Two Of A Kind Roundup

For this month's challenge called Two Of A Kind we made some serious demands that all builders had to adhere to...otherwise they could suffer the wrath of the Headless Buddha ...whatever that means. First we demanded they must build not one, but two things. Second, both things had to match in color scheme and in design. You see, there is a phenomenon that happens at races and car shows. Often we see a prize winning vehicle accompanied by perhaps a trailer, speedboat, motorcycle, snack cooler, or surf board that matches the color scheme and design of the original. Merely building a red car and a red speedboat is not enough to satisfy the demands of the challenge but a red car and speedboat both with silver rally stripes, exposed chromed out engines, and bubble dome windows...now we're talking! What you have then is a cohesive team, a family portrait, if you will that looks as if it was designed and labored over by the same person. Chances are, they were. So with these rules in mind, lets take a look at the entries.

First we have Ace and his...uh...well he...um. You see, its this vehicle...and...uh. Then it sort of does this other thing. Um...you see, we were supposed to build two things and...um. Well, it sort of...you know. Yeah.



 Lets read the rules again. Seems like DrZapp had the right idea with this Hot Rod Caravan. The trailer matches the overall 60's era design and color scheme of the hot rod that lugs it. Neat!



 If you're like me you've probably woken up handcuffed naked to a dumpster with no recollect of what happened and no clue as to where your wallet is. C'mon, don't deny it, we've all been there, right? Right? Anyway, if you're like me you may also really enjoy this sleek yellow and black pickup and matching trailer as built by Legogil.



You take a surf board, plus a hot rod, plus a straight four, plus some dark blue and white and you get this cool duo built by Jonathan Derksen. The refreshing six pack of cokes are a great touch. Jonathan tells us this chopped little creation is yet unnamed and elicits a name from all of us. Might I suggest Zipperhead Snickerdoodle Copperbottom? No? Aw, c'mon!



Speaking of weird names, Shunazaver has aliens on the brain with this Eloyan Motors Extraterrestrial Off Road Rover model ALBERT. This is made complete with Mahjqa style power functions and either a stratospheric/ ionospheric tow sensor or a golf bag...one or the other. My money is on the golf bag.



With a name like Bobofrutx our next builder is probably an interstellar bounty hunter hellbent on chasing Han Solo across the galaxy. Or maybe he's a vending machine that dispenses fruit. Whatever he is, he's a man of very few words, which is fine, as he lets this Land Crawler speak for itself. There's a lot of neat techniques used here.



Strange crop circles have been mysteriously showing up around here and the likely culprit may be this custom '66 Dodge A-100 Alien Crop Circle Maker as built by Lino Martins. Done up in Alien Conquest colors, this van features bubble windows, a light up, spaced-out interior, UFO sound and rampside door and a feature that makes the whole shebang appear to be levitating! Eerie!

You know what else is eerie? How yet again, Nathan Proudlove builds the same thing I've built without planning it...in this case the '66 Dodge A-100 pickup version (which I almost built). This has happened or nearly happened several times already and its enough to get us both a little spooked. Perhaps its brainwaves, similar chemistry, nature, nurture...or maybe even unseen forces at work. Either way, the Canadian style Boler trailer is pretty neat.



New guy Felipe Descomplicado chimes in for the first time with this duo of gear trucks called The Spear and The Mallus. The yellow is the factory standard version while the red and white is the customized edition. The point of the challenge was slightly missed by not designing two things with the same color scheme and overall design, but you can't help but enjoy the neat techniques used. I'd say Felipe will be a good addition to the LUGNuts team.


When any of you disappear for a while I worry like a Jewish mother. Miss a month and I can only assume you've been accosted by bloodthirsty homicidal vampire maniacs. Its what my own mother worries I'm up to almost daily. But thankfully Sangi13 is still amongst the living and totally making up cars as evidenced by this 2012 Sangerati Di Lusso SS with trailer.



Also thankfully amongst the living is Ricecracker and his Mercedes Actros Car Transporter. Its yellow with these black and red wavy things. And there's a couple of cars on it. Yeah. Zipperhead Snickerdoodle Copperbottom. Stratosperic/ ionosperic tow sensor golf bag...OK, phew, I used my 3-5 lines. Lets move on.



Dover is my real life boss at the LEGO store. When not yelling at me to quit dicking around and get some work done for once, he enters a challenge...for once...with this neat truck. Before the ADU was the Alien Defense Unit, it was the Alien Discovery Unit. These good ol' boys were just having a good time, listening to music and looking for life on other worlds when these green skinned hooligans came along in a Dodge A-100 and cramped their style by defacing fields of wheat. (Who, me? I wasn't me, officer, really!) It was all out war after that.



When TechnicFenix13 hears Two Of A Kind, he hears two of almost exactly the same thing. Here we have what looks like a slightly modified 4404 set towing another 4404 set...also slightly modified. There is nothing like a heavy off-road vehicle towing another almost identical heavy off-road vehicle to unknown off-road destinations. Nice view outside the window there. Surely there are no bloodthirsty homicidal vampire maniacs out there.



You take a classic 1957 Chevrolet Cameo pickup truck, lose its usual factory standard red trim and instead give it a twist of lime and you get this sleek creation built by The Big Rafalski. The ice skate blades used on the hood are a nice touch. Ben only had time to build one truck, but in a challenge that demands at least two things what's a Big Rafalski to do?

 

Well, The Big Rafalski recruits the help of...The Big...uh...Ralph-aski. Finally I get to use that joke! The challenge states you can team up with a buddy so Ralph Savelsberg delivers the newer lime and white counterpart with a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado sports truck. Being a true European, Ralph doesn't understand the point of the whole custom sport truck phenomenon but for the rest of us, there is plenty to love about these old and new Chevy siblings.



Yep, its true. Most Europeans love their cars pristine and factory standard while Americans seem to like 'em customized beyond recognition. Curtydc must be an American as evidenced by this pair of custom chopped Deuces. Once again the point is slightly missed by having a pair with different colors but you can't help but overlook that to great style and build techniques.



Spanning both worlds of being American and European and spending half the year in each place is Raphy. Here he asks the question...What wonders could this Porsche Renntransporter hold? Is it a ham and cheese sandwich? A doggy treat? The secret to life itself? Turns out its four more little Porsches crammed tightly in the back. Neat!





Smoke 'em if you got 'em! That's what Lego911 would say with this Toyota Celica ST205 TTE WRC Marlboro sponsored racer. He tells us this car was disqualified in '95 for...smoking in a movie theatre? Selling cigarettes to kids? Demanding a break from work every hour to alleviate the nicotine fits? No, for cheating...which is just as bad, really.



So how does Peter's solo car qualify? Well he teamed up with none other than Dylan Denton with his counterpart, a 1998 Toyota Corolla WRC in the same red and white Cowboy Killer color scheme. Both builders are against smoking, which is good. It seems the only people who smoke anymore are rebellious teens with mullets and rednecks...also with mullets.



 Lego911 would not be lego911 if he didn't post multiple entries. He chimes in much later in the challenge with this neat pair of '76 Fords done up in '76 color scheme. One is a Pinto Cruising Wagon and the other is the Ford Cruising van. The style and composition are taken from an ad back in '76 within the pages of National Geographic.



That was a good retro way to end our challenge but what happens when we look to the future...a future of Alternate Fuels? In this month's new challenge anything goes...anything except gasoline powered cars. My ignorance was already pointed out when it was made clear that diesel is not really an alternate fuel in Europe but rather the standard. Oh well...there are still other options to choose from, everything from solar power, to wind, to chocolate to organic human waste. Gross! A future where cars run on poo...is it viable? Or should we just forget the future all together and go with steam power? We'll just have to wait and see what next month brings us. And speaking of next month, who's going to BrickCon? I sure am. Hope to see you there. Until then, happy building everyone! Oh, and I've never been handcuffed naked to a dumpster. it was all just a ruse to entertain you readers. I hope it worked.