LEGO® TECHNIC McLaren Revealed

With the 2022 Formula 1 season barely a month away, the wraps have come off the changes to the formula for 2022, but the actual cars are probably a few days away from being unveiled. With the announcement of the new 42141 LEGO ® Technic McLaren Formula 1 today, we have a better idea of how the new car will look for the British based team. The set was revealed on the McLaren.com website this evening, Australian time.

Hitting shelves just one month out from the eagerly awaited return of the Australian Grand Prix (7 – 10 April), Technic fans will now be able to celebrate the return of our very own Daniel Ricciardo – and enjoy the suspense, emotion and excitement of his first race on home soil in three years – all while taking part in the ultimate Formula 1 building experience.

The set has 1432 Pieces, and has an RRP of 179,99€/179,99$/£159.99 GBP/239.99 CAD/ 279.99 AUS. It is due for release on the 1st of March.

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It’s Time To Get Things Moving With These New Releases From No Starch Press

Now that the world is opening up, and live fan events are starting to sporadically appear around the world, we are starting to turn our attention to building models for exhibition. There is no doubt that a little bit of movement can help add life to a model – whether it’s an automatic door, a radar dish, or a slowly rotating turntable. These are not so challenging if you have grown up with a bit of basic mechanical knowledge. However, sometimes the right way to achieve such mechanisms using LEGO Bricks can be just a little bit obscure.

But help is readily available, if you know where to look.

I was recently sent pre release samples from the latest books from Yoshihito Isogawa, and I realise that they are now available from the No Starch Press website. Isogawa has been producing simple to read Ideas books for LEGO Technic for a number of years, and these books build on the previous ones, with emphasis in new areas. His latests Books, LEGO Technic Non-Electric Models: Simple Machines and LEGO Technic Non-Electric Models: Clever Contraptions build on his previous books, looking at Technic Ideas, as well as Power function and Boost Ideas (all available from No Starch).

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What Are The Most Popular LEGO® Themes? Annual Report Review

Every year around this time, the LEGO Group presents its annual report: taking in all aspects of the company. The document always includes a small paragraph or two on which themes performed strongly in a given year.

While the metric used to define this performance has not been presented to the public, it gives us a good idea of the sorts of material that pepople are buying, and which themes are strong sellers. Prompted by some online discussion, I have gone back to 2011, and tracked down the strongest performing themes for the last ten years, as referred to in The LEGO Group’s annual report. What we found out may not come as a surprise at all. Or perhaps it will?

Join us while we look through the last 10 years – we will look at the themes directly referenced in the annual report, look at some of the highlights, and maybe even evoke some mild feelings of nostalgia along the way..

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LEGO Officially Announces Technic Lamborghini Sián

Earlier this year, the LEGO Group announced a forthcoming partnership between LEGO® Technic and Italian super sports cars car manufacturer, Automobili Lamborghini. Today, we see the official unveiling of the of the LEGO Technic set 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37. With 3696 elements, the set will be available on June the 1st 2020 from LEGO Branded Retail channels: online LEGO Store, Bricks and Mortar LEGO store/LEGO Certified stores, where open; LEGOLAND Parks and discovery centre shops. $569.99AUD – €/$ 379.99, £349.99

Following on in the tradition of the Porsche GT3 and the Bugatti Chiron, This 1:8 scaled model set is aimed at adult LEGO Builders, coming in the Black Box labelled 18+ that we have seen with some recent sets aimed at AFOLS (Haunted House, Star Wars UCS A-Wing and Helmets; Architecture White House).

The Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor show in 2019. The suffix FKP 37 refers to the late chairman of the Volkswagen Group,  Ferdinand Piëch – who was born in 1937. The vehicle is a V12 Hybrid, and production will be limited to only 63. All have been sold.

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LEGO® TECHNIC™ GOES FULL THROTTLE WITH DOM’S DODGE CHARGER SET FROM THE FAST & FURIOUS FRANCHISE [Announcment 42111]

It was recently announced that the latest film in the Fast and the Furious Saga – F9 – has been pushed back 12 months, to April 2021. It had been previously scheduled to open in May 2020, but with cinemas around the world currently closed due to the COVID19 Pandemic, this fan favourite series was unlikely to attract the same audience as the previous instalment, which broke box-office records.

While we might have to deal with this setback, in our own ways, the LEGO Group and Universal Studios have announced imminent release of a 1077 piece, LEGO Technic 1970 Dodge Charger R/T. Priced at USD 99.99/€99.99, it will be released in late April.

Given my failure to fully understand cars, I shall let the Press release and the photos speak for themselves.

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Technic Land Rover Defender Officially Announced.

After a couple of months fighting off leaking images, the new Technic Land Rover Defender is being officially launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show 2019.

It has 2573 elements and will be priced at $AUD329.99 $USD199.99 GBP159.99. Available 1st October. Read the press release, and see the launch video after the break.

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First Images Technic Powered Up Hub

I’m in Billund today, taking part in the Fan Media Days. We have just had a presentation from the Powered Up team.

We have now seen the new technic hub unveiled, as well as two new motors designed to run with the platform.

The new Technic hub has 4 ports, as well as connectors around the border. Unlike the current Smart Hub used in LEGO City trains, it will be powered by AA Rather than AAA Batteries.

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Bugatti Chiron 42083 Officially Revealed

REVEALED: THE NEW LEGO® TECHNIC BUGATTI CHIRON

Where art, engineering and bricks combine

Billund, 1st of June 2018. LEGO Group and Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. have today revealed the new LEGO® Technic Bugatti Chiron. The 1:8 scale super car will be available from June 1.

The LEGO® Technic Bugatti Chiron model brings together the iconic design heritage of the French ultra-luxury car brand and LEGO Technic elements, with a reimagined version of the latest cutting-edge super car from Molsheim.

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The new model was unveiled at LEGO House at the company’s headquarters in Billund by Niels B. Christiansen, CEO of the LEGO Group, and Bugatti President Stephan Winkelmann. The 1:8 scale LEGO® Technic Bugatti Chiron will be available from June 1, only at all LEGO® stores and shop.LEGO.com, then all retailers globally from August 1, 2018. Continue reading

Technic Telehandler 42061: Leveraging For Maximum Purchase.

I made a decision a few weeks ago to collect the sets required to allow me to put together the 40th Anniversary Technic Model: the reimagined 8860.  As I have mentioned recently, LEGO® Technical sets (as they were called back in the day) were my introduction to building mechanisms, and they changed the way I thought about building with LEGO Bricks until I entered my Dark Ages.

IMG_1066.jpgI managed to obtain this set, as well as the BMW Motorrad Adventure Motor Cycle, for $10 at a major department store in Melbourne, thanks to the accrual of Credit Card Loyalty points.  Important purchasing tip: do you accrue loyalty points? Frequent Flyer points?  I also use the QANTAS frequent flyer store as a way to purchase LEGO.  It took me a while to recognise that I have never been able to properly take advantage of Frequent Flyer schemes to receive actual flights, so I am chipping away at my supply of points to obtain LEGO.They also have some recently retired sets – I managed to pick up the Constructable General Grievous figure. Continue reading

BMW Bring Brilliant Hover Bike B-Model To Life at LEGO World.

If you happened to pick up the 42063 BMW R 1200 GS  Adventure Motorcycle in the last month or two (Europe, UK, $AUD 89.99- not yet in the US or Canada), you may have thought the B-model hover bike was a little bit of a fanciful creation.

This design however was created through cooperation between both the BMW Motorrad and LEGO Technic design teams.  Previously limited to the concept in LEGO form, BMW took the wraps off a life size concept model at LEGO world in  Copenhagen today.

 

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The A and B models from 42063

More pictures after the break.
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