howitzer

No. TLG seems to be hell-bent on doing the same set over and over again with just varying scale and bodywork.

The large construction/earthmoving sets obviously don't form a pattern, as the one year gap between 42082 and 42100 breaks it, as do the difference in functions/operation, the first two being single motor PF sets with manual control and partially manual functions while the latter two are are PU remote control sets with lots of motors and very little in the way of manual functions. Only such pattern I see is the UCS cars, and maybe the small cars might also develop into one (Corvette & followers) but even three data points is pretty flimsy basis to suggest a pattern. There's also the fact that TLG has no obligations to follow any sort of pattern they might have created - it all depends on sales and the visions of the production directors and marketing department. So even if there's a pattern now, it could end/change any time and we would be none the wiser until the sets are confirmed.

Indeed, this is the most likely explanation. No way Sariel would ignore the embargo date in such a manner or not understand how it works. Still, mistakes can be made by anyone.

2 sets doesn't make a pattern or series. Not saying there isn't (or won't be) one, but unless you have some official knowledge coming from TLG, we just don't know if there is such a pattern or not.

Less than or more than 4 wheels or tracks, I guess? Anyway, I'm not opposed to excluding models that are primarily ground vehicles. But that leads me to think, could a spaceship include a car-like thing stowed in a cargo hold or whatever? (Think of Galaxy explorer.)

And here I was already thinking of X-Com: Apocalypse and Megapol patrol vehicles...

"This video has been removed by the uploader."

Part limit is next to impossible to enforce, so if size is to be limited, it must be bounding box or maximum length or something along those lines. The bounding box limitation worked well for the small construction vehicle contest, but I don't think this contest needs much in the way of limitations beyond the usual ones (no third party parts etc.) --- Space police is an interesting theme but how do you define what counts as "space"? Or is it left to the voters to decide?

It would be nice if you could show them here, I'm sure others are interested too. (You can't host photos on Eurobricks, but you can upload them to another hosting site, such as Imgur or Flickr and link from there.)

I've been wanting to build a UCS car for a long time now, but the Chiron's and Sian's colour schemes weren't appealing at all as I will disassemble my sets sooner or later and I want parts that are usable for MOCing. So when the Ferrari was announced I felt that this could be the one. I also like that it has the new hard shock absorbers and many other new parts such as the flip flop beams and lots of new pins, not to mention the vast amount of red panels, new and old. I completely agree with the points you made. We really need something new to freshen up the UCS car line to keep it interesting but the same also goes for other, smaller car sets. Especially considering your points 6 and 7, if they ever release a family car with transverse mounted front engine and gearbox, I'm surely going to buy it just for the novelty if nothing else.

True about the box, hard to please everyone I guess. Yeah, I noticed the pistons, but they are the same as in my Airtech Claw Rig from 1992, so that's something I've seen before Anyway, I'm enjoying the build and when finished I'm going to admire and showcase it for a while before disassembling it for parts. Unless something really groundbreakingly awesome happens, I don't see myself buying another UCS car in the foreseeable future (they are pretty expensive anyway).

Ok, so I bought it after all. I'm not really a car person and I've never built a UCS set before, so I have no experience-based prior expectations, just comparisons to "normal" Technic sets. I'm about halfway into building it and here are some of my impressions on the set: The box arrived intact, as it was protected by properly fitting outer packaging, which is nice. The set's own box looks nice and I like the shaping, it's much easier to handle than those of some other large sets (such as 42082) I've had. It was sealed with three tapes, two on one of the longer sides and one on one of the shorter sides, which is pretty baffling. Also the sealing tapes were easy to peel off without leaving a mark (and could be put back if I wanted to) so they're not really indicative of possible tampering of the set. The three inner boxes are nice also, I like the non-square shaping and the prints. It's a nice touch and makes the set feel premium. Lots of packaging though, so I'm kinda ambivalent about this, as reducing waste would be good. It was nice that the instructions includes some background about the set and the real car, and also something about the design process. Even more would be nice, but then there's also the separately sold coffee table book, which hopefully contains more of this. The building process itself is really enjoyable and mostly feels well thought-out, but the mistakes in the instructions are annoying. My copy didn't have any updates to the original instructions so I don't know if they have updated it for later production, as they have with the digital instructions. There's some baffling parts too, such as one part where you build mirrored sections for each side, but the build order is different for each side. Result is the same, but usually such builds tend to be identical in build order. The gearbox is complex and the shifting mechanism is really satisfying, though there's significant amount of resistance when spinning the axle with gears engaged. I tried to build it carefully, but there's just so many gears and axles that significant resistance is probably unavoidable. The steering angles seem a bit shallow, though I'm not sure if the real car has a great turning radius either. Also, I'm not sure about the real car, but is the steering wheel really supposed to be vertical? Or should it be angled up slightly? Being vertical it's of course easier to build but feels kinda cheap, unless that's also the case for the real car. Lack of HOG steering is also a disappointment. Anyway, here's some thoughts about it for now, let's see what the second half of building brings.

This is true, but I feel that taking apart a large set is painful, in a very literal sense that it makes fingers hurt a lot. With studful sets you can at least use a brick separator for most parts.

Taking apart large models is indeed very painful, and much more so today than in the 90's as taking out pins is the most painful part of the process. Disassembling A-model to make a B-model which probably isn't nearly as good, doesn't feel very appealing. I sort of miss the B-models too, but as a matter of fact, I haven't built any B-models in ages even for the sets that have one. Most of the time, I just take the thing apart and sort the parts into my collection.

Yes, so are some of the studs on any plate with at least the length of 2 in two directions, and holes in 3x5 beam and various frames, etc. But I'm not aware of any part that's correct length for the hypotenuse to complete the triangle.

But the elongated hole doesn't hold pins securely, instead they are free to move along it, so I don't think it's that great for building.

That's not a triangle though.

Can't be done with Lego considering √2 is irrational number, except with approximations such as the suggestion above or maybe with axle joined with connectors and bushings as the hypotenuse.

Bricklink colour guide lists almost 20 different blues, just for the normal colours. And then there's transparent, chrome, satin, glitter and modulex colours...

3: 10 1: 6 4: 4 5: 3 2: 2 6: 1

Cool that they are using the wheel trick to make tracks move on slippery surfaces here also. Some city sets had that ages ago, but I haven't seen it in Technic before. Seems like a great set in other ways too, so many functions in so small size. I will definitely get this one.

I was thinking also something along the lines: take a model from another theme that is currently in production and recreate it in Technic, in the same spirit than the earlier contest where studful Technic sets were created in studless style. Might be too similar contest though. I would love to see animals or walkers contest too.

Second this. Cars are way too common, and the small car contest was only a couple of years ago.

We had a small car contest and small construction vehicle contest, but how about a small truck contest? Is it too similar to the construction vehicle contest? I'm thinking of also other kinds of trucks besides those used in construction, like tow trucks, container trucks or tanker trucks. Maybe limit it to commercial vehicles meant to be used on public roads, so no trial trucks or race trucks. Just an idea, perhaps for the future.

I've got an option to buy the Ferrari for 300€ (new) and I'm wondering if that's a good enough price or not. Help!