How did you become a LEGO designer? I studied Car Design at University and my first job at LEGO was designing cars for LEGO DUPLO. Now I’m a Creator car specialist. What Creator models have you designed? 30186 Christmas Tree, 31000 Mini Speeder, 31001 Mini Skyflyer, 31006 Highway Speedster,31010 Treehouse, 10242 MINI Cooper What is your favorite food? Hot apple crumble with vanilla ice-cream Share your favorite building tip. I love to use the mini-ball joints – they can create crazy angles to build off of and provide great possibility, like we see in MIXELS. I’ve been working on some really interesting builds with Creator using the mini-ball joints – and that’s all I can say for now :) Who is your favorite super hero? What is your favorite Creator car? Three words to describe your job? What is YOUR favorite Creator car? Go to the Creator Messageboards and tell us!Following up on a rather successful VW Camper Van set from 2011, LEGO has let it be known that they’re bringing a lovely MINI Cooper to market.
This LEGO set is part of the Creator collection and is recommended for ages 16 and above – as high as LEGO goes, at the moment. With 1,077 pieces, this set is ready to roll with a wide variety of unique nooks and crannies. There’s an awesome movement going on within LEGO – one that suggests they’re not entirely against pushing their age requirements to a much more broad spectrum of users. What you’ll see here is a vehicle with details so accurate, there’s no possible way LEGO doesn’t mean for this machine to get in the hands of adults just as well as kids. Inside this vehicle you’ll find a spare wheel in its secret trunk compartment, detailed engine bits, and fully operational doors, hood, and trunk. Two fog lights sit up front while a picnic basket rests in the back seat. The roof comes off easily for detailed interior access for up-close looks. This is a feature that many recent high-detail sets have, including the Jabba’s Sail Barge we reviewed just this past month.
The final set measures in at over 4” (11cm) high, 9” (25cm) long and 5” (14cm) wide. Above you’ll see an interview video made with Andy Seenan, senior LEGO designer and the creator of this set! The LEGO 10242 MINI Cooper set will be delivered to LEGO Stores across the planet in August of 2014 for $99.99 USD. Stay tuned for more detail as this set gets closer to launch!Lego's new Porsche 911 GT3 RS set is gorgeous, desirable and not a little bit scary — which sums up actual car quite well. Three years in the making, the intimidating set joins the Danish toymaker's Technic line, highly complex model kits whose parts number in the thousands. View image of Lego Technic Porsche 911 GT3 RS Within the Lego Porsche's black box lurks 2,704 pieces (an impressive figure, but still a fair bit shy of the company's 5,195-piece Millennium Falcon kit). But the scope of the project is only part of the set's allure: with the GT3 RS set, Lego is emphasizing not just the parts and their 1:8-scale sum, but the experience of putting it all together.
The company worked with Porsche to replicate the build process for an actual GT3 RS, allowing Lego builders to follow Stuttgart's actual production sequence as closely as possible. The kit includes an inch-thick instruction manual which, says Lego Technic senior design manager Andrew Woodman, "is more like a coffee table book or an exclusive book" than a build tutorial. It includes not only step-by-step assembly instructions for the set, but tandem design and engineering backstories for Porsche's actual 911 GT3 RS.Lego being Lego, the RS is meant to be touched. The doors open and close, as does the engine-compartment and front lids. There's a fully adjustable wing at the rear, and a gear bag in the boot. And what's under the skin is at least as impressive as the lava orange exterior. Designer Uwe Wabra has created a Lego-ised four-speed version of Porsche's PDK dual-clutch transmission, complete with rubber-band-tensioned paddle shifters and a drive selector with forward and reverse settings.
And of course, the gearbox meets a horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine with moving pistons. The steering works, too, and the wheels attach to fully articulated suspension hardware, complete with racy red dampers. View image of Porsche 911 GT3 RS Despite its enormity, the set features only seven new pieces, including two minor body parts, a couple of internal bits, RS-emblem wheelhubs and set-exclusive black wheels. There's also tiny glovebox plaque with a laser-engraved serial number — digits which, says Lego, will unlock some special Web content for the car's owner.No surprise, Lego's take on Porsche's 500-horsepower, £130,000 racecar for the road is intended for mature audiences, and it won't come cheaply. When it goes on sale on 1 June, the Technic GT3 RS set will command a cool $300 in the US, $350 in Canada and £250 in the UK. Have a look at Andrew Woodman's video tour of the car below. View image of This video is no longer available If you would like to comment on this or anything else you have seen on BBC Autos, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.
features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Autos, Future, Earth, Culture, Capital and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.Release Date: 1st August 2014 Take this MINI Cooper for a nostalgic drive down memory lane! The first glimpse of this set was I have to get this set. It's a step down in comparison between the Volkswagen T1 Camper Van #10220; mostly the size between the sets is different but they both have similar prices. The Volkswagen is slightly larger but this MINI Cooper captured the essence of a MINI however it still delivers and improves the minor mistakes in the Camper Van did make. The model continues the essence of the Camper Van like the elegant rounded corners and the engine details with additional new building techniques. The chairs are one of the few stand outs compared with the Camper Van; the checked pattern in the centre as well as the sides of the chairs stick out. The two front chairs are also shown to move forward allowing passengers to access the back.
It's pretty cool LEGO also gave us an extra tyre. A few complaints I found while looking at the pictures that the steering wheel very large which means it’s very close to the seat; the designer could have used the same steering wheel as the Camper Van in black. The front windshield sticks out from the inside; well it's on the inside. My first impression the colour was negative; I thought I would look better in red and white. It made me think that if this is a follow up from the very successful Volkswagen T1 Camper Van #10220, most people who own set that will most likely purchase this set; why would LEGO do a large scale model of the MINI Cooper in same colours and the Camper Van. Now I look at the colour scheme it actually works and I like that it's not using a basic colour scheme from the LEGO colour pallet; I do feel that the earth green that was chosen was a very good colour to go with as the colour itself looks vintage. The white for the roof, side mirrors and front stripes was a necessity to have on this model;
as most of the MINI Cooper models have white for those areas. I only count six stickers in this model; it would have been nice for LEGO to completely avoid stickers in these large models as it takes away the authenticity of the models. I understand for some people they want to use the parts elsewhere; so they break it even and make sure both sides of the fans don’t get disappointed. At least we don't have any transparent or mirror stickers; they are cool but also a nightmare. I'm glad the lines on the upper part of the side of car are printed and finally we get the British number plates. The accessories: picnic basket, bottle and the blanket that are included for a nostalgic picnic theme and complete the set; I didn't see it coming. Although they aren't the main focus point of the set; the designer made pretty neat designs with the bottle and picnic basket, which I thought what was missing from the Camper Van. The red and white fabric; Yes, absolutely a must buy; despite my minor problems with the set.