Welcome back to our continuing journey through the decades of the history of the LEGO Group, as we approach the 90th anniversary of the company on August 10, 2022.
Today, we enter the 1990s, the so called System Era, where we started to see playthemes diverge from the standard Town, Castle and Space. The company also starts to introduce new technologies, as well as embarking onto the World Wide Web.
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If it’s late May in an even year, it must be time to reveal a new Technic Supercar, and this year the Prancing Horse has its turn as the LEGO Technic team unveils the Ferrari Daytona SP3. The ‘Real Life’ Daytona SP3 is a limited edition vehicle unveiled in 2021: Only 599 will be built, retailing for $2.29 million apiece.
The set will be released on 1st June and has 3778 pieces. It will retail for €/$ 399.99, £349.99, 659.99 AUD, 499.99 CAD
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Since Technical sets debuted in 1977, motorcycles have been a feature of the range. The level of detail comes and goes, as does the playability. The most recent ‘serious’ motorcycle set was 2017’s BMW R1200 GS Adventure, an off road bike. Since then we have seen a couple of play feature/stunt cycles. We haven’t seen a street or track bike since 2015.
The release of the Ducati is the first track bike released for some years, and represents the new Ducati Panigale V4 R
I have been frustrated, waiting for the ability to control the new Technic® Smart Hub (used in the 4×4 and Liebherr Excavator) with the Powered Up App. This will allow us to control that hub using programs created in the Powered Up Software. Seriously, the first hardware came out in August, and we can’t control it using any method supplied by LEGO® except for the Control+ App – which is designed to only control the principle model in the sets that include that hardware.
Therefore, I got just a little excited when the following communication, announcing the next update for the Powered Up App, arrived via the LEGO Ambassador’s Network:…
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A new LEGO® Technic set, based on a Top Gear Branded Rally Car was unveiled today at the Los Angeles Motor Show.
With 463 elements, including the Technic Smart Hub, as well as both L and XL Technic motors, this set is currently the cheapest way to obtain these elements from LEGO. It is priced at $USD129.99/£124.99 compared with the 4×4 X-treme Off Roader 42099 at $USD249.99/£199.99, although 42099 comes with an additional XL motor. While we don’t have other pricing currently available, I expect that an Australian price might be in the region of $AUD200-250.
Continue readingThe New Technic Smart hub became available this week, as part of 42099 X-treme 4×4 Off Roader. This article discusses what we can expect the long awaited Control+ App to do and what it won’t. I also take a look at the ever expanding range of connected apps produced by LEGO A/S today.
The first of August has past and there have been a number of new, released. If you are a Technic Fan, you are possibly curious about the new 4×4 X-treme Off Roader 42099. Certainly, it’s one I have been looking forward to seeing.
I had an opportunity to see this new model, as well as the new Control+ App demonstrated by members of the design team while in Billund, at the Recognised Fan Media days in May this year. Amongst other things, the set features the new Technic Smart Hub, 2 new Technic XL linear motors, and one Technic L linear motor. I am excited to get my hands on this set as soon as possible, to build the set and experience the new Control+ App. I might have to wait until the Australian online store gets more stock.
I also hope to incorporate the new Control+ Hub in a MOC later in the year.
At last it has happened: I have pulled apart my Microlight Helicopter 42057 , torn down the Telehandler 42061, and dismantled the BMW Motorrad Concept Hoverbike, the B-model of 42063 . I then sorted their component parts, in to compartmentalised boxes.
With Extreme Prejudice. Lots of compartmentalised containers: connectors in one; beams in another; gears and axels and panels. And random, hard to define, parts all in one flat box. I could have probably worked with several more compartments, or indeed boxes, but the process seems to have worked.
So. Many. Elements. Between these sets, we end up with around 1060 pieces, give or take. Of these, approximately 570 are used in this model. This is the first time I found myself with so many technic pieces in one place. This was not helped by incorporating the other technic elements which had made their way into the house over the last few years. I was amazed at how few of these pieces were ‘gears’: I’m sure the the gears what I remembered being the big thing that distinguished those early technical sets from LEGOLand and universal building kits.
This is the first time that I have built from instructions for a set I don’t own, with parts so immaculately sorted. It was a strange feeling. Knowing that all the parts were there, having built the original models, and pulling them apart directly into the sorting box was anathema to my normal building style.
I never understood the joy of Technic Motorcycles. And yet here I am, staring at the box of one. I would never have bought this set were I not aiming to put together the Reimagined Technic Car Chassis 8860 . But people seem to be interested in it. Every time I attend my local LUG, somebody else is putting it together. And they seem to be enjoying it. And they aren’t all the people I expect to see putting Technic sets together! So what is the appeal?
But surely it’s just two wheels, a fuel tank, engine, handlebars, and a bit of trim? How much variation can you get out of it? The first Technical Motorcycle was set 857 Motorbike with Sidecar, released in 1979. This vehicle featured the same wheels ultimately used in 8860 (albeit only 3 of them). The single cylinder piston engine attached to the rear wheel via a chain drive; the ride was a little rough due to lack of suspension, and the front forks were 6 studs wide, and built from a multitude of bricks and plates. The seat was wide and comfortable and the fuel tank extremely chunky. A side car made a third wheel necessary!
How on earth could any of that be different? I mean that first set had a massive 409 pieces, with lots of red, black, grey and blue. However, here we have a very different vehicle: with only 197 pieces more than the first one! It has a recommended retail price of $AUD89.99 (just under 15¢/piece). It has been around during recent 20% sales in Australia shops.
So, last week I wrote about my memories of my introduction to LEGO Technic, which was way back in 1978. Over the recent Easter weekend, I had the chance to visit my childhood LEGO collection. I found some Technical set instructions in the mix: 8860-Car Chassis, and 856Bulldozer. But not for my original helicopter. Then I found the sheet you see here: preserved after 40 years. Not the instructions for the Helicopter, but for the B-Model airplane. I turned them over, and on the flip side were blueprints for the helicopter, at a 1:1 scale.
Now, we ended up owning a fairly broad collection of LEGO for the 70’s-80’s: lots of regular bricks, ancient wheels and parts from 3 significant technical sets (as well as some supplementary sets). I thought to myself: there is a high probability of locating enough parts to put the helicopter together. Perhaps not colour perfect, but structurally so.
I’d like to tell you story. Like all good stories, it is possibly a little long winded, and feels a little irrelevant until you get to the point. This may or may not be a good story. I’d be curious to know your opinion. But bear with me. It was Christmas Day, 1978. A Monday. I was 9 years old. We were staying in Ballarat ( regional Victoria) with my Aunt for Christmas. As I mentioned, I was nine.:Christmas was exciting, even more so at five in the morning when you wake up with an exciting new form of seasonal insomnia. Monday morning at five o’clock is not a time that comes naturally to me these days, but on Christmas day as a child, it represented a definite sleep in!
Our personal family record occurred in 1977, when my brother and I got up at 3:40am on Christmas day, ten minutes after our parents had gone to bed. He proudly went in to excitedly inform our visiting relatives that he had been given a bicycle, and it was all red! Oddly enough, our relatives did not share his enthusiasm at this time. The story however is presented on a semi annual basis to this day. But I digress.
So, I was encouraged me to open another package. ( I suspect other members of the family had opened some presents by this stage.)
This one was a similarly sized box, that did not seem to rattle as much as the previous one. This set had only twenty-two pieces, and was #870 – the 4.5V Technical Motor.
After assembling that battery box and connecting the wire, I was a little taken aback: this motor seemed to be spinning at a rate that rivalled even a dentist’s drill. The role of the gear blocks became apparent. Finally, I got to the Big Box. It rattled in a most mysterious way. Tearing off the wrapping paper revealed the 852 Helicopter set. The box had a flip top lid, revealing all of the parts sorted into their own compartments. The set contained a mere three hundred and sixty four pieces. As for the instructions: this was the first set where I remember using an instruction book rather than a single sheet. 
The 16 page manual included both the Helicopter and alternative Airplane build, as well as inspiration for installing the motor. The helicopter featured a massive 20 instruction steps. This was the greatest LEGO Challenge I had ever faced. [Editors note: The link back there will take you to a scan of the manual at Peeron.com. This is a great resource for sourcing the instructions for LEGO® sets released prior to 2000- after which the majority of instructions appear on the customer support section of LEGO.com]
One of the best things about going away for a Family Christmas meant there was plenty of time for discussion, menu planning, basting, food preparation, cups of tea, cooking, pudding completion, meat roasting, and gravy making by parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents and extended family. By the time Christmas Lunch was ready, it was close to four o’clock in the afternoon. But I didn’t mind. I had completed the Helicopter. I enjoyed spinning the rotors with side mounted steering wheel. And the blades had variable pitch, with the aid a a lever in the cockpit. I don’t think I even noticed that Lunch was running a bit late.
This set remained in the LEGO Catalogue up until 1987. An epic eight year run!. The next Technic Car Chassis did not appear until 1998’s 900 piece epic: 8865: Test Car. Over the years, these sets have evolved: losing the brick and plate construction that was par for the course at this time, to a beam and panel construction style. I am still coming to terms with the new vocabulary for working with these pieces. In 2016 we saw the release of the Technic Porsche 911 with 2704 pieces and a price tag to match.
With 2017 representing the 40th year of LEGO Technic, a celebration of the 8860 is underway. Using components from 42057 (Ultralight Helicopter); 42061 (Telehandler) and 42063 (BMW R 12 GS Adventure), you can revisit 8860, using contemporary Technic construction techniques. The construction style is quite different to that of the 1980’s – and the final model looks as if it will be a little smaller than the original 8860, but I took the first step back towards visiting Technic sets this week.
The Ultralight Helicopter is a small, inexpensive Technic kit, with 200 pieces – around two thirds of the original helicopter I received all those years ago. It took around an hour to build. As an ultralight, the top rotors spin and drive the thrusting rotor, and the 2 cylinders in the engine move up and down as they do so. The pitch of the blades do not change, but there is a lever that allows you to turn the rudder.
The Rambling Brick 
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