So
you wish you could have the baddest custom-built off roader around?
Or maybe you want to get your mits on the Ford EX concept, perhaps?
If you want to build the first one, stop reading now and go get
out your welder. We'll see you in a few months. If you want the
EX, well, good luck, because only one exists and Ford's not giving
it up. So what's a four wheeler to do? Buy toys, that's what!
The
Off Roader has some nice flex!
The
suspension on this kit will make your favorite fabricator
jealous.
Big
rubber wheels stick like glue to the rocks.
Yup!
That's a real winch! Pull the lever to free the line. Release
it and it locks in place. If only it would actually reel
itself back in...
When
you're done in the backyard, get online and play 4x4 Extreme
Rally.
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We got our hands
on one of the new LEGO®
TECHNIC®
Extreme Off Roader kits and boy is it cool! I grew up playing with
LEGO toys and to this day I still enjoy building things with them.
When I saw that the new LEGO TECHNIC lineup included a 4x4, I knew
I just had to have one.
Founded in 1934
by Ole Kirk, LEGO is a contraction of the two Danish words "leg"
and "godt," which means "play well." By coincidence,
in Latin, "LEGO" means "I put together." In
1958, LEGO introduced a plastic brick with tubes underneath and
studs on top. These basic bricks would essentially stay the same
for years to come. In fact, all LEGO elements are fully compatible,
whether they were produced in 1958 or today! LEGO pieces are so
precisely made that only 18 parts for every one million produced
do not pass the standard, which is precision within five thousands
of a millimeter!
Today's LEGO
toys are a far cry from the square or rectangle only bricks of my
youth. Nowadays, LEGO bricks come in many shapes and sizes and many
are made specifically to build certain toys. The LEGO TECHNIC Extreme
Off Roader is a perfect example of this. The kit contains 364 pieces!
Those 364 pieces can be put together to build two different vehicles.
We chose to
build the one you see here in the photos. The manual for this kit
is a whopping 136 pages! 57 pages showed us in detail how we'd spend
nearly two full hours building our off roader. That's right - two
hours! The kit is intended for anyone over 9 years of age and the
instructions are wonderful. However, even I had to back-step a few
times when I didn't follow them to a T. With so many parts, you
really need to pay attention to what you are doing. In addition,
an engineering degree or perhaps an ASE Certification would help.
What's so fascinating
about the LEGO TECHNIC Extreme Off Roader is its suspension. This
is a genuine, working, suspension. The 4 wheel independent suspension
is amazing. It even has a steering stabilizer and rear stabilizer
to help keep the wheels on the ground. There is a wheel behind the
driver seat that you can spin, which will, in turn, steer the real
rubber wheels left and right. This thing has more flex than many
of the real-world rigs you see on our pages.
If bone-stock
isn't your bag, you can beef up your off roader with some really
cool accessories from LEGO. Try adding on pneumatics, real motors,
styling pieces, or new wheels to make your off roader even cooler.
When you're
done playing in the dirt in your backyard, you can get online and
go to the LEGO website, where you can play 4x4
Extreme Rally. This video game loads in your browser using the
free Macromedia Flash plugin. Race your LEGO TECHNIC Extreme Off
Roader through this virtual world for tons of fun. Anyone can play
the game, whether or not they own the real LEGO toys.
The kit we got
was selling for about $39.99
online at the time of writing. Every kid is sure to love this LEGO
set, whether they are 9 years of age or 39 so go out and get you
one! We don't give any higher recommendations than this!
RESOURCE
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LEGO
Systems Inc.
www.lego.com
555 Taylor Road
Enfield, CT 06082
(860) 763-6731 |
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