Set Review ➟ LEGO® 42153 NASCAR® Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
It’s been several years since LEGO started bringing out a series of cars – all of them based on existing models, so always licensed sets – at a very specific scale, so by now I have quite the collection of similar sized cars. Today I’m adding the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to that collection.
The set is marketed as a NASCAR Next Gen version, and to turn a good looking model into a NASCAR model takes a few stickers. These stickers are printed on a very curious material I haven’t seen used very often. As you can see in the below image, the underlying structure of the material is reflective and tessellated. Depending on how you hold it, it will refract and reflect light differently.
Unfortunately, this also has the negative side-effect that the white that has been printed onto this material isn’t as white as you might expect, but rather a very light grey. (as if not enough ink was printed and the underlying material still shines through. White stickers on white LEGO elements are always a problem, but in this case the colour difference is so big I really don’t want to use those particular stickers.
Seeing this sticker sheet almost made me want to give up on building the set altogether: I’m not a big fan of stickers an placing so many of them all perfectly aligned felt like such a daunting task. Maybe that’s just the perfectionist in me though. I have a second reason for not wanting to apply any stickers at this time. Although this set doesn’t come with a second set of instructions, it feels like someone or other may come up with 1 or even many alternative models based on this set of elements. Maybe I’m completely wrong and nobody is inspired to create an alternative, let alone instructions, but here’s to hoping.
Speaking of alternates, what’s happening with the Technic theme. It used to be that every self-respecting Technic set came with instructions for al alternative model. Even licensed sets like the Volvo hauler or the Liebherr Crane came with B-models. Did LEGO realise very few people actually ended up building the alternative, or is this their way of saving costs? Whatever the case, there is a thriving community of fans that make paid and free alternative instructions for almost any set you can imaging, so maybe that’s what happened…
On to the model…
The first thing that stood out for me as I build this car was the way the engine was represented. Traditional piston blocks (as used in the Batcycle) are much too big for a car this scale and in previous models of a similar size pistons had been represented by 3L Technic axle. The engine in this model takes an even simpler, but very effective approach and uses ¾ pins:
Aside from the engine, connected to a differential in the rear axis, and the steering mechanism, there is little else to say about the model from a technical perspective. It is sufficient for the scale and results in a fun model to play with.
On to the body, the shape that makes it what it is. Not applying stickers turned out to result in a fairly bland model with a funny twist: it turns out the two rear mudguards are printed elements that do not “connect” to anything if no stickers are applied. The model also has a red side and a blue side.
This brings me to my next gripe: protruding drive axles. Why do the axles that hold the wheels need to be so long. The very first thing I did after completing the model was swapping out those long axles for shorter ones: 3L with stop for the front wheels and 4L (in black) for the rear wheels. Have another look at the images above: on the red side you can see the original axle length with half bush added. On the blue side you can see the result with the shorter axles. I know which I prefer…
Back to the stickers. Another comparison of what the unstickered model looks like compared to the “official” stickered version:
Compared to other models in this scale, the NASCAR® Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (quite the mouthful) is not as technically interesting nor does it have as many functions. It’s a robust, rather square model with a lot of flashy stickers. If that is what you like, or if you simply want to collect all the models in this scale, then this is your set. If not, you may want to go for something a little more intricate and detailed, like the 42151 Bugatti Bolide or the McLaren Senna GTR
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