[00:00] Hi everyone, this is Balastro RacingBrick. Today I have a very special, Rebrickable episode for you, and this time I really mean it. If you've been following this series, then the name Love Bricks should already be familiar. You've seen some of his very cool
[00:14] 12 stud wide builds in one video, then I featured his custom Ferrari F1 car together with the Hamicuda, the one that still sits proudly on my shelf up there. The Ferrari is also here by the way, you just can't see it. And of course, there was the Porsche 911 that he somehow managed to
[00:29] turn into a very cool white Batmobile. I can't deny it, I really like his builds and his design style, so I've been nagging him for quite a while to design one of my dream vehicles. As a kid born and raised in Hungary, I didn't exactly grow up surrounded by pickup trucks, you simply didn't
[00:45] see many of them around here. Still, for some curious reason, one of my all time favorite vehicles has always been the Dodge Ram. Don't ask me why, I simply fell in love with the look and the whole time when I discovered it as a kid. I've been collecting a few diecast rams over the years.
[01:01] This one was also loved and played with by my kids and I think you can tell. I've never actually driven a ram, but I'm still hoping to own one someday. But honestly, without those nice wide American roads and with the current fuel prices it would be extremely difficult to
[01:16] justify. On the other hand, my track would fit perfectly in the bed, so there's my practical argument. The Ram 1500 itself is a pretty common sight in the US, but there is one version that is much more special and far less common. This is the Dodge Ram FR-T10, basically a mad scientist
[01:33] version of the Ram, with the Viper's massive 8.3L V10 shoehorned under the hood of a high performance street truck. Only around 10,000 samples of these were built about 20 years ago, so they are pretty rare today, and surprisingly, it's also quite difficult to find a good model
[01:49] of one in diecast or toy form. I am the proud owner of this Transformers Alternators Optimus Prime which transforms into a Ram SRT-10. And seeing Optimus here feels especially bittersweet now after the recent passing of the brilliant Peter Cullen, the legendary voice behind the
[02:05] character for so many years. This thing does not transform easily and you might have seen him standing on my shelf in robot form during the last two years, but for this video I will go through the struggle and transform him back into truck mode for a little comparison.
[02:18] I also have the smaller scale die version which is actually quite detailed and unless you want to spend considerably more money on the real thing this is probably the most affordable way to own an SRT these days
[02:30] Now there's obviously a reason why I've been talking about this truck for the last few minutes. Not Bricks, whose real name is also Balazs by the way, so obviously he can only be a super nice guy, so he was kind enough to design a 12 stud wide Dodge Ram SRT-10,
[02:45] presumably just to finally stop me nagging him about it. And oh boy, it turned out brilliantly. The model is already available on Rebrickable, you can find the link in the description and in the pinned comment below.
[02:57] It uses 1093 pieces, and this is not an alternate build of any particular set, so you will need to collect the parts yourself. The version you see here is red, but since most of the bodywork pieces aren't particularly
[03:09] rare, you can also build it in black, dark blue, dark bluish grey, yellow or white. The instructions and inventory you get are for the red version. As usual, the digital instructions are very high quality and easy to follow, although
[03:22] I definitely wouldn't recommend this as your first custom LEGO build. There are some pretty advanced techniques hiding in here, so let's start building. This is how the build begins, and we already have some fairly tricky connections.
[03:34] The front textile area starts taking shape, and we immediately add a surprising amount of detail using droid parts, classic space guns, shiny clothes and all sorts of interesting little pieces. We sand the chassis and start adding some dry-string components. These white
[03:49] round pieces you see here are only temporary supports, so remember to remove them at the end. And now comes a pretty important part of an SRT-10, the legendary V10 engine. All 10 cylinders are represented by these flat silver horn pieces, and we will add even more
[04:03] detail around the engine in the following steps. Our slightly floppy drive shaft is now secured, and the first section of the actual bodywork starts appearing around the chassis. After building the lower section of the seats, we had this interesting mixture of system
[04:17] and technique constructions through the middle of the truck. The seats are now complete and look really good, and next comes the grille and headlight area, which uses some surprisingly complex superstructures underneath. Once everything is in place, I think the grille and the whole content already looks very convincing.
[04:33] The door is another really nice little assembly. It looks good from the outside, but there's proper detailing on the inside as well. comes the dashboard, complete with gauges and a steering wheel. I really like all these hidden big wheel details just look at this imitation wheel spring around the rear axle most people will probably never even notice it on the completed model but it there
[04:53] Then the rear axle itself goes in place and the build continues towards the back of the truck. After correcting a small mistake I made here, this leather complex assembly slopes into place nicely. Next comes the rear section with detail lights and license plate, and then we add even more
[05:08] detailing underneath. And this is the point where the build became surprisingly personal for me. For reputable models, I usually prefer to pre-sort all the pieces according to the building stats. It gives me a rough idea of the build flow beforehand, and while I'm building I can focus
[05:24] much more on the tactics instead of constantly hunting for pieces in a giant pile. While sorting everything, I kept wondering why on earth this red Dodge Ram needed these yellow and dark blue pieces. Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is why.
[05:37] There's an awesome brick-built racing brick logo hidden underneath the bed cover. I genuinely had no idea this was going to be here, and I can't express how cool this little surprise is. Thank you, Balazs, I absolutely love it.
[05:50] Here is the bed cover itself, together with the small rear wing, and then we add the tailgate. The end is getting close now, we fill the remaining gaps, add the roof and the A-pillars, and the final major assembly is the hood.
[06:02] Time to mount the wheels, and we are finished. Well, almost. There is one more thing to do. Remember those white pieces underneath? They all served as temporary support during construction, so now we can pull them out. Yes, these ones as well.
[06:15] And now we are actually finished. Here is the completed Dodge Ram FR-T10 and I think it looks absolutely amazing. The most important thing for a model like this is obviously whether we can immediately recognize the wheel of the vehicle, and I think the answer here is definitely yes.
[06:31] This unmistakably looks like a 2 door Ram SRT10. It looks great from pretty much every angle, there are tons of little details, especially considering the scale, and I think the designer managed to capture the proportions and character
[06:44] of the truck really well. Just for reference, here it is next to a few recent LEGO icons cars, so you can get a better idea of the size. And here are two other Nutbricks models next to it. Looking at them together, I think I might need to build that charger as well.
[06:58] Speaking of the charger, the latest Technic version came with these chrome finished wheels, so obviously I had to try them on the ramp. Here's how the truck looks with those. You can decide which version you prefer personally I think they are just a little too shiny The standard wheels suit the model better for me As for the functions the hood opens and reveals that huge V10 engine underneath
[07:20] There is no working steering this time, but instead we get plenty of brick built mechanical detail around the axles and underneath the truck. Wall doors open, giving us access to the nicely detailed interior. You can also open the tailgate and lift the bed cover, revealing what is obviously the
[07:35] single most important feature of the entire truck, the brick built racing brick logo. Here it is, next to my Transformers version. I know Optimus has developed a few gaps over the years, but this is more than 20 year old plastic and transforming him already felt
[07:49] risky enough. I wasn't going to start forcing everything into perfect alignment just for this comparison. In terms of durability, the LEGO model is relatively sturdy considering how detailed it is, but I definitely wouldn't grab it by the roof. The A-pillars are fairly
[08:03] delicate as well. So this is much more of a display model than something you would want to drive around aggressively on the floor. But as a display piece I think it works brilliantly, and this one is definitely going to become one of the highlights of my display cabinet.
[08:17] The building experience was also very enjoyable. I wouldn't call it extremely difficult, but there are definitely a few sections where you need to pay attention to the instructions and understand how everything is supposed to connect. And that combination is exactly
[08:30] what I like about these builds. It's not complicated, simply for the sake of being complicated. You get interesting techniques, lots of hidden details, and in the end you have a model that really captures the character of the original vehicle. So, what can I say, go and check out
[08:45] the instructions, build yourself a ram, experiment with the different color options, and of course don't forget that this might currently be your best opportunity to own an officially unofficial BrickBuild Racing brick logo hidden underneath the bed cover of a Dodge Ram SRT10.
[09:01] Let me know what you think about the build in the comments below, and also tell me which color you would choose for yours. If you enjoyed this video then please give it a thumbs up, and don't forget to subscribe with notifications, as more exciting LEGO videos are coming soon. See you next time, bye bye.
[09:26] Thank you.