[REVIEW] 42096 - Porsche 911 RSR

[Jim]

REVIEW - 42096 - PORSCHE 911 RSR

INTRODUCTION
Not too long ago, 2016 to be precise, I wrote a review about a big orange Technic Porsche. Only 2,5 years later a new Porsche is added to the Technic range! This new Porsche 911 RSR uses the same wheel arches as the 42056, but slightly smaller tires. It's hard to qualify the exact scale, but for roughly half the price, we can expect less detail than the previous one. At first glance I am very happy with the looks and especially the color scheme. Looking at the name of the set, the color scheme wasn't a surprise, since this is how the actual model looks like. That diffuser means serious business.

Edit: The wheel arches are a different size than the ones we already know. They are two studs shorter. Thanks to @LvdH for pointing it out. 

This review might be less detailed than usual, but time was limited. Sorry about that. I do hope you enjoy it anyway! 

PICTURES
Pictures can be clicked to view hi-res versions. More pictures can be found in my Flickr album.

DISCLAIMER
This set has been provided by the CEE Team of TLG. It's not my goal to promote this set. It's my goal to give you an honest opinion about it. Therefore, the opinion in this review is my own and is in no way linked to TLG.

SET INFORMATION
Number: 42096
Title: Porsche 911 RSR
Theme: Technic
Released: 2019
Part Count: 1580
Box Weight: 2266 gram
Box Dimensions: 47,7 cm x 37,2 cm x 9,0 cm
Set Price (RRP): € 149,99
Price per Part: € 0,095
Links: Brickset, Bricklink

THE BOX

CONTENTS OF THE BOX
The box contains:

• 1x Sealed booklet
• 2x Sticker sheet
• 4x Tires
• 13x Unnumbered bag

BOOKLET

STICKER SHEETS
Two sticker sheets, with loooooots of stickers. There is even a completely white sticker, without a print. Seriously?!

 

TIRES

BAGS

        

   

HIGHLIGHTED PARTS

WHEEL ARCHES
Okay, let's get the big black-red-grey-white elephant out of the room. If you know a bit about TLG's sticker policy you will know that TLG avoids applying stickers to curved surfaces. And by curved I mean curved in multiple directions. So, it wasn't (or rather should not have been) a surprise that the wheel arches are printed. But man o man....are you kidding me?! These look like stickers I applied after a couple of brewskies....several brewskies....lots of brewskies! I totally understand the difficulty of printing these parts, but I expect more from a company claiming that only the best is good enough. Two thumbs down for these arches.

These wheel arches are slightly smaller than the ones on the 42056 by the way. I somehow missed this when I was building the model and writing the review 

CANOPY
Clever use of the Windscreen 6 x 4 x 2 1/3 Bubble Canopy with Handle.

7 x 3 CURVED PANEL
I almost missed this one, but it's the first time we get this one in white. 

3 x 13 CURVED PANEL
Thank you TLG for finally providing this part in white!

BANANA GEARS
We have seen these 11x11 Curved Racks in the Rough Terrain crane, but they are cleverly used in this set too. 

PINS AND CONNECTORS
Not all of these connectors are new, but the Pin with Ball Joint has never been released in red. And the Pin with Pin Hole has never been released in white before. And the Axle with Pin Hole has never been released in black before. 

PART LIST
The part list for all of the 1580 parts.

 

THE BUILD
Unsurprisingly, we start building the chassis, with the rear suspension.

Here's the front suspension with steering rack.

The chassis with front and rear suspension.

The single seat and steering wheel have been added. The water-cooled six cylinder 4.0 liter boxer with 510 hp (375 kW) has been placed behind the driver's seat.

Wheel arches and doors have been added. The car is taking shape.

Yes, there is a sticker with track information applied to the inner side of the door. In case you get lost hehe.

The front of the car looks spectacular. I love the usage of the "banana gears" and curved panels. I also like the canopy parts. I know they make the car look like a frog, but I still like ' em. They work for me.

Like the front, the rear of the car looks stunning too. I absolutely love that big bad-ass diffuser. The hoses and panels complete the package, along with the big spoiler. Thumbs up for the rear.

These are the left-over parts.

COMPLETED MODEL
We proudly present the Frog 911 RSR. I'm just joking, because I absolutely love the looks on this car. The color scheme is spot on. Maybe it's because I am working on a Mindstorms project with the same color scheme

The gap behind the front wheel is actually present on the real car as well, so it's by design.

Obligatory picture of the chassis.

Isn't she a beauty?! I love this shot.

What I don't like is the abundance of white stickers. And by white, I mean actually white. The color of the stickers don't match the white on the panels, at all. A very simple solution would have been to print the stickers off-white, instead of pure white. Printing the stickers in pure white even resulted in the need to apply a totally white sticker to one of the roof panels. A white sticker to match the other roof stickers, otherwise the color difference would have been even more obvious. I can't get my head around this approach, because a very simple solution seems to be available. Another approach would be transparent stickers, but I haven't seen those in a while.

The doors and the engine cover open up. Combined with fake engine, steering and suspension, that pretty much sums up the functionality in this car. There is no HoG (Hand of God) steering, which is a huge let down for me. I can imagine the people at Porsche had a say in this. Makes you wonder whether the licensed approach, over proper functions, is the right path for TLG to take.

The wind shield wiper is fixed in place by the way. 

The side view shows that the wheels are slightly too small for the car. Or the wheel arches are slightly too big hehe. The size of the wheels just doesn't feel right. Of course, there is limited choice in wheels, so I understand this choice. No biggie.

All things considered, the car is eye candy!

A final view of the rear, because this is most likely the part of the car that you will see most, unless you are a really good racing driver

COMPARISON WITH 42056
This review would not be complete without a comparison with the 42056 - Porsche GT3 RS.

When you are building this model, you get the feeling that you are building more or less the same scale, maybe because of the wheel arches. But looking at the comparison images it is clear that this model is indeed a different scale. This obviously explains the lower part count and price.

Both fronts have that distinctive Porsche look. I like the canopy style headlights.

This picture from the rear clearly shows the difference in scale. The orange one has a much bigger ass I do think the RSR's rear design is much cooler than the RS3's. I know it's not fair to compare a street-legal car with a circuit racer. I would love to see someone give a go at an RSR version in the same scale as the 42056. Actually, I am surprised I haven't seen one made by @JunkstyleGio in LDD yet, but I might have missed it

B-MODEL
Like the previous Porsche, there is no official B-model for this car. I'm sure some fan made B-models will pop-up.

SUMMARY
To be honest; I am torn between two opinions. My first opinion is that this is a stunningly beautiful car. I absolutely love the color scheme and looks on this baby. I can't stop looking at it and it looks so much cooler than the 42056.

My second opinion is that the printed panels and stickers look horrible. This may sound confusing, because I just said it looks stunning. Well, it looks stunning from a distance, in a cupboard or something. You can see a lot of flaws from close by. The lack of HoG steering is also a bit let down for me. Basically, there is zero playability, so yet another display piece. The 42039 had some simple functions, which made the car fun to play with. 

Like the 42056, this is just another display model. A display model depending on lots of stickers. Would I recommend it?! You bet  I would. Why? Because it's reasonably priced and I can't stop looking at it. I will probably get a second copy and have a go at a Porsche 911 EV3

PROS

• Color scheme
• Stunning looks
• Price (you can get a big Porsche for a reasonable price)

CONS

• No hand of God steering
• No playability whatsoever
• Awfully printed wheel arches
• White stickers too white
• Too much stickers

SCORE

How do I rate this set?

9 DESIGN

I love the design and color scheme.

7 BUILDING EXPERIENCE
 
Plain build. No interesting functions. 

6 FEATURES
 
 Which features?!

6 PLAYABILITY
 
Push the car back and forth. Hard to steer.

7 PARTS
 
Finally, white wheel arches! Oh wait...they are printed...badly.

8 VALUE FOR MONEY
 
You get a cool Porsche for a reasonable price.

7,2 GREAT LOOKING DISPLAY PIECE...FROM A DISTANCE

FINAL WORDS
Thanks you for reading this review. All pictures can be found here.

[Jim]

One thing I completely missed, is that these wheel arches are a different size than the 42056.

[Vectormatic]

Cool review jim and the model is juat what i want, a more bad megablocks looking cheaper porsche

 

Regarding the wheels, since it has the same arches, do the 42056 wheels fit, and do they look better size wise?

[Rudivdk]

Just now, vectormatic said:

Regarding the wheels, since it has the same arches, do the 42056 wheels fit, and do they look better size wise?

Arches are smaller than 42056 (2studs shorter overall), and current wheels already touch the edges when you compress the suspension (check out review vid by @Sariel). So bigger wheels won't fit without compromises.

By the way, nice review as always @Jim! Still on the fence about this set, nice parts pack but a bit bland as a set, although it looks the deal. Will probably end up getting one anyway

Edited December 16, 2018 by Rudivdk

[Jim]

5 minutes ago, vectormatic said:

Cool review jim and the model is juat what i want, a more bad megablocks looking cheaper porsche

Regarding the wheels, since it has the same arches, do the 42056 wheels fit, and do they look better size wise?

I just corrected the review. The wheel arches are slightly smaller. I somehow overlooked this. It does explain why the wheels aren't way too small 

1 minute ago, Rudivdk said:

By the way, nice review as always @Jim! Still on the fence about this set, nice parts pack but a bit bland as a set, although it looks the deal. Will probably end up getting one anyway

It's difficult....because this set basically is yet another display piece. But it does look nice, and the price is right. Especially when you get a discount in the future.

[Vectormatic]

Lol, i remembered the arches being smaller from the official pics but figured, who am i to question jim?

I wonder if extra stiff shocks are in order for a racecar like this, sinxe this just uses the generic 42039/77 suspension platform, some modding might be appropriate

[Jim]

Just now, vectormatic said:

Lol, i remembered the arches being smaller from the official pics but figured, who am i to question jim?

I have not been following the topics closely, because I have had some very busy months. And it never crossed my mind that they are a different size. Like I said, it does explain why the wheels are only slightly too small.

You can always question me  

[MajklSpajkl]

Thank you Jim for another in depth review with great photos! Saddly, this set leaves me totaly blank and is an easy skip for me. My wallet says thanks TLG.

[paul_delahaye]

Interesting one for me.  Not being a massive car buff, one porsche looks like another, so when they annouced another one so soon after the orange beast.....however I actually think it looks smoother and with better lines than the orange one when compared side by side.  I appreciate the functions are not present, but it looks good.  Not a £140 set for me, but will pick it up down the road on discount.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Lemme play with some typography and optical illusion to illustrate this set. I learn this trick from the design of a T-shirt in my high school festival. Please pardon the cap and size, as this trick needs the letters to be that way to work.

 

THIS SET IS
NOT
VERY GOOD LOOKING
UPCLOSE.

Edited December 16, 2018 by Ngoc Nguyen

[Wolfolo]

Is the black one in the top center, holding the engine, a new part?

[Rudivdk]

Just now, Wolfolo said:

Is the black one in the top center, holding the engine, a new part? 

Nah, just optical illusion, normal 1x5 liftarm, but the angle of the pic makes it 'melt together' with a liftarm in the back.

[Jim]

Just now, Ngoc Nguyen said:

Lemme play with some typography and optical illusion to illustrate this set. I learn this trick from the design of a T-shirt in my high school festival. Please pardon the cap and size, as this trick needs the letters to be that way to work.

Spot on mate!

Just now, Rudivdk said:

Nah, just optical illusion, normal 1x5 liftarm, but the angle of the pic makes it 'melt together' with a liftarm in the back.

Yup 

[Wolfolo]

Just now, Rudivdk said:

Nah, just optical illusion, normal 1x5 liftarm, but the angle of the pic makes it 'melt together' with a liftarm in the back.

Really good optical illusion then 

[Milan]

Awesome review, as always.
Pictures, yeah, still are the most impressive part in the review.

And, actually, this Porsche looks really nice. I like it better than his bigger orange brother, it looks more curved and rounded that GT3.
I thought that I would hate the "frog eye" headlights, but now, they seem okay, and nicely blend.

[Rudivdk]

Just now, Milan said:

And, actually, this Porsche looks really nice. I like it better than his bigger orange brother, it looks more curved and rounded that GT3.

I feel Technic panels and pieces are still best suited for an approximate 1:10 scale, 1:8 is just stretching it too much...

At least on official TLG builds that is, there are outstanding 1:8 scale MOCs, but I think their piece counts or building techniques would not be adopted by TLG.

[grum64]

Another great review Jim but I'm afraid I'm disappointed with your photos. They're all of your usual very high standard but where's the badly framed/over exposed/out of focus pics you promised me? I've got feelings you know . 

Edited December 16, 2018 by grum64

[Erik Leppen]

2 hours ago, Jim said:

6 FEATURES

 
Which features?!

From this, can we conclude your scores range from 6 to 10? I mean, if a car with no features gets 6 out of 10, then what would get 5 stars or less?

Really, if the left-most 5 stars are to have any value, there should be a way to get 1 star. And if there's one set from the last 10 years that deserved 1 star for the Features category, it's this one.

I agree with the review that the looks are great - minus the stickers and bad printing. I don't like Porsche cars from their looks, but I really like the looks of 42096, mostly because of the front, the rear and the colour scheme. If 42056 looked like this, I'd probably get it. Or, differently stated, if 42096 had functions to match the looks, I'd probably get it.

 

[Jim]

1 minute ago, grum64 said:

Another great review Jim but I'm afraid I'm disappointed with your photos. They're all of your usual very high standard but where's the badly framed/out of focus pics you promised me? I've got feelings you know . 

Hehe thanks mate! I had so little time that I couldn't take proper out-of-focus pictures, the way you like 'em 
( some of the left-over parts and bag pictures, of some reviews, are blurry, so you can still indulge yourself)

Just now, Erik Leppen said:

From this, can we conclude your scores range from 6 to 10? I mean, if a car with no features gets 6 out of 10, then what would get 5 stars or less?

Really, if the left-most 5 stars are to have any value, there should be a way to get 1 star. And if there's one set from the last 10 years that deserved 1 star for the Features category, it's this one.

I have been thinking about that myself. For me a 5 or less is when the model doesn't live up to the expectations function-wise. I didn't expect any functions in this car and it delivers, so I give it the minimum positive score. I don't think it's fair to give a car 1-star for functions. But the stars and grading is up for debate. It if were me, I would ditch the ratings. You simply can't compare a car with a crane. But some people have convinced me to include the ratings.

[Rudivdk]

2 minutes ago, Erik Leppen said:

I mean, if a car with no features gets 6 out of 10, then what would get 5 stars or less?

I get your point, but although it has no distinctive features it still has independent suspension on all wheels, steering with working steering wheel, drive with diff and working fake engine and opening doors and trunk. So IMHO if all that was missing 1 star would be justified. On the other hand, 6 stars might be a bit on the high side...

Edited December 16, 2018 by Rudivdk

[Jim]

Just now, Rudivdk said:

I get your point, but although it has no distinctive features it still has independent suspension on all wheels, steering with working steering wheel, drive with diff and working fake engine and opening doors and trunk. So IMHO if all that was missing 1 star would be justified. On the other hand, 6 stars might be a bit on the high side...

I has what you come to expect of a car. I does not have what we would like to see in a Technic model. I find grading functions for a car very difficult. 

[schraubedrin]

3 hours ago, Jim said:

 

 

Are those Skid-Plates below the rear diff?
It's curious that they decided to include those but not a closed underbody.

@Jim, great review, as always. I'm really on the fence with this one. i hate off-colored stickers more than the fact that they are using them in the first place

[Jim]

4 minutes ago, schraubedrin said:

Are those Skid-Plates below the rear diff?
It's curious that they decided to include those but not a closed underbody.

To be honest; I wasn't really sure what they were/are. 

[grum64]

29 minutes ago, Jim said:

Hehe thanks mate! I had so little time that I couldn't take proper out-of-focus pictures, the way you like 'em 
( some of the left-over parts and bag pictures, of some reviews, are blurry, so you can still indulge yourself)

As I can't rely on you to properly cock up even one of your photos I guess it's down to me to fly the flag for bad photography. It's a burden I know but one I'll just have bear 

Edited December 16, 2018 by grum64
Spelling

[1gor]

Great review and even better images, but it looks to me that proportions are totally off