Set Review ➟ LEGO® 40955 Maersk Dual Fuel Container Vessel
If massive container ships are your preferred water craft, LEGO has a vessel for you. This model commemorates the Ane Maersk, the first ship with a new, potentially less-polluting, engine. The actual ship’s engine is dual fuel capable, able to use either traditional marine fuel or green methanol. I was not aware methanol came in colors, but there you have it.
While the inside of the Ane Maersk is the real story and the instruction book provides some details about it, there are some videos on YouTube which provide a better sense of the ship if you are interested.
Scale being what it is and LEGO parts being what they are, accuracy takes a back seat to impression with the model. Both starboard and port feature a retracting gangplank and port has windows into the engine room. The windows are a peculiarity of the model as the actual ship does not have them. Actually seeing the engine through the windows requires a very close eyeball and good lighting. Even when you can see through the windows the view of the engine is limited so I kind of wonder why they even bothered.
Gangplank up.
Gangplank down.
Can you see the engine in there? Yeah, me neither.
The engine room is not covered in the model; doing that would probably have been a more accurate representation of the engine room but would work against seeing the engine through windows that don’t actually exist. The engine in the model is again more of an idea of the engine than an accurate representation of the real thing.
The lower deck is not filled with containers as one might expect and as would be the case with an actual cargo ship.
One aspect that is accurate is the 22 rows of containers. What is inaccurate is that the actual ship is able to store containers stacked 12 high below deck and 11 high above. This proportionality issue possibly could have been more accurately addressed by shrinking the decoration on the container sides as well as the height of the container elements, but that in practical terms may have made the text too small to be reproduced within LEGO’s printing tolerances.
The other issue with accuracy relative to the containers is the height of the girder walls between the rows. LEGO is using the classic fence piece which provides a legitimate stylistic impression, but the actual height would be about three times the relative height of the fence. Or maybe two times if the container stacks were more to scale.
LEGO does take a stab at providing a randomized look to the container stacks by providing three different prints and staggering their sequencing when placed on the ship.
A final note about the containers is that while they are not loose, they are attached with four studs, two on either side, and are relatively easy to inadvertently dislodge. If you look closely at some of the wider shots you will notice a row or two of containers is not perfectly perpendicular to the deck. This happens.
The white section at the bow is called the accommodation, where the crew lives. The top floor of the accommodation is where the ship’s bridge is located. Inside the model and completely out of scale are some Easter eggy bits: a compass, a table with a teacup and an egg…notably not on a plate…I guess sailors are tough and eat right off the table. Below are what I am guessing are, in disproportionate size to what is directly above, a rack and a head.
The stern features a tower serving as the funnel where the engines vent. There is also a prop and a rudder below. The prop spins and the rudder flaps…instead of pivoting…in a very non-rudder-like fashion.
The ship model fits on a sturdy stand and is easily placed and removed with sockets in the bottom of the ship accommodating some sizable mount pillars; no stud connections are involved.
The Randolph T. Fielding Absolutely Administrivia Section
Printed parts in the set include two panels each with half of Maersk printed on them, the egg, the compass, the container tiles, and the face of the accommodation. The balance of the decorated parts are stickered.
Summary
For all the technical inaccuracies inherent in attempting to recreate a ship of gargantuan proportions in LEGO bricks, this is a respectable interpretation conveying a fairly realistic impression of the vessel. You are going to build it and put it on a shelf and admire it. The set is labeled as being for ages 12+, but I can’t recall any part of assembly that was particularly difficult and, frankly, some smaller hands in some instances would be a benefit. If model ships are your thing, this is a nice one.
Disclaimer
Thanks to LEGO for kindly providing the set for review.
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