This is a Tatra T-813 8×8 Kolos, and it’s (probably) the best off-road truck in the world. Well this isn’t obviously, it’s much too small, but it is (probably) the best Lego recreation of the best off-road truck in the world.

Built by Technic engineering legend Sariel, this Model Team-on-the-outside, Technic-on-the-inside marvel squeezes all of Tatra’s real-world off-roading cleverness into the smallest possible package, plus full remote control drive and steering, LED lights, and a V12 piston engine which seems to be mounted where the driver should be.

All of the eight wheels is independently suspended all are driven by two Power Functions XL Motors geared down 3:1, with the front to axles providing remote control steering. It’s an amazing thing to watch in action and you can do just that via the video below, plus you can see the full image gallery (including some wonderful outdoor shots) on Flickr here and you can join the discussion at the Eurobricks forum by clicking here.

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Caterpillar’s D11T bulldozer has appeared here in Lego form numerous times over the years (you can use the search bar at the foot of each page to look up past D11Ts, or anything else that takes your fancy!), and this may well be the best incarnation of the enormous earthmover yet.

Built by previous bloggee Sheo, this 1:24 scale behemoth is a marvel of Lego engineering. Underneath the incredibly realistic exterior is a fully remote controlled drivetrain and blade/ripper, whilst pendular suspension allows the model to drive smoothly over bumps and a cunning planetary subcontractor design enables realistic skid steering. There’s also a motorised access ladder, LED lights and an automatic track tensioning system too.

There’s more to see of Sheo’s incredible Caterpillar D11T at his Flickr photostream, where you can also find a link to watch a video of the model in action. Click the link above to make the jump and take a look.

Some cars are remembered for having one defining feature. The Austin Allegro’s square steering wheel for example, or the Tyrrell P34‘s extra wheels, the ’63 Corvette Stingray‘s amazing rear windows, or even the FSO Polonez‘s universal crapness.

The mid-’80s to mid-’90s Ferrari Testarossa was another such car, and you can probably guess what its defining feature was from these images.

Jeroen Ottens has built the Testarossa’s unique side strakes – along with the rest of the car – as a commissioned piece, and an incredible job he’s done too. Those amazing strakes are built from stacked Ninjago blades, capturing the Testarossa’s stand-out design feature brilliantly.

The beauty of Jeroen’s build isn’t just on the outside either, as underneath the superbly replicated body is a flat-12 engine, 5+R gearbox, all-wheel independent suspension, working steering with Ackermann geometry, pop-up headlights, adjustable seats, and opening doors, hood and engine cover.

There’s much more to see of Jeroen’s stunning Technic Ferrari Testarossa supercar on both Flickr and Eurobricks – click the links to see all the images and to read Jeroen’s details on the build.

It’s been a while since the last episode of Elf-on-Elf violence (even Elven behaviour during this year’s FIFA World Cup even proved uneventful, unlike the last one), however today we’re back to earth with a bump, thanks to this (admittedly incredible) fully remote controlled Dakar rally truck by Lucio Switch.

Driven by four XL motors with a Servo for steering, plus live-axle suspension, pneumatically controlled differential locks powered by an on-board compressor, LED lights and SBrick bluetooth control, Lucio’s Dakar truck is an engineering masterpiece. All of that lot makes it supremely capable off-road, where it can slowly climb over almost anything. Elves included.

As is the way with heavy remote control Technic models Lucio’s truck is pretty slow, and certainly no match for a fleeing Elf. But if a trap of sticky-side-up parcel tape has been laid by one of the little scumbags, the truck’s slow speed (but massive weight) are – if anything – advantageous to a good smushing.

So cunning was this inventive new use for sticky tape that we almost respect the Elf that did it. Almost. Because not only did we have to collect some thoroughly smushed Elves, they had to be pulled off the parcel tape too, which was not appreciated by them one bit.

We’re now going to look into a more secure stationary storage solution whilst you can check out all of the superb images of Lucio’s amazing creation on Flickr, plus you can join the discussion and watch the truck in action via the Eurobricks forum.

The average Bugatti owner has at least another fifty cars at his or her disposal. That means there’s a good chance they own one of these too, McLaren’s brilliant 570S. Well now – if you’re a LEGO Bugatti owner – you can too, because previous bloggee Lachlan Cameron has created this stunning McLaren 570S Spider purely from the parts found within the 42083 Technic Bugatti Chiron set.

Built in collaboration with two other previous bloggees, Lachlan’s 42083 B-Model features an 8-speed gearbox with neutral and reverse, a V8 engine, working steering, suspension, LED lights, plus opening doors, hood and engine cover. There’s much more to see of Lachlan’s amazing Spider at the Eurobricks forum, and you can see all the images at the Flickr album by clicking here.

As any builder of remote control Technic creations will know, LEGO drivetrain components – especially u-joints, axle connections and gears – are often not up to the job of delivering the torque from LEGO’s excellent Power Functions motors to where it needs to go.

Gears shearing in half and u-joints snapping are problems that regularly occur, particularly if third-party battery and software products such as SBrick or BuWizz have been used to increase power far beyond what LEGO envisaged. We’ve even experienced this here at TLCB Towers, as an ‘accidental’ collision between an RC creation and a TLCB Elf can push a part past its breaking-point.

However Eurobricks’ Kevin Moo has designed a cunning solution to the problem, with his Toyota Tundra-esque 4×4 pick-up truck utilising two driveshafts for each of the live-axle suspended differentials.

Power is sent down both sets of components, effectively halving the load on each gear, u-joint and axle connection, and therefore the likelihood of a part failure. It’s an ingenious yet simple solution and one that enables Lego models to take more power, more reliably – watch truck trial builders use this design and then double the number of motors to end up right back where they started!

Kevin’s dual-driveshaft pick-up is also a thoroughly excellent model in addition to its clever driveline. Power to all four wheels comes from a single XL Motor with a Servo for steering, there’s superb live-axle suspension front and rear, opening doors, hood, tailgate and load cover, LED lights, and a realistically detailed body too.

There’s much more to see of Kevin’s brilliant build on Eurobricks via the link above, and you watch how the dual-driveshafts work via the top-quality video below. Take a look whilst we see whether breaking parts in ‘accidental’ collisions with TLCB Elves is a thing of the past (it’s all for science).

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We like big yellow tractors here at The Lego Car Blog, seeing as we’re basically overgrown children, and that’s exactly what we have for you today!

The slab of yellow magnificence pictured here is a JCB Fastrac 4220, as built by previous bloggee Technic BOOM. Like the real machine BOOM’s Technic Fastrac features all-wheel-drive and all-wheel steering, operable remotely via LEGO’s Power Functions system. There are eight motors in total, powering the aforementioned drive and steering, a high/low gearbox, and the two raising/lowering hitches mounted front and rear, the latter of which includes a power-take-off too.

It’s a quality bit of kit and there’s much more to see at Technic BOOM’s Flickr photostream and via the Eurobricks discussion forum, where you can watch a video of the Fastrac in action. Click the links to take a look.

The Scorpion King may be a truly awful movie spun off from a merely not very good one (although this TLCB Writer will watch it at every opportunity for one simple reason), but it managed to spawn both an even more pointless sequel and give name to an obscure Finnish forest harvester range.

OK, we’re not really sure if the marketing department at Ponsse actually named their eight-wheel harvester line after a terrible Dwayne Johnson film, but they do share the same name.

This goliath of a model is a fully-functioning Technic recreation of that Finnish forester, and it’s a work of engineering genius. Powered by eleven motors, marthart‘s Ponsse Scorpion King can drive, steer via linear-actuator driven central articulation, raise, extend and turn the harvesting arm, and do whatever-it-is that the thing on the end does to harvest trees, all via remote control.

There’s also an on-board compressor for the pneumatic system, an inline 6-cylinder engine, working suspension, and a detailed tilting cabin too.

There are more images available to view at marthart’s Ponsse Scorpion King album on Brickshelf via the link above, and here’s another bonus pic because something good had to come from that dismal movie…

It’s seems like only the other day that Brickshelf’s marthart appeared here at The Lego Car Blog with a huge remote control Technic creation. That’s because it was, but his second upload of the week is just as worthy of a posting here.

This is Mammoet Racing’s 2018 Renualt Dakar truck, yup – the same company that made this, and it’s brilliant. With remote control all-wheel-drive and steering, working suspension, a V8 engine, opening panels, and a tilting cab, marthart‘s Technic recreation of the two-stage-winning truck is packed with working functions and there’s much more to see at the Brickshelf gallery – Click the link above to take a closer look.

Last time we mentioned something about a vehicle belonging to Russia’s government forces we got in trouble (despite having been positive in the past too) so today there’ll be no backstory. However none is needed, because this MAZ537 8×8 soviet military truck is incredible.

Built by gkurkowski of Brickshelf this 3.3kg behemoth is one of the most beautifully recreated replica trucks that we’ve ever featured. With superb detailing both externally and inside, gkurkowski’s MAZ is certainly befitting of the ‘Model Team’ category here at TLCB. However, this creation is much more than a static display piece…

Inside that brilliant body is a full Power Functions remote control drivetrain with power going to all eight wheels shod in LEGO’s huge 42054 Claas Xerion tyres. Each of the four axles is suspended and the first two offer four-wheel-steering powered by a Medium Motor. There’s also a V12 piston engine, LED headlights, a suspended fifth wheel/trailer hitch and opening everything.

It’s an incredible build and one that definitely deserves a closer look. A full gallery of over thirty images is available to view on Brickshelf, including CAD drawings of the drivetrain and WIP shots, plus you watch gkurkowski’s amazing MAZ537 8×8 in action courtesy of the video below.

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This is a near perfect working replica of the McLaren P1, it’s really orange, and it might be the finest Technic Supercar of 2018…

Built by brunojj1 of Eurobricks, this incredible 1:8 model of McLaren’s flagship hybrid hypercar measures over 70 studs / almost 60cm in length and is constructed from over 3,000 LEGO pieces.

Bruno has designed two different versions of the model, one manual and the other remote controlled, and he’s made instructions available too. Both variants have adjustable front and rear suspension, opening butterfly doors, hood and engine cover, a working V8 engine, and a deployable airbrake/active rear spoiler.

The remote control version adds a suite of Power Functions motors to electronically operate the suspension, airbrake/spoiler and doors, plus drive and steer the model remotely. Two on-board LiPo batteries or third-party BuWizz bricks provide the power, whilst twin SBricks allow the McLaren’s working functions to be controlled via a mobile device.

A huge gallery of images is available to view through the Eurobricks discussion forum, where you can also find a link to Bruno’s McLaren P1 building instructions and watch a video of the remote control version of the model in action.

Find out more by clicking here, and you can read our reviews of the third-party BuWizz and SBrick parts used in the McLaren via the links in the text above.

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.

The year is 1970, and Porsche need to win some races. Their new 917 endurance racer proved hugely unstable in 1969, with downforce still a relatively new phenomenon harnessing it was still largely experimental.

Cue chief engineer John Horsman, and an unlikely revelation caused by the splattering of bugs on the Porsche’s bodywork. John noticed that the 917’s tail was clean from insects, meaning that air wasn’t reaching it. A hasty modification with some aluminium sheets was made to the cars, and the 917 was transformed.

The newly modified 917K won all but one race in the 1970 endurance championship, taking first and second at Le Mans and, along with the Porcshe 908, relegating Ferrari to fourth place.

The 917 was run by serval works and part-works teams in the early 1970s, and it dominated sports car racing. The most famous of these are perhaps the Gulf Racing cars, thanks largely to Steve McQueen and his 1971 film ‘Le Mans’.

It’s this car that Technic building legend Sariel has chosen to recreate in Lego form, and he’s done so brilliantly.

Underneath the incredible bodywork (which includes wonderful period-correct decals) are no less than four LEGO RC Buggy Motors, with two third-party BuWizz 2.0 bricks controlling a pair each. This gives Sariel’s Porsche 917K both amazing speed and the ability to be controlled remotely via a bluetooth device.

Sariel’s 917 also features fully-independent double-wishbone suspension both front and rear, dihedral opening doors, and remote control steering that turns the steering wheel in the authentically detailed cockpit too.

It’s one of the finest Technic supercars of 2018 and one that is definitely worth a closer look. An extensive gallery of images is available to view at Sariel’s Porsche 917K Flickr album and you watch a video of the model in action and join the discussion courtesy of the Eurobricks forum.

See more of Sariel’s astonishing Technic recreation of the greatest endurance racer of the 1970s via the links above, and you can watch the original trailer for the 1971 movie ‘Le Mans’ by clicking here.

This is the latest creation from TLCB regular Horcik Designs, he’s called it a Trophy Off-Roader, and its sort-of-but-not-quite a Toyota FJ, Jeep CJ and something weird and communist all rolled into one.

Wherever it’s from we like it (which is a good metaphor for people), and with Power Functions remote control drive and steering, plus working suspension, Horcik’s model boasts some decent technical functions too.

Click the link above to see more on Flickr.

We were very excited when we previewed LEGO’s 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS set, and then a bit disappointed by it. Which is a shame, because it’ll still rightly go down as one of the greatest Technic sets released so far.

Nevertheless 42056 is a set that many builders can improve upon, and that’s arguably what newcomer pleasedontspammebro of Flickr has done with this excellent mid-’70s Lancia Stratos Stradale HF B-Model built entirely from the pieces found within the set.

Underneath the well-proportioned exterior which includes opening doors and front and rear clamshells is a working drivetrain consisting of a transversely mounted V6 engine, 5-speed gearbox, all-wheel suspension and functioning steering.

Suggested by a reader there’s more to see of the Lancia B-Model on Flickr via the link above, where you can also find a link to instructions so can build your very own Stratos from your 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS set.

Alternatively you can take a look at an Audi R8 B-Model featured here previously, but whichever you chose to repurpose your 42056 set for, make sure you dismantle it the right way…

LEGO’s enormous 3,600 piece 42083 Technic Bugatti Chiron is very probably the greatest set in the brand’s already impressive history. Designed with Bugatti themselves and featuring a replica W16 engine and an eight-speed paddle-shift gearbox, 42083 has taken Technic building to new heights.

But what if you had access to another 996,400 pieces and almost 13,500 man-hours? Cue a gravelly-voiced narrator and some overly dramatic music…

Yes LEGO have built their 42083 Bugatti Chiron set for real, and not only that they’ve made it really, actually, genuinely drive too. No glue was used anywhere in the build and the power comes from 2,304 LEGO Technic Power Functions electric motors – the very same ones that you can buy in stores.

With a weight of around 1.5 tons and an estimated 5.3bhp and 92N/m of torque, the fully-functioning speedometer aboard the life-size Technic Chiron was unlikely to read anywhere close to the real Chiron’s 260mph+ top speed.

However just to be safe (or because it’s very cool!), LEGO put Le Mans winner and actual Bugatti development driver Andy Wallace behind the brick-built steering wheel for the car’s test run at the Ehra Lessien track.

It’s one heck of an achievement and one that’s unlikely to be topped unless LEGO find of way of making a working space shuttle. You can find out more about this amazing feat at LEGO’s Bugatti ‘Build for Real’ website, and you see a rather more home-built attempt at creating a fully-drivable life-size car from LEGO bricks by clicking here.

DS. The answer to the question ‘I’d like to buy a Citroen, but can I pay more money for one?’ which literally no-one has asked ever. Citroen’s modern reinvention of the DS nameplate, which is now a stand-alone brand, is – frankly – complete bollocks. But it wasn’t always like that.

This is the Citroen DS19, launched in the mid-1950s it looked like nothing else on earth, and it is very probably the car that was, and always will be, farthest ahead of its time.

With headlights that swivelled with the front wheels, disc brakes, a clutch-less automatic transmission, power steering, and incredible hydro-pneumatic self-levelling independent suspension, the DS19 was a technological marvel.

To build one in small-scale Technic therefore, is not an easy feat. However previous bloggee Anto of Eurobricks has done just that, and his little Technic DS looks as wonderfully, unfathomably, complicated as the real thing.

Squeezed inside the reasonable Technic approximation of the DS19’s remarkable shape is a fully functioning pneumatic suspension system, allowing Anto’s model to raise and lower itself as per the real car, plus of course, it can suspend the car from bumps in the usual way that suspension does.

In addition there’s also working steering which, like the real DS19, is linked to the swivelling headlights,  opening doors, hood and trunk-lid, and even a basic interior. How Anto has fitted all that inside we don’t know but you can try to figure it out for yourself via the Eurobricks discussion forum.

Click the link above to jump to the full gallery of images, build details, and a video of Anto’s Technic Citroen DS in action.

No, this TLCB staff member hasn’t titled this blog post from recent self experience, and he’s not thinking about you at all Amelia. Coincidentally today’s creation is, like Amelia, capable of a sizeable dumping. Built by previous bloggee Damian Plesniak (aka damianple) this neat European truck and tipper trailer combo could be an official LEGO Technic set, and contains some excellent motorised functions.

The tractor unit features remote control drive and steering, whilst the large three-axle trailer’s tipping function is motorised too, with power coming from a battery box concealed within the truck’s cab. Damian’s model also features manually operated stabiliser legs, opening doors, and a reasonably detailed (for Technic) interior too.

There’s more to see of Damian’s remote control truck and dump trailer at both Flickr and Brickshelf. Join this writer at the complete image galleries via the links above, where he’s totally forgetting about you Amelia.

It’s as orange as your Mom and just as capable of getting dirty. The model in question comes from TLCB regular Horcik Designs and is based on the classic Tatra T148 all-wheel-drive truck.

Underneath the minimalist Technic bodywork is full truck trial remote control drivetrain, with working suspension on all wheels, steering courtesy of a Power Functions Medium motor, and six-wheel-drive which – as any seasoned Technic builder will know – is a really tricky thing to do.

There’s more to see of Horcik’s excellent Technic Tatra on Flickr – click the link above to grab an orange slice.

Originally a motorcycle manufacturer, then maker of the ridiculous Atom, Ariel have since stepped into the world of off-road buggies, and what a way they’ve done it. Using the Atom’s unique external cage design and a 2.4 litre Honda engine, the Nomad can annihilate almost anything off-road, and it doesn’t even have all-wheel-drive.

This incredible-looking Technic version can, we strongly suspect, do exactly the same within the off-road Lego Community (there is such a thing!), especially as it’s rocking a third-party BuWizz+ bluetooth control battery that can deliver up to eight times the Power of LEGO’s own system to the twin XL motors driving the rear wheels.

Builder Corrado has filmed a video review of the BuWizz+ device using his Technic Nomad, with impressive results. You can see all the images of the build on both Flickr and Eurobricks, you can watch Corrado’s video review below, and you can read TLCB’s review of the BuWizz bluetooth brick by clicking here.

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