Set Review ➟ 42234 Dodge Viper GTS-R
Set Review ➟ 42234 Dodge Viper GTS-R
Among sportscar petrolheads, Dodge Viper usually has the ultimate muscle car reputation, and if anything, its racing version GTS-R just reinforces it further. A massive, 8-liter V10 engine at the front which produces 770 horsepower in the racing version and, even more insane, 988 newtonmeters of torque, which ought to suffice to twist a sequoia out of the ground. Remember, this was all long before electric cars came with their skull-cracking torques.
Unlike many such brutal-engined cars, however, the GTS-R is pretty capable of cornering and has enjoyed a respectable amount of racing success since it went into production in 1996, and continued right through the noughties. Now it found its LEGO Technic incarnation come to life as well, in the set 42234 which, like the Ferrari we reviewed recently, emphasizes connection to the Forza Horizon 6 game. At 805 parts and scale of approximately 1:16, it also follows the recipe similar to its Italian colleague.
However, the main difference, which is what the entire set’s mechanical construction revolves around, is its front engine layout. This implies that the two main “complexities” in this Viper, namely the steering and the engine, had to be squeezed alongside each other in a volume that was limited to 4 or so studs in height. That was accomplished quite cleverly by having the steering axle run right between the engine cylinder blocks - the only remaining space, considering that the rest was occupied by the crank discs! The engine itself, based on small pistons, is driven by the rear wheels through a differential, of course via its own axle.
The overall solution is quite neat and looks simple, but must have been anything but straightforward to design: exactly what the spirit of Technic should be. This means that, unfortunately, the rear is somewhat passive, housing nothing but a differential; everything apart from it behind the doors is just static, including the lid. That leaves us with the steering (through hand-of-God gear), a working V10, and the openable hood and doors as the mechanical features offered by the 42234. Nothing important omitted, but nothing excitingly new either.
Some design and construction details are interesting little pearls, however. The engine hood with its subtle curvature, and the way it fits snugly on the bodywork when closed, is a nice little lesson on panel design. The rear, with its half-stud offsets and splitters, is a good example as well. Building headlights with transparent curved Technic panels is a nice idea which just works. Rear view mirrors, which are system parts mounted on mini rods connected to doors, are both sturdy and adjustable, and fit the windshield column with sub-millimeter precision.
Talking about drawbacks, I cannot try to act as if there aren’t too many stickers: 26 pieces. Several are fine, as it would have been insane to expect fully printed large panels, but majority are just unnecessary, like the five for the front air intake, or lots of little annoying bits just to those twin blue stripes run along the entire bodywork. I will repeat what I said for the Ferrari 488: I would have loved if there was an option (and the several more alternate white parts included) to build a mono-colored version, in this case a fully white Viper, without having to fiddle with the stickers, and ending up with a visually tidier car. By my count, only 16 alternate white parts would have been needed, none of which are exotic.
And speaking of colors, while white is not really a really rare color, it is useful, and this set supplies a decent amount of white bodywork material. Apart from those, the supplies are pretty standard and universal Technic parts, but let’s note the nice 10 mini pistons and five crank discs.
Altogether, interesting building techniques here and there, and overall it is not a bad set, but apart from the bodywork it is a rather difficult to distinguish, by techniques or features, among the sea of the currently abundant 1:16-ish cars.
We thank the LEGO Group for sending us this set for a review. However it did not goad us in any way, and all the opinions stated above are purely our own.
Number of parts: 805
Age rating: 10+
Dimensions: 30 x 13 x 8 cm
Goodies: Forza Horizon 6 game livery
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