Grum's Shed

[grum64]

On 7/25/2025 at 8:52 AM, steph77 said:

It's always a journey reading your posts! Didn't expected that the new style diff could be so difficult to assemble vs the old one. Whatever I see you still progress and this gives me a smile for the day. @++++ s. 

Thank you for your comments. You're always very kind. 

As for my posts. I'm not sure about them being a journey and if they are I'm not sure to where. Madness probably 😵‍💫

Edited July 26 by grum64
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[grum64]

Build Days 20 - 24 / Building Time - 17hrs / Total Building Time - 70.5hrs

Hello my Friends

I usually go out to my shed with a rough idea of what I want to get done in the time I have and more importantly, an idea of how I'm going to go about it. As I’m sure you already know, I go through the (digital) instructions to work out how I’m going to build a model, switching the build order to suit the way I need to build. Almost every page will have pretty detailed notes typed on them. Imagine then if you will what went through my mind upon I realising I’d accidentally deleted said instructions and then in an act of stupidity matched only by VW's decision to take the ‘what bad emissions’? approach to business, I then emptied my Goodreader Trash Bin.

The stupidity doesn’t end there though, oh no, because after downloading the instruction book again I decided that re-annotating would take up valuable building time. Surely I'd remember what I'd written . All too predictably I was wrong in this assumption.

A prime example of why I don’t rely on my sieve like memory soon presented itself. The dashboard. It was a right royal pain to fit as I couldn't get around it very easily to fit it.  After much phaffing about I found the best way to do it was by removing the front doors. Once in place it was on with the doors and on to the next step. At this point I found that the A Pillars were also an absolute pain but no worries, I had a solution. Remove the front doors & dashboard. Once this was done in went the dashboard complete with newly attached A Pillars and on went the doors.

I've just spent the last week annotating the newly downloaded set of instructions hopefully lessoning the likelihood of something similar happening again but... there's no preventing stupid.

Apologies for the colours etc. They appear different depending on sunshine/brightness levels through the windows.

The cake testers have again been put to very good use. You can see from the screenshot below that there are 2 x 3L Pins to fit in the top of the two liftarms peering cheekily from behind the engine. I thought I’d annotated to fit them much earlier in the build and after looking back through the first instruction book I had. At step 51. This would have been easy but for some reason I didn’t do it. Remember what I said about being unable to prevent stupid?

Speaking of stupid. Before any of this could be done the doors and dashboard had to come off. Again. Threading the tester through the Pin & the Liftarm enabled them to be held in place and with a little jiggling about and using my clamps the Pin was in place. I used the same ‘procedure’ to help the Pin complete its journey through the 1L Spacer and 13L Liftarm and refitted the doors & dash. Done.

Oh, and then there were the windscreen wipers and guess what? Yep, doors off, dashboard out etc, etc,...

The humble cake tester.

Edited August 15 by grum64
Photo order corrected. Spelling.

[grum64]

Opps...

 

 

Edited August 17 by grum64
Photo problem 🙄

[BusterHaus]

I would pin your enthusiasm and eagerness to build as the cause of all the rework, not stupidity. You can also claim that you built some portions of this set three times in your life, it's all about perspective. 

[grum64]

9 hours ago, BusterHaus said:

I would pin your enthusiasm and eagerness to build as the cause of all the rework, not stupidity. You can also claim that you built some portions of this set three times in your life, it's all about perspective. 

As you well know, I do have an unbridled enthusiasm and an eagerness to build but there’s no getting away from the fact that the whole doors & dashboard saga was anything other than farcical. As always, I appreciate what you say about perspective and of course you’re right but I’m jnot expecting a call from MENSA anytime soon 🤡

Edited August 17 by grum64

[Johnny1360]

Good to see you making progress, it always strikes me oddly that everytime I check into this thread, we seem to be working on the same set. I always gain some inspiration after reading of your struggles as I also have some issues with assembly. Thanks for being you.

[grum64]

I’m highly unlikely to win awards for build speed but I have been told  I’d do so for stubbornness. Although I like to call it determination 😬

Thank you for your kind words.

Edited August 17 by grum64
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[grum64]

Build Days 25, 26 & 27 / Building Time - 13hrs / Total Building Time - 82.5hrs

Hello Again

This is now two updates in a week which is almost unheard of. Mind you because all went as it should there's not too much rambling to wade through (I can hear the applause 🫤).

In previous posts I've touched on how different the colours of parts appear in my photos. It seems to be more noticeable with this set, there's hardly been one photo where the parts look anything like the Reddish Orange they are in the brick.

I thought it might have been something to do with the changing light levels outside so I had the windows covered today but it made no difference which is really annoying. I now think it might be the fluorescent tube lights so I'm looking into getting them replaced with daylight tubes. Fingers crossed will make the difference. I hope so because there doesn't seem much else I can do about it.

Any help or advice regarding daylight tubes, specs etc would be very much appreciated because I know nothing. Surprising? I think not 🤡

 

Edited August 22 by grum64
Help request added.

[2GodBDGlory]

Looks like some good progress!

[grum64]

6 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

Looks like some good progress!

Thank you. It's getting there helped I'm sure by leaving the doors & dashboard attached for more than 5 minutes 🙄

[grum64]

Build Days 28, 29 & 30 / Building Time - 12hrs / Total Building Time - 94.5hr

Hello again

Cooler weather and scribble free days on the calendar mean I've been able to have a few more afternoons in the shed this week so the Merc's coming along quite nicely, better than I expected.

With the reddish orange body slowly enveloping the largely black & grey chassis it has more of a presence on the table. It's certainly taking up a fair amount of real estate. It's got some heft to it. It's not an easy thing to drag about and to handle.

Today I had to fit the front wheelarches and the only way I could do them was to tip the model on each side which is easier said than done. Fitted the rears and running boards at the same time.

During this exercise I lost, yes lost, a 6536 Axle & Pin Connector with attached blue 2L Pin with Axle which fell into the chassis. Despite my vigorously shaking it, as vigorous as I'm ever likely to get anyways, and whilst there was rattling nothing was ejected however a wing mirror did liberate itself. This isn't the first time a model has consumed parts intended for its being. I lost a 2x4 L Shaped Liftarm somewhere in the Chiron and in the Extreme Adventure a 12 Tooth Bevel Gear 2L Axle Connector were ingested and never seen again. Who knew Lego models had cannibalistic tendencies.

 

 

Edited August 27 by grum64
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[grum64]

Build Days 35 - 41 / Building Time - 22hrs / Total Building Time - 132.5hrs

You're not going to believe this but the GWagen's finished. Yes, you read correctly. The GWagen is finished. But first.

From my last post to this there wasn’t much left to do but little did I realise that within those few last steps lay frustration beyond even that of the front seat 'bolsters' saga.

I’d seen the mud-flaps when I was planning the build but as they were fitted using the 2L LBG Frictionless Pins which have always been really easy to fit I elected not to do so earlier in the build as I’d normally do. Then, because I have the brain of a Space Hopper, I assembled the rear ones incorrectly which lead me to think that they were for the front & the fronts were for the rear. So for 40 minutes and in completely the wrong place, I struggled to fit them. In my albeit very limited defence, the fitting instructions weren’t the clearest although they do show very clearly which is the front and which the back yet still I struggled. Don’t figure

Then came the roof box. If you’ve built this set you may have an inkling of what’s coming next. Fitting just the lid took me, you may want to swallow that mouthful of food or sip of drink you’ve just had, 11 hours spread across 3 afternoons!!! Yes, Mr Stubborn made an appearance and yes, he clearly outstayed is welcome.

The problem was the 15100 Pin with Pin Hole. The lid, a 5L x 11L Panel, fits onto 2 x 15100 Pins but try as I might and believe my I really, really tried, I just couldn’t do it. Nothing I did would get them to locate, the Pins just kept moving. Sound familiar? Yes, it’s pretty much the same problem I had with the front seat ‘bolsters.’

I know full well it’s ludicrous to struggle that long but, as always, I wanted to do it myself. In all honestly I’d still be trying to do it now but I had a self imposed deadline to get the build finished because our Darling Grandson Jake goes off to Uni in a few days. Yes, that little boy who at the age of 4 started me on my Lego journey is off to Uni. Doesn’t seem possible.

In the end I had to ask George to do it for me. Although you could say common sense prevailed I felt awful not being able to do it but later that evening George sent me a screenshot of something he'd read.

After reading that I don’t feel quite so bad.

Building the GWagen has been a joy. Yes, I know I say this an awful lot about the models I build but it really has.

Considering what it is, it hasn't felt particularly repetitive like many vehicle sets do and, although they're are very similar and share a designer, it feels a 'step up' from the Defender. 

Of course there have been difficulties along the way, with me that's pretty much a given. Many were helped by the adoption of a new tool in my arsenal, the cake tester. Mrs Grum to the rescue. Again.

In my opinion the finished model is impressive. It has real presence especially when viewed from the front, it looks very imposing and the new reddish orange colour make it really stand out.

For those who don't have this set, take It from me, it looks far better in the brick than in my photos. 

I like this model immensely, this helped by it being a pretty faithful representation of it's real life subject. I've thought for several years that the GWagen with it's boxy, slab like design would make a great Lego set.

I happily put the 42177 on my list of favourite Technic sets.

This build is dedicated to Jake who changed my life more than he’ll ever know. Thank you Jake.

 

Edited September 7 by grum64
Spelling and grammar.

[Jay Psi]

That's a beautiful story to go along with a fine build @grum64. I hope your grandson takes his quite in your signature to heart as he starts a new chapter of his life.

As for the pin with pin holes,. they're notorious for being hard to align for pretty much everyone. Good on you for showing them who's boss 

[Jundis]

Your persistence is really impressive, Grum!

The story of the struggle with 15100 is really bugging me as this is a very useful part but my oh my is it a pain to insert two of them at the same time. My nephew once asked for help especially for placing this part on set 42147... he thought he made some mistake on windscreen or the piece was wrongly molded...  

[steph77]

Hi Grum!

Always great to see that this project is still ongoing. Your patience and dedication are impressive. You're making good progress!

As for those 15100 pieces, I can confirm that it's just as difficult for me. As a Moc builder, I often have to take apart and reassemble sections of models.

Just to annoy me, these parts are always located in hard-to-reach places, and I sometimes have to use a scalpel myself to help insert them (I press lightly on the pin to compress it and allow it to enter the other part).

So I wish you all the best for the completion of this build!

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[grum64]

On 9/7/2025 at 3:36 PM, Jay Psi said:

That's a beautiful story to go along with a fine build @grum64. I hope your grandson takes his quite in your signature to heart as he starts a new chapter of his life.

As for the pin with pin holes,. they're notorious for being hard to align for pretty much everyone. Good on you for showing them who's boss 

Thank you. 

I can't in all honestly say I showed the 15100’s who's the boss more I showed them how stubborn someone can be when they have the time & willingness to be so 🙄

23 hours ago, Jundis said:

Your persistence is really impressive, Grum!

The story of the struggle with 15100 is really bugging me as this is a very useful part but my oh my is it a pain to insert two of them at the same time. My nephew once asked for help especially for placing this part on set 42147... he thought he made some mistake on windscreen or the piece was wrongly molded...  

There's a fine line between persistence and stubbornness which Mrs Grum says I keep moving. Think perhaps it's now in a another time zone.

Your Nephew has my sympathy. I too got to thinking I was doing something wrong, it was so frustrating that by the 4th day trying it bought me to tears. Just as George arrived and saved the day. And my sanity.

9 hours ago, steph77 said:

Hi Grum!

Always great to see that this project is still ongoing. Your patience and dedication are impressive. You're making good progress!

As for those 15100 pieces, I can confirm that it's just as difficult for me. As a Moc builder, I often have to take apart and reassemble sections of models.

Just to annoy me, these parts are always located in hard-to-reach places, and I sometimes have to use a scalpel myself to help insert them (I press lightly on the pin to compress it and allow it to enter the other part).

So I wish you all the best for the completion of this build!

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Thank you. It's taken a while but it's good to have it finished. 

I'm really pleased, more relieved really, to hear I'm not the only one who has problems with the 15100’s. That so many seasoned & skilled builders encounter frustrations with the part eases my annoyance that it beat me.

Next time I encounter them I'll have a go at gently compressing the end of the pin somehow to ease fitting. Thank you for the idea.

[Zerobricks]

Great progress of a really awesome set, Grum. Regarding 15100, there are actually 2 versions, newer ones released after 2022ish are a lot softer and have a different pin shape. I remember originals from 42096 and those were really tight.

[grum64]

17 minutes ago, Zerobricks said:

Great progress of a really awesome set, Grum. Regarding 15100, there are actually 2 versions, newer ones released after 2022ish are a lot softer and have a different pin shape. I remember originals from 42096 and those were really tight.

Thank you my Friend.

Think I'll be trawling Bricklink for the newer 15100’s. I like to have plenty of spares as I end up damaging a few every time i encounter them.