It’s time once more for some TLCB history. This is a Russian T34-85 tank, the most-produced tank of the Second World War and the second most-produced tank of all time. Whilst America’s contribution to the outcome of WW2 cannot be underestimated, it was not America, nor the British, that first rolled into Germany to end the conflict. It was the Russians, who made the biggest sacrifice of anyone – with more casualties than the US, UK, France, Japan and Germany combined – that got there first, thanks largely to this vehicle.

Over 84,000 T34s were built, and they remained in service within the Soviet Union until the late 1960s. Which makes this tank’s role in humanity a muddled one. It is possibly the vehicle with the single biggest contribution to the liberation of people, helping to end the Nazi oppression of millions, only to be re-purposed post-war as a tool of the Communist regime to oppress millions itself. How awful it must have been to escape the tyranny of Nazism in Eastern Europe to then be shackled by Communism a few short years later.

Still, much as we dislike megalomaniacal, nationalistic, homophobic, war-mongering Russian presidents (and we may not just be talking about Stalin here), Russia’s sacrifice for peoples’ freedom is perhaps the most remarkable and incredible of any country in all of history. Without the T34 tank Russia’s story, and the story of the World, may have been very different.

The Lego T34-85 featured here is the work of previous bloggee LegoMarat. It has four motors (controlled by the third-party SBrick, allowing operation via mobile device) which power the tracks, turret rotation and gun elevation, plus an authentic working recreation of the T34’s clever suspension system. There’s lots more to see on Flickr – click the link above to make the jump.

Communist revolutionary, ‘Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Soviet Union’, and Ming the Merciless inspiration Vladimir Lenin is one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, pioneering the development of communism and the Marxist socialist state.

Decreeing that all resources should be under common ownership – thereby removing the need for money, reliance on social class, and inequality – Lenin was driven around in a 1915 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, modified by Adolphe Degrease in 1922 to run on tracks, whilst 6 million people died of starvation during the Povolzhye famine. Yay communism!

Nevertheless, Lenin’s Silver Ghost was a very cool vehicle, and today it resides in Russia’ Gorky museum. If that’s a bit far to travel, previous bloggee Karwik has the answer, with his gorgeous Town-scale version of the unique vintage Roller. Click the link above to make the jump to Flickr.

Our Elves are getting lazy. Five builds from two builders in two days… but we guess we can’t blame them for builders uploading their wares in batches. And we like beating the Brothers Brick, so they know we’re going to blog their finds! Previously blogged Kenneth Vaessen returns just a day after we featured his spectacular Panavia Tornado with two more beautiful builds. Apparently good weather in his home country means now is the time to take photos!

First up (above) is this glorious Dassault Mirage IV-P, as used as a fighter-bomber by the French Air Force since the late 1960s as part of France’s nuclear deterrent. Its opposing foe during the cold war is pictured below, Russia’s (at the time) formidable Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23M. Both these aircraft have since been superseded by their descendants, and are in action in the skies over a very messy Middle East, with France strategically targeting the scumbags in Islamic State, and Russia seemingly targeting anyone who isn’t President Assad.

The are lots more stunning images available at Kenneth’s Flickr photostream – click the links above to be taken to the gallery for each model.

Looking like a normal bus, but powered by electricity via overhead cables (just like a dodgem), the Trolleybus is a very smart solution for emissions-free urban transport. With the current focus on air quality and global warming it seems very strange that the humble trolleybus is now completely extinct in TLCB’s home nation.

However trolleybuses do still exist in other parts of the world, and in Ukraine amongst other countries they’re still a reasonably common sight. This ZiU-9, a remnant from the extensive Soviet trolleybus system constructed in the 1960s, is the work of previous bloggee paave, and it’s packed with functionality.

Hidden within the realistic bodywork are three Power Functions motors, five linear actuators, a LiPo battery, two IR receivers, and a set of LED lights. An XL motor takes care of the drive whilst a Medium motor controls the steering, and a Large motor completes the set providing power to each of the automatic opening doors. All of this is remotely controlled via LEGO’s excellent Power Functions infrared system.

There’s lots more to see, including a video of the trolleybus in action, at several of the key creation-sharing platforms; click on a link to climb on-board: MOCpages, Brickshelf, Eurobricks.

Nope, us neither – but apparently the Avtoros Wamah Shaman 8×8 is a Russian amphibious all-terrain vehicle presumably designed to get teams of engineers to remote pipelines and suchlike, but which will probably end up with diamante paint-job parked outside an exclusive Moscow nightclub.

Which is a shame, as the Shaman is quite a vehicle; able to climb 45 degrees, crab steer, and propel itself across open water. This incredible Technic recreation of the Russian ATV is the work of previous bloggee Madoca 1977, and it can do most of that lot too.

With each axle powered by a separate L motor and two servo motors for steering, Madoca’s Shaman has both 8-wheel drive and 8-wheel steering. Just like the real vehicle it’s able to crab steer too, which is remotely selectable by a M motor. Another M motor powers the winch, there’s 3 sets of LEDs, all-wheel independent suspension, and opening doors, hood and roof hatch.

Power is provided by twin on-board rechargeable batteries and is distributed to the eight Power Functions motors by two third-party SBrick bluetooth controllers. It’s one of the most impressively engineered creations of the year and there’s a whole lot more to see, including a video of it in action, at the Eurobricks discussion forum – click this link to check it out.

As we’ve mentioned here, here, here, here and here, Communist state-run vehicle manufacturers were almost universally crap. Thankfully they’ve almost universally been consigned to history too, but there are two notable exceptions.

The first is Lada, who – despite their notoriety for being crap – do probably have a bright future ahead of them. No longer controlled by the Russian state they’re now half owned by the Renault-Nissan Alliance, and that means they’ll start making quite good cars quite soon (yes really! We’ve been right before…).

The second exception is the maker of the grey beast pictured here, KamAZ. Founded in 1976 by the Soviet Government (as was everything in the Soviet Union at the time), KamAZ have gone on to become an unlikely success story. To date KamAZ have built well over 2million heavy duty trucks, with 43,000 rolling off their production lines each year.

Unlike other examples of ‘successful’ Soviet vehicles (where the vast numbers sold were because consumers had no other choice), KamAZ trucks are successful in the competitive open market, are world renowned for their toughness, and have won the legendary Dakar Rally a record thirteen times – winning every single stage of the event last year.

Still half owned by the Russian state (whose military rely on their products), KamAZ are now part owned by Daimler AG – better known as Mercedes-Benz – and turn over $3billion a year. Some of that success is down to this, the ultra heavy duty (but rubbishly named) KamAZ 63501 8×8 truck.

This stellar Lego example of the 63501 is the work of VovaRychkov, and he’s recreated the Russian titan beautifully. There’s lots more to see at Vova’s photostream – click the link above to take a closer look.

This has got to be one of the ugliest vehicles that we’ve ever posted. It’s even uglier than this. But it’s also one of the most beautiful examples of LEGO building we’ve posted too. It’s a Russian Mi-24 ‘Hind’ helicopter gunship, in service (and production) since 1972, and it’s a gloriously inventive build. The work of TLCB regular Daniel Siskind, there’s more to see on Flickr – click here to take off.

Ugly, low, and brown – this ZIL 130 fuel tanker could be any number of our Elven workforce. But like them it is useful, as without ground support vehicles such as these, airforces and airlines would operate for about 5 minutes.

This tidy recreation of the Russian truck comes from previous bloggee Dornbi, and he’s included a wonderful MiG 21 for it to refuel too. Head over to Flickr via the link above to see more.

This superb recreation of Russia’s Sukhoi Su-35 fighter, exquisitely detailed in an usual tundra-camouflage, is the work of previous bloggee Lennart C of Flickr.

The real Su-35 is currently in operation over Syria, where it’ll be wearing an altogether more drab paint job to blend in with the desert beneath it, and unfortunately it’s not exactly been hitting purely military targets.

Russia’s offensive against the dick-bags in Islamic State (a good thing) is sadly masking a greater politicised conflict, and one in which civilians and rebels – themselves fighting ISIS – are dying daily at the hands of Russian airstrikes and President Assad’s trigger-happy forces.

To see how you can help those trapped in the conflict click this link to the UN Refugee Agency’s Syrian Crisis Appeal, and for more details on this magnificent but sobering recreation of one of the causes click the link above to visit Lennart C’s photostream.

Communism, that bastion of equality and shared ownership, did away with such frivolities as freedom of movement, choice of employment, and creativity. In fact we’re pretty sure that creativity and inventiveness were actively banned, so mind-numbingly dull are all communistical product names.

This gives us a headache when we blog one of them, as there is zero chance of getting the vehicle name into a witty title. So – absent from the post title – here is today’s; the KamAZ-4310 military off-road truck, complete with a ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft auto-cannon mounted in the bed.

Built by the Soviets from the 1960s, the ZU-23-2 is still in production today, and is probably being used by both sides in the ongoing Syrian conflict which shows little sign of abating. Capable of hitting aircraft from 2.5km, or armoured vehicles from around 2km, it’s the perfect weapon for a dark Christmas night… just think of all the presents that you could make off with if you had this combo! It’s kind of a one-time deal though, as Santa probably wouldn’t be around next year for a repeat robbery.

Vova Rychkov is the builder and there’s more to see at his Flickr photostream – click the link to get armed.

This beautifully built canvas-covered GAZ 3308 dropside truck comes from Flickr’s VR Workshop, and it’s a lovely way to start 2017’s medium scale LEGO trucks. See more at the link above.

Damn those Elves! They know we’re useless at sci-fi. Sigh, OK, here goes…

This is, apparently, a Molniya – I, an EMP Starfighter used by the Russian Space Corps, capable of… er, frankly, we have no idea. But what we do know is that the building techniques used to create it are absolutely terrific. The unique design comes from the mind of Flickr’s Legohaulic and you can see more, as well as read details of what this ship is actually for, at his photostream.

Click the link above to jump to hyperspace (or something), and we’ll return with a shedload of actual proper cars shortly. We promise.

This is a Soviet IS-7 heavy tank, launched during the closing stages of World War II, and largely responsible for the fall of Berlin and the surrender of Germany – something that seems to get left out of Western history books.

Commissioned by Stalin to supersede the Soviet Union’s existing KV tanks, the IS was built quickly and finished poorly, but packed a mighty punch. The IS-7 was also mightily armoured, and could withstand an attack by both the German Panther and Tiger class tanks.

This brilliantly-engineered recreation of the IS-7 is the work of Tommy Styrvoky, and it’s one of the finest working Lego tanks that we’ve found to date. Underneath the smooth-plated exterior are six Power Functions motors that control everything from the drive, transmission and steering, to the turret rotation and gun elevation, and Tommy’s tank also includes a beautifully replicated working V12 piston engine and fully independently-sprung tracks too.

A comprehensive gallery of images are available via Tommy’s photostream, and you can see what the IS-7 can do courtesy of the video below.

YouTube Video

Iiiiin the red corner, weighing in at 12,676 pounds, the Belarusian bruiser…. the DT Seventy Fiiiiive! Aaaaand in the blue corner, also weighing in at 12,676 pounds, the Soviet smasher…. the DT Seventy Five Eeeeemmm!

We hope your internal monologue became suitably boxing announcerish as you read that. Anyhow, now that we’ve affected the voice inside your own head, you can see more of these beautifully built town-scale DT 75 and DT 75M tractors at Jakeof_’s photostream. Click the link to go ringside.

This is a Soviet Kirovets K-700A heavy duty tractor, and it’s a vehicle of which we know absolutely nothing. However our trusty friend Wikipedia has come to the rescue and let us know that, amongst other fun facts, Kirovets were once a foundry for cannonballs. Well there you go. That interesting factoid shows just how old the company is though, being established way back in 1789.

This particular Kirovets product was launched in 1962, finally ending production in 2000, and features a turbocharged V8 diesel engine and all-wheel-drive. The Kirovets factory now produces the hateful Dartz T-98 Kombat, so frankly we’d rather they were still making cannonballs, but you can see more of this impressive machine from their back-catalogue courtesy of previous bloggee Jakeof_ at both Brickshelf and his Flickr photostream here.

China’s home-grown vehicles often seem to have been ‘designed’ via a game of Chinese Whispers, starting with a respectable Western, Japanese or Korean product, and ending with a tragically distorted lookalike such as this. Or this. Or this. Or this.

Make no mistake though, whilst we’re happily mocking China’s complete disregard for copyright infringement, Chinese cars will be arriving on mass very soon, and it won’t be long before we’ll all be flying on Chinese-designed aircraft too.

In the meantime it’s the domestic market that China’s vehicle and aircraft manufacturers are serving with their cloned produce, as is the case with today’s creation. This is a Shenyang J-11B fighter, a licensed copy of the mid-’80s Soviet-designed Sukhoi Su-27 air superiority fighter, and currently in sole use by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force of China.

This spectacular Lego replica of the Shenyang J-11B comes from Flickr’s Lennart C and it’s a better copy than any of China’s cars could hope to be. There’s an opening cockpit, detailed landing gear, as well as an assortment of cloned Russian weaponry, and there’s lots more to see at Lennart’s photostream via the link above.

Or this.

Russia’s recent presidential elections once more provided an emphatic win for Vladimir Putin. Securing his fourth consecutive term in office with a huge 77% of the vote, Putin defied the odds, a constitution which limits consecutive terms to two, accusations of voting irregularities, and the assassination and imprisonment of the other candidates. A thoroughly deserved win then!

The run-up to the election which delivered Putin’s decisive victory was also assisted by a thorough and active police force, ensuring the the Russian people were safe and secure to cast their all-important vote. Many vehicles were deployed to this end, but our favourite is this, the GAZ Tigr SPM-2.

With 7mm armour plating, a four foot wading depth, and powered by a 5.9 litre Cummins diesel engine, the GAZ Tigr is the perfect vehicle for Russia’s armed forces to traverse their country’s vast and varied landscape. It’s also large enough to hold a number of police offers plus any citizens that are as yet unsure of whom to vote for.

This brilliant police-spec Technic GAZ Tigr SPM-2 comes from previous bloggee filsawgood and instead of containing undecided voters/rival political candidates it’s stuffed full of technical wizardry. All four independently suspended wheels are powered by a pair of BuWizz bluetooth bricks controlling four Large drive motors and Servo steering motor, whilst a Medium motor powers the front-mounted winch. There’s also a six-cylinder piston engine, opening hood, doors and sunroof, and a fully appointed interior ready to receive any political dissidents.

There’s lots more to see of filsawgood’s hugely impressive GAZ Tigr SPM-2 at both Flickr and the Eurobricks discussion forum – take a look via the links above and remember to show your support for the President in the comments.

This is the Mil Mi-26 heavy transport helicopter, the most powerful series production helicopter in the world. Built for the previously publicised ‘Brickman Awesome‘ show, Certified LEGO Professional Ryan McNaught (aka The Brickman) and his team spent 52 hours and 8,302 bricks in the construction of the Mi-26.

Completed in UN-livery, Ryan’s build includes opening clamshell cargo doors and a roller conveyer to enable cargo to be parachuted to the ground, meaning his recreation of the mighty Russian helicopter is depicted doing something that its real-world counterpart – being part of the most ineffectual organisation on earth – probably never will. Prove us wrong United Nations…

Anyhoo, there’s more to see of Ryan’s amazing Mil Mi-26 at his Flickr photostream via the link above, and you can see more of Ryan’s models built for the Brickman Awesome show by clicking here.

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

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

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

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

YouTube Video:

Lada have come in for some stick here at The Lego Car Blog. Now owned by the Renault-Nissan alliance they’ll be making good cars soon enough, but their legacy is one of reheating the leftovers from Fiat, badly. Apart that is, from one car…

The Niva was not built from bits of old Fiat, but was actually rather sophisticated. Launched in 1977 it was the world’s first mass-produced unibody car, featured independent suspension, and with permanent four-wheel-drive and locking differentials it was as good as a Land Rover off-road.

So good that the design is still being produced today, almost completely unchanged in over 40 years. Despite this it’s a car that doesn’t appear much in Lego form, so de-marco‘s brilliant 4-wide version of the iconic 4×4 makes a refreshing change from the usual Land Rovers and Jeeps. de-marco has captured the design superbly in mini-figure scale and there’s more to see of his little Lada on Flickr via the link above.