as one of their number rode triumphantly into the office atop this; a stunning fully remote controlled Peterbilt 379 complete with a working MAC end dump trailer.
It’s the work of Master MOCer Dennis Glaasker aka Bricksonwheels, who returns to truck building after some time away from his most favoured subject. Built from around 5,000 LEGO bricks (over 500 of which have been beautifully chromed) and measuring well over a metre long it’s one of the larger models that we feature here at TLCB, and such impressive scale allows for some simply incredible detailing.
It also enabled us to give some of the Elves a ride around the office in the trailer, which they enjoyed immensely, before we dumped them all in a strategically placed bowl of soapy water (it’s for their own good, honest). You can check out more of Dennis’ spectacular build on Flickr via the link above (you won’t end up in bowl of soapy water, we promise), and you can also check out Dennis’ excellent book ‘The Art of Lego Scale Modeling’, which features other models like this one, by clicking here. You could even win it and other goodies as part of TLCB’s ‘Review My Set Competition’ – click here to learn how!
Today no fewer than four TLCB Elves returned to TLCB Towers, each with a find they thought worthy of a meal token. Of course this led to a fight amongst them, but now that the blood and body parts have been cleared up we’re pleased to say that all four Elves received a meal! See, we are generous sometimes…
They did each deserve a meal actually, as each Elf found a lovely and beautifully built Town style truck by Flickr’s Peter Schmid, who has uploaded his latest four models in one go.
From top to bottom are; a Peterbilt Classic rig, a Volvo twin-trailer truck (in Nexo Knights livery), a Mack four-axel dump truck and a huge Volvo sleeper cab semi, each in mini-figure scale and all brilliantly detailed.
You can see each build in full-size images via Peter’s Flickr photostream here, where a variety of other vehicles, both digital and real, are available to view. Click on the link above to visit Peter’s photostream and to check out more of each build.
This neat classic Scania 112M truck complete with a huge dropside trailer and crane comes from previous bloggee and truck-building specialist Arian Janssens. Measuring over 100 studs long and built during September it probably qualifies for the current community bandwagon too*. There’s lots more to see at Arian’s Flickr photostream – click the link above to make the jump.
*It definitely doesn’t.
This stunning model is a near perfect replica of one of the most powerful trucks of the 1970s, the 375bhp V8-powered Scania LBS141.
Built by Master MOCer Dennis Bosman aka LegoTrucks it’s very probably one of the most accurate recreations of a real-world vehicle that this site has ever featured; there are even parts of this build where offsets are less than half-a-stud in width. Much like a bumblebee shouldn’t – by all mathematic calculations – be able to fly, we’re pretty sure that an offset of less than half-a-stud is an impossibility too, but nevertheless Dennis has confounded the maths.
There’s lots more to see of this incredible creation at Dennis’ photostream, which is packed full of exquisite models such as this. Click the link above to gaze in wonder, and you can read more about the builder via Season 1 of our Master MOCer series here.
This wonderful classic Scania 111 long-nose truck is something of a watershed vehicle in the Lego community. First uploaded over 5 years ago, Dennis Bosman’s stunning recreation of the Swedish hauler has inspired countless other truck builders over the years, and Dennis has recently refreshed it to inspire a few more.
Attached to the rear Dennis has constructed an enormous Broshuis extendible trailer, complete with a steel lattice load, and it fits beautifully to his old Scania. There’s more to see the new combo as well as the original Scania 111 upload via Dennis’ Flickr phototream, and you can read our interview with Dennis as part of Master MOCers Series 1 by clicking here.
These, Ladies and Gentlemen (OK, probably mostly gentlemen) are the most realistic Lego replicas that you may ever see.
They’re not replicas of real vehicles of course, but of three wonderful die-cast Hot Wheels toys from way back in the 1970s. Lego builder Brick Flag of Flickr recently decided to recreate his favourite model cars from his childhood, and in doing so he may have built the most accurate-to-life Lego models of the year.
Hot Wheels launched their die-cast vehicles ‘Ramblin’ Wrecker’, ‘Emergency Squad’ and ‘Fire Eater’ between 1975 and 1977, and now 40 years on Brick Flag has faithfully rebuilt the iconic toys so brilliantly that in some photos it’s hard to tell whether you’re looking at the metal original or the plastic replica.
There’s more to see of each beautifully stickered build, as well as the 40-year-old original which inspired it, at Brick Flag’s photostream – Cick here to take a trip to a bedroom floor circa ’77.
Ugly, low, and brown – this ZIL 130 fuel tanker could be any number of our Elven workforce. But like them it is useful, as without ground support vehicles such as these, airforces and airlines would operate for about 5 minutes.
This tidy recreation of the Russian truck comes from previous bloggee Dornbi, and he’s included a wonderful MiG 21 for it to refuel too. Head over to Flickr via the link above to see more.
This is a 1948 Ford F1, and we know that racing cars were a bit agricultural back then but this is ridiculous.
It’s not really anything to do with the highest tier of motorsport of course, rather it’s the predecessor to America’s best selling truck, the Ford F150. This neat Model Team version has been built by Lego-building legend Firas Abu-Jaber, and unusually for a static display piece it features a few working functions too, including steering, opening doors and hood, and a dropping tailgate.
There’s more to see of Firas’ latest build at his photostream, and you can check out his interview here at The Lego Car Blog by clicking these words.
This stunning pair of huge Model Team style classic DAF trucks comes from TLCB regular and DAF specialist Arian Janssens. His two latest builds up the detail level once again, and make Arian one of the best Lego truck builders anywhere in the world right now.
On the right, and shown with the load bed raised to its highest point above, is Arian’s GINAF F530 10X4 tipper truck. *Not strictly a DAF, GINAF were a Dutch truck specialist that used DAF trucks as the basis for their conversion to heavy duty applications. In business since the late 1940s, GINAF produced around 250 specialist trucks a year. However modern economics mean manufacturing in such low numbers is no longer enough to survive, and GINAF filed for bankruptcy in 2011.
The second truck in Arian’s pairing is this superb classic DAF 2800 in an unusual-for-Europe long-nose specification. Like GINAF, DAF have experienced some difficult trading times, and filed for bankruptcy in the early 1990s following the collapse of their merger with British Leyland. A management buyout restarted the firm and in 1996 DAF were bought by the American giant PACCAR, who then also bought Leyland, re-merging the two firms once more. DAF trucks are now commonplace across Europe, but few modern DAFs look as interesting as this classic 2800 does.
You can see more of each build at Arian’s Flickr photostream – click the link above to make the jump.
You don’t need ten thousand bricks to appear here at The Lego Car Blog. Around sixty will do. At least that’s all Flickr’s František Hajdekr needed to build this lovely Tatra fire truck. See more via the link above.
Kaizen. The philosophy of continual small improvements first pioneered in Japan by Toyota, is now a worldwide business practice. And thanks to the inherent characteristics of the LEGO brick, it’s a process that builders can apply too.
First featured on this site way back in 2013, Dennis Bosman (aka LegoTrucks) has recently updated his stunning Kenowrth K100 wrecker with a myriad of small improvements.
From grey to chrome, standard to dark green, and studs to smooth, LEGO’s continual product development has allowed Dennis to take advantage of an expanding variety of bricks to refresh his beautiful Model Team Kenworth wrecker.
There’s more to see on Flickr, and you can check out our interview with Dennis as part of the Master MOCers series by clicking here.
Here in The Lego Car Blog’s home nation caravanning is deeply, heroically uncool. Boring middle aged couples drive – slowly – to a field, where they then proceed to shit in a bucket.
Not so in North America or Australia, where the wide open spaces and abundance of animals that want to hurt you make it a vastly more exciting affair. You still drive – slowly – to a field, where you then have to shit in a bucket, but you might get eaten by a bear whilst doing so. And that’s cool.
As is this bright yellow pick-up truck and caravan combo by Flickr’s Gilcélio, of which you can see more at the link. It’s a beautifully clean build, and there’s not a bucket in sight.
Flickr’s vehicle-building society LUNuts are very on-topic right now, with their current monthly building contest taking in all things dystopian.
Previous bloggee Lino Martins’ entry pays homage the bleak dystopian masterpiece ‘1984’, which contains absolutely no similarities with the current state of U.S politics.
Coincidentally, we’ll hand over to Lino to explain some of the features of his ‘Murica-mobile’; “The roof mounted loud speakers are so that the driver may broadcast alternate facts, and many people are saying that the gun rack and truck nuts are a classy touch. Many people. Believe me. And no one knows classy better than I do. Let’s make America great again. Bigly”.
No similarities whatsoever… See more courtesy of Lino’s photostream.
