42158 - NASA Mars Rover Perseverance

[R0Sch]

I'm both a Technic and space guy, so I'm double excited about this model. ;) Besides, the Technic theme should not consist mostly of cars and motorcycles.

[Zerobricks]

Also features differential-based suspension. I think it should be able to partially fold too.

[samsz_3]

I like technic and space, and I've been getting a bit bored of large licensed cars - this is a nice change

[AVCampos]

19 minutes ago, Zerobricks said:

Also features differential-based suspension.

You mean rocker-bogie? It's my favourite suspension system for unusual vehicles, even in the simpler 4-wheel configuration.

[allanp]

Looks pretty good. It doesn't appear to have different steering modes which would have been nice to have. But the rocker bogie suspension looks good and accurate and nice to get recolours of some frames and large turntable in white. It might not be an 8480 but I got a mad nostalgia rush seeing the white turntable as it really reminded me of seeing the first pictures of 8480 in early 96, and spotting the black turntable (first time a turntable was anything other than grey IIRC). 

[Jim]

55 minutes ago, R0Sch said:

I'm both a Technic and space guy, so I'm double excited about this model. ;) Besides, the Technic theme should not consist mostly of cars and motorcycles.

I'm 100% with you on this one! 

[Seasider]

Excited by this, also a big space fan. Looks moderately big. What’s the price and launch date ?

[Jim]

Just now, Seasider said:

Excited by this, also a big space fan. Looks moderately big. What’s the price and launch date ?

Slightly south of 100 euros.

1132 parts for 95 euro.

[allanp]

6 minutes ago, Seasider said:

Excited by this, also a big space fan. Looks moderately big. What’s the price and launch date ?

Launch date? I see what you did there 

[Erik Leppen]

38 minutes ago, Jim said:

1132 parts for 95 euro.

This sounds like a very reasonable price for the model.

If it's this, I'd probably get it some day.

[Maaboo the Witch]

1 hour ago, Seasider said:

Excited by this, also a big space fan. Looks moderately big. What’s the price and launch date ?

June 1st.

[Jim]

1 hour ago, Erik Leppen said:

This sounds like a very reasonable price for the model.

Absolutely!

This means like 80/85 euros in The Netherlands on day 1.

[Polarlicht]

The want is real 😍

[Seasider]

4 hours ago, Maaboo35 said:

June 1st.

Cool so that and the big minifigure are definite purchases.

Shame they’re not out a week or 2 earlier as then I could get them for my birthday 

[pleegwat]

I don't think the real thing has steering modes, so I certainly wouldn't expect it on a model either.

The gearing on the drill arm looks strange. At a glance it's all just for the shoulder up/down motion. But why is that axle going into the body if none of the other degrees of freedom are geared?

Definite must-buy for me though.

[GerritvdG]

7 minutes ago, pleegwat said:

 

I don't think the real thing has steering modes, so I certainly wouldn't expect it on a model either.

 

Agreed, see https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/wheels/ 

Quote

The two front and two rear wheels also have individual steering motors. 

 

[Polarlicht]

Are those fully plastic wheels?

Would be neat to have some car tires fit around that wheel

[JaBaCaDaBra]

9 hours ago, Akbalder said:

What are the functionnalities?

bad enough not the beer bar

[AVCampos]

7 minutes ago, GerritvdG said:

Agreed, see https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/wheels/ 

 

Actually, it does have steering modes. From the article you linked:

Quote

This steering capability allows the vehicle to turn in place, a full 360 degrees. The four-wheel steering also allows the rover to swerve and curve, making arcing turns.

The difference from the Xerion is, while the former has "normal steering" and "crab walk", this one has "normal steering" and "turning in place".

[GerritvdG]

1 hour ago, AVCampos said:

The difference from the Xerion is, while the former has "normal steering" and "crab walk", this one has "normal steering" and "turning in place".

Was a bit confused, because what will happen to the two middle wheels which are not steered when doing a 360. I assume the 4 steered wheel wil have to make an angle of almost 90 degrees.. 

The back of the box explains everything, wrong assumption…

Edited May 2, 2023 by GerritvdG
Wrong assumption

[allanp]

Just seen a back of the box image and apparently the model does have regular steering and turn on the spot steering.

[R0Sch]

10 minutes ago, allanp said:

Just seen a back of the box image and apparently the model does have regular steering and turn on the spot steering.

That is cool. Too bad they don't advertise an x-ray vision of the functions with the AR, but rather some game gimmick.

[allanp]

5 minutes ago, R0Sch said:

That is cool. Too bad they don't advertise an x-ray vision of the functions with the AR, but rather some game gimmick.
 

I don't think there is much to see on the inside, most of the steering and all of the suspension linkage is visible on the outside, so x-ray might not be as useful as it was with the Zetros. There's also no electronics with the set so it wouldn't be able to animate any internal mechanisms and have them match what's happening in the actual model like you could with the Zetros.

Edited May 2, 2023 by allanp

[howitzer]

Looks cool and it's great to get something that's not common in the Technic line with functions that are never seen before in an official set. A must buy for me.

[HydroWorld Outlook]

2 hours ago, Polarlicht said:

Are those fully plastic wheels?

Would be neat to have some car tires fit around that wheel

I can't imagine they would be thick enough to have rubber tires. And besides, look at how small they are. They're only connected by axles. You can't even use wheel hubs with them. That's going to make using those new wheel pieces outside of their intended context extremely difficult, especially for larger and heavier models that require additional support at their wheel connections.

13 minutes ago, allanp said:

I don't think there is much to see on the inside, most of the steering and all of the suspension linkage is visible on the outside, so x-ray might not be as useful as it was with the Zetros. There's also no electronics with the set so it wouldn't be able to animate any internal mechanisms and have them match what's happening in the actual model like you could with the Zetros.

Completely agreed. But, at least there's two steering modes. And maybe there's a way for the Ingenuity Helicopter to deploy from the rover's underbelly like in the real-life version.

Edited May 2, 2023 by HydroWorld Outlook