LUGNuts

The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of Roundup

2012-01-16T19:52:00.000-06:00

Boy do we have a doozie of a roundup! Welcome to only the second build challenge in LUGNuts history that involved prizes. For the first challenge with prizes we alerted our big blogging brothers and they, in turn, alerted the rest of the world. The responses and entries were overwhelming...but certain people came for the prizes, then left the group. This time, our strategy was different. We alerted no one and made it so only our most dedicated builders had a chance at winning. This time there were fewer entries but our most dedicated members took the gold...or the LEGO, as it were. Its called The Stuff Dreams Are Made of and has to do with some sort of weird dream sequence written like an old pulp noir detective novel. A mysterious woman walks into a lonely coffee shop where she and the owner have the most intriguing conversation of his lifetime. he keeps wondering if this was a dream because they're discussing anti-gravity, time and space travel...some really heavy stuff. At the end of the night, without even finding out her name or where she is from, she drives off in the kind of vehicle that only makes sense in dreams. We were all tasked with interpreting and building her vehicle.

We couldn't get any celebrity judges for this. Turns out I couldn't afford Johnny Depp and Justin Beiber didn't want to be associated with a bunch of grown-ass men playing with Legos. So Nathan and I (your LUGNuts founders) did the judging in my Seattle Fortress of Solitude over some bread pudding and Three-Peckered Billy Goat Coffee. No seriously, the stuff is called Three-Peckered Billy Goat! And if you ask me, that's just one pecker too many! Anyway, we thought about the entries in terms of "the kind of vehicle that only made sense in dreams", as the challenge was written. Not dream cars. There is a difference. The kind of vehicle that only makes sense in dreams throws away logic in favor of something with a little more feeling and an artist's spirit. With that in mind, we will first list the top three winners followed by the rest of the entries. Enjoy.

First place went to Dylan Denton and his stunning concept Piranha. This car unveils neat surprises from every angle. In terms of "the kind of vehicle that only makes sense in dreams", this space-age ride was the clear, undisputed winner. What makes this entry particularly amazing is that Dylan made up this concept from the ground up. Sure we're all talented builders, but when it comes to making up our own concept designs many of us fall short. I'm including myself into the mix. But Dylan pulls it off with integrity and pizzazz. The solar panel, working headlights, and the mysterious, gothy woman with just a little swatch of green hair dyed like seaweed was enough to skyrocket this entry into super stardom!

Dennis Glaasker is well known for building chromed out big rig trucks. But this time his talent and copious chrome was used to construct this dazzling '32 Ford Hiboy Hot Rod. The presentation and build quality sits somewhere in the upper stratosphere on this one and its just oozing with not to be missed glimmering details and mind bending techniques. While judging, we asked ourselves if it was fair to give a prize to a guy with plenty of photoshop skills and the money and resources to chrome-plate his own pieces. We tried not to be dazzled by all the chrome and imagined all the shiny bits as grey instead. When considering the skill and techniques, our conclusion was still a resounding yes and the well deserved prizes for second place.

First and second place was not even disputed. The decisions were easy. But there were a lot of contenders for third place. The one we kept coming back to...the one that tickled our fancy the most...was Tim Inman's 1938 Bugatti 57SC Atlantic. Only four of these rare beauties were ever made and with its sleek lines and riveted dorsal seam, this riveting ride only makes sense in dreams indeed. Equally as shapely and exotic as the car, was the female fig Tim built to go with it. That helped my vote. And if having a crush on a LEGO chick with a lime green cocktail dress and a shelf for a butt is crazy, then...uh...yeah.

You've seen the best now see the rest. Probably had I have thought this out, it would have been...you've seen the rest, now see the best. It would be like a bunch of openers, then the main attractions. But I didn't think this out and gave you the big shebang first. Now that I've lost most of our readers, I have to admit this '58 or possibly '59 Corvette built by Legogil made me smile. This retro ride and the pretty girl is the stuff dreams are made of for sure.

Lime green comes up a lot in this challenge. That's because in dreams, colors are important, almost symbolic. Builders keyed in in the key lime pie the mysterious woman ordered at the cafe. One of many excellent key lime entries is this second serving of goodness by gil is this lime and black chopper called Mysterious. She's a beauty suitable enough for this intriguing woman of mystery.

My case in point, this third serving of lime by legogil simply called Hot Rod. I looked up lime green in dream interpretation and it turns out it means hope for prosperity. Hmmm, interesting.

Red, as interpreted in dreams, is an indication of raw energy, force, vigor, intense passion, aggression, power, courage, and impulsiveness. Perhaps this is what DoktorZapp was thinking when he constructed this long and low Red Meteor. I have to admit, I did smile a bit when I saw this low-slung 50's era concept.

According to Croc Bomb, The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of may very well be...a Volkwagen Golf. Its kinda like that dream you have about the first day of school where you've made sure you had the proper books, pencils, lunch money, notebooks and class schedules but sometime during 5th period you realize you've been naked all day. I wonder if that has ever really happened to anyone.

It may have likely happened to Peteris Sprogis. Not really, but I had to segue into his blue Motte Two concept coupe somehow and that seemed to be the only logical transition from one idea to another. You try writing this stuff. It ain't easy!

Later he enters this Motte_Ergetta, a futuristic looking car. The story suggested the mystery woman may have been a time traveller. This time travel stuff is difficult business due to what they call The Butterfly Effect. Go back in time, kill a butterfly in China, then through a bizarre chain of events suddenly you're your own grandpa!

When time traveling, its best to leave things exactly as is and be mindful of fashion and slang of the times or else cause undue attention to your time traveling shenanigans. You may find it amusing to freak out the early settlers with your iPhone Touch but it is not a good idea, lest they will burn you at the stake for witchcraft. Oh and Jonathan Derksen built a cool car.

When I wrote the story of the mystery woman, I fancied her as perhaps a time traveller or maybe a denizen of Atlantis. Oldeconoline sees her as a villainous murderess who drives a blocky square...um...thing with walls as thick as castle stone. Its miniland scale on the outside but minifig scale on the inside, as evidenced by the tiny minifig skeletons and captives. Uh...yeah, makes sense to me!

Ace goes and builds us a crazy robot chick with flowing red hair, red moon boots and a Blacktron Spider car...which apparently has red cylinder heads. That's just the kind of craziness that goes on in the future, probably as a cause of the Butterfly Effect. Whatever the future holds, I want in on those robot claws!

Shunazaver was in a whimsical mood so he built a...um...two-wheeled bike, jet car, horsey thingy. I admit the minifig girl does look adorable in her hat and cape. Shuna calls her my crush. Was I projecting myself when I wrote the story? was I the man with the bad hip and was I projecting what my dream girl could be? My hips seem in perfect working order, but my knees...often a bit sore. Maybe he has me figured out.

Or maybe Jason Son has us all figured out with this Pussy Wagon. What's with that lowbrow name? Well, it comes from Kill Bill and unlike the Silverado from the movie, this Pussy Wagon is actually a wagon...a '66 Pontiac GTO, to be exact. This contender for third place had us admiring its shape and with Uma Thurman at the wheel, this is one badass ride! Oh and this post got real lowbrow already way back when I mentioned the three-peckered goat so...no big deal, really.

We go from lowbrow to high class with Ralph Savelsberg's Mercedes 500K Special Roadster. This sophisticated ride also had us considering it for third place with its fine, luxuriant curves and equally opulent Lady In Red figure. Red in dreams can also symbolize sexual impulses. I wonder if the usually straight-laced Ralph knew this while building.

Dohoon Kim goes all black with this Ferrari Enzo. Its Dohoon's first 12-wide and a shining specimen at that. I'm sure dream interpreters would have a field day with the meaning of it's all black design and as he said he is not so good at building figures...she is crammed squarely within the driver's seat.

On the second to the last day of the challenge Raphy cranks out this creation he simply calls...car. While a description is lacking, it looks suspiciously like an early 50's Buick...quite possibly the same '53 I built some time ago. He was feeling rushed and exhausted when he posted as evidenced by the dark grainy photo positioned on the kitchen table, but build quality is a step in the right direction. Some good photos and a write up...might have been just enough to put him over the top.

Rolic did precisely what I had hoped someone would do...plant the vehicle in the back ally nighttime scene portrayed in the story. This reminds me of some untapped potential that was never considered...like who is the man with the bad hip and what was his name in green neon lights outside the cafe? But this is a stunning concept Porsche 918 Spyder with exciting views from every angle. It would have been a strong contender for the win had the presentation not come a little too late.

What would LUGNuts be without a last minute run from Lego911. It would be much more punctual but without that exhilarating feeling that a game could be overturned in the last few seconds. First on the 911 slab is this 1957 Chevy bel Air Sports Coupe...one of the most iconic cars on the planet. Peter's story mentions the girl running from the past...Butterfly Effect be damned.

Next Peter presents the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Seville Hardtop. In life, this car was nearly 20 feet of automotive excellence with rocket taillights, the biggest fins of any production car ever made and a hood the size of a ping pong table. In this entry Peter describes the mystery woman's travels as if along a long black ribbon without a clue as to where or when the ribbon will take you next.

Turns out the next stop on the black ribbon, in this version of the story, anyway, takes the form of a Mercedes-Benz 540 K Autobahnkurier called...Key Lime. Another entry that taps into the wonderfully strange color of the key lime pie she ordered at the cafe, this stunning vehicle was a strong contender for third place and our favorite of the Lego911 run.

When you learn how the long black ribbon of travel works you get to come back to it as often as you want. This time the form is chock full of mid-engine weirdness with this blue DeTomaso Mangusta. The engine was Detroit muscle but the body and chassis was all European design with a rare bumper-less inverted slope nose. This vehicle is completely fitting for such an intriguing woman because Ferraris are so passe after all.

There's a phantom in our midst...according to lego911 anyway. Its a 1970 Citroen SM, what he describes as a...get this...light and fruity car. Light and fruity like a key lime pie perhaps. Peter is surely the only builder to claim he has built more LEGO cars than the run of many real cars. Its true. There were 14,000 of these cars made...911 has built over 20,000 LEGO cars.

And to add to his 20,000 car tally is this 1967 Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale in red with nice gold spoked rims from the Lightning McQueen set. Peter is probably still cranking out entries for this challenge almost two weeks after we locked the thread. That's just how Peter rolls. But the LUGNuts challenges are a harsh mistress, especially where big prizes are involved so that's all we got.

Oh and speaking of which, Dylan took home the coveted VW microbus set and chose Francesco, surely for its red classic hot rod rims. Dennis got the yellow creator car along with Mater...cuz he likes his American charm. And Tim takes home Lightning McQueen...also chock full of American Charm.

Alright, that wraps up our very special prize-laden 50th build challenge. Stay tuned for the totally balls out freakin' sweet-ass challenge many of you were born to take part of...design and build a totally new Batmobile. Its called Batmobile:2025. Here's the premise...we all take a trip to the year 2025. (try not to kill any butterflies on the way) Raphy has become a successful young director and is making another Batman trilogy...we all design totally new Batmobiles...'nuff said. Remember, just because the movies are made in 2025, doesn't mean they take place in 2025, so anything goes. Maybe even a freaky new color scheme would be in order.

There has been a lot of talk of time travel this round. Can it really exist? Perhaps Stephen Hawking has already went ahead in time to where they found a cure for his crippling ailment. Or maybe Ralph has already freaked out some colonial settlers with his iPhone Touch and, thanks to the Butterfly Effect, that is precisely the reason why strip clubs now exist. It makes perfect sense to me. Its all your fault, Ralph. Its all your fault.

On The Job Roundup

2011-12-19T15:25:00.002-06:00

Turns out Gwen Stefani is a hollaback girl after all. I’m all like “heeeeey” and then she’s all like “Holla!”. And I’m all like...that solves that god damned issue right there! I don’t know what all the fuss was about. Anyway, welcome to the round up for the challenge we like to call On The Job...all about the vehicles we sometimes use while doing our jobs. Taxis, fire trucks, and zambonis are all the rage, so lets see what the hard working people all over the world are driving, shall we?

No, its not a fire truck/ tour bus. Its a Fiat 682/RN2 Bartoletti Ferrari Race Transporter as built by Apefight and it comes complete with fully working Power Functions remote control, opening doors, dropping tailgate, lowering top deck, detailed interior...but, as it turns out, nothing to haul.

One builder who didn’t forget the payload is TechnicFenix13 with his I-ran-out-of-black-so-also-went-with-four-other-colors low loader tow truck. Its just the perfect thing when you leave your yellow Ferrari abandoned at the scene of your LEGO worktable and need to tow it away pronto.

Back before most of us were born the hard working 1964 Ford Thames Trader brought goods to and fro in eye catching Jonathan Derksen color blocking style. That’s just chock full of classic Ford goodness right there!

Let’s face it, whether we work as a pizza delivery guy or a bikini waxer, none of us would get to our jobs if it wasn’t for fuel to take us there. This is why christophbrill built us a 30’s era old timey Octan Fuel Truck. The little minifig there...helping others get to their jobs by doing his. Do you think they had bikini waxers in the ‘30s?

While we all ponder that question we can marvel at this tan and blue Milk Float as built by Legogil. Back in the milk delivery days, we had the Divco in America, but most of Europe had the Milk Float, a quiet battery operated vehicle suited to silently deliver milk in the wee morning hours. Good stuff, Gil!

L@go built what looks like a 70’s era winnebago flattened by a truck trailer. That’s because its a Steinwinter and its a real thing! It was designed to maximize payload while giving the rest of the truck an extremely low profile.

We go from the bizarre Steinwinter to...the humble stroller as built by NK DeSign-er. Sure we’re all about big, rugged automotive vehicles here, but the stroller has an important job to to...to keep little tykes safe and happy while moms and dads go about their business. As usual for NK, this is an alternate model to the official 5867 Creator set.

When you think of the Ford Focus you think of a small fuel efficient hatchback. But Sangi13 takes it a step further and converts the little Focus into...of all things...a tow truck. I’m not quite sure how much tow capacity a Focus has but it sure does haul a big...um...double crucifix...thingy.

Here’s the scene: You’re racing across state lines in a candy apple red convertible with Johnny Law in hot pursuit. You’ve keestered a balloon full of high quality bon bons, you have a blow up sex doll in the passenger seat, a trunk load of illegally smuggled Venezuelan fruit bats and no one can explain why you’ve let a chimpanzee take the wheel. I know, we’ve all been there, right? But if you were in Australia you’d be chased by Bruce the Highway Patrolman in his ’86 Holden VL Commodore as built by Lego911

Next on the Lego911 slab is busty Sharon and her 2013 Ford Flex. You see, Sharon has the hardest job in the world...being a soccer mom. Between all the schlepping the kids to school, the puking, head lice, spilled juice, hair pulling, kid farts, and crying its a wonder she still looks as good as any of the gals from Desperate Housewives.

See, now here is a law enforcement scenario I’m much more familiar with. Take the same scene from before, only set it in the forested and rain soaked Pacific Northwest and you have yourself Sheriff Johnson and his 2009 Crown Vic Washington State Patrol Car. You also have my preferred ride home after a big night out. What with me being car-less its always nice when Seattle’s finest offers up their services for a safe ride home and the right to remain silent.

I had the right to remain silent but didn’t have the ability. That’s because I was so excited about Peter’s fourth entry, this Aston Martin V8 Vantage N24 Racer driven by Oliver Mathai. His job is being a 24 hour race car driver. Seems exciting but what if ya gotta drop the kids off at the pool? Or...yanno...take the browns to the superbowl? Are any of you getting these analogies?

I was talking about pooping, in case you didn’t know. Anyway, in case you got a hankering for pepperoni and cheese delivered straight to your door, we have Peter and his Ford 2011 Focus Trend Hatchback. Ahhh yes, that familiar red, white and blue color scheme can only mean one thing...maximum taste at minimum wage!

What travels on a track but isn’t a train? Turns out its this Western Star Brandt Power Unit built by Ricecracker. This is powerful enough to pull up to 10 loaded train cars and would make those awkward father-son road trip talks a whole lot better. You know the one...your mom used to have a hot ass but now has an ass like a bag of wet clothes.

Ok, that made no sense at all, but I wanted to slip in a father-son awkward road trip joke and none of these hard working vehicles are really suited for father-son car rides. Lets just admire DeTomaso77’s Mercedes-Benz O 317 Renntransporter "Porsche". I have no idea what its supposed to transport, but its still cool as hell.

We all know what this next build by Aaron F1 transports. I have fond memories of riding these school busses as a kid. Their bright yellow color, their green vinyl seats, their flashing lights...the stop sign that flips out to alert passers by that pint sized tikes are exiting. reminds me of that one time this kid brian threw up on the bus and no one ever saw him again.

Thats because Brian probably grew up to be a British Police Officer somehow. Its an unlikely story but how else was I going to segue from the school bus to this UK Police Ford Focus built by Ralph Savelsberg. Writing is all about smoothly segueing one idea to another. And awkward father-son car trip jokes. And dropping off the kids at the pool.

Someone else with police cars on the brain is DoktorZapp with his Jensen Interceptor Police Car. Its seen here negotiating the punishing terrain of a berber carpet. That stuff right there...the number one cause of rug burns on my knees and elbows. Don’t ask how I know this.

Peteris Sprogis delivers some fine Octan fuel to a busy minifig intersection with his Octan Delivery Truck. Cuz that’s what they do...deliver Octan to...places in need of Octan delivery. Love that brick built Octan logo. Octan. Delivery. Yep. Ok, I used up my three to five lines. Lets move on, shall we?

Felipe Descomplicado also has Octan colors on the brain and a Heavy-Duty Wrecker - Sliding Rotator Boom Truck with motion effects that I can only describe as witchcraft or sorcery. Surely there can’t be some sort of magical photo shop program to make neat effects like this!

And Raphy submits what can only be described as...a hefty bag full of a broken red LEGO mess. Travel is a harsh mistress and so is the LUGNuts round up as this is the result of a 5,500 mile journey and nearly three weeks past the deadline we have no idea what the vehicle was intended to be. Sorry dude, we’ve just gotta publish as is.

And the sole reason this round up is three weeks late is to showcase this Australian 2010 Holden Ute Camera Car built by Lino Martins. I guess you can do things like this when you’re in charge. Iron Builder, crazy hours at work and other obligations made this entry late but I asked for a random assignment and didn’t want to let Marioman3138 down. So, better late than never, I suppose.

So...what did you all think of the round up? It was alright, I guess. But stay tuned for our next very special 50th build challenge where we do something crazy. Its called The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of and the best interpretation of the weird dreamy sequence gets cool LEGO prizes! Second and third place also stands to win prizes. This is an unprecedented challenge and so far...very few entries. This could still be anyone’s game and we’re all waiting on pins and needles here. And let me tell ya, pins and needles are mighty pointy and uncomfortable! So stay tuned to see how it all turns out.

LUGNuts Is Four years Old Roundup

2011-11-11T15:58:00.001-06:00

Everyone shut your goddamned puke holes for a minute! Not that any of you were talking. Or puking. I just always wanted to start a roundup like that. Now that I have, welcome to our four year birthday roundup. As always we could pick from any challenge throughout the year and even way back in LUGNuts history and build accordingly. The birthday challenges are always a crowd favorite but this one was unique in the sense that there are more entries submitted after the deadline than before it. I guess everyone was on rock and roll time...which could explain all the aforementioned vomiting...yanno, being rock stars and all. Anyway, lets get ready to rock!

Rolic was our opener with this stunning pair of first and fourth generation Pontiacs for the "Two Of A Kind Challenge". Actually they were originally posted at the tail end of the last challenge but as Rolic was on rock and roll time, he missed out on getting a clever write up. Makes since considering he actually is a musician...but he sings in a nice choir for his church so I don't think they trash hotel rooms and set their guitars on fire.

Rolic comes back later with an encore performance but this time in a form of a lovely blue BMW Hydrogen 7 thereby honoring three challenges at once..."Autos Aus Deutschland", "Millennium Marvels" and "Alternate Fuels". It would be totally punk rock if his choir trashed hotel rooms occasionally and maybe propositioned prostitutes from time to time. Just sayin'.

No stranger to trashing hotel rooms (probably) is jmaokoen with his little Lotus 49B for the challenge called "Everything Under The Sun". At first I thought he was showing some versatility as its long body and huge spoiler makes it appear to be an oldschool drag racer but upon further review he has built yet again a Formula One racer. What can ya say, the kid is a one trick pony!

Much later in the challenge, jmaokoen returns with some slight variation to his one trick with the Lotus 49B, 56B, 63, and 72 in Gold Leaf livery for "Two of A Kind" times two. That's four of a kind...or two squared. Right? I don't know, math was never my strong suit. Neat looking slot race track, though.

Oldeconoline has at least a couple tricks up his sleeve, this time in the form of an English twin motorbike with sidecar. He was trying to replicate Hagrid's bike from the Harry Potter series and a quick Google search proves he has done alright with it.

Ace chimes in with a surprisingly well detailed little Sipil TT two-seater in white, orange and black. I like the fenders and the spoiler. You want another spoiler? It turns out Bruce Willis was dead the whole time in The Sixth Sense. Did I spoil that for you already in another roundup? There's only so many big movie surprises I know.

One of the most iconic vehicles in the history of the world ever is the old Volkswagen T1 microbus. Jason Son shows us what happens when you take that beloved icon and give it a classic hot rod look. Chopped and lowered and painted in rat rod matte black and grey with a thin pinstripe, this van sports oldschool hot rod red rims undoubtedly from the new Cars Francesco set. Red rims...the best thing LEGO has done for hot rod builders in a long time.

You know that book "A Tale of Two Cities"? Well this is a tale of Two Builders. Ralph Savelsberg also had the iconic T1 on the brain but typical to what Ralph does, he goes classically bog standard on this one. This is an updated remake of a model he built six years ago that predates LUGNuts. See, this just shows we were all Lugnuts before we were ever LUGNuts. Makes sense?

Legogil takes an adventure and goes way back in time...back to '09 with an entry for "Zombie Killfest '09". It was a more innocent time back then...back when zombies didn't have their own series on AMC and you could kill them with spike-laiden, flame throwing supercars from Mad Max. Ahhh, good times, indeed!

Bad Furday is forever and always having...a bad fur day. But he has taken time out to build this neat little 1991 Footwork Porsche F1 racer for the "Autos Aus Deutschland" challenge. Nice presentation on that slick red reflective surface...although I suppose nowadays it could have been just a slick photoshop trick. Either way...pretty cool.

Bad Furday chimes in again with one of my personal favorite entries...this electric bumper car for the "Alternate Fuels" challenge. I hold a special place in my heart for a vehicle that bends the rules intelligently and this one fits that bill nicely. If only automobile accidents were always this much fun.

Then Furday comes back later for an encore performance with this 2011 Morgan 3-Wheeler for the "Everything Under The Sun" Challenge. This car would have made those long, awkward father-son road trip talks a lot more fun. You know the ones...if you had learned to wipe like a real man instead of like your mother you'd opt to be an engineer instead of going to art school. Anyway...

Some of us can surf, some can play guitar...NK DeSign-er builds really cool alternate models for official LEGO sets. Its just what he does. In this case he builds us a tow truck for the really ancient challenge #9 called "Haulin' Ass". He tells us its nice to be able to build once a year for challenges that dates before he has even heard of this place. I agree.

He weighs in later with an alternate model once again for set #5867 Super Speedster...this one a Motorbike/ chopper. He says to be gentle on him as it was his first moto but I see no problem with his work. he also says to tell him when we get tired of his alternate models of official sets but I think we never will tire of this.

Lego Junkie also has zombies on his brrraaaaaains with this apocalyptic rig for "Zombie Killfest '09" There is just something fun about zombie killin'. They're already dead so blasting their heads off with a shotgun seems OK somehow. Funny thing...as I type, I am wearing a shirt that has a skull on it and says "I club zombies" except the club is that club symbol from the deck of cards. Actually I've never clubbed a zombie in real life but I have shot my brother in the face with a rubber band. Does that count?

Dohoon Kim has the "Millennium Marvels" challenge on his delicious gooey brrrrraaaaains with this rugged little Land Rover Bowler Wildcat in yellow. Oh that reminds me, when playing Left 4 Dead 2 Boomers are best killed from a distance, not up close. One time, I was mowing down this horde of zombies with a chainsaw then blindly plowed through his fat belly with it. He exploded puke and bile and I was runnin' blind for like a minute, chasing my own teammates with the chainsaw. Hilarity ensued!

Felipe Descomplicado goes all "Autos Aus Deutschland" on our asses with not one, but two four axle German trucks. One is a Mercedes, the other a Man and together they are working to lug a huge industrial generator to...uh...wherever huge industrial generators are needed. Like a 5 year old's birthday party or a library. Probably.

Jonathan Derksen makes ugly look so good. Nothing good has ever come out of the 80's, and let's admit the 1980 VW T3 has all the lukewarm design aspects and conservative styling indicative of that decade. But Jonathan painstakingly captures the vehicle so well and even accurately captures a feel for a decade he has never been a part of. The Huxtables would have been thrilled to lug all the kids around in this.

Tim Inman takes a break from building Chevys to show some love for the BMW Z3 M Coupe. He tells us that the rather feminine roadster is testosterone injected with flared fenders and quad exhaust tips. Yeah, I know when I want to get all macho I show off my flared fenders and quad exhaust tips.

It was only a matter of time before the most badass truck builder on the planet builds the most badass truck ever. Bricksonwheels takes on Optimus prime in all its stunning blue and red flaming glory. As it runs on Energon, this Autobot joins the ranks of the "Alternate Fuels" challenge. it doesn't transform but we can forgive that because it runs on power functions and just look at all that dazzling chrome!

According to Christophbrill and his son Hans, nothing says "Two Of A Kind" and "Everything Under The Sun" like an Outrunner from the game Borderlands and a 1908 Renault AX. Yeah. Normally they would go together like fried chicken and jumping jacks but the dynamic duo seems to make a pretty good pair out of such dissimilar vehicles.

What happens when you pit Lino Martins in a blood thirsty Iron Builder battle arena against some Scottsman with a caffeine addiction? You get a pretty little custom '55 Ford F-100 called Amazon Jade. Duh, that outcome should have been obvious! But what was a little freaky-deaky about that is I built it for a challenge called "The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of". Not on the list. A future challenge maybe? Is this some sort of weird time travel thing? How can this happen? For the love of God, can someone please explain what is going on here? Stay tuned to find out. ;)

Oh boy! Everyone kick back. Grab a hot cup of coffee. Maybe spike it with a little Baileys. Maybe make yourself a nice plate of cheese and crackers with some pepperoni slices...and apples with some honey and yogurt. Maybe throw some granola in there for texture and flavor. I don't know, cripes, what do I got to make all your decisions for you?! My point is, this Chevrolet Corvette C6 Convertible is the start of a loooong string of late entries by the ever prolific Lego911. So make yourself comfortable.

Are you comfortable yet? The Mercedes-Benz W136 170 V Limousine burns wood and gas so it fits right in the "Alternate Fuels" challenge and "Autos Aus Deutschland". When I was a kid I thought my head would fit neatly between two iron bars in a fence. As all the EMT guys can attest, it turns out it did.

Next on the 911 slab is this 2011 Ford FG II Falcon XR6 ECOLPi Sedan built for the "Alternate Fuels" challenge at it runs on Liquid Phase Injection LPG. I have no idea what any of that means but thank God for copy/paste! Its a lot of technical writing I don't have to do thanks to 911 doing it for me.

Its no surprise that the real life engineer for Ford would go way back in Ford history with this 1911 Ford Model-T two door...as built "For The Ladies" and for "Alternate Fuels" as this "Tin Lizzie" can run on ethyl alcohol and kerosene, to suit the fuel availability in rural American communities, and to be run from farm produced biofuels. Neat!

So next, this maestro of the Ford automobile constructs this...1955 Buick and a decidedly cool one at that. The matching surf board denotes "Two of a Kind" and the Barbie looking figure is "For The Ladies" and, as it turns out, really is Barbie from the movie "Barbie A Mermaid Tale". I don't know how that movie never made my Netflix list.

Next 911 kills three birds with one stone (gross!) with this Octan Racing Team MAN tractor and trailer...the three birds being "Octan Racing", "Autos Aus Deutschland" and "Two of a Kind". I wonder how that old expression came about.

Speaking of old expressions of dubious and possibly sinister meaning, Peter shows that there is more than one way to skin a cat with this cool custom Fast Gassin' rig from the 2009 Hot Wheels line. You see, Peter wanted to build "By Random Appointment" and I demanded something well outside his already formidable comfort zones. I'd say he pulled it off nicely.

Another thing he pulled off nicely is this Remote controlled Octan Racing Ultimate RC Drift Volkswagen Microbus Kombi. Holy crap, I wish I can take the controls of this thing just to see what it'll do! I just want to hug it and squeeze it and call it George! Then drive it down a flight of stairs. Can I pleaze? I can haz Kombi?

Dark red Ramone isn't without his charms either. It was built for the "Cars, Too" challenge as it looks like it came from Cars Two. Yeah I know you foreign born English as a second language LUGNutters out there just have a field day trying to understand those homonyms. "Their", "they're" and "there" are a real hoot.

Is that it for Peter? That wasn't so bad after all. LegoExotics conjures up a neat duo of exotic racers that fit in a myriad of challenges including: "Night and Day", "Two of a Kind","Color Me Strange","Millenium Marvels","Lemons or Le Mans","Autos aus Deutschland", "Everything under the Sun" and "Alternative Fuels". That's like a bird slaughterhouse! They're both beautiful cars though.

Raphy is a man of few words these days. What's with that, kiddo?! He gets all silent and Clint Eastwood-y on us and quietly posts this little yellow racer as if to say...I know what you're thinking. Did I fire six shots or only five? In all of this excitement I seemed to have forgotten myself. So, do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya? Do ya!?

TechnicFenix13 must have been feeling pretty lucky. First he pulls through with a Randon Appointment request. I demanded the Apollo 13 Lunar Rover and he pulled through with flying colors...or should I say muted colors in gray and black? But still very nice. Houston, we have a rover!

Then later he gets a little more colorful and springs for a duo of dynamic hard working trucks for "Two of a Kind" and the current challenge "On the Job". Both are working flatbeds and I suspect one is a slightly modified set. Still pretty cool idea though.

If you're like me you've probably spent many a night crying yourself to sleep pleading for the love of God, can someone please build a working RC from the movie Cars 2?! I mean, cripes his name is RC so he should be remote controlled and made of lime green and blue technic parts for lightweight maneuverability and high speed handling! Well, it seems Nathan Proudlove has answered our cries in the night and puts us all to bed, warm and comfy as a fitting end to this special birthday challenge.

What a great round up! Thanks for making LUGNuts THE cornerstone for LEGO automotive building and the standard of success for other groups to follow. I mean, go ahead...have a look around. You'll find nary a group who has done as many challenges with such consistent success as we have. Kinda makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, doesn't it? Well stick around for this month's challenge called "On The Job"...all about hard working commercial vehicles like mail delivery trucks, taxicabs, cement mixers, snowplows...and when your neighbors become particularly unruly, you've got your SWAT Assault Mobile Command Vehicles to take them down with. Its all in a day's work when you're On The Job. The SWAT team is closing in now but they'll never catch me. You punks feeling lucky? Well, are ya?!

Optimus Prime in Lego

2011-10-30T11:32:00.001-05:00

Optimus Prime in Lego
Originally uploaded by bricksonwheels

That there is something special my friends. Something special indeed.

Alternate Fuels Round Up

2011-10-11T19:37:00.000-05:00

You asked for it. You even begged and pleaded. You entered my dreams and nightmares and demanded an Alternate Fuels challenge so I gave you what you wanted. And after all that the end result turned out to be one of the slowest challenges in LUGNuts history. This leaves us wondering if you folks really know what you want. But the few of us who submitted something for the challenge showed some moxie so let's review what they have done. This should be a quick and easy write up. lets get to it.

After a botched up job of removing my appendix and giving me lip implants I didn't really want, it turns out DoktorZapp wasn't even a real Doctor. And to think I was so trusting of someone who called himself Doktor. But he did give us our first entry in the challenge so he's good for at least that, anyway. It's Kenny Power's Rocket Fueled Lincoln Continental. Its about as high octane as my new Angelina Jolie lips.

Someone with a real doctorate degree but somehow incapable of making my new lips look less like a puckered fish is Ralph Savelsberg. There is nothing more alternate fuel-ish than his peddle powered bicycle. I'd say it the original alternate fuel and most dependable...unless you're me huffing it up a steep hill. Then I'd just assume ditch the bike and hitchhike with a stranger. Preferably one who claims to have candy.

If there is just one thing I know, its that there are no gas stations on the moon. Legogil knows this too...which is why his sleek lunar vehicle has fuel cells...and apparently a snowplow for all your moon roving snowplowing needs. Neat!

Legogil chimes in again with this rickshaw. I always thought the rickshaw was a strange concept. Imagine, for a moment, riding in one. Here you have a man as a source of fuel...a source equally capable of getting around in both strength and speed as you are, yet here you sit lazily below its canopy while some poor soul schlepps your wide load around. I mean he's not a horse or even a bicycle...its just some guy you pay to take you here and there. Its a class thing, I guess.

Dfuzz78 does what he does best...build realistic models of garbage trucks. Seems thats all he does. Well, some people can surf, others are guitar virtuosos...fuzz was born to build awesome garbage trucks. These are what the local refuse trucks looked like before they went with the Power Miner colors of lime green and orange. I'd love for you to build one, Mr. Fuzz. I know you've seen 'em.

Here Jason Son is going green...literally and figuratively with this natural gas powered CNG Mustang. This proves that going green doesn’t mean giving up wheel-spin-inducing, tire-shredding performance. This gives up hope that we can still burn rubber at breakneck speeds while protecting all the pretty trees. Or something.

When peddle power lets you down, 4estFeller has concocted the battery powered sci-fi tricycle. Its sci-fi cuz it has hub-less wheels and the flag staff appears to be a lightsaber...or maybe a neon tube. And I'm pretty sure Darth Vader would ride this...but not the 7ft2 evil black leather clad Darth Vader but rather the five year old one dimensional actor Darth Vader with the wooden way of speaking and the overblown sense of self. What's that kid doing nowadays, anyway?

Someone else with sci-fi on the brain is Lino Martins with my Soylent Green planetary rover/racer thingy. It has crazy four wheel steering and suspension and is named for its fuel source, which I don't know much about but they tell me is cheap, renewable, clean and plentiful. And its also a delicious and nutritious food. It sounds downright Earthy-Crunchy to me and with today's gas prices, I'm all for it! I'm sure there's no need to research the matter further. Nope, no reason for concern at all.

Finally Raphy chimes in late in the challenge with his diesel powered custom rat rod style Volvo 240 Wagon. Funny thing, my ignorance showed through by allowing diesel power into the challenge. Its a rare fuel form here in the states but is pretty much the standard in Europe. All a result, this entry is perfectly acceptable but plenty have groaned about it. You're welcome, world.

Anywho, that wraps up our round up for this month. Yeah I know...short and easy. Now I have plenty of time for paying bills, watching Survivor, eating a sandwich and surfing the net...all of which I'm doing while wearing a wrestling mask. I bet you didn't know that. Anyway, LUGNuts is Four Years Old this month and the birthday challenges are always a hoot. You have the opportunity to build any challenge from the previous year and its already turning out to be a pretty stellar month. Stay tuned later to see how it all turns out. Now time to research that whole Soylent Green thing...I don't know what all the hubbub is about... Oh Cripes! Oh God NOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOO......

Two Of A Kind Roundup

2011-09-11T09:39:00.001-05:00

For this month's challenge called Two Of A Kind we made some serious demands that all builders had to adhere to...otherwise they could suffer the wrath of the Headless Buddha ...whatever that means. First we demanded they must build not one, but two things. Second, both things had to match in color scheme and in design. You see, there is a phenomenon that happens at races and car shows. Often we see a prize winning vehicle accompanied by perhaps a trailer, speedboat, motorcycle, snack cooler, or surf board that matches the color scheme and design of the original. Merely building a red car and a red speedboat is not enough to satisfy the demands of the challenge but a red car and speedboat both with silver rally stripes, exposed chromed out engines, and bubble dome windows...now we're talking! What you have then is a cohesive team, a family portrait, if you will that looks as if it was designed and labored over by the same person. Chances are, they were. So with these rules in mind, lets take a look at the entries.

First we have Ace and his...uh...well he...um. You see, its this vehicle...and...uh. Then it sort of does this other thing. Um...you see, we were supposed to build two things and...um. Well, it sort of...you know. Yeah.

Lets read the rules again. Seems like DrZapp had the right idea with this Hot Rod Caravan. The trailer matches the overall 60's era design and color scheme of the hot rod that lugs it. Neat!

If you're like me you've probably woken up handcuffed naked to a dumpster with no recollect of what happened and no clue as to where your wallet is. C'mon, don't deny it, we've all been there, right? Right? Anyway, if you're like me you may also really enjoy this sleek yellow and black pickup and matching trailer as built by Legogil.

You take a surf board, plus a hot rod, plus a straight four, plus some dark blue and white and you get this cool duo built by Jonathan Derksen. The refreshing six pack of cokes are a great touch. Jonathan tells us this chopped little creation is yet unnamed and elicits a name from all of us. Might I suggest Zipperhead Snickerdoodle Copperbottom? No? Aw, c'mon!

Speaking of weird names, Shunazaver has aliens on the brain with this Eloyan Motors Extraterrestrial Off Road Rover model ALBERT. This is made complete with Mahjqa style power functions and either a stratospheric/ ionospheric tow sensor or a golf bag...one or the other. My money is on the golf bag.

With a name like Bobofrutx our next builder is probably an interstellar bounty hunter hellbent on chasing Han Solo across the galaxy. Or maybe he's a vending machine that dispenses fruit. Whatever he is, he's a man of very few words, which is fine, as he lets this Land Crawler speak for itself. There's a lot of neat techniques used here.

Strange crop circles have been mysteriously showing up around here and the likely culprit may be this custom '66 Dodge A-100 Alien Crop Circle Maker as built by Lino Martins. Done up in Alien Conquest colors, this van features bubble windows, a light up, spaced-out interior, UFO sound and rampside door and a feature that makes the whole shebang appear to be levitating! Eerie!

You know what else is eerie? How yet again, Nathan Proudlove builds the same thing I've built without planning it...in this case the '66 Dodge A-100 pickup version (which I almost built). This has happened or nearly happened several times already and its enough to get us both a little spooked. Perhaps its brainwaves, similar chemistry, nature, nurture...or maybe even unseen forces at work. Either way, the Canadian style Boler trailer is pretty neat.

New guy Felipe Descomplicado chimes in for the first time with this duo of gear trucks called The Spear and The Mallus. The yellow is the factory standard version while the red and white is the customized edition. The point of the challenge was slightly missed by not designing two things with the same color scheme and overall design, but you can't help but enjoy the neat techniques used. I'd say Felipe will be a good addition to the LUGNuts team.

When any of you disappear for a while I worry like a Jewish mother. Miss a month and I can only assume you've been accosted by bloodthirsty homicidal vampire maniacs. Its what my own mother worries I'm up to almost daily. But thankfully Sangi13 is still amongst the living and totally making up cars as evidenced by this 2012 Sangerati Di Lusso SS with trailer.

Also thankfully amongst the living is Ricecracker and his Mercedes Actros Car Transporter. Its yellow with these black and red wavy things. And there's a couple of cars on it. Yeah. Zipperhead Snickerdoodle Copperbottom. Stratosperic/ ionosperic tow sensor golf bag...OK, phew, I used my 3-5 lines. Lets move on.

Dover is my real life boss at the LEGO store. When not yelling at me to quit dicking around and get some work done for once, he enters a challenge...for once...with this neat truck. Before the ADU was the Alien Defense Unit, it was the Alien Discovery Unit. These good ol' boys were just having a good time, listening to music and looking for life on other worlds when these green skinned hooligans came along in a Dodge A-100 and cramped their style by defacing fields of wheat. (Who, me? I wasn't me, officer, really!) It was all out war after that.

When TechnicFenix13 hears Two Of A Kind, he hears two of almost exactly the same thing. Here we have what looks like a slightly modified 4404 set towing another 4404 set...also slightly modified. There is nothing like a heavy off-road vehicle towing another almost identical heavy off-road vehicle to unknown off-road destinations. Nice view outside the window there. Surely there are no bloodthirsty homicidal vampire maniacs out there.

You take a classic 1957 Chevrolet Cameo pickup truck, lose its usual factory standard red trim and instead give it a twist of lime and you get this sleek creation built by The Big Rafalski. The ice skate blades used on the hood are a nice touch. Ben only had time to build one truck, but in a challenge that demands at least two things what's a Big Rafalski to do?

Well, The Big Rafalski recruits the help of...The Big...uh...Ralph-aski. Finally I get to use that joke! The challenge states you can team up with a buddy so Ralph Savelsberg delivers the newer lime and white counterpart with a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado sports truck. Being a true European, Ralph doesn't understand the point of the whole custom sport truck phenomenon but for the rest of us, there is plenty to love about these old and new Chevy siblings.

Yep, its true. Most Europeans love their cars pristine and factory standard while Americans seem to like 'em customized beyond recognition. Curtydc must be an American as evidenced by this pair of custom chopped Deuces. Once again the point is slightly missed by having a pair with different colors but you can't help but overlook that to great style and build techniques.

Spanning both worlds of being American and European and spending half the year in each place is Raphy. Here he asks the question...What wonders could this Porsche Renntransporter hold? Is it a ham and cheese sandwich? A doggy treat? The secret to life itself? Turns out its four more little Porsches crammed tightly in the back. Neat!

Smoke 'em if you got 'em! That's what Lego911 would say with this Toyota Celica ST205 TTE WRC Marlboro sponsored racer. He tells us this car was disqualified in '95 for...smoking in a movie theatre? Selling cigarettes to kids? Demanding a break from work every hour to alleviate the nicotine fits? No, for cheating...which is just as bad, really.

So how does Peter's solo car qualify? Well he teamed up with none other than Dylan Denton with his counterpart, a 1998 Toyota Corolla WRC in the same red and white Cowboy Killer color scheme. Both builders are against smoking, which is good. It seems the only people who smoke anymore are rebellious teens with mullets and rednecks...also with mullets.

Lego911 would not be lego911 if he didn't post multiple entries. He chimes in much later in the challenge with this neat pair of '76 Fords done up in '76 color scheme. One is a Pinto Cruising Wagon and the other is the Ford Cruising van. The style and composition are taken from an ad back in '76 within the pages of National Geographic.

That was a good retro way to end our challenge but what happens when we look to the future...a future of Alternate Fuels? In this month's new challenge anything goes...anything except gasoline powered cars. My ignorance was already pointed out when it was made clear that diesel is not really an alternate fuel in Europe but rather the standard. Oh well...there are still other options to choose from, everything from solar power, to wind, to chocolate to organic human waste. Gross! A future where cars run on poo...is it viable? Or should we just forget the future all together and go with steam power? We'll just have to wait and see what next month brings us. And speaking of next month, who's going to BrickCon? I sure am. Hope to see you there. Until then, happy building everyone! Oh, and I've never been handcuffed naked to a dumpster. it was all just a ruse to entertain you readers. I hope it worked.

Everything Under The Sun Roundup

2011-08-12T15:54:00.006-05:00

Finally we have a challenge that begs us to not really build everything under the sun, but rather everything...under the sun. Why so confusing, you may ask...well what I mean is everything under the sun...as in vehicles where the driver's head is exposed to the elements. We're talking bikes, convertibles, Formula 1 racers, that sort of thing...good summer rides where the driver can enjoy the sunshine and/or burn to a crisp under the intense summer heat. Speaking of which, I just got back form Portugal where I spent lots of time on the beach and got the worst sunburn of my life. I always brag that I never burn and my people are of a perfect bronzed skin. This seemed true for everyone else who was there, but my pasty white self has lived in cloudy Seattle far too long. For about four days I couldn't sleep, nor even raise my arms...and the peeling stage was like having a shirt full of potato chips. But seeing all the pretty topless babes on the beach made it all worth it. So we go from topless babes to topless cars in this month's challenge. See what I did there?

And see what Sharpspeed did here? its a Rogue Firepower GTC convertible followed by a Rogue Firepower FCGT Roadster/Racer thingy. Forget trying to look up these vehicles on the interwebs as they're both entirely made up cars, as typical to what Sharpy does. I guess it still follows the rules of the challenge, what with the driver's head being exposed to the open sky and all.

Sharpy chimes in later in the challenge with this...uh...dragster/roadster thingy. He tells us this is the biggest engine ever put in a 4-wide LEGO car and since I'm too lazy to look it up, I'm just going to assume he's right. Anybody else wanna claim anything? I'll just take your word for it too.

Ape Fight takes a break from fighting and slinging poo with other apes just long enough to build us this Devil-may-care-all studs-showing sports car in classic Lego style. No parts or techniques date after the mid eighties or so and thus this takes us all back to a simpler time when cheese slopes and half stud offsets were just a thing of the future.

He then follows up with a classic looking technic style Buggy with V-4 engine, rack and pinion steering and adjustable seat. Ahhh just look at that oldschool Tecnic style! Its like the 90's all over again and we were all going gaga over the 8880 Supercar set. Good times.

jmaokoen builds f1 racers. Its just what he does. He even jokes about his total predictability with paraphrasing my words: "You’re encouraged to go as different as possible on this" followed by "I guess I didn't get the memo." Here is a Formula 1 racer, true to his usual form.

Later he paraphrases the same quote again but this time maybe got the memo with this rather unusual 8-wheeled configuration. I hate to spoil the plot for ya but its another F1 racer. Every build from jmaokoen had been a F1 racer and probably every entry in the future. I also hate to spoil the plot but that chick in The Crying Game is totally a dude! Yeah.

And speaking of spoiled plots, Darth Vader was Luke's father, the killer in Saw was lying in the middle of the creepy bathroom the whole movie and it turns out Bruce Willis was dead the whole time in The Sixth Sense. Sorry to spoil all that for ya but you kinda shoulda seen all those movies anyway. Matthew Maulfair builds a roadster called Caterham. We never saw that coming!

Another plot we didn't see coming was Granada Turnier and his little yellor roadster called Yellocular. I've never even heard of the dude until this month but we're glad to have him as all builders are welcome, no matter how great or small. He seems to be an enthusiast of model railroading, The Ford Granada, and an accomplished LEGO builder. Cool!

Another accomplished builder we already know is Zenn. This month he chimes in with little Throttle Hot Rod. There is some neat parts usage here including a hammer for the door handle, a LEGO backpack and a couple of weird, unidentified thingies in the engine. They say LEGO so they are official...just can't place what they are.

With a challenge that demands no roofs its no surprise there's a lot of hot roddin' going on around here. The Big Rafalski shows us all how its done with this classic '32 Ford rod called "Dogbone". Its namesake is a nice new part used for the front bumper. I've got a slew of these bones in my Queen Anne's Revenge set and I can't wait to use them in some way.

First he throws us a bone, then later in the challenge he comes back and throws us a whole 30's era Shell Service Station with too many not-to-be-missed details to mention. Its chock full of old timey goodness and just perfect for all your hot roddin' and summertime cruising. Nice job!

And speaking of old timey goodness, fe2cruz has built us a tiny motorbike with sidecar. Its so tiny, in fact, the sidecar is a minifig castle helmet. This embodies the very definition of nice parts usage and the photography is top notch. He tells us its "for that summer camping trip where you want to scare all the dirty hippies out of the forest". Ah, dirty hippies...when will they ever learn?

I'm sure dirty hippies (and anyone for that matter) would be scared silly by Sideswipe as built by NK DeSign-er. First he's a Lamborghini Countach, then he's a robot, then a car again. And how does this fit into the challenge, you might ask? Well sometimes the driver's head is also the...uh...car's head. And its exposed to the elements. Somehow. Well its all very...um...scientific. But it works!

Intrond delivers all kinds of eye candy with this curvy and unconventional futuristic hot rod. Equally curvy and unconventional is the illustrated babe superimposed into the photo. He's becoming known for these enhanced illustrations that give his LEGO vehicles a bit of extra character...some extra zip, some bang, some Va-va-va-voooom!

Lino Martins would add illustrated babes to his/my photos too if only I knew how. Is there a button on this thingamajig that makes Megan Fox appear? What about a code that superimposes Mila Kunis into these aquarium pictures? What does this thing do? Awww crap, it erased my saved fonts! Anyway, I like to keep it oldschool as evidenced by this Green Machine. Its what all the cool kids were riding in '78.

Brixe63 adds some much needed class to this joint with her Morgan Plus 8. Yep...she's a chick and one of the world's most impressive LEGO motorcycle builders. The rest of her work is pretty phenomenal as made obvious by this roadster. This proves once and for all that this isn't just a boy's car club so I'd put away that pinup poster, if I were you. And tuck in that shirt. Maybe put some tea and crackers out or something. And for the love of God, put on some pants!

And while you're at it, clean your room! Its a pigsty in there, it looks like you invited Mickey Rourke over. And would it kill you to floss for once? And stop picking at that acne...you want to grow up looking like Edward James Olmos or F. Murray Abraham? I mean if you want to look like a beige orange peel, then pick all you want. Oh and Ace is having some fun under the Tuscan sun with this teeny tiny Runabout II.

Dandyman500 is having some fun of his own with this red and white '55 Chevy. I'm seeing some good techniques throughout the build. And I'm having some fun of my own with this writing. Can't you tell? Well, its either that or be completely bored with it. I'm sure you like the weird ramblings and crass jokes. Who reads these things anyway? No seriously, who reads these? I want to know so comment if you do.

Alcak kofte makes his LUGNuts debut with this yellow Cabrio sportster and matching trailer hauling a boat. The steering wheels for the boat rollers is a good touch and I'm digging the red interior. alcak tells us he hails all the way from Turkey. Welcome aboard!

Hailing all the way from Australia but no stranger to our challenges is the ubiquitous Lego911. In fact, 911 is so ubiquitous (look it up, kids!) he usually single-handedly submits more entries than all of the others combined. This month he must be taking it slow with only four entries...the first a 1989 Mazda MX5 Miata.

Next is the 2005 Ferrari 575M Superamerica complete with a rotatable roof and "flying buttress" rear pillars. I have no idea what that means but a buttress that flies ought to be pretty impressive. My buttress just sits on the couch, drinks coffee, and watches Family Guy reruns!

Third on the 911 slab is this Ferrari F50 Barchetta. There is no references to buttresses in this write up, flying or otherwise. But the engine was hard mounted to the carbon fiber tub. Surprisingly, I have no jokes to go with that so I'll just drink some coffee. Mmmm, Trader Joe's Dark . That's good stuff. Ok, I used my 3-5 lines. Lets move on.

Lastly 911 conjures up a 1972 Dino 246 GTS Targa in lovely blue. Pftttt...only four entries! Its like he was asleep all month or something...or maybe designing real cars for Ford Australian Division. Nah, I'd rather go with the asleep theory. But four entries is still three more than I can usually pull off so that's something.

What else is something is this Tractor Puller with real remote controlled power functions as built by vmln8r. You can throw practicality out the window as its big, scary, loud, pulls wheelies, and can pull a sleigh, which happens to be hidden by all the superimposed smoke. Its like the Smart car's bigger, louder, stupider brother. That's why I love it!

If you're like me, you've stayed up all night wishing somebody would build an orange and lime pair of go-karts. Well, thankfully it seems Legogil came to the rescue to remedy all my crying and night sweats with this orange and lime pair of go-karts. Gil informs and astounds when he tells us Art Ingels is known as the father of karting and built the first kart in So-Cal in '56. Nice!

TechnicFenix13 lives up to his name somehow with this duo of Technic retro rides. The first being a totally cool hot rod with surfboard, suicide doors and great oldschool shaping.

The second is a droptop tractor with low stance, a giant exhaust pipe and white on black flames. Its like the Smart car's bigger, louder, stupider...oh wait, I already said that. My buttress just sits on the couch, drinks coffee, and watches...said that already too. Like having a shirt full of potato chips...awww crap, I got nothing. Let's move on.

Dylan says Ace beat him to the "Under the Tuscan Sun" joke, but anyway, here is more Italian topless cruising Ferrari Dino 246 GTS. Ahh to be driving along the Italian countryside with the wind in my hair...shirtless with a midget in the passenger seat. It reminds me of...wait, isn't this like the second Dino 246 GTS entered in this challenge?!

Aaron F1 gets all up in yo' face with this Alpha Romeo Spider. Actually he doesn't. He's a man of few words, Aaron is. The only word in his write up is...front. Be sure to dig through his photostream for the riveting "side" and "back" shots. They're...exactly what you'd expect them to be.

DrZapp may appear to be about 10 years old with this rather rudimentary Blue Rocket 60's era...uh...spoiler dragster thingy. But if he's a real doctor, I'm sure he's a man of advanced education and years...somebody who could operate on my pancreas with the skill of a ninja. Or maybe he's a doctor of literature and smokes a pipe in a tweed jacket with patches on the elbows.

We know for sure Tim Inman doesn't have a doctorate degree, but he's still one smart cookie when it comes to automobiles as evidenced by this 1954 Ferrari 375 Plus. Tim asks the question; What would the Lugnuts challenge "Everything Under the Sun" be without a sleek, sexy vintage Ferrari race car? it would be a lot less sleek and sexy, thats for sure.

You know who's bringing sexy back? Justin Timberlake. Oh and the Bing-Bong Brothers with this Ferrari Dino in bright yellow. What's the deal with the Bing-Bong Bros. anyway? Are they like one guy or are they really brothers? Are they the Arvo Brothers in disguise? What the hell is going on here?! Someone please shed some light on the matter before my head explodes!

Its really a shame Rolic couldn't join us for this challenge. Wait...hold the phone! Is this an impostor or does Rolic finally have some pieces other than white? It looks like he has plenty enough black and dark red to pull off a very nice Jeep Wrangler Rubicon (topless, of course) But how did the Thin White Duke get so many dark red bricks? can someone please shed some light on the matter before my head explodes?

And while you're mulling over that David Bowie reference, check out this Lamborghini Spyder built by Mad Physicist. Ralph is a real live physicist with a doctorate and when not playing with test tubes or inventing time travel...or whatever Ralph does...he builds cool cars. Upon his suggestion, I finally read "The Hunt For Zero Point", all about anti-gravity technology. I feel like I finally know some big secrets...not like movie plot secrets but secrets that could get me killed by special agents. Awesome!

No stranger to some good secrets is Tommy n, probably. Here we see an MR2 Spyder converted into a hot rod. Its tiny and just perfect for keeping in your pocket and bringing out to play with while you wait bored at the dentist office or at the supermarket. Ok, maybe not the supermarket.

Looking almost like the Speed Racer Mach 5 is this Motorama show car built by Raphy. Its no surprise the car looks a bit like the Mach 5 as it was designed in the same timeframe, in the '60's. The man in the suit looking like the long lost 5th Beatle is the car's designer.

Raphy may have been born in the 90's but he sure knows a couple of beatnik rockabilly hipsters when he sees them. Also hip and rockabilly is their '32 Ford Hi-boy hot rod. Kinda like a real '32 hot rod, the passenger sits comfortably...so long as she doesn't have any legs. The pose looks great for the photo, though, just like something out of the pages of Ol' Skool Rodz magazine...the best magazine where everything in the title is spelled wrong.

We've seen plenty of Ferraris, hot rods, go-karts...and a few really weird things thrown into this challenge, but what happens when we're asked to build a pair of things emulating the same color scheme and overall design cues? Merely building a red truck and a red speed boat to go with it is not enough to satisfy the grueling demands of this challenge, but a truck pulling a speed boat, both with matching silver rally stripes, exposed chromed out engines and bubble tops...now we're talking! What we have then is a well thought out cohesive pair...a family portrait, if you will. This is not the challenge for procrastinators or mediocre builders, but it would make a great buddy challenge with a good pair of builders. You'll just have to tune in next month to see how we do in this challenge we like to call Two Of A Kind. I'm keeping mine a total secret that I'll take to my grave...or until I post it later this month...one or the other. But look to the skies...the truth is out there. We have the technology. Bye for now.

Cars Too Roundup

2011-07-14T21:58:00.005-05:00

With the new Cars 2 movie and LEGO sets out it's no surprise that we came up with our own tie in challenge and called it...um...Cars, Too. But true to LUGNuts form, this challenge has a few twists. Sure you can build any character from the movies Cars and Cars 2 but also acceptable are any vehicles with a face on it. What the hell does that mean, you may ask...well, cars from children's illustrated books would work but if cutesy sunshine and rainbows isn't your thing, then the snarling skull and cross bones on the Death Proof Nova would totally work as well. Lets just see how we did, shall we?

Living up to its name, Fe2Cruz is first on the slab with this cute little Speed Buggy. The expressive eyes and even the animated stance of the wheels illustrate perfectly what this challenge is all about. Way to show us all how its done!

And no slouch in the "showing us all how its done" department is of course Peter Blackert with his first of many, many entries...this one is the colorful Nigel Gearsley - Aston Martin DB9R Racer. Hope you got a snack and maybe coffee with a little extra sumpin' sumpin' in it, cuz this is going to be a long ride!

Another fine British chap is Sgt. Highgear, Buckingham Palace's stuffy regimental guard. It's only fitting that Sarge is a red Land Rover and the fat balloony tire used as a fluffy hat...too perfect!

Keeping up with the British theme is David Hobbscap, a 1963 Jaguar lightweight E-type Coupe in classic British racing forest green. It's no coincidence that he announces the races just like his namesake...David Hobbs.

Its sort of funny and fitting that Peter's first American vehicle is poor rusted old Mater the '55 Chevy tow truck. Voiced by none other than...um...Larry the Cable Guy, Mater isn't the brightest bulb in the whole chandelier but is dependable, hard working...and even gets caught up in an international spy ring. How cool is that? Git 'er done, Mater!

And speaking of gittin' things done is The King, Strip Weathers...a 1970 Plymouth Superbird who is no stranger to gittin' things done at over 200 MPH. He was voiced by none other than NASCAR Grand Poobah, Richard Petty. I mean...who else would voice such a car, really?

Jeff Gorvette is a racing Corvette C6.R done up in patriotic colors and according to Disney/Pixar he's one of the greatest American racecars alive today and a real threat at the world Grand Prix. Heh, remember when you were a kid the first time you read the words "grand prix" aloud? It was pretty funny.

Sometimes American cars have a south of the border flair as evidenced by purple Ramone. Voiced by the hilarious Cheech Maron, Ramone is a flashy Mexican lowrider who switches up his paint scheme as often as I change my underwear...which is just about daily.

This challenge suggested that we could build vehicles that look like they should be in the Cars movie but are not. Peter illustrates one such example with Ramone's more conservative older sister, Coral. She's a pristine '55 Chevy Bel Air with a black and...um...coral-ish two tone paint job. I wish such a color existed in abundance.

Another fabrication from the mind of Peter "Lego911" Blackert is Ramone's brother Nomad, the '56 Chevy Nomad. He's not as into body art as Ramone is but Nomad has a few custom fabrications of his own with his lowered stance on wide rimmed gold spoked wheels and dark red and gold color scheme. The '56 Chev Nomad just so happens to be my fave car of all time.

Playing a minor role in the Cars movie is Michael Schumacher, a Ferrari F430 Berlinetta. Toward the end of the film he shows up to pay a visit to Ferrari crazed Luigi and his tire shop at Radiator Springs. He was flanked by a pair of sleek Maseratis...a dream come true for Italian born little Luigi.

Next on the slab is Lewis Hamilton, the super fast McLaren MP4-12C supercar. He sports a striking metallic black and yellow color scheme and the flag of Grenada, home to his family who emigrated to Britain in the 1950s. The car was voiced by British racing legend Lewis Hamilton himself.

Snotrod is the only muscle car in a gang of tuner sedans. He is named for his allergy problem which results in his explosive albeit hilarious sneezing fits. However, his ability to clear the road of pesky traffic is unmatched and much appreciated by his buddies who like the road all to themselves.

Much more suave and debonair than Snotrod is Finn McMissile, who is a master British spy. Though charming and eloquent, it's his stealth maeuvering, intelligence, and years in the field that enable him to thwart unexpected attacks from bad guys. He mistakes rusty Mater for an American spy in a clever disguise and hilarity ensues.

Radiator Springs resident Luigi is a big-hearted, gregarious and excitable Italian Fiat 500. A tire virtuoso and owner of Lugi's Casa Della Tires, he is naturally a fanatic for all things Italian and is particularly enchanted by Ferrari racing cars. Cars 2 takes the Radiator Springs gang to Luigi's home village of Porto Corsa, Italy where his family greets everyone in big Italian style.

Back with a flashy peacock green paint job is Green Ramone. The cool thing about a lowrider like Ramone (what ISN"T cool about him)? is he changes his paint job daily so all kinds of neat color configurations can be made. Now if only he came in purple. Oh wait....right!

Sally Carrera is a demure baby blue Porsche 911 and the apple of Lightning McQueen's eye. Longing for Lightning's return from his latest Piston Cup race season, Sally is looking forward to a long drive with "Stickers", as she affectionately calls Lightning. While she prefers understated clean tones over gaudy flash, she is still quite fond of McQueen.

Another demure girl who likes her boyfriends flashy is Flo, Ramone's main squeeze. Flo is a sassy, no-nonsense lady with the biggest heart in Radiator Springs. She runs the local diner, Flo's V8 cafe, the only gas station for miles around, where she still serves the "finest fuel in 50 states". She was a touring Motorama girl in the '50's. Sweet!

Sheriff is a 1949 Mercury Police Cruiser and is the local law enforcement and the keeper of the peace in Radiator Springs. He does what most old men enjoy doing...telling stories and taking naps behind the Radiator Springs billboard. That's where he was when Lightning McQueen first zoomed into town years ago, which led to a messy car chase that didn't end well.

Francesco Bernoulli is Europe's number 1 racecar. He's also...um...Francesco's number 1 racecar as he is his own biggest fan. I can totally relate. I built the official LEGO set of Francesco and it was a pretty fun build. All I can say to the hot rod builders out there is...red rims, dudes! Think about it...red rims. Classic hot rod style right there!

Another figment of Peter's crazed automotive imagination is Dan "The MAN" heavy goods vehicle. It makes sense, too. Flo needs the "finest fuel in 50 states" and its up to Dan to deliver the goods. He pays homage to the good ol' Octan Racing challenge from a few months back in both color and verbage. Nice touch!

David Ludebaker is a made up character that came to Radiator Springs to pay respect for the late oldschool racing legend Doc Hudson. It's not that he was late for anything but more like dead. Why do they call dead people late anyway? David lives in Washington state and is based on an American AFOL who loves classic cars. Any guess on who that might be? Old...feisty...cantankerous...the resemblance is uncanny! ;)

Speaking of old, the senior resident of Radiator Springs is Lizzy, the Model T Ford. She's a little old lady, but still an active businesswoman who uses her moxie to sell bumper stickers, mud flaps and other Route 66 memorabilia from her curio shop. She's as feisty as she is brash. Lizzie's unswerving frankness and offbeat comments keep the townsfolk and tourists on their toes, even though she has no idea what she's just said.

And finally on the Lego911 slab is Acer, my fave outcast vehicle from Cars 2 and with that Peter says "Ok, I'm done!" I'm done too. This has been a great challenge but I've got a brand new Lego room just dying to be used, so tune in for our next challenge when we...oh wait. We still have everyone else's entries to go. 23 entries...how does he do it?! Cripes, man! Ok, lets soldier on.

LegoExotics somehow lives up to his own name with this Ferrari 360 Modena. He says his buddy Sven modified his old model to look like a Cars character in order to correspond with our challenge. We all could use a buddy Sven, even if only just to crack Scandinavian jokes with. Here's one...Ole bought Lena a piano for her birthday. A few weeks later, Lars inquired how she was doing with it. "Oh," said Ole, "I persuaded her to svitch to a clarinet." "How come?" asked Lars. "Vell," Ole answered, "because vith a clarinet, she can't sing.

Thanks, ladies and germs, I'm here all week! Be sure to tip your bartender! No really, seems like I'm here all week with this writing. But next up is Ace and his cute little Rod Steward. There is no relation to the decrepit old rocker with the Ziggy Stardust mullet...but rather Rod is a relative of Mater and more like a Spongebob on wheels. Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Your mother, that's who!

If you want my body and you think I'm sexy, come on baby let me know. Sorry, I wasn't getting all saucy there. I just got that Rod Stewart song stuck in my head now. My mother thought he was the hottest thing ever, which is what made me think of that joke earlier. Anyway, she might also like this little Bat Tumbler as built by Krika99. If you're wondering what this build is doing in a face related challenge, it has a bat face...sort of. At least it does in the original blueprints anyway.

Shunazaver is back and has built Randy Vannis...an anthropomorphic garbage truck...thingy. He also tells us school has been a drag since it's the last week and all. Yeah I remember the last days of school. It's only a few short days before summer vacation starts and I forget everything I've ever learned.

Man, as I'm writing this I've made grilled cheese sandwiches for the first time in this new apartment and the smoke alarm is going off like crazy! I really ought to leave the multi-tasking to Administrative Assistants and single moms. Doing a little multi-tasking of his own is Oldeconoline with his official Ultimate Batmobile set that looks like its been defaced in garish Joker colors.

Also good at creating alternate models of official Lego sets is NK DeSign-er with this Uri Grant character...better known as Granturi, cousin to the ever popular Lighting McQueen. NK tells us this was modded from the 5867 Cteator Super Speedster set. Neat!

Not to make this build all about me, but this build is all about me. Let me explain. Thanks to the aforementioned move, this month marks the first in LUGNuts history that I had to sit out a challenge. If I had the time to build, this...uh...Fisher Price oldschool toy phone vehicle thingy was exactly what I was going to build! Yep, I even was gathering reference pics on my desktop. Luckily Nathan Proudlove pulled through with his own sweet version...and with the Santa Bikes, pair of Deoras, and nearly two evil clown trucks, this isn't the first time Nathan and I have come up with the same sick idea.

While Nathan and I have proven to share the same malformed brain, Ralph Savelsberg is surely a one-of-a-kind thinker with this fully transforming Autobot Tracks. While transformers are not a new idea, even in Lego, he has surely been unique with his ability to blur the rules of the challenge by giving this car a face...hidden within its robotic alter-ego. Difficult to build, yet flawless in its execution, this is some good stuff right there!

Dohoon Kim adds his own particular style to lovable Mack the '85 Superliner. Mack was voiced by the blue collar sounding John Ratzenberger who incidentally also voiced Hamm Truck, Abominable Snow Plow, P.T. Flea Car in the first Cars movie. Wow, now that is some great multi-tasking!

If you like all things lime green, you'll surely be tickled pink (or green) for this Giselle Grocery Getter built by Tim Inman. Don't let its understated form fool you, this build is truly complex and is currently on display at the Costa Mesa Community Window Lego Store Display. Way to go, Tim! I must admit, I do like her blue eye shadow. Classy!

Equally...um...classy is this Hot Rodded out V-12 Semi Truck built by Jonathan Derksen. What...who said blue eye shadow and hot rodded trucks aren't classy? Yeah, I guess those traits are decidedly trashy, not classy...but hey, ya gotta admit hot rods are cool and there's just something about a gal in blue eye shadow. Makes me wanna head to Walmart.

And speaking of which, it looks like Rolic's little baby girl has gotten to mom's makeup case and defiled one of his famous white cars with it. But no, that garish lipstick and blue eye shadow is brick built on purpose. This means Rolic must be acquiring at least some pieces in other colors besides white. Will we see future creations in surprising new colors any time soon? Only time will tell for sure, but I really hope so.

Star Trek, Star Wars...even Battlestar Galactica has an expanded universe for nerds to ponder over, and according to Kaitimar, so does Cars. Here we see Rudy the Riot Cop Riot Squad Police Vehicle from the Cars expanded universe suited up for when the citizens of Radiator Springs goes loco and is in need of some good old fashioned...um...riot policing. Don't taze me, bro!

While you're still figuring out that last internet meme you can quietly ponder the sound of one hand clapping...and this cute little Zen Master Pitty built by Raphy. He keeps the zen garden tranquil and all...um...zen-like with his rake. Shhhh...be quiet. You don't want to harsh his zen mellow, dudes.

Shhhhhhh. And with that, lets quietly ponder next month's challenge called Everything Under The Sun. We're not encouraged to build everything under the sun but rather everything...under the sun. Its all about vehicles where the driver's heads are exposed to the elements to enjoy the summer sun. Formula 1 racers, motorcycles, tractors and...um...topless convertibles are all the rage in this month's challenge so... SHOW US YOUR BOOBS!!! ......shhhhhhhhhh!! I mean...show us your topless summery cars. Shhhhh...I'm off to build now. Stay tuned to see how we do next month. Night night, everyone. Shhhhh.

LEGO Porsche 911 (997) Turbo Cabriolet PDK

2011-07-08T23:34:00.000-05:00

This is un-freaking-believable. Almost makes me want to get into Technic again... almost.

via Jalopnik

Plus Or Minus Ten Round Up

2011-06-11T16:52:00.007-05:00

Ever have one of them days where you wake up in a puddle of your own vomit only to realize later that the vomit wasn't your own after all? I never did but I figured it would be a hilarious and irrelevant segue into this month's round up for a challenge called...Plus or Minus Ten...where we take the year we were born, then add plus or minus ten years, then build accordingly. This challenge best portrayed a generational divide between the youngsters and their super modern rides and the oldsters who preferred to keep them the hell off their lawn. And we all overlapped somewhere in the 80's. Lets see how we did, shall we?

Born in '98, Dohoon Kim goes plus ten with this 2008 KTM X-Bow. I had to look it up but its a real car that seems to be a cross between a go-kart and a formula 1 racer. I woke up today (not in a puddle of vomit) not knowing what an X-Bow is and now I want one!

And speaking of things I want, Legogil goes minus ten with this flashy red '67 'Stang Shelby GT500. That grille, those headlights, the white rally stripes, the big engine, the aggressive stance, the roulette wheel rims, even the corrugated seats are all Mustang, baby!

Its been awhile but Lego Guy graces us again and goes minus ten with this 1982 Series 3 Land Rover. The blue light on the roof denotes that its some kind of emergency vehicle....exactly what is the emergency at hand is a little unclear. Maybe someone ran out of hot sauce at a chili cook-off. That's a major emergency, for sure!

And speaking of hot sauce emergencies, something else that raises my core temperature is this '81 Harley Davidson FLH 1340 as built by the chrome master himself, Bricksonwheels. He went plus ten with this chrome-laden marvel making Mr. 'Wheels and I the exact same age. Now why didn't we do a buddy challenge on this one? Oh right, too busy doing our own thing.

Speaking of my own thing, Lino Martins goes minus ten with this wild custom '61 Dodge Polara called Aztec Gold. Chopped, lowered, with a ruby dazzled grille and a fiery lowrider paint job, this doozie ought to stand out at any car show or brick convention.

Born in '72, Lego911 shows the young whooper-snappers and grumpy old men alike how its done with his first of many entries, this one being an '82 Porsche 944 Coupe rendered in luxurious, yet demure grey.

If demure luxury is not your thing and you'd rather let your mullet flap in the breeze while rockin' out to Led Zeppelin, Lego911 conjures up what the cool teens were driving with this '82 Chevy Camaro. Bitchin' Dude!

Just to show off his versatility with the rendered bricks, Peter shows us what the more forward thinking sportier types were driving in '82...the Ford Sierra XR4Ti.

Europeans and sensible types were driving the BMW E30 3-Series M-3 back in '82. Undoubtedly they wore skinny piano ties and listened to Human League's "Don't You Want Me" on their tape decks. CD's didn't come out until '85, kids. Just thought you'd like to know that.

And what were Europeans and sensible types doing twenty years prior? Turns out they were driving the '62 1500 BMW Saloon. This car defined the iconic BMW DNA (and incidentally their financial security) for the next 50 years. And what were they grooving to on the radio back then? Probably "Green Onions" by Booker T and the MG's.

Penguins aren't just arctic birds and Batman villains anymore. And it isn't just youngsters who make up their own cars. Peter was a youngster once and back then he made up the boxy '82 Penguin. This car may seem uneventful, but it marked the beginning of a looooong prolific career of both LEGO car design and real car design. Good to see he stuck to his roots!

And back in '62 when suave and debonair men were drinking their martinis shaken, not stirred, they were doing it in the stylish
Ferrari 400 Superamerica Coupe Aerodinamico. It was a different time back then...you could drink behind the wheel so long as you were classy about it.

In '82 Sweden introduced the Volvo 740 Estate wagon and the 760 Saloon. Even though it was more of a 70's Disco thing Sweden was still listening to Abba in '82. In fact, Abba is still a national treasure there and its against the law to badmouth them...its an enforced arrest-able offense. Go ahead, look it up, its all true!

And in '82 when cruel and ignorant men were taking over major corporations, they were doing it in style with this Ferrari 512 BBi - Boxer Berlinetta. Also they had sultry nearly naked women strewn across the hood as evidenced by all the Ferrari posters in the 80's.

And when you want to leave the 80's behind you would be Gillies Villeneuve and you would do it in your '82 Ferrari 126 C2. Peter tells us '82 was a dark year for the entire Scuderia Ferrari team as not only did they lose their popular Villeneuve but another driver was involved in a career ending accident. Yowza!

Now this is just the kind of buddy challenge you want to see. Nathan and Ralph were both born in '75 so the Jack of All Trades and the Maestro of the Studs collaborated to come up with this neat pair of brown Caddies, Nathan with the '85 and Ralph taking on the 20 year older '65. Both are using Ralph's Devil May Care Lettin' All The Studs Show style. Ya gotta love it!

It was a different time when I was born, way back in '71. Smoking a lot and putting out a cigarette on your kid's arm was considered good parenting. But being born in '93, thankfully Aaron F1 knows nothing about that world as evidenced by this sweet little '83 Lamborghini Countach LP500 QV.

I bet that cruel little segue surprised ya, didn't it? What can I say, I was bored and wanted to see if you were paying attention. What didn't surprise any of us though is the fact that Jmaokoen has built yet another F1 racer. This one is a 1985 Brabham BT54.

Krika99 tells us the Bat-Pod ejected from the bat Tumbler in 2008. Its true, too. I've got the Dark Knight DVD right here to prove it. It seems like just yesterday I was watching that and thinking Sweet Baby Jeebus, how cool is that!? And in the whole scheme of things it seems like just yesterday that Krika99 was born. In '98 I graduated from college.

Rolic breaks all the rules with this '99 SAAB 9-5 wagon first manufactured 10 years before the birth of...his baby daughter. He tells us the rule breaking would offer some irony for the round up but I think the irony started right in the opening paragraph and just got way more twisted from there. Here's to a bright future for his little girl...and the SAAB is pretty sweet too.

And speaking of a young man with a bright future, Raphy chimes in with this 1987 Chevrolet Camaro in Gumball livery. I wonder if that's the same as gum ball livery? 'Cuz gum balls can be pretty colorful, right? No? Anyway, sweet Camaro. It just needs a high school dropout with a mullet and a black led Zeppelin T-shirt...and maybe a thin mustache. Chicks dig the 'stash!

Chicks might also dig this '67 Chevy truck as built by Tim Inman and best known for the fuel heist scene at the beginning of Fast and Furious 4. Then he goes on to tell us he was born, in '81, not '77 but the '67 shares a body style with the '71. Now I'm all sorts of confused but that must be all the chrome. You see, I'm like a goldfish, as soon as I see something shiny I forget all that I know.

Ok, what was I doing here? Oh right! Wrapping up this round up and talking about the next challenge. This one is called Cars, Too and is sort of a Cars 2 tie in with any other car with a face. The skull and cross bones blazoned across the hood of the Death Proof Nova would totally work for this challenge or anything from children's illustration book would work as well. How will we...um...Face off in this challenge? You'll just have to stay tuned next time to see! Get it? Face off. Hah! I can't believe how funny I am! Can I get a hell yeah all up in here?! C'mon, who's with me?! Ahh forget it then! See ya next time.

Autos Aus Deutschland Roundup

2011-05-04T15:32:00.007-05:00

So...we've gone all German on you and made a build challenge strictly based on German cars. It was bound to happen really, what with the German auto industry being so strong...and contrary to Henry Ford would like to think, Germany is the birthplace of the automobile. In spite of our love for the German automakers, the entries were a little sparse at first. I was going to crack some joke about this roundup being as quick and efficient as the German people themselves, but a lot of entries poured in at the last minute, rounding out this challenge to be a pretty good one. So, how do we fare when the challenge is based on a place where they make great cars, the beer is good and plentiful and David Hasselhoff is king? Lets get to it!

Jmaokoen is the first off the starting line with appropriately might be the fastest car of the whole lot...this Mercedes GP W02 F1 racer. He proves to stay well within his comfort zones on this one by building yet another F1 racer. Some people are like that. Eh, at least its German.

You might say he veered just a little outside his comfort zones with this rather neat little Porsche 908/3 LeMans racer. Its chock full of that slick rounded Porsche goodness. Jmaokoen tells us it took all kinds of victories in its dozen year history. Alright!

Dohoon Kim shows us all how the 1980 Audi Quattro is done. Turns out its done by trying to build the Audi R8, failing miserably, then cranking out this instead. Good to know whenever I'm trying to build the 1980 Audi Quattro...start it as an R8, throw it against the wall, then build Quattro. Thanks for the tip!

Next he shows us an entire Mercedes-Benz racing team...or rather a group of vehicles that would be a team had they all been the same color scheme. The black truck is the Actros Tractor Trailer, the blue is a '54 Renntransporter "Blue Wonder" towing a Silver Arrow racer. The F1 racer in a slightly different scale is a Mercedes-McLaren MP4-24. Its a whole mismatched team!

In my opinion an all German challenge would be nothing without an old or new VW Beetle. Luckily Dohoon pulls through on his final entry with this little red 2005 convertible Cabrio. Just look at that pudgy, round little form! We can all die happy now. But before we do...

You know who likes the BMW 635 CSI? Jason Son, that's who! I think I've got two of these parked under my carport...both owned by my landlord and both in rough shape collecting dust. Dust so thick there are words and phrases smudged into the grime. Words like "wash me", "I love daddy" and "vagina". Its true. Thankfully this one is pristine, well constructed and dust free.

And speaking of pristine and well constructed, Jason son,s second entry is the iconic Bugatti Veyron. This shows you what I know. Bugatti sounds like a fine wine you'd drink with a nice Italian fettucini alfredo but its a French car brand, an Italian creator, hence its name, and is parented by the Volkswagen Group, making it indeed a German car. Thats a truly international fine wine!

Also fine is Jason Son's final entry...the Mercedes-Benz SLS Roadster complete with flip up doors and a red on white color scheme. Its multiple entries like this that turn what would have been an otherwise sparse challenge into something pretty special. Thanks all those who have submitted multiple entries.

Chiming in with only one entry but no less important is new guy Nboston with his 1990 BMW E30 M3 complete with engine on a hoist. The blue lighting effect makes it look like its nighttime in a florescent lit cardboard garage. Yep, that's what I'm going with...florescent lit cardboard garage.

If you need a stubby truck to hall all your...um...stubby things, look no further than this 1975 Mercedes Unimog 406 built by hgaphoto. Funny word, Unimog. If only LEGO would team up with Mercedes to come out with a future Technic set of an Unimog preferrably in orange with new never before seen tires and a working winch. Sigh...If only. A boy can always dream. ;)

Also with Unimogs on the brain is dockfisher98 with this fire Unimog. It almost sounds like Oh my God, its a Unimog! Yeah, thats all I got for a joke on this one. Yeah, I know...probably the most deserving of some good jokes is this entry and I've got nothing. Oh well.

Ralph Savelsberg knows that sometimes even the most practical and efficient of German people get a little rowdy on occasion...usually during Oktoberfest. This is when they recruit the help of this Polizei BMW wagon. Ralph tells us this is a German car found only in Germany. He also tells us "Ich habe es geschafft", which according to google translator means "I did it!"

Lino Martins had low expectations for this Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss Edition. Its gray, sort of plain looking, not my usual thing. But it quickly got within the top ten of your faved images of all time...and that was before making it onto Brothers Brick. This ended my 9 month losing streak on BB, 11 months if you consider only cars. Thanks for all the faves and the confidence, guys!

There's a phenomenon online where you yell (or rather type) FIRST! when you're the first to comment on something. Vmln8r did this but he wasn't first to enter our challenge, but rather 12th. In this case he's referring to something much more profound...the first gas powered automobile, the 1886 Patent Motorwagen as invented by Karl Friedrich Benz. I'm sure Mr. Benz yelled FIRST! once he got this baby rolling!

Lego911's childhood must have been full of fine german automobiles as he presents a selection of renders from his childhood. First is the Porshe 928-S4. Kinda like Return of the Jedi, this is the mid-eighties update to the 1977 original. Also like the original Star Wars series (not the prequels) this car design withstood the test of time remarkably well.

Also from his childhood is this 1976 BMW E24 6-Series Coupe. It must have been good being Lego911 as a kid in the 70's My childhood was mostly spent in the backseat of a 1970 Pinto moving from one Navy base to another. And with the reputation for the Pinto to explode and its legacy of being one of the world's all-time crap cars its a wonder I turned out even remotely OK.

I sometimes wear aluminum foil wrapped around my head to keep the aliens from stealing my brainwaves. And I like to sleep with my head in a catcher's mitt. So much for me turning out even remotely OK then. But what turned out more than OK is this third entry by Peter, the Audi R8. It shares some design cues from the Italian Lambo, that's because VW owns Lamborghini. Who knew?! But one thing they don't own is my brainwaves thanks to this foil hat. They'll never get me!

If its cool, refreshing and yellow, it might be a tall glass of lemonade...or this classic 1972 BMW 3.0CSL built by Legogil. There is no mistaking that iconic BMW grille or its tart, lemony goodness. I'm talking about the car and a glass of lemonade, not one thing...ah never mind! Just enjoy the bright yellow car pic.

Also with bright yellow cars on the brain (and if he knows what's good for him, an aluminum foil hat) is Raphy with his Audi Quattro. Whatever happened to the LEGO line for babies called Quatro? They were like 8 times the size in volume of Duplo bricks but I'm sure some dumb kid found a way to get hurt with them anyway. This is why we can no longer have Easy-Bake Ovens or Snoopy Sno-cone Machines.

And for his next stunt, Raphy goes with this mostly badly built unspecified year (his words, not mine) Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9. Badly built or not, he's going a little avant-garde with the photography...placing the car small and to the lower right like a lonely orphan on a field of gray. And I've gone a little avant-garde with that writing description!

Next Raphy went with the also unspecified year NSU Ro80. He tells us he "chose something a little more less known for this one, he didn't want to make only mainstream cars, even though it's not totally obscure - they made about 80,000 of 'em." He also tells us this was the only German car powered by a rotary. Is that like those oldschool rotary phones?

Last on the Raphy slab is this BMW 2002 Turbo...also built in an unspecified year. Nope, 2002 is not the year, but rather its class. The years in production of this model was 1968-1976. The production for this particular model was probably an hour or so sometime in the last week of April. See what I did there?

Ace tells us the unspecified year Porsche 935 is the fastest 911 in history and also the ugliest. I don't know, the real Porsche 935 isn't without its charms. This one...not a very faithful replica but considering its small scale its not bad either. Its just alright. It leaves me no jokes about lemonade or foil hats so...lets just segue into the final paragraph.

There has been a lot of unspecified year entries late in this challenge but for next month, all entries must be year specifc. Let me explain...we're calling it Plus Or Minus Ten. You take the year you were born, then build any car, truck, or bike from either ten years before or ten years after your birth year. We can all choose from two vastly different eras exactly twenty years apart. Already we're seeing a generational divide between many LUGNuts members. Youngins will probably build something either super modern or...also modern while the oldsters may likely go retro with ten years before their birth. Everyone seems to agree that they'll skip the 80's. As of writing this passage we have very little entries, but the month is still young so stay tuned to see how we pull this one off. Until next time, I'll keep my foil hat on so no one knows what I'll be entering. I suggest you all do the same.

Snowed In Round Up

2011-04-12T00:38:00.012-05:00

In this month's Snowed In challenge, I wanted to see rough and tumble vehicles made to handle the snow and ice. We're talking snowplows, ice racers, snowmobiles, arctic explorers...the whole icy works! Well, it seems I got what I wanted in abundance! Early on, we've found out that some LUGNutters have been buried in three feet of the frigid stuff nearly every day since November while others have never seen even a solitary snowflake. Still, everyone stepped up to the plate with their frosty creations. So lets sit back with some hot chocolate (spiked, if you are so inclined) and see how we did, shall we?

At the first sign of frost, Dohoon Kim is the first on the icy scene with a trifecta of rugged vehicles made to tackle the snow. The first is a neat little snowmobile for those who don't mind playing in the freezing cold. The little minifig guy looks determined to wake us all up at 5 am with his revving engine.

Sometimes when there's just too much snow for even the little snowmobile guy you have to call none other than these other minifig guys and their snowplow truck...complete with plow and caterpillar traction. Sweet!

No school snow days are merely a fond fading memory when you have this rough and tumble school bus on hand to take those crying kiddies off to school. Now you can't blame failing grades on the weather. Now failing grades are because you just suck at algebra. Ah, the memories!

Then much later, Dohoon comes back with another trifecta of icy treats. Made to tackle the snow...and to belittle nerds in the school parking lot, is this Hummer H2 in bright yellow. Now the bullies who drive them are going to have to find another way to vent their 'roid rage as the entire Hummer brand came to an end in 2010.

A snowplow tractor might be just what you need to shovel away that huge mountain of snow left by the other plows at the head of your driveway. How does he make that trans-yellow flamey light thingy float like that?

Finishing off the Dohoon Kim slab is this huge GMC Topkick 4500 pickup truck in sleek black...complete with dual stack exhaust pipes. Now thats cool!

CJay reheats some old leftovers with this Izuzu Dump Truck with Snow Plow built way back in October. There's no rule saying you can't rehash old MOCs for our challenges. Oh wait, there is! We just didn't write it down anywhere. But yeah, we prefer new stuff. Its still cool though, ya gotta admit, and like most of what CJay does a marvel of techic engineering.

Sangi13 reaches for his usual red...no, wait...WHITE pieces to whip up this '89 International Plow Truck complete with all the bells and whistles including 3-way tilt play and state-of-the-art sander and salter. And a little lime green, chrome and black thrown in...with nary a red brick in sight.

Except for his second entry...predictably all red. It's an Izuzu NPR 3500. Isn't NPR a radio program for uptight intellectuals to listen to stories about patchwork quilting or wheat fields or something? I don't know...NPR seems void of good old Rock and Roll.

Dylan Denton turns off the heat and...um...cranks up the cold (is that even possible?) with this dark green and white Suzuki Samurai amped up with tank treads and working plow. Here we see it negotiating the punishing terrain of real live snow. Lets see you top that, Australia!

No stranger to real live snow is Nathan Proudlove, who lives in the Great White North called Canada. He is, however, a stranger to his own house as he's been housesitting for a few months...which is why he's been pilfering through some kid's Lego stash to build his entries. The tundra buggy is designed to observe lots of Lotso bears in their natural habitat.

New to LUGNuts but not new to Lego is Builder42 with his bright yellow, tough as nails Arctic Exploration Vehicle. According to the link to the real thing Its actually a highly customized Humvee...which makes it totally badass. I'm glad Yoder...uh, I mean Builder42 can join in our reindeer games. Finally!

The most prolific Lego automotive builder alive has a short run this time...just one car. Peter Blackert presents a 2011 Ford Fiesta WRC in as many bright colors as a kindergartner's crayon box. At first glance it just seems like some really cool rally car...which it is, but its real counterpart made its debut in the snow and ice packed Rally of Sweden this past February. Go Team Ford!

Forget snow plows, forget tank treads, forget rally racers in bright colors. Sometimes all you need to handle the snow and ice is a good reliable SUV. Speaking of good and reliable, Peteris Sprogis conjures up some LCAD wizardry and renders a very realistic looking Toyota FJ Cruiser. There is one of these parked just two apartments down from my place and this render is a spitting image of the real thing. same color and everything.

Dan has lost his poor little dog but thankfully this story and diorama built as Peteris' second entry has a happy ending. He climbs into his yellow off roader and finds his four-legged friend in the frozen forest. (You like my use of alliteration there?) The dirt trail running diagonally through the snow covered terrain makes for an interesting composition. I'm glad it all turned out well.

Oldeconoline has a little fun and takes the challenge name very literally with this Snowed In little blue car and parka wearing would be driver. For those who have never seen snow, get a good look because this is very much a reality. Snow is heavy and shoveling your vehicle out of it is an arduous chore...but this smiling little minifig takes it all in stride!

Legogil probably doesn't see much snow all the way down in Brazil...but his research has accurately portrayed the rough and tumble Pisten Bully Rescue Vehicle. The talk of the town over in Gilville had to do with all the great little details including wench, wipers and the stretcher for rescuing lost or injured people. There's lots of nice things happening here.

When thinking ice and snow, low and sleek Formula One racers don't really come to mind, but Jmaokoen seems to pride himself in never leaving his comfort zones. He finds a way to build yet another Formula One racer, but this time specially rigged with snow skis for the Grand Prix of Norway. Its innovative, I'll give him that.

When thinking ice and snow, custom motorcycles don't come to mind either, but luckily Lino Martins was the only one crazy enough this challenge to whip up an ice racer bike complete with nasty spiked teeth to bite firmly into the ice. Its odd color scheme and overall idea was loosely based on the one-of-a-kind TGS Seppster 2.

Tim Inman tears up the snow in sleek style and luxury with this Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV. Tim tells us this sweet ride started life as a German military vehicle in the late 70's/early 80's when it was known as the Geländewagen or "cross country vehicle." Everything sounds so much cooler and efficient in German. Das Geländewagen!

If you think Tim's Mercedes would be the only big black SUV this challenge you'd be dead wrong! Rolling in just behind Tim's ride is Firas Abu-Jaber's Chevy Tahoe complete with both wheeled and snow tread conversions. This brute SUV has enough bling and safety features to keep any soccer mom riding in style and as it turns out...this was a commissioned piece to be sent all the was to the US from Jordan. May it have a safe journey.

We're not done with snow treaded black Chevys yet. Jason Son chimes in with a 1979 Chevy Monte Carlo specially equipped for homies to ride low and slow across the arctic tundra. Its all about oldschool American muscle meets frigid temeratures in this wild and crazy ride. Its like something they would have done on Monster Garage.

What did old-timey dudes do when Mother Nature dumped tons of snow all up in this piece? They probably relied on this 1929 Oshkosh Dumper and Plow built by Christophbrill. It has a rugged grey color but the bright yellow plow means serious business when it comes to clearing that pesky snow outta the way!

And what did old-timey dudes do when Mother Nature dumped tons of snow all up in this piece...and they wanted to have fun? Improbcat shows us with the right tools and a lot of know-how you can turn any Model T into a snowmobile. He tells us there were at least a half dozen companies like Snow Flyer who would do conversions like this. I wonder if they'd turn a snowmobile into a Model T.

Sometimes we play in the snow, sometimes we shovel it, sometimes we make snow forts with it. But sometimes we just want it the heck out of our lives once and for all. Thats when we call upon the big guns...the really big guns...like this JBC Backhoe Loader built by Ralph Savelsberg. I'm digging the brick built digger. See what I did there?

The Big Rafalski endured one parking ticket and a land speed record in order to make it back from Buffalo, NY to photo shoot this Plow King Snowplow. Built with only parts from two sets, the creator Fire Rescue (6752) and the creator Dune Hopper (5763), this pickup was a challenge, given its limited piece selection. I'd say he stepped up to the challenge nicely.

But young Raphy stepped up to the challenge like no other. Let me explain. The plow truck itself is Raphy's usual four wide fare, but the photography is well staged. Excessive snow really brightens the night sky and the whole scene looks so real you can hardly tell those are Lego trees back there. The lens is slightly blurred, the snow is...flour and the headlight effect was done with the help of Sangi13. Nice job, boys!

And finally to clean up this snowy mess once and for all is new guy ks51455 with his Technic Big Rig Snowplow. Here we see the bright yellow truck negotiating the punishing terrain of real live snow, proving once and for all that even in late March there is still snow somewhere. Apparently they didn't get the memo wherever ks lives that in March we should be marching into spring. Maybe next month then. Next month for sure.

Speaking of next month, its here already and we've gone to the place where beer is plentiful, David Hasselhoff is king...and they make some fine automobiles. Stick around to see how we do in the challenge aptly named Autos Aus Deutschland...all about German cars. Its like the only three German words I could get together without messing it up...actually I needed to consult someone so there goes any notion that I might be good at something. So will yours be a BMW, an Audi, a Volkswagen or a cute little Smart Car? I guess we'll have to wait and see. Until then, I bid you the only other German word I know... Gesundheit!

What a 'vette!

2011-04-05T17:32:00.001-05:00

DSC04218
Originally uploaded by Henrik Hoexbroe

This '74 Stingray by LUGNuts new guy Henrik Hoexbroe is delicious. A gorgeous model of a gorgeous car. Great job Henrik and welcome to LUGNuts.

For The Ladies Round Up

2011-03-03T13:53:00.008-06:00

So...how does a bunch of car building casanovas impress the pretty ladies in our lives? Well, it turns out we dedicate a whole build challenge just for them. In this month's attempt to make good with the estrogen set we've built girly cars, cars with chick names or vehicles proposed by our wives, girlfriends, mothers, sisters and best female friends. Did we earn heartfelt kisses and adoration from our ladies or restraining orders for the whole lot of us? lets see how we did, shall we?

Zenn proves right off the bat that cars built for girls isn't always about pink hearts and flowers. His Rockabilly girlfriend wanted a devilish looking hot rod so Mr. Zenn delivers the goods with this chopped little dirty devil aptly named El Diablo. Man, check out that cow skull up front! I'm still drooling over all the little details! Seems like Zenn's lady friend is one awesome chick!

Later Zenn tells us El Diablo needed a companion so he whipped up this rough and tumble little yellow rod named Daisy Cutter. This slammed little beauty was inspired by Ol' Skool Rodz magazine. As I'm familiar with thumbing through the mag's retro/ rockabilly style I can say its the absolute best magazine where everything in the title is spelled wrong.

Some women are big, square and bossy...as evidenced by this 2004 Chevy Avalanche Off-Roader built by Sangi13. Her name is Matilda. With a name like that, you can expect glaring headlights, a snarling grille, fat balloony tires and a cold, impenetrable exterior. Sounds like someone I've once dated!

Later in the challenge, Sangi comes back with the equally red 2011 Sangerati PUG. He tells us this made up car is a great chick truck...good for strolling the back roads and not so much for hauling the family trailer. He thinks women like things small, cute, and wrinkly and...um...it seems I can't disprove that right now.

Further proving that chicks seem to like small and cute things is this little white Rabbit Cabriolet built by A(E. Ahh, White Rabbit, what a trippy song. "One pill makes you larger, one pill makes you small. And the one that mother gave you don't do anything at all. Go ask Alice when she's ten feet tall." Dude, like my hand is soooo huge, man! Whoooah!

Brazil just got a little cooler. Legogil has a wife and she wanted her automotive maestro to build her a 55 Ford Ranch Wagon complete with an icy cool tri-color motif. We've learned to expect neat surprises from Gil, like the chrome bumpers and custom grille. I've always had a soft spot for the Ford Ranch Wagon and Gil's '55 proudly joins the ranks of Nathan's '57 and my '59.

In Shunik's world, cars of the future have retro bubble domes and are about as aerodynamic as a low-income housing project. Looking like a cross between a lunar lander and a pop-o-matic is this Eloyan Motors E_C-6. The only thing nixing this from our automotive group is its tiny, tiny wheels made of gears. But he did it in honor of his best friend Ellie so for that we have to say...daw, how cute! Hope she liked it, Shunik.

Christophbrill gets in touch with his feminine side and delivers something I hoped to see in this challenge...a vehicle with really girly colors. Pricilla Pitstop is looking truly pretty in her pink and yellow Compactor Pussycat complete with a darling little pink parasol. The colors may say pretty pink priss but the balloony tires and crushed cars screams of macho aggression!

Another pretty car is this sleek and futuristic Ice9 built by Mahjqa. True to his usual Mahjqa style, this vehicle is a working marvel of engineering and can be seen in a vid zipping across the floor and around obstacles at breakneck speeds. This vehicle, and others like it, can also be seen speeding across the ice in another vid. I've grown to love his humor...scaring the poor little duck on the ice pond was funny and he sometimes humorously shows us that not every take is a perfect as can be.

Peteris Sprogis knows the way to a woman's heart is with...some more hearts. He tells us Mr. Valentine has delivered newly made heart-shaped sculptures for all the ladies of Lego City as gifts for Valentine's Day. Awwww isn't that sweet? Just be careful. A passionate love like this can sometimes end in a broken heart, a stained mattress and a huge Visa bill!

Speaking of love ending badly, this one ends with two chicks stealing a gun, blowing up a truck, running from the law and driving themselves off a cliff to their untimely doom. Here Matthew Maulfair has built the famous '56 Thunderbird convertible driven by none other than Thelma and Louise. They're a couple of tough broads as evidenced by their cut off sleeves and butch haircuts. I think they were on the women's softball team or something.

Raphy proves that love can go badly right from the get go with this badass Misterzumbi style rat rod named Jane Eyre. Slammed to the ground, nearly 19 feet long and with towering flames lighting up the night sky...this girl ain't pretty! In fact, she could be one of those chicks you'd think to be the badass girl of your dreams only to turn out to be a 6ft. Filipino dude. I'm just sayin'...be careful out there, gentlemen.

It's a safe bet that our admin Tim Inman spent Valentine's Day alone with this rolling stereotype...the '84 Dodge Caravan. This grocery getter is factory equipped with not to be missed humorous details like faux wood paneling, baby seat, jelly stain on the carpet, teddy bear and an uninspired 2.2L 4 cylinder engine. And the icing on this dismal, fat inducing cake is the severed gas hose sticking out of the fueling port. This vehicle just screams...I've given up my dreams of modeling school to schlepp the kids to soccer practice while in my gravy stained sweatpants!

We can't help but love the women in our lives, but some are prone to mood swings and can get cranky occasionally. Sometimes they even set themselves on fire and murder a bunch of dudes like Christine here, built by Dohoon Kim. This downright dastardly girl is one of the most famous cars in the world and Dohoon does a great job of replicating her shape. When that Victorian dude penned "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" he was surely talking about this '58 Plymouth Fury.

Just like Christine, this air cooled rear engine '65 Corvair Corsa built by Lino Martins has been dubbed "Unsafe At Any Speed". But there was no fury at all while building this underdog labor of love, in dark blue, with rally stripes and white interior, as specified by my girlfriend, Lorraine. Here we see Lego Lorraine, complete with a grey streak and built accurately taller than Lego Lino. Thats ok, I'm secure in my short-ness. Even Lorraine was surprised at how much these figs really look like us.

GoRiLLaWeR squeezes out a sweet version of the famous Herbie The Love Bug. His write up doesn't say much, so it's a little unclear as to how this build pertains to this month's challenge other than chicks just dig Herbie's cute little form...and most recently he was driven by the drunk and disorderly Lindsay Lohan in Herbie: Fully Loaded. Incidentally Miss Lohan was also fully loaded while making the film. See what I did there? Ah, Lindsey...just 24 and already has and old, gravelly smoker's voice!

Jason H tells us he doesn't have a little sister, but if he did, she'd be sure to coo with delight over this cute little 50's era pedal car. He reminds us that sometimes the important ladies in our lives can be of the little variety. As a result I have no jokes about Lindsay's gravelly cigar voice or Britney Spears' head shaving, no panty wearing insane tirade. So just enjoy the cuteness!

Also cute but in a grown up, sexy way is this sleek car named Velvet Von Black as built by new LUGNutter Captain Spaulding. The name came from a character played by the sultry Rosario Dawson. And Rosario, honey...if you're reading this (and surely you're not!) I loved you in Death Proof. I'm down with the swirl, if you know what I mean. Just a little chocolate and vanilla love all over my tiny basement apartment. Think about it, baby. Call me, ok?

And while I ponder getting my first celebrity restraining order, lets get a big steamy gawk at jmaokoen's little 751 Formula One racer. He tells us that Lella Lombardi drove to 6th in the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix, making her the only woman in history to score points in Formula One. Wait...really? 6th place is the best a girl can do? Didn't Danica Patrick or somebody blow that out of the water by now?

Speaking of big and steamy, Bad Furday very accurately portrays Mary Anne the happy steam shovel from the story book Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. One thing I like about writing these round ups is I get to learn new things from our LUGNuts. I didn't know anything about the book before but now I'm intrigued. Its about changing times and one man's enduring love for his steam shovel. I can relate...I once loved a cement mixer.

Firas Abu-Jaber will have to spray off all the adoring women with a hose once they get a look at him and his sleek yellow Pagoni Zonda. Meaning "a pass in the Andes mountains", Zonda is an exotic girl's name and an equally exotic car. Speaking of beautiful exotic women with their exotic names, I'm certain Firas' girl Ruru is quite proud of her car building slab of man. Heh heh!

If you're anything like me, you've stayed up all night wondering whether it would be better to have a pencil sharpener in your nose or a ketchup dispenser in your bellybutton. If you're anything like me, you may have also come to the sound conclusion that the answer to this problem is unequivocally this Superbee Chibi Redux built by Professor Dumbledore...er, I mean Ley Ward. This tricky studs down creation was encouraged by Ley's wife, which means she must be pretty cool.

Coming in past the due date just like spoiled milk (Booyeah, I got to use that joke again!) is this 2011 Ford Territory Titanium Diesel CUV built by Peter Blackert. Being an Aussie engineer for Ford, Peter has had a hand in engineering this car in real life. Now his wife wants one and he's all like...pfffft, we don't need 7 seats and we ain't schlepping anyone else's kids around, thank you very much! Maybe Peter's Mrs has other plans for the little family. Just sayin' is all.

When the wife wants seven seats and cup holders for all of them, sometimes the best thing to do is to just make your second entry the much smaller and sportier Porsche 911 (996). Named Sally Carrera, this little baby blue number was one of the female characters in the Pixar animated film Cars. Its just the perfect car for Daddy and maybe one of the kids to ride off into the sunset in, leaving the seven seats and all the cup holders behind.

Remember that paid commission Dylan Denton was taunting us all with a few months back? Well, it turns out it was a replica of an awesome bumper-less custom 1970 Volkswagen Squareback beauty dubbed Ramona. This was Dylan's first ever commission and was requested by a friend. Young Dylan is starting off his Lego career right and now we can all say we knew him way back when he wasn't building Lego for the fame, the cash, and the groupies. Isn't that why we all build?

And finally, if its white and curvy it must be another Rolic creation. This time our Latvian lover of ladies (overuse of alliteration?) has accurately produced the Audi TT for his wife...who totally denies this being her favorite car. But this was her first choice and every time they play Need For Speed, this is her car of choice. C'mon, Rolic's honey, you can admit you're tickled pink for the Audi TT...and so are we! And isn't this really why we build...to impress each other and especially to impress women?

Whatever your reasons for building, we've got another challenge in the making called Snowed In...all about rough and tumble vehicles made to handle the snow and ice. We're talking snowplows, ice racers, snowmobiles, arctic explorers...the whole icy works! Early on, we've found out that some LUGNutters have been buried in three feet of the frigid stuff nearly every day since November while others have never seen even a solitary snowflake. Still, the show must go on, so stick around for next round up to see how we all do. Oh, and I have a solution for handling the snow and ice. Start off with your favorite mug, then add 1 oz of Amaretto, 1 oz of Orange Liqueur, 1 oz of Irish Cream, 1 oz of Hazelnut Liqueur and 1/4 oz of Cinnamon Schnapps. Fill the rest of the mug with fresh brewed hot black coffee and top with whipped cream. Its called Black Gold Coffee. Sip slowly by the fire while you watch your neighbor across the street shovel his driveway. You'll thank me later.

50's style Milk Churn Truck

2011-02-25T15:54:00.002-06:00

50's style Milk Churn Truck
Originally uploaded by bricktrix

This adorable little 50's flat bed in 7 ish wide will look great on Bricktrix' upcoming display. I look forward to seeing the parts all come together. In other news, Chris wunztwice" liked it so much, he paid homage to it with his own version, tipper truck style.

Doggie Style!

2011-02-14T22:30:00.001-06:00

SnoopDogg - Bones Bricks´n´Basics
Originally uploaded by "Orion Pax"

SnoopDogg - Bones Bricks´n´Basics album cover by Orion Pax is the shizzle!

Not a round-up.

2011-02-13T18:44:00.001-06:00

Smart transporter 1
Originally uploaded by Thomas Selander

Hey all you Lugnutters, I'm posting a non-challenge related post! Check out the little carhauler by LUGNuts member Thomas Selander. I don't know how I missed his stuff before, as it fits perfectly into my minifg scale world. 6-wide trucks FTW! (That's "for the win", not the other ftw.) Cheers, Thomas, I give this creation a hearty 5 out of Smart cars.

Octan Racing Round Up

2011-02-03T10:38:00.012-06:00

What happens when we're all asked to design vehicles based on the fictional Octan fuel company? Well, not only have we single-handedly quadrupled the amount of Octan related stuff on the internet, but made it infinitely cooler. The color schemes are all the same but the ideas produced are limitless. Lets move on and see what I mean, shall we?

Nolnet is the first to show us all how its done with this Octan Corvette Stingray Air Blaster Racer. Just stomp on the air blaster and it'll zip across the floor at break neck speed...or at least thats what I hope it does. Lets see if it'll jump through a ring of fire!

Ricecracker is not only a diet conscious food, but he's a LUGNut that shows us the proper way to break the rules. We're not supposed to build speed boats, since this being an automotive club, but tow the said speedboat (or Hydrolift)with a matching Ford F-350 pickup and you've got the formula for success right there.

Looking more like a Jackson Pollock painting than a MOC is this Mitsubishi concept racer by Shunik. Apparently the well known Japanese automotive company has taken to putting their car designs in a blender and hoping for the best. I'd say the concoction needs more bananas. And rum!

Legogil shows us the future of the Octan fuel company. Turns out its electric cars as evidenced by this cute little Honda EV-N concept complete with real working headlights. It makes sense that the forward thinking fuel company would expand to accommodate charging stations. Gil tells us the EV-N has a face like a pug puppy. I think he might be right!

Jake gets back into car building again with this rough and tumble Octan Dakar racer loosely based on a VW. I like the mud flaps and roll cage. I'd use a roll cage to store hot buttered dinner rolls. You know...roll cage. I guess I shouldn't write on an empty stomach.

Ok, I'm back and I'm full of dinner rolls. Good thing too, because jmaokoen has built a Formula 1 racer shaped like an Imperial Star Destroyer. He tells us its driven by OCTAvius ANtonelli...Octan...and was lightweight but unreliable as the drivetrain is made of Lego. Well, there's your problem, right there...its made of Lego!

Lino Martins also had Formula 1 racing on the brain this month as evidenced by this...um...Formula 1 racer. It has sort of a 90's era shape without all the curvy whizz-bangs and doodads that the ultra-modern F1 racers have. I'll probably never understand what all that stuff does.

I wanted my second entry to be vastly different from the first so I went with the cute little VW bug converted to a tough as nails Baja racer complete with roll cages, "stinger" exhaust pipe, spare tire, first aid kit and working suspension. The working suspension is a first for me as my prior attempt at suspension ('60 Chevy Apache) failed miserably.

We go from the Baja desert races across the world to the Dakar desert races with Ralph Savelsberg's Octan racing truck. All the endorsement stickers seem to work well in this scale and you can bet the whole farm that the talk of the town over at Ralphland has been the very cool use of minifig chairs as mudguards.

There is no rule saying your Octan vehicle has to be white with red and green highlights. Thanks to a lack of white pieces in Dohoon Kim's Lego collection, he stands out nicely with this mostly red Porsche 911. We get a glimpse into Dohoon's world with the clutter in the background and a car sceatch as he says he was feeling too lazy to set up the photo studio. Here's to laziness!

But in a bout of...not laziness, Dohoon comes back later in the challenge with a scaled down Octan trifecta. One is a drag racer.

The next does donuts out in the high school parking lot with this Octan drift car.

And finally Dohoon calls in the Octan tow truck to haul away any wrecked vehicles. He tells us there wouldn't be many wrecked vehicles because we all know folks who drive Octan cars are the safest, most conscientious drivers out there. Or something.

The artist formerly known as Dylan Denton (now a bunch of weird symbols) whips up a Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo in one day. He figures since Octan colors are red, white and green, he'd build a nice classic Italian racer. Now that's a spicy meat-a ball!

Later in the challenge, Dylan scales down his ride with a custom Dirt-Track Racing Truck. I like the green rims.

Next on the Dylan slab is a cleverly built mini Formula 1 racer complete with thick racing slicks. The shifter base without the shifter serves well as the driver's helmet.

Nathan Proudlove has been house sitting for the past month and as a result, the only Lego he has access to is some kid's hodge-podge collection. Yeah, I know how hard it is to build with some kid's collection. You get so frustrated that you just want to punch Howie Mandell in the face! But Nathan did a pretty good job with this wee monster truck considering his limited access to pieces.

Speaking of wee, Lego Junkie chimes in with this wee little Octan golf cart. He apparently has two tickets to the gun show...and I'm not talking about his biceps. Check out all the guns used as windshield stanchions and door rails. I'd hate to drive that thing half cocked. Heh...these gun jokes are pretty stupid!

Lets move on. Fe2cruz builds us the wee-est entries of all with these tiny cute little racing motorcycles and support truck. The whole lot could fit in the palm of your hand and was built to compete against the wee Ferrari/ Shell Lego City Racing team. Oh yeah, that reminds me, Shell is the other gas company Lego sometimes endorses. Screw those yellow and red jerks, Octan rules!

Sangi13 gets on his soap box to build a soap box racer. Normally these things are just gravity driven but this one has an engine...that could also maybe be a cash register or a coffee maker. There's no room for the driver's legs but the tires are hardcore Goodyear Eagles. Now that's classy!

Speaking of classy, Kryptonheidt chimes in with one of those weird asymmetrical winged sprint cars for all your driving-really-fast-in-one-direction-on-an-oval-track needs. This car has been on my own to-do list for awhile but he pulls it off nicely here.

Not to be outdone by his own self, Mr. Heidt also builds us a Super Stock car. Vrooom Vrrrrooooooommmm!!

Next on the slab he chills out with this cool little Octan snowmobile. I suppose that happy little arctic dude can't wear his hood and helmet at the same time.

Proving to be a busy month for Kryptonheidt, he lastly swoops in with this classic 1970 Plymouth Superbird. Now that is a car that screams down the racetrack!

Ace Carrera shows us that the usual Octan livery can look equally as good with a little black thrown in with this NASCAR racing truck. Livery...there's a word I've never heard of until this challenge. Is it a British thing? Is it pronounced liv-er-y or live-ry?

Jonathan Derksen puts away his usual blue and yellow...um...livery in favor of primarily red with white and green highlights with this 80's era Alfa Romeo 164 F1 Procar. Dark green either adds a bit of sophistication to the usual color scheme or reminds us of pasta. Either way, its pretty tasty!

This being an automotive group, we'd normally wouldn't accept military tanks into the mix. But I can't help but love this hilarious Octan colored Mexican tank called the TA-CO prototype built by the Bing-Bong Brothers. It was created to protect Octan's oil interests in the Middle East and also entered in the Dakar rally where it was a huge success. Viva la Bing-Bong!

Silcanter once again brings back the 90's era Lego Technic style with this Celeran. The outer skin is merely suggested in Octan colors so as to clearly showcase the mechanical guts within, including double wishbone suspension, manual transmission, working steering and a beefy V-12 engine. Mmmmm...beefy tacos.

This challenge has me thinking of food for some reason. Anyway, a new guy takes a break from his Bad Furday to submit this little three wheeled racer...because sometimes four wheels is just one too many. I'm inclined to agree.

Ussnegreli2 shows some love for the Octan colors with this little racing truck. That reminds me, remember the old Model Team Octan racing truck set? That was awesome. I wish Lego would bring back Model Team. The set is probably worth a kidney right about now. I got mine for free. Yep, free. Who wants to trade me their kidney for it?

This challenge has caused Matthew Maulfair to join our happy little group for the first time and submit this happy little monster truck that looks somewhat like Nathan's wee little monster truck. The two of them ought to race. That would be fun!

Lego Monster stirs up a monstrous hybrid that is part Lamborghini, part Ferrari, part Audi R8 and all Octan! Its called the Octan Cannonballer and the sexy April and Candy figures are inspired by Farrah Fawcett and Adrienne Barbeau from the Cannonball Run movie. Ahh they were such hotties in their day. Miss Barbeau still looks good for her advanced years and Farrah...bless her soul. Be sure to check out the interior shots of this car and the pretty girl's luggage in the trunk.

Having no need for matching luggage is this rough and tumble Octan Off-road racer built by Kwycstix seen here negotiating the relentlessly punishing surface of...plywood. At least I think that's plywood. Maybe its sandstone or particle board...or fine corinthian leather. Either way, its certainly Off-road.

vmln8r joins our cult...er, I mean group for the first time and submits this slick remote controlled sportsbike. You can see the XL motor and battery box crammed within its tight little frame and be sure not to miss the video of this sporty two-wheeler zipping across the floor. The simple steering mechanism works phenomenally. I'd love to take the controls of this thing for about an hour!

There's something about this challenge that brings out all the first timers. Whether it was the striking color scheme, the top notch automotive eye candy or the good publicity we've been getting, either way, we're glad to have you all on board. Christophbrill makes his debut into our world with this trio of historic Octan stock cars.

Certainly no stranger to our little group, Peteris Sprogis takes the Octan races off-roading with this Rally Raid truck and the team support truck. I can't get over those giant tires on each of them!

Next Peteris whips up this tough as nails dune buggy complete with fully functioning steering. And check out the Led Zeppelin laser light show thats going on behind these first two entries! "Whole lotta love-bbbbbbrrrrrrrreow! A whole lotta love- bbbrrrrrrrrreeeow! Dah dah dah dah da da-da-da-da-da-da!" Dude, my hand is like sooo huge, man! Awesome!

And when that Zeppelin laser show gives you the munchies for some reason, this product delivery truck comes to the rescue with coffee and snacks to be sold at all Octan gas stations. Note the green and red swirling logo done up in a complex mosaic style. The truck looks simple upon first glance but closer examination proves that most studs are either upside-down or sideways. Now that's tricky!

We can do a whole build challenge based on the VW Beetle. There are certainly plenty of ways to construct the iconic car's complex curves. One of my favorite renditions is this final entry by Peteris. The bumpers have been removed and the springs lowered and now the car is ready to race against all the other fine vehicles of this Octan inspired challenge.

Another new guy Isgc applies the familiar Octan colors to this Lada Rally Car. La-de-da-da! I just like saying that. Lada. Ahh those Russians and Eastern Europeans with their Ladas. What will they think of next?

I'm not sure what Lada will be doing next but I am sure that Firas Abu-Jaber just made the Dakar races that much more awesome-er with this Nissan Navara Dakar Rally Car. With removable frame, working steering and suspension and a whopping three spare tires, this model is chock full of great details. Be sure not to miss Firas' video that shows this car is actually tough enough to take a hard flip!

Another new guy, itchybreath takes my challenge words to new heights with this entry. Lets recap: "... highly encouraged to build vehicles that have never sported the Octan colors and logo. Think strange...think different...be creative." The result: this hilarious Octan Batmobile. Be sure not to miss his Octan Darth Vader TIE Fighter in his photostream. Good, funny stuff!

NK DeSign-er fires up his LCAD program to render this off-roading Jeep. He's quite astute at building alternate models for official Lego sets. This one is for the Creator set number 5867 except in our required Octan color scheme. Neat!

Jason Son wouldn't be Jason Son without building something low and sleek. This time its a '59 Corvette...assuredly the first in the world to sport the Octan colored side swoosh and seats. Side Swoosh...that's what its called, ain't it? Whatever its called, this curvy little rendition is not to be missed!

Hgaphoto also fires up the LCAD to render this truck presumably of generic make and model. He doesn't say anything about it leaving this writer to babble on about Led Zeppelin laser light shows, my dad's Aries K wagon and how huge my hand looks right about now...or something. I bet you didn't see that coming. Hey, its been awhile since I cracked an Aries K joke.

Rabidnovaracer reaches for the usual Octan colors to build this 1973 Chevy Pickup...you know, white, red, green, and brown. Wait...brown? Yep, you're gonna need a lot of brown if you're going to accurately depict your Chev as a mud racer. Be sure not to miss the alternate pic of this monster truck ripping through a deep muddy environment with flames shooting from the hood. Thats how every car should be...ripping through mud with flames shooting out the hood. The definition of awesome!

When lego_nabii is not designing freakin' cool Lego sets for us to drool over, (yep, you heard me, he works for Lego!) he is gracing our presence by showing us the future of Octan Racing with this martian Polar Pavonis Rally car and support vehicle. Maybe this is also the future of Lego. I mean...designers MOCs sometimes turn into official Lego sets. I'm just sayin'....this would be awesome as a set.

The usually talkative Raphy quietly submits the best way to drag your speedboat over mud and rough terrain with this heavy duty off-roading pickup. He also did this well within the deadline leaving me no way to crack a "coming in past the due date like spoiled milk" joke. What gives?

We haven't heard from Duq in awhile and we're happy to see he's still kickin' with this Audi Quattro S1 Rally Racer complete with detailed engine and opening doors. Man, that fierce front fender kit is like a cattle prod...assuredly made to knock would be pedestrians (and cattle) the heck out of its way!

Tommy n chimes in on the action with this sturdy off-roading Rogue Dust Devil V10. He tells us the fictional truck was built specifically for blasting through the equally fictional Comet Canyon. Sounds like the place is crawling with snakes and scorpions. Or maybe the legendary chupacabra. Scary stuff!

Rogue is a fictional car company made up and preferred by all the crazy kids as evidenced by this Dakar 4x4...also a Rogue. See, and you think I don't pay attention to what you kids do! Sharpspeed also hasn't been with us for awhile as he states there must have been plenty of Overhaulin' reruns on. I know what he means, I've been watching it season after season instantly on my netflix. Its too bad they ditched the show.

Checking in past the due date like spoiled milk, (Yes!) is LegoExotics and his 2011 WRC Rally Racer. He shows us a cool way to use those rare white curvy bits as flared fenders and the whole model is chock full of not to be missed details like the checkered rear mud flaps, spoiler and racing seats.

I'm not sure which I like better but I think LegoExotics somehow outdoes himself with this striking Le Mans Prototype. He takes detailing car models to a whole different level with string acting as wiring and flex tubing cut and used in dozens of different ways. The engine is the most detailed I've ever seen and the suspension...is that pen springs?!

What an awesome end to a great challenge! Thanks for making this one of the more successful challenges in recent memory. Now stick with us this month to see how well a bunch of Lego car casanovas can impress the ladies with this month's challenge aptly called...For The Ladies. Whether its cars with female names, cars with female drivers, famous girl related movie cars or cars dedicated to the important woman in our lives, anything can happen. Will we finally get that Valentines smooch from our secret admirers? Will we get a nice plate of cookies from our moms or a restraining order from that pretty girl at work? You'll just have to tune in next time to see!

By Random Appointment Roundup

2011-01-10T10:40:00.008-06:00

This has been an interesting month...our active LUGNuts members asked for assignments and our admins randomly appointed them in return. Admins asked for random assignments from the members at large and they randomly appointed them to us. This is the first time in LUGNuts history that we all had to be made accountable for what we said we were going to do. The end result...we've learned some folks are chock full of moxie, others are accountable most of the time and others...um...not at all. We've waited around an extra week or two for any late promised entries but the LUGNuts Blog is a harsh mistress so we must move on. There has been more than a few blowouts but lets see how the ones that actually participated pulled it off, shall we?

First on the random appointment slab Gambort rushes in with his assigned Russian Zaz Zaporozhets 966. See what I did there? Rush in...Russian. Anyway, I figured since he's totally into Soviet vehicles he'd go completely bolshevik over the little 966. The end result...a little...um...966, just as expected. it comes complete with a little Russian fur hat guy. Well done, comrade!

We go from something Russian to something more like what my grandma would drive, a 1979 Oldsmobile Toronado built by Peteris Sprogis. Ralph had a truly random way of delegating assignments...a numbered list and a random number generator. The result paired up Peteris with the rather cool retro Olds.

Later in the challenge, Peteris was assigned the 1965 Sunbeam Alpine Tiger by our admin Tim and the result...this slick little render of the classic retro ride. The design team led by famed Cobra racer Ken Miles crammed a beefy V8 into a space meant for a little four banger. Neat!

Sangi13 proves he likes his drinks shaken, not stirred...and slightly blurred with this Aston Martin DB7 Zagato. It has a great rack of headlights and a nice curvy rear end. I'm talking about the car, not... ...Never mind.

Legowink chimes in with a wink and a nod with this Honda Insight. He wasn't told specifically what year to do so he went with the sleek new 2011. Good choice. (wink wink)

My affinity for wagons has mercilessly assigned jmoakoen with the Dodge Magnum and for the love of God, it had better be custom! The result...a fiery red Magnum dragster rocket car. As they don't factory equip those beasts with drag tires and rocket engines, I'd say this entry is pretty custom indeed.

The Lord summoned improbcat and said unto he... build an ark of 300 cubits in length and 50 cubits in width and thou shall rescue two of every animal and thee shall be saved. Or build us a totally pimped out Chevy Astro Van convertible with TVs in the headrests and humungous bitchin' sub-woofers in the rear doors. That would also be freakin' rad!

Later in the challenge, improbcat answered the Car Gods ramblings once again with a Ford Model T. A standard traditional build you'd think, but true to improbcat's style, there is nothing standard or traditional about this hot rodded out Model T roadster pickup. The American legend gets a totally un-American Jaguar inline-six engine three carbs on one side and five exhaust pipes out the other.

Then finally the three time Random Appointment champ blows the roof off this dump with his assigned 1987 Buick GNX in sleek gangsta black...except for the dark grey fender flares, which were not available in black in inprob's Lego collection. I like the slanty grille and the yellow headlights/ fog lamps.

When Ralph randomly assigned Legogil the tricky Renault Avantime, I did not envy our resident Brazilian builder...at first. I was wondering how he would tackle its complex shape and tricky curves and angles. It turns out Gil has masterfully replicated this difficult ride and the lego world is that much better for it. Gil tells us he loved this challenge and it really shows in this stunning labor of love.

Ralph once again fired up his random number generator and Jonathan Derksen answered the call of duty with this 1962 Ford Galaxie Sunliner. It wouldn't be a Jonathan build unless it was as bright as the sun and this Sunliner is no exception. I'm digging the huge woofers where the back seat should be.

After weeks of hemming and hawing and shuffling his feet, Jason H. finally pulls through with this little Dodge Charger Police Interceptor Tiny Turbo. There was a lot of big discussion for such a tiny car but in the end it went down rich and smooth, like a finely poured Guinness. I guess now the driver of this little car should give me a breathalyzer test for such bad writing.

Later Jason H. pulls through with his assigned 1964 Ford Econoline...this one converted into a pickup. Jason tells us photos for this little red number was delayed due to an unexpected snow storm that blew through his area. Yeah, just like the real Econoline, I'd imagine this one would be rather useless in the snow.

When Raphy asked for an assignment, I had a special plan for him...to build any car from 1977 but give it a Star Wars theme. I imagined a lot of things but had no idea he'd convert a '77 Audi 80 into an Imperial Lambda Class Shuttle. I literally laughed out loud when I saw this one...the oversized wings and fins makes the Audi completely impractical...just like the Imperial Shuttle.

What do shallow, fake douchebags drive? Turns out its the 2008 Scion xA custom hatchback. No seriously, check out Raphy's photostream, he says it all. This little number comes with a trillion intakes, half working neon panels, fake-fancy paintjob and blacked-out spray-painted rims. Judging by the Scion xA drivers I've seen and the smell of Drakkar Noir, I'd have to suspect Raphy is right about that whole douchebag thing.

Right after the Scion xA, Raphy adds some much needed class to this joint with his assigned 1937 Bugatti Tipo Cinquantesette Atalante. I had the little HotWheels car of this thing when I was a kid. I liked to drive it around on my carpet and pretend the occupants inside were in a Gray Poupon commercial. Now THATS classy!

Proving he has a wicked imagination, ChargerHornet chimes in with this 1909 Cadillac Hot Rod. Nathan wanted a hodge-podge Caddy to go with the great Johnny Cash's song "One Piece At A Time", but even Nathan...or Johnny Cash for that matter could not have seen this hot rod Caddy coming!

GeekyTom takes a break from being a geek to build this decidedly hip and cool 1947 Ford COE custom surf truck. I can just imagine the convo going on between the two surfer figs. "Dude, my muscles are like totally gnarly, babe." And she's like..."pffft whatever!" Totally denied, little surfer dude! Bummer, man. Bummer.

Someone else with surfing on the brain is lego911. As he has built nearly 20,000 cars in his time, he was handled like a caged tiger and asked to build something we know he has never done...Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's Surfite. With all that experience backing him up, I'd say he did the wild 60's era custom ride lots of justice. Totally radical, dude!

Later, 911 pulls up to the crime scene in this unique 1998 Ford Crown Victoria Police Cruiser made into a donut shop. The original ride was customized by Jesse James and his Monster Garage crew. Like the real thing, this one has passenger side presentation doors that showcase sweet donuts and a coffee maker while the driver's side sports a checkered racing seat.

Lastly, the Master Engineer for Ford was assigned to build...get this... a signature 1955 Chevy Cameo Pickup in factory color scheme only. Peter does this classic Ford rival justice with its iconic white and red colors and "luxury truck" design. This Chevy is bound to make even the most avid Ford fan gasp...even just a little.

NK DeSign-er asked for an easy car and got the Mazda RX-8. Easy to some maybe, but a bear for NK. Still he pulled it off pretty well with this LCAD render all done up in electric blue with white striping. he managed to pull off its subtle shape that is distinctly Mazda.

The biggest benefit to this random appointment challenge is to pull off a car you'd never otherwise think about and to learn something new while doing it. LegOscar demonstrates this best with the Dutch designed Spyker C8. Be sure not to miss the Youtube vid showcasing this sporty little number from every angle.

Taken from my own "to do" list, I assigned the Green Hornet movie car to Jason Son, knowing full well he could pull it off probably better than I can. He did not disappoint with this customized 1966 Chrysler Imperial chock full of hidden weapons and other badass features no superhero should be without. With the movie coming out this month, this build ought to prove to be a timely success.

Speaking of timely success, how does our usual resident big rig builder handle a random appointment thats not a big rig? Quite nicely, it turns out. He takes his assigned 90's era GMC Sierra and turns it into one of the most tricked out sports trucks imaginable. With airtanks in the dumping bed, lambo doors and flip open hood, this custom ride also features Bricksonwheel's signature chrome bits. Tasty!

Shunik chimes in on a LUGNuts challenge for the first time ever with this Jeep Grand Cherokee. He doesn't have anything to say about this ride leaving this writer...a little short on words myself. Ah, its ok, Shunik, we were all a little nervous our first time too. It only gets better from here. And yes, I was talking about posting to the LUGNuts challenges so keep your minds out of the gutter!

A seasoned pro at posting to the LUGNuts group (and I imagine a few other things as well) is Firas Abu-Jaber. Our resident Middle Eastern builder has made quite a name for himself conjuring up Italian supercars...but how does he handle the quaint little Morris Minor? With all the same sleek styling as his usual stuff...and totally hot rodded out. This assignment brought Firas out of a little bit of a dark age and we're all exceptionally happy to see him back.

For nearly forty challenges now, Lino Martins has pretty much told all y'all what to do. But in this uncanny random appointment challenge, LegoJunkie stepped up to the plate and told the big boss man he wanted him to build a 1960 Flatbed truck...make and model up to me. I took his suggestion and went with the '60 Ford F-250 flatbed in striking yellow and black. The little 60's era bubble top rod was just bonus Lino goodness!

Another big boss man, Ralph Savelsberg also puts his short term fate in the hands of the LUGNuts members at large and the end result...is this nifty little Citroen DS assigned to him by Duq. This classic French car has tricky curves and distinctly European design but Ralph pulls it off in typical Mad Physicist style.

Silcantar reminds us all of 90's era Technic sets with this Audi Quattro. The technic beams merely suggest the shape of the car. Ah those were the days of the Lego 8880 Supercar! It was a much more innocent time back then. Look it up, kids! Also did you know Lego is coming out with a new Technic supercar in 2011? Look that up too.

Nolnet received two Air Blast racers for Christmas and they are apparently more fun than they should be. The first resulted in this Ferrari 250 GTO. It looks totally fun to blast across the floor! What was the result of his second Air Blast set, you may ask? Well, you're going to have to wait for next month to learn of that little doozie. Or just check out his photostream.

And speaking of next month, we are there already with our new build challenge called Octan Racing. We have been hired as designers and engineers for the Octan Marketing Division so build whatever you want, but do it in Octan colors with logos and graphics. Unusual entries are highly encouraged. As Octan is a fictional fuel company thought up by The Lego Group, your pay is also fictional. But feel free to come up with lofty job titles for yourself to feel uppity and important. For example, I am Octan's new Executive Director In Charge Of Total Awesomeness. It has a nice ring to it, I think. Until next time...happy building, everyone!

The Food We Eat Round Up

2010-12-04T15:47:00.005-06:00

Welcome to the only vehicle challenge round up based on...of all things...The Food We Eat. When considering food from the source, then transport and delivery...not to mention custom cars with food names and you have a wide selection of specialized vehicles to choose from. So sit back, grab a snack and enjoy this array of culinary delights cooked up by our talented automotive chefs and served up hot and smothered in gravy just for you. Lets strap on the feed bag and get it on! Uh, that came out weird. Well, it sets the mood for this challenge, at least. Lets just move on.

First in the chow line, Gambort whips up a neat little David Brown 780 tractor. Stir in some greebles, a hay trailer and a windmill for some Australianized flair, serve hot and you have a decidedly savory appetizer from Down Under and a good start to this challenge!

Take a classic '68 Dodge Charger chock full of oldschool muscle and attitude, serve icy cool with a twist of lime and you have...Lime Twist, the newest culinary delight cooked up by Legogil. There's just too many flavorful details to name, but be sure not to miss the taillights wrapped in small tires. Great solution to that problem! This is why we build, folks.

Bill Ward reheats some leftovers from the All But Four build challenge way back in '08 with this delivery truck. Just like the barbecue sauce in my fridge, this truck repeats on ya years past the expiration date, but he does have a point. You can't have a food based challenge without delivery trucks. But delivered so late, I wonder if this means the pizza is free.

Speaking of delivery trucks, you can't have a food based vehicle challenge without the iconic Divco milk truck. We may as well have just packed up this whole shindig and went home hungry and unsatisfied. Luckily for us, Improbcat delivers the goods with this classy retro ride...pleasing to the palate and it goes down smooth. Like Butter!

Sometimes its not always about the food we eat, but rather the places where we eat. My case in point, Improbcat's second course, this full classic diner being lugged by an equally classic COE truck. COE means Cab Over Engine in case you didn't know. Flo, make mine over easy and throw in a slice of pie while you're at it. And some coffee. Go easy on the spit, this time!

In case Bill's reheated leftovers doesn't do it for ya, Marioman3138 whips up a newer, more modern version of the quintessential white all purpose delivery truck complete with refrigeration to keep those Coors Lites as cold as the rockies. I used that joke before, didn't I? Oh well, lets move on.

What's more fun than a shopping cart with a super huge blown V8 in it? Nothing, that's what! No seriously, I want you to try to think up anything more irresponsibly cool and fun than a shopping cart with a blown V8 in it...you just can't do it. Just ask Nathan Proudlove, he knows. This delicious morsel is called Express lane and is based on one of the wildest Hot Wheels cars in existence. We need a clean up in aisle 3...4...5...6...awww crap!

If Nathan is frivolous and irresponsible, then our other admin Ralph Savelsberg is here to knock some sense back into us with this DAF XF105 truck complete with reefer container. Dude, my hand is like totally huge, man! Settle down, Cheech, we're not talking that kind of reefer but the kind that keeps our food cold and fresh while in transport. The truck is chock full of not to be missed details and the excellent Maersk mosaic work on the side reminds us that there isn't anything the mega shipping company can't transport! Even the food we eat.

Sangi13 was miffed about a food related challenge at first, but saw good opportunity to build outside of his comfort zones. He reaches for his trusty red and black bricks and this time cooks up a 1976 Peterbilt rig complete with a side dish of real chrome detailing. As my truck driver friend likes to say..."If you've got it, a truck brought it." Truer words were never spoken.

Dohoon Kim's first tasty morsel is a little big rig. Little big rig...thats sort of an oxymoron. Billy Mays used to endorse Oxy Clean. Does that make him an Oxy Moron? Think about that and get back to me on it, won't you?

For Dohoon's main course he stirred in some neat styling, added a dash of exhaust pipe with a pinch of innovative tire-within bigger tire technique, let cool at room temperature and you have this neat little tractor.

Then for dessert, Dohoon cleanses our palette with this sweet little Toyundra 4x4 pickup...the ultimate farmer's truck for transporting crops and livestock.

From one pickup artist to another, Lino Martins stirs up a refreshing low slung 1980 Chevy C10 showtruck called Limelight complete with opening engine cowl and dumping bed. As the name implies, two things had to happen; there had to be some tangy lime green, as evidenced by the flames and accents and a light source, made doable via two red light bricks.

It seems pickups were all the rage mid-challenge as Dylan Denton serves up a flavorful dish with some Nebraska flair. He tells us this sight is all too common in Nebraska; Farmers selling fresh fruits and veggies from the back of their monstrous custom pickups...in this case a '79 Ford F-250.

Scary monsters cooking up stomach wrenching human dishes...you can expect no less from a guy named lego Monster! It turns out monsters enjoy their meals from traveling food coaches too. Each disgusting detail, from the fried arms and blood-head stew to the candied human heads is chock full of not to be missed dark humor. This is a collaboration project with Mrs. Monster, whom it turns out is quite twisted in her own right. Thatta girl! My fave detail...the pink seats!

Jonathan Derksen shows us the right way to serve up leftovers...completely reworked and revamped! He takes his Blueberry Cheesecake rat rod from last month, cuts out the roof, reworks some details and like magic, fresh Blueberry Cheesecake Delivery Truck! It even tastes good the second time around.

Later in the challenge, Jonathan stirs up an odd concoction called...what else...Strawberry Banana! This strange concept/ muscle car/ hot rod was inspired by the completely studly work of brickshelf user tabmodels, proving you can still make things look great with all of your studs showing.

What happens when you take Tiny Turbos and make them...even smaller? Why you get Pacific Highway LUG founder Geeky Tom's trio of stubby little racer morsels with flavorful names! First up is Tom's tart little Key Lime Ride.

Followed by his sweet little black and white tidbit called Double Stuff. I'm willing to bet its about the size of an actual Oreo cookie.

Followed lastly by his refreshing little treat called Creamsicle! Cool Baby! They're part of a neat series of mini advent calendar builds each with less than 20 pieces. Collect them all!

Jason Son takes us to a nostalgic time when nice men in white uniforms and black bow ties delivered fresh milk to your door with this classic American Divco called simply...The Milkman. Unknown to him, this was also a precursor to next month's build challenge where others suggest MOCs to be built. I suggested it, he built it. In my old brickshelf days, I once built a Divco but it didn't look nearly this good.

Ricecracker is a food some of us eat with peanut butter. Its also the name of the builder of this sweet Freightliner FL60 Pepsi Truck. The tricky shapes of the Pepsi logo was masterfully done using some of the trickiest SNOT techniques around, proving once and for all that anything can be built with some patience and know how. It kind of makes all those other guys that whine about not being able to build this or that seem all the more annoying now, doesn't it?

What does a Rabidnovaracer do when faced with a food inspired challenge? Why he whips up a tasty pimped out Cadillac Escalade called Blue Kamikaze, that's what. This sick custom ride features suicide and Lamborghini style doors, slammed adjustable pneumatic suspension, spinners, and killer sound system that even features TVs in the front headrests. Now that is tricked out!

A guy named glaz pimpur presents to us Old Fergie. What is Old Fergie, you might ask? Why it's a red tractor in the snow with an M-Tron logo and a Mexican wrestler minifig driving it for some reason. I mean...c,mon, what else would it be? Duh! You must feel pretty stupid for asking.

Ever wake up one morning thinking your life was incomplete without a Claas AXOS Compact Tractor with Furrowing Tool? I have. Lucky for me Peter Blackert delivers the goods with this well detailed model in lovely Claas lime green.

Peter then gets into more Claas action (see what I did there?) with this Claas AXION Tractor with Claas QUANTUM Foraging Trailor for all your high tech foraging needs. Look at all those happy foraging cows!

Just when you think this place could use a little more Claas, Peter broils up the Claas ARION 600 Tractor. Wow, almost no tractors in all of our LUGNuts history now so many in one challenge. They are fun to build.

Next on the Lego911 slab is the Claas ELIOS Compact Tractor.

Followed closely with the Claas AXOS with Digger. I'm digging the red counterweight up front there.

Next is the Claas...er...I mean Ford 2011 Global Ranger. This challenge has been all about tractors and pickup trucks, it seems.

And what farmer would be complete without the 2011 Ford F-350 HD Trayback Pickup?

Finally Peter really Claases up the joint with the entire Claas 2010 line, all of them graduating top in their claas. Are you tired of Claas puns yet?

Good, because Lego Junkie proves he isn't all about Claas with this generic green tractor complete with farmer. Ah thats a tasty little morsel.

Speaking of tasty, get a load of this classic stock 1957 Chevy pickup built by Rolic. I always wonder how he's going to configure his white pieces and this time he's worked his magic with a nostalgic American Chevy. The wheelbarrow, fruit crates and other things give us a clue that he has at least some pieces other than white. Maybe someday he'll totally freak us out with something black.

Just like spoiled milk, Raphy chimes in several days past the due date. I know, I've used that joke twice in a row now but its the second time in a row Raphy clocks in late. I imagine he has the same problems that plague the rest of us...you know, cranky boss, taxes, sore back, credit card companies, hangovers, and always being hassled by The Man. Anyway, you've seen the Pizza Planet truck on Toy Story, you've seen it as an official Lego set, now see it as a Tiny Turbo.

Well, I'd say that all went down smooth. So what happens if you're really into say...big rig trucks? Or Italian Supercars? What if you've built nothing but American classics? Or formula 1 racers? Well, too bad! None of that matters in this month's challenge called By Random Appointment. The admins have created random lists of vehicles from all car cultures both in and out of our own comfort zones. We will delegate random assignments to only the brave souls who ask for them. In turn, us admins will put our fate in the hands of the LUGNuts members at large. Will we be cruel and merciless or strive to get you to build the coolest cars on the planet? Stay tuned for what is already shaping up to be a very juicy build challenge. Nothing is predictable when its all done...By Random Appointment!

LUGNuts Turns Three Roundup

2010-11-02T15:12:00.005-05:00

Well, we're finally old enough to use the potty all by ourselves most of the time, which is great! Do you know how expensive it is to keep an entire car club in diapers? Ok, that joke was old when I used it as the challenge header and it sort of loses its hutzpah the second time around. Anyway, unless you've been living under a rock (you know who you are) you'd know that on the birthday months we always do a year in review...sort of a free for all chance to build for your favorite old challenges from the previous year and beyond. lets get this party started, shall we?

Dohoon Kim celebrates our big third birthday with...something small. This tiny Mustang GT500 can fit in the 25th build challenge, I Wannabe Like You...in thois case Raphy, or it can fit in with the 21st Challenge, Millennium Marvels and our 28th, The Animal Kingdom. Clever!

Later Dohoon weighs in heavier with this 1969 Dodge Coronet Superbee and shows the Animal Kingdom some love while doing it. I'm just digging this shape and color scheme. And that odd stripe along the rear section of the car...just brilliant!

And just when you think its all over, Dohoon shows he's on a big winning streak with this quick Taxi very reminiscent of something The Lego Group would put out. Dohoon jokes that he wants to be just like TLG...but not really!

Next on the slab is a red Kenworth Wrecker denoting the old challenges All But Four and Haulin' Ass.

Followed in hot pursuit by these two little racer trikes for the All But Four Challenge. Zooooom!

I didn't know senior citizens can be such trouble makers, but this 61 year old black on black '49 Custom Mercury Coupe stays up all night and makes trouble with other hot rods denoting the Scuzzy side of The Scuzz and the Fuzz. It also falls into Kickin' It Oldschool, Modified Machines and Fear and Loathing as Melanophobia is the fear of the color black.

Proving he's no slouch, Dohoon chimes in heavily with this larger scale '64 Mustang Convertable denoting The Animal Kingdom, I Wannabe Like You (Thats right, he's talking about you, Dylan!) and Fear and Loathing as Equinophobia is the fear of horses.

You'd think Dohoon Kim wants to be just like our prolific madman Lego911 with all these entries, but he finishes us off with this sleek 60's era Lamborghini 350GT, built once again for the scuzzy side of The Scuzz and the Fuzz. Hmmmm, it would seem Dohoon sides with the bad guys in those police chase adventure movies. There's nothing wrong with that.

Wow! What a start to this challenge! The only way we can follow that is with this massive two-toned '66 Galaxie built by our Brazilian friend Legogil. It denotes A Galaxie Of Possibilities, obviously as well as Fire And Ice for its two-tone fiery paint job and its icy cool interior.

Sangi13 shows the '66 Ford Galaxie some love with this...um...(what else would it be?)...'66 Ford Galaxie built for A Galaxie Of Possibilities. The title of that challenge was correct, even though we were forced to build only one car, I can never get tired of all the different colors, customizations and build styles.

Next on the Sangi13 to do list is this 2008 Shelby GT500. He tells us with this tiny build he wants to be just like Raphy and Dohoon Kim. Awww ain't that cute?!

What's shakin' in the house of Sangi13, you may ask? Well, I'm glad we asked! Turns out its another tiny 2008 GT500 this time in red and black and built for the 21st challenge; Millennium Marvels.

Sangi13 tells us that Mechanophobia is the fear of machines, which is why he built this...Ranchers Ford Excursion. Well, its as good a machine as any to be fearful of, I suppose. I'm sure it would hurt like a bastard if it were to run over my foot!

Speaking of hurting like a bastard...as in my typing fingers...Lego911 starts out early with this 1963 Jaguar E-Type Roadster denoting the challenge; God Save The Queen, then doesn't relent throughout the entire month. Sit down, get comfortable...brew some coffee or something. Its going to be a loooong ride!

Lego911 wants to be just like Jonathan Derksen, legohaulic, and lichblau with this sweet little 1928 Ford Model AA Farm Truck. Ahh, just look at the happy little Duplo pigs, sheep and cows! The broken old crate and the dark green cab is pretty sweet too.

Hot on the farm truck's tail is this sleek little Aston Martin DB9 Coupe built for God Save The Queen. I'll have my drink shaken, not stirred.

And you can't go wrong with this stunning 1958 Chevy Impala Convertible built for The Animal Kingdom and done up in a striking black and white.

The flashy 1980 Audi UR-Quattro Rally Car tears up the track for the Challenge called At The Races.

Next Lego911 gives the Fuzz some love with this Holden Commodore SS Sportwagon Police Vehicle for The Scuzz and the Fuzz.

And Atom For Peace...you lucky dog, you! Lego911 wants to be just like you with this 2010 LF1 Racer. Very nice shape and colors on this one!

Color Me Strange...Lego911 does just that with this rocking '71 Plymouth Hemi "Cuda in striking orange and black.

Size Does Matter...as proven with this foursome of black and blue Bugatti Veyrons. Just look at them, each car is more detailed than the last!

Once again denoting Color Me Strange is this lime green Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera. Phew, what a long name for a car!

And finally on the Lego911 slab is a stunning new 2011 Ford Mustang GT CS Convertible done up in black and rare light blue thereby once again satisfying the Color Me Strange build challenge palate.

Speaking of satisfying the palate, that went down pretty smoothly. Tasting...and smelling a little more like rat is this entry by Tim Inman. Its called the Warcraft Troll Hot Rod and was built for the really old I Smell A Rat challenge. Ahhh, that brings back memories!

"Colour Me Strange and tickle me pink" Tim Gould tells us with this neat little Holden Kingswood Wagon done up in brown and...is it sand red? Either way, there a lot of good techniques going on here.

So the other Holden doesn't feel lonely, Tim whips up three more in odd colors to once again satisfy the Color Me Strange challenge. Ah the Holden...such a neat little Australian car!

From the Holden to the Henway. What's a Henway? About 10 lbs. Heh! Heh! Get it? Anyway, a guy named oldeconoline takes a break from building Econolines to present us this 1919 Henway for the Kickin' It Oldschool challenge. A Henway, by the way, is not an obscure brand name or anything...just a super chopped and customized one of a kind truck. Pretty cool, huh?

Jonathan Derksen kills three birds with one stone...or rather one Blueberry Cheesecake with this chopped and lowered rat rod of the same delicious name. This wafer thin slice of cake is not fattening at all but he wants to be like Lino Martins (aww, thanks, buddy!), he's also Kickin' It Oldschool and Smelling A Rat. No, I'd say this smells like Blueberry Cheesecake. Mmmmmmm, tasty!

Bill Ward uses some of that Brickpile of his to construct this iconic Glacier National Park tour bus complete with ten doors and an open roof. It fits right in with the Kickin' It Oldschool challenge.

And denoting Play That Funky Music Bill builds a Big Yellow Taxi in honor of that Joni Mitchell song that was going through his head. You know the one...that Big Yellow Taxi one. Come on, do I have to link it to youtube or something? You know the one!

fe2cruz also shows Play That Funky Music some love with this little '68 GT for Heart's famous Baracuda song. Ahhh, they were so dreamy...A bunch of chicks that really knew how to rock! I don't care if they've since put on weight. I still swoon for them and their music. Does that make me girly? Probably does.

Sprogis Peteris just gets better and better every time he builds something. My case in point, this neat yellow and black VW Beetle denoting The Animal Kingdom challenge. It looks like it packs quite a sting with its bumblebee stripes...which is fitting as this MOC is as sweet as honey!

Jason son wants to be like somebody with this stunning Peterbilt 379. With its numerous chrome bits, striking colors and masterful model building that somebody can be none other than our own Dennis Bricksonwheels Glaasker. In fact we are told this is more of a collaboration as our resident truck builder offered lots of help, chrome parts and inspiration for this flawless rig. Great job all around!

From modern rigs to something a little older, Jason son later presents this 1922 Ford TT for the Kickin' It Oldschool challenge. From the wooden tan barrel in the bed to the antique taillights to the spoked wheels, this little truck is chock full of old-timey goodness...just like a fine aged cheese.

Proving he's no slouch, Jason chimes in for a third time but this time with probably the weirdest Lambo I've ever seen, the six wheeled Lamborghini Murciecargo. It was built for "Go Team LUGNuts", sort of a nice free for all challenge to show support in our fine group. And why not? Its all good.

Lighting strikes three times in one place with this 2003 Fiat Panda built by Ralph Savelsberg. The cute, cuddly panda obviously denotes The Animal Kingdom but as it was manufactured in 2003 it is also a Millennium Marvel. And as the real car was built in Poland, Ralph can say he wants to be just like Raphy. And who doesn't really?

Lino Martins once again takes after the dark side with sultry bad girl Roxy, her disobedient pooch Cupadogra and their murdered out '87 El Camino with racing seats and blood red interior and truck bed. This suped-up ride denotes the scuzzy side of The Scuzz and the Fuzz.

As for the Fuzz, three time buddy challenge champion Nathan Proudlove once again collaborates with Lino to present the law abiding side of the challenge, this time a supercharged '88 Camaro IROC-Z Police Interceptor driven by Constable Sharon and her faithful dog Max. Sharon and Roxy were BFF's in high school but nowadays the only time the friends get to reminisce anymore is when Constable Sharon has to arrest Roxy...usually for speeding, illegal street racing and driving recklessly.

CJay weighs in heavily with a big industrial Izuzu Dump Truck thereby satisfying three challenges at once. The first being I Wannabe Like You, in this case everyonesgrudge1812 and Bricksonwheels. He also gives his support for Team LUGNuts and nothing is bigger in Japan than a dump truck like this one. Unless we're talking about Godzilla...then yeah, he's much bigger.

When it comes to working big industrial machines, CJay is the force to be reckoned with. This time a new forklift looks a lot like his photo icon and has all the power functions to make this one truly epic hard working loader. Built once again in support of Go Team LUGNuts.

Chuachic shows his age with this 5-wide 1986 Ford RS200. Lets see, that makes him...1986 into 2010...carry the one, take into account for time of year and wind velocity...not quite old enough to rent a car in the United States. Too bad, as he says the '86 Ford RS200 is his absolute fave, he'd probably rent that one. Next year, buddy. Next year.

Proving CJay isn't the only one doing all the dumping around here, Chuachic denotes All But Four with an 8-wide Merstudes 6x6 Heavy-Duty Tipper heavily based on the Scania 3 Series. Shows you how much I know about the subject. I had this pegged for the Scania 2 Series inspiration. Frankly I don't really know what I'm talking about. He could have told us it was a concept Mercedes truck and I would have believed him. Its well done though.

Another vehicle I had no idea existed but glad it does is this Honda RA272 built by Biczzz. It's not often Ricardo graces us with his work, but when he does, the Lego world is a better place for it. I mean, this thing doesn't even look like Lego from the thumbnail. Driven by Richie Ginther, it was the first japanese car to win a Grand Prix at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix. Big In Japan indeed!

If its curvy, white and on a reflective gray background it must be a new creation by Rolic. This time the maestro of odd angles and rolling curves brings us the Mitsuoka Himiko thereby being something Big In Japan. Rolic tells us that he feels cursed for wanting to work in every detail. Yeah, Michelangelo felt the same way when he painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Its just the cross talented artists have to bear.

Just like spoiled milk, Raphy checks in a few days past the due date with this black and white '83 Toyota Corolla AE86, making this tiny turbo somehow Big In Japan. Or Little In Japan. Or something. Well, at least its fuel efficient. Being a Lego model it uses no fuel at all. Now that is just good for the environment right there!

Lastly, Raphy presents this skull-riddled gray '97 Mazda RX-7 for the...you guessed it...Show Your Age build challenge. Cripes, in '97 I was a junior in college and already five years older than the average student. Ah those were the days...all-nighters, beer benders and hanky-panky with random strangers. Not much has changed since but nowadays the random strangers are older and I'm telling more kids to get the hell off my lawn!

Oh that note, lets get the hell off this lawn and onto something a little more...food inspired. This month's challenge is called The Food We Eat and its all about food inspired vehicles. If you take into consideration food at its source, you can concoct an array of tractors, harvesters and other farming machinery. Once processed, big rig trucks transports your food to the supermarket. In the olden days specialty trucks brought milk and bread straight to your door...or you can build any custom car that has a food inspired name, like Pie Wagon or just make up your own custom and give it a delicious name...like Lemon Twist or Black And Tan. So be sure to make your reservations soon to see what we cook up in this month's delicious food inspired challenge! Bon appetit, everyone. Now get the hell off my lawn!

Big In Japan Roundup

2010-10-10T14:10:00.006-05:00

It took awhile to get to writing this roundup what with BrickCon, then with post-BrickCon clean up and coming down from the BrickCon high. Some of you might know what I'm talking about. If you don't, you ought to get yourself to BrickCon one of these years. Anyway, this challenge delves into into the island nation of Japan where they have square watermelon, vending machines doling out used panties...and the world's most formidable automotive industry...well, except for China, who apparently took that title from Japan last year somehow. lets get to it!

You know what's big in Japan besides square watermelon and used panty vending machines? This 1973 Datsun 510 LH Turbo built by Jason Son. Even though he claims Japanese cars are not his thing, Jason Son accurately depicts the early 70's style, its shape, the grille, headlights and all around feel that just screams...classic Japanese. You know that feel I'm talking about, right? Well, this MOC just screams it!

Also screaming from the hilltops and making their presence known are these two Japanese super bikes built by Aaron-smileyface-potleaf. The hair and wild color scheme is indicative of Japanese anime cartoons. Aaron says it feels good to contribute to the challenges again but apologizes for double dipping into blue-purple color scheme again. With MOCs this good he can double dip into blue-purple cheese dip anytime!

Speaking of double dipping, Japanese designer Teruo Uchino had his eye on European contemporary sedans, particularly the BMW, when he designed the Datsun 510. That's what Legogil tells us as he presents this stunning Datsun rally racer with it's striking red, yellow, white and gray color scheme. If the Datsun 510 has been dubbed the poor man's BMW...rich or poor, Legogil has done a great job of recreating it!

zenn takes us into the future with these four Neo-Tokyo hoverbikes. As we're not a spaceship building group, this sort of dances the line between what is allowed in our group and what is not but you can't deny these sleek little creations took its main inspiration from motorcycles...and as Japan is such a tech-savvy nation, this could be pretty accurate in terms of what the Japanese may have in store for us in the very near future.

By this point, Dylan Denton jokes that "a better name for this challenge would've been Build a Datsun" as he rolls one more Datsun off the assembly line, this time a white 1971 Skyline GT-R. Even though a smaller scale than the other Datsuns presented in this challenge, its shape, its grille and headlights are unmistakably BMW...er, I mean Datsun! Damn that Teruo Uchino!

Tim Inman knew the Nissan/Datsun sedans would be popular. That's why he built this 1970 Datsun...er, I mean Toyota Celica 1600GT. While Tim is a diehard Chevy guy, he has no problem relaying this Toyota's distinctly Japanese form. Oh, and guess what? He's so good at building Japanese cars that his black and orange Mazda RX-7 won Best Modern Japanese at BrickCon's Big In Japan exhibit! Way to go, Tim! Maybe we should start calling you Rabidtunerracer. ;)

You really can't get tired of Datsuns when they look this good. This Tuner built by J0n4th4n D3rk53n is chock full of complex curves, advanced build techniques and even some totally chromed out rims. I got to meet Jonathan and his parents at BrickCon. He seems to be a totally cool young man...he came during public hours and wants to be "one of us" for BrickCon next year. I'm surprised his parents took so well to me, considering that day I wore my skull rings, a skull and cross bones cap and a skirt. Yep, a skirt!

You really can't have a Big In Japan vehicle building challenge without Akira inspired super bikes...such as this one built by Brad. Its shape is unmistakably Akira...throw in a rider with purple cabbage hair and you've just won the Big In Japan jackpot! I never thought I'd write such a sentence including purple cabbage hair and winning the Big In Japan jackpot, but low and behold...there it is!

Tuner sedans are Big In Japan. These tuners built by Dohoon Kim are...Tiny In Japan...or Tiny in Togo, which is where Dohoon lives. Ah, I can just see these little tuners drifting circles around that little cop car! Poor copper would never have a chance against them!

Speaking of drifting circles around the competition, no one does it better than Ken Block in his Subaru Impreza WRX...also built by Dohoon Kim. The familiar black, white and lime green color configuration adorns the little car as well as the iconic Monster Energy Drink logo.

GorillaWer tells us to bless the mess with this Suzuki Gori bike. You should never swim until an hour after you've eaten but apparently you can build with Lego as evidenced by GorillaWer telling us this was constructed within an hour right after dinner. I like how the front tire is held on by minifig arms.

Mad Physicist is exceptionally good at making very common things look...um...good. Here we have the Toyota Prius. Ralph tells us this is the most distinctive Japanese car on the road in Europe and come to think of it the most distinctive here in the US as well. That reminds me of that South Park episode where Prius drivers were completely smug and enjoyed the smell of their own farts. Yeah, that's pretty spot on. ;)

Lino Martins was hell bent on building a Hayabusa motorcycle for this challenge. So I did some research on the Hayabusa and suddenly I was building this Suzuki GSX R/4 concept car instead. See how my mind works? Well, its not like I'm completely daft...this sleek little concept racer runs with a rear mounted Hayabusa engine. See, so its totally justifiable!

A man of few words...no words...Ricecracker graces us with this tiny Honda S2000. Its little...and its a Honda...which makes it Little In Japan...or something. That reminds me, I'm hungry for a meat and cheese snack. Maybe I am a little daft after all.

Also a man of few words is Raphy. Wait, what? The usually talkative young man doesn't say much when he presents his new '04 Subaru rally racer. Seems like this time we gotta do all the talking for him. Lets see, well, its blue and its a four wide...and it probably burns rubber and peels out. And its probably owned by Superman or the President. There, thats more like it!

And what would a LUGNuts challenge be without a day late last minute run by Peter "lego911" Blackert? It would be very punctual, but a lot less populated...and not quite as exciting. Lets rattle off the run in quick succession, first is a 1967 Toyota 2000 GT.

Next is a '74 Toyota E30 Corolla Wagon. I didn't even know they had the Corolla in '74!

Next on the Lego911 slab is the '85 Mitsubishi Australia TM Magna...apparently Japanese cars have infultrated the Australian market as well.

Then make way for the '85 Toyota E80 Corolla SX Twin-Cam 5-Door...all I can say about that is thank God for copy/paste!

And next is the '66 Toyota E10 Corolla Sedan.

Then Lego911 takes a break...for probably like five minutes, then presents us with the Toyota Corolla AE86 Levin.

Next is the Toyota Corolla AE86 Trueno

Followed closely by the Toyota Corolla AE86 levin (standard)

Then Lego911 takes a short break and returns with a brick built Toyota...uh, I mean Nissan E23 Urvan

Changing it up a little, we have the Toyota TF104 Formula 1 racer

And proving he can build more Toyotas in shorter time than the entire Japanese auto industry, next we have the '84 Toyota Tarago MPV.

And finally Lego911 finishes us off with a '91 Honda NSX. That's a wrap, boys!

Well that was a satisfying end to our all Japanese-y challenge! Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto indeed! You youngins look that up...and try not to blow your minds while you're at it! Early 80's progressive rock should be taken in small doses. What shouldn't be taken in small doses is our birthday challenge called...LUGNuts Turns Three! This month we get to build from any challenge over the past three years...sort of a free for all, anything goes, year in review thank you for making LUGNuts a raging success. So have yourself a heaping load of birthday cake for us, and while you're at it...why not build something! Stay tuned throughout the month to see how we do. Happy building all y'all!

The Scuzz And The Fuzz Roundup

2010-09-02T14:29:00.003-05:00

This month's roundup has to do with the Scuzz and the Fuzz...its the law breakers vs the law enforcers...creepy criminal cars and the police vehicles sworn to hunt them down. We were sure to get a nice mix of vehicles for this challenge and boy did we not disappoint! Lets see how we all did, shall we?

Dylan Denton is off to a strong start with this pair of prototype Japanese police vehicles...one a sporty coupe with gullwing doors and the other a massive supervan to haul off unruly criminals. Both have that futuristic concept movie vehicle feel that the Japanese adore so much...and be sure not to miss the video illustrating the vehicle's features including flashing lights!

Dohoon Kim brings in the fuzz in classic black and white with this Saleen S281 Extreme police vehicle. He also tells us this could technically be considered the scuzz as Barricade was a bad cop car from Transformers. Who could forget the tag line it said on the car..."to punish and enslave". I'm thinking of getting that put on the side of my dad's rusted out Aries K wagon. Ah, its been sooo long since I pulled an Aries K joke!

Here is something Ralph Savelsberg would have seen a lot of in his rear view mirror...if he had a rear view mirror. Or a car. Still, this Dutch police bike must be familiar territory for our Dutch born Mad Physicist. I'm particularly liking the accurately portrayed slumped shoulders of the rider and the rear mounted blue light.

Ralph is probably glad he doesn't have a car to speed by this stealthy unmarked vehicle. He tells us that American unmarked police cars are fairly easily identifiable...what with their marked license plates and specialty antennas, lights and other doodads...but Dutch unmarked cars are truly unmarked. Who could suspect this unassuming dark blue VW Passat as being an unmarked speed trap? They come in both sedan and estate wagon flavors!

With all this fuzz hanging around you'd think the scuzz wouldn't rear its ugly head. But sometimes the scuzz isn't too bright as evidenced by the ugliest of all scuzz...a trailer park built by my bug-builder buddy Doctor Mobius. His first ever LUGNuts entry features the requisite broken down car in the front yard as well as other not to be missed scuzzy details. Mobius has lived in Alabama so he knows all about the lowdown scuzz. Makes you wanna wash your hands, doesn't it?

Lego Junkie loads in s'more scuzz to keep the trailer park company...this time in the form of a heavily modified Ford F-100 pickup. With menacing exhaust pipes sticking out of the engine cavity and a boat window, this design borrows heavily from Nathan's post-apocalyptic pickup, but Lego junkie also included a 50 cal machine gun and a cooler to keep those scuzzy Coors Lites as cold as the Rockies!

Tommy N keeps law and order with this little Fuzzati Veyron. I'm not a gamer, but the trailer that Tommy included for Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit looks awesome! Among the fuzz's ranks is the million dollar Veyron police conversion that inspired Tommy's build. With fuzz that powerful, I'd think twice about outstepping the law, heck, I'd even consider never bringing in my library books late ever again!

Jason Son shows the scuzz some love with this lowdown '55 Chevy Bel Air complete with red and yellow flames and a 50's era greaser. It was these kinds of cars with their suped-up engines that started illegal street drag racing. In spite of all the police efforts to restore order, many a hot rodder was killed during these illegal races...which in turn spawned the sport of legal drag racing on safer, more controlled drag strips.

J0n4th4n D3rk53n chimes in with this too wild to believe polizia concept vehicle designed to chase down speeders. The strange flattened design seems to flow well with the shiny chrome rims courtesy of Bricksonwheels and with its raked up back end and sick exhaust pipes, I wouldn't want this concept vehicle in hot pursuit in my rearview mirror!

From the fuzz to the scuzz, Jonathan gives equal billing to the...um...criminally insane. You'd have to be if you chose this bright yellow and red low down '50 Merc as your getaway car. Nothing says "hey, look at me!" like a custom Merc in flashy Ronald McDonald colors.

Speaking of flashy colors, Jake conjures up a trio of tiny English Police cars with their bright lights and blue and yellow stripes. One is the Mitsubishi Evo X, another is a Lambo Gallardo and the last is the Vauxhall Astra. Gosh even the English sirens sound polite and dignified. Neener Neener Neener Neener!

Aaron F1...not to be confused with our other Aaron...presents the Vegan Police vehicle from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I didn't see the movie but the Vegan police are probably as weird and obnoxious as vegans in real life. Those folks don't eat any animal products...like not even cheese or eggs. I've done a lot of reading up on animal conservation and I've come to the sound conclusion that there is plenty of room for all of God's creatures...right next to the mashed potatoes. Hah! I love that joke!

NK DeSign-er declares the quadbike to be the perfect scuzz getaway vehicle...and why not? They're small, agile and can get on and off the road with equal ease and speed off through the forest or rough terrains where most police vehicles dare not tread. This quad is an alternate model to the official Lego Creator 5867 Super Speedster set. It seems alternate models are NK's specialty.

Sometimes the fuzz is not at all from the official police force. Sometimes they're just suave and debonaire heroes. Take this James Bond Blower Bently Convertible 1930 Coupe for example built by none other than Peter Blackert. While the movie version of Bond chases bad guys and beautiful women in an Aston Martin, the literary version does the same in a Bentley in pure English elegance and style. Just look at that white tux. Classy!

Some more lego911 fuzz for your viewing pleasure is this Ford Mondeo Mk III UK Police Cruiser in striking blue and lime green stripes. Its what all the modern Bobbies are driving! They still call them Bobbies, right?

Finally on the Lego 911 slab, we go from ultra-modern to ultra-oldschool with this Ford Model A 1928 Tudor Sedan Police Vehicle. Peter has this body style down pat, as evidenced by his several recent appearances on The Brothers Brick. Man, I still can't get over how perfect those rubber tires stretched over spoked wagon wheels are!

New guy Parda Technic somehow lives up to his name with this futuristic Police Cabrio...chock full of gear trains, moving pistons and other technic doodads and doohickeys. He tells us this creation is half old...half new...then he laughs menacingly. The technic scale driver sits all the way in the back and rides this beast like a chariot. Neat!

Firas Abu-Jaber is all about the fuzz this month with this 1991 Bugatti EB110 SS. With this sleek car patrolling the beat, I wouldn't even consider stealing a pen from the bank!...which would be hard considering they're always attached to them little ball-in-socket chains...which can make it hard to fill out a deposit slip.

Legogil lives in Brazil (hey, that rhymes!) so he knows all about the Chevy Opala. Its a little unclear if he's supposed to be representing the scuzz or the fuzz with this ride (maybe a little of both) but he tells us the Opala used to the used as police cars and taxi cabs. This particular Opala looks like it was refurbished for more...um...scuzz related activity like maybe street racing.

Sir Nadroj tells us all to respect his authoritah! And who wouldn't with this very respectable classic 1979 Dodge Monaco police cruiser? This is just the kind of police vehicle you'd see running down baddys in American car chase movies of yore. Ah, whatever happened to the classic American car chase? Nowadays car chases are done very slowly in a white Ford Bronco.

Orion Pax also has classic 70's police chases on the brain with this sleek tan and black highway patrol vehicle. Pax busts the legs off an ultra-rare chrome stormtrooper to form that front bumber...and check out the wheel wells. Long before anyone else can get their greasy mitts on them, Pax somehow sports the tan cheese slopes!

Is it any surprise that self proclaimed badboy Lino Martins goes with the scuzz on this one? With a screaming blue on blue on blue 60’s era panels paint job, this custom '59 Ford Ranch wagon has wracked up three speeding tickets, four parking violations, three counts of disturbing the peace, two counts of illegal street racing and even one count of “riding a little too low for this jurisdiction”...and that was all just this Friday alone!

A guy with Asian characters for a name (a.k.a. "Brad") is a man of few words. Actually, only one word..."old". Whether he's telling us this an an old MOC or a MOC of an old car, you don't need many words to tell us this is the classic iconic '74 Ford Gran Turino from the old Starsky and Hutch show of yore...putting this law enforcing MOC squarely in the fuzz category.

A man of many more words...and more entries is Sangi13. First he chimes in heavily with a trio of entries spanning both the scuzz and the fuzz. First a '70 Ford Mustang for the law-biding fuzz, second a '32 roadster also for the fuzz and a '32 roadster 5-window for the scuzz...which somehow surprisingly looks more like a hummer. Hmmmm.

Looking much more like what its supposed to be is this little 1982 Mustang convertible built for the scuzz to outrun the police. Two fuzz and two fuzz from Sangi13. He seems to like balance and order.

According to Tim Inman, there is nothing scuzzier than Japanese underground street racing gangs...and nothing outruns the law like Han's Veilside Mazda RX-7 from "The Fast And The Furious III: Tokyo Drift". Tim tells us he built this sweet ride primarily for "Big in Japan" the Brothers Brick BrickCon layout. Had he waited six days, he could have also built this for "Big In Japan" the LUGNUts challenge. Awwww nuts!

GoRiLLaWeR tells us if you're gonna run from the cops, you may as well do it in early 90's style in this Lamborghini Diablo. He also says the idea came from the E-Team movie (?) M. A. Barrracus drove one. Wait, is this some sort of twisted alternate reality dimension? I thought his name was B. A. Barracus, he drove a black van and he was part of the A-team! Eh whatever.

Know why this slick Noble M12 is so scuzzy? Rolic tells us its because cops only see its tail lights...oh, and also because it has no license plate, so take that, stupid coppers! That puts this badboy ride clearly in the scuzz category and a stunning sophomore effort for Rolic. Yep, I said sophomore. It means 2nd...not just in high school terms. Look it up, kids!

Ah, finally the power of suggestion worked! I suggested someone should build the A-Team van in the challenge write up and sure enough Raphy answers the call of duty with this badass B. A. Barracus-mobile. Not bad for a kid whose never seen even one episode of A-Team. Come to think of it, its been a long time since I've seen A-Team and I only remember Mr. T always "pitying the fool!" I didn't check out the new movie either.

You know what's Big In Japan besides Godzilla and used panty vending machines? Akira bikes. Aaron smiley face (not to be confused with Aaron F1) builds a whole slew of them in preps for BrickCon 2010. Who's all gonna be there? I know I will. Aaron will. He's a cool dude...kind of a hip-hop guy with lots of tats. You should introduce yourselves to him, when you see him. Ask him about Mary Jane. ;)

Speaking of Big In Japan...and BrickCon...that brings us to next month's build challenge called...um...Big In Japan. Once again I've created a Brothers Brick challenge tie-in right before BrickCon. I mean really, what else would you have expected considering last year's zombie killing challenge? Who could forget the mean and nasty Sgt. Rex Malone? I'm still hearing that line in my head about electric cattle prods to the nutsack. Anyway, register for BrickCon 2010 if you haven't already and come back soon to see how we all do with the new Big In Japan challenge. Until next time, peace out and "domo arigato, Mr. Roboto!"

Ah, Styx...they were so ahead of their time!

Size Matters Round Up.

2010-08-07T15:38:00.005-05:00

Welcome to the Size Matters round up. The title of this challenge makes about 90% of us feel just a little uneasy, while the other 10% smile knowingly for some reason. Beats me as to what thats about. So what happens when we give everyone free rein as to what vehicles they can build...but insist upon multiple scales? Building smaller or larger than your usual is not as easy as you'd think. Lets see how we all did, shall we?

Steve "kwycstix" Walker shows us right off the bat that size (big or small) is nothing to be feared with this massive flatbed hauler designed to haul off Steve's now wrecked Eleanor's Sister. No Eleanor's Sister is not some giant relative wrecked on booze...its a car. You see, there was this movie and Eleanor was this car...and now we have Eleanor's Sister and here are the big and little haulers built to haul it away. Somehow this makes Steve Eleanor's Sister's father...aww never mind! I'm confused already.

Jonathan proves he's no slouch when building multiple versions of an industrious Mobile Crane. The little' un has just as much detail and functionality as the bigg'un. Be sure to check out the video showing the power functions of the bigger crane.

Guess who else isn't a slouch? Peter Blackert shows us some size magic with this sleek set of Bugatti Veyrons. Peter does the unusual thing and actually upscales his normal with a stunning 1:15 scale (or Lino scale) model. Then he presents his familiar 1:20 scale, followed by a smaller 1:28 and if that ain't enough, he lays on a tiny 1:43 scale about the size of a Matchbox car.

Not to be outdone by his own self, Lego911 also presents a more classic Bugatti, this time a Type 35B in lovely dark blue. He repeats the same four scale pattern with this set so we have the old and new Bugattis in four distinct scales. Neat!

Toward the end of the challenge Lego911 still had some steam left so he whipped up this foursome of classic "Bowler Bentleys". While James Bond chased after secret spies and hot women in an Aston Martin in the movies, Peter tells us the Bowler Bentleys were the suave agent's vehicle of choice in the original Ian Fleming novels. And now you know!

Dylan Denton shows us the Ford Escort can be cool again with this fiery pair of 1978 Escort Mk2 Rally Racers complete with fog lamps and racing number. The bigger model contains detailed roll cage, fuel cell and even firefighting equipment inspired by yours truly. Word on the street is this might be some of Dylan's best work yet. What do you think?

Well if you're undecided, Dylan brings back his classic Ford Bronco from the LUGNuts calendar and conjures up a smaller, cuter version of the same. The litte'un is just a tough as its bigger brother and just as iconic. Dylan says he bent the rules a little but as he is well aware, once you get at least one solid entry down, bending the rules becomes so much more forgivable. Plus its such a neat little Bronco and good to see the old classic again.

July and some of August has been all about Iron Builder for Lino Martins. Holy crap, was it ever! I spent just about every waking moment in July building something or another in a desperate attempt to outdo my friend V&A Steamworks. Because I love LUGNuts so much, I figured out a way to build a legitimate Iron Builder entry (by using the requisite white curved arch secret ingredient) with this Mountain Pearl custom pickup. The littler version of itself satisfies this challenge. I hope to win, but as of writing this, judging is still pending. Wish me luck!

Sangi13 submits this big and little pair of red dump trucks. They're surely dump...truck...ish. And red. Time for a snack. I'm having Brie cheese with honey. Brie is sort of a soft, melty cheese like no other kind of cheese I've seen. You all should give it a try. If you eat it on a cracker with your pinky out you can look and feel classy. That's important.

A guy named oldeconoline builds...what else? An old Econoline! He already had the littler version from before but this time presents us with a larger, more detailed version with a large racing engine in the back. Speaking of cheese, he tried to find a gray cheese wedge for the smaller engine so it more closely matched its larger counterpart but his daughter was hogging all the lego pieces for her Oregon State Fair LEGO competition. Awwww cute, I hope she wins!

Aaron F1...not to be confused with LUGNutter Aaron (colon parentheses smiley face) Dayman...whips up a pair of Audi S1 Rally cars for his first ever LUGNuts entry. I'm digging the red and yellow paint scheme and the logo up front is distinctly Audi.

Dohoon Kim makes use of a whole slew of black pieces and some oldschool style with this pair of 1935 hot rodded pickups. Some cool techniques were used for the mirrors and check out that wicked tilt on the larger engine!

Proving he's not down for the count yet, Dohoon Kim comes up with a second entry pair, this time a couple of tractor trailer trucks. Hey, they remind me of the official LEGO creator set number 4955...only these are its smaller siblings. Am I right? They totally look similar.

If anyone knows that size does indeed matter its The Big Rafalski. I mean he's got "big" right in his name! And Rafalski. That also implies big...somehow. Put them together and you've got The Big Rafalski. Probably "The Huge Rafalski" and "The Giant Rafalski" was already taken by other members of his family. Anyway, here's a neat pair of old Ford hot rods.

So what does the undisputed king of Tiny Turbos do when faced with a Size Matters challenge? Does he go bigger with a real life sized gargantuan Volvo like whatshisname built? No, Raphy goes even smaller! The 4-wide '87 Buick GNX looks like a monster next to its 3-wide, 2-wide, and 1-wide little siblings.

Next (actually first but I flipped it around for continuity purposes) Raphy builds us a tiny Dodge Challenger SRT10. 'Sup, dudes, Raphy tells us. He sounded kinda cocky about it. But where is its bigger counterpart, you may ask? The rules specifically states you must provide multiple scale entries so what gives? Yeah, I'd be cocky about it too...

Raphy recruited the help of none other than his bigger, more...um...Middle Eastern-er brother Firas Abu-Jaber to provide the larger version of the same Dodge! No slouch when it comes to highly detailed muscle cars, this BMOC (Big Man On Campus) of the LUGNuts scene tells us this was one of the most difficult cars he's ever built. Firas and Raphy should be most proud for pulling off this epic pair!

Not to be outdone in a challenge chock full of great team work, the odd couple Ricecracker and our own Mad Physicist pulls off another stunning team venture...this time a stunning pair of Scania R500 Wrecker trucks. Both trucks feature a working winch, boom and outriggers...Ralph's larger version is powered by Power Functions. They only went by photos and neither has seen each other's MOCs until their debut. It takes lots of communication, team work, and almost an eerie sixth sense to pull off a buddy pair this well. Good work, guys!

Well, I can't think of a better way to end this great challenge. There wasn't much participation this time around but with what few entries we have there were a lot of great surprises...and some phenomenal buddy teamwork. Stay tuned to see how we all do with this month's newest challenge called The Scuzz And The Fuzz...all about law breaking and/or law biding vehicles...the criminal scuzz and the heroic fuzz sworn to chase them down. Thanks for reading! Let us know you've been here and we'll keep cranking out the round ups.

God Save The Queen Round Up

2010-07-09T14:26:00.008-05:00

In this month's God Save The Queen build challenge we were tasked to build British only cars, trucks and bikes. They have a rich automotive history and I figured it would be great to tackle some very Eurocentric designs...plus listening to a bunch of British punk rock while building was an added bonus. At least that's what I did, anyway. Lets see how everyone else faired, shall we?

Normally you'd have to wait awhile to see a creation from Ralph Savelsberg, but this time he had a little advanced insider info on the challenge as his acute automotive knowledge was needed to flesh out this British only theme. The result; this stunning Jaguar Mk VII complete with a happy newlywed couple. I couldn't think of a better way to start off this jolly good challenge!

Then this happened. Asman5 had a short run with us. He sort of lived up to his name and the irony of that wasn't lost on anyone. He could barely grasp the English language, yet he insisted upon taking a leadership role by launching his own "bild chalig" and running with it. His photos were dark and grainy...like this "convertaball mini". This was actually one of the only photos our moderators could accept as the others were not even clear as to what they were.

His quality of LCAD renders were...um...slightly better but still under par from what we expect from passionate and talented automotive enthusiasts such as yourselves. Even though he was brand new, he seemed to want to take over the group from within with his odd phonetic way of writing. Even with warnings and personal counseling, he seemed unwilling to change so the other LUGNuts officers and I rightfully decided it was best to let him go sailing off into the sunset.

With that unsettling business behind us, we move on to something we prefer to see in our group...this elegant pair of LCAD Rolls Royces by Superkalle. One is a Rolls Royce 1957 Silver Cloud and the other is a 1925 Rolls Royce Phantom. Great job all around!

Our co-founder Nathan Proudlove has been keeping himself pretty busy lately but being a good sport, he found the time to squeeze in this sweet little entry, a minifig scale gray Land Rover Defender. It uses some rare retro parts underneath for the suspension and the result is rough and tumble...all British, all Land Rover action!

Great minds think alike...or at least they did almost two years ago when Bill Ward built this Land Rover...also in gray. LUGNuts challenges are generally for NEW MOCs but yanno...Bill is the founder of Bricks By The Bay and an all around stand up nice guy. With no prizes, sometimes you can just let little things slide...the fact that it's a pretty sweet Rover certainly helps. We're still onto you, Bill. ;)

Speaking of sweet, Firas Abu-Jaber drops by with this stunning Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead convertible. This car exudes elegance and class from every angle. This is what makes British automobiles...and Firas' model great. And just when we thought Firas' talent was derived from the Gods, did you see his recent pics? Both he and his girlfriend are drop dead hotties! Good fortune certainly smiles on that one and we're sure glad to have him on board.

And what drop dead hottie would be complete without this 1997 Aston Martin V-8 Vantage built by Tim Inman? Tim is already a talented builder, but we've seen some vast improvement with last month's challenge and this month proves that wasn't a fluke. Build and photo quality has been noticeably better as evidenced by that elegant roofline and front air intake. The shiny hubs, courtesy of Chromebricks finishes off this build very nicely.

Tim keeps the high photo and build quality going but switches up the color scheme with this 1976 Jensen GT. Tim tells us that only slightly more than 500 of these little British bad boys were ever made in its two year production and was powered by a snappy little Lotus 4-cylinder engine. As the British would say...smashing!

When I first wrote this challenge, I had a short list of British automobiles I'd hope to see. On it was a classic Mini Cooper so that's why I'm glad that someone as talented as Jason Son had pulled through with my telepathic request. As if reading my mind, he also made it a white rally racer complete with roll cage and fire extinguishing equipment. Jolly good!

And Speaking of Rally racing, roll cages and firefighting equipment, Lino Martins (hey, that's me!) conjures up the most underdogginest of British cars with this Hillman Imp. As mentioned before, I listened to a lot of punk rock while building so its no surprise I've also included a proud British punker fig to go with it. "Oy, bloody hell bollocks!", he would say if he wasn't made of Lego.

I wonder if his name derives from dyslexia...or perhaps I have dyslexia, because when I see this name typed out...daxolesa, I get dyslexia. Try saying that ten times fast! Anyway, dyslexia...er...um...I mean daxolesa breaks a long streak of all white cars with a tiny Rolls Royce in charming blue.

Rambunctious Raphy builds us a tiny Jaguar Series II E-type coupe. From the back it sort of looks like a Deora front but the real front is all Jaguar front. Confused yet? The back looks like a Deora front but but its a Jaguar back and the front looks like a Jaguar front...ah, never mind!

Dohoon Kim enters a McLaren F1 in red. He tells us its his first time photographing a MOC outside. Don't worry, Dohoon, we're all nervous the first time. Actually, come to think of it, I've never photographed a MOC outside. All my business is done strictly indoors. I guess that makes me a big, fat, 38 year old MOC outdoors virgin. Yep. I haven't lived.

Alexander Hoogerwerf musters up a brand new Bentley Mulsanne in sparkling red. He tells us its very British, something the Queen herself would be driven around in. With the sparkling crown as a hood ornament, we're just going to have to believe him on that one. Good show, old chap!

No stranger to outdoor MOC photography, Dylan Denton takes his 1981 Lotus Esprit Turbo outside and photographs it exposed in front of God and all the world to see. Adding to a long string of white cars. this fine auto has pop up headlights and nice green trim. Hey, Lotus, your headlights are showing!

J0n4th4n D3rk53n builds us a neat little custom Metropolitan Austin in yellow with a red and white flag on the roof. I didn't recognize the flag as being English so I looked it up. Turns out, it is very English indeed. First hoisted in 1191, the historic Flag of St. George became England's flag in 1278. It was only later when the diagonal red cross of St. Patrick (Ireland) and the diagonal white cross of St. Andrew (Scotland) was added make the iconic Union Jack we know today. Smart, Jonathan. Very smart!

Lego Guy pulls through with another very British vehicle on the short list I'd hope to see...the iconic red and yellow LDV Royal mail van. Being an American, its easy to think that all mail trucks are stubby little white and blue numbers but its great to see the world has a lot of variety to offer. Why we could do a challenge just strictly on mail delivery trucks of the world and not be bored with it. Just a thought.

sam2442 offers us a 4x4 Land Rover powered by 2 power functions xl motors, with return to centre steering (also powered by pf motor), 4 bar suspension, portal axles, working headlights, and rechargeable battery. Thats all tecno-babble for one tough and capable mamma-jamma! Brilliant!

What would LUGNuts be without our usual end of the month run from Peter Blackert? He starts us off with "not a white car, nor a Land Rover" but instead one of the most successful British Formula 1 Racers - the 1968 Lotus 49 Grand Prix racer adorned in lovely early 1968 livery, British racing green, with yellow stripe. Perfect!

Next on the slab is an Aston Martin DBR9 Gulf Racer - 2008 in traditional light blue and orange Gulf colors. The old English red and white flag adorns the side proving that the rest of the world already knows the origin of the British flag...I humbly plead ignorance. Sigh.

And "for all you eco-greenies out there" Peter whips up the 1985 Sinclair C5.Designed by ecentric technology millionaire, Sir Clive Sinclair, the C5 was designed to take advantage of Uk road rules and to not exceed 15 mph (24km/h) and was made to be driven without a driver's license. Hear that, Ralph? This could be your chance!

Peter takes requests with this new green Aston Martin V8 Vantage Coupe. He tells us Lego green is hard to photograph but I think he pulled it off really well. On a side note, I find that anything purple totally freaks out my camera. The purple object turns blue and a white background turns fiery yellow or orange. Has anyone else encountered that or am I the only one not bright enough to work that out? With me not knowing about the original English flag I'm willing to admit I might be the only dumbass around here.

Another British vehicle on my short list that I'd hope to see is a traditional Routemaster RM London Red Double Decker Bus and Peter pulls through with pizzazz. Peter tells me the 384 number out front is the same number as the official Lego London bus set of yore...cool! And check out the Lego Times mosaic work on the side.

Another classic car on the London scene is the Austin FX4 Classic Black Cab.The car itself is great, but I'm digging the Miniland figure to go with it...love the detailing on his jacket!

Lastly on the lego911 slab is this Ministerial Rover P5 3.5 Litre Saloon done up in dark gray. All three can be seen either alone or in a stunning diorama featuring Classic London Street life from 1965-1975.

Interspersed throughout Peter's end of the month showdown is Ricecracker's Ford Transit farmer's truck done up in lovely blue complete with oversized carrots and apples. I'd happily buy those from that little farmer!

jake shows up with a classic MG TC. He tells us its his first classic car and I'd have to say it turned out pretty well. Jake tells us cheerio, pip-pip and all that good British dialog...turns out Jake really is from England. Blimey!

LegOscar graces us with a black Rover SD1. In a build challenge filled with photographic firsts, Oscar tries placing the model on a sheet of plexiglass for the first time for that nice reflective surface effect that the likes of Firas and others use. I'd say the effect worked out pretty well. The model is great looking all around...even its undercarriage.

marioman3138 gives us his first LUGNuts entry, a Jensen Interceptor. He tells us help would be appreciated...I say welcome to the world of LUGNuts...with practice and patience your automobiles will only get better from here.

Well that was a nice end to our all British build challenge I think it turned out bloody smashing! As scary as that sounds here, its actually a major compliment in England. Incidentally, this challenge tied in with another non-car related group...there wasn't as much hubbub in that group but be sure to check out the entries in the Battle Bugs challenge also called God Save The Queen, including a hornet built by yours truly. Lets see how we do this month in Size Matters...a challenge where we build any car, truck, or bike we want...in multiple scales! See ya on the flip side, old chaps!

Kickin' It Oldschool Roundup

2010-06-04T14:15:00.007-05:00

What happens when a bunch of LUGNuts get all nostalgic over pre-1950 cars? Well turn up your hearing aids, grandpa, cuz you're about to find out! And we'll try not to use too much hip young slang that will only confuse you and enrage you more...like "Kickin' It Oldschool" or "Fo' Shizzle". Well, there goes that promise. Lets just see how we did, shall we?

Usually you got to wait until the last minute to see Lego911's 30 or so entries. This time he jumps in right away with this Irving Napier Golden Arrow. It broke the land speed record in 1929 doing over 231 mph or 372 km/h to the rest of the world. Then the driver died the very next year trying to set the land speed record...over water. Wouldn't that be a water speed record then?

Moving from the land speed record to something much slower, 911 whips up a Renault 6CV Taxi de la Marne. He tells us it was so named due to the strategic use of ferrying French troops from Paris to Marne in September 1918 during the Great War. You oldsters remember the Great War, right?

Designed prior to the Second World War, and hidden away from the invading Germans, this little Citroen 2CV had a remarkably long production career. 1948 - 1990. Thats about how long the Simpsons have been on the air. Maybe. Probably. What do I know?

Next on the Lego911 slab is this Auburn 851 Boat-tailed Speedster from 1935. There were a couple of Auburn Boat-tails in this month's Rod and Custom magazine in the Dream Car of the Month section. Yep, so this is totally relevant then...unlike all the other times where I try to make some joke about me being pulled over in Wyoming relevant.

Far from done, in fact just warming up, 911 then conjures up this little Ford Model A Coupe from 1928. See kids, this is what they look like before they get all hot rodded out with giant Hemis, racing tires and lime green and orange flame jobs. See, this is like being in a museum except without the creepy old guard staring you down and we don't close at 4pm.

Also from 1928 is the Ford Model A roadster...its like the other one except without the roof. I bet it was a real chick magnet back then!

Speaking of chick magnet, looks like this little miniland fig nabbed himself a pretty bride with this more formal Ford Model A Town Sedan used as their wedding car. It's so much classier than driving off in wedded almost bliss in a 1970 Ford Pinto like my parents did.

Also from 1928, 911 renders this neat Duesenberg Model J Murphy bodied Convertible Coupe. I get the impression Peter just opened his 1928 CAD file already stored on his hard drive and just went completely nuts. I got to learn first hand just how extensive Peter's Lego rendered car files are. I'll give you more on that later.

But first, here is a 1932 Ford V8 Street Rod. Now this is how they look after they've been hot rodded out...fenders removed, stance lowered, racing tires, chopped off, roof exposed oversized V-8 engine and a flashy fast paint job, in this case dark blue with a bright orange racing stripe.

Next Lego911 stirs up a Duesenberg Model SJ Weyman Speedster, this time from the 1933 file. Peter tells us no cars of this magnificence survived production after WWII. Lucky for his extensive CAD files then. Wanna know just how extensive they are? You'll never believe it. I had a chance to talk to Peter face to face. Yep, he flew all the way to the Pacific Northwest from Australia to visit family, but he also took some time to visit me.

Next on the 911 slab is this Ford Model A Deluxe Coupe...with rumble seat, also from his 1928 file. By this point Peter stated he was feeling a little lonely in this challenge. Granted, this was still fairly early and still a long ways before the usual challenge end rush. But you'd feel lonely too if you were the world's most prolific Lego car builder.

Lonely or not, 911 soldiers on to build two more cars, this one a Duesenberg SJ Torpedo Sedanette by Bohman & Schwartz. Using my own lego collection, Peter schooled me on a neat little suspension system for cars. Never has anything so ingeniously engineered has ever been built with my Lego, not by my own hands anyway. It was a meeting of the minds for sure, the artist and the engineer, two vastly different builders learning a thing or three about car building.

Lastly, 911 whip up this Ford Model A Leatherback Sedan. That's all he had time for as he was then whisked off in a plane heading to the US. Ok, I've kept you in suspense long enough, wanna know how many Lego cars Peter has built in his lifetime? 18,000! I didn't stutter, I didn't mistype...18,000! Never mind car builder, that has got to make him the most prolific Lego builder on the planet. I don't think even Nathan Sawaya, as famous as he is, has anything near that kind of model building clout in his repertoire. Wow...just wow! And to think, he got to visit little ol' me!

Speaking of little ol' me, Lino Martins works double duty to submit a double entry...a 1919 Ford T-Bucket modeled after the design and color scheme of a Fokker DR1 Triplane. Heh, yeah, I still giggle every time I say it. Fokker. "I expected better things from you, Fokker!" Robert De Niro said that in some movie. If you want to see the worst people on the internet, build a plane. It wasn't so much people plural but more like one guy with some crap comments. Anyway, the black and white triplane is just like the more famous Red Baron, except this one is at the Seattle Museum of Flight. I always wanted to build it.

Stirring up much less controversy and critical distain was my second entry, a '31 Ford roadster hot rod with a green on black flaming paint job. I like to think of it as having just as much bad attitude as my other MOCs but with just a fraction of the size.

Gambort, the other Australian LUGNut...the one that didn't bother to fly out to visit me ;) has concocted a Scammell Mech Horse with an old timey speed boat. He demonstrates how you can break the rules intelligently. His boat, like my triplane, is not allowed in a automotive group such as ours...but pose them next to a car or towed by one...and its all good. You kids can learn something from that.

Much later in the challenge, Gambort gives us an old-timey 40's era racing car in bright yellow. This is how they looked before they were Formula One racers...like sleek banana shaped cars. Tasty!

Right around this time in the challenge, it seemed that if you weren't Peter, you were building black and white T-Buckets, like this 1923 black and white T-Bucket built by J0n4th4n D3rk53n. Its got a neat aggressive stance and I'm digging the pipes.

Next on the Jonathan slab is a nice restored 1929 Ford Model AA also in black and white. They didn't invent color until like the 60's right? Right? At any rate, I'm digging the custom Jonathan license plate curtsey of heather LEGOgirl. Neat!

NK Designer proves once and for all that color was invented way before the 60's with this bright yellow generic roadster from the 30's or 40's. Its sort of like an Oldsmobile, sort of like a Morgan and all alternate model for Creator Cool Cars set number 4939. I'm digging the unusual technique for the fenders.

Dohoon Kim adds a slpash of Spiderman colors to his 1922 Ford T-Bucket. Its single side pipes and its tilted windshield make it an unusual T-Bucket indeed. I'm digging the engine and aggressive stance.

You can't have a pre-1950's oldschool challenge without a woody of some kind. This is why I'm glad Tim Inman pulled it off with this stunning '48 Chevy Fleetmaster Station Wagon. War efforts made it so most steel was used towards tanks and planes so many cars of that era utilized wood for almost everything aft of the firewall. Back in my brickshelf days I built a blue woody similar to this one but mine didn't come out nearly as sweet. Awesome job, even for a heavy hitter like Tim!

Another heavy hitter on the scene, Nathan Proudlove tries something new with his 1940 Ford custom truck. Usually, he drops a final product on us like a bomb, but this time he eases us in with a slew of work in progress pics. The end result, I think, is just as amazing as if he surprised us with it. Just look at that angled lip along the edge of the bed, the swooping fenders, and be sure not to miss the gravity games skate ramp the truck can pull on his photostream. All of it signature Proudlove!

Dover sneaks in this entry from another challenge. He tells us it has more of a 50's vibe...actually, the box art tells us it has precisely a '57 Del Rojo vibe...which technically doesn't quite belong in a pre-1950's challenge. But Dover is a nice dude who works at the Lego store so you can't fault him all that much, plus he made it look almost like an official set, which is neat. If there were prizes involved we'd probably have to nix this one, but...no prizes, no harm, no foul.

Azaghal Gabilzaramul builds us a 1936 Avions Voisin straight out of the 2005 film Sahara. I didn't see the movie but I wonder if its anything like Death Proof where Stuntman Mike drove it and it was 100% Death Proof, except you had to be on the driver's side to benefit from the effects... What? No? It wasn't like that? Oh. Well...hmmmm.

"Phew, I made something!", says Ralph Savelsberg, our resident Mad Physicist. That something happens to be a pretty neat little yellow five window coupe with a red flame job. Its nice to see Ralph shed his...um...conservative roots for this wild and crazy custom ride. I think we can turn Ralph to the wild side. Maybe when he finally gets around to owning a car it might be Ed Roth's Mysterion. No? Too wild? Ok, maybe a five window coupe like this one...tan with off-white flames. ;)

Almost matching that description is Zenn's rod called Lucky Strike. Zenn tells us this little hot rod is inspired by 'Cry-Baby', 'American Graffiti', 'Deuces Wild' and our rather silent, yet highly pivotal LUGNut, Misterzumbi. Now that's hot!

Sprogis Peteris tells us that some dozens of crazy mustachioed mechanics shed some blood, sweat and tears in order to produce this "Mustache Speedster". Oh boy, the mustache jokes are just piling up here but I'll let you insert your own. This MOC produces more questions than answers. Sometimes you guys just make it too easy! Hey, at least its original.

Perterz gives us his first ever entry into a LUGNuts challenge, a hot rodded out flatbed truck. Normally I'd say the fiery yellow photography can use some brightening, but in this case it gives it a nice old fashioned sepia feel...as if this was an old photo found in the back room of some garage somewhere. I'm digging the environment, too.

The usually talkative Raphy tells us only two words, both in a foreign language. Deja vu is fitting in the sense that we've seen some nice large scale builds from him before and it looks like he ain't ready to quit yet. He reaches for his trusty tiny turbos rims and uses them for exactly what they're intended for...engine parts for larger scale models. This '49 Chevy 3100 Thriftmaster called "White Rat" has all the makings of an advanced young builder...in the making. The demure white is a decidedly grown up color while the chrome rims, courtesy of Bricksonwheel's shop adds a nice touch to this classy ride.

John conjures up this Austin 7 Pearl in striking red and black. He tells us its just meh, but I'm seeing some rather difficult build techniques here. The windshield is only 3-wide but subtly fades into a 4-wide rear and the fenders are a valiant effort. Not bad for someone's first attempt at an old fashioned car.

Dylan Denton finishes off the challenge (and this pre-1950's idea) with a fitting 1949 Kurtis kraft Sport. Only 36 of these cars were ever manufactured, each in a different color so its nice to see this black and red one. Dylan tells us he wasn't sure he liked the windshield but unanimously we all say...the windshield is most ingenious! Great job, Dylan!

So, we all got nostalgic in this very special Kickin' It Oldschool challenge. I hope you all learned something from this, and remember...you can't have a 2011 Bugatti Veyron with all its modern conveniences if the Model T wasn't manufactured first. Be sure to join in on all the jolly good fun with our new challenge called God Save The Queen...all about British autos, old chap! It would be smashing if we all build the steering wheels on the "wrong" side for once and called a hood a bonnet and a trunk a boot. Oh, and that new challenge ties in with my Battle Bugs group challenge also called God Save The Queen. Clever, ain't it?

500!

2010-05-25T18:32:00.001-05:00

Raphy did up this neat-o timeline of LUGNuts a while ago. Today we hit another milestone. 500 members, alright!