[VIDEO REVIEW] 21307 - Caterham Seven 620R

[Sariel]

I guess this set is as close to Model Team as it gets nowadays, so it belongs in this forum. If I'm wrong, please move the topic.

Pros:

- great-looking and instantly recognizable

- printed pieces instead of stickers ensure higher, lasting quality and cleaner looks

- great amount authentic details, especially in the engine bay and engine itself

- demonstrates extremely creative building techniques; building it is a great lesson

- a whole lot of new pieces and pieces in new colors

- big bunch of spare pieces

- appears big enough to be motorized

- enough room for 2 hamsters

Cons:

- less details than the original Lego Ideas project and no steering

- very limited playability, hardly a play model

- some parts are pretty flimsy (but the model is quite robust overall)

- the wheels look slightly wrong

- can be challenging to build due to complex techniques it relies on

- yet another set that could really use chromed pieces instead of light bluish gray

[Technic_Henry]

I wan't this model soo bad. Is there a chance I can get this model soon?

[Sariel]

Release date is October 1st.

[Imanol BB]

Just saw the video and i am very impressed, the details are the greatest that i have seen in a official model so far, the printed parts look amazing, and some of them are incredibly small and detailed, the way that they put some of the parts to match the real version is very clever, despite having no functions, this would be a very cool model for exhibitions, i also like those supporters, they are a very weird but nice addition to this model, they give even more realism to it, and the video and review quality outstanding as well, nice review Sariel.

[Bartybum]

Is the front end ride height something that could be modified by replacing some of the bricks on the bottom?

[JGW3000]

Great review as always, are you going to give a go at motorizing it, or will it get the 'walker' treatment ?

[therealjustin]

The set and features would be nice at $50 or so, but $80?! That's quite a hefty sum to pay for a set with well under the usual 1,000 piece mark I think. It does look good though.

A shame that the steering was removed for production as that was one of the features that got my interest. It's surprising how often steerable wheels will add to display possibilities.

The review was great though!

Edited September 18, 2016 by therealjustin

[J_C]

Thank you for review.

I have already seen some other video linked at Brickset.

I understand (marketing reasons) why they chose top model (same as with Porsche), but original design on Ideas (which was closer to more entry level Caterham models) was somehow better. IMO.

Absence of steering is let down.

Nose piece looks like it falls off when you hiccup in next room.

I do not like how bricks are sticking out under the body between front wheel - it is visually very disturbing (to me).

However I love real Lotus 7 and Caterham, so I am very happy with this being available. And I will get it. Price seems quite steep (comparing to Beetle or Wally e.g.), but what you gonna do.

Edited September 18, 2016 by J_C

[Kaanere]

The removable nose cone is intentional, if not it would be placed on a 2x4 plate (an easy mod anyways).

[Anio]

Absence of steering is let down.

Normal.

[J_C]

Normal.

ok, I will rephrase myself: "I wish they would have included steering. it is not a dealbreaker, but I wish they would have"

[nerdsforprez]

I guess this set is as close to Model Team as it gets nowadays, so it belongs in this forum. If I'm wrong, please move the topic.

Cons:

- yet another set that could really use chromed pieces instead of light bluish gray

Sariel, do you have any knowledge of the costs associated with chromed pieces? I think the "yet" in your statement above should be emphasized. I have noticed this on the wish list of AFOLs across many genres; this exact sentiment has been expressed for years on many different forums. I assume the reluctance of TLG to make pieces in chrome has to do with the cost. Yet, given the Porsche (42056), this set, and many others it appears TLG is not timid to price sets fairly high. So why not just make more chrome pieces?

[Edwin Korstanje]

Great and fair review Sariel

[Jay Psi]

So why not just make more chrome pieces?

Playing Devils's Advocate for a moment - do chromed pieces chip much or at all? I can imagine TLG not wanting to replace a significant proportion of chromed pieces* if they think they are more likely to be damaged, especially in transit.

*Compared to the proportion of non-chromed pieces that are replaced.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Jay Psi

[PicnicBasketSam]

I think this belongs in Special Themes.... great review though! This is much bigger and better-looking than I initially thought from the pictures, I personally think it's better than the Volkswagen Beetle.

[Sariel]

I don't know the costs of making the chromed pieces and none of the pieces I own ever got chipped. I imagine it's always a trade-off: perhaps the Caterham set with chromed pieces would be forced to use stickers rather than printed pieces to keep the price down.

[nerdsforprez]

Hmmm... ok. I also, although don't have many chromed pieces, have not known them to chip.

Funny.... everything seems to come down to trying to be cost effective yet as has already been pointed out, this appears to be priced on the higher end of things.......

[J_C]

I do not like chrome parts. LEGO is plastic. LEGO world is plastic. And it is OK.

If I build LEGO house it does not look like it made from concrete nor plaster. It looks plastic.

Same goes for cars/machines/planes/whatever. Maybe shinny metal-like in real world.

But in lovely unique visually special world of LEGO where stuff is recreated from simple (more or less) brick sometimes complicated way, magic happens and when done stuff looks "LEGOishly".

And I love that look.

IMO: I feel like (even with MOCs) metallic parts move results somewhere to Tamyia or Hasegawa pond. I do not see any point in that.

disclaimer: just my private opinion

[Lyichir]

I'm kind of happy to see that I'm not alone in preferring non-chromed pieces to chromed ones. Chromed pieces tend to show more damage than standard parts, and often don't look like they "fit in" with other parts. I much prefer solid colors, lacquered parts, or even metallic plastic to chromed parts.

One factor that hasn't been mentioned about chromed parts is that chroming a part actually adds to that part's thickness slightly, which can affect their clutch power by making connections tighter than they should be. For that reason, Lego tends to avoid releasing chromed parts unless those parts' molds have been specifically designed with chrome parts in mind (with only a few exceptions).

[Saberwing40k]

I know it's par for the course with creator style sets, but lack of steering is still kind of a letdown. Maybe they couldn't get it to look right, or maybe the way it's built in the original submission is insufficiently durable? I dunno, it's a great set, but not really my style.

Also, I'd have to agree with the lamenting the lack of chrome. For a set like this, I just can't see chroming, even like the parts in 41999, adding too much to the cost. There are probably other reasons, though.

As always, I like how fair you are with it, talking about what you like and don't like, and who this will and will not appeal to.

[dr_spock]

Chroming is fine if it is going to be a display piece on the shelf. My experience with chromed pieces is it doesn't stand up to children playing over time. The chrome plating on plastic would eventually chip or wear off. Little young children eating bits of chrome flakes would not do well on social media. Also if your cat peed on your chrome pieces, it will be gone when you tried to wash your LEGO. If you really need chrome, there are 3rd party companies that can chrome parts for you.

KIds played chromed part:

Cat peed chromed part:

[BrickMonkeyMOCs]

In general I think allowing cats pee on your models or parts is a pretty bad idea, chromed or otherwise. I would not recommend that at all.

I really like the stands included in this set and have stolen the idea for my recent LMP1 MOC.

Sariel, in your review you mention that it is hard to fit all four of these stands in the boot even when disassembled. Yet the

clearly shows the reviewer fitting all four assembled stands inside the boot with no apparent difficulty. Can you confirm? Edited September 20, 2016 by BrickMonkeyMOCs

[Blondie-Wan]

The set and features would be nice at $50 or so, but $80?! That's quite a hefty sum to pay for a set with well under the usual 1,000 piece mark I think. It does look good though.

"Well under the usual 1,000 piece mark"? I don't understand - there are numerous sets priced at $80 (well, $79.99) that have under 1,000 pieces; in fact I believe the overwhelming majority of sets at that price have fewer than a thousand.

This set's pricing seems right in line with what's typical for a set of this size, piece count, and complexity.