LEGO’s 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender is a rather nice little 150-piece pocket-money set. But add just a single extra stud to the dimensions (and a few more advanced building techniques) and it can become something altogether more authentic. Cue SvenJ.‘s excellent 7-wide Land Rover Defender 90, which adds the Defender’s famous ‘barrel side’, triple-rear-window, posable steering, and a whole heap more interior and exterior detail. Building instructions are available and you can upgrade your own 40650 set via the link above.
Tag Archives: 90
Honey I Shrunk the 10317
LEGO’s brilliant new 10317 Icons Land Rover Defender 90 set is one of the coolest looking Technic sets in ages. However, it’s also $240, which is some way outside of pocket-money attainability.
Fortunately LEGO’s upcoming 150-piece Creator 40650 Land Rover Classic Defender set will allow their Land Rover partnership to feature on far more bedroom floors, and it’s this lovely little set that has formed the basis for Thomas Gion’s own heritage green Land Rover Defender 90.
Taking the un-accessorised yellow Defender from 40650, Thomas has rebuilt the 6-wide Creator set replicating the best bits of its much bigger Technic brother, equipping his Land Rover with a snorkel, bonnet-mounted spare, and a packed roof cage, whilst adding a does of extra visual accuracy via clever SNOT building techniques.
There’s more to see at Thomas’ ‘Land Rover Defender 90’ album, plus you can check out the two official LEGO sets that inspired it via the links in the text above.
Icons 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 | Set Preview
Land Rover may have released a new Defender, as have LEGO with the officially-licensed 42110 Technic version, but this is the Defender we want! Yes, LEGO have finally created a ‘classic’ Land Rover Defender set, and doesn’t it look good? This is the brand new 10317 Icons Land Rover Classic Defender 90.
Of course the real car isn’t called ‘classic’ anywhere in its title, but we suppose both LEGO and Land Rover are keen to remind us that there is indeed another Defender on the market. Replicating the short wheel-base ’90’ hardtop, 10317 does wear Land Rover’s marvellous heritage green colour (as re-used on the final run of ‘classic’ Defenders) superbly though, with a good proportion of the set’s colossal 2,336 pieces in the hue, including the wheels and the new wheel-arch parts similar to those that first debuted on the ‘other’ Defender set some four years ago.
Working steering and suspension, opening doors and hood, and a really beautifully detailed engine account for some of that chunky parts count, as does a degree of customisability, because – as per the recent 10304 Chevrolet Camaro, 10300 ‘Back to the Future’ Time Machine, and 10265 Ford Mustang sets – 10317 can be built in a number of configurations.
Two different engines and three different hoods can be constructed, but the bulk of those extra parts are there should you wish to build your Defender to look like every single one in London; with a huge array of totally unused off-road accessories. These include an uprated front bumper with a working winch, side rails, jerrycans, a toolbox and jack, a shovel, pickaxe, hammer and axe, fire extinguisher, roof cage, snorkel and traction plates.
Of course any real Land Rover Defender driver wouldn’t be within 100 miles of those items – with their vehicle instead carrying a flask of tea, a roll of duct-tape, and a sheep – but you can always build these at home for true Defender authenticity.
The new LEGO Icons 10317 Land Rover ‘Classic’ Defender 90 will reach stores in April of this year, is expected to cost around $240 / €240 / £210, and we’re in the queue. We’re already working on our brick-built sheep.
Indefensible
The more we see the new Land Rover Defender (which comes in officially licensed LEGO form too), the more we wish Land Rover had taken the approach of Suzuki, Mercedes-Benz, and now Ford, with their new Bronco, and found a way to update a classic rather than throw the design cues in the bin.
Still, the fact we’re starting to see the new Defender everywhere means our opinion counts for nought, and the heavily-financed Evoques parked outside every $150/month health club will soon be switched for heavily-financed Defenders. Although that may cause a different problem for Land Rover…
We’d choose to leave the health club behind and exercise outdoors, using a proper Land Rover Defender to take us there. This fantastic fully remote controlled Technic Defender comes from previous bloggee ArsMan064, and it captures the spirit of the original Land Rover far better than Land Rover have managed to with their new one.
A third-party SBrick gives ArsMan’s Defender bluetooth control, with two L Motors driving all four wheels and a Medium motor powering the steering, whilst all-wheel suspension, LED lights, opening doors, hood and tailgate, and a beautifully detailed engine bay and interior also feature.
There’s loads more to see of ArsMan064’s Technic Land Rover Defender 90 at the Eurobricks discussion forum, including close-up imagery and a video of the model in action off-road, which you can also find below. Click the link above to leave the health club behind…
YouTube Video
FebRovery’s Finishing Flourish
Apologies for the unimaginative title but we’ve been a bit pre-occupied dealing with a combined Elf and Mini-Fig uprising here at TLCB Towers. Now the that airhorn is recharged, we’ve time to bring you this rather charming creation from Miro Dudas, on Flickr. Possibly the most normal looking car in the FebRovery group, the Lunar Rover 90 is standard Land Rover, which has been modified for use in space. Apparently this was done to save money on developing a new moon buggy. You can see the complete range of weird and wonderful vehicles which were created last month by following this link to the FebRovery Group.