A Peterbilt monster truck. Because why not? Billyburg is the builder behind the blue beast, and you can see more of it on Flickr here.
Big Pete
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Little Wonders
In contrast to Doc Brown’s Technic Ford Tudor, which we featured yesterday, comes 1saac W.’s tiny Model A hot rod, also from 1932. You can see more of Issac’s cars, including his Dodge Polara Police car which we featured recently, on his Flickr photostream.
In the meantime some of the Elves have been looking a bit malnourished recently. The doctors suggested more oranges in their diet, so here’s the result. This mini monster truck is the work of LEGOLIZE IT MAN, on Flickr, who’s better known for his stylish spacecraft, with accompanying concept artwork. As well as a colour scheme and graphics similar to some of his spaceships, this little car features multiple stud angles and a pair of lightsabers as axles, attached to a chunky propshaft. See more at the link.
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Here Be Monsters
Paul Boratko (aka Crowkillers) is one of our favourite builders here at The Lego Car Blog. His models look and function brilliantly, but it’s they way they’re built which sets them apart; they’re as easy to build as a LEGO set. His latest, entitled ‘Some kind of monster’ is another beautifully engineered modular build, and one that can be easily modified with Power Functions motors. See the gallery and be inspired on MOCpages.
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Super Sunday
After a telling-off from TLCB Staff for yesterday’s un-car-y focus, the Elves are working hard to make amends (and earn dinner). Today they’ve found no less than three creations, and they’re all cars! It may be a sign of the coming apocalypse, but lets enjoy it while it lasts.
No.1: One of the highest quality own-designed cars we’ve seen, Flickr’s Lego Builders ‘Vivace’ supercar is something whole office would happily be seen in. See the full gallery at the link above.
No. 2: Very much a real car – and a legendary one at that – Mazda’s brilliant rotary powered RX-7. Senator Chinchilla is the brains behind a superb replica that’s available to view now on Flickr.
No. 3: Last, but definitely not least, is this affront to decent handling and efficiency, _drdesignz_ awesome all-wheel-steered monster truck. What it lacks in economy and handling it more than makes up for in badassery, which is a word added to TLCB Dictionary just for this creation. See all the photos and the Doctor’s photostream via the link above.
All of today’s vehicles were found in the same group on Flickr, and were the last three models uploaded to the group gallery. Head Turnerz is the collective making it much too easy for the Elves, and you can join them on Flickr via the link. Enjoy your weekend, we’re off to the shops to stock up on Elf treats.
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Maxi Mini
Every so often, you think of something so ridiculous that you wish it could be true. A Mini Cooper monster truck, coincidentally, has always been one of our silly desires. Conveniently, Tim Henderson over on Flickr has got us covered there. His delightfully absurd take on the recently-released 40109 Mini Cooper set makes us tingle with excitement and prompts thoughts of the pint-sized Mini getting its chance to tangle with the big boys…or just run them over, that works too. You can check out Tim’s work on Flickr.
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A Mini Monster
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Monster Truck
TLCB favourite (and ‘Become a Pro‘ interviewee) Sariel is back with another brilliant RC creation. His latest work is a replica of BJ Baldwin’s insane Monster Energy Chevrolet trophy truck, and it’s an absolute riot to drive! We managed to get it off the Elves pretty quickly and have been hooning it around the office all day. For research of course. We’ve got to be thorough…
Anyway, whilst we get back to our in-depth testing of the Chevy you can watch it in action below as well as viewing all the images over on MOCpages.
YouTube Video:
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The Hulk
We were still hoovering up the left over Elf body parts (we think they grow back… probably) from today’s earlier mass smushing when this came barrelling down the corridor in pursuit of a group of fleeing Elves.
Fortunately what is a terrifying Monster Truck of Death to the Elves is a Smallish Remote Control Toy to us, so it was duly picked up and the piloting Elf found and ejected from the office.
A Smallish Remote Control Toy it may be, but we can confirm that paave‘s buggy-motor powered, all-wheel-steered and all-wheel-drive ‘Hulk’ monster truck is riot to drive. So much so that it was sorely tempting to go on smushing rampage of our own.
You can see more of the Hulk on both MOCpages and Eurobricks – click the links to make the jump.
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Crushing Cars
Never has a vehicle found by one of Elves been more… Elven. Well, maybe if paave‘s Technic Bigfoot monster truck was remote controlled, but weary of past smushings we’re rather thankful that it isn’t.
Based on a 1974 Ford F-250 pick-up truck, the original ‘Bigfoot’ was, like all the best inventions, built by a man in his shed. After a motorsports promotor saw a video of the truck crushing some old cars in a field he asked Bigfoot’s creator, Bob Chandler, if he wouldn’t mind repeating the stunt in front of a paying audience. Bob tentatively agreed and the rest is history, with Ford even sponsoring the truck from the early ’80s.
Paave’s Technic recreation of Bob’s F-250 probably won’t be crushing any cars, but it is just as technically capable, with accurate four-wheel steering, four-wheel drive, and four-link axles with enormous suspension travel. Head over to MOCpages with a warm beer and a footlong hot-dog to see more of paave’s creation.
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Monster Mash*
It’s the final day of 2018 and most of the Elves – caged over Christmas – are away searching hungrily for the very best Lego vehicles the interweb has to offer. A few Elves returned with finds pretty quickly, and another joined them today at the controls of this, a rather cool looking remote control Monster Truck from previous bloggee and TLCB Master MOCer Nico71.
Unfortunately for the Elves already back in TLCB Towers, the speed of their return meant they became unwilling participants in the latest (and hopefully last – for 2018 at least) smushing.
With all-wheel-drive, torsion bar suspension, and portal drive for mega ground clearance, the Elf at the controls of Nico71’s monster truck had no problem running down several of its unsuspecting colleagues in the halls of the office.
With the truck now in the hands of TLCB staff and the squashed Elves mostly patched back together the perpetrator has wisely absconded back from whence it came, meal token in hand, whilst we clean a variety of Elven bodily fluids out of the office carpet.
You can check out Nico’s remote control monster truck at his website, where an extensive gallery of images is available and – to the joy of those that reply to TLCB inbox – instructions can be found too. Click the link above to make the jump.
*The final title song of 2018! Enjoy.
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Monstrously Clever
Remote Control monster trucks have a history here at The Lego Car Blog, which – if you’re an Elf at least – is not always a happy one (see here, here, and here). Fortunately today’s example was – despite its excellence – too slow for the Elf at the controls to run down any of its brethren, much to its annoyance.
Don’t let that put you off though, because this monster truck by previous bloggee Kevin Moo is a fantastically clever bit of kit, with all-wheel-drive, all-wheel-steering and all-wheel-suspension.
However that ‘all-wheel-ness’ is not the cleverest part, as Kevin has engineered an ingenious automatically locking centre differential design that keeps the wheels locked together when the truck is driving in a straight line for better grip off-road, yet unlocks when it’s cornering to allow the wheels to spin at the different rates required during a turn.
No, we have no idea how he’s done it either!
There’s lots more to see of Kevin’s Technic monster truck on Flickr and at the Eurobricks discussion forum, plus you watch the video below demonstrating the automatic differential lock to see if you can figure it out…
YouTube Video
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Retro Rampage
Whiiiir! Crunch. Whiiiir! Crunch. Elven Screaming. Whiiiir! Crunch.
Sigh. These are sounds we’ve heard too often here at The Lego Car Blog Towers before, and they usually mean we’re going to have to get the carpets cleaned again.
A weary trudge to the corridor outside the office revealed the cause, and to our surprise there wan’t just one, but three. Three Elves were each controlling three separate (and rather impressive) Technic Monster Trucks, bashing them into one another and occasionally adding variety to the proceedings by driving them at and over the Elves who had come to watch the spectacle.
It admittedly looked like great fun, so Mr. Airhorn was deployed to break up the ruckus, the injured were patched up with Pritt-Stick and plasters, and we’ve taken control of the trio of Technic trucks for ourselves.
Each truck comes from Technic building legend Madoca77 and wears a gloriously retro livery, including the famous Ford ‘Big Foot’ colours and Toyota’s wonderful ’80s ‘pick-up’ stripe, and the three models are all remotely operable via bluetooth thanks to two SBricks.
These control the four XL motors (one per wheel), the two Servo motors that steer both the front and rear axles, the Medium motor that switches between crab steering and normal steering modes (just like LEGO’s excellent 40254 Claas Xerion 5000 set), and the Medium motor that operates the clamshell bodywork lift.
Madoca’s builds also include LED headlights, opening doors and dropping tailgates, plus – most importantly – a mega suspension setup which includes portal axles. They easily make it into our favourite creations list of 2019, and if you like them as much as we do then head to the Eurobricks discussion forum via the link above to read more about the builds and to watch a video of Madoca’s vintage monster truck design in action!
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Big Foot’s Back! (Kinda)
Flickr’s Havoc is having an awesome run blending classic Model Team sets with real-world vehicles. Following in the footsteps (hah!) of his 5541-inspired T-Bucket and his 5510-derived Jeep Renegade comes this, a reworking of the 5561 Big Foot monster truck set from 1997.
The original set wasn’t really a monster truck (or anything like the real Big Foot for that matter) but it was rather cool, and Havoc has chosen to carry over its paint-job onto a vehicle far more in keeping with the real Ford pick-up based car-crushing monster truck.
Havoc’s ‘Big Foot’ uses a Ford F-250 as its base (like the real truck), but switches the famous blue livery for the red-on-white that many Model Team sets have used over the years. Head to Havoc’s photostream to see all the images, plus you can view his past builds and see the official LEGO set that inspired this one via the links in the text above.
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Безумный Макс
Parts of Russia may look a bit like a post-apocalyptic wasteland (and even more so in the former Soviet Union), but that has meant Russians have needed to build some awesome vehicles in order to traverse the wild landscape. We’ve featured many such off-road cars and trucks over the years, but none quite like this.
Based on a ZIL 130, this is Samolot’s ‘Peacemaker’, a 6×6 skid-steer monster that imagines what Mad Max would be like if were set in Russia.
With each of the six wheels driven by a Power Functions XL Motor and offering eight studs worth of articulation, Samolot’s creation can drive over pretty much anything, particularly as the twin BuWizz bluetooth batteries on board can deliver up to eight times the power of LEGO’s own system.
If that wasn’t enough, the ZIL also features a trebuchet mounted on the rear for… er, we’re not sure – shooting down airliners? Whatever it’s for it makes Samolot’s build one of the wildest we’ve featured yet, and you can guess what happened when one of our Elves brought it into the office earlier today.
It’s safe to say we have some tidying up to do, so whilst we do that you can visit Samolot’s post-apocalyptic Soviet future at the Eurobricks forum, where you can also watch a video of the Peacemaker in action.
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Mad Musk
Much as we like Mad Max style V8-engined hot rods, we think that pretty much every post-apoc movie has got it wrong. What you really want in a future populated by not much other than zombies is something that uses as little fuel as possible. Preferably none. And something quiet.
There’ll be no gasoline or diesel almost instantly (plus whatever is left sitting in tanks has a shelf life, so using it will almost certainly kill your engine eventually), yet when the power goes out there’ll still be wind turbines turning and solar panels, er… solaring, providing free energy for survivors to tap into.
Eurobricks’ paave has got the right idea, modifying the yet-to-be-released Tesla Cybertruck into a Cybermonstertruck, ‘Mad Musk’ style. We think Elon would approve, brilliant and idiotic as he is in equal measure.
Like the real Tesla, Paave’s creation is electrically driven with all-wheel drive, thanks to two large motors, two IR receivers and a LiPo battery. It also features leaf spring suspension, opening and lockable doors, hood and tailgate, and a removable body for when it inevitably goes wrong (it is a Tesla after all…).
It’s been built as part of the Eurobricks Mad Max competition (which has provided the Elves with some of their favourite creations to date) and there’s more to see of paave’s entry via the link above.
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Orange Crush*
Another day and another Elf returns to TLCB Towers in hope of receiving a meal token and a Smartie. The aforementioned Elf his happily eating both at the moment, thanks to Oliver 79 and his neat Technic monster truck. Featuring four-wheel steering, working suspension, plus opening doors and hood it could be an official LEGO set. It’s all mechanical too, so there can be know Elven shenanigans. See more of his classic Ford-esque pick-up at the Eurobricks forum via the link above.
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Enhanced Bust
Redfern1950s has given himself a lift. Published here earlier in the month, we titled Red’s rat rodded school bus after the name your Mom used ‘professionally’, and – just like your Mom – Red’s recently enhanced things to make them a whole lot more… noticeable. Jacked suspension and comically enormous tyres complete the look and there’s more to see of Red’s enhanced Busty Rusty on Flickr here.
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Power Wagon
Is there a cooler name for a truck than ‘Power Wagon’? Nope. Dodge’s naming department nailed it back in 1945, with the nameplate lasting right up until 1980. This is a ’50s Power Wagon, with a few modifications, as built by TLCB Master MOCer Redfern1950s, and it’s magnificent.
Red’s cartoon-ised Dodge sits proudly atop monster wheels and suspension, features a brick-built removable ‘canvas’ load cover, plus a detailed engine and interior behind a removable hood and opening doors.
A multitude of top-notch imagery is available to view at Red’s Flickr photostream by clicking here, and you can read his interview as part of the Master MOCers series here at The Lego Car Blog by clicking the link in the text above to discover how he builds models like this one!
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LEGO Technic 42118 & 42119 Monster Jam | Set Previews
LEGO’s officially licensed vehicles continue with two more new-for-2021 sets! 42118 and 42119 join the Technic range as the pull-backs for 2021, and like the 42109 ‘Top Gear’ rally car, each is licensed to not a car brand, but to an entertainment company.
‘Monster Jam’ is a North American stadium institution, in which monster trucks freestyle around an arena filled with squashed cars, dirt ramps, and a whooping beer spilling crowd. Which sounds great. Because it is.
Two of the main protagonists are ‘Grave Digger’ and ‘Max-D’, which LEGO have chosen to recreate for their 7+ Technic sets.
It’s normally at this point when we’d deride the new pull-back sets for being total garbage, but this year we can’t. Because they’re awesome.
Each set contains around 250 pieces (although there’s no ramp this time – which surely these were made for – but you can build one of those at home), including excellent wheels and tyres, and a giant Jolly Roger/Angry Chief flag.
Expect 42188 and 42119 to cost under $20 when they reach stores next year, and for Monster Jam arenas built from books, cushions, toy cars, and other household objects to appear in homes everywhere. Good stuff.
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Carryall
The title of this post could well apply to this TLCB Writer at the airport, when Mrs TLCB Writer fills a suitcase with things she’s then unable to carry. He’s basically a donkey.
So too though is the Dodge Power Wagon, which a) has one of the best names of any vehicle ever, and b) was used to carry all sorts of things over some pretty unforgiving ground back in the 1950s.
It was particularly favoured by middle eastern oil extractors, where this superb cartoonish recreation of the Power Wagon ‘Carryall’ would fit in beautifully thanks to its sandy hue.
Flickr’s Redfern1950s is the builder behind it, whose earlier covered pick-up version appeared here last year, and there are lots more superb images of his Dodge Power Wagon ‘Carryall’ available to see at his photostream via the link above.
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More Pages to Explore .....
