Three of this summer’s LEGO Technic releases went on sale on 1 August: the Dodge Viper GTS-R, the Ferrari 488 Pista and the Ducati Desmo450 MX. Members keep asking when they go into the library. They are not going in, and I would rather explain why than keep saying no, because I like all three.
Short version: they are good sets and they are the wrong size for what Brick Club does.
Dodge Viper GTS-R (42234)
The interesting bit is under the bonnet. The Viper is front-engined, so the V10 and the steering have to share about four studs of height at the front of the chassis. The designer solved it by running the steering axle between the two banks of cylinders, which is the kind of problem-solving Technic is supposed to be about. The engine turns from the rear wheels through a differential, the steering is a hand-of-god gear, and the bonnet and doors open. Behind the doors there is only the differential; nothing else moves.
The blue stripes are mostly stickers, 26 in all, and the real car is round in every direction, so the model has gaps where a panel cannot follow a curve. HispaBrick Magazine liked the bonnet curvature and the headlights built from transparent panels; The Rambling Brick thought it looked messy. Both are right. It is a 30 cm car for sixty pounds and an evening.
Ferrari 488 Pista (42235)
The better looking of the two cars, because the real 488 has a few straight lines for the panels to follow. The stripe over the roof, spoiler and bonnet is done in bricks rather than stickers, which leaves 17 stickers for a set of this size, and the doors and rear arches use half-stud offsets and angled connectors to get the shape. Mechanically it is the same recipe as the Viper: a V8 with small pistons driven from the back wheels through a differential, hand-of-god steering (the steering wheel in the cabin does not turn the wheels), and an opening bonnet, boot and doors.
HispaBrick called the build easy with a few satisfying moments where big sections get woven together with an axle. That is a fair description of an evening’s work.
Ducati Desmo450 MX Factory (42238)
My favourite of the three, and the one I would tell you to buy. It is Ducati’s first motocross bike, and because a dirt bike wears almost no bodywork, everything Technic does well is on show: the single cylinder is transparent so you watch the piston move as the back wheel turns, a gold chain links the engine to the back wheel, and there is suspension at both ends, though HispaBrick found the front forks bend rather than compress if you push straight down. The front mudguard is a red botanical leaf, which is the best part use in the wave, and there is a small bee hidden under the seat.
The Rambling Brick gave it four out of five against three for the cars, and said the frame is together after a single bag. Four numbered bags, 15 stickers, done in an evening.
Why they stay out
Brick Club only carries kits with a recommended price over 100 pounds. The Viper and the Ferrari are 59.99. The Ducati is 44.99. That is the whole answer, and it is worth saying why the line is there rather than pretending it is about quality.
Renting only makes sense for a set that is awkward to own. A 3,600-piece Chiron costs several hundred pounds, takes over a table for a fortnight and then needs a shelf to itself for the rest of its life. Sending that round a hundred members solves a real problem. A sixty-pound Viper is not a problem to own. You can buy it for less than four months of a Technic Fan subscription, build it on a Tuesday and put it on a bookshelf.
The other half of it is the build itself. Most kits in the library give you evenings of mechanism before the panels go on: gearboxes, differentials, pneumatics, a marriage of two chassis halves, and the quicker builds, like the Porsche below, come with a hub and motors to drive. These three are one evening each, and in the cars the only mechanical work is the engine and the steering. That is fine at sixty pounds. It is not what people pay a subscription for.
Every box that goes out is a set worth over 100 pounds, and you never get the same kit twice. Put a fifty-pound car into the rotation and that promise quietly breaks, because sooner or later somebody’s month is a set they could have bought with their lunch money.
If it is one of these you wanted
The thing people usually mean when they ask about the Viper is not the Viper. It is “I want a car I can finish this week”, or “I want a bike”. The library has both, and the versions it has do more: two cars you drive from your phone and a bike with a real gearbox.
The Porsche GT4 e-Performance is the closest thing to the two cars: about the same piece count, but you drive it from your phone, with a hub that powers the rear wheels and the steering and lights that really work. If it is a supercar badge you are after, the Revuelto is a Lamborghini built the same way, 1,135 pieces on a hub you drive from the app. And if the Ducati caught your eye, the Ducati in the library is the Panigale V4 S: 1,603 pieces, a three-speed gearbox with neutral, front and rear suspension and a chain to a V4, which is everything the Desmo450 has with a proper build in front of it.
Buy the little Ducati anyway. It is a lovely thing and it will not take the shelf space of a book.
If you think the line is in the wrong place, tell me. I read everything that comes to hello@brickclub.uk, and the library has changed shape before because a member made a decent argument.
Up to six or twelve kits a year, and you never know which
Every box is a Technic set worth over 100 pounds, and you never get the same kit twice. Postage both ways, a pre-paid return label, a brick separator and the official instructions come with all of them.
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