Tag Archives: Review

Technic 42228 McLaren MCL39 F1 Car | Set Preview

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TLCB have just reviewed a championship-winning Formula 1 car, and now we have another! This is the brand new LEGO Technic 42228 McLaren MCL39 F1 Car.

Like the Williams-Renault FW14B a quarter-century before it, the McLaren MCL39 won both the Constructors and Drivers World Championships (making Lando Norris a world champion), and with LEGO’s longstanding relationship with the British car maker and its race team, the arrival of 42228 was almost to be expected.

At 1:8 scale and with 1,675 pieces, 42228 is a hefty Technic set, with a price-tag to match, costing £189.99 / $229.99 / €209.99 when it arrives on March 1st ’26. For that sizeable outlay buyers will get working steering and pushrod suspension, a V6 engine and two-speed (boo) gearbox under a removable engine cover, and a functional drag-reduction-system (DRS) on the rear wing linked to the transmission’s top (aka ‘only other’) gear.

You also get a seriously large amount of stickers to recreate McLaren’s 2025 sponsors (even the dodgy crypto-currency ones), but not – and unlike the aforementioned Icons 10353 Williams FW14B set – staggered width tyres. Again. Come on LEGO, this is a $220 set.

Still, we suspect 42228 will be a hugely successful Technic set when it lands later this year, and further cements LEGO’s relationship with the pinnacle of motorsport and – for 2025 at least – the team at the top of it. Even with a two-speed gearbox and chronically lazy tyre sizing.

 

LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell | Review

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The Lego Car Blog Review Library is packed with over one-hundred LEGO sets, books, compatible products, and even a theme park. But it didn’t have moustache. Until now…

Yes today we’ve finally reviewed the magnificent championship-winning facial topiary of mini-figure Nigel Mansell. And the car that transported it; the wonderful Williams-Renault FW14B.

Constructed from 799 pieces and aimed at ages 18+ (more on that later), the Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B brings one of Formula 1’s most famous racing cars to the LEGO range as part of the expansive array of Formula 1 cars past and present released in 2025.

It also brings one of the best enhancements LEGO have made to their vehicle line up in, well… ever, because 10353 features new proper, staggered-width slicks. Hurrah! These are even correctly branded ‘Goodyear’, forming part of 10353’s superb set of accurate sponsors, with only the tobacco ones (this was the early ’90s) absent.

These sponsors are all stickers of course, with the few printed tiles reserved for livery duty, but it’s an F1 car, so that’s appropriate. Gloriously, the technical details of the Williams Racing FW14B are all brick-built – no sticker-based laziness here – and some are really quite intricate. Whilst others are really quite pointless…

Before we explain why, 10353 begins with a large black box we’re used to seeing for the adult ‘display’ sets, inside which are a number of bags, now paper rather than plastic (good job LEGO), the aforementioned stickers, and the instructions.

The latter include some reasonably complicated sub-assemblies, and a little Nigel Mansell mini-figure progresses along the bottom of the pages as you build to chart your progress (although sadly he’s in profile so his moustache is obscured). Another nice touch is that a few pages include a fact about either the real car, or explain what it is you’re recreating in brick-form, which is something we think could benefit many sets, not just the 18+ ones.

The working features of 10353 are limited to steering and a removable engine cover, this set is all about visual display. As evidenced by the fact the last bag of pieces is reserved solely for a display stand, whilst the first contains mini-figure Mansell and an iceberg upon which he can stand for some reason.

Frankly we’re not sure these add anything to the set, other than perhaps being the ’18+’ differentiator (whilst 10353 does feature some advanced techniques, it’s no more technical a build than many younger-rated sets), however the Williams-Renault FW14B itself is excellent.

Immensely detailed, 10353 includes enough greebly-grey pieces to keep even the Lego Space Community happy, with probably a dozen of these, plus the same number of bows and clips, completely alien to this TLCB Writer.

Many of these parts form the mighty Renault V10 engine, accessible once the engine cover is removed, but weirdly many more are hidden elsewhere in the model with no way to access them whatsoever. The only person who’ll see that detail is you during the build process, before you cover them up forever with blue and yellow bodywork.

We’re not quite sure why LEGO chose to add invisible internal detail to a model that’s designed to be put on a shelf, and for us both it – and the display stand and iceberg – are rather superfluous, inflating the price beyond where it needed to be. At £70 / $80, 10353 is far too expensive.

However the car is spectacular to behold, more delicate than most LEGO sets, and more visually detailed too. It’s also currently available for quite a bit less than the £70 / $80 launch price, which means that even if you – like us – feel the stand, iceberg, and invisible detailing are pointless costly additions, you can make the Williams Racing FW14B absolutely worth your investment.

★★★★½

The Great LEGO Puzzle Book | Review

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Things have been quiet here at TLCB Towers. Days have passed without us publishing anything, during which time the only sound in the office was the soft clicking together of bricks. And that’s because our friends at No Starch Press sent us a copy of their new book to review, and it’s a belter! This is The Great LEGO Puzzle Book by Jacob Berg.

An ingenious idea (that we’re amazed hasn’t surfaced until now), The Great LEGO Puzzle Book takes a handful of the most basic pieces that all LEGO fans are likely to own, and uses them to create over a hundred building puzzles.

Jacob begins The Great LEGO Puzzle Book with ‘2D to 3D’, with the challenge being to turn an image of pieces in profile into a real-life 3D stack. The challenges progress with increasing difficulty before moving on to more complex variations via ‘Complete the Cube’, ‘Master the Shadows’, ‘Third Shape Missing’, and lastly – our favourite – ‘Fill It!’, which is kinda like a brick-based version of that wild Japanese game show.

Each of the aforementioned chapters contains dozens of puzzles, solvable using the same basic LEGO pieces, and is seriously addictive. It’s also seriously accessible, and a great game to play with kids that teaches both building and orientation skills, with all of the solutions detailed in the book’s final chapter and a few hints given along the way.

Our copy of The Great LEGO Puzzle Book was in digital form, which was clear and easy to read, and with several physical copies of No Starch’s past titles on shelves here in the office we’re confident the printed version will be up to their usual high standard.

The Great LEGO Puzzle Book is rather unique (and captivating) addition the No Starch’s expansive LEGO book catalegue, deploying our favourite little plastic bricks to a whole new purpose. If you like sudoku, crosswords, brain puzzles, or Rubik’s Cubes (or you know someone that is), we can thoroughly recommended it

On sale in the No Starch Press store, The Great LEGO Puzzle Book is available now at $17 for printed and $14 for eBook versions, which is a bargain to keep yourself (or a partner, friend, or your children) wholesomely amused for hours.

★★★★★

Legoland Windsor | Review

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It’s review time here at The Lego Car Blog, but unusually we’re not reviewing a LEGO set, because we – and a few Elven stow-aways – took an exciting trip to the Legoland Windsor Resort!

First opening in 1996, Legoland Windsor is located just outside Windsor in the south east of England and is now the UK’s post popular theme park, with a huge 2.4 million people visiting per year. That’s even more than the original Legoland park in LEGO’s native Billund.

Comprising of several hotels, miniature golf, and the park itself across 150 acres, there is a lot going on, and we’re focussing on the park today.

Arrival by car is relatively easy, with the magic beginning at the roundabout just outside the entrance, which features a few life-size brick-built deer recreating those that inhabit the surrounding royal forest, and making it much more interesting than the faded road signs, garden centre sponsorship, and ‘We Clear Your Junk’ posters that usually adorn the UK’s junctions.

The magic ends in the carpark however, which features nothing LEGO-y whatsoever, unless you count painted concrete blocks. A missed opportunity.

Fear not though, because it restarts a short walk up the hill to the entrance, which not only includes some impressively large models, but a view across the whole park beneath it, Windsor Castle (the real one), and – on a clear day – the skyscrapers of London beyond.

This view is afforded by the park stretching across a plain below the entrance, which is accessed by either the Hill Train or a switchback walk. The train runs regularly and has lots of space for wheelchairs and buggies, and has been pulling itself up and down the hill for nearly thirty years.

Which brings us to a notable deficiency of the Legoland Windsor park… its age. Well, not its age per-say, but its upkeep.

Back in the early ’00s The LEGO Company was in deep financial trouble, and thus it sold its theme parks to Merlin Entertainments to raise capital, who have since (in Legoland Windsor’s case) done a tremendous job increasing visitor numbers. But a terrible one painting a decorating.

The Hill Train (the first thing most visitors will ride) is faded and rotting, and where it deposits you (the iconic Miniland brick-built world) is little better. There are new models here (as it has evolved alongside the cities it recreates), including a fantastic space shuttle that blasts off every so often, but most models have stood since 1996. Which means today they are looking very tired indeed. One advantage of the passage of time however is the landscaping, which was exceptional at the park’s creation and has matured wonderfully in the three decades since.

Anyway, on to the rides… Continue reading →

The LEGO Builder’s Handbook | Review

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We like books here at TLCB Towers and have a growing library of titles written by members of the LEGO Community, sharing their knowledge, techniques, and sometimes even building instructions with their fellow LEGO fans.

Cue our friends at No Starch Press, whose latest title ‘The LEGO Builder’s Handbook | Become a Master Builder’ was offered to us for review. But who better to review a book about becoming a Master Builder than someone who’s attained that status already! Thus said copy was dispatched to one of our TLCB Master MOCers, the immensely talented Kyle Wigboldly (aka Thirdwigg), for a vastly more qualified appraisal than our own. Over to Kyle!

…

In today’s internet centrick world, you can find any group to connect with that you need or want. We in the LEGO world can find any number of ways to connect with other builders just like us. We are constantly barraged with the specific LEGO interest sites, reviews, and purchasing options. So there is something refreshing for me about being presented with a book that may not fully connect with my specific build interest. Reading a LEGO book can be a nice way to slow down and wander along with where the author is leading you, rather than in the direction a nondescript algorithm (or TLCB Elf. Ed.) is pushing me. The LEGO Builder’s Handbook written by Deepak Shenoy is such a book to let me wander. The book was published in 2024 by No Starch Press, longtime publishing friends of the LEGO community.

The book is organized in three main parts; The Basics, Breaking Free of the Grid, and Computer Assisted Builds. While there are a number of pictures, renders, and examples, this is a text heavy book. Rather than showing lots of images of what others have built, the book focuses on teaching you how to build. It shows various ways you can expand your building techniques provided you have the parts needed. Though it is hard to define for whom this book is written.

The audience seems broad which is evident when you start with The Basics. As a LEGO builder who is squarely in the LEGO Technic area of building, this book is not directly for me. But the value started to be more clear when I started sharing the book with various children in my house and neighborhood. But ‘The LEGO Builder’s Handbook’ is not squarely directed to them as well. I found the book is at its best when experienced with a wide range of building skills. The book starts with learning the basics about building with system bricks; how do you make a strong wall, and how do you think about recreating a scale building with the correct propositions? There are skills that every good builder will need to learn to become a better one. Skills that the children in my life do not yet know. But working through the book together gave them some tools to get better. This section used building a large Empire State Building model as a throughline to demonstrate the skills being shared. I found this connection both practical and overwhelming. It was nice to see how the skills being taught could be applied to a large, and impressive building, but it was overwhelming because moving straight from learning about how to use overlapping brickwork to a three foot tall structure is a little bit of a leap.

The next section, Breaking Free of the Grid, had less of a practical/applicable gap. If you want to take your building from “thanks for showing me your creation” to “featured on The LEGO Car Blog,” working outside of the grid is the best next step a builder can make. It is in this chapter that both myself and the children in my life could connect on is the fascinating mathematical integration of the LEGO system. Stacking brick and plates, using brackets and sideways studded bricks, and half stud offset, continue to impress upon me the versatility of the LEGO system. This chapter of the book is extensive, and fascinating. A whole chapter is focused on the half stud offsets, and another on building with SNOT (studs not on top).

The final chapter, my favorite, is the chapter about angled building (so much math!) This chapter is accessible, but it is certainly not entry level. An experienced builder should be expected to know and use this information. A growing builder will need to develop into these areas, and this book gives you the tools and images to help you with this. This part of the book shines brightest.

Continue reading →

IDisplayIt LEGO Display Case | Review

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Here at The Lego Car Blog, we – somewhat unsurprisingly – love LEGO cars. And trucks. And motorbikes. Which means we own rather a lot of them.

It also means that the LEGO fans foe – dust – plagues TLCB Team, with our sets and creations all gradually turning grey unless we get a paintbrush out or the bristly attachment thingy on the vacuum-cleaner.

However even then our LEGO models still face a grave peril, what with there apparently being “a ridiculous number” of them, and further partner complaints such as “Our living room is not looking like a toy shop”. But that’s not our fault. LEGO models take up loads of space. Or do they?…

Cue Official LEGO Affiliate IDisplayIt, and their huge range of LEGO display cases. Constructed from 3mm clear acrylic, IDisplayIt’s cases are strong, beautifully machined, and – best of all – stackable, allowing models can be placed on top of one another so that you have space for even more! er, we mean they’re less likely to annoy long-suffering partners.

IDisplayIt sent us two of their cases to review, the Display Case for the LEGO 10295 Porsche 911 (which is also the perfect size for several other sets), and a copy of their Display Case for the LEGO 10321 Corvette, complete with a period-appropriate pre-applied vinyl background.

Each case arrived flat-packed in a well-protected envelope, and – as per rivals BOXXCO – with all six sides covered in a protective film which is immensely satisfying to peel off. Unlike the previously reviewed BOXXCO offering though, iDisplayIt’s design uses twistable plastic connectors to join the sides together, instead of machined aluminium blocks.

Whilst we appreciated the engineering of those metal cubes, iDisplayIt’s method offers a number of advantages, with the connectors being less visible (matching the transparency of the case panels), requiring no tools (an allen key is provided), and taking mere minutes to construct with half the number of screws. Seriously, we spent longer removing the protective film. Although we did really enjoy that.

IDisplayIt’s cases are also beautifully engineered, with a superbly printed background in the case of the Corvette, and with tolerances that LEGO themselves would be proud of. The result is that IDisplayIt’s cases make the LEGO models within them look absolutely fantastic, so much so – and we don’t give such scores away lightly – that they earn the maximum TLCB rating. Yes, they really are that good.

Order in the next few days (if you’re reading this at the time of publication) and IDisplayIt will guarantee Christmas delivery, or if you’re reading this a little later they’ll do their best (just let them know).

You can check out the full range of IDisplayIt’s LEGO Display Cases via the region-specific links below. We recommend you do.

IDisplayIt Stores;

United Kingdom | Europe | United States / Rest of World

★★★★★

The Worst LEGO Sets Reviewed by TLCB

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The LEGO Car Blog’s ‘Review Library‘ contains well over a hundred LEGO set, book, and third party LEGO-compatible product reviews. It also, with an average score of 7.8/10, shows that we generally rate LEGO sets rather highly. No surprises there.

However, whilst several LEGO sets have achieved a coveted 10/10 or 5 Star score, depending upon which rating system we remembered to use at the time, a few… haven’t.

So here they are, the worst LEGO sets we’ve reviewed to date. Although bear in mind we haven’t reviewed any of the abysmal Jack Stone or Galidor sets. And nor do we plan to…

8865 Test Car

Lego 8865

What, a Technic Supercar made this list? Well, two could have in fact, each earning a thoroughly mediocre score of 6/10, but this one’s more controversial.

The 8865 Test Car arrived in 1988, and brought bodywork – of sorts – to the ‘supercar’ chassis formula for the first time. Double wishbone suspension appeared front and rear, as did a V4 engine (still using the old square pistons) hooked up to a three-speed gearbox, some truly rubbish seats, and a plethora of LEGO’s early ‘interference fit’ black pins, which meant that once the Test Car was built, there really was no taking it apart again. Which kinda defeats the whole point of LEGO.

Our reviewer wasn’t overly impressed by the end result, and took his ire out in Review form, his fingers likely still stinging from trying to dismantle it.

8437 Sahara Blaster

Lego Technic 8437 Sahara Blaster

Fast forward a decade and – visually at least – LEGO could still get it just as wrong. This is the 8347 Sahara Blaster, “a sort-of dune buggy, Paris-Dakar type thing, but so loose was its affiliation with the real world vehicles on which it was apparently based in some markets LEGO called it the ‘Future Car’ to hide its inaccuracies”, to quote our reviewer.

It wasn’t just the looks though, as for some unfathomable reason LEGO decided to use their ‘Flex-System’ for the steering arms, which meant the steering broke constantly. It was also rubbish at actually steering, so when the 8437 was fitted with the neat slide-in 9V electric motor, it was incredible easy to crash. Which would break the steering again.

The Sahara Blaster was not a favourite, but it could’ve been worse – it could have been that awful B-Model. Or our next set…

8432 Red Hot Machine

Lego Technic 8432 Review

A year later and LEGO were still flex-tubing mad, with almost every set from 1998 sporting it one way or another. The 8432 Red Hot Machine probably wore this new look the best, looking sleek, futuristic, and enticingly modern with the inclusion of a ‘CD-ROM Game’.

It also included, alongside poor steering and even poorer suspension, some very funky looking new parts – just look at those wheels! Except – despite appearing on a range of 1998 Technic sets – they were never to be seen again. And nor it seems, was the ‘CD-ROM’ game, which doesn’t exist anywhere on the internet.

Everything exists on the internet, but the Red Hot Machine’s game? Nope. Gone. Which probably tells you all you need to know about it. 5/10, and one of LEGO’s darkest years.

42058 Stunt Bike

LEGO 42058 Stunt Bike Review

There was a time when Technic ‘Starter’ sets included everything the big sets did. Steering, piston engines, suspension… all gone by 2017.

What we got instead was a pull-back motor, a cardboard ramp, and a ’40th Anniversary of Technic’ brick. And the single worst motorcycle ever conceived.

The Technic 42058 Stunk Bike achieved the lowest score of any set in the Review Library, earning just a 3/10.

However 42058 is still a LEGO set. And that means it can be taken apart to be turned into something altogether better than the model on the front of the box.

Thus, even a bad LEGO set, remains a thoroughly excellent toy.

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You can find all the LEGO sets reviewed here at The Lego Car Blog – both good and bad (although none are really that bad) – in the Review Library, and if you think we’ve missed a set that should be included, do let us know, especially if you think you own a set worse than 42058. Just as long as it’s not Galidor.

The LEGO Lighting Book | Review

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LEGO and lighting have been wired together for decades. From early 4.5V lighting sets, via the 12V and 9V eras, to the latest LEGO LEDs, a huge range of sets have been enhanced by the addition of light over the years.

Of course it took third-party companies about five minutes to figure out that for a niche group of builders, there was demand to go well beyond LEGO’s own lighting offerings. Cue Game of Bricks, Lightailing and others, who have created some fantastically intricate, fully programmable lighting products designed to bring official LEGO sets to life.

But building with LEGO isn’t just about official sets. The best models are those designed and built uniquely, using scale, techniques, and themes that could never be packaged into what is at heart a children’s toy.

These are the models we publish here of course, many of which have an even greater potential to be brought to twinkly life by in-built illumination. Now Brickworld Coordinator Brian M. Williams and the excellent No Starch Press can show you how. This is The Lego Lighting Book.

Available in digital download or hardback, The LEGO Lighting Book is the latest in No Starch Press’ ever-expanding catalogue of brick-based titles. Combining LEGO history, step-by-step building instructions, example images, and a few not-quite-purist approaches to wiring lighting into LEGO bricks, Brian M. Williams’ runs to around 180 pages, with production and printing as lovely as we have come to expect from No Starch Press publications. That said, it is worth noting that whilst most images are super sharp, a few look like they were taken in the dark on a camera phone in 2009. Probably because they were.

The book begins with a brief background to lighting at Lego shows, and a history of LEGO’s own range of lighting components, before moving on to applications, step-by-step instructions, and – interestingly – a bit more physics and electronics than we were expecting.

Whilst rather detailed, the author makes good use of imagery, layout and white space to ensure The LEGO Lighting Book is easy to follow and engaging, exemplified by high quality building instructions that both demonstrate how to build – and then illuminate – example creations, and also create brick-built electronics components, which is something of a niche within a niche.

Not all of the instructional builds will be suitable for everyone however, with the steps of a few involving ‘double-sided tape’, ‘soldering’, and one beginning with “drill holes to create a path for the wires”…

Continue reading →

BOXXCO LEGO Display Case | Review

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Displaying LEGO sets. Or creations for that matter. Part of the appeal of LEGO vehicles is that, once complete, they can look rather awesome on a shelf. LEGO themselves have recognised this, releasing ever more intricate (and expensive) sets, many with the express aim of being a ‘display piece’. The “Adults Welcome” advertising tagline isn’t for nothing you know.

However, displaying a LEGO model isn’t without faff. Particularly for those responsible for dusting. But what if there was a way to display a LEGO set, or a custom creation, in a crystal clear case, sized perfectly and exactly for the model within it, just like a frame for a picture…

Enter display case specialists BOXXCO, and their brand new officially-LEGO-affiliated range.

Constructed from premium acrylic (which is both recycled and recyclable), BOXXCO’s range of display cases encompasses over 150 LEGO sets at the time of writing, from Technic cars to Harry Potter, and everything in-between. Better yet, cases can also be specified to bespoke dimensions, so if you own a LEGO set not yet catered for, you can create a case to fit it. Or – as we did – you can design the perfect case for your own creation.

Designing a custom case is the work of but a moment via the BOXXCO website; simply input the dimensions of your model (plus a bit), choose your background and base type, and BOXXCO will machine a unique display case accordingly.

Ours – a suitably enormous case for an enormous vehicle – arrived promptly, well packaged, and with each of the five clear acrylic sides covered with a peelable protective film. If you’re the kind of person that revels in peeling the protection from the screen of a new phone, the act of removing BOXXCO’s film is worth the price of admission alone.

Once (satisfyingly) removed, you’re left with five clear panels, a black base, and a few little bags of beautifully machined metal blocks and screws. Read on to find out how we got on with assembly, and what we put inside…*

Continue reading →

It’s Quiet. Too Quiet…

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Lego Set Review Library

The Lego Car Blog has been quieter than a Date Night at The Brothers Brick of late. We could blame the TLCB Elves of course (we normally do), but to be fair to them they do have a strict criteria to adhere to, particularly egregious failures of which are enforced by way of ejection from the building by the office catapult.

So whilst we wait for a blogworthy creation, there are a few places you can head to here at TLCB for your Lego car fix. And that continue to bring us advertising revenue to keep the Executive Washroom and Sauna operational…

The Review Library contains every LEGO set, movie, book, and third-party compatible product that we have ever reviewed.

There are over one hundred reviews in all, from classic Technic sets to the latest officially-licensed Creator products, and you can find them all via the link below.

Visit the Review Library here

Lego Microphone

The online Lego Community is a wonderfully varied place, where builders of all nationalities, ethnicities, and specialisms can create and share their brick-based talents. Here at The Lego Car Blog we love to showcase the very best vehicular models the community has to offer.

Occasionally this extends to the builders behind them too, so that you (and we) can learn from the masters.

TLCB Interviews Page contains dozens of interviews with the best Lego builders in the world, including those that have seen their models turned into official LEGO sets, become published authors, and even paid professional model-makers. Find out how they’ve done it via the link below.

Visit the Interviews Page here

Finally, if you’d like to find a particular LEGO set, vehicle brand or model, you can do just that via the ‘Looking for Something’ search function that is available on every page. Wondering if a Citroen Mehari, Trabant 601, Pontiac Aztek, or other automotive oddity has appeared here, then use the search function to navigate TLCB Archives! Cool cars are available too of course…

So there you have it, some stuff to do whilst we wait for a blogworthy build. Of course if you’d like to help us out you can suggestion a creation our Elves have missed via the Feedback or Contact Us pages. Make sure you take a look at the Submission Guidelines first to check eligibility, and drop us a note!

Suggest a Creation here

BuWizz 3.0 Pro & BuWizz Motor | Review

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Regular visitors to this smoking hole in the ground will have seen countless creations featured with the word ‘BuWizz’ included in the description. Over the last half decade the third-party bluetooth battery has brought remote control to thousands of Lego models, delivering levels of power previously impossible.

Our four star review of the BuWizz 2.0 back in 2018 highly commended the product for ease of use and – as we’re children – the enormous power it could deliver, whilst recognising a few areas for development.

Now, four years on, we have the BuWizz 3.0 Pro (and a pair of BuWizz Motors) to see how the BuWizz team have spent their last couple of years…

BuWizz 3.0 Pro

Our BuWizz 3.0 Pro arrived in a professional looking box, inside which was the bluetooth battery brick itself, a slim instruction booklet, and a USB-C charge cable. Points already awarded for progress, as the BuWizz 2.0 included no such cable to enable charging.

The booklet amounts to only two pieces of information; charging, and the app. Charging is simple, just plug in the cable, watch the lights blink, and come back later. The app too, is an ease. Replacing the original BuWizz app (which now becomes a ‘legacy’ one), we quickly found our device, completed a required firmware update (super easy, barely an inconvenience) and began building a controller.

There are plenty of pre-loaded controllers, but BuWizz now allows you to create your own customised controller – something that was lacking from the software when we reviewed the 2.0 several years ago – bringing it bang in line with its chief rival SBrick.

The new BuWizz 3.0 allows control of up to four Powered Up motors (or sensors) and two Power Functions (or old 9V) motors, all of which are powered by the in-built high-performance Li-Po battery, and each of which can be measured via the on-board current sensors and identified by individual port RGB LEDs – clever stuff.

Quality is excellent, with the plastic feeling perhaps slightly shinier than an official LEGO item, but otherwise its equal, and a good step up over the 2.0. Where the 3.0 Pro really scores though, is in its programmability.

A giant leap forward compared to the 2.0, the 3.0 now offers not just immense power, but programable power, and – as per the famous tyre slogan – ‘Power is Nothing Without Control’.

A range of sliders, buttons, joysticks, and even a tilt function (so you can use your phone’s own accelerometer) can be created, assigned to ports, and labelled, plus there are now a suite of gauges available too, including g-meters and voltage. This makes the BuWizz 3.0 and ideal tool not just for creating custom motorised Lego creations, but to learn (or teach) robotics and programming too.

BuWizz Motor

We attached two BuWizz Motors to the Power Functions ports of our BuWizz 3.0 Pro for our test, and they are mega.

Comparable with LEGO’s own discontinued Buggy Motor, the BuWizz Motor matches the dimensions, weight, and connections of LEGO’s most powerful ever motor, but brings 20% more power (and at a higher RPM), with nominal gains in torque and efficiency too.

Like the 3.0 Pro, quality is excellent. Soldering is visible through the motor cooling vents (which – although these are larger than the official LEGO item – we suspect LEGO wouldn’t countenance), but nevertheless this is a top quality item, well moulded, and robustly assembled. BuWizz back this up with a 2 Year guarantee, which is double LEGO’s standard warranty for electrics.

Our motors delivered prodigious power, now easily controlled via the BuWizz app, which meant only a few TLCB Elves were run over during testing (and – if we’re honest – some of them may have been on purpose). With the old BuWizz system all the power but none of the finesse meant almost anything within sight was a potential accident.

A PF-compatible cable is integrated into the BuWizz Motor too, so it can be powered and controlled by an official LEGO system (likewise the BuWizz 3.0 Pro can power and control an official LEGO motor also), but to really take advantage of the most powerful LEGO-compatible motor on the market, you can’t beat BuWizz’s programmable control with ‘Ludicrous Mode’…

Verdict

And that’s where the BuWizz ecosystem really excels. Always the place to go for the most power, BuWizz have not only improved their core bluetooth battery with even more power, up to 100m range, and increased ports – in doing so producing the only product on the market able to control Powered Up and Power Functions simultaneously – the BuWizz app now enables all of that to be programmed and customised without a computer and without programming skills.

Whether creating a simple skid-steer rig as we did, or a complex multi-motor, multi-sensor creation, the BuWizz 3.0 Pro (and the accompanying motors if you so choose) are the best thing to happen LEGO since the invention the brick. Maximum score.

★★★★★

Take a look at the BuWizz 3.0 Pro & BuWizz Motor here

Lightailing Light Starter Kit | Review

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It’s Christmas, the time of family, giving, food, and – most importantly, if this TLCB writer’s better half is to be believed – twinkly lights.

An industry devoted to lighting up LEGO sets has boomed in recent times, with many lighting kits for official LEGO sets already reviewed here at The Lego Car Blog.

But good as some of these kits are, what lights us up is builders designing their own creations. It’s what LEGO is all about, and yet there hasn’t been a product allowing builders to easily light up their own vehicular designs. So we asked LEGO lighting specialists Lightailing to make one…

This is what they sent us, the Lightailing Light Starter Kit, containing a power source (USB or coin-cell batteries), two expansion boards, connecting cables, and two bright white LEDs, two red LEDs, and a white self-adhesive strip light, all neatly packaged using the components readily available from Lightailing’s other kits.

So is the Lightailing Light Starter Kit any good, and what creation did we light up? Read on to find out! Continue reading →

BriksMax Light Kit (42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger)

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The LEGO Technic 42111 Fast & Furious Dom’s Dodge Charger set received a rather good review here at TLCB when we got our hands on it. Certainly a better one than movies did. But, like those awful awful movies, could there be sequel; one that’s even faster and furiouser?

Well no, neither of those adjectives. But we do have a 42111 sequel that’s more sparkly.

That’s because we’ve outfitted our 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger set with an array of LED lights courtesy of suppliers Lightailing, who have a huge range of LEGO compatible light kits available for sets including Creator, Modular Buildings, Star Wars, Harry Potter, City, and – as here – Technic.

Our 42111-compatible kit is produced by BriksMax, and it came in a neat box containing an instructions booklet, a 1 Year warranty card, a remote control, a battery box, and an alarming number of resealable bags.

Said bags were numbered and described, corresponding to the relevant point in the instructions denoting when to open each one. Inside each was a well-coiled set of wires, tiny circuit boards, sticky pads, or a combination of these.

So is adding the BriksMax light kit to your 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger set fun? Absolutely not. Fiddly – yes. Fun – no.

Despite the instructions being reasonable, the installation process is effectively threading needle around two hundred times. It makes us wonder if these LED lighting kit companies could design a little attachment that clips into Technic holes and holds the wire, removing the need to endlessly thread LEDs through Technic beams and making the instructions simpler to boot (you can have that recommendation for free Lighting People!)

The process is made harder by the wires being black and in this case the model being black too, although the BriksMax kit does sometimes differentiate between wire types via coloured band, plus each LED has the bag no. printed on its reverse, which is a thoughtful touch.

Only a few parts of the set need to be disassembled to install the LEDs, and only two pieces are replaced (the front indicator bricks switching from tiles to studs to give more room for the LED inside).

Overall though, the installation process is not fun one bit. However, the end result is, well… fantastic. Continue reading →

The Best LEGO Sets Reviewed by TLCB

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The Lego Car Blog has many interesting pages away from the main page. Ok, that’s not true. The Lego Car Blog has some interesting pages away from the main page. One of them is the Review Library, which – according to the wizards over at Brick Insights – now contains 108 reviews. Some of which are even written by you guys.

Nearly three quarters of the reviews in the Review Library are scored (we probably forgot the rest), with the average score being 7.8/10, which probably makes sense as LEGO sets are usually rather good and we tend to review sets we like (although not always). Technic is the most popular theme, with sixty-six sets reviewed so far, and fifteen sets have received a score above 9/10 (or 5 stars) so far, versus sixteen sets with a score of below 6.

So, with over a hundred reviews now published, which LEGO sets have earned a much coveted perfect score here at The Lego Car Blog? Read on to find out! Continue reading →

Technic 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger | Review

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The ‘Fast & Furious’ movies are – for the most part – total garbage. With characters coming back from the dead (twice), long lost family members loosely enabling plot continuation (twice), and bad guys turning good just to keep them in the franchise (three times by our count), the plots could have been written by TLCB Elves.

But, like the internet’s most popular video category, no one is watching a Fast & Furious movie for the plot. They’re watching for the cars. And maybe Vin Diesel’s giant shiny head. In doing so making ‘Fast & Furious’ the most profitable movie franchise ever.

Thus LEGO have joined the ‘Fast & Furious’ party, and have brought one of the franchise’s star cars to life in Technic form. This is the Technic 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger set, supplied to us here at TLCB by online shop Zavvi, and it’s time for a review…

First a shout out to our suppliers Zavvi, whose delivery was prompt, communication good, and the 42111 box was massively well protected inside, well… a bigger box. If you’re the kind of person who likes to keep the boxes for your sets (ours just go in the recycling), that’s a bonus.

LEGO have realised this too, removing the sticky circles that hold the ends shut (but that rip the artwork when opened), and fitting a cereal-box style closable tab so it can stay closed.

Inside 42111’s box are five numbered bags, bagged instructions and stickers (which helps to keep them protected too), and 1,077 parts. Many of these are weird and new, at least to this reviewer (if not the set), and continue LEGO’s approach of using every colour ever. However, like numerous ‘Fast & Furious’ characters, we’re going to do a complete 180 and say that it, well… works.

Building 42111 is fun and straight-forward, with the multitude of colours making it easy to find the parts required. The colours are thoughtfully chosen too, enabling quick identification and actually changing in some cases as the build progresses depending upon which similar pieces they shared a bag with. They’re all fairly well hidden by the end too, so there’s no ‘rainbow’ misery here.

The build can also be commended for creating a fully working rolling chassis by the mid-point, which makes it much more interesting than only adding the wheels at the end.

As has been the case for a while now though, the instructions can be very simple, at times adding just one piece per step. That said, there are a lot of orientation changes, which you have to watch out for so you don’t install something upside down. Not that this Reviewer did that. He’s a professional.

After a few hours of happy parts selection and spot-the-difference, you’ll have a nicely sized Technic recreation of the early ’70s Dodge Charger – modified ‘Fast & Furious’ style with a giant supercharger and NO2 tanks – complete with a working V8 engine, steering, all-wheel suspension, opening doors, hood and trunk, and a bizarre party trick. Continue reading →