Random set of the day: Radio Control Racer
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 5600 Radio Control Racer, released during 1998. It was the only Racers set released that year. It contains 298 pieces and 1 minifig, and its retail price was US$80.
It's owned by 1,027 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $159.00, or eBay.
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18 comments on this article
So it's controlled by a radio station?
"You are listening to Lego FM, and the next song coming up is 5600 control racer"
Car go https://brickset.com/minifigs/loc107!
C'mon. That's some advanced humor right there.
Send in your calls, it's Listener Request Night! Do we go left, right, go for big air, or spin out? It's all up to you on WRCR, the Imagination Station! Now here's Everything is Awesome by A Popular Band...
One of relatively few sets in the era that didn't fit into a theme, although the fact that they designed a "Radio Control" logo has always made me wonder if they intended to do more.
And for whatever reason, they re-released this as 5599 less than a year after it was originally retired.
@Maxbricks14 said:
"So it's controlled by a radio station?
"You are listening to Lego FM, and the next song coming up is 5600 control racer""
Or it wigs out on you the instant you reach for the radio controls to change the station.
I always wondered if a LEGO RC car was fun to drive. I always imagined pieces coming off.
With which you can make such varied alternate models as: car, car, car and car that’s been involved in an aeronautics crash
@Modeltrainman said:
"I always wondered if a LEGO RC car was fun to drive. I always imagined pieces coming off."
Me too. It sounds like good idea, but it's Lego. I'm inclined to think everytime you hit something, you lose something.
I can speak from experience--I received this when I was a bit too old for it so it stayed in pretty good shape until I gave it to my kiddo recently. As you might expect, it's not too durable (especially depending on which model you build). Parts definitely come off. There are some rarities in this set (actual chromed pieces) that I wouldn't want to lose or chip. In particular, though, the yellow bumper cracked and also came off after what I would consider to be normal collisions (obviously an RC car controlled by an 8 year old is going to run into stuff).
Still, it's good fun. Not one I'd recommend you go out and buy, but if you happen to already have it, it's a good set. I'm a big fan of the remote, which is a left stick and right stick--I've never liked the steering wheel and trigger type RC controls.
We run it on standard rechargeables, which it'll eat through farily quickly. Speaking of quick, on alkalines it'll go pretty fast if you have it on the faster speed setting. On the slower setting, NiMHs don't seem to give it enough juice, but the faster setting runs at a decent speed.
Only spoiled by the fixed spoiler
Lots of great chrome pieces and interesting parts for time, like the green wings, printed 2x4's and slopes.
Not something you'd drive outside but it came with cardboard ramps and those big 2x6 bricks, so there was some incentive to drive a custom course from the box.
I remember seeing this one in the catalogs back in the day. If I recall correctly it was from the 2000 one for whatever reason. It's... unique for what it is.
That said, that windscreen is just... *chef's kiss*.
And those chrome pieces.
And the customizability looks fun. They did the right thing in making this a multiple choice build. Unlike those RC sets from 2009 (8184 Twin X-treme RC and 8183 Turbo Track RC) which were only designed for one build (and two builds for one chassis with the 8184 set). In that sense it's more in line with 8366 Supersonic RC, 8376 Hot Flare, 8475 RC Race Buggy. Or even 8378 Red Beast RC and 8369 Dirt Crusher... Come to think of it, in the Racers theme they DID have a lot of multiple-choice build RC cars. Nice.
I'm not familiar with the later ones from technic from the 2010s and 2020s, but after Technic stopped with the alternate models those lost this option too unfortunately.
Not bad for the granddaddy of lego RC cars (AFAIK)
@Modeltrainman said:
"I always wondered if a LEGO RC car was fun to drive. I always imagined pieces coming off."
That is a problem on the older ones, but eventually they went to a twin-peg retainer clip and a more Technic-style construction.
That RC-chassis takes juniorization to a whole next level. But I can't deny, I do quite like the wide variation of builds in this set. While underneath it's the same thing over and over again, they surely made the most out of it!
And in a way I think a set like this does make sense. I assume this was aimed at younger kids than any Technic RC set, and this way it's all the fun without the technical difficulties. It's more like an RC car that happens to have studs on top than an actual Lego RC car. And looking at the BrickTsar video, it seems quicker than, say, the C+ Buggy, yet quite sturdy. And sure, parts might fall off, but hey, it's Lego, just rebuild it!
^ It's exactly this. An RC car (which is fun in its own right) that also happens to be Lego so it has that bonus. I forgot to mention earlier that it also comes with cardboard ramps and printed bricks with points on them that are meant to be crashed through. It's pretty well thought out other than what happens after high-speed collisions.
@phi13 said:
"One of relatively few sets in the era that didn't fit into a theme, although the fact that they designed a "Radio Control" logo has always made me wonder if they intended to do more.
And for whatever reason, they re-released this as 5599 less than a year after it was originally retired."
What ended up in the "Legends" line of re-releases seemed very arbitrary anyways... Some Technic sets got re-released multiple times, some sets were re-released right after the original set got retired (7140 & 7150), others were so old (6380) that so many parts had to be replaced that it feels more like a re-imagination rather than a "true" re-release.
I remember there was some sort of poll on Lego.com around 2001-2002 as to which set should be re-released next (some possibilities even included Classic Space 9V sets). Not sure how much that counted in on all this. Surely a big point must have been availability of parts, however this doesn't really explain the 4 large Pirates sets...
In the case of the RC car, I think they probably had some of the chassis and remotes left over and had to get rid of them. Maybe they thought repackaging them would help sales? Anyways the early 2000s were a weird time for TLG.
I like those green wings though :D
@WizardOfOss said:
"That RC-chassis takes juniorization to a whole next level. But I can't deny, I do quite like the wide variation of builds in this set. While underneath it's the same thing over and over again, they surely made the most out of it!
And in a way I think a set like this does make sense. I assume this was aimed at younger kids than any Technic RC set, and this way it's all the fun without the technical difficulties. It's more like an RC car that happens to have studs on top than an actual Lego RC car. And looking at the BrickTsar video, it seems quicker than, say, the C+ Buggy, yet quite sturdy. And sure, parts might fall off, but hey, it's Lego, just rebuild it!"
I'm not really sure juniorization is the right term. I mean, even an 18+ RC set wouldn't expect you to build the electronic components yourself. Granted, certain components might be separate from each other in that hypothetical set, but if you're aiming for a model that can be rebuilt into multiple designs, a single-piece chassis still allows for a great deal of customization, and probably requires fewer new molds.
@Binnekamp said:
"That said, that windscreen is just... *chef's kiss*."
My thoughts exactly.