Musikfreak

I'm from germany. I just hoped they put up the backorder just because they were overwhelmed with orders but managed to clear them earlier than expected. But as it seems here they handle it intransparent. Well I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you guys.

Just one happy story to get your guys mood up: I ordered on the afternoon of the 1st of August where it already said delivery after 22nd of august (also got backorder mail and everything) but the box arrived just now at my door. So hopefully some of you guys will also receive your set earlier than expected!

Unfortunately the van seems to be of a smaller scale than the beetle. But I guess a van in the same scale would have been too big. Apart from that it looks brilliant! The wheels are outstanding - the percentage of white and black makes the wheel really look like a 60s wheel with painted sides. And the interior is so detailed. A hole in the roof under the Pop Top would be better but I guess then the mechanic for the roof would not be possible. I'm really looking forward to this.

The problem is that the steering wheel has defined position (e.g. horizontal while going straight) and when you open the cabin this can get out of sync. It doesn't matter for the HOG because it's just a cog. As far as I know the 8458 (Silver Champion) alternative was the only model to feature steering wheel and tiltable cabin. I was also intrigued to put it into the Unimog together with the "driving side changing"-feature of the real one.

I also couldn't find any difference in the instructions concerning the pump.

Thanks for the link. Interesting that they did it for the front and not the back.

It would still be interesting to hear why TLG made the half stud offset in the front axle. It looks really strange to me and the model does not tilt to one side for me with the correction to the center.

I have ideas about the towball pins (because I was also wondering a lot about these after building the model). The one on the side stabilizes the model - you can see that the black beam behind the motor is supported by it if you compress the model at this place with and without the pin in place to compare. The ones on the steering axle I'm not sure about. But maybe they are supposed to center the axle when compressed while steering. If you steer and compress than the axle is moving slightly sideways. I also took away the two upside down mounted 2x1 plates (but left the 2-hole pieces in place) to make the suspension travel a tad longer.

Unfortunately I do not own the mighty 8880 but compared to 8865 it's less friction. The whole drivetrain runs really smoothly (I always pay extra attention to make sure that every single axle moves freely, so keep that in mind). I was really surprised about that. But with 8865 it could also be the big engine that is the bottleneck. On the other hand I think even the 8868 has more friction in the rather simple drivetrain just because of the long axle to the front and the rubberband. By now the Unimog is finished and it's a great model. The detail on the cabin is really nice. Maybe if I have time I will do some side by side shots with it's grandfather 8868 and/or 8854 (which I always loved for it's design).

I got my set today (the saleswoman either really liked this set or she just made smalltalk) and I just finished the chassis. So far it it's looking good. The build is not as exciting as it was with the Excavator 8043 where you try to figure out how everything is working. The Unimog is pretty straight forward in this regard. But I have to say the 4WD, portal axels and suspension all work really fine. Maybe the travel is a tad short but with this suspension design it still works great on rough terrain due to the tilt in the axles. The friction is very low in my model. And I can already say that I love the orange.

I just called my local Lego Store and they also confirmed that the Unimog is already available (in sufficient numbers they told me after I asked). The price is of course the official price for germany (as it is always in the Lego Store): 189,99€.

The Lotus is just beautiful in so many aspects. It is definitely my favorite among the cars. Awesome engine, awesome curvature and the yellow green is so nice. Kudos to the builder and thanks for the really nice render as well!

Same for me. I was supposed to be on the list but I called 2 weeks ago and they apologized. The pack arrived inbetween but they forgot to throw in the keychain although it is listed on the paper as free gift. Oh well it's not the end of the world. At least the excavator works now. @Jurgen Krooshoop: Just call there. According to the german hotline the send out of the service packs is supposed to be finished for quite some time now. They were surprised that I haven't received something yet. Maybe you'll get the special christmas gift for coming up with the track solution. ;-)

Same here...

@Jetro: Thanks for that link. I have never seen this one before. It's amazing! If this set would be for sale I would buy it in a heartbeat.

While that is true, technic also has the biggest percentage of AFOLs among the buyers so it would fit here better than in a normal Citiyline. However: In the End Lego is a toy for children. And while a lot of children can still build something like Market Street or even the UCS Models (because they are straight forward and progress can be seen very easily) Technic is a lot more complex and sometimes it all comes together just in the last few steps. I fear a big technic set just woudn't be adequate for children at all and that's why they don't do it. I bet Legos designers could easily come up with some supercomplex stuff which could rival some of the best MOCs.

Actually I don't think you are right here. I think the switch changes between driving (steering & turning) and the 3 dipper LAs. If you compare the pics on the sticker you can clearly see (ok it's a bit hard but I'm pretty sure the more I look at it) that the excavator on the left has arrows in front and behind the treads (the space between the bucket and the treads is filled on the left picture). On the right the arrows could be on the left and right of the dipper arm meaning that the dipper section is selected. The picture is quite promising I think. edit: I was too slow here.

I can't find the picture anymore. I think it was the 3. from technichbricks (the old ones before he changed it) - the one where the model wasn't behind glas but in a line with other models. If I remind correctly on this picture the red piece wasn't straight up but switched to one side. So I think it is a switch - it just has to be associated to the red stick on the remote.

Oh please let this be the explanation. Otherwise I would be really disappointed.

Yes I have the last two books (8890 twice and 8891 one time). 8890 was ok - nothing outstanding in there. 8891 on the other hand brought me a LOT of fun. I have build the crane a few times especially when I was waiting to receive 8460 for my birthday. The steering was rather different than 8460 which was very nice and the cabin was very low over the floor which I liked as a kid. Of course the expandable boom wasn't in there but I tried to make one for it. The cablecar was so much fun. Just put up a string across your childroom and you could play a whole week. The mechanism was quite clever too - when it bumped at the wardrobe on one side it switched directions and went back. The walking dino wasn't outstanding but the walking mechanism was nice. Once you figured out how it worked you could make anything walk (from a moonstation I build to an AT-AT a friend of mine was building). The submarine was standard but looked nice next to 8250 or the 8480 B-model (which is still an outstanding sumarine by the way) later on. The walker looked awesome with all the tubing it really was like a machine from the movies. GREAT fun as a kid. The bull rider and airplane looked a bit boring when I was little, but later on I fell in love with the plane. I never had a ControlCenter so I build them with a remote control from 8082 (another set I love) and it was great to play along a special manoeuvre. The bull rider was just great to look at. All the relatives I showed it to liked it because it was something you've never seen with Lego. What can I say. 8891 is a lot of fun. Can't recommend it enough.

At the very first glance I thought it's "just" a redesigned 8265 which alone would be impressive, because it looks really really nice. The details are spot on and I don't think it could be done much better. But seeing all the functionality behind the looks just makes it so much better. Incredible what functions you implemented and hided in this model. This definitely is one of my favourite MOCs. Big thumbs up for that!

Here is the chassis picture for you:

After releasing the little Gallardo I am hoping for a technic set with the Murcielago. Dampened Doors just like the Enzo but much more supercar-like from the rest of the chassis. All wheel drive (just like the real Lambo), suspension and with more nice surprising functions that I can't even think of yet.

I got my set yesterday and build it immediatly. Just a few words about it: It's excellent. Blakbird's review set my hopes for this set very high but it was all well justified and I'm not disappointed by this set. Thanks again for this great review. Just from pictures I sometimes thought that some parts of the loader looked strange (the long engine-overhang and the redirection lever after the LA for the tilting mechanism) but having it now standing in front of me it all looks great. The Technic models in the last years always looked a lot more "like the real thing" than in the early years and this doesn't disappoint either. I have alway regreted not getting 8459 because I just love the look of it and the little details. The 8265 loader is a very good "alternative" for me with outstanding looks and nice functionality. The only letdown for me is the steering - it's working ok but far from perfect - especially if you compare it to 8459 where the steering wheel in the cabin also moves. For me this is the best set of the year.

Nice review. The Q&A bits made me laugh a few times - thanks for that. Quite an boring set it seems to me. I quite liked the old tractor but the reuse without the functionality is really sad. And one LA doesn't suddenly make the set a winner. But the "normal" sets are quite promising in the last time - let's just hope this was a slip-up.