Tomahawker

I came back to this site today for the first time in a long time to read this review. It is easily the best I have read on this set. The quality and relevance of the photos to the text is marvelous. I wish this site had a way to "thumbs up" posts like this. Outstanding job @Clone OPatra.

To me, this set most closely resembles 8207 Dune Duster, which was the first Technic set I purchased. I really liked that set because the functionality and the looks were excellent for a set of that size. Like this set, it had the single shock absorber for the rear suspension, and it had working steering. It bested this set in that the steering wheel was linked to the steering mechanism (no need for HOG), and it had an actual seat that fit the Technic figures that were available at that time. Although the flagship Technic sets get bigger and more complex every year, I think it is a shame that the smaller sets seem to have regressed in looks and functionality compared to the sets from 25 years ago.

Agree 100%. While I think it is a cool video that will capture the attention of teens, this is totally misleading. I laughed at the part where the hand tools were unrolled and a couple of bags of Technic cross blocks were plopped down. Good luck using those to repair this after it falls 20 meters onto a concrete abutment!

Available for preorder on the US S@H website with delivery on 1-Aug. Price is $99.99

Excellent review as others have stated. In addition to your visit to the Harley Davidson dealership, I'm impressed with your efforts to decode all the easter eggs in the stickers. Well done!

Hmm, good catch. Thanks for pointing that out. Render or real life build, it is an incredibly convincing image.

I don't think it is a render, but I think a yellow/brown filter has been applied (IRL or in Photoshop) to turn the brick yellow waffles and the trans orange syrup into a "toastier" color.

What's the reason for the arrows showing the propellor rotation? That seems an obvious and unnecessary call out, unless there is some functionality linked to the prop rotation. Any thoughts?

Eric, thanks for the continued efforts on expanding Technicopedia. I appreciate that it must be a true labor of love, and I'm amazed you find the time with all the other projects you have going on. I noted one additional errata on the 2016 page. The first 4 links under the Parts section are pointing to your hard drive instead of the web site. Thanks again.

Thanks Paul for your very illuminating and honest review. I find it amusing to see these fawning reviews from the many “pretender” reviewers who received a free set from TLG. For myself, and I’m sure many true fans of Lego Technic, I only trust you and Jim to give honest, thorough, undistorted reviews of these flagship sets. It must be bitter medicine for TLG, who distributed so many review sets, to hear these negative comments, but it is also important that they understand that if they want to sell a premium product at a premium price, we will not accept mediocrity. The good news, as your review highlights, is there are several very promising sets that appear to offer great functionality, good looks, and fair pricing just a few months away. I eagerly await your reviews of 42053, 42054, and 42055.

Jim, Thanks again for another “ultimate” review. While the set may disappoint, the review does not. After reading this review and seeing Sariel’s video review, it is truly disappointing that the set doesn’t even come close to living up to the hype both from the speculation as well as Lego’s promotion. On the one hand I hope this set will be a success because I want Lego to take risks and expand the envelope of what a Technic set can be. On the other hand, I hope this set underachieves, because Lego needs to understand that when it comes to Technic, form should NOT trump function.

In the USA we call it a package tray.

In the close ups the new panels appear to have texture not seen in existing parts. To me this indicates that these are prototype parts, and TLG has not committed to the final color yet.

Extremely well executed MOC of a very unusual subject matter. Well done!

I have never used them, but minifigs.me is in the UK, and can create customized minifigures, including fully bespoke minifigs (if your budget will allow). http://minifigs.me/shop/premium-minifig-lego-based-on-a-photo-or-description/ Actually, the head you found looks pretty good to me. I would think it would be relatively simple to change the eye color. P.S. I do not work for and am not in any way affiliated with minifigs.me

21: 10 16: 6 26: 4 3: 3 28: 2 1: 1

An amazing contest! The number of entries is staggering. It was very hard to decide, and 20 points was not enough. Here are my votes: 3 : 1 5 : 1 7 : 1 12 : 1 18 : 1 20 : 1 21 : 1 26 : 3 29 : 1 31 : 3 34 : 1 35 : 2 46 : 2 50 : 1

Thanks. That's a little higher than I had hoped for, but it compares to the price and complexity of the 9397 Logging Truck. I guess I should be thankful that it is finally for sale in the US. I wonder if all the 1H-2014 and 2H-2014 Technic sets will appear at S@H on August 1st?

Did you happen to get the official prices for the 42024 and 42025?

If you have ever watched any of the documentary shows of the Lego decorating process, you'll see that they have to build special fixtures and an operator must place every brick to be printed on the fixture by hand. I imagine it is a costly process and only works well on parts that have a certain shape or where there are a fair number of the same part to be printed. This set is much like the 10194 Emerald Night in that regard.

Jim, thanks for this detailed and comprehensive review. The quality of your photography is stunning and makes me feel like I have the set in my hands. I’m a little ambivalent about the set itself. I like that Lego are pushing the envelope with more RC controlled vehicles, and I like that they are tying it to a real world piece of construction equipment, but I must admit that I’m growing weary of yet another loader, crane, excavator, or bulldozer. Also, I think the physical size is actually a detriment, as the model has grown so large that it is difficult to display or store on most shelving units or display cases. I’d much rather see the designers shrink the functionality to fit into something the size of the 8265, even if it means leaving out the working pistons. I’m also disappointed that they did not include the train controller so that the steering and speed could be (somewhat) proportionally controlled, especially since that is a feature of the servo that they have yet to utilize in an official set. For $250, I think it’s the kind of thing that would have pushed me over the top to purchase. As it stands, I will need to see this for at least a 20% discount before I consider purchasing, assuming this set is even released in North America. On that subject, I still don’t understand why the larger Spring Technic sets haven’t been released in the US. The Cargo Plane (42025) is a breath of fresh air and I think it will sell better than most Technic sets if only because it is something different. No one from Lego has been able to confirm a US release date, and at this point I just want to know if it’s coming or not. C’mon Lego, don’t forsake your best Technic customers!

I may not be a huge fan of Classic Space, but I am a HUGE fan of this review! I can’t say enough good things about the quality and care that is reflected in this review. It is top notch, from the beautiful photography and presentation of the build, to the well turned phrasing and attention to detail. It makes me wistful for the days when reviews of this quality were more frequent on Eurobricks. It’s a labor of love to produce a review with this much care and attention, and in a time when most reviewers have gone to YouTube to make a buck, it is sorely missed. I don’t understand why TLG doesn’t support and encourage more reviewers like Rufus. I can’t imagine a better way to motivate purchase of a set than a review like this. To that end, I’m also impressed with the set. As mentioned, I don’t have that childhood memory of Classic Space, but I can truly appreciate a set where it’s clear that so much care and attention has been invested by the designer. I had no intention of purchasing this set, but the quality of the design effort, as reflected by this review, has me reconsidering. Awesome set and even more awesome review. Thanks Rufus.

Thanks for the review. I was very interested in the App, but I don't own an iPad. Using the link shown, I went to the web page on my PC, and see that there is a web-browser version of this available. I tried it on my PC, and it seems to provide the same functionality as the iOS and Android apps. I was fairly impressed, as the animations for each step work even when you zoom in or rotate the model. I also noticed that once the model was open, I could disconnect from the Internet. This might be important for people that don't have a WiFi connection at home. I agree that for this model, the app is not that helpful for most AFOLs as the model assembly is pretty obvious from the instructions. It will be interesting to see if they expand this for larger or more complex models in the future.

Thanks for putting this together. The instructions look very good. I did notice that the last page of the inventory appears twice (pages 219-220).

Nice! Do you have any larger photos?