Tag Archives: pull-back

LEGO Technic H1 2023 | Set Previews

2 Replies

This week marks the start of a brand a new year, and thus, as is customary, our sneaky Elves have unearthed all the brand new for 2023 LEGO Technic sets! So, following our reveal of the awesome looking 42154 Ford GT earlier in the week, here is every new addition to the LEGO Technic line-up due to reach stores in the first half of 2023…

…

42147 Dump Truck

Kicking off the new 2023 Technic range is this, the 42147 Dump Truck. Consisting of 177 pieces and aimed at ages 7+, 42147 looks like a great way to introduce Technic to younger builders, with working ‘HOG’ steering, a tipping bucket, and a good level of visual detail that reasonably approximates any number of generic compact trucks common across Asia in particular. 42147 costs around £9, can also be built as a rather decent looking excavator, and is available to buy now.

…

42148 Snow Groomer

Alternatively, with the same target age and just one difference in the piece count, your £9 for a Technic starter set could be spent on this; the 42148 Snow Groomer. 42148 also looks pretty good to us, and includes mechanical levers to operate the front blade and the rear smoothing, um… thingy. Like 42147 above, an alternative model can also be constructed (in this case the worst-looking snowmobile we’ve ever seen) and is available to buy now.

…

42149 Monster Jam Dragon & 42150 Monster Jam Monster Mutt

It wouldn’t be a New Year Set Preview without a pair of pull-backs. Fortunately after some dismal efforts a few years ago, LEGO seem to have struck gold with the officially-licensed ‘Monster Jam’ series, which are perfect for pull-back tomfoolery. 2023 sees another two real-world monster trucks from the American arena spectacular immortalised in brick-form, one of which is giant dog. There’s a green dragon or something too, but if you don’t want the giant dog there’s something wrong with you. Each set costs around £18, and both are available to buy now. Buy the dog.

…

42151 Bugatti Bolide

Continuing LEGO’s partnership with Bugatti, which has produced such sets as the huge Technic 42083 Bugatti Chiron, comes the 905-piece 42151 Bugatti Bolide. Nope, we hadn’t heard of it either. Apparently the Bolide is a $4million track-only hypercar limited to just 40 units, due for delivery some time in 2024. Unless you buy this one of course, which is available now for £45. That price still seems rather a lot for a set that has only working steering and a miniature V16 piston engine for its technical features, but hey – it’s got lots of stickers, some new panels, and lightsabers for rear lights.

…

42152 Firefighter Aircraft

This is more like it. Looking a bit like a Canadair CL-215 water bomber (but distinct enough not to require licensing…), 42152 brings some decent technical functions to the Technic line-up in aircraft form. And it can dump blue bricks from its hold.

Retractible landing gear, a working tail rudder, propellors that spin when the model is pushed along the floor (with its landing gear retracted), and a lever to dump the ‘water’ all feature, as do a few new pieces not seen before – including some curved corner sloped panels that’ll you’ll soon be able to find listed on Bricklink at an enormous cost. Aimed at ages 10+, 42152 is a welcome addition to the Technic hangar and will reach stores later this quarter.

…

42153 NASCAR Next-Gen Chevrolet Camaro

It’s time for some double branding with this; the 42153 NASCAR Next-Gen Chevrolet Camaro. Looking rather good (albeit in a very be-stickered way), the new 42153 set brings next-generation NASCAR to the LEGO Technic line-up. And by ‘next-generation’ we mean, ‘exactly the same as NASCAR has always been’. Cue angry comments from NASCAR fans.

Costing the same £45 as the 42151 Bugatti-we’d-never-heard-of above, but with some 230 fewer pieces, 42153 looks to be even poorer value, featuring only a working miniature V8 engine and ‘HOG’ steering. It does look nice though, and will reach stores in March 2023.

…

42155 The Batman – Batcycle

2023’s final new addition is this, the 42155 The Batman – Batcycle, which we should write in all-caps but can’t bring ourselves to. We haven’t seen 2022’s ‘The Batman’ movie, having decided that ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy cannot be bettered, but apparently this features in it. It’s no Tumbler…

But it is quite a nice looking motorcycle we have to admit, and includes an H4 engine, working suspension (via new shock absorbers in black), steering, and a phat set of tyres on new black rims. Expect 641 pieces, a 9+ target age, and £50 price-tag when 42155 lands on shelves in March 2023.

…

And there you have it, the complete line-up of new LEGO Technic sets for the first half of 2023. Which new Technic sets do you think are worth having? Us… we’ll take the Ford GT.

Don’t Have a Cow, Man!

Leave a reply

¡Ay, caramba! This isn’t a car. But seeing as more of us reading this will have been on a skateboard than in a Pagani, it’s perhaps a more relevant than much of what we post!

Flickr’s grubaluk owns the mind behind this marvellous skateboarding Bart Simpson, which deploys LEGO’s Pull-Back Motor in excellent fashion.

Skate through Springfield via the link above!

LEGO Technic 42118 & 42119 Monster Jam | Set Previews

Leave a reply

LEGO’s officially licensed vehicles continue with two more new-for-2021 sets! 42118 and 42119 join the Technic range as the pull-backs for 2021, and like the 42109 ‘Top Gear’ rally car, each is licensed to not a car brand, but to an entertainment company.

‘Monster Jam’ is a North American stadium institution, in which monster trucks freestyle around an arena filled with squashed cars, dirt ramps, and a whooping beer spilling crowd. Which sounds great. Because it is.

Two of the main protagonists are ‘Grave Digger’ and ‘Max-D’, which LEGO have chosen to recreate for their 7+ Technic sets.

It’s normally at this point when we’d deride the new pull-back sets for being total garbage, but this year we can’t. Because they’re awesome.

Each set contains around 250 pieces (although there’s no ramp this time – which surely these were made for – but you can build one of those at home), including excellent wheels and tyres, and a giant Jolly Roger/Angry Chief flag.

Expect 42188 and 42119 to cost under $20 when they reach stores next year, and for Monster Jam arenas built from books, cushions, toy cars, and other household objects to appear in homes everywhere. Good stuff.

C-Plane

Leave a reply

The prizes from TLCB’s Lockdown B-Model Competition are winging their way to the winners, but we haven’t seen the end of B-Model building. Tomas Vic (aka Tomik) entered several high-scoring models into the competition and has added another to his excellent back-catalogue of alternate creations.

His latest is technically a ‘C-Model’, seeing as the 42106 set upon which it’s derived already has a B-Model, but we call all alternates ‘B-Models’ here at TLCB so we don’t end up with a list as non-sensical as Mercedes’ model range.

Tomik’s rather splendid aircraft looks good enough to be a Technic set in its own right, and uses the donor set’s Pull-Back Motor to simultaneously drive both the landing gear and the propellors.

Instructions for Tomik’s build are available and you can find a link to them along with the complete image gallery on both Flickr and at the Eurobricks forum. Click the links above to take off.

My Other Car’s a Helicopter

2 Replies

We’re nearly half way through TLCB Lock-Down B-Model Competition, where we’re looking for your awesome set alternates the could win you an incredible SBrick Pro Pack!

This is Tomik’s of Eurobricks entry, using the Technic 42075 First Responder set to create an alternate which unusually switches wheels for rotors, and includes one of the most ingenious hand-operated mechanisms we’ve seen yet!

Tomik’s ‘Pull-Back Helicopter’ uses the shock-absorber from 42075’s suspension to store energy from winding a gear, releasing it to simultaneously turn both the main and tail rotor. It’s a mighty clever use for the humble shock-absorber and it makes us think LEGO’s own Pull-Back efforts, derided upon their release here every year, are even weaker.

An opening cockpit is also included and there’s more to see of Tomik’s B-Model competition entry at the Eurobricks forum – click here link to see more – including a video of the ‘pull-back’ mechanism in action – and here to find out how to enter your own B-Model into the contest!

LEGO Technic 2020 | Set Previews!

6 Replies

And now, later than billed, it’s the all new 2020 Technic line-up! OK, we’re well into 2020 now (and have already previewed the new 42109 Top Gear Rally Car and 42110 Land Rover Defender sets), but one of our Elves got caught at The LEGO Company’s HQ and securing its release was harder than removing a U.S President from office. We wouldn’t have minded (we have lot of Elves) but it had some great intel…

42101 Buggy

This intel in fact, the new 42101 Buggy aimed at aged 7+ and featuring 117 pieces. 42101 looks like a modern reinterpretation of the classic (and awesome) 8818 Dune Buggy set from 1993. It’s not as good as the 1993 version obviously, which had a single-cylinder piston engine, but it does feature steering and rear suspension, making it a worthwhile entry point into the Technic range. Expect to pay around $12/£9 in stores.

…

42102 Mini Claas Xerion

The second entry point into the 2020 Technic range brings back the familiar green and red we’ve come to know from one of LEGO’s official partnerships. The original 42054 Claas Xerion 5000 set is – we think – one of the best Technic sets of all time, and the 130 piece 42102 set resembles a tiny (like, really really tiny) version of the 2017 flagship. Accurate decals, working steering, and a lawn mower thingy that rotates as the model is pushed along make the Mini Claas Xerion a neat set for ages 7+, and like the Technic Buggy above it’s available for pocket money. Good stuff.

…

42103 Dragster

Uh oh, the Pull-Backs. The Scrappy-Dos of Technic, we haven’t yet been impressed by any of these. However 2020 looks like it might be the exception, because we rather like this one! Featuring nothing but a pull-back motor (boo), the new 42103 Dragster set displays the usual extensive stickerage we’ve come to expect from these sets but it looks… well, really rather good. Aimed at ages 7+, 42103 includes 225 pieces, a ‘Christmas tree’ light, and a wheelie-bar. Could 2020 be the first year of decent pull-back sets?

…

42104 Race Truck 

No. Because back to form, here’s the 42104 Race Truck. With 227 pieces – all of which can be put to better use elsewhere – a plethora of stickers, and a pointless start/finish gantry thing, 42104 includes literally nothing that a Technic set should do. Oh, the bonnet opens, does that count? Next…

…

42105 Catamaran 

Breaking momentarily away from the Pull-Backs comes 42105, one of LEGO’s most unusual Technic sets ever, although perhaps 2016’s 42074 Racing Yacht proved there is a market for Technic sailing boats. With 404 parts including a pair of new two-piece hulls and those huge sails, 42105 features complete mechanical controls for the rudders, hydrofoils and sails and can be re-built into a more traditional powerboat should you wish to deploy those sail pieces elsewhere. It also floats(!), which immediately makes it cooler than any other set in this line-up (because who doesn’t like a good bath toy?). Aimed at ages 8+ expect to pay around $40/£35 for 42105, and for bath time to become much more interesting.

…

42106 Stunt Show

42106 pulls us back from bath time fun to, well… pull-back fun, but it could have good play value. Not much else mind. The 42106 Stunt Show includes three models in one; a pick-up truck, trailer/ramp, and a motorcycle, each looking fairly terrible despite the flame decals. The trailer features mechanically operated legs to turn it into a ramp and the truck includes steering, but that’s all. Which is nowhere near enough for a set costing $50/£45. Admittedly jumping the bike through the flaming hoop does look rather fun, but not $50 of fun, and we suspect even the Elves would tire of it quickly. We’ll be leaving this one on the shelf…

…

42108 Mobile Crane

The final set of H1 2020 is the largest of the line-up (not withstanding the officially licensed 42110 Land Rover Defender and 42109 Top Gear Rally Car sets revealed here at the end of 2019), the near 1,300 piece 42108 Mobile Crane. Forgive us for not being particularly excited by this one, because it does look like a reasonable set. It’s just that LEGO have released countless eight-wheel mobile cranes over the years and they’re all becoming much the same.

42108 does feature a wealth of mechanical operations, with eight-wheel steering, boom elevation, rotation and extension all via hand-powered mechanisms, a working winch with a ratchet to allow it to lift loads, and four functioning stabilisers. However despite the increase in detail that we’ve come to expect from modern Technic sets and enhanced realism thanks to a few well-judged decals, 42108 is an utterly unmemorable product. It’s also priced at around $95/£85 which – particularly as it includes no B-Model – is rather a lot.

We’ll go sailing on 42105 instead…

42058 Technic Stunt Bike | Review

4 Replies

LEGO 42058 Stunt Bike Review

Yes, it’s that Set Review you’ve all been waiting for; the 42058 Technic Stunt Bike! Ok, maybe not… But we have a copy, so we’re going to review it anyway, you lucky people!

Launched at the start of 2017 the Stunt Bike and its pull-back twin form the entry to the LEGO Technic line-up. Aimed at ages 7+ they’re colourful, cheap, and very playable.

The heart of 42058 and the part to which everything is attached is the pull-back motor, which powers the rear wheel via a set of gears. It works well enough and allows the bike to jump over the cardboard ramp that comes included in the set with ease, and thanks to the very un-motorcyle-like wheels it’ll stay upright nine times out of ten too (slightly less if you’re playing skittles with unsuspecting Elves).

Aside from the pull-back motor though, that’s your lot, as there are no other working functions at all. That might be OK if 42058 looked like a real motorcycle, but due to the need to stay upright when being propelled by the pull-back motor, that’s not possible.

This TLCB writer remembers when the Technic starter sets might have included a piston engine, steering, even suspension… but those days are long gone. It’s not LEGO’s fault of course, they’ll probably sell ten times more pull-back toys than a model with a fiddly and complicated-to-build piston engine, but this writer knows what he’d rather have…

Still, if you’re looking to start off in Technic building or you’re looking for a gift for a child ready to make the step up from City, Star Wars or Ninjago, you could do worse than the colourful and be-stickered 42058. You could also do a lot better.

42058 may include a ’40th Anniversary of Technic’ brick, but there are much better starter sets in those 40 years than this one. Head to eBay and take a look. 3/10

LEGO 42058 Stunt Bike Review

2018 Lego Technic Line-Up Preview!

5 Replies

The year that is 2017 is drawing to a close, and as is traditional in the final weeks of the year our Elves have been busy infiltrating The LEGO Group’s HQ. Armed with nothing more than their sharp teeth and ‘unique’ body odour, our mythical workforce have braved the cold of the air-conditioning ducts and the ferocity of the guard dogs (mostly) to bring you LEGO’s brand-new-for-2018 Technic line-up!

The surviving Elves are now safely back in TLCB Towers enjoying the fruits of their meal-tokens, whilst our experts have been evaluating their discoveries to bring you full technical details of each set. Let’s get started!

42071 – Dozer Compactor

Lego Technic 42071 Box

Kicking-off 2018’s LEGO Technic line-up is 42071, a rather attractive dozer of the type found in open-cast mines and landfill sites the world over. As has become increasingly common within the Technic range (and a theme you’ll see right through today’s reveal) visual detail is on the increase, and 42071 features a couple of System pieces as well as a wealth of stickers to ramp up the realism.

New solid wheels make an appearance – although we suspect these will have little use outside of the fairly narrow niche they occupy in the real world – and the model includes a few neat playable functions, including articulated steering and a height-adjustable blade courtesy of some hand-operating cogs mounted in front of the cab. A decent start to 2018.

42072 & 42073 – Whack! & Bash!

Lego 42073 Box

Which rapidly ends with these two…

‘Whack!’ and ‘Bash!’ are LEGO’s entry-level Technic sets for 2018, and as is customary they are pull-back motor powered, making them ideally suited for play at the lower end of the Technic age spectrum, and they should be pocket-money priced.

Lego 42072 Box

But why do they have to look so terrible!? Looking like nothing in particular Whack! and Bash! feature nothing more than an engine which inexplicably falls out upon impact. We’ll move on…

42074 – Racing Yacht

Lego Technic 42074 Yacht Review

…to the most unique Technic set that LEGO have launched in ages. The 42074 Racing Yacht is still at the lower-end of Technic age-range but has double the pieces of the starter sets above – including those two huge new sail parts which look brilliant for making Town-scale awnings with.

Being an un-powered vehicle 42074 cannot feature the usual engine and drivetrain combination you’d expect to find in a set of this size, and thus the Technic functions are a complete set of realistic controls for the main sail, including main sheets, a sliding kicker, and a wheel-controlled rudder. It’s a brave move in a market where engines dominate, and one we rather like. Pick it up in stores next year.

42075 – First Responder

Lego Technic 42075 First Responder Review

Back to engine-driven vehicles and we have 42075, a small off-road fire responder. Stickers and lights abound once again, and the set features some reasonable mechanical functions, including Hand-of-God steering, a hand-powered front winch, a piston engine (albeit only two cylinders), and (potentially) rear suspension. Aimed at ages 9+ we expect 42075 to be in the sweet spot for value and features, and it could be a good purchase when it’s released next year.

42076 – Hovercraft

Lego Technic 42076 box

And now things get weird… This is 42076, an odd vehicle-transporting hovercraft, complete with an equally-odd vehicle being transported.

LEGO have dabbled in hovercrafts occasionally over the years, but none seem to have recaptured the excellence of 1993’s 8824. 42076 also fails to manage it, being probably less than mini-figure scale and thoroughly strange in its execution. It does include some mechanical functions though, with a linear actuator operated ramp, turning fans at the rear, and a lowering control bridge. But it’s still weird.

42077 – Rally Car

Lego Technic 42077 Rally Car Review

This is more our bag. 42077 rekindles the mad Group B rally era with a colourful mid-engined rally rocket complete with a V4 (or larger) engine mounted behind the seats, Hand-of-God steering, and rear suspension. There’s some neat detailing too, with an internal roll cage depicted via red Technic axles, bright decals, and a front mounted light-bar.

Aimed at ages 10+ 42077 moves us towards the upper end of the Technic range and we suspect many adults will like it too thanks to a wealth of useful pieces. Expect to see 42077’s parts reappear in various MOCs during 2018…

42084 – Hook Loader

Lego Technic 42084 Box

We jump back to the start of the 2018 LEGO Technic line-up with this, 42084 Hook Loader. A sizeable gap in the set numbering system between the sets above and this suggests it was originally planned for release in the second half of 2018, but it’ll now be available from the start of next year.

176 pieces puts 42084 firmly in pocket-money territory, and in contrast the the pull-back monstrosities further up this page it’s a set we rather like. Working steering and a hand-operated hook-loading mechanism teach the basics of gears and levers at an early age, and the set doesn’t rely upon a plethora of stickers to achieve visual realism. It may be small, but 42084 looks to be a decent demonstration of what Technic building is all about.

… 

LEGO’s 2018 Technic sets create a reasonable if unremarkable line-up, with some nice variation in themes but a continued trend towards aesthetics over technical realism that we’re not particularly excited about. However LEGO know what they’re doing and they (mostly) get it right when it comes to creating products that will sell in big numbers, so although we may prefer good old fashioned technical functions the market probably says otherwise. Still, we probably won’t be reaching into our wallets for anything in the H1 2018 Technic range just yet, but there is one more set to come…

Visit The Lego Car Blog tomorrow for our take on the final LEGO Technic set to be revealed for 2018, and it might just get TLCB staff excited…

2017 LEGO Technic Preview!

9 Replies

Lego Technic 42066 Jet 2017

Yes it’s that time of year again, when a crack team of Elves ‘volunteer’ to be fired over the perimeter wall of The Lego Company’s HQ, tasked with bringing back the brand new Technic sets due for release next year. Elves that manage to successfully navigate the maze of air-conditioning ducts and dodge the guard dogs return as heroes, by which we mean they get fed, and we get to reveal LEGO’s newest Technic sets before they hit the shelves in the new year. On to the sets!

42066 – Air Race Jet

Pictured above, the LEGO Technic 42066 Air Race Jet puts the Technic line-up’s on/off relationship with aircraft back into the ‘on’ position. Clearly based on a well-known military aircraft, 42066 covers up its death-from-above intentions with some jazzy stickers, but they look passable if nothing more than that. The set features working elevators and tail rudders, folding landing gear, and an opening cockpit, and will sit in the middle of the 2017 Technic range when it’s launched early next year.

Lego Technic 42065 Tracked Racer RC

42065 – RC Tracked Racer

We have absolutely no idea what this is. None. Built purely for play value rather than a demonstration of technical engineering, 42065 does – admittedly – look like a hoot to drive with twin Medium motors and skid-steering. We’ll leave that to someone else though, as its aesthetics are about as appealing as the Elves that make up our workforce. Next.

Lego Technic 42062 Container Yard

42062 – Container Yard

This is more like it. 42062 is the first double-vehicle set of 2017, and it looks like a lovely way to introduce Technic to builders stepping up from City and other simpler themes. The neat articulated truck features working steering whilst the heavy-duty forklift includes rear-wheel-steering and a mechanically operable boom lift and grab. Good stuff.

Lego Technic 42060 Roadwork Crew

42060 – Roadwork Crew

2017’s other multi-vehicle set also sits towards the bottom of the Technic range and it too looks like a good introduction to more complex building. The truck features working steering and a tipping load bed, whilst the excavator includes a mechanically operable shovel. Both vehicles feature a few stickers and more visual detailing than Technic sets of old, and should be priced well within pocket-money ownership.

Lego Technic 42058 & 42059

42058 – Stunt Bike  &  42059 – Stunt Truck

Pull-back motors. Nothing else. Next…

Lego Technic 42057 Ultralight Helicopter

42057 – Ultralight Helicopter

An unusual vehicular streak seems to be running through the 2017 Technic line-up, as a second aircraft joins the range. The 42057 Ultralight Helicopter actually looks more like a gyrocopter to us, but as we assume both the main and tail rotors are connected to the inline two-cylinder engine 42057 is indeed technically a helicopter. More stickers abound and the tail fin steering, controlled via a hot rod style pitman arm, looks novel. Expect 42057 to be priced under $20 when it arrives in stores next year.

Lego Technic 42064 Ocean Explorer

42064 – Ocean Explorer

Things are starting to get really weird now. This attractive looking ship, complete with a helicopter and submersible, looks more like a City set rather than something from the Technic line. And it may as well be, as so far as we can tell it does nothing more than the equivalent City set would. If it wasn’t for the superb-looking BMW R 1200 GS Adventure set revealed here earlier in the month we’d be wondering what the hell’s happened…

Lego Technic 42061 Telehandler

42061 – Telehandler

Finally, some redemption. 42061 is a long way from being the best Technic set ever made, but it is probably the best non-licensed Technic set of the 2017 H1 line-up. All-wheel steering, a mechanically extending boom, and a tilting bucket all feature, and its simple construction should mean 42061 is reasonably priced too.

So there you have it, all nine 2017 Technic sets due to reach stores in the new year. Aside from some decent starter sets in 42060 and 42062 we’re somewhat underwhelmed, although there are three empty spaces in the 2017 range due to be filled later in the year. At least there’s that brilliant BMW…

2016 LEGO Technic Sets Preview

7 Replies

Lego Technic 42048 Go Kart

It’s that time of year again! A crack team of Elves was dispatched a couple of weeks ago into LEGO’s closely guarded HQ, and those successful at avoiding German shepherds have been returning to TLCB Towers over the past few days. We now have the complete range of Technic sets for the first half of 2016, so without further ado, we can bring you the brand new 2016 LEGO Technic line-up!

42048 Go Kart

An interesting colour choice for LEGO’s first 2016 set, and also one that sets the tone for 2016’s use of stickers; 42048 uses a lot of them. Underneath that be-stickered body is a model that we rather like, and one with some excellent proper Technic functions too. Working steering and a rear-wheel driven single-cylinder engine feature in 42048, which contains approximately 350 parts and will retail for an estimated price of £25/$30. A thumbs up from TLCB.

Lego Technic 42044 Display Team Jet

42044 Display Team Jet

On to the smallest set in the 2016 line-up; the circa-115 piece Display Team Jet. Again there are lots of stickers in evidence, but this time there’s not much substance underneath them. Retractable landing gear is the only working function here. Still, 42044 will be cheap at around $15. Next…

Lego Technic 42045 Hydroplane Racer

42045 Hydroplane Racer

There hasn’t been a Technic boat for some time (that we can remember anyway), so the 2016 Hydroplane Racer is a welcome return for anyone into water-borne vehicles. 42045 features even more stickers than its entry-level counterparts, although they do look rather nice to this reviewer’s eyes, and includes just under 200 pieces. Amongst these are a working straight-4 engine which is turned by a pair of hidden wheels underneath the bodywork. Expect 42045 to retail for around £15/$20 when it’s launched next year.

Lego Technic 42046 Getaway Racer Lego Technic 42047 Police Intercepter

42046 Getaway Racer & 42047 Police Intercepter

We’ve not much to say about LEGO’s new pull-back racers because, well – they look like this. More stickers and nothing else to see, although 42046 and 42047 can be combined to create something that is – somewhat unbelievably – even more hideous than the two individual models above. Each will have an RRP of £15/$20 and contain 170-ish pieces. Moving swiftly on…

Lego Technic 42049 Mine Loader

42049 Mine Loader

On to the bigger stuff… This peculiar looking device is a mining loader, built for travelling the subterranean roads in the world’s deep mines. 42049 contains nearly 500 pieces, including a huge turntable for central articulation, a two-cylinder engine (which seems rather small), and a manually controlled grasping clamp, meaning it has both adequate mechanical functionality and play value. Expect 42049 to cost around £30/$40 when it reaches stores early in 2016.

Lego Technic 42050 Drag Racer

42050 Drag Racer

If TLCB seems a little underwhelmed by LEGO’s 2016 Technic offerings so far it’s because, er… we are. But our mood changes a bit with this; the brilliant-looking 42050 Drag Racer! Designed to resemble the ‘Funny Car’ silhouette drag racers that light up the tarmac at strips across the U.S, 42050 is the most exciting mid-size Technic set to be launched in ages. With circa-650 pieces – including some lovely new blue panels – a huge working V8 engine, lifting bodywork and working steering, 42050 is something of a supercar-lite. There’s a traditional drag racer B-Model too, which is actually rather good itself. £60/$70 is our estimate, and this is one model we hope to add to our Set Review Library next year!

Lego Technic 42052 Heavy Lift Helicopter

42052 Heavy Lift Helicopter

The final set for 2016 sits at the top of the Technic tree; the 1,042 piece Heavy Lift Helicopter. Featuring Power Functions motorisation, co-axial rotors, a working winch and retractible landing gear, 42052 leads the 2016 range with functionality. The orange and white colour scheme looks rather nice we think, and is further enhanced with (you’ve guessed it) lots of stickerage. The new Heavy Lift Helicopter will reach stores in early 2016, with a heavy price to match; you’ll need to save up over £100/$120 to lift this set home.

Overall 2016 looks a bit of a mixed bag, much like 2015, but just like this year we can expect the really cool stuff to arrive in the second half of the year… did someone say ‘new supercar?’…

You can read our reviews of some of the sets in 2015 Technic line-up by visiting the Set Review Library – click here to see what our experts made of this year’s official LEGO Technic products.

A Clockwork Elf – 42034 Quad Bike – Set Review

Leave a reply

42034_Quad-Bike_01

What could be more fun than a hoard of The Lego Car Blog Elves, balanced on top of a careering vehicle, powered by a large, metal spring? For just £17.99 for 148 pieces from our local toy shop, we decided to find out!

Opening the box revealed two bags of Lego parts and a pull-back motor plus four tyres packed loose. As usual, the tyres rolled off under the TLCB office champagne cooler and had to be retrieved by a skinny Elf. The sticker sheet was also packed loose, resulting in the usual slight crumples (come on Lego put them in a bag with some cardboard!). Lastly, came the 60 page instruction book, which thankfully no longer features the terrifying, screaming child on its back cover. Why was he so angry?

60 pages of instructions, might seem a bit over the top but remember that this model is at the “fun” end of the Technic range and aimed at builders from 7 to 14 years old. That said, some of the steps did seem a bit small, such as adding two decorative bushes to the wheel axles in the final step. If you are ever in need of a mental challenge, go and build one of the big Technic sets from the early 1980s and you’ll be thankful for Lego’s modern day approach to instructions.

Disappointingly, there is no “B” model for this set. You can buy the other “Pull-Back” model in this year’s range (42033) and combine the two sets. However, that was too much of an investment for us as we weren’t sure if this model would survive the Elves “testing” regime for long enough to be re-combined.

Having distracted all 271 Elves in the office by giving them a Smartie to fight over, we started the build. The model starts with the chassis, in short rapid steps. By step 8, the pull-back motor is already fitted. For us, the motor was the exciting, interesting bit. How powerful would it be? How long would it last? How many Elves could we smush? Just 40 more pages and we’d be there…

The build continues in, what is now, traditional Technic style, strongly embedding the motor in a frame. Disappointingly there is no gearing in this model. It’s great introduction to Technic for younger builders but perhaps some gearing would have added to the educational value and interest? Maybe the motor wasn’t up to it? Just 35 more pages to go…

The decorative “engine” of this model is a two cylinder “V”. It’s neatly made from a 57585, 3 Branch Cross Axle and a pair of wheel hubs. The stickers start to come in at this point too. Applying them looked quite fiddly. We prefer to leave our pieces clean and ready for re-use in MOCs, so fortunately we skipped that part. The instructions now moved on to make the bodywork. Lego leave adding to wheels until the end of the build. How fast would our quad bike zoom?

Page 27 has a fiddly, combined axle and peg connection, with three things to go in. It’s a bit tricky and builders at the younger end of the age range will probably need a hand here. Page 30 adds an axle to the pull-back motor and the front axle too. It turns out the at the steering handle bars are just decorative. Perhaps a simple, friction based, steering could have added to the fun by allowing the quad bike to go in straight lines or in curves? It seemed quite hard to wind the motor up. Perhaps it would be easier once the wheels were on?

A few more steps, adding familiar Technic parts and panels (there were no exciting new components hidden in this build for the collector). Then it was time to add the wheels! Even though this model is aimed at younger builders, this took three whole pages of the instructions, which seemed a little excessive. The finished article is a nicely chunky, good looking, strong toy. It easily survived being dropped 30cm onto a table, thanks to its balloon tyres.

We loaded 13 and ¾ Elves onto the quad bike in the style of the White Helmets and started to wind up its motor. After four sets of easy 30cm pull backs, which stored a lot of energy in the spring, a ratchet cut in to stop it being over-wound and broken. The model easily covered the 6 metres across the TLCB executive sun deck, spraying Elves as it went. Fortunately it is light and has a strong front bumper built into it. Parents might want to guard some of their more delicate furniture.

To sum up. Value for money: perhaps not for the parts but you can buy this model online for a couple of pounds cheaper than we bought it in a shop. The palette is just black, yellow and grey, so the parts will easily combine with parts from your other Technic sets in MOCs. There are also two pairs of useful wheels, unlike the 42033 set. The model looks good, even without the stickers and is strong, fun and fast to play with. This is the model’s best point: it’s a fun introduction to the Technic style of building and a great toy to play with once it’s built.

42034_box1_na_1488x841

P.S. If you’re wondering what an Elf on a quad bike looks like, click this link.

Technic 42010 & 42011 Pull-Back Racers Preview

1 Reply
Lego 42010, New 2013

New for 2013; 42010

Lego 42011, New 2013 Technic

New for 2013; 42011

Two Elves returned together today, each holding one the new Technic sets for 2013 stolen from The LEGO Group’s dungeons. These two are the ‘starter’ sets, and major on robust fun rather than technical functions. As such they feature a new pull-back motor and, er… nothing else. But they do have some new parts and cool stickers, and will no doubt be a great introduction into the world of Technic for younger builders. 42010 and 42011 will join the LEGO Technic line-up in 2013, sitting at the bottom of the range. For details of the other 2013 Technic releases, search our ‘News’ category.