technic

42180 Mars Crew Exploration Rover:Does size matter?

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Today, Branko returns to look at the largest of the LEGO Technic 2024 Space sets. It keeps the white, light grey and reddish orange of City Space sets, but does it fit in? Read on to find out!

This year LEGO is really pushing the space concept across a lot of different themes which reminds us that LEGO plays across borders and you can mix an match to your heart’s content. For Technic it is quite new to offer such a clear connection for play to the minifig scaled worlds of LEGO City and Heartlake City. As we explored recently with 42178 Surface Space Loader, the space themed Technic sets promise to provide a playing platform for minifigs, although no minifigs are included in the sets.

How does this behemoth fit in this idea? Does it integrate nicely with other themes or is the scale not right? Join us on a journey to explore how minifigures and minidolls experience the largest of the Space Technic play-sets released so far, and how this set fares by itself, without minifigs.

The 42180 Mars Crew Exploration Rover contains 1599 pieces (a lot of pins) and retails for AU$ 199.99/£129.99/US$149.99/€149.99, which puts it among the range of largest Technic sets. It is not exactly cheap, even by Technic standards, but there is a lot happening in this set which we will explore further below.

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For Science! 42179 Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit

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Branko is back to check out another Technic Set: this time its an Orrery – 42179 Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit

My expectations for this set were very high; I have a fascination with space and I love an orrery (that is essentially what this set is) as a way of illustrating movements of our planet. This set allows you to explain several of the main impacts of the solar system on life on our planet, but it falls flat on one important point.

This 526 piece solar system containing a sun a moon and a the real estate of a whole planet, will set you back $AUD99.99/£69.99/$USD74.99/€79.99 which, considering current real estate prices in Australia, is not a bad deal!

Read on to find out why you should absolutely get this set to learn or teach about seasons while also having a neat display model, but also what my concern is with one aspect of the set.

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LEGO Technic Space: 42178 Surface Space Loader LT78

ramblingbrick Lego, Review, space, technic , , , , , , ,

“Two Space Rover sets available priced at AUD49.99/USD34.99” was not on my 2024 Bingo Card! Personally, I was pretty satisfied when 60431 Space Rover and Alien Life came out in January. It gave us a couple of minifigures, some aliens and a really zoomable Rover. Fast forward two months, and I seem to be looking at another Rover – This time, it’s a Technic set, with a similar (give or take connector mins) number of pieces and a similar price. How does 42178: Surface Space Loader LT78 compare with 60431? Do we have interesting mechanisms and playfeatures? Will it still seat a minidoll or minifigure? Join us while we take a look.

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We’re committed to recycling: 42167 Mack LR Electric Garbage Truck

BrankotheFather Lego, Review, technic , , , , , , , , ,

Branko is back with another review. This time its the Technic 42167 MACK LR ELECTRIC GARBAGE TRUCK, part of the January 2024 Technic range. Interestingly, the scale appears just about right for some other play themes…

LEGO communities have been committed to cleanliness, garbage disposal and emission reduction, expressed historically with cleaning and garbage vehicles and, in recent times, with electric vehicles and even electric recycling trucks! Until now, most of these vehicles seem a bit undersized for serious garbage management until now; introducing 42167 Mack LR Electric Garbage Truck available for AUD 59.99/£29.99/US$32.99/€34.99 containing 503 pieces*. The arrival of this truck certainly caught the attention of Friends Emma and River, who felt that their own (albeit colourful) truck looked a bit underwhelming in comparison.

*Technic sets typically contain a lot of pins and connectors that I would not equate to a full ‘piece’. More on this below.

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Working out Worms: What I learned from the 42163 Heavy Duty Bulldozer

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No…its not a gut affliction. Or a gardening discussion. A recent project got me thinking about the utility of worm gears. And then my experiences with this set got me thinking a little harder about their utility… but lets not get ahead of ourselves…

Time to take a glance at a little Technic… This year I am starting simple. I typically only build a couple of Technic sets per year, and this year I am starting small, with the 42163 LEGO® Technic Heavy Duty Bulldozer. This small set, part of the January 2024 releases has just 195 pieces, and is priced at $14.99AUD/€9.99/$USD12.99/£8.99. It was sent over by the LEGO Group for review purposes, but it might also serve to teach me something more.

“But what? “I hear you cry…let’s us see.

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The LEGO Group Launches New Range of Racing Vehicles with McLaren Racing & Senna Brand, the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula 1 Team and BMW

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Just as we are seeing Space spread across major themes this year, we are also seeing a range of new racing vehicles being represented across Technic, Icons and Speed Champion ranges. this brings similar vehicles across different scales and parts families…just right for different members of the family to share the joy of racing cars together.

We see the arrival of four different Formula 1 cars, including a tribute to Ayrton Senna in the LEGO Icons range.

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