Is the upcoming Lego Technic Porsche 911 GT3 RS (42056) the best Lego car of all time? Lego car expert Stephan Sander and his thoughts on the new Porsche – and the Lego Technic car history.
Back then in 1977, Lego released the first big Technic car set. It was set number 853 (Brickset Database) and simply called ‚Auto Chassis‘. As a big car and Lego fan, this was a must have for me and somehow I got it. My memories are a bit unclear, but I guess I have been a good boy and Santa had no other choice than putting the giant box under the christmas tree. I built it and broke it down and built it again. And I always wanted to build a nice and fancy skirt for the chassis, but because of insufficient bricks this project always failed.
Lego Technic Porsche 911 GT3 RS (42056): Weitere Inhalte
Ausgepackt – Unboxing
Box 1 – Antriebsstrang
Box 2 – Hochzeit
Box 3 – Karosserie
Box 4 – Review
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In the further years the tiny danish toy company released more Technic car sets. The 8880 Technic Super Car from 1994 was a brilliant one. A massive number of 1343 elements was the guarantee for a brilliant set with loads of cool functions. 4 wheel steering, but no body work. Working gearbox, but no body work. Flip-eyes and comfy seats, but no body work. You see the point? It is a Technic set and made sure that there is no doubt to which category it belongs. Btw.: Lego once made a version scaled up to the dimensions of a real car with millions of bricks. And it seems that they are very proud of it, because they are displaying this beauty at the Lego World in Kopenhagen, even if the set is gone off the shelves for decades, now! And you may already have guessed it: the big one also has no body work. But there was evolution. The Super Car had at least long technic bricks to show the outlines of the body. Better than nothing, if you ask me.
Time moved on and so did the Technic sets. 2007 was the year of the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano (say that name slowly with Italian dialect) number 8145. Technic had a lot of new elements and the big cars could be made with a body. The use of flexible tube elements made it possible to reproduce the fine lines of the original. Advantage and disadvantage at the same time, these tube elements were just showing roughly the outlines of the car. There were still lots of holes and unfilled areas and you had to imagine the full body.
To see the difference between a Lego Technic Car and a Lego Car, the former wood toy making company released two quite similar sets: Ferrari F1 Racer 1:10 (number 8386) and Ferrari F1 Racer 1:9 (number 8157). Both are very big and have between 700 and 1000 elements. And to be honest, I have no idea how they’ve been able to make this, because my tiny 1:20 cars are made of about 500 elements. Anyway, the Technic one came with the well known tube elements and the brick based one does not. You can see through the body of the Technic one, but you can’t at the brick based one. It’s function versus form. Decide by your own, which one is your favorite. They are both out of production for a long time and unaffordable these days.
Now we have 2016 and the biggest toy company of the world announces a brand new set: the Porsche 911 GT3 RS! Tube elements are still inside the box, but used less than in the past. Typically for a Technic set the desktop sized version of the latest invention of German engineering comes with a lot of cool features. Working gear shifting mechanism in the form of steering pedals! How the hell did they made this? It seems that there are still some points where you can look at least inside the car, but not through the entire car. Evolution has made a big step forward. Many of the orange elements (my favorite color, if I may mention that!) are old friends for Technic lovers. But the mudguard elements seem to be made just for this model. Will they be useful for other models, too? The future will answer this question. The past taught me that models are looking way better in real life than on a thumbnail in the internet. But if this thumbnail looks awesome, what does it mean to the real one?
If I have the choice between a Technic and a brick based model, I would always choose the brick based one. But working steering pedals? Will this be the break through for a LEGO Technic set with the look of a brick based model? I’m afraid I have to buy this masterpiece to find it out by myself.
Guest author Stephan Sander is a Lego Car enthusiast and also one organizer of the wonderful Skaerbaek Fan Weekend.