Blue and yellow Fiats compared
Posted by Huw,77942 Fiat 500 is a re-coloured version of 10271 that was released last year.
It's only available from two retailers: LEGO and Zavvi. LEGO will only ship it to UK customers so if you live elsewhere you'll need to buy it from Zavvi, who will ship it worldwide. It's out of stock at the moment but it can be pre-ordered for delivery sometime in November, after which no more will be available.
In this article I will compare it with the yellow version, so I encourage you to take a look at our review of that one if you've not done so already.
As far as the build is concerned they are identical in all but colour, but there are some subtle differences between the stickers.
As before, there are three number plate stickers to choose from, of which two have been changed to match the new set number, DK 77 942 and PN 77 942. TOFO 1965 remains the same.
A common complaint with the older one was that the pieces were various shades of yellow. I don't think colour consistency is such a problem with this one, although there are a few parts that are visibly different under certain lighting conditions.
A Union Jack flag has been added to one of the suitcase stickers which suggests that the decision to produce the set specifically for the UK was taken early on in the design process. It's a shame that a UK number plate was not also provided, and the vehicle converted to right-hand-drive, although I concede that it would have required a lot of additional work, re-doing the instructions and so on.
The painting has been changed to match the colour of the car and there are other subtle differences, too, for example the foreground is yellow, there's no signature on the bottom left, and the colour of the left of the Colosseum is not the same.
Although the model is not as sophisticated as some Creator Expert vehicles, it's one of my favourites. Designer Pierre Normandin has done an admirable job of capturing the vehicle's curves and charm, and the pair of them look great together. Perhaps we'll see a light green one next!
If you're in the UK you can purchase both sets at LEGO.com. The blue variant is also available at Zavvi and if you're resident elsewhere that is the only place you can buy it. Their initial stock has been depleted, but you can pre-order it now for delivery in November.
Thanks to Zavvi for sending the set for this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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28 comments on this article
Thanks for this review and comparison; I find this model as lovely as the original one. Just a shame that it was a UK exclusive, though it wasn't much of a fuss to order it via Zavvi — I wish 75294 Bespin Duel had been available this way, too…
I just wonder why the bricks were packaged in Hungary as opposed to the Czech Republic, as the stamp indicated the letter H in its coding rather than S…
Nice pictures, is it possible to convert the car to right-hand-drive using only the existing parts in the set?
That was interesting. Good to see them side by side from different angles. Thank you!
Very easy to change to right-hand drive. The number of steps that would need changing is only 2 or 3. simple. I've done it for the Fiat, Mini and Beetle.
I spotted two other differences. The building instructions for my 77942 had an error not present in the instructions for 10271: two round black 1x1 tiles disappear at step 76, reappear at step 77 and then disappear for the rest of the build. Also, the 1x1 printed round tile representing the speedometer(?) is a different design.
My 4yo asks me to write: It's cool.
The retention of left-hand drive makes sense if you imagine that the European owner of the blue Cinquecento visited the UK and came back with the Union Jack sticker.
They look wonderful. I hope TLG continue to make colour-variants of other sets!
I personally like the blue one more. It hunk the color just fits for that design of car.
@Synthia1980 said:
"Is it possible to build this in any other colours I wonder? I wouldn’t have a clue how to check this, but presumably it will be limited by certain bricks being unavailable in a particular colour. "
Rebrickable has a color swap feature for not only Mocs, but official sets (you WILL need to pay to use it though.)
I like the light blue one much better than the light yellow one.
Also I must change my opinion about Zavvi. They finally must have done something about their packaging and delivery problems. My love for light blue got the better of me and I therefore bit the bullet and ordered the set on September 2nd, and it arrived two days ago in perfect condition. No fuss at all and absolutely no comparison to the abysmal experiences I had with previous orders.
@AustinPowers said:
"I like the light blue one much better than the light yellow one.
Also I must change my opinion about Zavvi. They finally must have done something about their packaging and delivery problems. My love for light blue got the better of me and I therefore bit the bullet and ordered the set on September 2nd, and it arrived two days ago in perfect condition. No fuss at all and absolutely no comparison to the abysmal experiences I had with previous orders. "
Very glad some people had good experiences! Mine came incredibly damaged here in the US and I heard others have had it happen too but it seems like it's not a majority like before. I would still not recommend them and plan on stop using their service at this point. Least they are offering 25% off, I guess.
I can see several color differences in the third photo. Look at the cheese wedges in the front fender vs the bricks they’re attached to. On the door, compare the 1x8 tile on the rocker panel vs the 1x4 brick above to the right, vs the plates above to the left, vs the plates higher up on the door. I wonder how much of this is visible in person vs something that a digital camera will pick up on because of the weird way they process colors.
This is getting a bit habitual.... Last builds were a pair of Porsches. Just about to start the pair of Fiats. Bit of a shame that the upcoming 10290 Pickup Truck doesn't come in a couple of variants!
Thanks for the comparison.
I think even if it had been available to US I still would have passed since I already have the yellow. The color isn't making me desire another one.
I think the original designer did a nice job. Those curves are hard to capture. But it is far from my favorite Creator Expert vehicle.
@sjr60 said:
"This is getting a bit habitual.... Last builds were a pair of Porsches. Just about to start the pair of Fiats. Bit of a shame that the upcoming 10290 Pickup Truck doesn't come in a couple of variants!"
The 10290 Pickup Truck is perfect in that color, i take it at the day1 mostly for his lovely dark red.
Excellent set. Even if the blue color seems to reveal more of the design flaws, as a kit built with Lego parts. This little Lego car is as cute as the real one.
@Synthia1980 said:
"Is it possible to build this in any other colours I wonder? I wouldn’t have a clue how to check this, but presumably it will be limited by certain bricks being unavailable in a particular colour. "
I built one in white with a red stripe, a racing livery they were made in back in the day.
Also managed to get a blue copy - the colour the set should have been in in the first place.
@CCC said:
"Are there any differences in the instructions? I guess tgexsteps are the same, but are the locations of parts on the page exactly the same? I'm wondering if they have to redraw them, or can just recolour parts. I guess any sticker steps are redrawn, including any onwards from there where stickers are visible."
Apart from the error in step 76 (and subsequent steps) with the one round tile missing, some photographs of the yellow version have been replaced, but only those, it seems.
To be just a bit pedantic, the Italian license plate reads as TO F01965, not TOFO 1965 :)
TO being the province code of Turin, and the second round glyph is the number zero, not the capital letter O.
I understand why they chose TO and 1965, but I've no clue why the F0. The number is legal and appropriate for the time period.
@ogel_chicago said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"I like the light blue one much better than the light yellow one.
Also I must change my opinion about Zavvi. They finally must have done something about their packaging and delivery problems. My love for light blue got the better of me and I therefore bit the bullet and ordered the set on September 2nd, and it arrived two days ago in perfect condition. No fuss at all and absolutely no comparison to the abysmal experiences I had with previous orders. "
Very glad some people had good experiences! Mine came incredibly damaged here in the US and I heard others have had it happen too but it seems like it's not a majority like before. I would still not recommend them and plan on stop using their service at this point. Least they are offering 25% off, I guess. "
Mine arrived in perfect shape 6 days after I placed my order.
Received mine internationally, kept it in box for just a day before giving in and building it. The royal blue is great. And since I haven't gotten the yellow one yet, it was also a fun new build for me too.
@1265 said:
"Mine arrived undamaged. The shipping box was hugh with plenty of packing material."
Same here. The box was about three times the volume of the set itself and filled to the brim with air cushion bags. Did a really good job of protecting the set I must say.
@DFX said:
"Nice pictures, is it possible to convert the car to right-hand-drive using only the existing parts in the set?"
You could just build it in mirror - It would take a bit to do, but if you mirrored as you built, that would do it
My take on it (as posted on Flickr).
https://flic.kr/p/2mq9rS9
^ Very nice!
Mine just arrived today after 2 weeks. No fuss with VAT or visits to the customs office, came straight to my door.
We placed our order with Zavvi on Sept. 5 and they have not processed it. I won't hold my breath that we'll even get it.