Review: 42139 All-Terrain Vehicle
Posted by Huw,
42139 All-Terrain Vehicle is one of those Technic models that's hard to tell exactly what it is at first glance because it's a much larger scale than most others, and the mish-mash of colours makes it even harder to discern exactly what it is. The generic set name doesn't help either.
Hopefully it has some redeeming features...
Summary
42139 All-Terrain Vehicle, 764 pieces.
£79.99 / $89.99 / €89.99 | 10.5p/11.8c/11.8c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
An interesting model that packs a lot of functionality into its small form
- Effective suspension on all three axles
- 4-wheel drive
- Bizarre and unattractive colour scheme
- Reliance on stickers for aesthetics
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
The prototype
The model is a sit-on 6-wheel ATV, much like the versions below, although I've not been able to find one that looks exactly like it.
Parts and stickers
Disappointingly, there are no new parts or even recolours in this set, but there is an extensive sticker sheet which I elected not to use.
Construction
Parts are packed in bags numbered one to three and building begins with the most complex and dense section of the model. There's a lot of functionality packed into it: the front axle complete with steering and suspension, gearbox, 2-cylinder engine, and winch.
The two rear axles are attached to the front via turntables so can rotate independently. Both have spring suspension, too, and are connected to the engine via differentials and an axle running through the centre of the turntables.
The completed model
It's about 27cm long and 10cm high. A human figure at the same scale would stand about 16-18cm high, 6 inches or so which, as I said at the start, makes the model a much larger scale than most other Technic sets. The real-life vehicles above are just under 3 metres long, so the scale is something like 1:11.
I think the colours are very unattractive, and frankly I am getting tried of orange in Technic models, it seems to be over-used everywhere nowadays.
I also think the poor colour blocking makes it difficult to discern the different parts of the vehicle, particularly when you're not quite sure what you're looking at. The white and orange pieces should have been some other, single, colour.
Stickers, had I applied them, would have disguised the white pieces from above by making them more orange-y and that may well have helped, but it should not be necessary to apply them. If the white pieces were orange it would have helped no-end, even though I dislike the colour!
It's unfortunate too that so many red pieces have been used in the chassis as they stand out like a sore thumb. The colour should have been reserved for the control surfaces.
Some 2x2 'lumber' pieces are provided along with a chain saw, which looks great, and fits in the back with the logs.
Functions
The winch on the front is operated by turning a gear on the side. A lever on the opposite side engages and releases a ratchet to prevent the string from unwinding under load.
The gearbox provides 1st, 2nd and neutral gears which are selected using a lever on the left-hand side.
The back can be tipped up by pushing down on the red handle on the side. The back flap needs to be lowered manually as it's attached using friction pins.
The rear suspension provides a lot of play, but it's stiff, so the light weight of the vehicle is not sufficient to compress the springs when traversing obstacles.
You need to give it a good twist to see it in action!
The front axle suspension works much better, though.
Verdict
The model packs a lot of realistic functionality into a small package -- steering, suspension, 4-wheel drive, 2-speed gearbox, 2-cylinder engine, winch, and a tipping rear bed -- replicating almost everything the real vehicles have, so it should, and indeed could, have been the perfect Technic model.
Unfortunately the bizarre choice of colours and unsightly bright red pieces visible in the chassis make it a technicolour nightmare.
Price-wise, it's $79.99, £64.99, 74.99€ for a 764-piece model. That puts its price per piece on a par with other Technic models, but it nevertheless feels expensive for what it is.
If you can stomach the price, or wait until it's reduced at Amazon, and can look past the ghastly livery, you'll find it to be a very decent Technic model which is not reliant on licences or Control+.
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25 comments on this article
I find teal to be getting overused across many of LEGO's product lines as well. And I say this having orange and teal as two of my top four favorite colors outside of LEGO (after green and purple). I get that, with teal, at least they're trying to add more and more elements in that color to the inventory. But it's starting to cannibalize other LEGO colors IMO. Having said that, the resurgence of cool yellow and light royal blue is very welcome.
This might be the closest thing we get to a decent Technic parts pack, again with the price as the main stumbling block.
@huw, that engine is a 2-cylinder boxer.
Seeing the pictures of the real thing, or at least what its based on, just reinforces my belief that Lego is insane. Like, why couldnt Lego just make it grey, green, black, or even red? Same with last years tow truck, why couldnt it just be one color? I would probably buy this some time if it werent for the colors that make it look like it was designed by a three year old.
"A human figure at the same scale would stand about 16-18cm high, 6 inches or so..."
So about right for a Scala figure then? I would like to see what this looks like with "My Dad" Christian (3220) driving it
Looks like a month design, where in the last minute, of the last hour, of the last day, someone said, 'Could you put a body on that'
@huw said:
"...there is an extensive sticker sheet which I elected not to use."
This is the kind of sticking-it-to-the-man rebel attitude that keeps me coming back to Brickset.
From your pictures, this looks like a spot-on review, @Huw. I, too, wondered what it was on release.
I actually like orange Technic but in this context it looks rubbish. I'd probably replace all those multicoloured bits with black or grey.
A rare review with hands showing in the photos. Unusual as most of the other reviews are of the model itself. Will this be a new trend?
Regardless of ones personal colour preference or no-sticker policy, this is the best Technic set of 1H2022 and that is a fact. Obviously if it's unlicensed, LEGO is free to use whatever colours they like or have available and a rainbow of pins and axles is sadly unavoidable today, but it's still much better than an inaccurate F1 car, a motorized C+ set that doesn't move without a smartphone or the sticker heavy racing vehicles.
So thanks Samuel and @grohl for this awesome set!
Good review, I very much share your conclusion. Function-wise, it's one of the better sets of recent times, especially at this size and price. But the looks.....no, just no. And while I do understand why some sets need a sh*tload of stickers, this isn't one of those. If designed better, it could have done pretty well with just a small number for some additional details. But as it is, it just looks like a mess.
Chainsaw is awesome though! Now we can finally make some goulash the ultimate Slav way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyj8Qa79bWY
@moparacker said:
" @huw, that engine is a 2-cylinder boxer."
Nope, it's a flat-2 but not a boxer. In a boxer engine the pistons move in and out at the same time. In this case they share the crank so when one piston moves outwards the other moves inwards.
In real life this would result in awful vibration so it's rarely used.
One thing you haven't mentioned is the strange position of the gear lever. From my little bit of experience these ATV's have a manual gear lever, not a foot-operated one.
@Duq said:
" @moparacker said:
" @huw, that engine is a 2-cylinder boxer."
Nope, it's a flat-2 but not a boxer. In a boxer engine the pistons move in and out at the same time. In this case they share the crank so when one piston moves outwards the other moves inwards.
I"
Mmm, right! Thanks for the correction.
A proper technical technic set. Even the panel usage is pretty minimal. I left off the stickers as well, and I think it gets away with the block colours.
It is a little expensive, but as soon as the previews showed how it does what I want the technic team to be doing, and doesn't do the common things I dislike (unneeded licenses, an excessive shell of panels, Control+), I made this a day 1 priority to vote with my money. I've been drifting away from technic for a few years now, but occasionally something like this comes along.
There's a lot of functionality to make the build and play interesting for older kids. The white panels should all be black, as who would want to clean all the mud off each time you went for a spin! All the red and white connectors should also be black to hide them better. Seems the only reason for the contrast is to aid the building.
Reminds me of the 2012 4x4. I remember seeing that at a convention.
Like @Huw (and many others it seems), I have NEVER used any stickers on Technic sets before and after my dark ages. The only place I consider them relevant is for crane operation (to tell what a given lever will be doing on the model) and there should be at least 2 or 3 sticker sheets per box (assuming stickers are only for items as described above, the sticker sheet would be extremely small i.e.: 2 to 6 1x1 or 1x2 stickers).
Orange was a good colour for 8110 (I own it), 42120 (don't own it) and probably 42038 (don't own it); other than that, I would consider another 'more accurate - or likely' colour. Call me 'old fashioned' but my favourite Lego colours are the colours of the Legoland flag: yellow, red, blue, white and black - add green and grey to that and I am happy. there are so many colours nowadays that it is becoming extremely hard to get regular parts in 'regular (in the past)' colours.
No matter, the kicking, screaming and bitching, it seems like blue Technic pins are here to stay (kids of the 80s and 90s were capable of building with black and light gray pins but apparently today's kids do not have to cognitive ability to do that). As if this was not bad enough, (combined with the rainbow colours of axles) they have now resorted to put all sorts of parts in red all over the place - I guess it is the 4 years old style: you build what you can with what you have - no colour cohesion necessary! For Lego it's much easier, no need to recolour anything, just pick what's available from the past production runs and bundle that together. sigh...
As far as model's go, this is a fine model. Good functions, nothing overly hidden, easy to understand what is going on. I might get it.
These vehicles are usually used for hunting so their colours are somewhat dark (but I've seen some in red, yellow and 'Lego' green). Dark green is probably the best colour for that but Lego must be fearing the construction of Technic Tank. Should anyone want to 'recolour' this set, the 'clashing' white part: 35396 is available in: black, dark blueish gray, light blueish gray, blue, red, yellow, lime and dark blue (also in white and trans-clear) . I reckon dark blue would be a good colour for this model - but the double angular beam 32009/41486 is not available in that colour.
Colours aside, this set is one of the best technic sets we've had in quite a while IMHO. There's so much functionality and creativity in its design, and for once we get unusual subject matter. The inclusion of a gearbox in the thing positively surprised me. And for once the set is not overly large or paneled up. Nowadays it feels like anything with decent amounts of functions has to be 100+ euro in technic.
And as mentioned above: no gratuitous control+, excessive paneling or unneeded licensing. Just a good technic set.
A shame about the colours and sticker design though. And I really miss the days where the internals could be muted colours! But oh well...
@moparacker said:
" @huw, that engine is a 2-cylinder boxer."
If it uses the tried-and-true standard Technic crankshaft parts (and I assume it does) then it is technically a 180° flat twin.
Boxer engines have pistons on opposite sides that reach top and bottom of their stroke simultaneously, so they balance each other’s mass as it moves through the cylinder. To achieve this each piston needs its own crank pin.
Technic engines use a single crank pin for each pair of pistons, so the pistons in most Technic engines are both moving in the same direction relative to the vehicle.
@R0Sch said:
"Regardless of ones personal colour preference or no-sticker policy, this is the best Technic set of 1H2022 and that is a fact. Obviously if it's unlicensed, LEGO is free to use whatever colours they like or have available and a rainbow of pins and axles is sadly unavoidable today, but it's still much better than an inaccurate F1 car, a motorized C+ set that doesn't move without a smartphone or the sticker heavy racing vehicles.
So thanks Samuel and @grohl for this awesome set!"
Well, no, not actually a fact, still just an opinion...
I literally had no idea what this was meant to be when i first saw it, it's a very messy model. I don't need my technic models to be super pretty - i also value the functions most of all - but I at least need to recognise the overall visual silhouette. A few more design revisions and this could have been a winner.
This was more interesting than I expected, looks like a nice set. But expensive, in my opinion technic should generally be well below average PPP with all the tiny pins boosting the part count.
42110 is also scale 1:11. Maybe a MOC trailer to have the Land Rover tow this one could be a cool display...
It would be interesting to sit Scala doll on the model. Looks like perfect mach in size.
"An interesting mdoel that packs a lot of functionality into its small form". Typo in the word "model".
@ Huw said:
""The model is a sit-on 6-wheel ATV, much like the versions below, although I've not been able to find one that looks exactly like it"."
Looks like a beefed up John Deere 6x4 (minus a seat): https://www.deere.com/en/gator-utility-vehicles/traditional-gators/th-6x4-diesel-utility-vehicle/
I also had no idea what this was supposed to be when I first saw it.