Vectormatic

I like that a lot, and im extremely happy to see that the proportions (width/height/length) are pretty close to spot-on. I think though, that while the outer dimensions line up, lego models in general are a tad more bulky, resulting in tires looking undersized, even if they are exactly right. I did the same math for 42096 after many people claimed the wheels are too small, while in fact the wheels are only 0.8 mm off when taken to a 1:10 scale, which the model is (despite it being too long), the wheel arches are a bit too wide though, and lego is a bit bulky, so they end up looking too small. Im quite hyped for the new wave of SC cars, even if i probably will only end up buying the F8 and GT-R, they look absolutely amazing for such a small scale, the level of detail is something we could only dream off a few years ago.

I know that, i literally said that in the line after the one you quoted.

Damnit, i just realised the hood on the GT-R is probably printed, which ruins my idea of leaving all the nismo stickers of to make it more of a road-tuned GT-R... The easy fix off course is just ordering a non-printed hood, but i'd prefered the option to just take the basic set and delete a few stickers. Same goes for the Audi hood, although building an Audi Quattro roadcar from that would require more work anyway, given the bodykit.

Haha, i wasnt entirely serious with the "more importantly" bit, sorry if that didnt come across. Off course this is an extremely minor thing, especially since the wheel covers tend to obscure most of the wheel/brake disc anyway. I just appreciate the added bit of detail, its good to see details being upped on all aspects of the SC designs, comparing the F8 to for instance the first year 458GT2, we've come quite a long way.

Interesting work! I wonder if this is directly the efficiency curve of the motor, or whether the gearing has a variable efficiency based on the amount of torque/weight involved (my guess is that at least the spool axle has increasing friction losses with more weight)

Lol, this set is really catching a lot of flak. Personally i dont think it is all entirely deserved though, it does look pretty cool, but yeah, lego missed some tricks here

More importantly, the brake disc pattern has been changed, the old SC wheels had grooved discs moulded into them, the new ones have grooved and drilled discs! The ferrari looks quite good, and indeed, the missing backseat on the jag is a massive missed opportunity, but i assume it will be quite possible to mod that in.

If he sold his 009 for a good price, he should be able to buy two 108s, or perhaps even three on a good sale, so there is that, 2 >1 right? :P On another note, does anyone know when we can expect review? in previews years ive seen reviews pop up early december, but ive got a feeling we will be waiting a good bit longer this year.

Ill agree with you wholeheartedly, that for Technic as a theme and an educational device, B-models are very valuable, i do remember frequently rebuilding models as a kid into B or C models (and back into A etc..) And indeed it is a thing i would look for as a parent when buying sets for my kids (my oldest bought 42084 from her allowance and insistend on building the B-model straight out of the box), so maybe in a more objective vision, 42108 is indeed worse then i personally perceive it to be. I still think both in terms of looks and features, it absolutely trumps a set like 42077, which has a similar parts-count and price. As for discussing the set itself, i think the manual slew is my biggest gripe, i havent bough any technic crane (ever :O ), but i would be interested in jumping on one if a good one comes along (only narrowly missed out on 42042 due to a lack of determination/funds at the time), but it really seems to me that geared slew should absolutely be on the list of any technic crane ever (exceptions to be made for the $10 sub 200 parts sets perhaps)

@agrof fair points, Personally i dont care for B-models much these days, as they always look much more compromised then the A-model to me, i tend not to have any interest in them. That is personal preference too i guess, and i fully understand that it is hard to swallow on an unlicensed crane like this set. That said, im not sure a B-model like the last cranes (42082, 42042, 42097) had is of any real value. Going back to my childhood my favorite B-model was the white hovercraft which turned into a helicopter, far more diverse then a slightly different type of crane built on the same chassis. Im sure the AFOL community will come up with a B-model for this set, and looking at recent B/C models, it will probably surpass whatever lego would have come up with.

@agrof Im just reading back a bit and came across your "worst model in the last decade" line, and while i will agree this model is far from excellent, i dont think it stands a chance against the stinkers that are 42077, 42076, 42070, a whole bunch of pullback racers and lets not forget 2019s cherry picker re-release... (ill admit though, it was harder then i thought to find sets that are really actually bad)

Tells you something about Lego and their position in the market doesnt it? Even in a strictly policied community of loyal AFOLs, the though police isnt strong enough anymore to stop people from not only privately considering clone brands, but also publicly discussing, as soon as there is a pretext for discussion. Personally im not okay with 1:1 copies of official sets, but for instance CADA sets all seem to be in-house designed (even if some are pretty similar to MOCs, like the porsche 919, but that uses some non-standard parts, so cant be a 1:1 moc ripoff either), and im totally fine with that. Some may argue to skirt close to licensing-issues with a very much lambo-like set without actually licensing lambo, but lego does/did the same, the prelim pics for 42039 were pretty much 1:1 Audi R18

@Cumulonimbus All four of the sets you mention are H2 sets in their respective years, and this has certainly been a trend, H1 gets the low end of the line-up, with a single ~$100 set (42000, 42039, 42066, 42077, 42096 and now 42108), the rest being smaller less compex sets (pullbacks, motorcycles etc..), while H2 gets the big boy sets, the Claas, the crawler crane, the various Volvos, the BWE, 42099, the Liebherr, the Arocs etc... H1 has been underwhelming to AFOLs since i got back in the hobby (around 42000) I do agree that there is general trend though, take 42000, 42039, 42077 and 42096, all sets i consider to be a single lineage. 42000 looked cool, had pushrod suspension and two gearbox driven features with LAs besides the normal steering, springs and fake engine. 42039 retains most of those, but swap the pushrod for the regular double wishbone suspension, and imho looks a bit less authentic. 42077 then... loses the two features, so is just suspension, steering and fake engine in a "pretty" dress (42037 had the same features for nearly half the price), 42096 then takes the same technic complexity and adds 50% in parts and price for just looks... Part counts have been going up, technical complexity hasnt followed proportionally, and due to sets getting bigger and heavier, we see lego hit the limits of what mechanically work with these materials, so functions start working less reliably. Licensed sets are a big thing these days, and while i really love the Porsche/Chiron, i dont think the design quality matches the pricetag, and while your average porsche nut will be blown over by 42056 and the fact that the pistons move etc... (and doesnt blink at spending $300 for something just because there is a porsche logo on it), i think Lego risks alienating AFOLs by lowering the design quality. @Jim, i dont want to mini-mod, but perhaps this discussion could be split into a different thread? I think it is very much worth discussing, but doesnt belong specifically to the 42108 discussion

Yes, but that doesnt excuse lego from providing a set with all the base features somewhat complete. Every technic set i buy ends up either used for parts or modded in some way, but i still expect sets to be worthy of the technic brand.

after seeing the promo-vid, im kinda underwhelmed about the crane-cab being freely rotating, it should have been operated with some gears or something.

@VBBN with regards to the lights, we saw a pretty nice increase of build complexity from wave 1 to 3 of the 6-wide cars, i would expect the following 8-wide waves to evolve the building techniques as well.

@bj51 Do you happen to have any data on how the proportions are on the new wave? I did some measurements/lookups a few months back and came to the conclusions that this year's McLaren Senna would have been perfect (in terms of width vs height vs length) in 8-wide, didnt bother checking the wheelbase though. That made me think that while scale will obviously still vary in the theme, at least 8-wide allows for minifig compatible somewhat accurate models in terms of proportions, somewhat like mini-creator-expert cars. (and even those big ones are far from perfect, i think the length of the big F40 is off by 2 studs...)

I think bol made it pretty clear that it was a one-day deal. Got mine delivered yesterday, it is quite an impressive box, and feels pretty filled up.

@grohl you really had me puzzled with that colour filter! I kept racking my brain trying to figure out which set has these new small arches in green

Awesome, glad to see some fellow EB-ers sharing in the deal. (if you happen to have the budget and not have it yet, id suggest getting the bugatti as well, €225 is an insane price for that set)

That is a awesome price, the two tumbler tires are nearly worth that by themselves. I'd still parts bin it though

bol.com, a dutch site (kind of our amazon), they have a >35% discount on selected technic today, the Chiron is going for €225, im almost tempted to buy a second one at that price.

The more i see that GT-R, the more i like it. Looking at the stickers it should be relatively easy to skip the motul/nismo ones and just end up with a tuned street version if you dont want a track car

Just ordered a Defender with 38% discount, which i consider a top bargain, looking at what the porsche and bugatti have done so far. I dont expect it to go much lower, and even if it will, it wont be that much lower, just glad i didnt bite at €150 The Chiron is also €225 today, which is quite frankly an amazing deal, just mindblowing compared to the €400 MSRP, if i didnt already have one sitting on the shelf id be smashing my piggy bank.

I dont care much for off roaders at all, nor do i care about buying sets as a parts pack (and due to the unique colour this would be a bad one anyway) But i will buy the defender, simply because i enjoyed the chiron so much that i just had to hunt down a used gt3rs, and i loved building that so much that i know ill love building and modding the defender I might wait a while though, and build it in pimp my defender spec right away