Category: Uncategorized

Posted on in Uncategorized

Race Car and Car Carrier Truck

#60406
328 Pieces
Ages 6+
$29.99

Design ***
Build ***
Cost **
Playability ****

The Race Car and Car Carrier Truck is a simple, no down-side set perfect for an afternoon build. With two minifigures and 2 vehicles, the set is great to build and play with a friend. At its heart, the set is a rerelease of a city set roughly 10 years old. The City Flatbed Truck 60017 included the orange tow truck, dark red sports car, two minifigures and a stop light for $20.

3 stars were awarded to the Design for it’s general simplicity in appearance. The color combination of black with neon teal and magenta give it much needed pop!

Building the set was simple and took less than an hour. I love the creative use of fins on the back of the sports car which make it reminiscent of a rally car. The makes clever use of a window as the grill of the truck, and 1×1 pyramid pieces are used to hold the car in place on the back of the truck bed. I took off one point for the design of the articulating bed as it requires 2 moving technic pieces. I think better use of pieces could correct this.

At $30, this set is maybe $5-10 too much in my opinion, but a reduction in piece count or minifigs would hurt the overall score.

With 2 cars and 2 minifigures, this set scores highest in playability. I like the obvious narrative which is vehicle transport. These cars are both sporty enough that it wouldn’t take much imagination to see these cars race against each other. The brown minifig hat should be exchanged for a black hat to match the team colors.

The lack of originality is this set’s biggest flaw. I can’t help but to compare it with the Flatbed Truck and am disappointed with everything except the color scheme, but I still recommend purchasing it.

Posted on in Uncategorized

MOC Starship X-18

My own creation is a near exact replica of the X-15 starship from the Buzz Lightyear theme. The X-15 was my favorite set from 2023 and I had the vision for a militant version, the X-18, almost immediately.

The 75346 LEGO Star Wars Pirate Snub Fighter served as the initial inspiration as it included the same canopy as the original but in a trans-dark grey instead of the trans-yellow. The trans-yellow windscreen like we see in the Classic Space theme is fun for sci-fi but dark grey brings some maturity to the ship. The Snub fighter contained plenty of useful pieces for the replica but many more pieces were needed to complete the build. A few pieces I was able to pull from my personal collection but most used were ordered separately from Bricklinks.com. One of the Bricklinks.com orders went missing in transit and took time to replace. Details were critical, getting the color scheme right was a challenge. I like how the darker grey pieces contrast slightly with the light grey and make the ship pop. They also add some authenticity as many military planes are not simply monotone grey. The decals on the wings were purchased from Brickmania in Schaumburg, IL and are intended for use on a US Harrier jump jet.

The pictures below contain side-by-sides of the original build with my own creation. The first few contain images without weapons showcasing the similarities between the two machines. Later images contain the weaponized version with 6 spring loaded missiles on the tips of the wings as well as two large guns mounted on the sides of the engines. The last image contains the custom pilot.

Posted on in Uncategorized

Thrift Store MOC

A $6.99 purchase at a local thrift store makes for a fun afternoon.

Stashed in a nerf dart boxed, hidden amongst the toy graveyard is where I found these second Legos. The box originally contained more toys, some kind of transformer toy you might find in a happy meal, but I left them on the shelf.

What first caught my eye was the trans-light blue curved 1×6. Then I noticed some Bionicle like arms and engine type pieces. The more I looked, the better it got. There were some police branded pieces, jail bars with frames, various technic pieces, and vehicle parts. When I found 4 matching red mud guards I decided to buy the lot.

The first thing I did when I got home was clean the catch, crate and all. I drizzled on some extra strength dish soap, filled it up with water from the tap in the bath and shook until I was tired. There was a good amount of suds from the dish soap which makes it hard to see the pieces and easy to lose the little ones. To prevent losing pieces, I stop the drain, dump the lot into a strainer or a colander and rinse with water until the suds are gone. Next, I douse the Legos with a proprietary cleaning concoction which further degreases them and restores some shine. I rinse them out again in a colander and spread them out on a clean towel some place dry.

Once they dried I separated them by color decided to build something with only the pieces I bought that day. I was excited to see enough car parts to build a 9/10ths of a super car from a City set over 10 years old. The missing pieces include the parts to make front and rear spoilers, as well as some detailing on the rear engine. To compensate, I added 2 oversized jet engines, and a bubble glass cockpit. I think the MOC is fun, silly, and imaginative. The price was certainly right.

Posted on in Uncategorized

Statue of Liberty

#21042
1685 Pieces
Ages 16+
$119.00

Design  *****
Build    *****
Cost   **
Playability *

The Statue of Liberty set from the Architecture theme has curves, corners, waves, and ridges. Standing over 17″ tall, she towers over her Architecture counterparts and most City structures. The scale and proportions of the set are impeccable and are owed to the elements of the Design and Build techniques. The price and playability of the set bring the score low, but not dismal.

Desk, shelf, mantle, Christmas tree topper, car dash (well maybe not here) but this queen is so good looking she could sit anywhere. The color pallet is simple with only 3 exterior colors: sand green, tan, and the gold flame piece. But they match the subject structure almost perfectly. Most sets would struggle to achieve all 5 points for Design, but the Statue of Liberty eats them up. The detail in the pedestal is achieved with the use of multiple 1×1 pieces like circles, slopes, discs, and plates. The statue herself gets her details from a slew of slopes, curving slopes, and plates which give her gown the appearance of waving in the wind. Further details include the broken shackles at her feet, the spiral spiked seven point crown and clutched tablet.

The fantastic design elements that give this set it’s textured appearance are owed to the expert build techniques. When building the pedestal, SNOT (stud not on top) is used to expose the bottom of the curved discs and used again as pilasters by way of vent pieces and plates. Modular building is used on the corner stones with alternating layers of discs and studs to give it a lattice look. Further up the pedestal is the observation deck which features clever use of spacing for the walking path and doorways. My favorite element here is the use of 2x1s with a middle clip and 2 slope pieces on top creating clever porticos for the doorways. The statue herself is elegant and features SNOT, technic pegs, hinges, and modular building of the arm and torch. Perhaps the most interesting feature is the long technic piece with holes for pegs on the end. The top is connected to the bottom of the statue’s feet while the bottom is connected to the pedestal. This is all done internally, out of sight, and is used to maintain rigidity throughout build and preventing the statue from falling off her base. (Chef’s kiss).

The price tag of roughly $120 is not unreasonable for its look and its piece count, but for some reason it feels too high. I found this set on sale and have seen it regularly on sale which gives me the impression others feel the same. Including a minifig version of the Statue of Liberty would help with the heartburn but would be tacky and out of theme.

One star for playability is fair. It looks amazing, but doesn’t do anything. She is not to scale of the minifigures or microfigures which doesn’t help. Add 1 ghost point if you’re adding this to your city scape, or building a climactic fight scene with your super heroes.

Whether you’re a fan of Lego themes like Architecture, City, or super heroes, she should join your collection. She also makes a great gift for an adult who loves sculptures, Americana, or even puzzles.

What is Infinity-bricks.com?

Infinity Bricks is a place where creative ideas and STEM are realized through the magic of LEGO and compatible building block toys.  Founded by a life-long builder and lover of LEGO, Infinity Bricks utilizes a proprietary grading system to review sets and inform customers on key characteristics, Design, Build, Cost, and Playability.  In addition, to providing consumer information, Infinity Bricks will host user-submitted designs and builds. Subscribe today to stay up-to-date on reviews and user submitted My Own Creations (MOS’s).