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Hello EB! I'd like to humbly show this remote control (PF) winter expedition vehicle (MOC). Featuring 4 independently driven tracks with a unique steering system. More explanation below and in my YouTube video. It has many issues that I'm not willing to spend more time to fix, but I've learned a lot from the process, which will help improve my future MOCs. If I was to start from scratch here's what I would change: Put motors closer to driven axles Split drivelines into either front/back or single motor per tread less complicated steering system Use a different type of suspension instead of pendular raise the height of the driven sprocket instead of extending driveline with gears reduce weight with panels vs lifttarms (I didn't have any at the time of building) Never use an Adder again, or if I really have to then use the old-style 24t differentials Work more on the cabin/exterior design A sizeable portion of the issues stemmed from the weight, which is something I didn't expect! I ordered some parts to allow me to finish the frame, and added design elements in the meantime. The design elements were pretty much the difference between being-able-to-carry-its-own-weight and not. The MOC is already disassembled, but I'll be happy to hear feedback and suggestions! -
Hello all. This will be my design for the Arctic Contest, the "Arctic Cruiser". It is an artcic cruiser that can quickly transport people from one place to another over snow and ice. There is room for 3 (including the driver). He can move very quickly (unfortunately the Lego engines are not, but imagine that) over snow and ice. The Arctic Cruiser is controlled with the Control+ app. For this I use the "Audi RS Q e-tron". Unfortunately the pictures are not that clear as the weather here is quite rainy. There is certainly no snow at all... This was the idea I started working with. Arctic Cruiser I'm a bad builder when it comes to vehicle bodywork. I don't have many orange and white bricks either, so my Ford Raptor was torn down to have some orange bricks. I started with the drive and almost immediately came to the white motor wheel in the track. Fits exactly in the tracks. I think I reassembled it 10 times, but here is the result. Tracks For those who recognize it, I copied the principle of the gull-wing doors from the old 8466. Gull-wing door For the steering, I once again fell back on the tilting chassis, which works fine. Must say that it is easier to realize with the Power Function Servo than with the Control+ motors. Tilting body Video link: http://youtu.be/5I2vB-GfSqg -
In general the new arctic/explorers wave is pretty interesting and surely nicely designed. The multitude of included animals is really a crowning jewel of this wave. I have however very mixed feelings about the "ratio" of arctic and underwater sets in this wave. We had an arctic AND seperate underwater waves back in 2020, so it's a nice refresh. Still, I feel that the "arctic" part is underepresented here with only 2 sets being stricly arctic - 60376 Arcitc Explorer Snowmobile and 60378 Arctic Explorer Truck and Mobile Lab. And even with the Arctic Explorer "Truck" it's not a truck. It's not even an expeditionary vehicle. It's a snow-plow - a service vehicle. It looks great, sure, but it misses the point in my opinion. The rest 3 sets are all underwater/water themed and they only share a color scheme with arctic sets: 60377 Explorer Diving Boat which has tropical looking seabed side-build with turtles and a shark. That's like completely opposite of arctic theme here. 60379 Deep-Sea Explorer Submarine once again a strictly underwater themed set with no hint of association with the arctic explorers. Also way overpriced IMO. Only the 60368 Arctic Explorer Ship bears some hints of "arctic" theme with some minifigs wearing warm caps and caps. So in the end only 2 out of 5 sets of the arctic wave are really arctic themed. I just wish for at least one normal wheeled "exploration vehicle" set in the arctic theme, something like 60035 or 60195. Do you guys feel the same about this wave?
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Welcome to another of my Lego set reviews! We're going to be looking at one of the smallest sets from the 2018 Arctic line. Set Information Name: 60191 - Arctic Exploration Team Theme: Town / Arctic Year: 2018 Pieces: 70 Minifigures: 3 Price: £9.99 / $9.99 / 9.99€ Resources: Brickset and Bricklink This isn't the first time Lego town citizens have ventured into the frigged regions of the globe. Back in 2000 we got a rare, new animal mold of a polar bear as the first Arctic theme hit shelves. Then, in 2014 Lego town ventured back out into the cold, this time with a brand new dog mold. The 3rd ever non-Belville or Scala dog mold Lego made. The first was the mold used for the Grimm from the HP line. The 2nd was the Chihuahua found in CMF series 10. Now, in 2018, Lego is back on the ice with 3 brand new animal molds! Something that seems quite fitting considering the history the Arctic line has in introducing new animals to the Lego menagerie. Unfortunately we only get a Husky in this set. But it's a great nod to the 2014 line and certainly something you would expect in one of the smallest sets. The back of the box shows the "play features" which mostly consist of discovering and transporting the frozen insect. Inside the box is a small instruction booklet and two unnumbered bags. The instructions are very straight forward. The use of the 3L technic beams is a great, simple way of adding treads to the snowmobile. The chunk of snow is extremely basic. It certainly could have benefited from some curved slopes or cheese slopes. The set only came with 70 pieces, a few more to add texture to the small piece of landscape seems like a reasonable request. There are no stickers in the set. And besides the minifigures there are just 2 printed pieces. The completed model works very well for such a small set. For the intended audience (children), it immediately offers storytelling and character interaction. With the frozen goods acquired and safely stowed, it's time to move out! Unfortunately for one of the intrepid explorers, this means either walking or being pulled along at break-neck speeds! The set comes with 4 extra pieces. None of them are particularly rare, but it's nice Lego continues this practice. The minifigures come dressed in warm, nicely printed jackets. The red Ushanka hat is new for this line and it looks fabulous! The dirt bike helmet is also new for 2018 and is also used in Dark Blue for the police sets. The jackets are all new prints for this line and have great details. The snowmobile driver looks very striking with his bi-colored arms. Here's another picture with the headgear removed. All 3 minifigures have single printed heads, no double expressions. Final Thoughts: Playability: 9/10 - The set instantly provides play opportunities. There are no functions or mechanisms. But that's okay because this is Lego. It's the kid's (or adult's) imagination that sparks the play possibilities. Building Experience: 4/10 - This is an extremely simple set. You don't get it to have an amazing building experience. Design: 8/10 - For 70 pieces it's very well designed. The snow landscape could just use a little attention. Aesthetic: 8/10 - The Arctic color scheme emphasizes orange and blue. It works very well for this theme. Minifigures: 7/10 - These are great additions to any Arctic or City layout. However, they have very little use outside their predefined themes. Price: 6/10 - Being a $10 set with only 70 pieces this doesn't hit that AFOL sweet spot of $0.10/piece. That's pretty normal with the smaller sets, but still a little bit of a negative. Verdict: 7/10 - Overall this is a great little set. If you're looking for a cheap way to get some of the unique pieces for the 2018 Arctic line, this one gives you the Ushanka hat, the bike helmet, and the printed frozen bug. If you're a kid looking for creative play value, this set also delivers. It's not the most amazing in the piece/price department, but $10 sets very rarely are. It's probably not something you'll buy multiples of but it makes a nice little purchase.
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Hello there! It's been a long time since my last post. Sharing my latest MOC~ Polar bear from Arctic & lion from Africa. I hope this Moc will make people care more about the issue of climate change on our earth. Hope you guys like it. Thank you!
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A scene of a Land Rover Defender rescuing a fishing boat from the frozen waters of the Arctic. Bravery or foolishness? Originally an entry built for the "Show Us Your Land Rover In Heroic Moments" contest on LEGO Ideas. (To my luck, it won as a runner-up! ) I suppose the LEGO model speaks for itself, so I'll do away with the descriptions. More images can be found here.
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Hi, I recently bought the Lego Arctic Base set on sale and decided to build a supply unit car (although it is actually a very unrealistic idea). The unit consists of an intermodal car with two types of containers. The tank container is an improved version of the tanktainer I showed last year: http://www.eurobrick...tank +container I hope you enjoy this little build. My three-year-old daughter likes to load the container with huskies and ice bears ;) Cheers Of course the arctic base does not have its own train station. The containers will be delivered by helicopters and transported by this tracked vehicle (which is a longer version of the standard vehicle from the official Lego set).
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So I told myself when I bought 60036 last year that I wouldn't buy any more Arctic sets, and that I didn't need 60034 because I probably had all the parts anyhow. But then I went into Smyths, and they had a sale, and well....err... here is my review of 60034: Arctic Helicopter Set #: 60034 Year Released: 2014 Piece Count: 262 Minifigs: 2, plus 4 dogs RRP: $39.99, £24.99 I must admit the first time I saw images of 60034 I was quite excited; a lego helicopter not in police or fire colours. Not only that but clearly based on a real helicopter; the Sikorsky S-65 (CH-54) Skycrane, and almost in the livery of a real operator; Erickson Air-Crane. Also the huskies looked awesome! So did the set live up to expectations? The Box: A surprisingly compact square number: The front shows the helicrane doing what it does best, coming to pick up a crate under radio direction from the explorer on the ground. The husky team stand firm despite the rotor downwash and somehow avoid an unplanned swim. A nice touch is the pilot visible in the cockpit as this pose is not really possible in the actual model and he just disappears in the dark behind the trans-blue glass. Note the city skyline hiding just behind the mountains at the back. The back of the box is extremely busy as the left half is entirely taken up by the modular build and city online adverts leaving the right side to demonstrate the action/play features of the set: Take your husky team, detect the crystal block, call in the chopper, then race it home. The top edge is less action, more science with the team photographing and sampling the ice. A 1:1 pic of the helicopter pilot is shown for reference at 90° to the rest of the image as the box is barely a minifig tall. The Contents We get 3 bags, two booklets and a sticker sheet which between them pretty much fill the box (it barely rattles when you take it off the shelf): Sorry no printed parts in here! Here are the contents of Bag 1 which makes the crate, minifigs and dogsled: The ice block and crystal (in this colour) are unique to the theme, there are some 1x1x2s in light bley, we get a couple of ice picks and this is the first time I have seen the new style radio and metal detector pieces. Compare for example the new parts on the left with their classic equivalents on the right: I think the older radio looks much better, I'm also slightly disappointed by the loss of the stud on the detector as this reduces the MOCing potential of the part. Bag 2 & 3 give us too many parts to photo so here are my highlights: 3 2x2 round tiles with hole, 1x2x2 orange windows (though only 1 piece of glass), some orange Technic arm pieces and grey 1x2 plates with Technic axle holes. The Instructions The first booklet is about half the size of the second and covers the husky sled and crate build from bag 1. The cover shot is exactly the same as the box, but removes the helicopter and photoshops in the pilot: The second booklet cover also replicates the box art the same but photoshops out everything but the helicopter. The instructions are clear with good colour differentiation and a wavy pale blue background. My only possible gripe is that, as with 60036, the 'sticker' icon is missing from some steps so stickers magically appear on parts such as: The shot below shows the good colour differentiation between dark bley and black and light bley and white which is occasionally poor in other sets (including 60036). The instruction steps are all very clear and provide part callouts and plenty of pointers so your are unlikely to miss anything. The Minifigs Here we have our pilot with standard smug aviator sunglasses face and the Arctic pilot torso; I still love the leather jacket and parachute printing even if it is identical to that for the 60036 pilot. The explorer fig is the same female fig found in 60036 with the, in my opinion, unnecessary torso hourglass print; the details of the rest of the print are great though as noted in my 60036 review the goggle print limits use of the head to winter MOCs. A view from behind, I do very much love the Arctic logo: The Build and Model: Dog Sled and Crate The crate comes first and there is not much to it- plates over the base stack 2 bricks per support then add the roof, done: It does look quite effective, though lacks some realism in that the contents are not secured in any visible way. The sled is a very similar size to that of the one in 60036 though featuring some design differences. Oddly the sled features a much larger radar screen than the 30036 offering but no visible radar dish. Believe it of not this shot is the sled finished except for accessories and dogs: With everything on the sled looks quite good, and as ever the huskies are brilliant with each having a slightly different appearance due to the grey/white plastic mix: Although it looks good the sled has some drawbacks over that of 30036. Firstly there are no 2x2 round boat studs or similar on the underside to reduce friction so it tends to get caught in carpets. Secondly the camera attachment is rather flimsy and as the equipment in the crate is loose you tend to lose pieces if mushing too vigorously. Finally the crate attached direct to the large orange piece and so has a low of clutch power, so changing loads to the ice block (as shown in the instructions) requires quite a bit of effort and can lead to unplanned disassembly of other parts. 30036 got around this issue with jumper plates though that resulted in some loads being offset due to the different footprints of the 3x4 crate and 2x2 ice block (a problem this set does not have). Here is the sled carrying the ice block: The Build and Model: The Helicopter The helicopter starts with the spine, I was slightly confused at this point about the two 1x2 plate with hinge facing each other: It tuns out that these are a clever method of holding the engines (which I should note are the 2x2 stud versions not the older versions with the same shape but 1x2 pylon attachments): The spine grows very quick and suddenly you realise this model is going to be huge! Notice the winch, which passes through a gap in the spine: The cockpit is a separate build to begin with, and the reason for having 3 windows but only 1 glass element becomes clear: I assume this build method was chosen over using the equivalent 1x2x2 panels to reduce the overall number of unique parts required in orange. I suspect for this reason we also see 1x1 and 1x2 bricks used where we would normally see a 2x2 corner brick: You can also spot in this shot that I was mistaken, we do get 1 printed part after all, the instrument panel which is fairly common to city era aircraft. As with the 60036 helicopter the pilot gets a single control stick rather than the classic 90's two. The rather heavy build at the back of the cockpit gives the model some strength but unfortunately makes the rear window and spotlights feel a bit redundant as the pilot cant really get to them. The real skycrane had a rear facing operators station from which the winch operator could control the aircraft during winching operations. The snot plates of the cockpit are used to provide additional structural attachment to the spine via some 2x6 plates with a few bits of greebling: The landing gear is then built from a variety of Technic parts and some snazzy stickered wedge parts for decoration. The landing gear is probably the only fiddly bit where younger builders might need help (aside from sticker application of course) as parts have to be correctly aligned when inserting pins/axles: Finished, and my is it a big helicopter, although the crate just fits underneath. This is not helped by the fact the model actually sits a few degrees nose down as the nose gear is 2-3 plates higher than the main gear: As the winch is a single point attachment your loads will tend to swing around, though his can be temporarily fixed for the crate by attaching it to the plate at the bottom of the spine when winched fully in. And to justify having this set as well as 30036, well what happens if the mini helicopter from 30036 breaks down and needs rescuing: One last shot of the helicopter from the front: I think lego did a great job in capturing the feel of the skycrane in this model. It looks convincingly like a heavy workhorse and makes me think this model is what 60021 should have been (tilt-rotors don't make sense for logging operations). I must however, note two small deviations from the instructions I made in this build: 1 - I build the rotors with the opposite offset of the blades to produce an anticlockwise (Sikorsky type) rotor rather than the clockwise (Airbus type) the instructions showed. 2 - The rotor mast has an empty Technic pin hole behind the engines which I filled with a pin and 1x1 clear round tile from the spare bits in the set to simulate a gearbox oil sight glass. Finally a beauty shot of the whole set: Conclusion and Scores Parts: 7 - Good selection of bits but nothing unique except in terms of colour. The Figs: 8 - Very nice printing on both figs despite the unnecessary hourglass torso effect. If I hadn't already got the same figs from 60036 (admittedly different pilot face) I would be extremely happy so have rated accordingly. The dogs are simply great, very cute and the individuality of each due to the colour mix is a real bonus. Build & Model(s): 8 - The Dog-sled build disappoints slightly (until you get to adding the dogs) due to its simplicity. The helicopter has enough interesting techniques to please seasoned builder without being complicated; and when finished it just looks great! It would also be easy to use this helicopter in a city/forest scenario by simply swapping the skis for wheels. Playbility: 8 - Should be 10 but points lost due to the issues with changing loads on the dog sled and running it on carpet. A few extra parts could easily have solved these issues. The accessories (metal detector etc) allow for some play before the helicopter swoops in, but let's be honest, that's where the action is! The helicopter winch is easily controlled one handed whilst flying with the other and the model is very robust and swooshable. Value for Money: 8 - Though I think this score depend on whether you have any of the other Arctic sets as you could easily find yourself with many duplicate figs and vehicles fulfilling the same functions which will determine your view on the value of these element and also affect how long each particular set may be played with. Certainly for the sale price (£21) I was very happy, for RRP I would probably still be. Overall: 8 - Excellent helicopter, let down slightly by issues with the dog sled, but not enough to seriously affect the playability or enjoyment of the set. So what's your view?
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Hi! It's been quite a while since I managed to put something together and even longer since I managed to put it "on paper". I'd like to present you my latest, and already an old MOC, may it rest in pieces, The Red Pitbull Terrier! At first, this one was supposed to be my noble steed for the unfortunately canceled winter trial truck (kinda) competition organised by our national LUG. Stressed out due cancelation, this horsey grew bigger and fatter than it was ment to be for the actual race. I admit, it is rather fugly, but it was a lot of fun to build and drive also. I am especially happy about how did the suspension come out - the tracks adapt(ed) to the surface very smoothly and there is no bending of the road wheels towards the outside. Thanks to our EB colleague Kelkschiz and his I learned, that what I've built is called a Christie tank suspension . As a keen eye will certainly notice, I used the small shock absorbers with normal springs. Only when I put the cab on, I learned that the front road wheels had to be suspended on hard springs, because the weight of the cabin was pulling the whole truck's front down. My intention was, to build the tracks like a module with spring inside this module, which would then be attached to the hull. After several trial and error iterations, I abandoned that idea, because I didn't manage to eleminate the bending of the road wheels towards the sides of the truck. I ended up attaching each road wheel one after another, kinda like stitching and prepared me quite some "fun" for disassembly As for the hull, I thought I managed to seal the bottom and the sides of it quite well, but that damn half melted snow reached every dark corner of that ogre anyway! As you can see on the photo below, I decided that this puppy should run on four PF XL motors, with all sprocket wheels driven. The motors were geared down just a bit (12/20 -> 1/1.67). I really recommend those "new" wheel hubs for mounting the sprocket wheels - they hold as Kragle and I don't recall the tracks ever slipping of them, as it seems it often happens when sprocket wheels are mounted on axles only, as they tend to bend. As you can see, I built some kind of a gutter for the tracks , so that no return wheels were needed. That two stud wide gutter in combination with the mudguards also kept the tracks tucked in nice, preventing them to slip off. Some transversal girders were also used to make both sides of the suspension sturdier. A nice, warm pit remained in the center of the hull for two AAA battery boxes. Two sets of 63 tracks were used. The motors were connected in pairs, each pair to its own V2 IR receiver. The receivers were placed under the hood of the cab, therefore a fake cooling fan. Although the tracks tend to slip, I decided not to mount any transversal ribs on them and went for a tight fit with the muguards. So here it is, with some accessories to make it look badass - at least that was my intention . Final dimensions are approximately W/L/H = 48/25/26 studs. Weight: 2.3 kilos. Two sets of PF LED lights were used, each powered by one of the BB's, so they were lit all the time. I tried to make the cab look a bit like the older tracked trucks that goooooogle provided me with. I had those transclear dome pieces for a while so I tried them out as a bulb for the lights. I still can't say whether I like the outcome or not. Can someone please explain why would somebody need turn signals in the middle of Syberia??? I sure can't say :laugh: ! The cab was somewhat fun to build because it starts with even width and ends with odd. Lately I really like Technic creations to be manned, so there are my three brave soldiers, kicking winter and bora in the face! I hope you like it, otherwise feel free to rip me apart P.S.: Yes, there is . I was, again, foolish enough to edit the video along with music that is under copyright, so the actual music you'll be hearing is just barely coherent with the cuts... I recommend listening to the "original" music which should be in the video, but it got shot down due forementioned world of legal stuff etc... I provided the link at the begining of the video. I must also add, that this baby was named after that song...I hope this little naivity of mine won't degrade your opinion on this build.Cheers, miha P.P.S.: I hope my "hero-doesn't-go-pro" didn't make any of you sick because of all the shaking... My fair lady provided me her LG G3, which I abused on this torture tool Thx baby. -
I love the work of H.P. Lovecraft, so I decided to build a diorama inspired by his story "At The Mountains Of Madness" after recently re-reading it. Here you have some more views of the "Elder Thing" and some artist's paintings of how they imagined it to look like...
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This is my first attempt at a train MOC. Its not as detailed as many, but I tried to put in some good play features. This is built largely on 60052, 60036, and 60035. This glass bottom observation platform slides in and out. A place to rest and unwind (but only in shifts). The crane also reaches the hopper when the cars are in sequence.
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Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, and welcome to Aquaman on Ice! No, it's not an ice-skating show. I'm talking about the latest set in the Batman and Friends Super Heroes theme, "Arctic Batman vs. Mr. Freeze: Aquaman on Ice." Is that the longest Lego set name ever? I guess they were trying to squeeze the names of all three characters into the title. Anyway, I was lucky enough to order this set (along with some other 2013 sets) when Amazon had them up for sale for a short time, so I am able to bring you an early review of this set! Set Number: 76000 Name: Arctic Batman vs. Mr. Freeze: Aquaman on Ice Theme: Super Heroes Subtheme: DC Universe Year of Release: 2013 Pieces: 198 Minifigs: 3 Price: $19.99 USD S@H description: Mr. Freeze has trapped Aquaman in a block of ice and only Batman can release him! Speed to the rescue in the powerful Batboat with exhaust flames, deploy the missiles and release the bombs to bust that block of ice. It's time to turn the heat up on Mr. Freeze! Includes 3 minifigures: white Arctic Batman, Mr. Freeze and Aquaman, all with assorted weapons. Brickset Bricklink Brickshelf The Box The box is the same size as that of all sets of this price range this year and it's very blue, which fits the winter theme well. It has a nice illustration of Batman in his nifty new arctic suit in the top right corner. The boxart shows our two heroes battling Mr. Freeze on what is presumably a frozen Gotham City Bay. My copy of this set appears to have a typo in the set title as it says "Artic Batman". Hopefully they'll catch on to this before these are widely released as it is quite embarrassing to have a typo right on the front of the box. The back of the box is mostly orange for some reason. It doesn't go very well with the winter theme, but it doesn't look bad. It shows an alternate action shot and all the play features. Contents Inside the box you'll find an instruction booklet, a relatively large sticker sheet, a comic book, and four bags. Surprisingly, none of them are numbered. The comic is about Batman's enemies escaping from Arkham and Batman, Robin, and Aquaman trying to stop them. There's also a short comic featuring the Tumbler and Bat, but it hardly has any story. The TDKR Bane on the cover looks a little out of place to me. The instructions also have an orange background which doesn't suit this set at all and is a bit distracting, but other than that the instructions are pretty easy to follow. As usual, there's a slight image of three figs from this wave in the top right corner of some of the pages: Aquaman, TDKR Batman, and Arkham Asylum Joker. Quite a random group of characters. I think it would have made more sense if it were the three figs from this set, but oh well. These are some of the notable pieces in this set. The long Ninjago blade appears for the first time in pearl silver and the rock piece comes in trans-light-blue for the first time. The colors of the big flame piece seemed different to me too, but it turns out they're the same. I think there was just a little more red mixed into it than usual. Minifigs The minifigures are the main selling point of this set as they are all new and exclusive. Batman comes in a new, mostly white suit that is supposed to keep him from freezing. I guess that makes him the Light Knight? He looks pretty cool, in every sense of the word, although this specific suit wont be very versatile. Mr. Freeze gets a complete redesign from his previous incarnation. The biggest difference is that he now sports a sand-blue Atlantis diver helmet. It looks pretty good and I really wanted to like this fig since Freeze is one of my favorite Bat-villains, but the face just ruins it for me. He looks more like an angry zombie than Mr. Freeze. He is supposed to be emotionless, so why is he so angry? And where are his goggles? Only the worst interpretations of this character didn't have goggles, so I really don't like that he doesn't have them. There are people who are fans of Aquaman, and then there are people who view him as a joke. Unfortunately, I am one of the latter. I can't believe that out of all the DC superheroes they could have put into this set, they chose Aquaman. I mean, he's just a guy who talks to fish! I would have much rather gotten Green Lantern, or the Flash, or Martian Manhunter, or anyone really. But I guess in the context of the set, it kinda makes sense for him to be included, and I find it pretty funny that TLG seems to think that he is a joke too since he merely plays the role of a damsel in distress in this set. It's even implied in the set name! I would probably feel warmer towards this minifig if it at least looked cool, but it doesn't. It looks like Aquaman, yes, but there's something about the face or the hair that makes him look too boyish. He looks more like Justin Bieber in pajamas than the king of Atlantis. I do like the printing on his torso though. Here are some reference images. Mr. Freeze seems to be based on his Arkham City design whereas Batman's Arctic suit originates from the The Batman cartoon. Aquaman is based on his usual comic appearance. They are all very accurate. Looking at them from the back, you can see that Aquaman also has some nice printing on his back. Batman with his white cape and cowl blends into my white background like a ninja! I have taken off his cape and cowl and Mr. Freeze's helmet so that you can see their back printing too. It's pretty detailed, and considering that they don't really need it, it's nice that TLG added it anyway. Mr. Freeze also has some great printing on the front. Batman and Aquaman have double sided heads with angry expressions. Mr. Freeze, however, doesn't. He's just angry all the time for some reason. This is very disappointing since they could have easily given him a second face too, one with a calm expression and perhaps even goggles. I really don't understand why they didn't do this. Here's a comparison with the old Mr. Freeze. I don't have the trans-clear helmet the old one is supposed to have, so I used the closest thing I had. The suit on the new one better, I think, and so does the freeze gun, although I kinda like the piece they used for the freeze beam on the old one better. Of course, if you have the old Mr. Freeze, you can easily swap their heads, and this is what you get. I think this combo looks very good and makes me wonder why they didn't go for a similar face design on the new head. Perhaps the new face could be explained like this: Here's a lineup of all of Batman's different suits so far. The Arctic suit fits in well with the rest. And here you can see Mr. Freeze next to the Atlantis divers. They look quite good together. One could almost think his suit is a left-over design from a scrapped wave of Atlantis sets. The Build The first thing you build is Mr. Freeze's freeze gun. It looks nice and retro. I like the energy cell attached to it, but I'm not too fond of the overall lance shape. Batman gets two of his usual black batarangs. This seems like a missed opportunity to make Batarangs in new colors like white or blue, but oh well. Aquaman fittingly comes with an Atlantis trident. Next, you build Aquaman's ice prison. The base is comprised of slopes and tiles. Then you put Aquaman in the middle and trap him inside the two rock pieces. See ya, fish whisperer. He fits inside easily, but it can be difficult to close the trap when he is carrying his trident. Overall, the ice block looks pretty good, but I think I prefer the marbled rock pieces from the old Batcave set. In order to save him from becoming a fish-stick, you simply push down the white tab on the side. Since the rock pieces are only attached by one stud, it works fairly well. Then comes the main part of the build, the Batboat. Here's a picture of it in mid-build. As usual, there several randomly colored pieces used during the build, but most of them become invisible in the finished model. And here it is, the completed Batboat! I must say, it looks even better in person than on the official pictures! It looks pretty good from the back too! Like Aquaman, this batboat is almost identical to the one from the videogame Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes which is pretty neat. The differences are only very minor. Here's a shot of it from the front which has the obligatory Bat-logo sticker. And here it is from the back. Don't get too close to that exhaust port! It looks very sleek and streamlined from the side. There is a clip on each side for attaching the Batarangs which I really like. So far, none of the Batvehicles have had any place to store those things. Much like the Batwing, the Batboat has the shape of a bat when looking at it from above. The "bat ears" are only attached by a hinge and tend to snap off when moved sideways, but they can just as easily be snapped back on. Play Features The Batboat has several features. The cockpit opens up and there is a steering wheel and two control panels inside. It's kind of a tight fit, though, and it's impossible to seat batman inside without wrinkling his cape. Each side of the boat has a pin for shooting discs which I guess are supposed to be some kind of heat-batarangs. It works well and the discs shoot pretty far. On the back, it has two bombs which can be deployed by simply pushing them off the stud they're attached to. It's pretty low-tech, but it works. You can also spin the engine flame. The Complete Set Here's the full set. I think it all fits together nicely. You get a cool vehicle, a nice piece of exploding scenery, and three exclusive figures. It's a worthy opponent to its Marvel counterpart, Spider-Man's Spider-Cycle Chase. Ratings Design: 5/5 - I love the Batboat. It's so sleek and swooshable. It looks like a bat and has several play features, including Batarang holders. I think it's my favorite Batvehicle so far. The block of ice looks good too. Build: 4/5 - The build is varied, not repetitive, and overall quite satisfying. It's a bit of a pain to put on all those stickers though. Minifigs: 4/5 - The minifigs are pretty good for the most part. Arctic Batman looks great and Aquaman looks decent too, although the choice of hair piece could have been better. Mr. Freeze looks pretty good in his Arkham City style suit, but they really screwed up on his head in my opinion. Playability: 5/5 - Like I said before, the Batboat is very swooshable and has 2 disc shooters and 2 bombs. What more could you want? The exploding feature of the ice block is nice too. Parts: 4/5 - You get a good variety of useful parts, some of them in rare colors. Price: 4/5 - 198 pieces is a decent amount for a $20 set, especially a licensed one. Overall: 4.5/5 - This set is a good value. It gives you one of Batman's signature vehicles from the videogame, an exploding piece of scenery, Batman in one of his special suits, a new Mr. Freeze (who will go nicely with the upcoming Arkham Asylum), and another hero to add to your Lego Justice League, as useless as he may be. It's a good buy for Batman fans of all ages and a very fitting set to build during the winter season. The only thing that keeps it from being great are Mr. Freeze's and Aquaman's terrible heads, but that's just my opinion. I hope you enjoyed this review and that it was helpful to you. And to finish it off, here's one more Aquaman joke: Are You Friggin Kidding Me? by Oky - Space Ranger, on Flickr
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Here is the result of spending a few restful days at the seaside with a handful of arctic sets: the Goliath, a heavy arctic snowcat. It is built from parts coming from the other arctic vehicles in order to combine some of their play features. Arctic team in action by Veynom, on Flickr The Goliath is great at crossing any kind of difficult landscape: Goliath in Action by Veynom, on Flickr Arctic Goliath Snowcat by Veynom, on Flickr The Goliath is packed with many features; - forward cab to host the driver and an additional passenger with room for some equipment as well; - large storage compartiment in the centre to put 2 crates; - fully equipped lab at the rear side; - tow cable; - Plenty of powerful lights to enlighten the arctic night; - remote camera on the roof; - Additional storage locations around the vehicle to clip many different tools; - radar and radio antennas. Rien de tel pour épauler l'équipe : Goliath deployed. by Veynom, on Flickr Here is the lab: Inside the Goliath by Veynom, on Flickr More pictures: Arctic Goliath Snowcat by Veynom, on Flickr Arctic Goliath Snowcat by Veynom, on Flickr Arctic team in action by Veynom, on Flickr I know making an arctic vehicle during summer and taking pictures on the beach is not perfect as background for the model, sadly, I can't change sand into snow. ;) Arctic team in action by Veynom, on Flickr Arctic Goliath by Veynom, on Flickr I love holidays. I hope you enjoy yours as well.
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Introduction This is the translation of my russian review for this set. Unfortunately for me, my English is not so good as I would like it to be. So I will use this to practice in writing. Set Information Number: 60191 Title: Arctic Exploration Team Theme: Arctic Expedition Released: 2018 Part Count: 70 Minifig Count: 3 Box Weight: 116 g (approx) Box Dimensions: 15.7 x 14.1 x 4.5 cm Set Price (RRP): $ 9.99 Price per Part: $ 0.14 Links: Brickset, Bricklink, Bricker Review Areas of eternal winter were attracting people for centuries, and one day explorers have conquered them. Now it is minifigures turn. Again. As I think, the return of the Arctic theme was positively accepted, by... Everyone. First LEGO-appearance of an arctic crew is an old space subtheme Ice Planet 2002, which was out in 1993-1994, and was remembered for neon orange. Next, come Arctic in 2000 году with new interesting caps, and then Arctic again, but now as the modern City subtheme in 2014. And now, 4 years later new City subtheme "Arctic Expedition" returns us harsh ice and blizzard, that we were waiting for. LEGO City continues re-issue lineup, the year before it was Miners, soon we will get new Space return, but now we will talk about the Arctic. I had been boiling over about new city themes already, what jungles can be found in CITY, but we will leave this for the conscience of LEGO marketing. I believe, that every one of us, adults, have still a child inside, who dreams of exploring the Arctic, and LEGO has given us a small part of that childish dream. As usually for last years, LEGO has made a mini-movie about them, which is strongly tied with Mountain police, we could say, that they killed two mammoths with one helicopter. Everyone who likes LEGO animation should see it. And now we are back to our arctic explorers, they have gone to the expedition, but not going to last there for long, because in contrast with previous themes, there is no Arctic base, only transport. Hero of the current review is "starter" set, 60191 - "Arctic Exploration Team". Starting with 2018, "starter" sets have lost that name and now have normal ones. As you can see from the box, as in 60091 (i have made made a review in russian before), the fourth team member has been replaced with an animal, in this specific case, it's a dog, man's best friend. :) Let's see, what is going on in Far North areas. In our journey, brave arctic explorers will accompany us. I am pretty sure that you know them all. But anyway, the first one whom I will present you is ... SNOWMOBILE DRIVER! And where is the standing ovation? Okay, I agree, that fact that LEGO now doesn't give names to ordinary minifigures is bad. So we will call him - Max Speed. It looks pretty lego way. Interesting torso, jacket with colourful sleeves. This theme is the storehouse for winter clothes collection. More details about it later. The new racing helmet had appeared in 2018, and available in only two tones of blue, and it is very good. Here we could find it in interesting and beautiful Dark Azure. Mask had old history and firstly was used as goggles for rebels on Hoth. Interesting turn, it was started as something for cold weather, and now it is again arctic protection goggles. Unfortunately, they could be reclined. In the behind, you can see the drawn hood. Legs without print, an advantage, no cut printed objects. I like it. Let's keep moving. Famous in all LEGO CITY... EXPLORER! They are kidding, no name again. So let it be Joanna Mosquito. All faces in this set are one-sided, although everyone has fully covering headgears, so I don't understand the reason for not giving us dual faces. Great dark azure outfit. The cap has appeared in 2010! in the second series of collectable minifigures. And it hasn't become common in the last years. To get it in that colour you had only the option buy one of the sets from this theme. Or Bricklink it of course. Protective glasses are drawn on the face, if we had dual face she could take them off sometimes. At the behind, we could see some sensor, or thermometer, or walkie talkie with number 35. I don't know what it means, but anyway, it isn't cut, leg colour matches jacket print - everything is awesome. Honestly, I like winter outfits from this series very much. And now the person who shows us everything in this mission: PHOTOGRAPH. Let him be - Ivan Flash (or maybe even Flashov). Ivan is a full-time photographer of this mission. Except in this set, he can be found only in 60194. Ushanka - is the jewel of this theme. As soon as I saw it, I knew that I must have it. Ushanka is a new mold, and available in two colours. Red one in this set, and in 60194, and dark azure in 60192 and 60195. Maybe your opinion differs, but for me, the red one is more realistic and interesting than the azure one. Notice another colour of gloves, small and simple detail, but it strongly influences perception. Accurate prints are awesome, but I'm a little confused, that these jackets, that our heroes wear, are good for warm winter, not for Far North terrific cold weather. Previous arctic themes provided more realistic wearings. But who cares, we got many beautiful and interesting clothes for LEGO City winter. And the last one from the arctic team is ... HUSKY DOG, named... let him me Buddy, I'm currently tight with imagination. Tail ring, interesting uneven colour. Buddy is a beautiful dog. It's a pity that there is only one dog in a set, so we can't make a dog sled. Buddy was on a previous expedition (60036), so he got old, and instead of carrying a dog sled, he wanders around, helping explorers not to miss anything. In the mini-movie he had a fluffy tail, it seemed interesting, but we got what we got. An important part of all such sets is a transport. Not, really, why we should have transport in EVERY such set. Even in 60091 robot can be used for transporting. Here we got the snowmobile. It is very powerful, not a car, Beast. 40 Lego horses inside. Max can break through any blizzard on it. Although it's capacity of two passengers, doesn't make it the best transporting device for THREE people and a dog. But we get one person transport in such sets usually, so it isn't so bad. Tracks are made using technic beams, - good choice IMO. Forward skids are pretty big. They had appeared in the last Arctic, but they have been recoloured for this theme, now they are Dark Blue, so if you need them in these colours, prepare your wallets for Arctic sets. I can't fail to note the succession of logos with logo from 2014. See yourself. The only star, most possibly North Star above the ice caps. The previous logo had planet beneath, now only mountains may be flat earth supported have found a place in LEGO :) Also, there is a sled trailer. The team often sends Ivan there, one reason is that there isn't much sense in photographer in a blizzard, and the second one is that he is Russiam, everybody knows that Russians don't afraid of cold, also he is the only one to have Ushanka, that gives additional cold resist points. We got snowshoes, they are mostly worn (Snow, suddenly). The only question is why we got only one pair for the team of three. Snowshoes also is a heritage from the last expedition. But they were in so bad state, so our team had to repaint them. I think old reddish brown was more logical. They haven't appeared in non-arctic series, except one appearance in 10246 "Detective's Office" pretending they are fan's blades. Small snow piece of ice - one of the reasons for this expedition. They are searching for frozen fauna. To cut through thick ice, Joanna had special LEGO manufactured electric saw, you can easily find manufacturers name on the saw's disk. Forward ice piece can be easily "sawed" away, adding playing moment to this set. Inside we found a small piece of ice, with frozen insect looking like a mosquito. Is it a prequel for Jurassic Park? And here we find out why we need the photographer: capture this epochal discovery, and help Joanna to get photographs with beautiful snow bokeh. :) So here goes the whole set. It is small, and mostly is minifigure source, but minifigures here are awesome. The official price is around the price of two collectable bags. For this price you will have three awesome figures, each of them could easily take place in the collectable series. An interesting moment, the box's front shows Ivan wearing snowshoes, but in instructions, you should put them on Joanna. I can't remember was there differences like this with the front box image before. Most possible were. Maybe someone can provide me with examples. I immediately liked this set, and it hasn't disappointed me. Another Arctic return hadn't brought something new, and look mostly like remade jungles, but it's a depository of interesting parts. Unfortunately, they have changed colour theme again, but arctic bright orange looks much better than Jungle bright yellow. So until the next time LEGO everyone ^_^ p.s. Because we have snowmobile capacity problem, maybe we should convert sled trailer to dog sled, and put Buddy in it.
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Mr. Freeze is back! And no, this time he is not to freeze anyone, but to free his frozen wife Nora Fries, and let her enjoy the city like normal people. However, he must first freeze the entire Gotham first! His new machine Arctic Core is a hovercraft, and the turret-like equipment is actually a drill! Don't laugh at a non-rotatable turret because it is not really a turret, but a game changer! While it can fire freeze ray to straight-on targets, it can also freeze the ground, turning the ground into ice and letting the air drill crack the ground open. Then, his secret cryogeneration core can then be injected into the ground and let it slowly turn the surrounding into ice! Gradually, the Gotham city will finally become an ice world, where he and his wife can live forever without the cage or suit! Now Batman has to find a way to stop him! (Flickr: https://www.flickr.c...57648641659087/ ) Complete set, with Nora Fries in the cryogenics chamber waiting to be freed. The cockpit, in which Mr. Freeze controls the ship... This is the mobile mode. The two turbines (rotatable) can be flipped up and the ship can move at full speed now. Batman, run! View the ship upfront... From the side, Action Mode vs Mobile Mode The two sides of the ship are hovering devices. Moving on the ice or snow will never be a problem now... Batman this time has to deal with two villains, one of ice and one of fire. How is he going to prepare for the battle? Thank you!
