So, this is a combination post, really. I did a narrated build video, thinking that this was likely to be a good candidate for a “beginner build.” Turns out I was wrong, due to a single step, but we’ll put a pin on that. Because I decided to also have a little fun putting together that creative photo you see above. It was just too much fun to pass up, though I’m a little sad that you can’t really see the Lego footprints I took the time to add in.

Of course, I’m still going to include the regular 360 video and gallery, because… well, because of course! I’ve always wanted to get this little adorable model, but kept finding other ways to spend my model budget. Well, I finally got it recently, despite the model being retired, and it’s just as cute in person. It’s just a fun looking car, and a bit quirky, too.

Now, one thing that surprised me was that the wheels have no depth, and it’s a really really skinny car. But that’s fine with me. It appears that it was one of their earlier designs – the instructions are yellow and the parts are all attached with straight strips, rather than the customary triangular attachment points you see on most all of the models. Amazingly, this model is constructed from only 9 parts. There seemed to be an emphasis, at least with this model, on keeping the process as simple as possible.

And, honestly, it is really a simple build for 88.8% percent of the model (8 out of 9 parts). There are some tough folds to get crisp, due to the stiffness of the fold joints (something Metal Earth has gotten much better at handling). But the real killer step / part in this model is the floor / seat (part 5). I was actually loving the idea of this part as soon as I saw the step in the instructions, because it’s ingenious in design. It reminded me of some of the ideas behind various techniques used in Origami. So it definitely has the cool factor, have the seat pop-up out of the floorboard, much as elements pop-up in a pop-up book. The problem, though, is that this is not paper, it’s metal. And the folds perforations are super stiff, and there are a lot of them, so it’s hard to fold it into place in the smooth way that paper would allow. You end up having to fold each edge a little, in rotation, more and more as you go, and hope not to break anything or bend it funny in-between. I didn’t get my end result to look anything like the diagram, but I am okay with that.

Anyways, other than that one bit, the whole rest of it is pretty straight forward. I finished the whole thing, with narrating, random pauses for tips and tricks and pointing stuff out, frustration with the seat formation, and all the rest, in just over 50 minutes. So, like I said, easy build. I think I spent more time setting up the creative photo than building the model. Oh, and funny thing about that photo: I had to bury some Legos under the sand so the vehicle didn’t just sink right in with the thin blade-like wheels. Anyways, here’s the narrated build video: