CHEAP CARS

The Food We Eat Round Up

cumaidi@gmail.com (cumaidi) — Sat, 4 Dec 2010 13:47:00 -0800

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

cumaidi@gmail.com (cumaidi) — Tue, 2 Nov 2010 13:12:00 -0700

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

cumaidi@gmail.com (cumaidi) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 12:10:00 -0700

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

cumaidi@gmail.com (cumaidi) — Thu, 2 Sep 2010 12:29:00 -0700

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.

cumaidi@gmail.com (cumaidi) — Sat, 7 Aug 2010 13:38:00 -0700

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

cumaidi@gmail.com (cumaidi) — Fri, 9 Jul 2010 12:26:00 -0700

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

cumaidi@gmail.com (cumaidi) — Fri, 4 Jun 2010 12:15:00 -0700

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!

cumaidi@gmail.com (cumaidi) — Tue, 25 May 2010 16:32:00 -0700

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

Go Team Lino/ Go Team Nathan Roundup

cumaidi@gmail.com (cumaidi) — Tue, 11 May 2010 22:52:00 -0700

Wow, what a roller coaster of internet firsts this challenge has been! First we split all of LUGNuts in half based on Flickr names. Everybody starting with A-M was Team Lino while everyone N-Z was Team Nathan. Then we told everyone that the teams would be judged by all the LUGNuts admins who had to sit out the challenge. Then, we said that absolutely everyone who participated on a winning team will receive discounts from a couple of our fave Bricklink stores, custom license plates courtesy of our friend Heather legogirl and gift certificates from lego.com. The result: Team Lino won, but both teams worked hard with a combined record breaking 77 MOCs from a whopping 42 individuals! This has been the most popular LUGNuts challenge yet and a doozie of a roundup. Team Nathan were great sports so lets review them first.

The Big Ralfalski takes some time of studying at college and puts Team Nathan on the map with a custom '36 Chevy pickup truck. Everything from the chrome rims, the oval back window and the checkered pattern seats are finely detailed...all signature Rafalski!

Ricecracker steps up to the plate with this neat redux of the old set # 6677. An '86 Ford Bronco pulls a motocross bike. Upon quick glance, you'd think the bike is from a standard Lego set, but it is scratch built...very difficult to do in this scale, if you ask me. The yellow and white bronco has beefy raised suspension and great styling!

Profound Whatever (yep, that's his name!) enters a pretty neat Caterham R500. Not a prolific car builder, Profound tells us this was hard stuff for sure and has a new found respect for those who pull it off regularly. He says he may not build another car for awhile, but says it was fun to build a car he'd love to own. For a non-car builder, I'd say he did a great job!

Sprogis Peteris builds this...um...black generic race-mobile space truck thingy. I don't even know what to call it as Sprogis provides no title, nor write up. Its up to us to guess what its all about. I'm guessing Chewbacca races it across the desert at top speeds right up until it blasts into parallel dimension populated by talking frogs. Makes sense to me! ;)

ZetoVince speeds across the finish line with this sweet little Kart racing scene. The kart itself is well built, but is photographed and cropped exceptionally well. A few simple props lets us imagine, even hear the exciting racing action. Vrrroooooooooommmm! Go ZetoVince!

The usually mild mannered Sir Nadroj scares us all with this sleek and spooky Devil's Motor Car. He took the styling of the 30's and 40's and exaggerates the car's features with an almost cartoony feel. The dapper Devil minifig is not to be missed but my favorite features has to be the swooping fenders...and the black kitty hood ornament. Cute!

NewRight classes up the joint with this sophisticated Renault Monaquatre. Produced in France from 1931-1936, this compact family car is the epitome of French class and style. Tres Magnifique!

From French retro sophistication to futuristic hovercars, NewRight does it all. Later in the challenge, he gives us a glimpse of the future in this Chariot G1 320. It has two wheels up front and sleek futuristic styling all around.

This classic Cabrio built by NK Design-er is an alternate model to set number 5867 Super Speedster. The model features plenty of tricky techniques, probably invented by NK himself. Rumor has it he knows a thing or two about real life Lego set design. For real!

A guy named Oldeconoline enters...what else?...an old Econoline. This cute little 3-wide pickup is a mini replica of a real Econoline pickup that he drives. Almost related, but there's a neat Dodge A-100 pickup in my neighborhood. The A-100...or the Econoline, especially in pickup form, are such rare beasts. Its good to see them rendered in Lego.

On the last day of the challenge, Team Nathan needed a boost and Raphy pulls through big time! First he rolls out this generic 30's style coupe. He tells us its driven by French wine snobs as evidenced by the wineglass headlights. See, the wineglasses are sideways. Heh, get it? Sideways. Wine. Ah, never mind.

Then he teases us with this tiny turbos cruise van inspired by the weirdo-mobile from the Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Its little, has a cute shape...yanno standard tiny turbos fare.

But Raphy's 14-wide '69 Plymouth Roadrunner is a step above the rest...most likely his best work yet. He really ups the ante with this aggressive muscle car and does Team Nathan...and heck, even more than a few members on Team Lino proud. Its great to see what the kid can do when he really puts his mind to it. Welcome to the Big Boy's Club, kiddo!

Nolnet proves that even seasoned members of the Big Boy's Club like to work small sometimes. Here is Tiny Monster, a little truck with a big attitude. I'm digging all the greebly suspension bits underneath.

In the last hours of the last day of the challenge, psiaki entered something so breathtakingly cool, that it put the fear into Team Lino. The rules say even if one team has more entries, another team can win if it has a good amount of gold...and this '89 Batmobile is exactly the kind of gold that could have put Team Nathan other the top. Holy Awesomeness, Batman!

Team Nathan fought hard and built some truly stunning creations. They did some things we can all be proud of, but alas, it was multiple entries from several talented builders and lots of participation that made Team Lino an unstoppable force. We've seen an unprecedented 61 MOCs from a staggering 30 individuals. Brother's brick donated a huge chunk, plus I chipped in a bit and Ralph matched me. All told, a healthy $450 funded the pool. When split amongst 30 people on Team Lino, each participant got $15 in either lego.com gift certificates or or money sent to their paypal accounts. its not much, but its a small token of appreciation for a job well done. A lot of great entries made up Team Lino, so lets review them, shall we?

J0n4th4n D3rk53n starts us off with a '59 Cadillac Cyclone Concept car. I'm digging the cones up front and its very retro-future space age shape all done in conventional Jonathan style of unconventional automotive influences.

Speaking of unconventional automotive influences, Jonathan mixes up a little blue with his yellow to create this Ford Thames 307E Ice Cream Van. I didn't know what this vehicle was at first, but upon doing some net research, I see that this looks exactly like the real thing. There was even a hot dog vendor of the same shape. Makes me hungry for vehicle vended food.

Don't ya hate it when you run out of fuel? Well Jonathan's custom retro gas tanker will get your precious gasoline to you in no time. Low slung and sporting six wheels, this fuel tanker has a very Art Deco feel that is quickly becoming a signature Jonathan style.

Next on the Jonathan slab is a sleek barebones hot rod. Clean lines, suicide doors and duallie rear tires makes this custom rod one unforgettable ride indeed.

But if you think Jonathan is finished, you'd be wrong! He reaches for his trusty yellow pieces once again and this time brings back that 30's Art Deco style with this Austin American. The shape of the hood cowl and the fenders are awesome touches, but I really dig the roll back roof effect.

Lego Junkie lives up to his name with this hot rod paddy wagon called Black Lightning. Its got weird rear fenders, a spoiler and a white hot flaming paint job. Neat-o!

Next, Lego Junkie whips up a '55 Bel Air taxicab gasser inspired by the work of Dohoon Kim. I'm digging the heightened stance and the binoculars made into a blower.

Lastly Mr. Junkie portrays a dismal future with this cyber post apocalyptic tractor done up in drab gray. Junkie says there is no rust or chains in this post-apoc world. Only shiny metal and plenty of lights.

And speaking of Dohoon Kim, his first entry is a sleek custom 1950 Merc Coupe done up in classy black and shiny chrome. Its all about low and slow with this sweet ride!

Second, Dohoon lets loose some gas with this '55 Bel Air Gasser. The exhaust pipes are correctly placed behind the front tires and the wheelie bars 'round back are not to be missed.

Next on the Dohoon Kim slab is a slick black Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. It has an unmistakable Rolls grille and even features an opening trunk to put all your ritzy stash. Cool!

Kwycstix wanted to build something for diversity and correctly predicted that no one but him would build a flat 6 soft tail chopper based on the Honda Valkyrie. The straight pipes add lots of volume to this sleek ride.

Lego Guy cooks up a neat little Nissan S-Cargo. My first thought is it looked like a snail. Its namesake...escargot further illustrates this point and a quick search on the net proves this little MOC looks just like the real thing. I bet it tastes slimy.

Next Lego Guy builds us a little Toyota Trueno in black and white. He tells us this was build mostly from table scraps. Not bad for table scraps, eh?

Lastly, Lego Guy takes a page from Jonathan's scrapbook and whips up a sweet mini ice cream van similar to the one Jonathan built earlier. I'm digging the shape of the hood and the shiny bumper. I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

We go from tiny cars to this giant 16 wide Renault 5 Maxi Turbo built by Charger Hornet. It's a rally hatchback from the early 80's that features opening doors and a mid-mounted 4 cylinder 1.4 liter turbo engine.

We go from bigger to bigger-er with this massive 19-wide half track built by C Jay. Its big and yellow...with black stripes, like a giant bumblebee. I'd hate to feel the sting from that big truck!

Jason Son does Team Lino proud with this awesome '74 Dodge Charger. The shape and all the sponsors are great, but I particularly like the engine suspended from a Lego built hoist. Nice touch.

Immediately after the Charger, Jason Son whips up a sweet little VW Golf 6. The hood and doors all open and the details and shape are unmistakably Volkswagen. He even has a pic of the model car posed on the hood of the real thing.

Not to rest on his laurels, Jason produces a third entry, this time a low slung '58 Chevy custom pickup in primer gray. The entire front lifts open, fenders and all to reveal the engine and the doors open to show off the interior.

Its great to see different versions of things that have been built before. Years ago I built The Death Proof Nova and now Jason Son has done the creepy car justice with his own version. As Stuntman Mike says, this car is 100% Death proof...but ya gotta be on the driver's side to feel the effects. Any would be passengers...not so lucky!

Jason Son must build like mad! Just when we think he's done more than enough, he builds a fifth entry...this time a very low custom Chevy Pickup in brown and white. The highly detailed engine is not to be missed and his Mrs. thought up the idea to fill the bed with foliage. I'd say she had the right idea!

Bricksonwheels is known for building big trucks. Which is why it was so awesome that he instead built us a Bentley Corniche Hemi V8. This sweet ride features a bitchin' sound system and NOS in the trunk and plenty of signature bricksonwheels style chrome to keep us all wanting more!

But, as it turns out, Bricksonwheels couldn't go a whole challenge without building one of his signature trucks. This time he calls it The Big Swede II, a Scania R620 V8. I know this is not so exotic to many of you, but its nice to see some distinct European designs here.

New guy Creme-de-la-creme shows us he's no slouch when it comes to building cars...at least in LCAD anyway. Its a 1967 Ford Mustang fastback. Mr. Creme tells us he has never really built a car before and if this CAD rendering is any indication of his talents with the real brick, he should get on to building with for real right away.

LDM conjures up a Stanley Steamer from the past...or at least from the lobby of the Stanley Hotel. Its done in lovely green and yellow and the tires...are like nothing else I've ever seen. Made with minifig hands!

Later in the challenge, LDM squeezes out one more creation...this time a cute little Mario Kart. Its amazing how the standard, un-customized Lego minifig looks just like Mario.

When my countryman Biczzz enters a challenge you get the sneaking suspicion that something has just gone very, very...right. I forget that I was born an American and I suddenly identify more with my Portuguese heritage. You would too, if you shared some lineage with Biczzz. Here is a hot rod called Ruby. It has us all saying muito bem!

Biczzz comes back for a second round but this time takes on the challenge in the form of a low slung chopper. Anyone who has done this sort of thing knows, that motorcycles generally take less parts to build, but are a lot harder to do than their automotive counterparts. They're fragile as hell and always falling over...but I'd say Biczzz pulled this one off nicely.

Dandyman500 enters a neat little Toyota FJ Cruiser with the stipulation that we please yell at him if he's doing anything wrong. Its a strange request, considering he has done nothing wrong. I mean its an automotive vehicle...fairly well built, well photographed. He seems to know precisely what LUGNuts is all about. I'd say there is no need to yell at all.

Later in the challenge, Dandyman takes a page from Bricksonwheel's book of learning and constructs this big rig truck. Its got mud guards and nice coloring and stripes. Again, no need to yell...except maybe for joy. Yay!!

Lichtblau proves you don't have to build 18-wide monsters to show that you're talented. In fact, sometimes a minimal collection forces you to think of some clever alternatives. This pair of sweet little Chevy pickups came at a time when he was away from his collection and packed only a bare minimum of Lego parts. He makes it look so easy. Extra points for using the new little piggies. Oink Oink!

LegoEater takes a break from eating Lego to build with Lego instead. Here we have a Zamboni. Its...um...yanno, zamboni-ish. It has a classic Corvette swoosh on the side for some reason and an RC chassis. And it fits two minifigs one for the driver, the other to pick up any would be hitchhikers while smoothing out the ice rink.

Next LegoEater proves to be the only person ever to build a Lego car. Nope, its true. No one else has ever built a Lego car before. Go ahead, look it up, I'll wait. See, no one else has ever done it. Now that its already been done, the rest of us don't have to bother doing it...which is good. See, LegoEater built a Lego car. What have you done lately? Nothing! ;)

We go from LegoEater to Lego Monster. Lego Monster also built a Lego car but this one is a 1935 Duesenberg Phaeton, and boy do I like it! Every detail from the swooping fenders to the rubber tires pulled over wagon wheels are not to be missed. Its MOCs like this that make me proud to have my name on the team...even though I had to sit out this challenge. Just stunning!

Tyler is a Legohaulic. Its only been a few days since he's been clean and we suspect he's going to fall off the Lego wagon again soon and hit the bricks real hard. But when you build things as cool as a Herbie The Love Bug complete with power functions, Tyler's raging...um...Legohaulicism is actually a good thing. Tyler, we're here to support you but we don't want you to stop being a Legohaulic. Its what we love about you!

Ok, do yourself a giant favor! Go to youtube and watch the Window Licker video by Aphex Twin. Go ahead, I'll wait. The longer ten minute version has lots of swearing in the intro so don't watch it around sensitive ears. The shorter five some odd minute version bypasses the swearing but loses the overall effect. Ok, did you watch it? Now watch the short vid by Mahjqa featuring his black convertible and Linosine. See, isn't it freakin' cool! And it has my name on the side! Squeeeeeee!!!!

LegOscar builds things Technic tough...at least he did with his UNIMOG trial truck, anyway. He calls it a trial truck because it was his first attempt at something so large with power functions. And it apparently races around the trial track with ease.

Next LegOscar reaches for the same balloony tires and this time builds himself a blue Wacky Racer Formula car. It has lots of studs. And its blue...with big tires. Did I mention its blue? With big tires? Oh, I said that already? Ok...um what else? Oh wait, looks like I've taken up my requisite three to five lines talking about this MOC. Perfect, lets move on!

Oh wait, back to LegOscar. Ok, so this one is a white hot rod. It has a slightly different driver, same balloony tires from before. It has pistons that I assume pop up and down as it rolls across the floor. This is a good time to grab a snack. Mmmmm, pepperoni stick!

Ok, I'm back. And Cole Blaq saw a gap in the sci-fi and concept vehicles department and figured he'd fill said gap with this Kraxler MB5000. Its an agricultural machine for extreme terrain that freakin' transforms into a four legged walker. Yeah, I bet your Kraxler doesn't do that. No, you had to go and get the cheaper Kraxler MB4000. I bet you feel like a putz now! ;)

Cole Blaq wouldn't be Cole Blaq without his far out concept machines. This one utilizes those rare orange rings for tires. They were like...life rings, I think in those Coast Guard sets. Or maybe toilet seat rings. What were they anyway? Whatever they were, this is a pretty cool little concept ride.

But wait, there's more! Cole then builds this cool John Deere harvester...but like no John Deere I've ever seen. Must be another one of his futuristic concept rides. Its so industrious looking, moving those big logs to and fro. Say Cole, this is totally off the cuff, but did the John Deere toy marketing execs contact you yet? They're watching. Just sayin'...just sayin' is all.

Azaghal Gabilzaramul has the hardest name to type. But more importantly, he built a very cool VW Bus pickup conversion. I've got one of these in my neighborhood in red and white and in pristine condition. I love going on walks, just to get a look at it. Apparently the exercise is also good for my waistline. But not those pepperoni sticks I keep eating.

New guy Ewok in Disguise has mad skills for...an Ewok in Disguise. Here he has cooked up a Ford Crown Vic Police Cruiser to keep the rest of us LUGNuts in line. Ewok tells us this will probably stay together for a long while as police cruisers have lots of uses in dioramas. If he decides to build a diorama of me speeding through Wyoming in my girlfriend's Pontiac, then I think he'll be right about his assumptions.

Dylan Denton builds us a Lamborghini...but not the cramped little sports cars that only short Italians and possibly yours truly can fit into. Oh no, he had to go and build the top of the line Lamborghini LM002 Sport Utility Truck. Dubbed the Rambo Lambo, this is the largest, toughest truck on the road and is undoubtedly popular amongst big body builders with lots of money stuffed into their big baggy Zupaz pants. Feel the burn!

Gambort set out to be unique...and I'm pretty sure he achieved it with this Trishaw. Small, cute, simple...and so much like the real thing. There's a few of these in downtown Seattle and I presume they only ride along parallel streets on the waterfront. I can't imagine how anyone could peddle these with passengers up steep hills.

M Longer constructs a...wait for it...a Sandvik LH 517L underground mining loader. Its well detailed and fully functional and has a nice flat, asymmetrical design for all your underground mining needs. Oh and if you have any doubts this thing is for real, check out M Longer's stream...there's a photo of him standing next to the real thing with his model. The tires alone are taller than he is!

Gold 2 also likes big trucks and machines. This one is a Kyrgun LV-426 "Superbee" Mobile Crane. What's with these incredible names? Lets just say copy/paste is a godsend when it comes to writing about these big machines. Gold tells us this took a month to build and was a nightmare to photograph...especially in fully extended mode. I'd say the effort was well worth it.

Curtydc takes us to the year 2032 with this Indian Scout Concept Bike. Chock full of slick detail and innovative design, this concept sports a central electronic power-plant pushing power into two independent motors housed inside the hubless wheel frames. Thats just technical speak for freakin' cool!

Next curty takes us to a much more familiar world...familiar if you've bought the Toy Story sets, anyway. Thanks to my big mouth, this fine MOC was almost nixed as it looked (to me anyway) way too much like the set. But further review proves that this RC car is not like the set at all but has been redesigned and reconfigured with real power functions. The end result: I'm proud to have it on Team Lino!

Ed Bricks needed a spark...a flame, if you will, to finally get his creative fires burning on the very last day of the challenge. That's why (in using my fire analogy) its no surprise that he came up with a Mercedes Fire Truck. I don't even know how the ladder was constructed, but I like it. I like it a lot. I'd even go as far as to say...that's HOT!

Speaking of hot, Intrond wasn't even on my radar before this month. But an extremely well built concept scooter called the Mouffette ZXT, coupled with a sexy illustrated French mademoiselle has instantly become a formula for success. Intrond is now a loud, compelling bing on my radar and I eagerly await more. Ooh la la, Monsieur Intrond!

And what would any build challenge be without lego911? His signature has become a whole slew of entries on the last day. These tidbits are no exception. Check out this Alfa Romeo 156 Sport Wagon for example. I wanted a wagon and by golly I got one!

As I was racing through Wyoming, 911 tells us a more stylish way to have been pulled over would have been this Alfa Romeo 156 Saloon. I think it would have been a slightly more surreal experience. Especially since Ilsa the Wicked Wyoming State Trooper had jack boots up to her knees and a thick 40's era German accent. "Ze license und ze registration, please!"

911 also tells us that while in Italy, a good way to get out of a ticket is to showcase a fine cleavage and/or a fine car. Apparently I lost out on both accounts in my girlfriend's Pontiac. And a great rack on me would have probably freaked out Ilsa the Wicked Wyoming State Trooper even more. And I didn't want to do anything to piss her off more. than she already was. Good thing I wasn't in this Ferrari Pininfarina Rosso prototype.

Or this Porsche 911 for that matter. its done up in nice orange and black checkered racing colors to help outrun any Wyoming State Trooper. I mean seriously, has anyone been through Wyoming? The whole place is totally flat...no trees, nothing to zip by at high speeds. The only thing on the radio in Wyoming is country music and religious talk radio. I mean, I wanted to put as many miles behind me and get out of that state as fast as possible. You'd be doing 120 MPH too, believe me!

Not everybody can afford exotic cars. This is why 911 built us a Ford Focus Mk II Rs 3-door. The car looks frumpy but 911 tells us the little car can top out in excess of 250 km/h. After having to translate that in mp/h, I've come to the sound conclusion that...that's pretty damned good!

Lego911 knows how to butter up the judges. That's why he rendered this classic Chevy Nova in the same paint scheme as our esteemed Rabidnovaracer Tim Inman's own prize winning ride. This is living proof that a diehard Ford man and a diehard Chevy man can settle their differences...at least long enough to butter up the judge on the opposing team to secure a win for Team Lino. Gosh, I love politics!

With just minutes left in the challenge, Lego911 had plenty of time to squeeze out one final entry. This time its a 990 BMW E34 5-Series M5 sedan done up in red. I used an example that too many red sedans would kill a team's diversity and as everyone took that to heart, there were none entered...except this one, which doesn't kill the diversity at all, but somehow makes it better. Funny how that works.

Ok, Pheeeeew! We got through it! I typed up 2-5 lines for every single entry in this record breaking challenge and if you've read all the way up to this point...you probably need to find more to do with your life. Get back to work or school or something, quit goofing off! Build something for cripe sakes! We've got an all new build challenge going on called Kickin' It Oldschool! In it, we honor all the great cars that came before...long before. Before 1950, in fact. There is plenty of great inspiration and history for you to reference from. There's already been some great oldshcool entries and I suspect a lot more to come over this next month. Stick around to see that round up. And remember, you could never have had that 2011 Bugatti Veyron if the Model T was never invented. Until next roundup, happy building, everyone!

Lemons or LeMans Roundup

cumaidi@gmail.com (cumaidi) — Mon, 5 Apr 2010 17:13:00 -0700

Wanna know what happens when we ask a bunch of LUGNuts to come up with either a disastrous lemon or a sleek fast LeMans racer? I wouldn't call the challenge a total lemon...I mean, there were a few entries, and they were good...its just not the raging success some other challenges have been. But lets check out the round up and see how we all did, shall we?

J0n4th4n D3rk53n is the first to launch out of the gate with this appropriately fast MGA customized for the LeMans races. I'm digging its asymmetrical design and the whole front end is pretty stellar. It has a great style that sets the pace for the rest of the challenge.

Later, Jonathan reaches for his trusty yellow bricks again but this time evens the score with this 1990 Geo Metro...the little car that just couldn't. Couldn't sell well, couldn't compete with other cars in its class, just couldn't do anything! The color yellow is synonymous with lemons and well, this car has lemon written all over it. its well executed though...and by executed, I mean we should line it up against a wall and shoot it. Poor Metro!

Dohoon Kim picks up the pace with this racy black and white Peugeot 908 LeMans racer. It has red rear view mirrors and a pretty cool spoiler. it just makes me want to pick up the little car and go vroom, vroooom, VROOOOOOOOOOOM!

lego Junkie takes us way back in time with this 1929 Bentley Supercharged that was driven by Dr. Dudley Benjafield and Giulio Ramponi in the 1930 lemans race. The car expired after 144 laps, leaving us to wonder if this vehicle has the unique distinction of being both a lemon and a LeMans racer. Neat!

Lichtblau treats us to a pair of AC Shelby Cobra LeMans racers, one in black, the other in white. Lichtblau tells us the white car is a reproduction of "Ollie The Dragon", a famous car that could spit up flames from its hood scoop. Also included is a very nice replica engine, jack and detailed toolbox.

Sometimes it takes Ralph "Mad Physicist" Savelsberg a little while to find something he likes. Lemons just don't suit his practical sensibilities and heaven forbid he should ever build a show rod! But when he finds something he likes, it turns out great. Take, for example, this Le Mans Porsche 935. It has all the coolest sponsor stickers and lightning quick styling. Way to go, Ralph!

Lino Martins takes a leap out of his comfort zones to build this ultra-modern Green GT LeMans concept racer. It doesn't look very green but it gets its name from the fact that it is all electric. With no noise and polution, its actually great for the environment. Its Swiss designers hope to have it racing by 2011, but Lino builds its replica long before that. Not bad for a guy who actually had his heart set on building a lemon. Oh well, maybe next time.

Lego911 doesn't disappoint with his lemon entries. First on the slab is the German built NSU Saloon RO80. It was supposed to be ahead of its time in terms of styling, packaging, aerodynamics, and engine. Instead, legend has it that drivers of these unfortunate cars greeted each other as they passed...the number of fingers that they waved indicated the number of replacement engines they needed.

Next Lego911 points an accusatory finger at his own self...or rather his friends at Aussie Ford responsible for designing the "saggy-arsed" '97 AU Falcon. Called "droopy tailed" and "tippy-toed" both at the same time, this doozie of a loser was responsible for sliding AU FORD sales from number 1 to number 3 in that same year. Yikes!

Speaking of losers, the Pontiac Aztek looks as if the rear designers didn't communicate at all with the front designers. This CUV (Cross-over Utility Vehicle) was supposed to be great for camping in the big outdoors...in fact, its boxy rear was made to be converted into a tent. But instead, the vehicle just looks like a gargoyle. It wasn't 100% responsible for the company's recent demise, but it certainly help matters. R.I.P, Pontiac...we'll miss you. Sort of.

Lastly, Lego911 switches up the pace a bit in favor of a LeMans racer...or rather, part of the team support for a LeMans racer. This is the famous Scuderia Ferrari Team Tractor 2009. Its somewhat modeled after the official Lego Vehicle Transporter set 6753, except two studs wider. Nice details make this support truck a welcome addition to this challenge.

Last, but not least, Raphy turns up at the last minute just before I was going to write him off as one of those kids missing on the milk carton. Feeling under the weather, the usually rambunctious Raphy squeaks in with a solo entry, the Kazufumi Ibusuki Le Mans Hybrid. Running on a mixture of runny mud, lemur crap, rainwater and also human-made non-toxic ingredients, this car races at a staggering 278 MPH! Its also an entirely made-up fabrication. That Raphy, what will he think up next?

Whatever he thinks up next, we'll just have to wait and see for this month's very special 30th build challenge. For the first time ever, we've broken up the group into two equal teams. Also for the first time ever, there will be great prizes for absolutely everyone on a winning team...no fooling! Who will win it all, will it be Team Lino or Team Nathan? Only time will tell, but I'm ever so excited about this brilliant and very special new dual challenge called Go Team Lino! and Go Team Nathan!

The Animal Kingdom Roundup

cumaidi@gmail.com (cumaidi) — Mon, 1 Mar 2010 08:45:00 -0800

Who would of thunk it? I propose a challenge that we build vehicles with animal names and it turns out to be the formula for raging success. Jane Goodall and Carroll Shelby would be proud...um...because...one is a zoologist and the other a car designer. Get it? What do you mean not funny? Well I've had no sleep last night so the humor is only going to go downhill from here. The vehicles, on the other hand, are all top notch. Read on to see what I mean.

When a building is shaped like the items it sells, it is called a Duck. Shut up, it just is! Which means this first entry built by J0n4th4n D3rk53n is probably called a duck even though its shaped like a fish. Confused yet? I'm not. I mean, who wouldn't be proud to own the new 2011 Fishmobile? According to Jon, it boasts terrible handling and a cramped cockpit. But its a total chick magnet just like the wienermobile...which is a chick magnet for what I presume to be a different reason.

Speaking of chick magnet, for Jonathan's second entry he reaches for his trusty yellow pieces once again but this time ups the horsepower with this badass '69 Barracuda. This thing actually, literally totally is badass! The taillights are not to be missed as well as the white center stripe. Nothing says macho aggression like the '69 'Cuda!

When you trade macho aggression for sensible practicality you get the '74 Audi Fox, the third and final entry by Jon. He rounds out this trifecta of yellow vehicles nicely with this stunning entry posted exactly on his 13th birthday...which means Jon is now finally old enough to be on flickr legally. That's great. Its nice to know all of our LUGNuts members are abiding by all official rules to the letter. With this entry, Jon drives slowly, safely and sensibly into his teen years.

Never made to be driven slowly, safely, or sensibly is this entry by Steve "kwycstix" Walker. Its a Pontiac Tempest GTO convertible. What is such a car doing in an animal themed challenge? Well, the youthful market nicknamed this badass ride the Goat, even though Pontiac was hoping to market it as a GTO Tiger. The styling and paint scheme was inspired by Chip Foose so Steve calls it the Goosed Goat. Shouldn't it be a Foosed Goat then?

Lino Martins (hey, that's me!) Had a strong hankerin' to build something green, yellow...and different. For these reasons I have spawned the John Deere Model 3203 Compact Tractor, suitable for all your farming needs. I picked this particular model because it best suited the parts I had available in green and yellow and there were several very clear images online. It turns out, the reason there were so many clear images...this model was recalled due to a potentially stuck forward drive pedal. Awww nuts!

If I submit an entry this early in the challenge, its almost a sure bet that I have something else in the works. This other something came later in the form of a red '53 Buick Skylark. Its been almost a year since I built a car from my fave era, so it was nice to get back to my roots with this baby! This Buick sports a sideways opening hood, an extended rear deck with spare tire, half-stud offsets galore and plenty of tricky build techniques to keep any Lino fan coming back for another look.

Nathan Proudlove must have had the same hankerin' for green and yellow as I did when he came up with this late 60-ish custom Ford Bronco (with apologies to Tim, that Ford hatin' bastard!) Nathan tells us this was a fun and relatively quick build and the chassis is a modified version of the technic tow truck from a couple years ago. The suspension looks great and I'm just digging the lovely dark green to go with the yellow and white. Its refreshing...like a lemon/lime popsicle!

I like Nathan in the sense that he's the king of building under-appreciated, underdog cars. No exception to this long tradition is this new Volkswagen Rabbit truck just brimming with crazy 80's colors and design. Just look at that crazy purple zig-zag stripe...its like a test pattern when the cable goes out! These colors together would have freaked out my camera...purple would have turned blue, blue would have turned an uglier blue and the white background would have become a hot yellow or orange and sadly this is why I don't build many blue or purple things. Kudos to Nathan for pulling it off nicely.

Nathan is also the king of Batmobiles. An animal themed challenge without a Nathan-built Batmobile just wouldn't be right. Which is why I'm glad he squeezed this Bat Tumbler in just before the deadline...actually a half day late, but who cares! I noticed it arrive just as I was writing about the VW Rabbit so his timing couldn't have been any more perfect in my book.

Dohoon Kim builds himself a Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 Super Snake. Why thats like two or three animals rolled into one, all of them super scary and aggressive! I suppose on some weird planet or a parallel universe there exists a real animal thats a Mustang Cobra Supersnake. I bet totally ripped muscular guys would fight it with a battle axe while a shapely naked woman wraps around his leg just like in a Boris Vallejo painting. Who said fantasy art was cheesy?

Ralph "Mad Physicist" Savelsberg graces us with this very cool Caterpillar transport truck (or Cat transport for short) which is almost like two animals wrapped into one. Nope, it doesn't conjure images of buff guys fighting monsters with swords while submissive naked maidens wrap around their legs so I have no reason to use the fantasy painting analogy again. Damn you Ralph and your sensible, conservative ways!

Although somewhat unintentional, Aleksander Stein is happy to finally have an entry that fits a LUGNuts challenge. Its a 1975 Ford WT9000 inspired by the "Blue Mule" from the movie "White Line Fever", a 'trucksploitation" film starring Jan-Michael Vincent. I had white line fever once. It made me want to drive a truck load of manure into a giant neon sigh of the corporation that done me wrong. That'll show 'em not to mess with me! But seriously, cool truck.

Speaking of haulin' giant loads, Bricksonwheels wanted to be part of the fun and did what he does best...building big rig trucks! This time he pulls off a sleek black and purple Peterbilt car carrier rig. What's it doing in an animal themed challenge? Well, it runs on a Caterpillar engine, a C15 700 hp one to be exact and that makes it a bit of a beast then, doesn't it? When you build as big and cool as bricksonwheels the only answer to that question is a resounding yes. Yes it does.

Dylan Denton shows off some considerable skill with this sunny yellow '67 Pontiac Firebird convertible. I firebird is a mythical animal, a phoenix really but still fits well enough in this challenge. Plus it was called a Pony Car so that works too. Wow there's a lot of convertibles in this challenge! You all must be thinking about sunny weather while you plow through two feet of snow. Incidentally its been unseasonably warm and clear here in Seattle this whole month. Great for me...sucks for the rain forest.

New guy Lego Junkie shows the animal kingdom some love with this CAT 350-L Excavator. This industrious little MOC moves pretend dirt from here and then dumps it over there...then does the whole process all over again. All day long! Vrooom, vrooom VROOOOOM! Ok, ya gotta admit, it is a pretty cool little excavator.

Oldeconoline is new to us but has old in his name. Anyway, he had an older neighbor who was into old Studebakers (didn't we all?) so that's why he graces us with his first ever LUGNuts entry...a Studebaker Lark. First we had a Skylark, then a Lark. Actually in order of appearance on the challenge it was Lark first, then immediately followed by the Skylark...so cool juxtaposition there. Anyway, we hope this will be the first of many challenge entries from Oldeconoline. Maybe someday he'll build an old Econoline.

Get yourself a cup of coffee, this is going to take awhile. Make sure you're comfortable and under the blanket. Lego911 never disappoints with his multiple entries. Someone gifted him with a whole slew of light blue bricks so in turn, he gifts all of us with this '58 Chevy Impala hardtop sports coupe. Neat!

The laymen builder would have stopped there, but 911 graces us with another light blue creation, this one a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner Super Bird. I was secretly hoping someone would build one of these and there we have it. This is a car like no other.

They go and make a huge Transformers movie and Lego911 builds the Chevrolet Camaro 2010 'Bumble Bee' to start off his usual late month marathon. While these Bumble Bees are a common sight at the theaters and the road, 911 tells us real bumble bees are becoming more and more scarce in the Northern Hemisphere due to some unknown phenomenon that appears to be killing them off. Not good news when agriculture and plant pollination relies so much on them.

If the bumblebee is rare, even rarer is the mythical thunderbird seen only by Native American shamans during their hallucinogenic vision quests. This Thunderbird is a dark red Ford from the year 1957 and is seen in my dreams.

Next on the Lego911 slab is a Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona Spider. An animal based challenge would be incomplete without one of the Ferrari Spiders. Like nearly all Ferraris, this one is shiny red.

In the animal world, there is several species of spiders, all of them vastly different from one another. The same holds true with the automotive world. 911 proves this point with this Alfa Romeo 1962 Giulia Spider Series 101. Neat!

Lego911 was hoping that Pininfarina would reveal their latest showcar, the Alfa Romeo Spider, at this week's Geneva Motorshow. Unfortunately this hasn't materialized so instead he presents us with the slightly older 916 Series Spider as a replacement.

Then finally, he presents us with what no animal themed challenge should be without, the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. This car is as sleek and graceful as its namesake. The chrome sidepipes are just simply put...awesome.

Tim "Rabidnovaracer" Inman must have been lurking outside my window this month. All month long, I collected images of the AMC Marlin. I enjoyed its fastback look, I pondered how it would be done in Lego, even started adding parts to my Bricklink wishlist. Seeing I'd have no time to complete the Marlin, I figured I could save it for next month as anything by the ill fated AMC line can be considered a lemon. Then Tim goes and builds this stock car, thereby taking the wind out of my sails. At least he did a great job of it. Tim tells us the decals were stolen from his mom's Creative Memories stuff. Hah!

This challenge has been a great month for big rig trucks. probably because many are powered by huge CAT engines. No exception is this wonderful green Peterbilt 359 logging rig built by Maciej D. This color scheme makes us all green with envy. Green like The Incredible Hulk. Hulk smash little man! Thats all I got for jokes on this one. Told ya it was going downhill in the humor department. Lets move on.

With no shortage of jokes comes Tim "Gambort" Gould and his rather neat three wheeled Scammell Scarab mechanical horse. I never even heard of the vehicle until now but it looks great. Don't miss a whole slew of Scarabs over at Tim's photostream.

Ricardo "Biczzz" Prates doesn't often join us in the challenges, but when he does you can't help but feel that something spectacular had just happened. Take, for instance, this Shelby Cobra. Stunning from any angle, Ricardo captures the Shelby feel with skills reserved for only the most top notch of builders. I've never had a warm and fuzzy feeling from a cobra before. Usually they just scare the bejesus out of me.

For most of the challenge I almost wrote Raphy off as one of them missing kids on the milk cartons. But in the last dog days of the challenge, he shows up with a vengeance and submits first a version of the Batmobile like no one has ever seen.

Then, roaring, growling and burning rubber comes Raphy's mini '07 Mustang. Without the roof it looks a little low, but you know, with the right tools you can turn any rental car into a convertible.

Next on the Raphy slab comes the '69 AAR "Cuda. (As in barracuda) The hood seems a little long and the roof a bit flat like the Mustang but Raphy informs all would be ignoramuses that AAR stands for At A Racetrack. And now you know, you dumbasses. Sigh...crass aggression at such a tender young age.

But wait, there's more! Next he graces is with a '99 Firebird. I don't know, maybe it needs to be 5-wide to match the tires. I like the silver blower thingy. Lets see, what can I do for a joke...green like the Hulk? No. Boris Vallejo painting? No. Refreshing like a lemon/lime popsicle? No. Ok, I got nothin', lets move on.

Now here's something I can sink my animal claws into...a Bowler Wildcat. Here it is demonstrating its extreme off-roading abilities by climbing a rock. You gotta admit the photography is pretty good on this one. Cool!

And finally, Gold 2 finishes us off with this MMV Ursa Clam Bunk Skidder. MMV means...uh...I don't know, Ursa means bear and clam is also an animal so take your pick. it was built on Mars and here we see it hauling away tree stumps as everyone knows logging is big business on Mars. Yep, its true.

Well that was fun! Our next challenge is called Lemons Or LeMans...the only challenge that dares you to build either a crappy lemon or a super fast LeMans racer. Will you go for fine tuned performance or ill functioning tail lights? Will it be fame and prestige or burning oil and humiliation? Only time will tell. Either way, stick around as I'm sure its going to be a wild ride!

Blockbuster Mission Roundup!

cumaidi@gmail.com (cumaidi) — Thu, 4 Feb 2010 19:57:00 -0800

What do you get when you create a sequel to the most popular and exciting challenge of all time, put the main hero in peril and add a legion of super spy agents to the mix? Well, just like Spiderman III, the turn out on this one wasn't as blockbuster as I had originally imagined...but the few vehicles built were pretty damned awesome! Lets check 'em out!

Ralph "Mad Physicist" Savelsberg never disappoints when he builds cars...or anything for that matter. This time he boiled up a stunning '71 Buick Riviera boat-tail...a pretty sexy car for being a product of the 70's. Agent Janus is in peril and who better to rescue the good agent than Ralph's version Agent Killinger? As Ralph says, "Agent Killinger, who owes his name to his love for suits, hats and Tommy guns. Oh, and to the fact that he's a highly skilled killer..." Now that's exciting!

J0n4thn D3rk53n dismisses the fact that this is a sequel and mentions nothing about Agent Janus being in danger and does nothing with the legion of potentially exciting new agents named in the challenge. Instead he goes back to the original challenge and introduces Agent Janus all over again posed next to his generic European Luxury/ Sports car. Predictably his Janus is just like James Bond except his code name is 006, not 007. I presume 006 likes his drinks stirred, not shaken. See what I did there?

The challenge stated that you can include any other agent you see fit, so Steve "kwycstix" Walker adds the famous Vin Diesel of XXX fame with his iconic '65 GTO. You can tell that minifig there is Vin Diesel because he's bald and has a scowl...oh, and also he seems to have two tickets to the gun show!

Next Steve adds another made up agent...this time Agent Redd Neque and his modified Suburban. Heh, Redd Neque...thats funny! And check out his mullet. That reminds me, if you want to see lots or red necks, mullets, and outfits too shameful to mention, visit peopleofwalmart dotcom. Its totally hilarious!

Yanno, rescuing Agent Janus from certain death requires a backup communication team. This is why Steve built a disguised phone service truck to help the other agents find our missing hero. Included is Agent Andy Marcus (Agent AM) and Agent Fred McCorkin (Agent FM). AM/FM...Does this mean one likes rock and roll and popular music while the other likes talk radio and oldies?

Next Steve whips up some much needed class to this joint with the ever sophisticated Agent Cooper (he's rich as evidenced by his top hat and tie) and his classy '75 Cadillac Eldorado Coupe. I bet he knows the correct placement of the salad fork when setting the dinner table.

Remember that challenge "At The Races"? Well Steve surely does. He conjures up the sultry baddy, Lady Venom for his final entry. This time she's involved in the rescue effort for Agent Janus and is wearing an impossibly tight dress that overly accentuates her "muffin top". You kids look that up and get back to me.

Ed Bricks sort of relives the original Janus challenge all over again by presenting the Agent's undercover truck in the form of an 80's era TV truck. Its fitted with the latest gadgets, tracking devices, weaponry, remote control cameras and long range communications devices. Speaking of suped-up 80's era trucks, this kinda puts me in the mood to watch A-Team.

Charger Hornet takes this challenge (and his photoshopping abilities) to a whole different level! Not only does he build a sweet 1973 Mercury Cougar, but he portrays it as an old postcard ad for a pilot episode show called "Agent Janus-MIA" featuring the quintessentially 80's looking undercover cop named ...wait for it...Flamer Johnson! Charger tells us that the show was pulled due to "high cost" and reruns of The Love Boat were aired instead. This could also be why this challenge was sort of sparse.

Raphy tries out a new style he calls "City-Power Racers. This...um...flying truck has working 4-wheel drive and is driven by none other than Deep One himself. In the challenge he dispatches a legion of special agents, but in Raphy's world Deep One does the job himself. Which is a refreshing change from sitting around and slurping milkshakes at Command Central. Sounds like a dream job to me!

Speaking of dream job, Lino Martins toils over what was his (my) most difficult car to date...the Volkswagen Beetle. This little car intimidated me for as long as I've been building vehicles but I finally tackled it...and this one is tricked out with required equipment for any special agent...an ejector seat and a Brickarms arsenal in the trunk. Some of you might recognize my version of Agent Killinger from the Venture Bros. "My name is Henry Killinger, und zis is my magic murder bag."

Wherever the kidnapped Agent Janus has been taken to, rest assured that Tim Inman will build an all terrain vehicle to handle any extreme environment. He chose Agent Thor as his rescuing agent and he goes nowhere without his suped-up 1972 Chevy C30 pickup called "Silverback" This truck features a winch, off-road lights, roll bar, monster V-8, hidden weapons, heavy duty suspension, oh and some custom fitted tank treads in place of tires. Bitchin'!

Azaghal Gabilzaramul has the hardest name to type (besides that J0n4th4n guy) but builds cars and minifigs that are easy on the eyes. Here we see the sultry Agent Midnight in her sleeveless suit and tie. Its sort of what the big angry dad from American Chopper would wear if he had to go to a wedding. Even though Agent Midnight looks the same age as the other agents, legend has it she's been around since Christ was a kid. She bought her car new in 1954.

Here in the states, when you have an emergency, you dial 911 for help. When you have a challenge emergency and need to beef up an otherwise sparsely populated challenge, you call none other than Lego911. Here Peter saves the day at the last minute with multiple entries. First Agent Phoenix bursts into flaming action with his jet pack and fiery hot "Blue Devil" Camaro.

Next we learn that Agent Janus has a sister and her name is Zoe Claudette...or Agent Z for short. She drives a totally sweet 1953 Buick Super Convertible in dark blue. She lives and works in Cuba where her classic car wouldn't stand out so much...ecxept for its many hidden suped-up special agent features.

Next we meet Agent Veridian in his Rapid Deployment 7-seater Ford Territory Turbo SUV...for an Agent Squad in a hurry and when you absolutely, positively gotta get seven people there in no time. There's also plenty of room for all their weapons in the trunk. And plenty of cup holders!

Peter then presents probationary Agent Natasha. Ah, I remember her! A step up in power and poise from her previos smart car, this very special engined Fiesta Zetec-S is just what this fast-girl-about-town needs to get from A to B in deadly style. I Hope she finds and rescues Agent Janus!

But if Natasha doesn't save the day, this tag team effort will. What turned out to be the most popular agent in this challenge...Agent Killinger teams up with Agent Beast in their heavy duty deep-communications Landrover Defender (in Millitary Ambulance disguise). The back unfolds to reveal a giant radar tracking device.

Every secret agent saga needs bad guys and lego911 delivers baddy Kilingrad Karl in his sweet 1955 Buick Century. He's from the East Russian Mafia as evidenced by his fur hat and is in Cuba hell bent on capturing Agent Janus and his sister Zoe. Oh no!

In the challenge, I wrote that Agent Janus was captured, hurt, and blinded hanging upside-down in a moving truck. I wrote that it smelled bad but even I didn't know the nature of the truck. Well leave to to Lego911 to show us the truck that is transporting the good agent and illustrates in no unclear terms where the smell is coming from. It turns out its a cleverly built zoo animal transport truck complete with a giraffe and an elephant. Now that's a stinky situation!

But last but not least, Agent Nero races to the situation at neck breaking speed in his special Ford Mustang GT. I presume the fallen Agent Janus will be in good competent hands once Nero saves the day! This sweet GT is a fitting wrap to a rather cool challenge. Thanks everyone who participated!

So lets see what happens in this month's exciting new challenge called "The Animal Kingdom". Anything goes, whether you build a Chevy Impala or a Ford Pinto, we take inspiration from our furred and feathered animal friends. Its already shaping up to be a pretty interesting challenge so lets see how it all unfolds. I'm pretty sure we can all come up with some pretty stunning animal inspired creations!

New HHO Gas Exotic Car – 40mpg, Near 0 Emissions, But Does it Perform?

cumaidi@gmail.com (cumaidi) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:25:00 -0800

The Red Scorpion HHO Exotic Car

The Scorpion HHO Exotic Car

The Black Scorpion HHO Exotic Car

A Galaxie of Possibilities Round Up

cumaidi@gmail.com (cumaidi) — Sat, 2 Jan 2010 09:59:00 -0800

For this challenge, I proposed we all build only '66 Ford Galaxies. It was the first of its kind and while it wasn't the most popular challenge ever, the few entries we had were pretty stellar. Lets see how we all did, shall we?

It's only fitting that the quickest entry is also undoubtedly the fastest car of the whole bunch. JOn4th4n D3rk53n starts us off with this neat little Galaxie that opens just like a funny car. Also like a funny car, it has realistic tub wheels, roll cage, a parachute, and an outsized blown engine. Now that's fast!

You youngins gather 'round. Uncle Lino has got a quick lesson on the birds and the bees. You see, when a boy grown up and a girl grown up loves each other very much, they sometimes like to make babies in the back of a '66 Ford Galaxie. It was voted as having the roomiest back seat of any other car so it only makes sense that this was a fave vehicle for such activity. Dohoon Kim shows us that if families are made in a Galaxie, it's only fitting the entire family gets lugged around in it too.

Tim "Gambort" Gould takes the old family car and gives it a sportier look with this sleek and sunny yellow entry. Not so sleek is the minifig that goes with it. While you can't see his face, Tim tells us that the character is none other than Joe Vig...the clumsy, accident prone character that was a major Lego phenomenon a few years back. Here we see him causing calamity with oil and water. Anyway, the Galaxie is pretty sweet with some pretty advanced build techniques.

Who can forget Santa and his sexy Russian mail order bride Natasha Claus from last December's All But Four challenge? Well this year, Lino Martins brings back the festive pair but this time they sport a new Christmas themed '66 Galaxie. Dark red and dark green gives it a holiday feel but with a slightly more grown up, sophisticated look. White interior and gold grille and rims tie the holiday theme together and light bricks illuminate the engine compartment. Remove the top, and we can clearly see all the gifts crammed in that aforementioned roomy back seat.

Keeping to his usual tiny turbos scale, Raphy doesn't disappoint with this demure little white Galaxie lowrider. Made in tricky 5-wide, the car is accurate front and back...and the binocular piece turned sideways is most certainly the best solution for stacked headlights in a scale this small. Cool!

Ralph Savelsberg finds time from being a Mad Physicist to squeeze in this entry, a classic Galaxie convertible in yellow. Its lines and lean forward aggressive stance is spot on. He tells us it was a struggle to make it interesting but with its clever construction, slick mirrors and door handles and all around panache, I think Ralph pulled it off.

So...you might be wondering, how does a completely unknown new guy like Karwick come along and build one of the most stunning small scale Galaxies anyone has ever seen? The curve of the windshield, the mirrors, door handles and headlights are all the mark of a seasoned builder, yet Karwick has only surfaced on flickr a few weeks ago. Well, I hope I'm not revealing any secrets here, but he also goes by V1...or the ever famous Noddy, whom we all cite as inspiration to our own work. Welcome to LUGNuts, my man...its about time you showed up to the party!

Ever wonder what a "murdered out" '66 Galaxie looks like? Well, rest your pretty little heads over it because Nathan Proudlove defines the "murdered out" look with this stunning black on black on black entry. Nathan tells us he didn't have time to completely deck out the details, which makes us wonder what it could have been. Still, he has captured the shape of the Galaxie very well. Here's to Murdered out vehicles!

Leave it to Lego911 to flesh out an otherwise sparse build challenge rather nicely with multiple entries just before the deadline. Here we see a very stock white model with working Vee-engine and suspension. he fills the plush red interior with a gaggle of fun loving minifig gals.

Next 911 takes a walk on the wild side with this very neat Galaxie convertible. he does a great job pulling off an unusual color configuration with brown, white, dark blue...and check out them awesome light blue flames. This Galaxie would be right at home at a custom car show.

This business of building one car and one car only has some steep limitations...but amongst the limitations there is still variety to be had. When I wrote this challenge, I secretly hoped someone would pull off a Galaxie wagon and Peter doesn't disappoint with this stunning red Country Squire wagon and horse trailer. He scores mucho extra points for the fake wood panelling!

The other thing I secretly hoped someone would build is a Galaxie Police vehicle. The challenge write up even suggested you can do that. This month Peter must have been tuned in to my brainwaves as he finishes off this challenge with a Ford Galaxie 1966 Police Interceptor Sedan. Onil...who bears my resemblance and is Lino backwards, is the dangerous criminal captive seated in the back. Yanno, in spite of my thuggish looks, I've never been in the back of a police cruiser. Maybe I'm just not trying hard enough. ;)

Well, this challenge was all about seeing what we can do with strict limitations and even though we all had to build the same car, I'm happy to see there were many different solutions to the same problem. There aren't a lot of entries here but the ones we have are great. So how do we follow up a decidedly unpopular challenge? You take the most popular challenge ever known and slam everyone with its blockbuster sequel! Once again we are in the exciting world of spies and secret agents. Agent Janus is in peril and needs your help. A new legion of special agents were introduced to up the ante so lets see how things come along in our new challenge called Blockbuster Mission! Thanks for reading!