One I never expected to own or review, a huge slice of fortune seeing me win this as a prize from a supplier's LinkedIn campaign meant a dilemma - sell on / trade for something on the "Wanted" list or build something I never thought of owning.....

As an AFOL....the urge to build won out and the box was opened up to by far the most complex set build I have taken on in all the years I have enjoyed LEGO.

First off, the size and scale was much more than I had imagined. The weight of the box being more than anticipated, with the counterweights much more robust than I was expecting. The final model now takes pride of place in the garage owing to its size and not being able to fit anywhere in the house!

The build of the base unit was enjoyable, especially with the stop points as you installed the various control motors to then test that the turn table and tracks were working as expected, and performing well on the hard floor and carpet.

Working up from there, the build became a bit Jekyll and Hyde and where I ultimately only scored it a 4 out of 5. The various arm elements are quite simple and repetitive to build, albeit they look very good and give the right level of detail you would expect in a set of this value. The instructions for the cabling took a few reads / watches to clearly understand. It is helpful that they have videos to show this, but it does become quite fiddly when trying to do this on your own. The cabling across the back induced a few words of despair, especially after testing didn't work the way it was meant to....but a few breaths and repull of the cable got it there! The last bags are cosmetic finishes on the cab and creating the hook to give a superb looking final model.

Playability wise the model is superb, the kids still enjoy playing with it and trying out different things to carry to test the 1KG limit....and it has seen some time as an F1 recovery vehicle with the new Speed Champions sets in the house. Definitely a 5 out of 5 for playing.

Would I buy one for myself....no, I would likely use the money for this set to purchase a larger array of smaller sets that are easier to display in the house. Would I recommend this as a building & play experience....yes, 100%!

WR250324: Brickshelf went offline for transfer to a new owner. Until then, pictures will not be shown in my reviews. This will hopefully happen in April.

Assembly and First Impression

The motors and hubs were packed in boxes, not plastic bags. Due to the packaging, the structure is divided into five sections.
The model is built starting from the slewing ring. This is followed by the chain drive and then the crane grows in height. I found it annoying in later sections when (individual) parts were installed alternately on the right and left sides. Because of the size/mass, the change was tiring for me.

The undercarriage is stable and massive. In terms of length, it far exceeds the chain drives of the CAT (42131) and bucket wheel excavator (42055). [42100 was not built nearby for comparison.]
The cab for the machine operator is similar in size to that of the bucket wheel excavator 42055, i.e. smaller than the other Liebherr model (42100).

Remark

I fixed the two sides of the lifting blocks while threading the string:

using a 15M beam. It's much easier if don't have to place both sides.

What is missing?

a) The nacelle appears unfinished. The side panels of the nacelle are (comparatively) loose. Finally, the rollers for the cable winches are placed there - in individual sections - and connected to the respective motor by an axle. No cladding is built over it. Unlike 42055, 42100, 42131 there is no ladder for climbing to the control cabin.

b) The beams in the counterweight area including the upper stroke appear to be optimized for stability. The overall impression appears chaotic.

c) Powered Up app: Setting up and operating the motorized functions - the set has no manual play functions - depends exclusively on the programmed interface. A positive thing to mention is that each of the three winches can be "calibrated" individually. In the second step, you are asked to attach a load of around 500 g (1 lbs). I assume this is necessary so that the app recognizes if this is the case The unwound rope no longer supports it and the lower working point is reached. In the control panel, the program stops the respective winch when the saved "upper" end point is reached. I would have liked an additional screen in which I could drive all motors regardless of the settings.

d) Powered Up app: The “pedals” for the chain drive are small. It is not always easy to drive both sides with the same setting = speed. It would have been nice to have a joystick function with which the direction and speed could be specified.

e) For the later construction phases, the nacelle of the structure is placed above the lower lift during the test of the undercarriage. This makes accessibility difficult, for example if only one set of batteries is used for the first steps.

Play / Functions

All three winch functions are easy to use once the software is set up accordingly. The speed is pleasantly fast. The rope length can also be released slowly using the sliders for precise placement. I had attached my 8288 as a load. So far I had the impression (with fresh batteries) that there were sufficient power reserves available - for larger loads.
Wherever possible, the thread is prevented from slipping off the deflection rollers. This is a bit annoying when installing the ropes.
I have not equipped my crane with the ropes supplied. Because I plan to add longer crane arms, I used longer pieces (approx. 3.5, 5, and 9 m). Whether this is the case or the app is fundamentally forgetful: my impression is that the calibrated end points are no longer correct after a short time. But that may be because I use thread with a smaller diameter (0.4 mm) and therefore the conversion of the drum revolutions deviates more and more over time.

Transport

The assembled model - with the hubs equipped with alkaline batteries - weighs 5.36 kg (according to the scales I used). The crane can be easily carried by gripping the derrick arm, or alternatively the main arm.

Summary

Anyone who expects and looks for sophisticated technical solutions in this model will be disappointed. This cannot be found in this brick-build implementation. The model is intended to represent one of the strongest mobile cranes. I think that this works surprisingly well: after sets like 42055, 42083 and 42100, I thought that the end of the building material's mechanical strength had been reached. This crane shows good mobility, even with a suspended load (0.5, sometimes even 1 kg). This is achieved by converting the rotational movement of the motors into lifting power using strings and pulleys. This also represents a mechanical force transformation, just not through many gears set up into transmissions. Anyone who is just used to the telescopic cranes (42083, 42108, 42128) will not recognise this straight away. I find the bracing of the lattice arms and the cable routing comparably exciting: it seems very well thought out; In many places there isn't much wiggle room as I discovered when playing with the loads.

Three reasons not to buy the kit:

• High price
• Concern that the Powered Up control system would be discontinued sometime in the future
• No space for the finished model

Modification(s)

I replaced the 12:20 reduction for the slewing drive (cf. step 9) by a 8:24 combination since earlier reviews reported a angular velocity leading to swinging load:

I found the resulting turning speed adequate.

Playing...

1. First thing that you would notice: Each time the App is updated - e.g. upon release of new Control+ sets - the calibration data are lost. That means you will have to re-calibrate the three winches before you could play again. I find this inadequate and complained th Lego Customer Service...

2. I have extended the booms for my crane (total of +5). The strutting has to be adjusted which I did by try&error. The model quickly becomes - even more - huge. You will need a large playing area - or be careful not to swipe accessoires from your shelve(s).
I therefore didn't use the drive function after the extension.
The strain from the unloaded crane quickly increases: The motor of the main boom winch is at its limits when the boom is almost horizontal.

3. I would appreciate a Manual Mode that allows full independent control of the winches. Without restraints from the stop points set by calibration.

[change note 240225: pictures reindexed]

[change note 240826: added section "Playing..."]