XenoRad

I got the Catamaran set and a couple of Mini Claas Xerions since they had some other parts that I needed and swapped out more lime wings and lift-arms. As such the new lime pieces I got from these smaller sets (smaller set = fewer lime pieces = all from the same factory?) were much more consistent in color and was able to swap out quite a few offenders from my Sian. It's still not perfect and as those small connectors will continue to always be yellowish-lime (see the recent Tulips set) it will never be, but I'm happier now. I hope the best for you guys still working it out with support.

This is going to be a never-ending discussion that will probably restart every time Lego announces a new Technic vehicle, be it a cheaper or more expensive one. That being said, here are my inputs: 1. Since Lego now offers sets labeled as 18+ the discussion on whether Technic is for kids or adults is moot - it's for both. The question then becomes - when is it for adults and when for kids and where is the crossover line from one to another? Strictly looking at the 2020 and 2021 lineup for Technic the only two 18+ sets (that I know of) are 42115 Lamborghini Sian and the 42125 Ferrari 488 GTE. As there are plenty of 18- sets that are more complex than the Ferrari (42114 Volvo Hauler) and/or expensive than the Sian (42100 Liebherr R9800) than these, it seems 18+ is restricted for licensed super and hypercars that are at least 1:11 in scale. As more sets will come out, time will tell on how this line will change. Personally, however, regardless of whether a set is for kids or adults I'd like to see a bit fewer colors for the underpinnings of the vehicles. I don't mind the odd color here and there and I mostly don't mind the various pin colors either but sometimes it's just a bit too much. Gray and black with a bit of blue or red or green is fine, but when you get hit visually with like 10 different colors and in close proximity as well then - it's not a good look and I don't think kids like it that much either. 2. Lego wants to maximize profits so they'll try various products. It's difficult to look at a set and consider its value only by piece count. You also need to take into consideration the piece type, size and the model that can result from the pieces. As a consumer however I can tell when a new product like the 42125 Ferrari is more expensive and doesn't offer any new feature compared to a previous 42096 Porsche RSR set, for instance. Also, the new Ferrari looks to have a rather flimsy chassis and incorrect ride height. I personally like the previous Porsche, even with its flaws and I did retrofit a HOG and an opening hood. I was looking forwards towards adding more such racing cars to my collection, but my interest is going to wane if every time the price is going to increase, while the model will continue to have issues and missing features out of the box. And it's not like we didn't already get some of those features (HOG, everything opens) with last year's 42111 Dom's Dodge Charger. So I don't mind models not being perfect. I like tinkering with them. But I want to know that the amount of detail and included features are generally on the rise and that the price, while also inevitably rising, remains fair. Adding details to vehicles is something I can like as long as it's my option. But there's a difference between changing a few panels here and there to constantly having to retrofit HOGs, working suspension, steering, opening doors, trunks or hoods because new models constantly come out without them by standard.

First of all we all know lots of alcohol helps with everything, even if only in one's mind so +1 from me on that. Then, I'm kinda new to this stuff so my work protocol is still a work in progress. I only started out with Lego last year (Speed Champions) and with Technic I have even less than 11 months experience, but that's the one that really stuck for me, especially since I needed a new "stay-at-home-but-don't-use-the-PC" hobby during the pandemic and for me Technic cars were just that bit more interesting and functional than the metal die casts I was used to. So finding out that Lego had evolved to such a degree as to be able to have relatively accurate vehicles based on real life cars and that I could actually tinker with them to improve things? Forget about it! In my original youth Lego allowed me to build tractors and something resembling tractors and that was it and I'm still young. Then I have a big box full of smaller boxes full of zip bags full of Technic and some System parts. I have quite a few pieces but not every part and not every color. As such and considering I don't have experience with the 3D software I just go with a physical build based on what I have. For a building surface I have my old pre 1989 solid wood desk which has a good surface area and I have a white sheet over it to help with having a nice and neat building area offering a good contrast against the Lego pieces. To think that I wanted to get rid of that desk at one point but it proved to continue being useful. I'm currently on my first MOC. I started based on the TG Rally Car 42109 because I wanted something simple with a motor for steering and another for drive and to also use the already made app for control. Initially I wanted to make a Gaz 66 vehicle. For that I printed out a 2D blueprint and used Sariel's Model Scaler but I gave it up once I knew I didn't have the parts (or the skill) to properly build the front to the accuracy I wanted. So I switched tracks and decided building the chassis for a 4x2 truck with a lockable differential at the rear, pendulum suspension as well as at least a 2 speed manual gearbox. Something like this thing below (Red Flag - Bucegi truck), which is a very rare truck nowadays but has a good legacy on building up my country during CCCP & friends days. I'm currently struggling with packing in the gearbox on the chassis so I've put it on hold as I get more experience building other official Lego sets. Then the challenge would be building up the body in a color I will decide based on what parts I have. But let me tell you about the greatest thing in Lego Technic and MOCs. Everyone passionate about cars has that one halo car, the one they keep dreaming of, the one they hope to once own and enjoy. If they're lucky they get to own the real thing once they have the proper money and situation. If they're not so lucky maybe they can buy a small scale model, like 1:24 or even 1:18 but that just comes already made and will mostly just sit on a shelf. But nowadays, with this available - if they have enough skill and parts they can actually just build it to a scale they desire and to an accuracy level that's up to them. They can then either motorize it or leave it raw, mechanical, manual. And it's "theirs", they built it, out of nothing, if you will. That is something that wasn't possible a few years ago. But the sophistication to which Lego has evolved in makes it a possibility today - and tomorrow as for sure there will be new parts coming up in the next years. So for me this is the biggest take-away. It doesn't really matter what you use, if the way you use it leads to the result you want.

Has anyone had any luck with replacement parts? I think that even if Lego does provide them there are still chances they won't match what you already have. Case in point, for me the biggest problem is with the 21 and 22 wings. While the 22s are mostly consistent, I can't say the same for the 21s. The first 6 wings from the left column have a distinct shade compared to all others. If I were to ask for replacements (though I've had the set for several months now so I don't know whether I still qualify) they'd need to send over 6 fully matched pairs of 21s and 22s.

Unfortunate to see the color issue is still affecting the modern sets to this degree. The different colors for the same parts also surprised me, though mine was an earlier set (late July). For the 1 x 2 beams got like 3-4 different shades of lime. The only workaround of sorts for the color issue is to basically open up all remaining bags with lime pieces once you get to the chair building steps, arrange them by type and then further arrange them by color variance. You'll then have to mix and match the best you can, keeping in mind what parts come next to the printed pieces and keep aside those best matching. Or, if you've just started building, replace the lime pieces from the underside and chassis with black/gray ones so that you have more spares to mix and match by the time the body needs building. Longer term solution would probably be to buy sets or separate lime pieces and exchange them on the Sian one by one, until they're all mostly the same.

If you do choose to buy and store the Lambo set 42115 I would personally wait until the color issue is further reduced. From what I see even recent sets have this problem. However, for long term value increase I think the UCS Star Wars or Batman sets would be a better bet.

I still like it but not as much as before. But racing Ferraris I like and my 42096 needs a companion. So I'll see about getting it at a discount and then HOG-ing it out.

The sides definitely look better. I also thought that those panels angled like that resembled the real shape much better, but looking at how the wheels fit I suspect that's why they weren't used. If you were to put the bigger wheels on then you'd have trouble with scraping the wheel wells. Speaking about suspension I have kept the original springs but I had to re-mount them within the chassis. I found that with the original position after a while they lost the ability to raise the car back up after being compressed (and I didn't keep that car on its wheels either). The downside is that now the rear is a bit higher than standard but at least the suspension is very firm and I don't foresee that I'll have the same problem with sagging anymore.

The fake motor looks better than expected and overall it's a neat look under the hood. You can't have everything in a smaller scale. You could say it's an inline 4 diesel engine but anyway, moving pistons are good to have even if only 4 and not 8.

Hi Michael. Good improvement on the Chevy's stance from last time. The body and wheel size are just right now.The trailer is also a good idea. Can you share a picture of the counterfeit motor?

I suppose the color difference between that green panel and the three beams puts to rest any doubt as to whether the Sian color problems have been fixed, doesn't it?

That looks cool, but how many people are going to have those parts laying around? I've only started this year and while I do have several cases of Lego parts, when there's something missing for what I want to do it's usually those small system parts that you can use to add details like this. You might be better off buying a Ferrari Speed Champions sticker sheet and using the logo sticker and I do believe they have printed bricks with the logo. That being said I need to say again that this set is truly amazing for what it offers and I can only hope to see more in the future. From Lego, from Cada, from whomever, as long as the quality is there, the design is not stolen but licensed, the price is right and the end product looks and acts the part. All in all we have some very talented people here and it would be a shame to let their designs go to waste if they wish to have an opportunity to share them with the world.

Sariel's review of this set is now released: CaDA Master C61042 Italian Supercar REVIEW

Overall I have a positive opinion on this set but with a few notable exceptions. It does look good from most angles but from others not so much. The area behind the doors is a bit busy and the wheels, while in the correct position, also look off depending on how you look at them. I think the main issue with them is not so much the size or the absence of brake calipers, but the fact that you get to see all of those chassis pieces and pins behind the wheels and they're in various colors. Seeing that from certain angles gives it an empty feeling. Again there's no HOG and I see the hood also doesn't open like in 42096. The A pillars are again made of soft axles which offer little rigidity so reinforcing the roof connections may need to be done if you wish to pick it up from there. I actually like 42096, but only because I got it at a discount, had great looks (despite the proportions of the front) and I could add some features (HOG, open-able hood) with little effort. But this year we got the Charger which was a step up function wise and I was hoping that for the 1:10 or so scale cars we would start to see some of those functions as standard. Regarding a gearbox - I would not consider it a must for this scale. It would be difficult to cram all the gears in but we could do with a simple D-N-R selector. However I would trade a gearbox for suspension for this type of cars. Track cars don't have that much suspension travel anyway, removing it here would mean the ride height and how well the wheels fill the arches could be improved, while a proper functioning gearbox would instead greatly add to the play-ability as well.

@astyanax Thanks. The beams to which the panels were attached were not pinned down properly. It's all corrected now. This is exactly why after I finish a model I gave it a few passes before considering it complete. No matter how careful you are during the build there's always at least one thing that's not properly tied down, whether you didn't tie it down in the first place, or it popped out at later steps.

I finally finished mine. It looks and feels really good, congratulations to Bruno. The building process was easy enough, no major problems. It only got a bit repetitive at one point building the chassis, but otherwise it went smoothly enough. I like that there are not many stickers and Cada does tell you right at the end where they go so it's easier if you don't put them during the build. I also like that they put all pins in the same box and it's only a few bags to open. That way you get them all from the start and you can organize them. Regarding the quality of the bricks there's some good and some not so good. In general the beams and panels are just as good as Lego. Most pins are the same quality wise but the pins with axles have grip problems more times than I'd like and generally they don't hold that well. There are many spares so I didn't have too much trouble mixing and matching them, but I had to use the red 2L pins with axles from Lego to hold the mirrors more securely,otherwise they'd just turn downwards quickly. I leave you with a few pictures of the finished build. These are the spares that I got. I did the fixes so some extra parts are from there, but there's plenty anyway. From what I've seen the two black and the one red panel in the middle are expected, so are the two triangular flat beams and most pins. But I'm not sure about the black pin with two cross-axles beam to the left of the black panels. For some of you guys who have already finished it - does this look right in terms of leftover parts?

Great looking model, I like how you've replicated plenty of the smaller details by using both technic and system parts. My only one gripe with it is that for the lifted aspect the wheels are a bit small. I'd either find a way to either change the position of the springs so that the axles can come in closer to the rest of the chassis or use bigger wheels. Unless, of course this is the look you wanted. I do know plenty of real-life trucks which would use the same setup: original wheels but lifted. Personally, I'm not that much of a fan of high lifts on original wheels but to each his own.

From what I've seen I really like this model and have placed an order. The box it comes in looks cool also. Hopefully it will arrive safely and by Christmas I'll be either building or have already built this. Otherwise I believe we're spending way too much time splitting hairs here on legality and morality, but since plenty of us are very interested in getting this perhaps it's understandable. Here's my take: The IP belongs to the designer, Bruno. The right to monetize the IP and sell sets on it belongs to CaDA. All other legal aspects or their contract are unknown to us and there's also national and international law protecting both IPs and contracts. Bruno hasn't released the full instructions because of the aspects of the deal he made. Yes, there may be videos showing the building process, there is even a 3D model. Some people have the original instructions. It's up to them to share these or not and the consequences, whichever they may be, will also be on them. So if someone has the instructions and decides to share them in part or in full or share a reverse-engineered copy, a 3D-model or just post a video detailing a step by step building process - then it's up to them. We can't know beforehand all of the consequences that will derive from that and analogies will only take us so far. Personally I think the product as it's being sold is worth it and have decided to go about it the most practical way I could - to buy it outright. We'll see whether I made the right call or not. Hopefully some time from now this thread will give way towards discussions on the design and of the inevitable modifications some of us will make. That's the beauty of this hobby - building and sharing ideas.

With working engine and opening hood and everything?

Since I've only recently got into sets with Powered Up functionality and only running them once in a while I'm using 1.5 batteries for speed. But I do intend to switch over to 1.2 rechargeables for some MOCs and sets I'd use more often or which won't suffer that much from a lack of speed. It's all about the application, really.

While the 42114 may not have a fully proportional front area, it has very few gaps which can't be said for 42030 B. If you can improve proportions while still keeping gaps to a minimum and also preserving functionality (thinking about the crankshaft and engine here) then this could be a great rebuild. Otherwise you'll be trading one thing for another. I tried not to modify the central structure too much and all I could relatively easily achieve was to raise the back of the hood by 1 stud and also make the cabin look smaller respectively. I think the bigger discussion here is that for accurately modelling real life vehicles with good proportions, lack of gaps and functionality Lego doesn't yet make all the beams and panels needed.

Yes, it does sound like the steering links clicking against the ball pins. I have the same thing. You can test pretty easily by grabbing each with your hand and jiggling it. Chances are at least one is going to click. If you're not changing the steering geometry you can't do much about this except to push in all parts fully if they're not already.

I have both Speed Champions and Creator Expert. One is smaller, the other a bit bigger than what I have in mind and besides, they're System. Technic is not about all-or-nothing. 42093 still has HOG steering, a differential and a working engine. Yes, it would have benefited greatly from 50-100 more parts and at least some opening panels, but otherwise it would not have been a bad start for a new series. I made mine look pretty good and with experience future official models would look even better. The Car Transporter with the blue car went with the same scale and I'm sure many would have wanted Lego to continue until all 5 slots on the transported would have been filled with cars.

I'd like to see 2-3 sets a year of licensed cars like 42093 Corvetter ZR-1. Keep them relatively small, under 1000 parts, maybe keep them in scale with the 42098 Car Transporter. Let them have a few functions, at most a working engine and opening hood, trunk and doors but no gearbox, suspension or electronics. Focus on styling and consistency and a series of model cars as such can run for many years. I've been collecting diecasts for many years now, but I do like that with Lego, you get to build them and they are more playable. If the Lego models are reasonably accurate I think this could be a great idea. There is a market for more affordable Lego models of real licensed modern cars. Few will get the Porsches, Bugattis and Lamborghinis. But many will get the Corvettes, BMWs, Mercedes', Alfa Romeos, Fords and such.

At this point if I stumble across this set on a shelf I'll still pick it up (and fix the gear problem) but otherwise I'm no longer that interested. Too much hassle and price gouging for a set which you absolutely must modify if you intend to run the propellers for more than four times.