Vectormatic

Honestly though, trying to keep the copycats at bay this way is pointless too. Those guys can ramp up incredibly quickly, and at some point lego has to spill the beans anyway, and the people wanting to buy a $99 clone arent going to buy the $400 set from lego themselves at launch, just because the clone is a few weeks away. I think lego being this secretive to try and prevent copycats is ridiculous, it stops no-one, and certainly wont convince people who fled to the copycats because of lego's pricetag. Either way, leaks/pics are going to be months away i suppose, which is fine, we should be seeing the Ducati soon enough anyway.

If you want to make it respond relatively slowly to input, you could also take the switched setup pictured above, and use the small compressor pump with a hand crank, that would save a lot of space over a large pump and airtank setup

Meh, psuedo licensing has been a thing for ages. Even if it doesnt carry the brand, a set like 8440 is pretty much a Ferrari 640 F1 car. and there are plenty of other examples where a lego set captures just enough elements of one specific model or brand to at least evoke a connection. The lack of B-models is indeed a bit of an issue, but so far licensed sets seem pretty decent in terms of technic, and personally i really like the fact that ill be able to add a lamborghini Sian to the display later this year, rather then some generic GTA-esque almost-but-not-quite clone of a lambo.

Promobricks mentions a 79,99 euro price in germany, not sure how that translates to AUD/CAD, im expecting 80-90 EUR list price here in the netherlands, so with a discount 70-80 (looking at the mustang being only 11% below MSRP right now)

Personally id expect them to use flex axles and perhaps a strategically placed 3x13 curved panel for the wheel arch, another bespoke part would be pretty much useless for anything except these very pointy nosed supercars. @Jaromir Interesting that the Chiron is too low, that means the Lambo should be roughly the same height in lego form, just a tad wider and 8 studs longer.

Interesting observations on the size, it should indeed be ~8 studs longer, 1 wider and ~1.5-2 lower then the Chiron (if the Chirons dimensions correctly follow the real deal) Looking at the profile shots, i think if they want to do the real car justice, they will have to find another solution for the front wheel arches then the normal porsche wheel arche, that would be too bulky around the top of the arch.

I dont think that is a given, C+ limits options in terms of B-models, but something like that dump truck would pretty much have the exactly same options for motorization as a hauler, drive, steering and tipping the bed, implementing it all in such a way that the app has the same effect without knowing whether it is driving the A or B model should be doable.

@agrof wicked! that thing looks insane

@Kaanere AFAIK the real 911 doesnt have double wishbone suspension either, and that pic of the lambo suspension is double wishbone, just with the shock driven via pushrod rather then directly between one of the wishbones (or the upright) and the body. As for engine bits, im going to absolutely throw a fit if they introduce new engine parts just to reduce the size, but dont add stuff for more accurate crank layouts other then the normal flat plane crank. As it is the engine bits are very decently scaled to these 1:8 cars, they are even too small. I did the match for the GT3RS once, if scaled to 1:8, the displacement of the 6 cils comes out to 1.6L, rather then the 4.0 it should be on the car. Granted, the blocks around the cylinder might be a bit more chunky then in real life, but real life engines also have a LOT more ancillaries bolted on, heads, manifolds, alternator, starter motor, various pumps. If they want to make the engine better on these UCS cars, smaller part is NOT the way to go

That looks plenty quick for a model of the scale, i might be misjudging the scale, but it looks a good bit quicker then 3.5kmh

Depends, im a car guy and know my way around the tech inside (partially thanks to lego technic), but there are plenty of guys who just care about a cool looking porsche, without knowing exactly how it all works. And even if you know how to fix things, in some builds making a mistake can be quite costly. While building the bugatti, i wanted to test the driveline after the gearbox, engine and axles were connected (the earliest point at which you can really test anything), and it looked like something was wrong. Due to the way the car is built, at that point correcting a mistake would mean taking apart 4 hours of work. Luckily it turns out i was testing it wrong (putting L motor power through the white slip gear), but if i'd put in the rear diff the wrong way around, resulting in front and back wheels turning opposite ways, i would have been absolutely pissed at having to take all of that apart again. On a simple build like 42075, a reversed diff would have no effect, and correcting it would take less then a minute anyway, not so on these UCS builds

a 14 year old who has been building technic for years wont screw that up (because he screwed it up in an earlier, easier to dismantle/fix build), your non-AFOL carguy might screw it up though And even without that set-specific target audience, lego builds/instructions have been dumbed down since we were young anyway

I think calling these UCS level set "for children, teenagers at best" a bit inaccurate. Sure, Lego is a toy, Technic isnt any different at that, but a €400 set isnt exactly kids stuff, even Lego themselves advise it for 16+. And while there will off course be plenty of kids lucky enough to unwrap a Chiron on their birthday, i'd be willing to bet the majority of Chiron went to 20+ buys, either AFOLs like us, or car guys which got dragged in by the porsche/bugatti branding, or just adults with a case of the nostalgias. If we're talking the sub €200 sets, sure, holding 42096 to AFOL standards is kinda missing the point, its a cool racercar with some technic features, which would blow the socks off of most kids lucky enough to get one. We arent the target market. The same also kind of goes for the UCS cars though, 42056 was a big hit with non AFOL porsche fans, and those dont care about gearbox order, they are amazed to have moving gears and piston in the first place.

@therealjustin bright green is 42039 right? That would be pretty bad on a lambo, or even any supercar. Ideally speaking, yeah, lime green that sucker!

Man, as long as it is actually green and not landrover olive, im happy As for the F&F thing, black and vintage just screams Dom's Charger. Not my first pick from the range, but ill happily take it if its done well (on that note, if they do a charger, i wonder if its hard to colour swap it to the general lee)

I wouldnt know how to implement a leaf spring with current lego elements without getting well into "this might break in kids hands" territory, and for custom new parts i think the business case is quite difficult. The current small shocks share sub components through various hardnesses, and are easier to tweak into specific loads by changing the length of the arm from the fulcrum. leafsprings would be very much tuned for a single load/springrate and making it out of modular subcomponents so they can be changed seems quite difficult to do without it getting either very large, or quite fragile.

Ironically, the A25G should use porsche wheel arches, as it has rounded arches

You mean the black edge? I dont think that would look out of place on any vehicle using this type of arch, id be more upset if they'd printed "VOLVO" or something across them.

Yellow landy wheel arches, i approve! Otherwise ill refrain from commenting, i dont care about loaders :P

The three line graphic is only found in red on the Aventador though, while it is white/blueish in the teaser, like it is in the Sian headlights. Dont get me wrong, im with @therealjustin in prefering a lime green Aventador SVJ, but i just dont see an Aventador happening, it is very much nearing its end of life (i wouldnt be surprised if we saw its succesor this year), and while the SVJ is quite special, the Aventador isnt a limited run car. Now the 911 GT3RS isnt as limited/special as the Chiron either, but it was Porsche's hardcore halo model at the time, and the 911 is 100% the first thing in anyones mind when you say "porsche", the only Lambo that is that iconic might be the Countach. Honestly, if this isnt the Sian, my money would be on Lambo presenting the Aventador's succesor in Geneva (march) and it being that.

Dont get your hopes up, Lego isnt suddenly going to take the UCS mold (impressive looks and partcount, features barely functional and only really impressive to people who havent touched technic in 20 years) and take this thing to the max with fancy new diffs and whatever. If there is indeed a better shock in the Ducati and that is used to keep suspension sag away this time, ill already be positively surprised. Realisticly im expecting just a small evolutionary step from the Chiron, just like the Chiron was from the Porsche, expecting more is setting yourself up for disappointment

@Seasider UCS 2022, my vote is for the VW Up :P Kidding aside, i dont really care about new parts etc.. either. The AFOl community has proven that for sets like these, if there are problem, we WILL fix it, so as long as the base is solid and the colour is reasonable, it'll be fine.

My 42036 still has the standard swingarm, i might give modding that a try, but im affraid that if i want enough structural rigidity it will end up very bulky on one side. And personally, i just hope they nail it with 42107, i think the non branded sets are a good candidate for modding (42036 always screamed ducati to me, so i figured i would turn it into one), but if it sayd Ducati on the box, and we're paying for that, it should pretty much be as good as it gets in trying to be a proper panigale V4

Apparently the Bell VTOL contains a new panel, like the curved panel introduced in 42039 (and used in the roof of pretty much any car since) but with a tapered edge, check out the topic for a sketch from someone who saw the sets in real life.

I think the big new supercar was pretty much common knowledge, im not sure how anyone can be underwhelmed by something that was already a given, especially seeing how well the porsche and bugatti sold. As for the Volvo/cement truck, i dont really have an opinion there, it isnt something i really care about. Honestly though, we get an H2 with something like 6 sets, with stuff to please pretty much everyone, the motorcycle guys get a Ducati, the movie/tunercar guys get a Supra, the UCS-car guys get a Lambo, the aviation guys the Osprey and for the construction/industrial equipment we get a cement truck and a big motorized volvo set (and IIRC, stuff like 42030 and other such get well received) Pretty much the only thing missing is a big crane, which we still have in the form of 42082 (and 42097 and 42108) Personally i cant remember an H2 which i liked better, if the supra is any good this year will end up costing me €500+ in H2 stuff alone (and pretty much €0 from H1)