What is the most challenging set?

BELTRAD

Was reading the "what bought you out of dark ages" thread and someone mentioned that an article in the telegraph about the unimog helped bring them out of dark ages, they linked the article and I read and loved it, but the guy writing said something about that being a harder build that he expected from Lego.

Got me to thinking what is the most challenging production set to build? (no MOC here lol we all know they can be challenging.) I think for me it was #10212 ,not hard in following instructions but alot of white, no numbered bags and a really long build (think I was about 10 hours over 2 days)

Bumblepants

#3038-1 is a super challenge ;-)

Shib

^i used to have that set but had completely forgotten it until I saw that picture!

Paperballpark

Any set is a challenge if you take away the instructions ;)

Seriously though, it's probably one of the more complex Technic sets, simply because of all the workings of them.

For system sets, Tower Bridge has 4200+ pieces, with no numbered bags. It took me about 8 and a half hours to build, and I consider myself a fast builder.

vitreolum

For me it's technic, I don't have the patience and attention to use the proper liftarms and end up taking apart models midway because I used the wrong parts.

TheBrokenPlate

I built the Darth Maul bust recently using the instructions at Peeron and it was pretty tough going. Each step only shows a new layer of Lego at a time, rather than the whole thing. It took me about 8 hours. I had to take it pretty slow because if you make a mistake, you more or less have to go back to that point and start again. Never again.

Oldfan

brickset.com/sets/8002-1/Destroyer-Droid. By far the most frustrating experience I've ever had putting together (and taking apart!) a LEGO set. It's amazing what kind of functionality can be had with a good Technic design, but I never was able to get this model's "pop-up" functionality to work correctly. I can't imagine I'd ever try to reassemble this thing again...

BELTRAD

Paperballpark said:

For system sets, Tower Bridge has 4200+ pieces, with no numbered bags. It took me about 8 and a half hours to build, and I consider myself a fast builder.

I got that set still to build, didn't know wasn't numbered, once find somewhere to display it, sounds like fun build ahead.

Think I might take a stab at some of big Technic sets.

fenderbender336

Oldfan said:

brickset.com/sets/8002-1/Destroyer-Droid. By far the most frustrating experience I've ever had putting together (and taking apart!) a LEGO set. It's amazing what kind of functionality can be had with a good Technic design, but I never was able to get this model's "pop-up" functionality to work correctly. I can't imagine I'd ever try to reassemble this thing again...

I completely agree! I remember trying to assemble that as a kid and it drove me absolutely mad! The pop up function never worked for me either, it was a huge disappointment. Ugh I don't want to think about it now haha

oldtodd33

#10196 Grand Carousel was my longest build. The set is a little rickety and kind of tough to keep working properly.

piratemania7

HA HA Honestly? Any set with instructions prior to when they "kiddified" them. Let me explain...now instructions have all the parts and the number of parts listed out for each step, and then where they go outlined in red!

Back in the day? Old skool instructions had none of this! I have recently been building a few Classic Pirate sets and found that they are much more difficult to put together due largely to the fact that the instructions were actually intense back in the day...

binaryeye

piratemania7 said:

Let me explain...now instructions have all the parts and the number of parts listed out for each step, and then where they go outlined in red!

Which sets have the part placement outlined in red?

piratemania7 said:

Back in the day? Old skool instructions had none of this!

For whatever reason, the instructions for #6074 have the new pieces used in a given step shaded a bit relative to the pieces from previous steps. I recently rebuilt this set and it helped quite a bit (though it wasn't nearly as helpful as the modern part callout for each step). Looking at other sets from this era, though, it seems their instructions didn't use the shading.

Aleydita

@binaryeye‌, the Town Hall modular instructions have the part placements outlined in red. My wife's currently building this set and it's the first one I've noticed this with. She built the Parisian Restaurant a couple of months ago but she never mentioned if those instructions did it as well.

This thread has taught me one thing - that Technic is a far more diverse theme than I ever realised. I never knew they created Star Wars Technic sets, or Technic games for that matter. Really made me wonder what other surprises there might be.

talos

binaryeye said:

piratemania7 said:

Let me explain...now instructions have all the parts and the number of parts listed out for each step, and then where they go outlined in red!

Which sets have the part placement outlined in red?

Town Hall has the outlining in red (of the sets I have).

Not all the new sets have the outlines or bags numbered, I just got the #42030 Technic Volvo and it was a challenge. I had to stare at the instructions for a lot of the steps to find where the parts needed to go, or wires needed to be routed...I am nearsighted and wear bifocals...lol, and bad lighting can make a lot of things a challenge..especially when the colors of parts are hard to differentiate, like dark grey and black, in the instructions..

Oldfan

The first LEGO set I ever received was 556 Moon Landing (circa 1976). The instructions had red highlights around the new pieces to be placed for each assembly step. Since the parts for this set are mostly blue-on-blue, my young self was much appreciative. I haven't really seen this on modern sets, but I like how the parts needed for each step are listed now; I'm always missing one or two little details during assembly...

ecmo47

Technic sets #42009 and #8043 are both tricky builds. One miss-aligned gear and your hosed!. I'm still trying to get the outriggers on the Mk II crane to work properly. Not really a set but the LDD instructions for Cavegods AT-AT will cause some sleepless nights!

iso3200

Technic are definitely harder going. While I enjoyed building #8043 and driving the end result, I got really fed up with #8258. It seemed to take forever, very tedious and I wasn't thrilled at the end.

TechnicNick

#8480 is probably the most challenging set I've built - so complex, especially for it's time. #8043 was great fun as well. The single most difficult build step I've come across would be attaching the arm to #8851, the first excavator. There's two rubber bands to thread an axle through and you really need three hands... fitting all the pipes in that thing is pure evil as well.

JamesJT

#8455 - 2 pumps, 7 switches, 13 T-joints, 41 hoses and 10 cylinders.... And the set is tiny when you consider what it can do.

beatlefan1966

oldtodd33 said:

#10196 Grand Carousel was my longest build. The set is a little rickety and kind of tough to keep working properly.

I totally agree. The Grand Carousel was extremely challenging to get right (and KEEP right) with all the moving pieces.

carlq

My toughest build ever was #375 Castle...all that yellow! And I was only 11 at the time. ;-)

Paperballpark

In terms of having new pieces outlined in the instructions, and having them identified in 'call-out' boxes, I think it very much depends on the set. Town Hall has coloured outlines, and the new Maersk Ship does, but I can't think of any others off the top of my head.

Renny

It might be cliche, but for me it was 10179 UCS Falcon. It was the biggest set I had ever built. Organizing and laying out all the pieces by color and type was a long process. I found out later that I had made mistakes earlier that would cause me to backtrack sometimes 20 to 30 pages and rebuild again. I had a lot of stability issues as well. Some parts would break off when trying to connect others, causing more backtracking and rebuilding. I actually need to break it down and rebuild it again as the cockpit is not aligned and flush with the connecting corridor.