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BrickMonkeyMOCs

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Everything posted by BrickMonkeyMOCs

  1. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    First video of the McLaren F1 car. Looks like the nose slope is indeed a print:
  2. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    Here's an early review I found. There are a few more prints than I thought, but the white-printed-on-red is apparently pinkish rather than opaque. The steering and engine look good, though the skinny rear tires and stickers on both display plaques are not great.
  3. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    I think one further oversight in this set, given how only a couple of the minifigures can be placed inside the cockpit, is the absence of 2x3 minifig display plates for the remaining figures. This would have been a very easy and inexpensive addition.
  4. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    You're welcome, and thanks for your reply. It's great that you are still happy to support customers so long after the set has released. Yes, you are right! I had that part built incorrectly. Unfortunately, fixing this still didn't really help with the sagging of the engine cover, so I've reinstalled the 3mm rigid hose connection. This continues to add a lot of rigidity to the engine cover, however it then started coming apart at the axle connections underneath the black liftarms framing the engine window. What is needed to prevent this is a connection from these liftarms to the connection points below (towards the flag-end of the window). See below: I've found two possible solutions to this, one purist and one not. The purist solution uses plus 3L pins (in place of the 3/4 pins). This works, but pushes the tip of each red panel above slightly upwards so it doesn't sit flush with the black liftarm framing the window. The non-purist solution fixes this, using instead, with the long end pushing through the center of each 3/4 pin below. The non-purist part is that the extending long ends need to be cut short to avoid hitting the engine below. Here's a picture of this solution implemented along with the 3mm rigid hose reconnected at the top of the engine window (I'll be swapping the cut grey bars to black as soon as I can get some):
  5. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    I've bought the Cada version (though I'm still waiting on my Nifeliz custom rims). Overall the set is an engineering masterpiece and I'm very happy with the product and value. The functions are superb and the panel work to replicate the real car is just as incredible. However, the set does have some issues that need addressing, mainly with a few very fragile areas, the front wheel wells, and the engine cover, so I thought I'd share the problems I've found along with the fixes implemented. I expect the designer, T-Lego, is well aware of these points (likely the result of translating from Lego to Cada parts for production), but other customers may benefit from these suggestions and I'd be curious to know if others here have had a similar experience. I'll start with the minor stuff first. 1. I personally don't mind the Cada solution to the gauge cluster, but I didn't like the dark grey and have switched it back to black. The removable winder for the HOG steering and front ride height also benefits from a colour change from tan to black. 2. Differing mold types required red pins connecting the flex axles for the door-windows, which I've switched back to black Lego pins (they are also not in full click position, which happens in a couple of places in the model). A major fragile area here though was the headrests on the seats, which kept falling off whenever I operated the doors. So I've reduced the height of each headrest by one stud (using a black 1x2 ingot to retain the hollow area). 3. The small section at the center top rear of the engine cover (just behind the Italian flag) was incredibly fragile, popping off constantly, so a redesign here is needed to use a bit more Technic and a bit less System for a stronger connection. This change (along with point 6 below) also allows the engine cover to be lifted by gripping here instead of having to grab the fenders from each side. 4. A final fragile section is the System-built insert at the rear between the diffuser flaps. Filling in some of the hollow area inside and behind this helps to prevent the section from collapsing and falling off when bumped. (I don't remember where I got this printed tile, but it looks appropriate here.) 5. My biggest initial disappointment with the set was finding that the brilliant steering and dynamic suspension on the front axle couldn't be properly enjoyed or shown off because the front wheels were immediately hitting the wheel wells at both the front and rear. At the front an easy fix is to add a spacer as seen below (I've used a silver #11010 ring, but a half bush should work too). At the rear I replaced the red 6L axles holding the red tail-fins with 5L axles (or 2L + 3L axles and a red axle joiner). This lets this whole section be angled outwards a little more without popping off the #15068 2x2 slope behind it. 6. The other major issue I had was with the overall stability and functioning of the engine cover. The panel-work is impressive but the whole thing was very flimsy and would drop by about 15-20degrees after being fully opened. I found an easy fix is to use 3mm rigid hose to connect the top-left and -right sections to the central top section of the hinge assembly. There is only a small initial difference in alignment, and it was this gap that would enlarge greatly with the sagging of the opened engine cover. With this fix the engine cover stays fully up when opened and feels much more sturdy to operate. The designer, TLego, spoke of a possible V3 version which may implement fixes for most or all of these points, but with the current V2 edition the above should give you some idea of what you may want to modify. I should also reiterate that I think this is a fantastic overall build, and I am very happy it has been made available in mass-produced form at an affordable price.
  6. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    Really impressed with Creator sets this year. The camera is great and so is the Truck with Helicopter, though I prefer the latter with a matching color scheme for the helicopter:
  7. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    The tan, white, and LBG are all fine. There's no need to make any changes there. I don't have many black 3L pins so I only replace those sparingly. Here I swapped out the two blue 3L pins in the front landing gear, and if I were to rebuild it I'd probably swap out the visible blue 3L pins in the lower front wing roots too (steps 113 & 114). (There is definitely some consistent warping in the wing blades, but it is pretty minor and doesn't bother me.)
  8. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    I swapped out all the red, yellow, and lime parts, plus the four orange tow ball/bars. You're right about production colors being a potential limitation, but that doesn't explain things like the lime parts and the 2L/6L axles here which are all already included in this very same set in far more suitable colors. On the positive side, the model looks really good with the parts swapped out, and the functions are some of the best I've ever seen.
  9. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    While waiting for the arrival of my preordered set I downloaded the instructions to see how much work will be involved in removing internal color vomit - particularly the red and yellow parts visible from the outside of the completed model in the Technic wing mechanism. I already have enough spares to cover everything but the red ball-pins, which I bought in black months ago, but I still object to paying premium Lego prices for a model that has 120-odd parts in bright colors for no good reason, on a ship that is meant to be grey and black. An adult-targeted premium set like this shouldn't need this level of modification just to be displayable. I know it's done to make the build process easier for new builders, but the instructions these days are already very easy to follow, and it's going too far when the visual quality of the built model is compromised to this extent. That said, I'm very much looking forward to the build, which going by all reviews appears to be very sturdy with great functions.
  10. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    Could the new dark orange colour we are seeing across the 2024 system sets be something introduced for an upcoming 1:8 McLaren?
  11. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    Thank you for sharing this! Their Tornado Hubs look like they'd be a good upgrade for the Lego Sian too.
  12. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    There's Pirelli branding (and tire side-printing) on the upcoming Speed Champions McLaren F1 car.
  13. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    Full pics are out courtesy of BrickTastic: https://www.bricktastic.net/lego/lego-technic-42171-mercedes-amg-f1-w14-e-performance/ But what's with the big hump on the nose in front of the driver? It looks like the car has been driven into a wall and crumpled up. Also, no tire printing but lots of stickers. Real Car for comparison:
  14. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    New pics are out. It does look better from above, and has a nice display stand. But the nose and wheels are still an issue.
  15. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    Looks perfectly fine to me.
  16. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    Oh no, this looks terrible. My hopes were high for this one too. Very disappointing.
  17. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    Okay. Thanks for replying.
  18. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    Any news on this? I don't want to buy the V2 if an improved V3 is due out at any moment, but then I don't want to miss out entirely if the V3 isn't happening.
  19. BrickMonkeyMOCs
  20. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    Thank you very much for this. I'm happy to wait until the December V3 version is available. Will it be made apparent on the official website when the V3 has replaced the V2 as the model being sold? Or will you need to let us know here once CaDa have made this change?
  21. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    After being impressed with the quality of the CADA Alfa Romeo F1 set, I'm keen to make your excellent Viva Hypercar my next 'Technic' purchase. I'm just wondering which version is currently being sold through the official CADA store, and whether any 'fixes' will be required or are recommended? Is the final V3 version you mention here now being sold? Should I anticipate having to correct the gearbox, engine cover, dashboard, or anything else? And is it worth swapping out the gear selectors for Lego wave selectors? Or is the current version pretty much good-to-go from out of the box? Thanks in advance, and congrat's again on such an outstanding model.
  22. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    Wow, the Concorde set is fantastic. Best set of the year for me (beating out the Land Rover Defender and Peugeot 9x8 Hypercar). It's certainly big, but not really any bigger than I was expecting it to be based on pictures. The functionality is superb, but what really impresses with this set is just how solid and sturdy the build is despite its long and thin needle-like shape. It really is a masterclass in design and building techniques. More like this please, Lego.
  23. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    I've received and built the CaDA Alfa Romeo F1 car. It's an exquisite model and I was entirely satisfied with the purchase. (For context, this was my first non-Lego Technic set, though I have plenty of experience with non-Lego System products.) The packaging was very nice, with a glossy embossed image of the car on the matte black box lid. The instructions were detailed and easy to follow, with only a couple of minor errors. The parts quality is all but indistinguishable from Lego to be honest, and I really enjoyed CaDA's use of in-system parts that Lego do not yet produce (e.g. 1x10 tiles, 1x7 Technic bricks with offset holes). I can't speak to the quality of the stickers as I won't be applying them, but the print quality of the wheels, tires, and UCS-style plaque is excellent. The steering and suspension work perfectly. It's a little unfortunate that the engine ends up hidden, and I also had to switch out the half-pin pistons for Lego parts, as the CaDA half-pins have too much friction to work as intended. I found it a little odd that the bags are numbered 1-4 while the BI building stages are labelled A-D. I also ended up with two large steering wheels as unused spares, which seems odd as this part isn't used anywhere in the build. But I have very little I can say against the set. It's a truly spectacular display model, looking great even unstickered with those amazing printed tires and rims. It also costs (NZ)$100 less than the Lego Technic McLaren F1 car, and is a vastly superior product in almost every respect. I'd say Lego have some serious catching up to do.
  24. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    Is this one of your designs? If so, congratulations. It really puts the Lego McLaren to shame with those tires and rims, and the body shaping and overall design looks significantly better too. Before I place an order, could you confirm for me if there are any other printed elements in the set, or if the rest of the body work is stickered?
  25. BrickMonkeyMOCs
    I think a lot of what I miss from the original submission is the striking combination of primary colours. Losing the red and yellow of the ladybug and bee really detracts from that for me, though I can acknowledge this to be a highly subjective thing.
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