Plain Jane Roundup

I've only been a doggy daddy for a couple months now but I think I have this pet ownership thing down pat. Food goes in the sharp end, poop comes out the stinky end...and never the other way around. That's pretty much it. I've done so well at this that I've received my first ever Father's Day card...from my dog. It has a crazy looking dog on the front with aluminum foil on her head and inside it says "thank you for protecting me from the monsters under the bed, Daddy." Finally, a card that knows this monster protection stuff is serious business...and the helmet of aluminum foil is crucial. Knowing full well my fathering skills only goes so far without caffeine, she also got me a bag of coffee...uh, presumably with her own money. Was it Three-peckered Billy Goat coffee? No, but something equally good from the same makers...Wicked Wolf Gourmet coffee, which features a snarling wolf on the bag. Appropriate from a dog, I'd think. So brew yourself a cup of Wicked Wolf and sit back and see how we did in the first ever two part, two month challenge we call Plain Jane...all about run down plain old automobiles and how we'll customize the ever lovin' bejesus outta them later.

Hey, I had to segue from my silly opener into the build challenge somehow, right? Anyway, first on the Plain Jane slab takes the cake for the weirdest entry yet, Rolic and his...uh...Mercedes Benz Popemobile. How is he ever gonna customize this already custom ride? No clue! But I hope he commits the ultimate sacrilege while doing so. Cuz, you know, this roundup wouldn't be right without sacrilege!



Next jmaokoen takes a tricked out Austin Healey 3000 and well...presents it as such. Its not particularly plain or run down, in fact its pretty pristine so it makes you wonder if he didn't follow the directions...or he has something completely brilliant planned. This entry raises more questions than answers so we'll just have to wait and see how it all turns out.



Jonathan Derksen asked for a random assignment and got the 1969 El Camino. He pulls through and its looking mighty plain and mighty...white. As is, its like a loaf of Wonder Bread...plain, dull, and uninspiring. But this dull loaf has plenty of potential to become focaccia bread. In fact, the observant viewer may see that he had already tricked out this dull loaf to the nines! But we'll talk about that next month.



Later in the challenge Jonathan chimes in with his own assignment, a Fiat X1/9. Its red and black and fully functioning with opening doors and even flip up headlights. its rather nice as is so it makes you wonder just what does he have up his sleeve for next month. If his first customized entry is any indicator, this one is gonna be out of this world!



Forget speed, forget horsepower...forget the engine altogether! TechnicFenix13 knows that pedal power is where it's at with his entry...a bicycle. Just how is he going to customize this thing? Flames on the fender? Banana seat? Ape hanger bars? Those frilly tassel thingies on the handle bars? I don't know...but one this is for sure, it won't have a photo studio backdrop.



I hope that Wicked Wolf coffee is going down easy. Are you sitting comfortable? Do you have some cheese and crackers maybe? Cuz lego911 is about to start his usual long tirade of multiple entries, the first being the '57 Chevy 210. Its looking pretty stellar as stock so I can only imagine what he has planned for this classic. Maybe he'll make it a jumpin' lowrider!



Next Peter clocks in with a rather plain Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV Coupe in white. The mind reels with anticipation over how this can be customized...perhaps a thumpin' stereo and some douche bag rims are in order. I just have no clue as to his master plan!



Who likes the Oldsmobile 1956 Eighty-Eight Holiday Hardtop Coupe? I do. Its already looking pretty stellar in its red and white color scheme so will customizing this bad boy yield a mobile donut shop like on Monster Garage? Or maybe its more of a rolling ball pit?



This challenge yields more questions than answers and no less puzzling is what Peter will do with this Peugeot 205 GTI Hatch. I'm wishing for either a swamp boat or a lunar rover.



Everyone knows one Alfa Romeo isn't enough in a build challenge so Peter clocks in yet again but this time with an Alfa Romeo 105 Series 2000 GTV. Its all red and rather plain, yet stylish...like a well coiffed haircut.



Lastly Peter goes big, then goes home with this 2012 Ford Global Ranger Wildtrack Pickup in bright orange. Its already fully loaded so what is he gonna do to trick this one out? Maybe chop the roof and give it western style cattle horns on the hood.



This next entry from Bricksonwheels is a bit of an anomaly. The title on the door says Plain Jane but the truck customizer enters one of his most tricked out, badass custom trucks to date called "The Dragon". Photoshop skills and Magic card graphics makes this one of the more custom LEGO rides of all time so what does he have planned for his custom entry then? My hunch says more of the same.



Dylan Denton apparently has a plan for this poor man's Ferrari and teenage dream, the 1994 Toyota MR-2. It has fully functioning doors and popup headlights so what can he do to customize this ride? Might I suggest making it a circus inspired ice cream delivery car?



Alright, maybe that wasn't a good idea, but Lino Martins has plans for this rusted out 1960 Mercury Colony Park wagon. You need a tetanus shot just to get anywhere near this thing so even setting this heap on fire would be a good upgrade. Can he bring this crap bucket back from the dead? Magic 8-ball says "outcome is uncertain".



Raphy has a plan...actually two plans. One is a 1983 GMC Vandura in all its plain white Wonder Bread loaf looking glory. Its as uninspired as the decade that produced it. So what's he gonna do with it? Perhaps an A-team color scheme is in order!



Next Raphy punches the clock with yet another plain white van, but this time a 1980 Dodge Tradesman. Its sort of...blah. Obviously the young man has gone van crazy so what will next month yield? A wrestling ring? A hot dog stand? A dogsled?



Lastly, Tim Inman is a guy well known for going big, then going home. This is no exception as he sends us off with this large GMC Sierra 3500 HD. Its already pretty tricked out so what will next month bring? Again, this is a build challenge with more questions than answers.



We've had all the best and brightest eggheads science had to offer working hard with their calculators and probability formulas all trying to calculate exactly how many entries we'll have this time. Some said more than four, some said seven...some said a lot of hoopla about quantum mechanics, but even weird science couldn't predict there would be exactly 17 at the time of this writing. Again, this challenge offered more questions than answers. Which brings us to next month's challenge called From Mild To Wild...all about taking these Plain Jane creations and customizing or restoring the ever lovin' bejesus outta them. Maybe all our questions will be answered then. This roundup started with what will hope to be the ultimate sacrilege and ended with a big heap of GMC. This is how all challenges should go. Anyway, stay tuned next month at the same bat-time, same bat channel to answer all these crazy-ass questions. But for now, aluminum foil on your head will keep the monsters at bay. trust me on this. Later, dudes.

Rubber Side Down, Shiny Side Up...Roundup

Father's Day is this month. Did you guys do anything nice for your dads? Since I've been on the planet for a while, I feel qualified to offer up some fatherly advice...that being: If you keep making that face it'll stay that way, If you're going to kill each other do it outside-I just finished cleaning, and finally, if you keep doing that you'll go blind. Crap...that's more like motherly advice, isn't it? Here we go again with this! Well, what else would you have expected? If you wanted crass humor and LEGO automotives you've come to the right place. If you wanted a certain Michigan based minor league baseball team, thats the other Lugnuts. What, you think I haven't googled you, Lansing? We want a wikipedia page too! Anyway, welcome to a challenge roundup that would make any dad swoon...we call it Rubber Side Down, Shiny Side Up...all about motorcycles. We've had a pretty good turn out here...let's see what we've done.

Zenn starts us off with Outlaw, a trike inspired by Exile Cycles. Sounds downright dastardly to me! This road hog features stock TLG doohickeys,custom springer whatchamacallits, oldschool 'airride' thingamajiggers, tucked this and that, and a slew of other mean sounding technical gadgets to make any biker's heart go pitter-patter. Apparently it did...it got blogged by Exile Cycles. Take that, Lansing, you weenies!



With only the second entry Omar+kamitera breaks the land speed record with The World's Fastest Indian. I don't mean the Indians that we now have to call First Natives, thanks to Christopher Columbus, or the other Indians that offer tech support in an accent no one can understand. I'm talking about an American bike built by a New Zealander. They made a movie out of it. So the land speed record has already been broken...everybody go home. Get the hell outta here! Go on, get out! Git!



Or stay just a little longer to see what Reverend Turtle is up to. Turns out, he's got something almost as fast. He was thinking about the best way to go about building in minifig scale, and his answer was to do something futuristic with a dash of Tron. I find also a dash of coriander goes very well and also just a dash of lemon zest. But don't over do it...you don't want your futuristic Tron cycle tasting too bitter.



Forget all this high speed nonsense. If you're like me, you're all about "low and slow". The good Reverend knows what I mean with his second entry...a steam bike that is part steampunk and part sci-fi. There's just about nothing lower than this...the tires loom tall as the rider's butt nearly scrapes on the ground...and she's a cute rider, too!



Like Zenn, Jonathan Derksen also has trikes on the brain but this one has a ridiculously huge honkin' V-8 engine. Because everyone needs an engine powerful enough to pull a loaded trailer while sitting atop nothing but a frame on wheels, right? None of this sounds at all safe...but if you wanted safe, you'd listen to James Taylor while driving your tan Saab. You've got a friend, Jonathan. Its good to know you've got a friend.



And while you're mulling over that reference, Jonathan later comes back with a high tech sports bike in gleaming white. Both front and rear suspension are fully functional, thereby showing the rest of us up with all our non-functioning havin' suspension. Now I feel like a loser. And when I feel like a loser, I lash out at those who don't deserve it. Screw you, James Taylor! I ain't your friend anymore!



Later in the challenge, Jonathan comes back with entry numero tres with...a chopper! You have to write it with an exclamation point cuz that's how he did it. A chopper! This time he says a plain photo backdrop is for wimps and gives us a glimpse into his kitchen. He also just calls it..."photo". May I also suggest other one word titles such as "piccadilly", "fist" and "pants".



You know who else built a chopper? DoktorZapp. He's a real doctor and therefore maybe he can have a look at this spot on my arm that, like his chopper, has also gone black and blue. I think it's either jungle rot or a vampire bat bite. Either way, it has absolutely nothing at all to do with my friend Tom shooting me in the arm this weekend with a Nerf gun. I was wearing a wrestling mask at the time. We were drunk. So break it to me, doktor...how long do I have to live?



While I wait for those test results, we can bask in the glory of this Café Racer Burnout built by gotoAndLego. He knows café racers started out in the British punk scene so it only makes sense that the bike is accompanied by a pink-haired punk rocker. Oy! Bollocks! God save the Queen! Crickey! Criminy bloody hell wankers!



Is your shirt tucked in? Of course it isn't. How can you tuck in a shirt without wearing any pants? Well anyway, LegoMyMamma chimes in with the LymeTrycle. The rake of the front fork is wicked unsafe like none other seen and this trike has enough overall badassery to make the rest of us feel just a little insecure about our manhood. Screw you, Lansing Lugnuts!



And speaking of overall badassery, Dennis Glaasker is well secure in his manhood as evidenced by this Harley Fatboy Custom adorned in an aggressive black and orange color scheme. Its been a year since he built a bike so its nice to see him pull off another one. Man, just look at all that chromey goodness! I'm like a goldfish, whenever I see something shiny I forget everything I know. What are you all doing here?



Who are the Lansing Lugnuts and why am I so crass? Anyway,I'm pretty sure Nathan Proudlove is my Co-Founder and he is trapped in some Canadian hotel room probably with cabin fever...or whatever it is what Canadians suffer from in the Great White North. He's once again without his usual bricks but has just enough to go and built a Can-Am Spyder, which takes all the glory and badassery out of bike riding but enables you to ride in the snow. Leave it to the Canadians to come up with such a thing!



Lets say you're a European hipster rooted in punk rock. Lets say also that you're thirsting something fierce for a venti vanilla latte and have to race to the nearest corner café, otherwise you'll die of thirst. You might then hop on a pair of Café Racers...the first a 1975 Rickman CR750 in refreshing orange or the other a stripped down racer in tangy lime. Long gas tanks and short seats...that's what café racing is all about. That and criminey bollocks wankers.





New guy Sabby M builds us a pint-sized Ducati 999. Is it time for a seemingly unrelated joke yet? I think it is. My mom said if I keep doing that I'd go blind...but I keep doing that and I haven't gone blind yet. Shows how much moms know! So I guess I'll keep doing that. And by that I mean randomly letting friends shoot me in the face with a Nerf gun. Haven't gone blind from it yet.



Ralph Savelsberg has done it all...motorcycles, trikes, choppers, bicycles...even that thing most moms worry you'd go blind if you keep doing. But what he hasn't done yet is a scooter. So naturally he whips one up in typical Ralph style with all the studs showing and the wind blowing through the rider's hair. He hopes to include this in an Amsterdam themed diorama. Don't forget the prostitutes, sex shops and legalized weed, Ralph! Hah! I've always wanted to say that to Ralph.



Raphy gives is a vintage motorcycle photographed within a musty LEGO built garage setting. The garage-y doodads in the background are sweet, including the boom box, tool chests and trophies. He gives us just a taste of this neat little world, then tells us there hopefully will be more. Yet sadly at the time of this writing there is no more. That's ok, they said the same about Carnivale and Firefly too.



I've heard of many, many things in my time...the Loch Ness Monster...Big Foot...Chupacabra...a Mothman that dials up Richard Gere from a pay phone and harasses him about his Chapstick. But I've never heard of a drag quad. TechnicFenix13 builds one and in order to appease our unbelieving eyes, he has also included a grainy photo in the background of a real drag quad captured in captivity. Take that, Lansing Lugnuts!



You have a nine year losing streak, we have drag quads. And the tour-de-force known as Lego911. Are you sitting comfortable? Are you relaxed? Did you brew yourself a pot of Three-Peckered Billy Goat Coffee? Did you think I'd forget the three-peckered references this roundup? Anyway, Peter steps up to the plate and hits a home run with his first entry...a remake of set #393, the Norton 850 Commander.



Next Peter pumps up the street cred with this low and mean street brawling bike that he simply calls "Café Racer One". This implies there would be a Café Racer Two, Three, and Four but, like Firefly, Peter cancelled the line after only one season in favor of other endeavors.



Some of the aforementioned other endeavors include this third entry called "Twin Pipe Cruiser", featuring a longitudinal vee-engine and high-profile, twin chrome exhausts. I'm liking the low and mean quality of these bikes. Its good to see such a prolific car builder try his hand at so many cool bikes.



My fave of the bunch has to be this little beast he calls "Hell Razor". With its low handle bars and cracked skull decal, its just the kind of badass bike I'd have if I were man enough to know how to ride a bike. Turns out, I'm kind of a sissy when it comes to loud, dangerous and fast machines. My girlfriend, though...she rides a bike.



Lastly Peter chimes in with a cool limey dirt bike. When I say limey I mean lime green...and not a derogatory term for a British person. Although it could be a Limey riding the bike. Or maybe even a Paddy. I wouldn't rule out a Mick or a Yank either. Had enough with these outdated, old-timey terms? Ok, lets move on.



Everyone turn off the James Taylor. C'mon, turn it off, right now! Ralph, I know you're listening to Coldplay, turn it off! Nathan, I don't want to hear any Nickelback outta you! Canadians! To view this entry by Rolic, it requires you to listen to some real heavy Rock and Roll...might I suggest "Ace of Spades" by Motorhead. Its the only thing truly heavy metal enough to properly appreciate the total badass-ness of this fiery hot Rock and Trike. Lansing, you've got nothing on us!



Forget biofuel, wind-powered, electric, earthy-crunchy feel-good bikes. According to The Big Rafalski, bikes of the future will be fueled by pure evil. This particular Moto-Terminator Ducati Monster runs on premium evil, which is a bit more expensive but offers more rage to the gallon...which is perfect for when Christian Bale decides to yell and cuss out the help again.



We have plenty of rage in this group but we are sadly lacking the other two things that gets us all up in the morning...that being guns and meat. I can't stress enough the need for guns and meat around here. Luckily Dandyman500 answers our prayers with this little gun and meat-laden entry. Words from Dandyman:
"This is a bike I made and I got all frustrated and sweaty." Nice!



Answering the call to all our sweat and frustration is Tiler with this slick chopper for cool guy Nick Fury. It makes sense that the one-eyed Avengers boss would have a stretched chopper called Silver Fury...and with a name like that, I bet he's sick and tired of these motherhonkin' snakes on this motherhonkin' plane!



Ace chimes in with a dastardly trio of dirt bike motor sport thingys. The first is appropriately called Mellow Yellow, the second is named True Blue while the third sports the name Dark Edge. Wait, that last one doesn't rhyme! What gives? Was Dark Spark already taken? Subdued Hued isn't without its charms either. Just sayin'.







Erth&Fiya changed his name to Volume X and with that comes the...um...Ice Vikings theme and a three-wheeled Spiker. You see,in the future a long extinct race of Nordic warriors will come back, but this time sporting hellish ice bikes. Heck, I'd buy it if I saw it in the store. You can have that chance...just vote for it on cuusoo.



That about wraps up our roundup for this challenge we called Rubber Side Down, Shiny Side Up...all about motorcycles and their many variants. I think we did pretty well here and had fun too. Oh, and I got those test results back. Turns out the black and blue mark on my arm was just a bruise after all and will fade away in a few days. It was a result of excessive horseplay and roughhousing...most likely from my friend Tom shooting me in the arm with a Nerf gun. It was not jungle rot or a vampire bat bite. Barring I don't go and get hit by a goddamned bus, I should live on indefinitely. Which brings us to our next month's challenge, all about goddamned busses...uh, I mean its called Plain Jane. Its the first ever two month, two part challenge. First build anything you want...even a goddamned bus...but make it plain, maybe even a bit rusted and in need of repair. The second month we customize and/or restore the ever lovin' bejesus outta what we built the first month! Sound good? We're just going to have to stay tuned to see how we all did. Should be interesting. Alrighty, I got a lot of building to do so I best get to it. See ya next time. Oh and...screw you, Lansing Lugnuts!

LEGO Set Overhaulin' Roundup!

Mother's Day is this month. Did you guys do anything nice for your moms? Since I've been on the planet for a while, I feel qualified to offer up some motherly advice...that being: Always measure twice and cut once, go big or go home, and never, ever pay for strange. Ok, that's more like fatherly advice, isn't it? The kind of advice my dad would give me on those long awkward car trips. But hey, at least it sets the humorous mood for this month's challenge we call LEGO Set Overhaulin'...all about official vehicle related LEGO sets and how we could make them more awesome-er. Whether we decide to scale up, scale down, redesign or give it a new theme, the sky is the limit to what we can do. So lets brew some Three-peckered Billy Goat Coffee (or in my case Trader Joe's Dark Sumatra) and see what I'm talking about, shall we?

When it comes to LEGO set overhaulin' no one else does it like NK DeSign-er. Its just what he does...all the time! Its like God put him on this world to re-modify official LEGO sets into alternate models...in this case he takes the 5867 Super Speedster and turns it into a cherry picker. Wait... 5867 seems to be the only set he has as he says this is his 20th mod of the same set. God's plan seems rather odd, then.



And speaking of God's weird plan, oh boy, here we go! Get yourself comfortable people. Lego911 has started the race early and didn't stop until long past the deadline. First on the peter 911 slab is a neat little Miniland remake of the 10220 VW Campervan in all it's slightly smaller Miniland glory.



Way back in the early days of LEGO, sets only had three digits and way back in 1913, Cadillac put out this hot little number. Peter recreates set number 390 very nicely here and requests LEGO to come out with its original wagon wheels again in other colors...black, brown, etc. Upon closer inspection, it seems I have the wheels from the original set from 1975 given to me by the late great Heather Braaten. Sigh...



In my opinion, one of the best sets in the history of the world ever is the Creator 5893 Offroad Power...a neat truck and quad bike combo. Peter does it some justice here and turns the generic pickup into a 2012 Ford T6 Global Ranger. The ATV is lookin' pretty cool too!



I may be showing my old age here, but way back in the nearly forgotten shadows of my childhood, I had the original 565 Lunar Lander and Rover set from 1975. Oh, the strong sense of nostalgia I felt when I looked up the original...it definitely hurt my heart a little. Peter gives it a neat modern boost using more accurate modern parts. And the lunar landscape and Earthrise in the background...top notch stuff!



If we learned only one thing from this challenge, is that the Model Team line of yore was the best LEGO line ever and has surely influenced us all. Dare I say that without it, there would be no LUGNuts. Like many others later, Peter pays a great homage to the line with a modern remake of the 5581 Model Team set called Magic Flash.



Next he shows some love for the 5550 Custom Rally Van set from 1991. I never had the set myself, but man, what an awesome look and great playability! Is it time for a senseless, seemingly unrelated joke? I think it is. How 'bout that overly tanned New Jersey mom that's been on the news lately? Does she look like a burnt baseball glove or what?

You should check out Saturday Night Live's rendition of tan mom on Youtube. She burns toast between her legs. Funny stuff! Anyway, Peter yet again delivers the goods with this Miniland rendition of set 6624, the LEGO City Delivery Van.



Here's where it gets weird...like it isn't any weird already. This time 911 dials up his own digits and morphs the retro and dubiously numbered 6666 ambulance set with the newer 4431 model to form this neat hybrid. Just like the set box, the injured bicyclist waits patiently by his bike as the medics arrive. Check out that miniland bike! its probably the most difficult aspect of this whole model.



In case you haven't had enough of vans, 911 squeezes out one more...but this time the 6653 Highway Maintenance Truck. You know if you google images for this set, Peter's rendition comes up first before the official set. Hah! Suck it, LEGO! Wait...on second thought, don't do that. I was just kidding.



But wait, there's more. Lots, lots more. This time he graces us with 1926 Renault, set number 391. Just think, if LEGO had a license with Renault way back in 1975, who's to say they can't do it again? I'd vie for the 2012 Renault Twizy...a step in the right direction in terms of the future and being all earthy-crunchy and stuff.



And something to tear up that crunchy Earth can be this remake of the neat 4433 Dirt Bike Transporter set. Already chock full of great playability, Peter pumps up the volume with some neat add-ons...like the tan bush, giving it that all important off-road feel. This proves that even concepts written in the challenge write up can and should be used.



For those just begging for a lime green and orange twin entry, Peter pulls through with tangy new remakes of the 8392 Rod Rider and 8641 Flame Glider Hot Rod sets. Finally some god damn hot rods all up in here!





Damn it all! Why the potty mouth all of a sudden? I bet Jack Rebney would have quite a few more very colorful metaphors for this remodeled 7639 City Camper. He used to be a Winnebago salesman in the 80's and he's been dubbed the angriest man in the world. For a good laugh, I'd recommend looking him up on youtube but not while at work or around children with tender ears. He does weave a veritable tapestry of obscenities. You've been warned!



A veritable tapestry of obscenities can't describe how cool I think this remake of the Auburn 851 Boattail Speedster is from the 7682 Indiana Jones Shanghai Chase set. Now if only he also built the black gangster car that also went with this set. Still, this is way cool! Is that all from Peter Blackert? Holy crap, it is!



Moving right along, Ralph Savelsberg takes one of the best Model Team sets in the history of the world ever and makes it even better as a Kenworth W900. I'm lovin' the all-American colors of this set number 5580 remake. Or French. Or Russian. Australian, Cambodian, Chilean, Icelandic, Norwegian, Thai. Ok, most flags have red, white and blue in them. Still lovin' it though.



Like Peter, Raphy conjures up his own 5581 Magic Flash revamp, but this time shrunk down to be all teensy and cute in minifig scale. He asks, do all Model Team sets have double stripes? I think they do.



Long before Raphy was ever born, LEGO launched the 854 Go-Kart in 1978. It had 206 pieces. Knowing the true meaning of downsizing, this one sports only 29 pieces...but both are blazened with the number 9. This is an impressive little dedication to a timeless classic.



Did this suddenly turn into an Ed "Big Daddy" Roth car show? With the snarling super huge grossed out monster bunny manning a freaky super-tuned hot rod you might think so...but Raphy cleverly pays homage to the little known 4299 set featuring, of all things, the Nestle Quik Bunny. Radical, dude!



1982 brought us the largest cash robbery in history, the official end of commercial whaling, Michael Jackson's Thriller...and the 8846 Technic Tow truck set. In 2012 hardly anyone carries cash anymore, there aren't many whales left, Michael Jackson is dead and TechnicNick revamps the 8846 set. Now that's progress!



If you're anything like me, you think the Creator 5893 Off Road Power is one of the best new sets ever...but you also think it could be made better with more chromy bits and the inclusion of orange. Well luckily for people like us, Gilcelio Chagas answers all of our shiny, orange concerns with his neat remake. Wish it had the quad bike though.



Lets say all you have in your LEGO collection is the 7286 Prisoner Transporter set and nothing else. What can you do with that? The older town sets of yore used to show ideas for alternate models on the back of the box but not so much anymore. Peteris Sprogis shows us this little trio...one a dirtbike transporter, one a future police vehicle and lastly a police speed patrol cruiser. Neat!



If you think Peter Blackert was the only one to go bat poopy loco with so many entries you'd be dead wrong. Turns out TechnicFenix13 puts out almost as many entries as his namesake. First on the slab is this 8262 remake. The set was white but this quad is lime green.



Wishing I scooped up the original Model Team set in 1996, TechnicFenix pays tribute to the classic 5571 Black Cat with this modern rendition in all its hi-flash, no clean backdrop having glory. Nah, good photo presentation is for wimps anyway.



He comes back again to tell us this entry is a heavily modified remake of the 8070 Technic Supercar but, I don't know, it looks pretty much like the official set. I guess we'll just have to take his word for it.



Next is an 8448 Remake. I didn't even look it up to see how different it is. That's how lazy I've gotten. Maybe my half-assed approach to journalism reflects this half-assed approach to modding official sets. I mean, can we really believe he fully modded like seven large models this month or were they just things he had laying around and decided to photograph for the challenge? We may never know.



About that fatherly advice earlier, what do I know about parenting? Nothing, really. Although my girlfriend and I now have a six year old wiener dog named Lulu. She's my first dog ever and I'm quite smitten. I'm now responsible for someone who needs to eat and poop occasionally. I can assure you, she goes big, then she goes home. Girl after my own heart! Oh, and TechnicFenix modded some other thing.



Then he takes set number 8258 and builds the alternate model...or turns it into a Toyota Hilux or something. I don't know, I stopped paying attention like four entries ago. But my dog does this really cute thing when she wants food...which is all the time. I don't know, its one of those things where you have to be there to get it.



Lastly he takes set number 8448 then gives it styling and huge tires from set 8466 or something. Eh, I didn't mean to razz on ya, Fenix. I'm sure these models took a lot of work. Its just I can't recognize one Technic set from another and it seems you just sort of had these laying around already. My own ignorance, maybe? Oh and get yourself a nice clean white background...it helps in presentation. We still friends then?



Accustomed by now to all of us hanging out without our pants, LegoMyMamma adds some much needed class to this joint with this remake of Stephanie's Cool Convertible. Now, I've watched plenty of episodes of Overhaulin' and while they've made old cars virtually unrecognizable, they have never completely changed its make, model and year. Mamma does just that by turning Steph's sporty little convertible into a classic pink Cadillac. Only the windshield was kept.



next LegoMyMamma gets in touch with her tough side (she used to fly helicopters in the Army, you know!) with this Indiana Jones Brickmaster Jungle Cruiser Jeep turned into a bigger and badder Jungle Master complete with dual horns, reinforced mirrors and quad LED headlights...cuz regular headlights just ain't enough when you're being big and bad in the jungle. She should know!



Lino Martins does exactly what has been predicted of me...overhaulin' the Model Team 5541 Blue Fury hot rod set into something a little more badass. Ok, so while I stuck well within my comfort zones, no one could have predicted I'd give the cabin and engine such a sinister rake and loading it with as much chrome as I could muster. And thanks to ordering up the last chrome macaroni and straight pipes parts available in the country...only six wimpy cylinders. Hah!



Erth&fiya takes the green 6743 Street Speeder set, sends it to the Pimp My Ride folks, and turns it into a yellow Limited Surfer's Edition Beach Rider. The new 6915 number happens to belong to a Warp Wing Fighter UFO spaceship from 1997. I wonder if he knew that. Can you guess how he did the neat yellow stripe tire effect?



Jonathan Derksen also brings new life to the Model Team 5550 Custom Rally Van set of yore. Dear LEGO. If me being The Big Cheese of this car group has any clout, please bring back the Model Team theme or something like it. They were the best sets in the history of the world ever. You probably should ignore reading the stuff about paying for strange, three-peckered billy goats and the New Jersey mom burning toast between her thighs. In fact, ignore this whole roundup, except for this letter. It would be best that way. Thanks. Your friend, Lino.



If you're like me, you probably have the 7888 Batman Tumbler vs Joker's Ice Cream Surprise set and think its the bee's knees. Well, it is! But what if you get hauled off to prison for say...paying for strange...and you need a small pocket edition to take you through those tough nights in the Big House? Luckily, just for that situation, Tiler comes to the rescue! Also, you might want to really beat the crap out of the biggest guy you see the first night you're there. That'll surely remedy any unwanted encounters in the prison shower later.



No stranger to prison shower shenanigans is Tim Inman with his redo of the 5510 Off Road 4x4 Jeep. Way back in '86 we had to be content with Culture Club, The Cosby Show, Crocodile Dundee...and the fact that this official set was boring yellow and not really a 4x4. Tim changes all that with beefy tires, independent suspension and for the love of God, sand green all y'all!



The baddest of the bad boys in the hot rodding world is Jimmy Shine. The baddest of the bad boys in the LEGO hot rodding world has got to be Zenn with his Roadkill Hot Rod inspired by Mr. Shine and the wimpier 6538 Rebel Roadster set. Hey, it was '94 and LEGO was trying their best. It was long before they hired Misterzumbi onto the scene and what did a bunch of Danish toy makers know about hot rodding anyway?



My co-worker at the LEGO store calls himself WachutuChief, but his real name is Austin. He likes to take already awesome official sets and infuse a little sumpin' sumpin' of his own. In this case the 10220 VW Camper van now has a trailer, surf board, camping gear, steering...and power functions! Oh, and the steering wheel is on the British side just to be different.



Long past the due date but before I could get my shiznit together to write this roundup, a guy takes a break from his Bad furday to revamp the old 6896 M-Tron Celestial Forager set into...uh...also a Celestial Forager...but different. Now it has interior climate controls. You're gonna want A/C when you're exploring new planets like the pink suede couch in the photo...oh and I suppose life supporting air regulators as well. What do I know about couch travel?



Is that all of them? Yep, it is. Like most things, this roundup begins with ill-suited fatherly advice and ends with a pink suede couch. Kinda like my high school prom. Anyway, stay tuned next month for a new challenge we like to call Rubber Side Down, Shiny Side Up. What the hell does that mean, you ask. Well, we're all some pretty phenomenal car builders so I figured we'd shake things up a bit and build motorcycles in all of their forms. Whether they be trikes, choppers, bobbers, or scooters the sky is the limit with what you can do with motorcycles. They're hard as all hell to build but strangely satisfying once done. So as bikers sometimes greet each other before a long road trip, lets keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up in this month's challenge. I'm outta here. Until next month, get the hell off my lawn, all of youse!