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Hey guys, I'm a big fan of lego technic (from when i was a kid) and creator (since the last 2 years) really dig the highway speedster (have 2 of them) The original car: (set) the pics come from: http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=78797 and they belong to RUFUS How it started: I've stumbeled upon a video recently in the youtube lego channel about making cars "cool" with flames and all it gave me some inspiration and this is The result: I've lowered the car a little bit and did an attempt to make the body smoother: V8 engine and crome exhaust: new interior: (handbrake and some gauges): wing + lowered the body and gave the back more of a GT racing car look: Minifigs fit without a problem due to the lowered floor (they even fit with the roof on): hope you like it and thanks a lot for watching!

Hello everybody! Sometimes the question is raised why there is no Star Trek™ LEGO®. I would like to present a possibility to you how you can go to your local toy store, buy an official set, but go home with a Star Trek model, instead. This works out in form of an additonal alternate model of Creator Set 31006 - Highway Speedster. It's a model from this year, so you will have no difficulties aquiring this one. It consists of 286 pieces. Building instructions can be downloaded of course! When building alternatives I usually have two rules in my mind. - Don't let it look too much of a patchwork - Use as many pieces as possible The result this time was a Starship Enterprise model with clear deisgn lines, and an appropriate stand. Unfortunately it only uses about half of the pieces available. Sometimes that happens but usually the two official alternatives to the main model also use much lesser pieces. So here we go! Building instructions can be donwloaded directly from my homepage: http://st.deckdesigns.de Thanks for your time and interest! Yours Chris.

LEGO's 2013 CREATOR range has brought quite a variety of new models; there may not be much in the way of innovation, but I'm sure the LEGO Group knows what sells. For many, the highlight of the new sets will be this latest foray into the realm small-to-medium size cars, last visited with 2010's 5867 Super Speedster. In many respects, 31006 is a follow-on to this model, as we shall see, and we'll get to compare the two later. Review: 31006 Highway Speedster Set Information Name: Highway Speedster Number: 31006 Theme: Creator Release: January 2013 Parts: 286 Minifigures: N/A Price: GB £14.99 | US $24.99 | EUR 19.99 | AU $29.99 | CA $29.99 | DKK 179.95 A note on the pricing: In the UK, Europe, and Australia, this set occupies the same price point as 31008 Thunder Wings, which has some 50 fewer parts; whereas in the US and Canada, the Highway Speedster is considerably pricier. 31008's pricing is as follows: GB £14.99 | US $17.99 | EUR 19.99 | AU $29.99 | CA $24.99 | DKK 179.95. I can only assume that TLG have done their market research, and consider this set to be a sure-fire hit that will sell despite the higher pricing - interesting because it's rather a European-looking car, in my opinion. Links ... Shop@Home ... Brickset ... Bricklink ... Peeron The Box Click for a larger full-frontal image The familiar blue-and-yellow CREATOR colour scheme is, on this box, enlivened by a coastal roadway-graphic context for the car. I appear to have - quite unintentionally! - mimicked this for the title picture. It's more than you tend to get on most CREATOR boxes, and I think flatters the car somewhat. It is interesting that the alternative model insets - given unexpected prominence on the box of Thunder Wings - are relegated to their usual position here. Over the back, the three models parade themselves on the same 'speckled' floor found in the lower half of 31008's box rear. Click for a larger image Here, the car's opening features are opened for your delectation. I like the way the bley studs on the side of the nearmost model have their LEGO logos aligned - something I tend to take care to do when building official sets - although it is quite possible that these images are digital renders, which are often used on box art, I believe. I have often criticised the CREATOR set inventories - found as usual atop the box - for having a background gradient that can make some of the parts difficult to see; I'm pleased to report that this problem appears to have been fixed. Click for a larger image It'll be interesting to see if this lighter background extends across the entire range. The wheel construction here provides the customary '1:1' reference; it gives you some idea of the depth of the box, which is considerably deeper than that of 31008 ... ... though both share the same frontal dimensions. I doubt the 50 extra pieces require the increased interior space; it may be designed to mitigate the price hike for North American customers. This paradox continues inside the box: only three polybags reside within, compared to 31008's four; one however contains a small foetus. Each model gets its own manual. In common with the rest of the standard CREATOR range, no stickers are included; I wonder if this habit is to change with the introduction of the CREATOR Expert range and its decals. The Instructions The primary model's booklet has a shiny, high-quality cover. Having a smaller height than the box, the car is forced to encroach onto the yellow surround, as if breaking out of the page. The other two manuals have covers of a similar quality to the inside pages. A plain blue surround makes the instruction steps clear. With about 4-5 pieces per step, the build nevertheless progresses at a reasonable pace. As you can see from this picture, the rear and of the model is almost complete before the front is more than a skeleton: There are a few small sub-builds, but it's largely brick-on-brick, with very few colour-differentiation issues. Two double-page spreads advertise the rest of the new range, and some CITY vehicles. It's nice to see that the new Small Cottage gets a mention here! Behind this lies the inventory; found complete with part IDs here and here. There's nothing in the second manual besides instructions; the third's rear cover advertises the LEGO Club, with its disturbingly-faced mascot: The Parts A few pieces of blue and red break up the black, white, and grey monotony of the larger parts bag and its smaller offspring. It's nice to see a number of trans-black parts. Trans round tiles and a number of white cheese wedges could prove useful; the large number of light bluish-grey 1x1 studs would be handy if you're a fan of Derfel Cadarn's medieval walls. The other two bags contain quite a collection of white bows, tiles, slopes, plates and wedges, all are welcome in my collection. I'm really pleased to see large numbers of 1x2 plates in various colours. The yellow plates might be a little surprising; we'll see why they are necessary in due course. The only new(ish) part is the 1x2 brick with studs on one side, which I highlighted in my Octan Tanker review. Model 1 - Highway Speedster The primary model is a curvy, 10-stud wide supercar with large, purposeful front air vents, wing mirrors, large 'low-profile' tyres, and a rear-mounted engine. Size-wise it is similar to 2010's 5867, and as we shall see, the two compliment each other rather well. The low roof, and wedge-shaped profile building to a higher rear end, gives the car a suitably sporty look. The use of this piece improves the look of the tyres, which otherwise would look rather chunkier than you'd expect for such a car. They do a reasonable job off imitating alloys; the pearl light grey colour looks a little flat and it would have be nice to see them in metallic silver. Better still would be new wheel parts with low-profile tyres, but that would undoubtably push the cost up, if it is even possible at this scale. I like the red and black recesses in the sides, which otherwise would be rather flat and blocky. The low front is dominated by the twin air intakes, lined quite effectively with wedges, cheeses and bows to create a stylish look. The trans-red 1x1 rounds are a little surprising, but their resultant look complements the other, rather subtle, red parts in the intakes, without being too 'in your face.' The back is simple but smart, and looks somehow familiar. Using 1x1 round plates to imitate exhausts is perhaps a little simplistic, but it does show the younger builders how to create complex effects with simple parts, I suppose. Bows and slopes have been used in this model to recreate sexy supercar curves to quite good effect, seen best in this rear oblique view: You'll note the transparent cover to the engine compartment: a realistic feature of many modern supercars. It opens, too, as we'll see shortly. The little red tiled spoiler is rather understated; it also serves as a handle to open the engine cover. A new feature in this latest supercar is the transparent roof, formed from a 1x4x3 window panel and a 1x4x1 wall element attached SNOT to a 1x4 brick. It isn't hinged, but lifts off quite easily to access to the interior. I think the smooth look is an improvement over the previous studded plate of 5867. There's no rear window, however: the driver would have to rely on his wing mirrors! No steering in this car! I doubt a steering mechanism could be added at this scale without losing much of the exterior aesthetic; I wasn't expecting any, so I'm not disappointed. Note that, unlike most previous CREATOR cars at smaller scales, the wheels are connected directly via a 'live' axle. A minor side-effect of this construction technique is that manoeuvring the car in small spaces (ie., doing a three-point turn) is rather more difficult than with independently-spinning wheels. There's a large cavity under the passenger compartment, the floor of which is mounted above the large blue chassis rails. I'd expect a 'real' car to have quite a low floor; this is something of a design floor flaw which will cause us a bit of a headache shortly. Now we'll take a little tour of the car's features. The front headlights make use of a minifigure neck bracket to attach indicator lights; it's a fairly common technique that I've used before, and can be very useful. I do wonder whether the parts should have been white, though. The top-right frame shows the little recess under a 2x2 white tile that contains a trans-red round tile at a half-stud offset. I'm not sure what it's for, but it gives the car a Knight Rider vibe. Now there's an idea... I've already pointed out the very attractive round rear lights, but let's look at them again. Opening the engine cover reveals that, unfortunately, the engine is a little disappointing, especially compared to the hinge-brick V8 from 5867. In what is, I believe, a first for CREATOR cars, the Highway Speedster features gull-wing scissor doors (thank you, SirBlake, for the correction). The bley stud acts as a handle to allow the door to be lifted more easily ... ... even if the resulting 'open' door looks a little lame. Lifting off the roof allows easy access to the interior, itself quite smartly laid out: The chairs are a little perfunctory. The dash can easily be modified for right hand drive. It's also worth pointing out the two black symmetrical wedge plates under the windscreen, which form an attractive rhomboid shape here. Here's the downside to the high floor of the passenger compartment: You can't sit minifigures inside, without removing the roof. Actually, you can, but it involves a bit of modding including removal of the steering wheel, and lying the fig down almost flat. To be fair, you're probably not going to be trying to squeeze this car through the streets of LEGO City! I actually prefer the look without the roof. I was pretty keen on 5867 Super Speedster when I reviewed it back in 2010. 31006 is its natural successor; I've hastily rebuilt the earlier set so that we can see how well they sit together: 31006 shows up some of 5867's flaws. Its front fender is rather too deep; 31006's wheel trims make the chunky tires of 5867 look rather odd. 5867's curves, quite advanced at the time, look a little blocky, particularly on the wings; 31006's fluid contours are a vast improvement. On the downside, 31006's rather simplistic engine is a disappointment, and I've already pointed out the poorer turning circle; neither does the front trunk/boot cover open. I also miss the oblique-mounted doors of 5867 which greatly-enhanced its shape. However, the two sit quite nicely side by side, and this view reveals why I think the two sets complement each other. I remember pointing out that 5867's rear resembled a Lambourghini; the lovely round rear lights of 31006 are definitely saying 'Ferrari' to me. See here for a higher view. Model 2 - Highway Recovery The inclusion of a Recovery Truck as the second model in the set marks a pleasing contrast to the sporty primary model, and shows how a little lateral thinking can produce a very different creation from the same set of parts whilst sticking to the vehicular theme. Owners of 5867, however, won't be surprised - the second model in that set was also a truck, and even used the same SNOT technique for the windscreen. I would hazard a guess that the same designer is responsible for both sets (Morten, I believe). The use of tiles and slopes to provide a smooth upper surface for most of the truck is quite effective. You can also now see why the yellow plates are included in the set - they create a striped pattern along the sides, as you might see on an emergency recovery vehicle; it's a nice touch, if not exactly stunning. Trans-orange cheeses complete this image as emergency lights on the roof. The combined effect is perhaps seen better in this low view: Also apparent is the neat arrangement of inverted slopes along the underside, culminating at the front in a curved bumper. The arrangement of lights, radiator grill, and the centred 'badge' is a little messy, but it's probably the best that could be done with the available parts. The brick-built crane/hook assembly combines a number of contrasting colours, and isn't exactly beautiful, but it is functional: The main upright doesn't move very much; the arm extends a little way, and the hook barely moves at all, being restricted by a small plate/cheese wedge spur. This is necessary to enable to hook actually to hook anything - otherwise it would just swivel uselessly. The protruding blue 3L friction pins spoil the look slightly; it couldn't have greatly altered the price of the set to include a couple of 2L pins, but then again I'm sure just about everybody has a few spares lying around, if the protruding pins bother you. An interesting shortcut is used to attach the crane arm to the body: It is simply skewered on the rear axle. Neat! Note that this model also has 'live' axles (indeed, all three models do). Here's the crane in 'action' - Cameron's antique racing car has broken down, again. The minifig bracket that creates the hook works quite well, provided there is a plate or brick underside that it can hook onto. You have to place the towed vehicle onto the hook by hand, and it might struggle to tow anything with a low ground clearance. The truck's interior is neat and spacious, and can seat a System minifigure with ease: However, the cab roof is quite securely attached, and it can be tricky to remove. This view also highlights what I think is one of the major flaws of this build - it's just a little too low to the ground; you would expect the wheels to be mounted a plate or two lower, perhaps. Model 3 - Highway Racing I wasn't desperately keen on this third model - a classic racing car - when I first saw its pictures, but having built it and spent some time looking at it in the flesh, as it were, I've come to like it quite a lot. Like the 'concept car' model in 31008 Thunder Wings, an ugly lump of bricks transforms during the latter stages of the build into a smooth and sleek racer. I particularly like the use of wedges to define the bulge around the cockpit; the array of lights at the front looks a little odd, but it might be the best that could be achieved with the parts. The sides are finished with a SNOT panel with a row of bley studs representing, I suppose, exhausts. See, I've aligned the LEGO logos too. It's profile is somehwat dull, but I like the bowed front and the little wings over the rear wheels. The wheel-hub inserts do well here to give the appearance of spoked wheels, though they are a little too wide for realism. The back end is also neatly bowed, and here you can see the beautifully-tiled cockpit interior: It is interesting that the steering wheel is mounted slightly to to the right - I would expect the car to be a single seater. There's a jumper plate included in the set, which I don't think is used elsewhere in the model, so this could be easily corrected. The car's size is a little too large for a System minifigure, but it looks to be the ideal scale for to fit a Fabulander. It's possible, but only with a minor modification: I've removed the seat backs here so that Gibson Goat can challenge Cameron Crocodile to a race! This is perhaps what led Cameron to break down. Click the links below for some alternative views: Conclusion LEGO CREATOR's latest advance into the territory of small-to-medium sized Supercars provides us with a sleek, sporty, powerful-looking roadster that builds on the successes of its predecessor. There is some superb usage of bows and slopes to define the curvy contours of the car; the simple addition of wheel inserts vastly improves the realism of the look. If you own 5867, you will be delighted to note that the two cars are the same scale, and will look pretty sitting side-by-side on the shelf, especially given the 'allusion' to real supercar brands provided by their rear ends. The two included alternative vehicles are good models in their own right, with sufficient variety to make them interesting and fun builds, and as always significantly increase the value of these CREATOR sets. Yes, there are a few minor flaws, but overall I think the designer has done a fantastic job here. Design 9 The aesthetic of the supercar is enhanced greatly over that of its predecessor, with a wonderful use of curves to depict the svelte lines of a luxury roadster. The two alternatives are imaginative in their variety, and attractive to behold; they can be inspiring in their use of the available parts to create a very different vehicle from the original. I'm not so keen on the rather simplistic engine of the main build, and if I were to change one thing, I would lower the floor of the interior. Build 7 The build process is fun if a little pedestrian; unlike 31008 Thunder Wings I didn't experience any 'wow' moments here, although there are a few neat little tricks used here and there. The highlight is seeing how the gorgeous curves take shape. Parts 7 Aside from the new 1x2 SNOT bricks, which are already becoming quite common, there are no rare or interesting parts; however, the overall part variety and colour palette looks to be more useful than many of the set's contemporaries. Playability 8 A few fun features enhance the experience, but primarily this is a set for pushing around the carpet or sitting pretty on the shelf, at both of which it excels. Value 10 I've scored here for the UK price point: at £14.99, this set is a steal. Less so, perhaps, in North America, where it seems to have been hit be a 'desirability' premium, or something. Or perhaps TLG has taken pity on the recession-ravaged UK, where clearly people can no longer afford luxury cars, even as toys! Overall 82 % My Score 9/10 A great set, at excellent (albeit location-dependent) value. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the review. I'm sure people will have a lot to say, particularly about the price issue. Fire away! Rufus Resources My 5867 Super Speedster Review My 31008 Thunder Wings Review LEGO CREATOR home page My flickr Set Endpiece Who needs steering, anyway?