Airplane Meets Cement Mixer

Due to the upcoming premiere of The Lego Movie, I have attained a fascination with the associated sets. The ones I am particularly interested in are the ones that rebuild into other things: the Ice Cream Machine (70804), the Trash Chomper (70805), and the Castle Cavalry (70806). These are perfectly regular sets, being an ice cream truck, garbage truck, and castle-- that is, until they are rebuilt into some rather extravagant flying machines.

The Trash Chomper (70805)

The Ice Cream Machine (70804)

Castle Cavalry (70806)

I was interested by the idea of rebuilding ordinary things into ridiculous aerial vehicles, so I reached for the one vehicle I could not possibly picture flying: my Cement Mixer (60018). By this point, I knew it was pretty much going to turn out awesome or completely stupid. However, being myself, I strive for the former.

The fateful Cement Mixer (60018-1)

After about an hour of fiddling with the limited array of pieces, I eventually came up with something I liked. I managed to build something that might pass as flight-worthy, while preserving the ability of the drum to rotate. I turned the wheels sideways to make jet engines, a concept I was first introduced to by the MX-41 Switch Fighter (7647) back in 2008. I couldn't resist adding a rotating turret, too. I myself was impressed by the end result. It was difficult due to the somewhat narrow palette of parts to choose from, but despite that setback, it turned out just fine in the end.

An Isometric View

Example of the turret rotating

Overhead view

All in all, I count this one as a success. It looks pretty good, and it was lots of fun to build. Sadly, due to my limited City collection (I mostly work in Space and Castle), I don't have any other vehicles to try this with. I do, however, have lots of resources to do something like the Castle Cavalry. In fact, I'd love to see what I could do with the monstrous Trolls' Mountain Fortress...

Anyway, this one was really fun, and I recommend trying something like it to see what happens. In the meantime, watch out for the new sets (and the movie, of course), and Happy Building!