You lot have been busy. We’ve had so many Elves trooping back to the office holding spaceships, mechs and battle tanks that we’ve got a back-log to clear. So here it is, a Sci-Fi Special with no less than six creations featured!
Row 1; from left to right: Maedhros1980’s Survey Ship, NHI’s MHS Mech, and Shannon Ocean’s R-Type Starfighter.
Row 2; from left to right: Nathanael Kuipers’ M.B.A. Mech, pasukaru76’s Duel Tangent Fighter, and finally, NatNeto’s Galaxy Patrol Heavy APC.
Now this is a tow truck! Based on the Sherman Tank, the M32B1 Recovery vehicle was the perfect tool for rescuing unreliable World War 2 hardware. This brilliant replica is the work of =DoNe=, and you can see more on Flickr.
A Warhammer 40,000 Special today, with two builders and seven creations. Above is the imposing looking Imperial Guard from Lego Admiral, whilst below is a Furioso Dreadnaught by the supremely talented bruceywan. You can see more from both builders on Flickr.
If Apple made futuristic tanks, they’d probably look like this. mondayn00dle‘s remarkably clean ‘Winter Moon’ Tachikoma can be found on Flickr, along with a link to the epic artwork by ‘FlyingDebris’ that inspired it.
Following last week’s Mech Monday we’ve continued the alliterative theme with today’s post. It’s also a little heavier in tone than normal, but occasionally we like to shine a light where we can. If it’s not your bag then please skip this text and normal service will be resumed shortly!
First up is Mad Physicist’s P-61 ‘Black Widow’ diorama, complete with Willis Jeep and refuelling tanker. The Northrop P-61 was the first aircraft specifically designed to use radar, intercepting enemy aircraft at night and allowing Allied fighters to do their stuff. Used in the Pacific in response to the atrocities committed by Japan (the Nazi’s murdered 26 million people during World War 2, Japan – often forgotten – murdered 30 million) it proved effective, being used right up until the Japanese surrender. At which point the U.S undid all their good work and granted immunity to those responsible for torture, rape, and biological and chemical weapons testing (on civilians) in return for the ‘research’ data. Yay America.
Which brings us onto the second of today’s posts, a superb Soviet T-72 AV tank by Chris L. Sold by Russia to various dubious regimes, the T-72 is currently in action in Syria, the Government of which is using chemical weapons against its own people. Syria largely buys its weapons from Russia, which developed its chemical weapons during the Cold War in response to the U.S. And as we know, the U.S got much of its chemical and biological weapons research via the immunity granted to Japan upon surrender. So there we have it; two models, 40 years apart, from rival superpowers, linked by mankind’s propensity for destruction.
Sometimes when we see a great military Lego creation it’s worth stopping to remind ourselves why they exist in the first place.
What is it with you lot? All the Elves are finding on MOCpages, Flickr and Brickshelf are machines of death. And we’ve stopped them watching war movies so we know it’s not TV’s fault. This particular one is a KZKT Rusich Tank Transporter made by Sariel, and it’s a follow-up to his previous K2 Black Panther Tank. It’s truly humongous too; we’ve cut the tank-transporting trailer out of this post so it fits on the page! See the full model on MOCpages here.
And will someone please build something more peaceful! Preferably with swirly paint on the outside and hippies on the inside.
The tiny minds of the TLCB Elves are often attracted to tiny things. This small, clean, fun build is the work of The Digster on MOCpages.
Andreas on Flickr recently uploaded these two Main Battle Tanks in Woodland and Desert camouflage. On the left is the typical European paintwork of military vehicles past, on the right, the Middle-Eastern colours of current warfare. Both look neat in Lego form, and both remind us of how fortunate we are not to be based in an area of conflict (although the Elves do sometimes turn the office into one). As always, the Red Cross will be alongside tanks such as these helping those caught up in military crisis. See how you can help here, and see both Andreas’ tanks at the link above.
First up is this impressive looking device; a fictional ‘SPAG’ (Self Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun) built by iomedes !… You can see more of his sci-fi machine and his other works Flickr.
The second of our double post (below) is another fictional military creation, and although whilst the subject remains gloomy, this one does sport a cheerfully sunny paint job. You might as well look good! ‘Drone 25′ is the work of Damien Labrousse aka Legodrome. Flickr is your friend once more.
This strange-looking device was built by Jon & Catherine Stead on Flickr. It’s a British Mark IV Tank, one of the first operational, which saw service during World War I. Whilst tanks are an all too familiar sight in modern war footage, and even film from World War II, back in 1917 they were revolutionary, and – frankly – not something you would want to serve in. A top speed of 4mph, early automotive reliability and a tendency to get stuck in soft ground meant that they were easy targets once they fell behind the advancing front line. Germany even captured 40 in one battle alone and, somewhat bravely/foolishly, redeployed them as their own.
Despite the early problems the British invention was a formidable foe when used to attack enemy trenches, and as such it was developed rapidly after the war into ever more capable variants and has since been adopted by almost every army in the world.
See Jon and Catherine’s pioneering Mark IV on Flickr and, because as a community we often overlook why creations such as these are built at all, see what you can do to help those caught in conflict via the Red Cross.
With SHIPtember over a few days ago the online Lego Community needed another tenuously named month in order to function. Rumour has it that without such months certain quarters of the online community would just pace around in circles, unable to decide what to do. So behold, MAKtober!
‘But what is MAKtober?’ we hear you cry. Well, here at The Lego Car Blog we pride ourselves on our highly professional excellent working knowledge of Lego-related trends. And we have absolutely no idea. Still, if D-Town Cracka‘s ‘Applecart’ self-propelled gun is an indication of what we’re likely to see, we’re all for MAKtober. Whatever it is.
Find out more via the links above.
The Elves often return from the weird world of Karf Oohlu’s photostream with smiles on their faces and giggling tales of monsters on the toilet and aliens doing the hoovering. At other times they return scared and gibbering on about “chitterlings”, “crowks”, mad scientists and black tentacles. Fortunately, our feeble-minded workers soon forget their worries after a two-hour session of watching Transformers videos.
Today they have returned happy, with a creation which has earned them three blue Smarties. “The Transporter” is a tracked robot, whose belly contains three of the cutest tanks that we’ve seen. The “Battletykes” have been cleverly built with great economy of parts and descend from the Transporter via a nicely designed ramp. Click this link to Flickr to view the Transporter and more of Karf Oohlu’s strange creations.
No-one wants to be the bad guy. Though they might if they get to ride around in this. It’s the work of Flickr’s legohaulic, and it’s a commissioned model of Academy Award Winning Animator Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘Akuyaku’ (Bad Guy No. 1) tank. See more of the Bad Guy and legohaulic’s previous creations over on Flickr.
Breaking down in battle presents problems. The local recovery firm may be a little unwilling to venture out to get you, spare parts might be a bit tricky, and their tow truck is probably on the small side. Thankfully the US military had it covered in World War II with their massive M31 Armored Recovery Vehicle (ARV). Daniel Siskind has recreated the wartime machine beautifully, and you can see more on Flickr.
When the British Army deployed their new invention, known as the ‘tank’, in the First World War the results were slow, unreliable and easily captured. They were also disguised as water carriers, hence the ‘tank’ name which has stuck around until today. Mrutek’s Feuerlöschpanzer Marder has something slightly more in common with its ‘tank’ name than most. See why at Mrutek’s photostream here – it’s worth your click!
The Lego Car Blog Elves have moved on from the Transformers movies, having since discovered the ’80s gems from the Indiana Jones franchise. Indiana might be the star, but it’s his Nazi enemies that get the best toys. This one though, is actually British, so we’re not sure how the Nazi’s got their hands on it in the movie The Last Crusade. No matter, because it’s damn cool and JBIronWorks‘ Lego recreation of the Mark VIII International tank used in the 1989 blockbuster is too. See all the photos on Flickr at the link.
TLCB newcomer Antti Hakala makes an explosive entrance with his incredible Siege Tank from the game StarCraft 2. This might be our photo of the year. You can see both it and the techniques used to create the Tank on Flickr.
We’re feeling a bit whimsical here at TLCB today, so here’s a vampire-hunting steampunk tank. It makes absolutely no sense what-so-ever, what with a wooden gun barrel and steam propulsion, but sometimes we like things weird. Join in the fun at Castor Troy’s Flickr page here.
The steady stream of Elves returning to TLCB office with a great build originating from Poland and/or the LUGPol group indicates that something special must be happening over there.
Marek Markiewicz (aka M_Longer) is one such builder, and his latest work typifies the excellent creations produced by LUGPol’s users. It’s a fully Power Functions remote controlled MAN tipper truck (pictured here with his L580 front loader), and the engineering inside is impeccable. See what Marek’s MAN can do in the video below!
YouTube Video
Our second creation comes from one of Poland’s most famous builders – and one of the most frequently blogged – the incredible Sariel.
His latest work is probably the most capable remote control Lego vehicle we’ve ever seen. See how unstoppable his Ripsaw XL is via the brilliant video – complete with a killer Death in Vegas soundtrack – below.
YouTube Video
Special thanks go to LUGPol for continuing to supply our Elves with so many high quality creations. We know many LUGPol members visit TLCB, so if you’re one of them and would like us to feature LUGPol as a Group of the Month* let us know how we can find out a bit more about you!
*Or Several Months. We’re quite unreliable with this feature!
