Previous bloggee Shineyu (aka Yu Kee Liu) is back on these pages again, this time with an impressive replica of Mercedes-Benz’s Arocs 4163 truck in heavy haulage specification. Underneath the superbly recreated body sits a set of twin Power Functions XL motors driving the two rearmost axles whist a Servo motor steers those at the front. There’s more to see at both the Eurobricks forum and on Flickr – click the links to take a look.
As you may be able to tell from the falling snow on this page (if you’re visiting at the time of writing), winter has arrived here at TLCB Towers.
This means our microwave will do double duty, both as the sole provider of nourishment for the TLCB Team and as an Elf-defroster, and TLCB vehicle fleet will likely rust even closer to a final drive to the scrapyard. What we need is one of these, a mighty Mercedes-Benz Unimog 406, built from the 1960s all the way up until 1989.
Suggested by a reader (so no Elf smushings today), this spectacular Model Team / Technic replica of the classic ‘mog by Functional Technic packs in just as much winter-beating tech as the real truck, including live-axle suspension, remote control all-wheel-drive courtesy of two XL Motors, steering via a Servo, a Medium Motor powered remotely operable diff-lock controlled by on-board pneumatic valve, a working Medium Motor powered gearbox, and five sets of LED lights.
All that lot is hidden within a wonderfully realistic Model Team-style body and mounted atop four of the huge wheels found within the 42052 Claas Xerion set, giving Functional Technic’s model genuine off-road ability (which you can watch below).
YouTube Video
There’s lots more to see of Functional Technic’s remote control Mercredes-Benz Unimog 406 at his website, including some superb on-location photos plus detailed images of the chassis construction.
There are also downloadable instructions available for some of the mechanisms used within both the Unimog build and Functional Technic’s other creations, including the remotely operable valve, all-wheel-drive system and functioning diff-lock. Head over to www.functionaltechnic.com to see more of the ‘mog and the builder’s other designs.
Iiiin the red corner, representing West Germany, driven by Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Göring and Pope Pius XI, and powered through the 1930s by eight cylinders and a supercharger, it’s the Großer Mercedes 770!
Aaaand in the beige corner, representing East Germany, driven by peasants, and powered through the 1950s… and 60s… and 70s… and 80s… and 90s… by two cylinders and hope, it’s the Trabant Combi!
Two very different yet very German cars today, represented by two very different but very excellent Lego creations.
Above we have the Großer Mercedes 770, built by Aleh of Eurobricks in Technic form and absolutely packed with amazing technology. Aleh’s recreation of one of Mercedes-Benz’s most opulent vehicles includes Power Functions drive and steering, an inline-8 engine hooked up to a three-speed+R gearbox, working all-wheel mechanical brakes powered by a Medium motor, all-wheel suspension, LED lights, and SBrick bluetooth control.
At the other end of the automotive scale we have this wonderfully replicated Model Team style Trabant Combi, resplendent in an authentic hearing-aid beige and built by fellow TLCB debutant Dan Falussy. With opening doors, hood and hatchback plus folding seats, Dan’s homage to the world’s finest cotton car (yes really) is about as well equipped as the real thing, and very probably better built.
There’s more to see of each model on Eurobricks (as well as Flickr in the Trabant’s case) via the links above. Take a look and choose your winner!
We jump back to the 1980s now with two trucks that were everywhere in Europe back then. The DAF FT95 and Mercedes-Benz 1632 could be found on every highway in Western Europe, usually pulling anonymous curtain-sided box trailers full of anonymous things.
These two top quality Model Team versions by Flickr’s Arian Janssens are pulling more unusual loads though, as each has a huge three-axle steered dropside trailer in tow complete with an on-board crane.
Each is a wonderfully detailed model with a bunch of working functions thrown in too. Head over to Arian’s photostream via the link above to see the image shown here in full size, and to find the complete galleries and build details of each model.
We’re going to have a very fat (and possibly very sick) Elf later today…
These three excellent Technic Mercedes-Benz Unimog 437s were found by one Elf, as they all come from previous bloggee Thirdwigg. Designed as a modular build, Thirdwigg’s ‘mogs can be built as long or short wheelbase, standard or doka cab, with manual features or Power Functions remote control, and with a variety of tipper bed options.
Each version also features four-wheel-drive linked to an inline-4 engine, working steering, and front and rear suspension.
There much more to see of the various ways in which Thirdwigg’s brilliantly-engineered Unimog 437 can be built at the Eurobricks discussion forum, you can find more images of the design on both Brickshelf and Flickr, and you can watch a video of the various ‘mogs on YouTube by clicking here, whilst we hand out three meal tokens to the world’s luckiest Elf.
This is the Mercedes-Benz Zetros, the brand’s ultra-heavy duty off-road truck. Normally found in use by the military, utilities companies, or carrying weighty things to the middle-of-nowhere, it’s a truck that has a sort-of-adventurous life preforming fairly mundane jobs. Not this one though.
Built by Samolot of Eurobricks this Zetros pays homage to a one-off expedition adventure vehicle created a few years ago which looks like something from The Wild Thornberrys and is possibly the coolest way ever to cross a continent.
YouTube Video
Based on the chassis found within the official LEGO Technic 8110 Mercedes-Benz Unimog set, Samolot’s Zetros forgoes the now-commonplace remote control drive and steering for a host of mechanical and powered functions.
A single Medium Motor and gearbox drive three powered features; the winch, lowering rear tail-lift platform, and the side ladder, plus there’s a piston engine up front, working all-wheel-drive and all-wheel-suspension (as per the Unimog set) and a very nice-looking cab interior.
There’s more to see of Samalot’s superb Zetros Expedition at the Eurobricks discussion forum – click here to join the adventure!
Mercedes-Benz have been the dominant team in Formula 1 since the introduction of the latest ultra-high-tech but also ultra-restrictive technical regulations. Jump back over sixty years and it was again Mercedes-Benz dominating the sport in time when – perhaps surprisingly – the technical regulations were also massively restrictive.
Limiting engines to just 2.5 litres naturally-aspirated or 0.75 (yes, under a litre!) supercharged, Mercedes-Benz decided to drop their supercharging for the ’54 season and built a 2.5 litre Straight-8 with a world-first direct injection for their new W196 racing car.
The resultant design took Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss to nine wins out of twelve race entries and back-to-back world championships. In 1955 the W196 won every single race bar Monaco.
The W196’s dominance was cut short however, when one of Mercedes-Benz’s 300 SLR endurance racers powered by the same engine crashed at the ’55 Le Mans 24 Hour race, cartwheeling through the crowd killing 84 and injuring another 180. It was the deadliest moment in sporting history, yet the race didn’t even stop. Mercedes-Benz pulled out of all motorsport activity, and didn’t return for another thirty-four years.
This gorgeous Lego recreation of the championship-winning Mercedes-Benz W196 from ’54-’55 comes from Flickr’s Pixel Junkie, part of a wider classic racing build featured here previously, and there’s more to see of his stunning silver model via the link above.
Race transporters used to be much more interesting than a DAF with a huge box trailer on the back…
This is the Mercdes-Benz ‘Blue Wonder’, built in the mid-1950s to transport the team’s racing cars (plus a few customer cars too). Based on a lengthened Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing chassis, and powered by the same engine, the Blue Wonder was billed as the fastest transporter in the world.
Sadly the original vehicle was scrapped in ’67, although Mercedes have since built a replica, and so has previous bloggee pixeljunkie of Flickr, whose Mercedes-Benz W196 Formula 1 car appeared here earlier in the week and now resides on the deck of the truck.
There’s more to see of Pixel’s fantastic model at his photostream – click the link above to transport yourself back to 1955.
Truck racing is one of motorsport’s weirder classes, taking vehicles that are the least suitable for any form of speed and cornering, and making them corner at speed. Mostly.
Still, the resultant vehicles are immensely impressive, and it’s one of these, the Mercedes-Benz Tankpool racing truck, that Technic-building legend Sariel has chosen to recreate in his latest model.
Driven by four LEGO Buggy Motors, Sariel’s racing truck harnesses the power of two BuWizz bluetooth bricks, delivering up to eight times the power of LEGO’s own Power Functions battery. That gives Sariel’s 1.5kg model a top speed approaching 20km/h, and makes it massive fun to pilot down the halls of TLCB Towers.
Besides BuWizz power, RC tyres and custom stickers, Sariel’s creation is all LEGO, and really showcases how far the little Danish bricks can be pushed. Watch the video below to see Sariel’s Mercedes-Benz Tankpool truck in action, and you can read all the details on Flickr, the Eurobricks forum, and at Sariel’s website.
YouTube Video
Goldfinger, Goldmember and… er, Donald Trump would all appreciate this car. But don’t let that put you off, because it’s something rather special.
Just twenty-nine Mercedes-Benz 500K Special Roadsters were constructed between 1934 and ’36, each weighing around 6,000lbs and powered by a five-litre supercharged straight-eight engine that could propel the car to over 100mph. Independent suspension, 12V electrics, hydraulic brakes, and even safety glass made the Mercedes one of the most advanced cars of the time, and it had a price-tag to match.
Today any Mercdes-Benz 500K is a seriously sought-after car, with the Roadsters even more desirable due to their extreme rarity, but if you don’t have $10million at your disposal don’t worry – car building legend and TLCB Master MOCer Firas Abu-Jaber has one that’s rather more attainable.
Firas’ 1:16 scale Model Team replica of the 500K Special Roadster took around a month to build, and features opening doors, hood and trunk, a detailed engine, and more gold than Trump Tower. OK, that’s not true, but it’s still a lot of gold. There’s much more to see of Firas’ golden masterpiece at his Flickr photostream – click here to take a look, and to catch up on Firas’ interview here at TLCB click the link in the text above.
The staff cars here at The Lego Car Blog are, as revealed way back in 2013, all Austin Allegros. Not so the Wehrmacht, who got themselves a vehicle much cooler.
This a Mercedes-Benz W31 Type G4, a three-axle, straight-8 engined, all-terrain limousine as used by Nazi senior management for parades, inspections, and the annexation of other countries.
Only 57 Mercedes-Benz W31 G4s were produced, all of which were used as staff cars by the Nazi regime as the model was deemed much too expensive for normal military use.
This most excellent recreation of the G4, complete with neat caricature of a certain moustachioed despot, comes from Flickr’s Redfern1950s, who has captured the vehicle brilliantly in his trademark cartoon style. Head to Red’s photostream via the link above to join the parade.
The enormous contraption is a Mercedes-Benz mounted concrete pump, complete with a huge three stage extending boom that’s capable of servicing an entire constructions site*. This superb Technic version has been built by Ivan_M and it uses just a single motor to power a vast array of Technic functionality.
Thanks to a gearbox that single Power Functions motor drives everything from the extension of all four outriggers as well as their lowering, all three stages of the concrete pump’s boom extension (via pneumatics), plus the rotation of the boom arm.
The functions don’t stop there either, as Ivan_M has also included several mechanical features, including working steering with Ackerman geometry on the front two axles, all-wheel suspension, and a V8 piston engine under the tilting cab.
There’s much more of this remarkable creation to see on both Flickr and Eurobricks, where there’s also a video available demonstrating the truck’s functions with instructions to follow. Get pumped via the links above!
*Just like your Mom.
There’s just time to squeeze in one more creation of 2019 before our customary year-end roundup, and with a delightful circularity it has a whole lot squeezed into it. Suggested to us by a reader, this is Zbiczasty‘s awesome Mercedes-Benz Actros Titan 8×8 with Palfinger PK 150002 HDS crane, and it’s every bit as good as that impressive title suggests.
Firstly, it is indeed 8×8, with all eight wheels driven, all eight suspended, and the front four steering, all operable remotely via LEGO’s Power Functions IR system. That amazing drivetrain is just the start though, as this phenomenal truck features sixteen Power Functions motors, controlled by seven switches, four IR receivers and with three sets of LEDs thrown in too.
The motors drive everything from the stabilising legs to the incredible Palfinger PK 150002 crane mounted on the load bed, which unfurls like a coiled snake thanks to nineteen pneumatic cylinders and over ten metres of pneumatic hosing. We said it had a lot squeezed in…
Watching the crane in action is quite a thing to behold and you can do just that via this link to the YouTube video where you can also see the drivetrain, crane winch, and the stabilising legs doing their respective things. Take a look via the link above, plus you can see all of the images at Zbiczasty’s album on Brickshelf by clicking here.
Will the 2020 Formula 1 season be less dull than the last few that have proceeded it? We think it’s about as likely as Lewis Hamilton making it a year without using ‘#blessed’, but we can dream.
We have to admit that Formula 1 is – like quantum mechanics – mightily impressive, but like the aforementioned physical theory, impressiveness does not necessarily equal entertainment. Until Formula 1 relaxes the rules a bit and stops awarding Grand Prix’s to car parks in the desert with no grass roots motorsport whatsoever, we suspect its impressiveness will continue to go unnoticed by many.
Which is a shame, because the engineering behind the current cars is pretty spectacular. The best of the bunch is of course team Mercedes-AMG, and their ridiculously-named ‘Mercedes-AMG F1 W10 EQ Power+’. Which is a moniker that sort of sums the whole sport up really.
Anyway, this neat replica of Mercedes-AMG’s 2019 title-winning Formula 1 car comes from previous bloggee Noah L, who has recreated it beautifully in Lego form. There’s more to see at Noah’s photostream where a link to instructions can also be found; take a look via the link above, whilst we run an office sweepstake on how long it is before Lewis uses #blessed to caption a picture of him in his boxers.
Australia is under siege from tragedy right now, with 100,000sq/km burned or burning, thousands of homes destroyed, and millions (yes millions) of animals cooked. Australians love a barbecue, but not like this.
The cause is a prolonged drought, with the fires worsened by high winds. Whether or not the fires are specifically down to climate change, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s dismissal of it (and the fact Australia’s CO2 emissions have been rising every year, not falling) is spectacularly out of line with literally every climate scientist on earth. Apart from a few American ones obviously.
In TLCB’s home nation we have wild fires too, with 2019 seeing the most on record, again due to drought. Although the fires were tiny compared to Australia’s, the UK is tiny by comparison, so the propensity for damage is just as high. Inspired by the Mercedes-Benz Unimog fire truck used by his local fire station in the Ashdown Forest, previous bloggee Jonathan Elliott has constructed this lovely classic Unimog 406, and he’s filled it with details, with the roller shutters and chassis two of our favourites.
Head into the woods to save a koala via Jonathan’s photostream (OK, probably not a koala in England); click the link above to make the jump.
With the world going Coronavirus mad we’re pretty sure it won’t be long before the elderly are sealed inside their accommodation for their own protection. Although we suppose that care homes are designed to do just that anyway. Ooh, that unexpectedly became a deep critique of the way that society treats the elderly…
Anyway, here’s a Mercedes-Benz concrete mixer, which will soon be pressed into service to keep the aged from escaping, built by newcomer Thomas Selander. See more of his really rather excellent Town-scale mixing truck on Flickr via the link above.
LEGO’s incredible 8110 Mercedes-Benz Unimog was one of the first officially licensed Technic sets and – we think – still one of the all-time greats. With a vast array of functionality, motorised, pneumatic and mechanical, it’s one of the finest ever showcases of what LEGO can do. But LEGO’s not just about the big stuff, and little builds can be equally brilliant – case in point, this beautifully presented Town-scale version of the 8110 set.
Built by previous bloggee Nikolaus Lowe it not only looks absolutely brilliant, it kinda functions too, with a posable crane, steering, and working stabiliser legs too.
There’s more to see of Nikolaus’s fantastic mini-figure Unimog at his photostream via the link above, you can read our review of the huge 8110 Technic Mercedes-Benz Unimog set via the first link, and you can read some tips on how to create images as stunning as Nikolaus’s by clicking here.
Following yesterday‘s Mercedes-Benz Unimog here’s another recreation of the iconic off-road truck. If the escalating Coronavirus apocalypse continues vehicles like this could become very in-vogue, so perhaps it’s reaching building habits on a subconscious level?
This one – a much older ‘406’ variant – comes from TLCB regular Jonathan Elliott, is fitted with a ‘canvas’ top, and looks just the thing for raiding the supermarket to stockpile toilet paper. But don’t do that, because you’re not an absolute douchebag.
Head to Flickr via the link above to check it out, whilst we expect a flurry of apocalypse-proof vehicles to appear here over the coming weeks…
Today’s title sounds like a larger version of what we use to clear up Elf droppings here at TLCB Towers, as if our smelly little workers were replaced by horses. Or giraffes. Fortunately they are really rather small, and thus this dumping and shovelling combo by Flickr’s Fuku Saku would do the job just fine. Each model is brilliantly detailed and there’s more to see at Fuku’s Mercedes-Benz Arocs album here.
This is the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, first produced in 1886 and widely considered to be the first production motor car. Designed by Karl Benz (and financed by his wife Bertha, what a woman!), the Patent-Motorwagen was powered by a 1 litre single-cylinder engine producing around 3hp. That might not sound much but of course the Patent-Motorwagen was once the world’s fastest production car. And simultaneously the slowest…
Around 25 units were built between 1886 and the early 1890s, and newcomer Jacob Anderson has added one more, with his rather stylish Lego recreation of motoring’s genesis. A neat Victorian-era street completes the build and there’s more to see of his excellent Benz Patent-Motorwagen via the link above.