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V-LV-43F to V-LV-44D, V-LV-44F, V-LC-14E & V-LC-14FHello again!
After having presented various MOCs and MODs in this (four), this (eight) and this post (five vehicles), I have kept on building, and suddenly one of my cars hit a special note with the community. It's funny how I can't tell which design will be the most popular one, but in this case it was my supercar. Along with that car, which incidentally is my s(t)igfig's new ride, I'll present seven other designs - most of them my own, but also a couple of modified ones - that I've uploaded to Flickr as I've edited the photos.
The cars were designed with MLCad before I ordered the necessary bricks. I hope you enjoy the show :)
1) The Australian Sedan.
This is the least modified MOD I've done this time. I liked the original, by Eurobricks member AllanSmith, so much that I wanted to have my own. The original (which this doesn't differ much from) can be found here. I've based mine on his white and blue Mustang version, with minor changes.
The minifig is my stereotypical image of an Australian - no offence :)
2) The American Sedan.
This is my own design - it goes well with the Australian sedan, but I've chosen a more menacing colour for it. The long overhangs are inspired by the big American sedans and coupés, but I also feel that there's a hint of the 1976-89 Aston Martin Lagonda to it.
I was just snapping a couple of pics of it, and the owner didn't seem to mind...
...but suddenly he had clearly had enough, and the situation became a bit tense, so I decided to leg it.
3) The Rat Rod.
This is heavily based on Polish Guy's "Voodoo Psychosis", which you can have a closer look at here. While he based his design on a real car, I didn't - and so I had more opportunity to change details, like the slanted grille - and the real reason I wanted to do my own version in the first place, was that I wanted to try to fit a minifig inside it. Apparently, the original has since been resprayed - which is a shame, as this really looks very good in sand green!
As I was taking the pictures I discovered that the car looks just as good without its roof on.
The owner is obviously a hippie. I really like this minifig combo!
4) The Buggy.
This started out as an attempt to build something in dark bluish grey, and then I realised it could be a nice opportunity to use the printed rivet tiles I bought from Citizen Brick a while ago. It evolved into this design, which I'm quite happy with - especially the rear end with the exposed engine with chromed parts from ChromeBricks.
I'd already used bricks from two different customisers, so why not top it off with a hairpiece from Arealight?
The owner seems happy with his hairdo, as he admires the reflection in the chrome air cleaner...
5) The MPV Van.
This minivan ended up being slightly Renault Espace-ish, the first, edgy version. I wanted to build a car in dark green, and it somehow turned into an MPV. The rear end is hinged for easy access to the luggage compartment.
The owner is an avid supporter of a football team called Wolfpacks...
6) The Modern 6624.
The original idea was to update a classic Town design to fit in with the more modern ones, and 6624 Delivery Van seemed like a nice choice. It's ridiculously stubby in its original version, being four studs wide and eight studs long, so the logical evolution would be six wide and twelve long. And this is the result:
I knew the grille would have to have vertical slots, like the original.
I managed to find original, unused stickers on BrickLink at a reasonable price - which is quite astonishing as the set is 28 years old - to add the finishing touch.
The rear door hinges upwards, like the original, and the colour combination for the driver is the same as in 6624 - but as this was supposed to be more modern, I decided to give the car a female driver :)
7) The Supercar.
Of all the things I've built after my dark ages, this is undoubtedly the one that has received the most attention, not least because it was blogged by TBB. The result was 12,000 hits in one week on my Flickr account (up until then, I had about 30,000 hits in total over my first nine months on Flickr)... and all that for what started simply as an attempt to build a nice car for my s(t)igfig.
This one is built on the same 4x10 vehicle base as most of my other cars, but it's six studs wide to easier achieve the aggressive shape. I knew that it had to be mid-engined with a big rear spoiler, and the end result is pretty much in sync with what I aimed for. I'm very happy with the wing, which has a design I haven't seen before; the air intake and the front design. There is room for improvement on the general chunkiness - the car's 'shoulders' are a little bit too high - and I've also realised, after some feedback on Flickr, that I could actually have made the roof one plate lower. I'll fix that next time!
I added some stickers to give it the look of a race car for the road.
Some say he's terrified of corn flakes, and that there's a recharging socket in his left nostril. All we know is...
The final vehicle I'll present today is very different - but after the nice reception my flatbed rescue truck got, you might just like this, too:
8) The Steinwinter.
Ever since I saw this in an old deck of Top Trump cards, I've been fascinated by Steinwinter's wacky and different approach to truck design. The idea is, as far as I can tell, that as long as the truck fits under the front of the trailer, the length of the trailer can be increased without affecting the overall length of the vehicle. Here's a picture of the original:
A Lego recreation obviously had to be six-wide, with larger wheels than the ones normally used by Lego in the City sets, and the choice of front windscreen was easy. As you will see if you check out this web page on the original, I've taken some liberties with the wheel assembly on the trailer, and the proportions on the truck aren't perfect, either - oh, and I totally chickened out when it came to the diagonal stripes... but apart from that, I think I've succeeded quite nicely.
The truck itself is quite slick, even though the design is similar to a (streamlined) aircraft tug...
A nice bi-effect of the colour combination was that I could use the magic wand from the Collectible Minifigures magician as mounting bars for the rear-view mirrors - without the white edges looking strange. I know the hitch is ridiculously simple, I was more concerned with the overall look of the model.
The lights on the roof of the trailer are trans-clear lens pieces by BrickForge. And although the truck is streamlined, I can't help thinking it's somewhat wasted when there's a huge wind-stopping wall right above it... still, it's a fascinating concept.
Well, that's it! And although I don't have huge plans for future vehicles, there will probably be more after a while. I hope you enjoyed my new vehicles, and I also hope that you'll leave a comment - after all, without input the output isn't likely to get better :)
More pictures can be found in the Vehicles set in my Flickr.
Edited by Phred, 12 July 2012 - 04:27 PM.
