Extreme Terrain Adventures...Roundup

You know how we always say we have a little challenge we like to call this and that? The irony was in the word "little" as usually the challenges had a pretty good turn out and there was nothing little about them. Its like ironically calling a big guy "Tiny". Well this time we mean what we say when we have a little challenge we like to call Extreme Terrain Adventures. The irony is, when writing the challenge, I had envisioned an extreme challenge rife with rock climbing Broncos, jet skiing Priuses and rocket powered desert racers. Also explosions. And boobies. Pretty extreme, right? Well instead we got four entries, all by Peter. The challenge with some extreme potential turned out to be the least popular challenge in all of LUGNuts history. What can I say? Not even I could be bothered to build something for this challenge. Instead I preemptively built something for next month during this month, posted it on the first day of next month and everyone was like...whoa, you did all that in one day? So grab yourself a stiff drink, but only a shot and don't kick back and relax or nothing. As the proctologist always says, this will all be over soon.

Perhaps no truck has gone through more abuse on Top Gear than the Toyota Hilux as built by Peter Blackert They drowned one in the English Channel, set it on fire and set it atop a tall building which they proceeded to demolish and it still started. I believe it was a red Hilux like this that they sent to the North Pole. Now that's extreme!



Peter could have stopped there and I would have been through with my shot of Woodford Reserve already and writing this roundup would be a distant memory by now. But he went on to present the Landrover DC100 Evolution. It has gullwing doors, ya'll!



Peter tells us he's not so into these kind of cars himself, but the custom Ford Bronco V8 has huge wheels and tires, lift kits, winches, weight reduction, roll-over protection, locking axles, and all other equipment that helps you not get stuck in the wilderness. The one drawback, this thing suffers when on normal roads.



Way back in challenge number 77, I made up some bs I can't remember about the Ralston Rhino and Peter, being Peter, still runs with it years later. Here's a Ralston Rhino Mk-I 8R-B39 Closed Coupe Staff Car Half Track which would have been used in Finland in the 40's during the big-ass war.



Is that all of them? Seems it is. Told ya this will all be over soon and unlike a visit to the proctologist's office, no one had to wear a glove and there were far fewer Polish jokes. So what does the future hold for this little blog then? In terms of roundups, not much else. We've got our final challenge coming up. Its our 120th and our 10 Anniversary challenge. We like to call it "Happy 10th Anniversary, LUGNuts!" We were out of creative names like 26 challenges ago. Hopefully we can send the LUGNuts challenges off with a bang so, for the love of all that is holy, build something for it, will ya? Until then I'll goad ya to leave unrelated comments about your surefire insurance scheme or gardening supplies you'd like to sell us. Go ahead, leave those comments. We're all ears. I dare ya. I double dog dare ya!

Make it a Theme...Roundup!

Themes are important. They make us feel a certain way. F'instance, you take my humdrum Galaxy S6 phone, give it a Captain America theme and suddenly I'm a mother truckin' superhero! Adversely, you take my tablet, which I mostly use reading books and playing games, give it a creepy Cthulhu feel and instantly I'm entrenched deeply into the astral inter-dimentional horror and mythos of H.P. Lovecraft...which could explain a few things about me. What little boy wouldn't like a spaceship or dinosaur themed room? What little girl wouldn't want to feel like a princess or be surrounded by a magical forest full of cuddly animals? See, we build themes for ourselves, even as children. LEGO knows this. That's why they have so many diverse themes like, Chima, Elves, Ninjago, Power Miners, and Monster Fighters. These themes help us play and sort of shape us into who we become as adults. So what happens when a bunch of car enthusiast adults build cars based on an official LEGO theme? Well, we made that happen and called it Make it a Theme. So sit back in your Mid-Century Modern Chaise Lounge chair or Gothic throne made of human skulls and enjoy our offerings to the LEGO themed gods.


Peter Blackert shows us how its done right off the bat with the most nostalgic theme ever; Classic Space, and the pinnacle of awesomeness, the LL928 Galactic Explorer set reconfigured as this '78 Porsche 928 S. We have reached LEGO theme nirvana right there. No need to go further. Thanks for reading everyone and join us next month for...oh wait, there's more.



Peter wouldn't be Peter without several examples of the same theme. Here is the Classic Space LL924 Space Cruiser repurposed into a '79 Porsche 924 Turbo (same as the set number)...the other example of perfect LEGO nostalgia. There's really nothing else to see here, folks. Thanks for reading and next month we have...oh, wait...



Seems way back in '86 LEGO had Unicef trucks in their City theme. Set number 106 was one such model and once again Peter cleverly incorporates the set number with its real live car counterpart as evidenced by this 1991 Peugeot 106 UNICEF Van.



Back in '77 LEGO had what was called "Universal Sets", like set number 404, a way to build something not as specific as the Space Cruiser but more of a hodge-podge of mostly yellow and black pieces that encouraged you to build cars, boats, planes, houses, whatever. Once again matching the set number, is this '69 Peugeot 404 Cabriolet Pininfarina.



Fast forward 35 years and you have tubby, middle-aged men reminiscing about how awesome classic space was...it really was the shiznit! Here Peter takes us back to classic space again with the LL918 set and its designated car number, the 2013 Porsche 918 Spyder. Blue, gray, trans-yellow; red space-suited minifigs...that's the magic right there!



The LEGO 605 set was a simple black taxicab set that came out in '71. Fast-forward 46 years later and you have a grown-ass middle-aged family man named Peter recreating its magic with the 1995 Peugeot 605 Berline Taxi. This car was also prominently featured in the film "Taxi" but not the "Taxi Driver" film, which is probably for the best, really.



Years after Classic Space came Blacktron, with their striking black and yellow color scheme. No one knows what business they had in space really but, like snakes and hornets, we knew the color scheme meant unspecified danger. Peter pounds out a Blacktron '66 Batmobile with the LEGO likenesses of Nathan and Lino. I'm the short, tubby one.



1978 saw the introduction of the posable minifig (Booyeah!!) but it didn't nessecarily mean this newly posable fig could sit in a car, as evidenced by the LEGO 604 wagon set. Maybe the minifig just ran alongside the car? Anyway, solves this issue with the '75 Peugeot 604 Break in a Shell color scheme.



In 2009 came a short-lived theme called Power Miners where guys in blue jumpsuits drove rugged lime and orange vehicles and would mine colorful transparent minerals out of rock monsters for some reason. Here's an equally rugged 2015 Ford Ranger Mining Pickup in that striking Power Miners color scheme.



There's only two things toddlers love; that being Duplo and leaving number 2 wherever they can. That's why it makes sense that Peter pounds out the 1979 BMW E12 533i Saloon inspired by the insipid Duplo 533 set. Can't you just smell the toddler puke? This is why toddlers and their parents can't have nice things.



Speaking of nice things that toddlers can't have, Loek M does sort of a Creator themed homage to...well...Creator sets with this all white Nissan Kei Car. He even rendered up a box for it and, like all Creator sets, illustrates that you can also build an alternate model, in this case, a three-wheeler.



Loek comes back later for an encore performance, this time inspired by the badass Agents theme with their badass spy headquarters housed in the back of a semi-truck. I was fully a grown-ass man when that came out, but it didn't stop me from pretending I was a mother trucking secret agent! I'll have that beer, shaken, not stirred.



Lino Martins gives us a dose of that unspecified bad guy-ness with this striking black and yellow Blacktron Gremlin with Lambo doors and louvers. Ah, nothing says unspecified space bad guy mischief like Blacktron!



Several years ago, LEGO had the insight to invent their own Octan fuel company with its own striking white green and red color scheme. Here Sam Sir Manperson pounds out the dress of every LEGO car guy with this Octan Time Attack Polenez.



That's all of them, isn't it? I think it is. This was a good little challenge. It went down smooth and easy and left us with a satisfying aftertaste that was middlingly aggressive in nature, but without any alcohol burn. It was also full of sweet oak, fruit and accompanied by a nice floral compliment.


Matching the reluctant, long slow legs, there was a nice creamy mouthfeel with a subtle to medium intensity on the palate. The flavors were a warm honey, oak and faint spiciness with light smoke. The finish was medium to long and continued with a sweet malt presence while transitioning to a soft pepper and slight smoke even out to the front of the mouth including the lips. Yep, pretty much. I'm going with that. So what flavors do we have in store for you in the future? Well, we have a challenge called Extreme Terrain Adventures and so far the amount of entries have been pretty extreme. Yep, extreme. I'm going with that. See ya all next time!