Review : LEGO 10290 Pickup Truck

Today we quickly tour the LEGO set 10290 Pickup Truck, a box of 1677 pieces which will be marketed at the public price of 119.99 € from October 1st. LEGO offers us here to assemble a vintage pickup vaguely inspired by the Ford F100 but which the designer presents as a version mixing the characteristic attributes of different utility vans produced in the 1950s such as the Chevrolet 3100 or the GMC 100.

Even if some fans would certainly have appreciated having to build a vehicle of an existing brand, the lack of a license on this product is in my opinion not a bad thing, it probably saves us around forty dollars. euros on the public price of the product and the whole remains visually sufficiently associated with the period concerned to convince.

In order not to deliver us a vehicle alone without a particular context, LEGO puts this pickup on stage by presenting it as the utility of an American farmer who would go to the local market to market his production. It is a good idea, the various small constructions which accompany the van are varied and and allow to fill the dumpster.

These accessories are inspired by the four seasons of the year with spring flowers, summer vegetables, fall pumpkins and even a festive winter wreath that can be attached to the front of the hood. The designer did not just throw a few vegetables in a crate, he also had to assemble a watering can, a jug of milk and a wheelbarrow, all three very well designed and with interesting decorative potential.

The assembly of the pickup, about thirty centimeters long by 14 centimeters wide, begins with a frame made up of a few Frames and Technic beams which will later receive the engine and the various mechanical and bodywork components. In passing, a steering system is integrated into the front axle which can be manipulated via the steering wheel of the vehicle. No offset of the function via an HOG on the roof of the vehicle, so much the better for the overall aesthetics of the model.

It is at this stage of the assembly that a problem arises: the set mixes the parts in Dark Red present for years in the LEGO catalog and elements delivered in what is called the color New Dark Red which are of a slightly lighter shade and which are especially thinner, sometimes up to transparency. The difference in color is not obvious depending on the lighting, but it is clearly visible from certain angles. Skillfully retouched official visuals often hide this detail.

In profile, we can even distinguish the tenons present under the Tiles, in particular those which adorn the doors of the vehicle. Again, it's also a question of lighting and when the vehicle is put on a shelf, these flaws fade a bit.

Even more annoying, the scratches on parts with the same scratch in exactly the same place on some batches of identical items. It is therefore clearly a degradation of the surface directly linked to the production process, it is a bit of a shame on a product with a monochrome body intended for exhibition.

At LEGO, it is often a question of complicating things to arrive at a result, which it would undoubtedly be possible to obtain more simply, by adding in the process a little spice to the process of construction. The techniques used here are therefore often interesting even if the price to pay is a certain fragility of certain sub-assemblies and a sometimes somewhat complicated adjustment of certain portions of the bodywork.

Align, push in but not too much, shift just a little, for example, it will be necessary to find the perfect position of the fenders whose two-part wheel arch is simply clipped so that the rendering is almost perfect. I threw in the towel quickly, the movements of the vehicle requiring to go back to the file almost every time and the alignment of the Tiles 1x1 having the gift of annoying me quickly.

The bonnet, with its two Porsche 911 wings here delivered in Dark Red that do their finishing job perfectly, lifts up and can be held in the open position to take a look at the vehicle's engine. No moving parts on this engine which remains very detailed with its belt (a white elastic) and its metallic air filter cover.

Only the dashboard, the "embossed" LEGO logo on the rear panel of the dumpster and the part marked V8 on the grille are pad printed. For everything else, the vehicle uses stickers: the side pillars of the windshield, the two license plates, the landscape in the rearview mirror and the farm logo on the doors. These last stickers do not overlap two pieces as the official visuals might suggest (see photo below).

The two guardrails of the body are removable and allow the pickup to be exposed in a more sober and less "utilitarian" version if the need arises. We feel that the designer has really made the effort to perfect the finishes of the vehicle to offer an aesthetically very successful product that does not ignore functionality.

The doors mounted on a Technic pin associated with a rubber insert open and close without forcing and they do not open inadvertently, the front cover is held in the open position thanks to the manually deployable rod, access to the The tipper is facilitated by the opening of the rear panel and the cab roof can easily be removed to take advantage of the driving position with its bench seat, dashboard, gear lever and brake pedal.

The wheels with their white rims and metallic hubcaps really contribute to the vintage finish of the vehicle, that's perfect. I am a little less convinced by the large mirrors, with their simple Dish en metallic Silver but it is a detail.

In the end, I think this pickup deserves your full attention if you are a fan of vehicles in LEGO version, even if it is an unlicensed model loosely inspired by the utilities that circulated on the roads of Texas in the 50s. The lack of a precise reference to a brand also prevents us from comparing it with the original and that's not bad when we know that LEGO sometimes has trouble reproducing certain existing vehicles.

The public price of the set fixed at 119.99 € seems reasonable to me for what this box has to offer, the pickup is very pleasant to assemble, it offers some appreciable features and the accessories that accompany it create an appreciable context. There are still some technical issues that LEGO seems to always have a hard time resolving, such as color differences or scratches, you will have to deal with and contact customer service to get a replacement for items that you think are really too damaged.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at August 24, 2021 next at 23pm. For newcomers, know that you just need to post a comment to participate in the draw.

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.