Model Team: Toyota Yaris in Scale 1:25

[Lasse D]

Update: See post 12 for updated model

Let me start out with paying my respect to small scale car builders like RalphS. Making a car is easy when it comes to iconic vehicles such as Hummers and Beetles. But once you try to get all the details right on a normal everyday car like a Passat, Prius, BMW, or in this case Yaris, then it really starts to get tough. I started this little project back in December 2010!

But enough talk. Let me present the car that revolutionized small cars back in 1999, won European Car of the Year and Engine of the Year in 2000. Also known as 'mum's car'. Here she is trying to get her dog Sara inside.

The car is a first generation Toyota Yaris 1.0 Linea Terra 5 door from 2000 in scale 1:25. (You can tell it's a 1.0 from after 1999 by the color of the bumpers)

Get down from the roof Sara! Silly puppy...

Yaris (my mother has never been creative when it comes to naming cars) carries a yellow stuffed giraffe to keep you company when you drive alone.

Being a 5 door hatch has really helped me stuff a lot of LEGO in there when going to events like LEGO World. It even carries our Christmas tree every year... inside.

But still, my all time favorite car? What can I say... I just love everything about it :)

Brickshelf gallery with more pictures (and cars if you press up).

Edited July 22, 2011 by Lasse D

[vmln8r]

Nice job. All those funny angles make my brain hurt. Clever use of tiles and studs to give the impression of curves.

Fun fact of the day - this is called the Echo in New Zealand.

[Lasse D]

Thanks.

Fun fact 2: Yaris is called Vitz in Japan, well knowing that it means joke in German.

Fun fact 3: The MPV version was called FunCargo in Japan.

[jonwil]

Nice car. Cool to see someone building a "regular" car rather than something exotic, fancy or iconic.

Plus its a Yaris which is one of the better entries in the small car segment :)

[Out of Sight]

Very nice 'Lasse D', I too love economical cars, I'm currently driving its competitor, ' 06 Honda Jazz/Fit GD3 I would love to see my Jazz being brick-built! Did you build the engine bay for this Yaris?

Ow, may I add the 4th fun fact?

Fun fact 4: the early Yaris was also sold under the name Toyota 'Echo' in some part of the world

Nice car. Cool to see someone building a "regular" car rather than something exotic, fancy or iconic.

Plus its a Yaris which is one of the better entries in the small car segment :)

I completely agree on that! I love models of regular/average cars, they give much better sense of 'social realism', since we could spot them in our own garage, our neighbours driveway or maybe the one that made into the news for crashing into a mini market store because the driver (a drunken old man) had stepped on the accelerator instead of brake. :laugh:

[dr_spock]

Nice Yaris.

It was originally sold as the Echo in Canada. Now it is sold as the Yaris.

[Fuzzylegobricks]

Nice car! You very good at these scales, very similar to Ralphs building styles.

Great!

[legolijntje]

That's a nice and detailed car , but I don't like the windows very much because they look so massive.

The rest of the car is perfect

[Ralph_S]

Interesting little car, Lasse. Supercars are nice, but from my own experience I know that building a recognisable model of a small car can be a lot more difficult. A Ferrari will still look like a Ferrari if you mess up, but with a relatively nondescript little five-door like this there is far less room for compromises. The Yaris has a difficult shape. I think you've done an admirable job, although it looks better from the side and rear than from the front IMO. I'm impressed by the techniques and all the functionality you've managed to cram into such a small package and am intrigued by the mechanism you used to make the doors work. How easy are they to open? The figures are neat as well. Will you also build a LEGO version of yourself to go with it?

BTW, I liked you Solstice too. You sure manage to pick out the difficult ones!

Cheers,

Ralph

[jonwil]

Very nice 'Lasse D', I too love economical cars, I'm currently driving its competitor, ' 06 Honda Jazz/Fit GD3 I would love to see my Jazz being brick-built! Did you build the engine bay for this Yaris?

A jazz would be good to see, especially in light of this ad for the Jazz :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR-ysA_uawU

(watch the ad and you will see what I mean :)

[Lasse D]

Thanks guys. The model has now been handed over as an 11 year birthday present for Yaris.

Very nice 'Lasse D', I too love economical cars, I'm currently driving its competitor, ' 06 Honda Jazz/Fit GD3 I would love to see my Jazz being brick-built! Did you build the engine bay for this Yaris?

Fun fact 4. Here in Europe the Jazz is a micro MPV and a competitor for Yaris Verso and now Ractis/Verso S.

It would be nice to see more small cars, and I recall seeing a Jazz/Fit built somewhere (perhaps as a Spoon racing version?). This Yaris is the first ever LEGO Yaris. I have not found others on BS/MOCPages nor google.

The hood doesn't open. There is no need for that in a Yaris

That's a nice and detailed car , but I don't like the windows very much because they look so massive.

The rest of the car is perfect

I know. Over-exposing the pictures gives you better detailing in the reds, but it does also give you too much white in the transparent bricks. It looks less massive in real life. I can only recommend building cars this way.

Interesting little car, Lasse. Supercars are nice, but from my own experience I know that building a recognisable model of a small car can be a lot more difficult. A Ferrari will still look like a Ferrari if you mess up, but with a relatively nondescript little five-door like this there is far less room for compromises. The Yaris has a difficult shape. I think you've done an admirable job, although it looks better from the side and rear than from the front IMO. I'm impressed by the techniques and all the functionality you've managed to cram into such a small package and am intrigued by the mechanism you used to make the doors work. How easy are they to open? The figures are neat as well. Will you also build a LEGO version of yourself to go with it?

Thanks. The front was really tricky since I wanted the nose above the grille and still have the drop in the middle over the bumper. Making the lights look right is near impossible, and I haven't even started on the windscreen :P

The doors use the normal robot-arm technique that I use in all trucks and other cars. It lets you open the doors without too much fuss (my friend was able to do it without breaking everything... once). With the front doors open, the rear ones suffice with hinges.

Edit:

And as for a LEGO fig of myself... I don't have enough bricks

Edited May 14, 2011 by Lasse D

[Lasse D]

After building the Echo, I have transferred the new design of the bonnet and windscreen to the Yaris.

It turns out that the hinge plates that I used to indicate the emblem also gave too many restrictions in the design of the hood. By removing this detail, The lights could be changed as well, while maintaining the short bumper of this Euro spec. version

Together with the Echo.