{"title":"Bestseller","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"il-2m3-shturmovik","title":"COBI Ilyushin IL-2 1943 Set 5745","description":"\u003cp\u003eCOBI's \u003cstrong\u003eIl-2 (1943)\u003c\/strong\u003e is a 1:32 model built from \u003cstrong\u003e643 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, 36.3 cm long with a 46.4 cm wingspan, in winter camouflage with the pale blue underside. The propeller and ailerons move, the wheels fold on rubber tires, and the redesigned canopy opens for a pilot and a gunner figure. A display stand with a plate and mounting points for the figures is included.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe armour is the aeroplane\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost armoured aircraft have steel plates bolted onto a normal airframe. The Il-2 does not. Its forward fuselage is a shell of armour plate up to 12 mm thick, shaped and riveted into a load-bearing structure — the engine, the cooling system, the fuel tank and the pilot all sit inside it, and it is the aircraft, not an addition to it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRussian crews called it the flying tank, and German troops on the ground called it the Schwarzer Tod. Rifle-calibre fire simply bounced off, and light flak often did too, which is what let it work at a hundred metres over a battlefield where nothing else could survive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe man in the back seat\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe early Il-2 had one seat. That left it defenceless from behind, and the losses were appalling — for a period the average Il-2 survived a handful of sorties.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnits cut second cockpits into the fuselage themselves before the factory version arrived. And when the two-seater was standardised, the armoured shell was not extended: the gunner sat behind it, protected by a canvas strap and a sheet of duralumin. Gunner casualties ran several times higher than pilot casualties in the same aircraft.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAround 36,000 Il-2s were built, more than any other military aircraft in history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet 5744 is the later Il-2M3 in postwar Polish markings, with the swept wing and a different camouflage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 643 · \u003cstrong\u003eFigures:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2, pilot and gunner · \u003cstrong\u003eScale:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1:32\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eModel dimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 36.3 × 46.4 × 12.5 cm (14.3 × 18.2 × 4.9 in)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COBI","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47027932627226,"sku":"5745","price":71.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/5745-box-front-72dpi-1200px-RGB.png?v=1703908187"},{"product_id":"large-trainstation-with-flower-shop","title":"myBrickZ Large Trainstation with Flower Shop Set 0001","description":"\u003cp\u003emyBrickZ's \u003cstrong\u003eLarge Train Station with Flower Shop\u003c\/strong\u003e, set 0001, is a station building built from \u003cstrong\u003e1,120 pieces\u003c\/strong\u003e: a main building with a waiting hall, a flower shop with a newspaper stand, and a platform with four rails.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe building is modular. Its sections plug together, so the station, the shop and the platform can be arranged to suit the layout they are going into rather than in one fixed order.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSet number one\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003emyBrickZ is a small German brand, and its sets are numbered in the order they appeared. This is 0001, the first — and a station is a telling place to start. A brick town can manage without most buildings, but trains, buses and delivery vehicles all need somewhere to arrive, and the rest of the myBrickZ range is exactly that: vehicles and the places they stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the myBrickZ range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet 0002 is the yellow double-decker bus with its bus stop, 0006 the BVG electric bus, and 0003 and 0005 the Deutsche Post DHL vehicles. Set 0004 is a pickup with market stalls.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1,120 · \u003cstrong\u003eModular build\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eAge:\u003c\/strong\u003e 6+ · \u003cstrong\u003eCompatible with other brick brands\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"myBrickZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47394488320282,"sku":"MB-0001","price":80.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/KartonBild.png?v=1701565955"},{"product_id":"maserati-levante","title":"COBI Maserati Levante Set 24560","description":"\u003cp\u003eCOBI's \u003cstrong\u003eMaserati Levante\u003c\/strong\u003e is built from \u003cstrong\u003e97 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, 14.5 cm long, under original Maserati licence, with wheels that turn on rubber tires. All markings are printed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eMaserati names its cars after winds\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Levante is a wind — the easterly that blows through the Strait of Gibraltar and across the western Mediterranean, known for arriving suddenly and bringing cloud and heavy seas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is part of a pattern the company has kept for sixty years. The Ghibli is a hot Libyan desert wind. The Bora is the cold, violent downslope wind of the Adriatic. The Mistral blows down the Rhône valley into Provence. The Khamsin is Egyptian. The Grecale comes from the north-east.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe convention began in the 1960s and has outlasted several changes of ownership. It is also unusually well chosen: a wind has a character and a direction and a place it belongs to, which is more than most car names manage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Levante itself arrived in 2016 as Maserati's first SUV — a thing the company had spent decades saying it would never build — and promptly outsold everything else it made.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet 24565 is the Levante Trofeo, the high-performance version with a Ferrari-built V8. 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All markings are printed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eFerrari built the engine\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrofeo is the top version of the Levante, and what makes it that is a 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 producing around 580 hp — assembled by Ferrari in Maranello.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat is not marketing licence. Maserati and Ferrari spent years as sister companies under the same corporate roof, and Ferrari built Maserati's V8 and V6 engines for the best part of two decades. The engines were Maserati-specified rather than Ferrari units in disguise, but they were made on Ferrari's line by Ferrari's people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt ended when the group was reorganised and Maserati brought engine production back in-house with the Nettuno V6 in 2020. 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Two figures are supplied, a mechanic and a driver. The wheels turn on rubber tires and all markings are printed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat GT3 means, and why it matters\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGT3 is not a model designation. It is a racing category, and it is the reason a Maserati can line up against a Porsche, a Ferrari, an Audi and a Bentley in the same race and finish within seconds of them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe class was created in 2005 with an unusual principle: rather than write a narrow technical rulebook that every car must fit, the organisers let manufacturers build very different cars — front engine, mid engine, V8, V10, turbo — and then equalise them afterwards.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat equalisation is called Balance of Performance. Before each event, the governing body adjusts each model's weight, engine power, fuel capacity and aerodynamics based on how it has been performing. A car that wins too easily gets heavier. A car that struggles gets power back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is a deliberately artificial arrangement and motorsport purists have complained about it for twenty years. 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Two figures are included, a mechanic and a driver. The cars have wheels that turn on rubber tires, and all markings are printed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eTwo cars and somewhere to put them\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the set that makes the rest of the Maserati range work as a display rather than a row.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCOBI's individual cars are around 100 pieces each and finished the moment they are built. A garage is different: it gives the cars a place to be, a reason for the mechanic figure to exist, and a scene that can be rearranged. It is also the only way to get the GranCabrio Sport, which COBI does not sell separately.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt 500 pieces it is the largest set in the Maserati line and the one to buy if you are buying only one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe two cars\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe GranCabrio Sport is the convertible version of the GranTurismo, with the 4.7-litre Ferrari-built V8 — a genuine four-seat cabriolet, which is rarer than it sounds, since most convertibles of that size have rear seats nobody can use.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Levante is Maserati's SUV, introduced in 2016 and named, like most Maseratis, after a Mediterranean wind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSets 24560 and 24565 are the Levante and the Levante Trofeo on their own, and 24567 the GranTurismo GT3 racing car with its own garage and starting position.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 500 · \u003cstrong\u003eFigures:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2, a mechanic and a driver · \u003cstrong\u003eScale:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1:35 · \u003cstrong\u003eLicensed by Maserati\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eGarage and two cars\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COBI","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47394805186842,"sku":"24568","price":54.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/24568-3D-front-72dpi-1000px-RGB.png?v=1701567782"},{"product_id":"mirage-2000-5","title":"COBI Mirage 2000-5 Set 5801","description":"\u003cp\u003eCOBI's \u003cstrong\u003eMirage 2000-5\u003c\/strong\u003e is a 1:48 model built from \u003cstrong\u003e400 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, under original Dassault Aviation licence. The wheels fold, the ailerons move and the cockpit opens for the included pilot figure. A brick display stand with a nameplate is supplied. All markings are printed; no stickers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eDassault gave up on the delta, then came back to it\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Mirage III was a delta and it sold everywhere. Then Dassault built the Mirage F1 with a conventional swept wing and a tailplane, and that was not a step backwards — it was an admission.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA delta wing is superb above the speed of sound and awkward below it. It lands fast, it bleeds energy in a hard turn, and it needs a long runway. The F1 fixed all of that and was a better aircraft to operate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen the Mirage 2000 went straight back to the delta. What had changed was not aerodynamics but electronics: the 2000 was France's first production fly-by-wire fighter, and a computer making corrections dozens of times a second could compensate for everything that made a delta unpleasant. The shape that had been a compromise in 1956 became a pure advantage in 1978.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat is the reason modern fighters are full of shapes that would have been unflyable a generation earlier. The Eurofighter and the Rafale are both deltas for the same reason.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere it flies\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAround 600 were built and sold to France, Brazil, Egypt, Greece, India, Peru, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan. The 2000-5 is the modernised multi-role standard with RDY radar, MICA missiles and a helmet-mounted sight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet 5917 is the Mirage 2000-5F in French blue-and-white camouflage with the stork emblem. 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The wheels fold, the ailerons move, the canopy opens for the included pilot figure and the armament is movable. A display stand with a nameplate is supplied. All markings are printed; no stickers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eOmnirole\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDassault does not call the Rafale multi-role. It calls it omnirole, and the distinction is real rather than marketing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA multi-role aircraft can do several jobs, but it is configured on the ground for the one it is about to do — bombs for a strike, missiles for air defence, a reconnaissance pod for a survey. Changing job means landing and changing the load.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Rafale was designed to carry all of it at once and switch mid-flight. A single aircraft goes out with air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground weapons and its own targeting and jamming systems on board, and the pilot can be tasked to attack a ground target, break off to intercept an aircraft, and go back — without anyone touching the pylons.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe reason France wanted that is arithmetic. The Rafale replaced seven different aircraft types in French service: the Jaguar, the Mirage F1, the Mirage 2000 in several versions, the Super Étendard and the Crusader. A small air force cannot afford a specialised fleet for each task, so it bought one aircraft that would not need reconfiguring between them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe C\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eC is the single-seat air force version. The M is the carrier aircraft and the B the two-seater; all three are close to identical from outside, which is itself unusual — most navalised fighters look visibly different.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet 5901 is the Rafale C at this scale with 551 pieces, MICA, Meteor and AASM Hammer weapons and a newly designed vertical stabiliser. This is the earlier and simpler version of the same aircraft.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 400 · \u003cstrong\u003eFigures:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 pilot · \u003cstrong\u003eScale:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1:48 · \u003cstrong\u003eLicensed by Dassault Aviation\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eDisplay stand and nameplate\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eNo stickers\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COBI","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47394927345946,"sku":"5802","price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/5802-box-front-rgb-72ppi.png?v=1701569552"},{"product_id":"f-a-18e-super-hornet™-1","title":"COBI F\/A-18E Super Hornet Set 5805","description":"\u003cp\u003eCOBI's \u003cstrong\u003eF\/A-18E Super Hornet\u003c\/strong\u003e is a 1:48 model built from \u003cstrong\u003e570 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, 39 cm long, under the original Top Gun: Maverick license in the film aircraft's markings. This is the first edition of the set: the markings are reproduced with a combination of prints and stickers. The canopy opens, the wheels turn, a full weapons load hangs under the wings, the cockpit takes a brick pilot, and a display stand with a plate carrying the aircraft name and the film logo is included.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe slash in the name was new\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eF\/A-18 was the first American combat aircraft designated as both a fighter and an attack aircraft, and the slash is not a formality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAmerican naval aviation had always kept the two apart. Fighters — the F-4 Phantom, the F-14 Tomcat — shot down aircraft. Attack aircraft — the A-4 Skyhawk, the A-6 Intruder, the A-7 Corsair — bombed things. 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A patrol car cannot leave a ploughed road; a snowmobile crosses open country at speed and carries a casualty out on a sled behind it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tasks are ordinary policing done in snow: search and rescue, accident response, checking on isolated properties, and — genuinely a large part of the work — enforcing the rules about where other snowmobiles are allowed to go.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe glowing parts\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe luminous elements are the detail children notice first. They charge in daylight and glow for a while in a dark room, which is unusual in COBI's range and makes this a better set than its size suggests for a young child.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePart of Action Town. 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Part of the Action Town range.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA quad is a serious piece of police equipment\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePolice forces use all-terrain vehicles for the same reason farmers and mountain rescue teams do: they go where a car cannot and carry a person and their kit at speed over ground that would take twenty minutes to walk.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn practice that means beaches, parks, festival sites, forest tracks, dunes and the edges of motorways — and searching for a missing person, which is the job where covering ground quickly matters most.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey are also used where a patrol car would be wrong for a different reason: an officer on a quad is visible and approachable in a way that one behind glass is not, which is why seaside and park units favour them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe glowing lamps\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe luminous front lights charge in daylight and glow in a dark room. It is a small thing and it is the detail a child notices first.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt 61 pieces this is one of the smallest sets COBI makes and a sensible first one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePart of Action Town. 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A police officer figure is included. Part of the Action Town range.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHighway patrol is a separate job\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn most countries the police who work motorways are a distinct unit with distinct training, and the reason is that almost nothing they do resembles ordinary policing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA traffic officer spends the day at speed, stops vehicles on a hard shoulder with traffic passing at 120 km\/h a metre away, and is usually first at serious collisions — which means being trained in extrication and trauma care rather than in taking statements.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cars are different too: higher-powered, with different tyres and brakes, and fitted out for a shift spent entirely in the vehicle. A patrol car that will be driven hard for eight hours is not the same purchase as one that does short urban trips.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe other half of the work is not catching anyone. 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An X-ray answers questions the patient will not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCOBI has put the machine in a hundred-piece set, which is a better choice than another piece of furniture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePart of Action Town, COBI's contemporary civilian range. Set 1872 is the equestrian set and 1875 the countryside farm, both with animals that work in this scene. 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Part of the Action Town range.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat a farm set does that a vehicle set does not\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost of COBI's output is a single object — a tank, an aircraft, a car — that is finished when it is built and then displayed. This is the other kind of set, and the difference matters if you are buying for a child.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA barn with a sliding door, a loft with a ladder, animals and a handful of tools is not a model of anything. It is a place with things in it, and a child decides what happens there. The loft can be climbed into, the animals can be moved, the door opens and shuts, and none of it has a correct configuration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat kind of play lasts longer than a completed vehicle does, and it is the reason ranges like Action Town exist alongside the historical collection. It also mixes: the Action Town figures sold separately as sets 1852 and 1853 are the same size, and the farm animals work in any scene.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt 310 pieces it is a reasonable evening's building for an adult and child together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePart of Action Town. Sets 1740 and 1872 are the veterinary and equestrian sets, and 1477 the fire station.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 310 · \u003cstrong\u003eFigures:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4, a rider and three animals · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e Action Town\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eModel dimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 29 × 13 × 12.5 cm (11.4 × 5.1 × 4.9 in)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COBI","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47398452134170,"sku":"1875","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/1875BoxVorne.jpg?v=1701662976"},{"product_id":"su-100","title":"COBI SU-100 Set 2541","description":"\u003cp\u003eCOBI's \u003cstrong\u003eSU-100\u003c\/strong\u003e is built from \u003cstrong\u003e655 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, 32 cm long, with working tracks, a movable gun, an opening hatch and a detailed engine under the service flap. \u003cstrong\u003eMarkings for Soviet or Polish service\u003c\/strong\u003e are supplied, along with a figure of a soldier with a Mosin rifle, a cap and a red banner. The manual includes a statistics card for the free COBI Historical Battle Game. All markings are printed; no stickers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe gun is still in service\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe SU-100 was a stopgap: take the existing SU-85 hull, put in the new D-10 100 mm gun, and get something into the field that could kill a Panther or a Tiger reliably. Around 4,500 were built from 1944.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe vehicle is long obsolete. The gun is not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe D-10 went on to arm the T-54 and then the T-55 — the most-produced tank in history, with somewhere around 100,000 built — and it stayed in production for decades in the Soviet Union, China, Czechoslovakia and elsewhere. T-55s and their derivatives are still in use in a number of armies today, and the gun in them is a direct descendant of the one on this model.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA weapon designed in 1944 to deal with German heavy tanks has outlived the tanks it was built against, the country that built it, and the Cold War. Very few pieces of military hardware have that kind of run.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Polish markings\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSU-100s served with the Polish forces raised in the Soviet Union and stayed in the Polish army well after the war. Several countries kept them in reserve into the 2000s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet 3096 is the ISU-152 at 1:72, and sets 2595, 3088 and 3092 the T-34 family this chassis descends from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 655 · \u003cstrong\u003eFigures:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 with banner · \u003cstrong\u003eSoviet or Polish markings\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eNo stickers\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eModel dimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 32 × 8.5 × 11 cm (12.6 × 3.3 × 4.3 in)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COBI","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47434470850842,"sku":"2541","price":64.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/2541-box-front.png?v=1702078045"},{"product_id":"ch-47-chinook","title":"COBI CH-47 Chinook Set 5807","description":"\u003cp\u003eCOBI's \u003cstrong\u003eCH-47 Chinook\u003c\/strong\u003e is a 1:48 model built from \u003cstrong\u003e815 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e in US Army colours. The rotors turn, a loading flap opens, and \u003cstrong\u003ea rope with a cargo hook\u003c\/strong\u003e hangs from the belly. Two pilot figures are included. All markings are printed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eNo tail rotor means all the power lifts\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA conventional helicopter has a problem: the main rotor tries to spin the fuselage in the opposite direction, and a tail rotor has to counteract it. That tail rotor consumes somewhere between 5 and 15 per cent of the engine power, and it produces no lift whatever.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Chinook has two main rotors turning in opposite directions, one at each end. They cancel each other's torque, so there is nothing to counteract and no tail rotor to feed. Every bit of power goes into lifting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe result is a helicopter that can carry close to its own empty weight. A Chinook lifts around eleven tonnes on the hook — artillery pieces, light vehicles, containers, other helicopters — and that hook is the reason the rope is in this set.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTandem rotors have a second advantage nobody expects: the aircraft is far less fussy about where the load sits. A single-rotor helicopter has a narrow centre-of-gravity window; a Chinook has a long one, because there is a rotor at each end holding it up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn production since 1961\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSixty-five years and still being built, which almost nothing else in aviation can claim. The current F model shares the shape and very little else with the ones that flew in Vietnam. Around twenty countries operate it, and the US Army expects to fly Chinooks into the 2060s — a century of service.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 815 · \u003cstrong\u003eFigures:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2 pilots · \u003cstrong\u003eScale:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1:48 · \u003cstrong\u003eCargo rope and hook included\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COBI","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47434607198490,"sku":"5807","price":199.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/5807-box-front-RGB72ppi.png?v=1702079563"},{"product_id":"1937-horch-901-kfz-15","title":"COBI 1937 Horch 901 kfz.15 Set 2405","description":"\u003cp\u003eCOBI's \u003cstrong\u003e1937 Horch 901 Kfz. 15\u003c\/strong\u003e is a 1:35 model built from \u003cstrong\u003e185 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, 13 cm long, in European theatre markings. New brick types were introduced for this model, useful for building cars generally. A figure of a German driver with binoculars and a printed nameplate are included. All markings are printed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eGermany tried to standardise its cars and failed\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the mid-1930s the German army set out to solve a real problem: it had hundreds of different vehicle types, each with its own parts, and no workshop could stock spares for them all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe answer was the Einheits-PKW programme — the standard car. Three universal all-wheel-drive chassis, light, medium and heavy, with bodies fitted according to role, built by several manufacturers to one specification. The Horch 901 is the medium one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn paper it was exactly right. In practice it went wrong in a way that is worth understanding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe engineers, given a clean sheet, produced vehicles that were genuinely excellent and completely impractical: four-wheel drive, independent suspension on all four wheels, sometimes four-wheel steering, and a level of mechanical complexity that made them slow to build, expensive to buy and difficult to repair in a field. A standard car that costs three times a civilian one and needs a trained mechanic is not a standard car.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe programme was cancelled in 1943 and replaced by simplified designs based on ordinary commercial vehicles — and by the Volkswagen Kübelwagen, which cost a fraction and worked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet 2256 is the same vehicle in Afrika Korps desert paint. Sets 2802 and 2803 are the Kübelwagen that replaced this whole idea.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 185 · \u003cstrong\u003eFigures:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 driver with binoculars · \u003cstrong\u003eScale:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1:35\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eModel dimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 13 × 5.5 cm (5.1 × 2.2 in)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COBI","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47434763469082,"sku":"2405","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/2405-3D-front-72dpi-1000px-RGB.png?v=1702083643"},{"product_id":"trabant-601-universal-feuerwehr","title":"COBI Trabant 601 Universal Feuerwehr Set 24555","description":"\u003cp\u003eCOBI's \u003cstrong\u003eTrabant 601 Universal Feuerwehr\u003c\/strong\u003e is a 1:35 model built from \u003cstrong\u003e77 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, 10 cm long, under licence, in fire service red with FEUERWEHR lettering and a roof beacon. The wheels turn on rubber tires and all markings are printed — no stickers. A brick with the car's name is included.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat the body was actually made of\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Trabant's bodywork is Duroplast, and the material is the most misunderstood thing about the car.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is not plastic in the ordinary sense and it is certainly not cardboard, which is the joke everyone makes. Duroplast is a thermoset composite: cotton waste — the short fibres left over from Soviet textile mills — pressed with phenol resin under heat. The result is closer in principle to fibreglass than to anything else, with fibre providing the strength and resin holding it together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEast Germany used it because it had no steel to spare and plenty of access to Soviet cotton waste. It turned out to have real advantages: it does not rust, which is why so many Trabants survive, and the panels were reasonably resistant to knocks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe drawback nobody solved was disposal. A thermoset cannot be melted down and reused the way steel or thermoplastic can, so after 1990 there were tens of thousands of Trabant bodies that could not be recycled by any normal means. Various schemes were tried, including bacterial digestion, and most of the problem was eventually solved by grinding them up as construction filler.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome descriptions of the car claim Duroplast has a melting point similar to aluminium. It does not have a melting point at all — that is the defining property of a thermoset, and it is exactly why the disposal problem existed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe car\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 601 was launched in 1964 and built until 1990 with very little change. Just over 100 km\/h flat out, and a waiting list that ran to well over a decade — people put their children's names down at birth. The Universal is the estate version.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 77 · \u003cstrong\u003eScale:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1:35 · \u003cstrong\u003eNo stickers\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eModel dimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 10 × 5 × 4.5 cm (3.9 × 2.0 × 1.8 in)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COBI","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47440890233114,"sku":"24555","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/24555-s2-2019-3D-box-front-1000px-72ppi-RGB.png?v=1702163046"},{"product_id":"1965-fiat-abarth-595","title":"COBI 1965 Fiat Abarth 595 White Set 24524","description":"\u003cp\u003eCOBI's \u003cstrong\u003e1965 Fiat Abarth 595\u003c\/strong\u003e is a 1:35 model built from \u003cstrong\u003e70 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, 9 cm long, in white with a red side stripe reading FIAT ABARTH 595 and the Abarth scorpion on the bonnet. The wheels rotate on tires, and the set includes a block printed with the model name and year. All markings are printed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe car that motorised Italy, then got faster\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Fiat 500 arrived in 1957 and did for Italy what the Beetle had done for Germany: it put a country on wheels that had mostly been walking. It was 2.97 metres long, air-cooled, rear-engined, and made under 18 horsepower.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1965 Abarth took that car and gave it a 595 cc engine, a sports exhaust, stiffer suspension and better brakes — roughly half again as much power in a shell that weighed barely 500 kilos. The result was quick enough to embarrass much larger cars on a mountain road, which is exactly where Italians drove.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePart of the Youngtimer collection at 1:35. Set 24514 is the same car in plain yellow. The large 1:12 models are sets 24353 and 24354.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 70 · \u003cstrong\u003eScale:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1:35 · \u003cstrong\u003eColour:\u003c\/strong\u003e white with red stripe\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eModel dimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9 × 4 × 4 cm (3.5 × 1.6 × 1.6 in)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COBI","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47440901898522,"sku":"24524","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/24524-3D-front-72dpi-1000px-RGB.png?v=1702163520"},{"product_id":"jeffreys-invention","title":"COBI Jeffrey's Invention Set 20052","description":"\u003cp\u003eCOBI's \u003cstrong\u003eJeffrey's Invention\u003c\/strong\u003e is built from \u003cstrong\u003e150 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, 13.5 cm long, with opening doors, storage space in the boot and \u003cstrong\u003epositional axles\u003c\/strong\u003e. A figure of Jeffrey is included. Part of the Monster Trux range.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThis one is invented, and that is the point\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost of what COBI makes reproduces something that existed. This does not. Jeffrey is a character, his machine is made up, and the set is built around the idea that he assembles vehicles out of whatever is lying around.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhich makes it a different kind of purchase. There is no correct way for it to look when finished, and nothing to get wrong — so a child who takes it apart and builds something else has not ruined a model, they have done what the set suggests.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe positional axles are the feature that supports that. They can be set at different heights and angles, so the same parts make a lowered machine or one on tall wheels, and the vehicle can be changed without rebuilding it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt 150 pieces it is a reasonable size for a child building alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePart of Monster Trux, COBI's range of invented vehicles for younger builders. 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Part of the Monster Trux range.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe lighting bricks are the reason to choose this one\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCOBI makes a number of small vehicles at this price. What separates this set is that it contains genuine light-up elements rather than luminous ones.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLuminous parts — the glow-in-the-dark bricks in several Action Town sets — store daylight and release it slowly. They are charming and they fade within minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA lighting brick has a small LED and a battery in it, and it stays lit. For a child that is the difference between a detail and a feature, and it is the thing that gets a vehicle taken into a dark room on purpose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eMonster Trux\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCOBI's range of invented vehicles for younger builders — nothing based on a real machine, no fixed scale, and sets designed to be taken apart and rebuilt rather than displayed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSets 20052 and 20060 are from the same line.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e Monster Trux · \u003cstrong\u003eLight-up bricks included\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eModel dimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 10.5 × 5.5 cm (4.1 × 2.2 in)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COBI","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47484064825626,"sku":"20059","price":27.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/20059BoxVorne.jpg?v=1702951505"},{"product_id":"vintage-racing-circuit","title":"COBI Vintage Racing Circuit Set 20060","description":"\u003cp\u003eCOBI's \u003cstrong\u003eVintage Racing Circuit\u003c\/strong\u003e is built from \u003cstrong\u003e120 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e and includes a racing driver figure. Age 5+, and compatible with other brick brands.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA track rather than a car\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlmost everything COBI makes is a vehicle. This is the surface it drives on, and that changes what the set does.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA finished car sits on a shelf. A piece of circuit is somewhere for cars that already exist to go — and since COBI's small vehicles are all roughly the same size and fully compatible with each other, this works with whatever is already in the box: the Maserati at 1:35, the Monster Trux machines, the Action Town cars.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat is the reason to buy a set like this. On its own it is a hundred and twenty pieces and a figure. 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All markings are printed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIt had two guns, and one of them was in the wrong place\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Churchill I is the first production version, and it is easy to identify because of something no later Churchill has: a howitzer in the front of the hull.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe turret held a 2-pounder, a good anti-tank gun with one fatal gap — it fired no high-explosive shell at all. So a Churchill I could destroy a tank and do nothing whatever to an anti-tank gun, a bunker or a house full of infantry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe fix was to put a 3-inch howitzer in the hull front, firing high explosive, aimed by the hull gunner. That gave the tank both kinds of shell, and it came straight out of First World War thinking: the Mark I and Mark V had carried guns in hull sponsons for exactly the same reason.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt did not work. A hull-mounted gun can only shoot roughly where the tank is pointing, the two gunners could not coordinate, and the arrangement cost internal space. From the Churchill III onwards the turret got a 6-pounder that fired both types of ammunition, and the hull howitzer was replaced by a machine gun.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is a good illustration of how armies solve problems: first by adding something, then by realising the answer was a better gun in the turret all along.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThis is a World of Tanks set\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCOBI produced this model and set 3061 under a Wargaming licence, which is why both are at 1:48 and why the subjects are vehicles familiar from the game rather than from museums.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the COBI range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet 2717 is the Churchill Mk. IV at this scale and 3046 the Mk. 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Three in four German submariners did not come home, the worst casualty rate of any arm of any service in the war.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCOBI's set 4857 is the same boat at 1:144, and 4852 and 4858 are other Type VII submarines — useful if you want U 96 larger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 827 · \u003cstrong\u003eScale:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1:300 · \u003cstrong\u003eDesigner:\u003c\/strong\u003e Ralf · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e BlueBrixx-Specials · \u003cstrong\u003eU-boat pen included\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eNo stickers\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eInstructions as free download\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BlueBrixx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47504813523226,"sku":"BB-102624","price":99.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/102624_1.jpg?v=1703285530"},{"product_id":"warship-fregate-125","title":"BlueBrixx Warship Fregate 125 Set 102718","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlueBrixx's \u003cstrong\u003eWarship Frigate 125\u003c\/strong\u003e is a 1:300 model built from \u003cstrong\u003e1,047 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e. Designed by Ralf. Age 14+. Instructions are supplied as a \u003cstrong\u003efree download\u003c\/strong\u003e after registering on the BlueBrixx website.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe ship that was sent back\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn December 2017 the German navy did something it had never done before: it refused delivery of a warship and returned it to the shipyard.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe ship was the Baden-Württemberg, first of the F125 class. Sea trials found a persistent list to starboard, software that did not work as specified, and a list of defects long enough that the navy declined to accept her. She went back to Blohm+Voss and was finally commissioned in June 2019, roughly six years late.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe episode became a minor political scandal and a standing example in German defence procurement debates.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat the class was actually trying to do\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe F125 is an unusual design and the trouble came partly from how ambitious it was.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConventional warships deploy for months and then need a long refit. The F125 was built for \u003cstrong\u003etwo-year deployments\u003c\/strong\u003e, staying on station continuously with crews flown out and rotated every four months. That required a level of automation no previous German warship had: a crew of around 120 on a 7,000-tonne ship, where a comparable frigate would carry twice that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt also meant designing for stabilisation and intervention duties — piracy, embargo enforcement, evacuation — rather than for fighting other navies. The class has no anti-submarine capability at all, which is a startling omission on paper and a deliberate choice about what the ships were for.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhether that was the right bet is still argued about, and events since 2022 have made the argument sharper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1,047 · \u003cstrong\u003eScale:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1:300 · \u003cstrong\u003eDesigner:\u003c\/strong\u003e Ralf · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e BlueBrixx-Specials · \u003cstrong\u003eAge:\u003c\/strong\u003e 14+ · \u003cstrong\u003eInstructions as free download\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BlueBrixx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47504814571802,"sku":"BB-102718","price":99.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/102718_1.jpg?v=1703285583"},{"product_id":"rc-technic-tractor","title":"BlueBrixx RC Technic Tractor Set 103215","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlueBrixx's \u003cstrong\u003eRC Technic Tractor\u003c\/strong\u003e is built from \u003cstrong\u003e1,652 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e as a \u003cstrong\u003eremote-controlled\u003c\/strong\u003e model with working mechanical functions. Part of the BlueBrixx-Pro Technic series, released 2020, built from CaDA parts. Age 14+, printed instructions included.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy tractors are a Technic staple\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlmost every manufacturer of technical building sets makes a tractor, and it is not because tractors are glamorous.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is because on a tractor the machinery is on the outside. A sports car hides its engineering under bodywork — you build a gearbox nobody will ever see again. A tractor has nothing to hide behind: the articulated steering, the three-point hitch at the back, the power take-off, the hydraulics, the way the front axle pivots to keep all four wheels on uneven ground. All of it is visible on the finished model and all of it can be made to work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat is what a technical set is for. The reward is watching the mechanism function, and a subject that puts its mechanism on the surface gives you far more of that per piece.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgricultural machinery is also genuinely sophisticated engineering that most people never look at closely, which is the other half of why it works as a model.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA note on the parts\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bricks are made by CaDA, a manufacturer known particularly for technical elements. 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Designed by Alex. Age 14+. Instructions are supplied as a \u003cstrong\u003efree download\u003c\/strong\u003e after registering on the BlueBrixx website; there is no printed manual.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhere the number comes from\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBR 92 is not a name the builder chose. It is a class number from one of the largest administrative exercises in railway history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the German state railway was formed in the 1920s it inherited the locomotive fleets of eight separate state railways — Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg, Baden and others — each with its own numbering, its own classes and its own names. The same type of engine could carry three different designations depending on where it happened to be standing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 1925 renumbering put all of it into one system. Class numbers were grouped by purpose: express locomotives in the 01–19 range, freight from 41, and tank locomotives from 60 upwards. The 90s were shunting tank engines, and the various Prussian T 13s were gathered into Baureihe 92.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is why German locomotive classes are numbers rather than names, and why enthusiasts can tell you what an engine did from two digits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eNo tender\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA tank locomotive carries its water in tanks alongside the boiler and its coal in a bunker behind the cab, rather than in a separate vehicle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat costs range — far less water and coal — and buys two things. It is shorter, so it fits on tight curves and in small yards. And it runs equally well in both directions, because there is nothing trailing behind that needs turning. On a branch line with no turntable, or in a yard where every movement is a reversal, that is worth more than range.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the BlueBrixx range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSets 101001 (V200), 102921 (Big Boy) and 104004 (US Shunting Locomotive) are the other locomotives, and 101043, 102535 and 102788 the station buildings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 404 · \u003cstrong\u003eDesigner:\u003c\/strong\u003e Alex · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e BlueBrixx-Specials · \u003cstrong\u003eAge:\u003c\/strong\u003e 14+ · \u003cstrong\u003eInstructions as free download, no printed manual\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BlueBrixx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47504819421466,"sku":"BB-102531","price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/102531_1.jpg?v=1703285736"},{"product_id":"steam-locomotive-br-92-green","title":"BlueBrixx Steam Locomotive BR 92 Green Set 102532","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlueBrixx's \u003cstrong\u003eSteam Locomotive BR 92 Green\u003c\/strong\u003e is a BlueBrixx-Specials model built from \u003cstrong\u003e373 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, in a dark green livery. Age 14+. Instructions are supplied as a \u003cstrong\u003efree download\u003c\/strong\u003e after registering on the BlueBrixx website.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy a green locomotive is the interesting one\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGerman steam locomotives are black in almost everyone's memory, and that is a consequence of an accounting decision rather than a design tradition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBefore 1920 Germany had no national railway. It had eight state railways — Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg, Baden, Mecklenburg, Oldenburg and the Palatinate — each with its own workshops, its own classes and its own colours. Prussian locomotives were commonly a dark green; Bavarian ones green too, in a different shade; Saxon engines varied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen those railways were merged into the Deutsche Reichsbahn, the new organisation standardised everything it could, and paint was an obvious target. Black needs less preparation, hides soot and oil, costs less, and one colour across tens of thousands of locomotives simplifies every workshop in the country.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo the green disappeared over the 1920s as engines came in for overhaul, and a generation later everyone assumed locomotives had always been black.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis model is the earlier state. It is the same machine as the black version in set 102531, in the livery it wore before somebody in an office decided that colour was an expense.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA tank locomotive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo tender: the water sits in tanks alongside the boiler and the coal in a bunker behind the cab. That costs range and buys a shorter machine that runs equally well in both directions — which is what a shunting yard or a branch line without a turntable needs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the BlueBrixx range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet 102531 is the same locomotive in black. Sets 101001, 102921, 102937 and 104004 are the other locomotives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 373 · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e BlueBrixx-Specials · \u003cstrong\u003eAge:\u003c\/strong\u003e 14+ · \u003cstrong\u003eInstructions as free download, no printed manual\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BlueBrixx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47504820306202,"sku":"BB-102532","price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/102532_1.jpg?v=1703285778"},{"product_id":"diesel-locomotive-v36","title":"BlueBrixx Diesel Locomotive V36 Set 102937","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlueBrixx's \u003cstrong\u003eDiesel Locomotive V36\u003c\/strong\u003e is built from \u003cstrong\u003e323 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e in a grey and black livery, with a working coupling. Designed by Alex, released 2019.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe locomotive that outlasted three countries\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe V36 was ordered by the Wehrmacht. It was designed in the late 1930s as a standard heavy shunting locomotive for military depots and ports — simple, rugged, and buildable by several manufacturers at once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat happened afterwards is what makes it interesting. When the war ended the survivors were scattered across occupied Germany and beyond, and everybody who found one kept it, because a working shunting locomotive in 1946 was worth having regardless of who had ordered it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey went into service with the Bundesbahn in the west and the Reichsbahn in the east, with the French and Soviet occupation railways, with industrial works, ports, steelworks and private lines. Some ended up in Norway, Poland and Yugoslavia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Bundesbahn ran them until 1982. A few worked in industry into the 1990s, and a considerable number survive on heritage railways — an unglamorous machine that was still doing its job half a century after the state that ordered it had ceased to exist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy diesel for shunting first\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDiesel traction reached shunting yards long before it reached main lines, and the reason is the duty cycle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA steam locomotive must be lit hours before it is needed and consumes coal and water while standing. A shunter spends most of its shift stationary, waiting. Diesel starts on demand, idles for almost nothing, and needs one man rather than two.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat arithmetic was compelling in a yard decades before anyone could build a diesel powerful enough to haul an express.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the BlueBrixx range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSets 101001 (V200), 102531 and 102532 (BR 92), 102921 (Big Boy) and 104004 (US Shunting Locomotive) are the other locomotives. 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No stickers or prints.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe back half is pushed, not steered\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn articulated bus looks as though the rear section must be doing something clever. It is not. On almost every one, the trailer simply follows.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe front section has the engine, the driver and the steered wheels. The joint is a turntable with a rubber bellows over it, and the rear axle runs straight — so the back end tracks the front through a corner the way a trailer tracks a lorry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhich creates the one problem articulated buses have: on a tight turn the rear wheels cut the corner more sharply than the front, and the middle of the vehicle swings out. Drivers are trained for it, and city bus routes are surveyed for it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe reason to accept all that is arithmetic. An articulated bus carries around 50 per cent more passengers than a rigid one on the same route, with one driver. On a busy urban line the driver is the largest running cost, and adding length is far cheaper than adding buses.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGermany built them early and in numbers — the first were converted from bus-and-trailer combinations in the 1950s, and the layout has barely changed since.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the BlueBrixx range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSets 102632 (Double-Decker) and 102746 (Long Distance Bus) are the other buses, all designed by Alex.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 460 · \u003cstrong\u003eDesigner:\u003c\/strong\u003e Alex · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e BlueBrixx-Specials · \u003cstrong\u003eNo stickers\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eWeight:\u003c\/strong\u003e approx. 450 g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BlueBrixx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47504822141210,"sku":"BB-102960","price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/102960_1.jpg?v=1703285924"},{"product_id":"brixxbus","title":"BlueBrixx Brixxbus Set 102630","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlueBrixx's \u003cstrong\u003eBrixxbus\u003c\/strong\u003e is a BlueBrixx-Specials model of a modern city bus, built from \u003cstrong\u003e386 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e and weighing around 450 g. Bricks by Qunlong. No stickers or prints.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe low floor changed cities more than any other bus design\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA modern city bus has a floor about 30 centimetres above the road, level with the kerb, with no steps at the door. Until the 1990s almost none did.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe old arrangement put the floor above the axles and engine, roughly 80 centimetres up, reached by two or three steps. That is a trivial obstacle for most people and an impassable one for a wheelchair, a walking frame, a pushchair or anyone whose knees have stopped cooperating.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGetting rid of the steps meant redesigning the vehicle around the problem: portal axles with the drive taken around the outside rather than through the middle, the engine moved to the rear corner and turned sideways, air suspension that can kneel the whole bus towards the kerb, and a ramp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe effect went far beyond accessibility legislation. Boarding got faster for everyone, which shortened stop times, which improved timetables across entire networks. A design intended to admit wheelchairs made the bus quicker for the people who were already using it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is one of the clearest examples of something designers call the curb-cut effect, named after the dropped kerbs cut for wheelchairs that everyone with a suitcase, a trolley or a bicycle now uses without thinking.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the BlueBrixx range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSets 102632 (Double-Decker), 102746 (Long Distance Bus) and 102960 (Articulated Bus) are the other buses.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 386 · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e BlueBrixx-Specials · \u003cstrong\u003eNo stickers\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eWeight:\u003c\/strong\u003e approx. 450 g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BlueBrixx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47504823222554,"sku":"BB-102630","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/102630_1.jpg?v=1703285974"},{"product_id":"brixxbus-double-decker-bus","title":"BlueBrixx Brixxbus Double-Decker Bus Set 102632","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlueBrixx's \u003cstrong\u003eBrixxbus Double-Decker Bus\u003c\/strong\u003e is a BlueBrixx-Specials model built from \u003cstrong\u003e433 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, weighing around 490 g. Designed by Alex, bricks by Qunlong. No stickers or prints.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy Britain stacked its buses and the continent did not\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDouble-deckers are everywhere in Britain and rare almost everywhere else, and the reason is street width rather than national character.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA bus can hold more people in two ways: get longer, or get taller. Longer needs road space to swing through corners, and British towns grew up around streets laid out before anyone imagined a motor vehicle — narrow, with tight junctions and buildings hard against the kerb. Taller needs none of that. It needs headroom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo Britain went up, and the continent, with wider boulevards and more room to manoeuvre, went long — which is why articulated buses are a German and French sight and double-deckers a British one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe height was then fixed by bridges. British railway overbridges set a practical ceiling, and the standard double-decker settled at around 4.4 metres because that is what fits underneath. Operators keep lists of low bridges on every route, and a driver taking a double-decker under one built for less is a recurring and expensive kind of accident.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe open rear platform of the classic buses — no door, a pole, hop on and off at the lights — disappeared for safety reasons, and is the single thing people who remember them mention first.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the BlueBrixx range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSets 102960 (Articulated Bus) and 102746 (Long Distance Bus) are the other buses, all by Alex. Set 101470 is the London Taxi.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 433 · \u003cstrong\u003eDesigner:\u003c\/strong\u003e Alex · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e BlueBrixx-Specials · \u003cstrong\u003eNo stickers\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eWeight:\u003c\/strong\u003e approx. 490 g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BlueBrixx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47504823845146,"sku":"BB-102632","price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/102632_1.jpg?v=1703286020"},{"product_id":"long-distance-bus","title":"BlueBrixx Long Distance Bus Set 102746","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlueBrixx's \u003cstrong\u003eLong Distance Bus\u003c\/strong\u003e is a BlueBrixx-Specials model built from \u003cstrong\u003e502 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, measuring \u003cstrong\u003e40.8 × 7.5 × 11.5 cm\u003c\/strong\u003e assembled, with a modelled interior. Designed by Alex, released 2019. No stickers or printed parts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA coach is not a bus with nicer seats\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe difference is under the floor, and it changes the whole vehicle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA city bus has a low floor so people can step on and off quickly at frequent stops. Everything mechanical is squeezed around that — there is no room underneath for anything else, and passengers carry what they are holding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA coach raises the floor to roughly waist height and puts a continuous luggage bay along the whole length beneath it. That is the entire design decision, and everything else follows from it: the high windows and the view they give, the single door, the steps at the entrance, the toilet at the rear, and the fact that boarding takes minutes rather than seconds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is why a coach is useless on a city route and a bus is useless between cities. They are shaped by whether the passenger is carrying a suitcase.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLong-distance coach travel in Germany was effectively banned for decades to protect the railways, and only became legal again in 2013 — after which the market exploded, consolidated, and settled into a handful of operators in about five years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the BlueBrixx range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSets 102960 (Articulated Bus) and 102632 (Double-Decker) are the other buses, all by Alex.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 502 · \u003cstrong\u003eDesigner:\u003c\/strong\u003e Alex · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e BlueBrixx-Specials · \u003cstrong\u003eModelled interior\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eNo stickers\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eModel dimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 40.8 × 7.5 × 11.5 cm (16.1 × 3.0 × 4.5 in)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BlueBrixx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47504824697114,"sku":"BB-102746","price":49.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/102746_1.jpg?v=1703286070"},{"product_id":"manhattan-sunset-skyline-picture","title":"BlueBrixx Manhattan Sunset Skyline Picture Set 103090","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlueBrixx's \u003cstrong\u003eManhattan Sunset Skyline Picture\u003c\/strong\u003e is built from \u003cstrong\u003e2,023 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e and measures \u003cstrong\u003e78.5 × 27.5 cm, and only 4 cm deep\u003c\/strong\u003e. Designed by Marco P., from the BlueBrixx-Specials range, released 2020.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThis is a picture, not a model\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFour centimetres of depth is the number that defines this set. It is not a skyline you walk around — it is a flat panel, built to be seen from one side and hung or leaned against a wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat makes it a different proposition from every other architectural set in this shop. It needs no table and no display case, it occupies wall space rather than floor space, and at nearly 80 centimetres across it works as a picture in a room where a model would look like a toy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt also solves a problem large brick models usually have: dust. A vertical panel with no horizontal surfaces collects almost none.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHow a brick picture works\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe technique is closer to mosaic than to construction. Depth is suggested by layering and by colour rather than by actual distance, so the buildings in front sit a stud or two proud of those behind and the sunset behind them is built flat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat constraint is why the sunset matters. A daytime skyline in brick is a row of grey rectangles; a sunset gives the sky a gradient to work with, and the buildings become silhouettes against it. The subject was chosen because it suits the medium.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the BlueBrixx range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet 103047 is Lower Manhattan as a full three-dimensional 1:2000 model with 21,515 pieces — the same city, the opposite approach.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2,023 · \u003cstrong\u003eDesigner:\u003c\/strong\u003e Marco P. · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e BlueBrixx-Specials · \u003cstrong\u003eReleased:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eModel dimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 78.5 × 27.5 × 4 cm (30.9 × 10.8 × 1.6 in)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BlueBrixx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47504826269978,"sku":"BB-103090","price":199.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/103090_2.jpg?v=1703286128"},{"product_id":"truck-augsburg-2-axle-with-3-axle-suitcase-black","title":"BlueBrixx Truck Augsburg 2-Axle with 3-Axle Suitcase Black Set 102849","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlueBrixx's \u003cstrong\u003eTruck Augsburg, 2-axle with 3-axle box trailer\u003c\/strong\u003e, in black, is a BlueBrixx-Specials model built from \u003cstrong\u003e403 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e. Designed by Adrian. No stickers or prints. Age 14+. Instructions are supplied as a \u003cstrong\u003efree download\u003c\/strong\u003e after registering.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy it is called Augsburg\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is no truck manufacturer called Augsburg. The name is a way of naming a make without naming it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMAN — the German lorry builder — stands for Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg, and its roots and its engine works are in Augsburg. BlueBrixx has no licence to use the MAN name or badge, so the model is a MAN in everything but the word, and the city does the work instead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe practice is normal in this industry. A licence for a commercial vehicle brand costs money and takes time, and for a 403-piece model the economics rarely justify it. So manufacturers model the vehicle accurately, leave the badges off, and choose a name that tells the people who know without claiming anything.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you look at the rest of this catalogue you will find the same thing: a Formula car from 1979 rather than a named team, a Western saloon rather than a licensed film set.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThree axles behind, two in front\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe configuration is not arbitrary. European weight regulations limit load per axle as well as total weight, so the number of axles determines how much a vehicle may legally carry. A three-axle trailer spreads the load enough to run at the maximum permitted gross weight where a two-axle one could not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat is why long-distance trailers in Europe have three axles almost without exception, and why the rear one frequently lifts when the trailer runs empty — an axle on the road that is not needed costs tyres and fuel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the BlueBrixx range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet 102845 is the same truck in dark red.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 403 · \u003cstrong\u003eDesigner:\u003c\/strong\u003e Adrian · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e BlueBrixx-Specials · \u003cstrong\u003eAge:\u003c\/strong\u003e 14+ · \u003cstrong\u003eNo stickers\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eInstructions as free download\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BlueBrixx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47504827154714,"sku":"BB-102849","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/102849_1.jpg?v=1703286188"},{"product_id":"truck-augsburg-2-axle-with-3-axle-suitcase-dark-red","title":"BlueBrixx Truck Augsburg 2-Axle with 3-Axle Suitcase Dark Red Set 102845","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlueBrixx's \u003cstrong\u003eTruck Augsburg, 2-axle with 3-axle box trailer\u003c\/strong\u003e, in dark red, is a BlueBrixx-Specials model built from \u003cstrong\u003e403 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e. Designed by Adrian. No stickers or prints. Age 14+. Instructions are supplied as a \u003cstrong\u003efree download\u003c\/strong\u003e after registering.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe box trailer is the most boring object in Europe and it moves everything\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA plain rectangular box on wheels has no moving parts, no hydraulics and nothing to look at. It is also what almost all European road freight travels in, and the shape is the result of a hard limit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEuropean regulations cap a truck and trailer at 16.5 metres overall for an articulated combination, with a maximum height of about 4 metres and a width of 2.55. Inside those numbers, the most cargo you can carry is the largest rectangle that fits — so every manufacturer converges on the same box, and the only competition left is on wall thickness, weight and how quickly the doors open.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat standardisation is why a trailer built in Spain can be pulled by a Polish tractor unit, loaded in Rotterdam with pallets sized to fit it exactly, and swapped between operators without anyone checking. The uninteresting shape is the interoperability.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe pallet came first, incidentally: the Euro pallet at 1,200 by 800 millimetres was standardised in the 1960s, and trailer interiors were then built around fitting them in rows without wasted space.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy the name is Augsburg\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is no manufacturer of that name. MAN stands for Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg, and BlueBrixx has no licence to use the badge — so the model is a MAN in everything but the word, and the city stands in for it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the BlueBrixx range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet 102849 is the same truck in black.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 403 · \u003cstrong\u003eDesigner:\u003c\/strong\u003e Adrian · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e BlueBrixx-Specials · \u003cstrong\u003eAge:\u003c\/strong\u003e 14+ · \u003cstrong\u003eNo stickers\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eInstructions as free download\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BlueBrixx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47504827875610,"sku":"BB-102845","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/102845_1.jpg?v=1703286235"},{"product_id":"london-taxi","title":"BlueBrixx London Taxi Set 101470","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlueBrixx's \u003cstrong\u003eLondon Taxi\u003c\/strong\u003e is built from \u003cstrong\u003e1,027 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, measuring \u003cstrong\u003e22.5 × 9.5 × 10.5 cm\u003c\/strong\u003e assembled — the traditional black cab, with a right-hand driving position and an open passenger compartment. Released 2020. Age 12+.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe turning circle is the law\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA London taxi can turn in a circle of 7.6 metres — 25 feet — and it is not a design flourish. It is a legal requirement, written into the Conditions of Fitness that every licensed London cab must meet before it can carry a passenger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe usual explanation is the forecourt of the Savoy Hotel, which has a small roundabout too tight for an ordinary car to negotiate. Whether the Savoy is the actual origin is disputed — the rule predates the modern forecourt — but the effect is real: no ordinary saloon can be licensed as a London taxi, because almost none can turn that tightly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Conditions go further. The passenger compartment must be tall enough to sit in wearing a hat. There must be room for a wheelchair. The driver sits separately, with luggage space beside him instead of a front passenger seat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll of which means a London cab cannot be a converted ordinary car. It has to be designed as a taxi from nothing, which is why so few manufacturers have ever tried and why the shape has changed so little in seventy years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Knowledge\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe other thing that makes a London cab a London cab is the driver. Learning the Knowledge — 25,000 streets and every point of interest within six miles of Charing Cross — takes most candidates three to four years, and studies have found measurable growth in the hippocampus of drivers who complete it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is the hardest qualification of its kind anywhere, and it exists for a city whose streets follow no grid and never will.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1,027 · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e BlueBrixx-Specials · \u003cstrong\u003eAge:\u003c\/strong\u003e 12+\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eModel dimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 22.5 × 9.5 × 10.5 cm (8.9 × 3.7 × 4.1 in)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BlueBrixx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47504829546778,"sku":"BB-101470","price":99.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/101470_1.jpg?v=1703286306"},{"product_id":"stuttgart-770","title":"BlueBrixx Stuttgart 770 Set 101336","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlueBrixx's \u003cstrong\u003eStuttgart 770\u003c\/strong\u003e is a BlueBrixx-Specials model built from \u003cstrong\u003e261 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, at roughly 1:32 to 1:35. Age 14+. No stickers or prints. Instructions are supplied as a \u003cstrong\u003efree download\u003c\/strong\u003e after registering.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eStuttgart means Mercedes\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is no manufacturer called Stuttgart. The city is where Mercedes-Benz has been based since the company's beginnings, and BlueBrixx uses the name because it has no licence for the marque.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is the same device the range uses elsewhere — a lorry called Augsburg because MAN is Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg, a Formula car from 1979 with no team name, a Western saloon with no film licence. The model is accurate, the badge is absent, and the place name tells whoever already knows.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe 770\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Mercedes-Benz 770, known as the Großer Mercedes, was the largest and most expensive German car of its era — a 7.7-litre straight-eight, built from 1930 to 1943 in tiny numbers for heads of state, royalty and the very wealthy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAround 200 were made across both series. Because so few exist and because of who was photographed in them, surviving examples are among the most valuable and most contested cars in the world: provenance disputes, court cases over ownership, and auctions that have been abandoned after public objection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is worth knowing what the car is before buying a model of it. The 770's associations are unavoidable and are the reason it is remembered at all — as a piece of engineering it was conventional for its class, and the German state ordered armoured versions of it for the people it carried.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the BlueBrixx range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet 101335 is the Stuttgart G4, the three-axle staff car from the same period and the same manufacturer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 261 · \u003cstrong\u003eScale:\u003c\/strong\u003e approx. 1:32–1:35 · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e BlueBrixx-Specials · \u003cstrong\u003eAge:\u003c\/strong\u003e 14+ · \u003cstrong\u003eNo stickers\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eInstructions as free download\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BlueBrixx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47504832233754,"sku":"BB-101336","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/101336_1.jpg?v=1703286354"},{"product_id":"stuttgart-g4-w31-black","title":"BlueBrixx Stuttgart G4 W31 Black Set 101335","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlueBrixx's \u003cstrong\u003eStuttgart G4 W31\u003c\/strong\u003e in black is a BlueBrixx-Specials model built from \u003cstrong\u003e248 blocks\u003c\/strong\u003e, at roughly 1:32 to 1:35. Age 14+. No stickers or prints. Instructions are supplied as a \u003cstrong\u003efree download\u003c\/strong\u003e after registering.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSix wheels, and only about fifty-seven of them\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe G4 is a three-axle car, which is an unusual thing for a road vehicle to be, and the reason is the ground it was meant to cross.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMercedes-Benz built it from 1934 as a heavy off-road staff car: six wheels, drive on the rear four, and a long wheelbase designed for unmade tracks, mountain roads and terrain where an ordinary saloon would ground itself. The extra axle spreads the weight and keeps the car moving where two would sink.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was also absurdly expensive. Somewhere around 57 were built in nine years — a production run small enough that most were allocated individually. The German state used them as parade and staff vehicles, and two were given away as diplomatic gifts, one of them to Franco.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs engineering it is a reasonable answer to a real problem, and it was never going to be anything but a vehicle for a handful of people. Off-road capability at that price is a statement rather than a solution, and the army got by with the Kübelwagen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eStuttgart means Mercedes\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is no manufacturer of that name. Mercedes-Benz is based in Stuttgart, and BlueBrixx uses the city because it has no licence for the marque — the same device as the lorry called Augsburg, which is a MAN.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIn the BlueBrixx range\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet 101336 is the Stuttgart 770, the state limousine from the same period and manufacturer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSpecifications\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePieces:\u003c\/strong\u003e 248 · \u003cstrong\u003eScale:\u003c\/strong\u003e approx. 1:32–1:35 · \u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e BlueBrixx-Specials · \u003cstrong\u003eAge:\u003c\/strong\u003e 14+ · \u003cstrong\u003eNo stickers\u003c\/strong\u003e · \u003cstrong\u003eInstructions as free download\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BlueBrixx","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47504833151258,"sku":"BB-101335","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0837\/3134\/9786\/files\/101335_1.jpg?v=1703286399"}],"url":"https:\/\/notjustcollectibles.com\/collections\/bestseller.oembed?page=47","provider":"Not Just Collectibles, LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}