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- Apr 14, 2014
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- 3,573
Over the last few months, I've been having back troubles which makes lifting heavy stock and tooling in the shop difficult at best. I thought it might be time to take a break from the heavy stuff and do something a little less strenuous. To that end I've been assembling a few Lego models. While they all can be equipped with the accessories to make them move, I neglected to purchase those options on the first few. By the time I decided I'd like to add those features the ones I've completed have been retired. As such the mobility and lighting kits are no longer available from Lego. I do continue to search through the dealer network to see if any are sitting on their shelves.
The first kit I assembled was the Jeep Rubicon. It's a kit meant for 9 and up. We'd given one to one of our 10-year-old nephews and he challenged me to a contest to see who could put it together the quickest. It really wasn't much of a contest. He had his together before I even got home and had the package opened. I think he had around 5 hours in the assembly time while mine sat on the table about 2 months before I even got a start on it. Since I had already lost the race, I took my time. I did manage to work in a little time between other projects, but alas I believe I had more like 40 hours assembly time. The only redeeming factor was that while I did eventually get it done, I realized I should abandon any attempt to apply for an appearance on the TV show "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader".
Next on the list was a Technic Heavy Duty Tow Truck. I'm now delving into uncharted territory. I had to see if I could up my game and compete with the 11-year-olds. While I eventually succeeded it took me just about a year. I got it as a Christmas present in 2023 and finished it a couple days before Christmas this year.
There are currently 2 more in progress and a third waiting in the wings. A few days before finishing the tow truck we went to a local Lego store and purchased the John Deere 948L Log Skidder. This one is for the same age group as the tow truck, but since it took me nearly a year to complete the truck, I thought I might need a little more practice before moving on to a new age group.
Should I be successful at this attempt I have one more somewhat remedial model to complete before I attempt to move into the big leagues. It's a McLaren Senna GTR. It will be my final attempt in the world of the preteen assemblers before attempting something designed for the 18 and up crowd.
My first attempt at something meant for adults will be the Liebherr 13,000 Crawler Crane. It's a little under 3,000 pieces and comes complete with 6 motors to run all the crane operations and the track drive. Like several other models in the 18 and up category its intended to be operated by an app dowloaded to your phone.
Here's a link to a short video showing how the app is used.
The first kit I assembled was the Jeep Rubicon. It's a kit meant for 9 and up. We'd given one to one of our 10-year-old nephews and he challenged me to a contest to see who could put it together the quickest. It really wasn't much of a contest. He had his together before I even got home and had the package opened. I think he had around 5 hours in the assembly time while mine sat on the table about 2 months before I even got a start on it. Since I had already lost the race, I took my time. I did manage to work in a little time between other projects, but alas I believe I had more like 40 hours assembly time. The only redeeming factor was that while I did eventually get it done, I realized I should abandon any attempt to apply for an appearance on the TV show "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader".
Next on the list was a Technic Heavy Duty Tow Truck. I'm now delving into uncharted territory. I had to see if I could up my game and compete with the 11-year-olds. While I eventually succeeded it took me just about a year. I got it as a Christmas present in 2023 and finished it a couple days before Christmas this year.
There are currently 2 more in progress and a third waiting in the wings. A few days before finishing the tow truck we went to a local Lego store and purchased the John Deere 948L Log Skidder. This one is for the same age group as the tow truck, but since it took me nearly a year to complete the truck, I thought I might need a little more practice before moving on to a new age group.
Should I be successful at this attempt I have one more somewhat remedial model to complete before I attempt to move into the big leagues. It's a McLaren Senna GTR. It will be my final attempt in the world of the preteen assemblers before attempting something designed for the 18 and up crowd.
My first attempt at something meant for adults will be the Liebherr 13,000 Crawler Crane. It's a little under 3,000 pieces and comes complete with 6 motors to run all the crane operations and the track drive. Like several other models in the 18 and up category its intended to be operated by an app dowloaded to your phone.
Here's a link to a short video showing how the app is used.
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