LEGO Creator Expert | Ferrari F40 [REVIEW]
Overview
Theme: LEGO Creator Expert
Name: Ferrari F40 (10248)
Year: 2015
Price: $99.99 | €89.99
Pieces: 1,158
Minifigs: 0
The 4th set in the subtheme of “Creator Expert Vehicles”, the LEGO Ferrari F40 retailed for $99.99 when it came out in 2015. Nowadays however, it sells for an average price of €220.00, so the question is, 6 years later, is it worth the price?
Unboxing
The boxart is pretty simple. It resembles a showroom which is fairly appropriate for the car I suppose, but some Italian scenery would’ve been nicer, I think.
Something that surprised me was that the entire set is contained within 2 sets of numbered bags. By contrast, modern sets in this subtheme would be split into 8+ numbered bags. Knolling took considerably more time as a result, especially because the set has so many unique pieces.
The instruction manual, much like the Mini Cooper set that came before it, doesn’t have any extra material or information for the first few pages, which isn’t too surprising since I believe only Architecture sets really did that at the time. Overall just fairly standard unboxing and instructions.
Build Experience
Side Sections
There’s a lot to say about the build experience here. The initial technic foundation was fairly standard, but as the build went on I found myself constantly surprised and impressed by this build. Almost every area had some special or satisfying technique to achieve the shape they wanted.
It started off with the way the side skirts connected to the diagonal intake sections. They came together way more seamlessly than I expected, and the rest of the build just got better and better. The way the windshield connected to the front and perfectly fit into the roof piece was incredibly satisfying. It fits so well that it doesn’t need an actual connection, it just sits in place. I can confidently say that the technique used here is miles better than even their newer cars.
Rear Fender Area / Roof / Door
Finishing off the back fender area (each side of the back windshield) is very similar to how it’s done on the UCS A-Wing, and was somehow even more satisfying than the windshield technique earlier in the build! There is a sideways ‘wedge’ section on each side that you push into a gap that perfectly fits the wedge. This then clips onto a pole piece hidden deep in the body. It’s hard to describe, but it was great, trust me.
The roof piece itself is an immensely strong L-shaped technic construction that doesn’t actually connect to the windshield piece. It’s almost painful on your fingers to put together, but the result is legitimately seamless.
The doors connect using a system of interlaced clip pieces that connect to a vertical pole piece. It requires more force than you’d expect to connect them, but when it all clicks together, it’s pretty glorious.
Front Bay Area
Later on in the build, you add some exposed studs to an area that seems inaccessible. Specifically, the bay around the front boot/trunk. I genuinely found myself thinking “that’s weird, why are these studs exposed when there’s no feasible way to add detail here and have it visible?”. Later on, there’s a step that makes you open up the entire front section of the car, to add detail after all. Turns out you had build the hinge mechanism for this feature fairly early on. I found that ‘reveal’ genuinely jaw-dropping.
There’s so many more sections to talk about, so needless to say the build experience for this set was incredible. This is probably the best build experience I’ve had since the Ship in a Bottle set. Definitely one of the best build experiences of any Creator Expert Vehicle, in my opinion. It far exceeded my expectations.
Sticker Usage
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The set uses 14 stickers in total, and I think they were used well/appropriately for the most part. There are some stickers used to represent intakes/vents above the backwheels which definitely couldn’t have been done with bricks. Similarly, the black stripes along the front of the bumper is actually done with bricks where possible, which I appreciate.
The car has no license plate, which I don’t think is the case with the other Creator Expert Vehicles. Instead there’s a plate that just says “F40” using a sticker. License plates are usually done with stickers on these sets, so no complaints here.
That being said, one area I think could have been done with prints would be the 2 Ferrari logos by the front wheels, and the Ferrari badge on the front. I say this because the newer Porsche 911 set uses prints in this situation. If LEGO ever decided to remake this set, I definitely think they’d use prints.
One area I think should have been done with a printed piece would be the steering wheel. Getting that circular sticker perfect on the circular 1×1 tile is pretty finicky, and felt unnecessary considering you get printed speedometer pieces within the same instruction pretty much.
Other than that, stickers were minimal and the stickers they do use add a lot of detail to the set which would otherwise be very difficult to do.
Design
Shaping
Overall, this is easily one of the best Creator Expert vehicles in terms of design. I think the shaping all around is almost perfect. It doesn’t really have a bad angle to be honest, and the ability to open out the front and back of the set is a welcome feature aswell.
Something to note is that this does not have functional steering. In fact, the front wheels don’t turn at all, so you have no choice but to display this with the wheels facing straight forward. This is fairly common with this subtheme, so it’s no big deal really.
The Headlamps
Much like the real-life version of this car, you can pop up the headlamps on the front if you’d prefer. This is a pretty neat feature, but there is no easy mechanism to ‘pop’ them up and down. This means you have to open up the front section and push them out with your fingers. In newer sets, I’d expect a mechanism here, so this is kind of a shame.
Another detail I loved was the design of the racing/bucket seats. They don’t use too many pieces, but the effect they accomplish is really impressive.
Probably the biggest problem I have with the design of this set is by the headlights. As a result of getting the feature to pop up and down the headlamps, there is always a bit of a blue technic pin visible on the front. This always sucks to see, and there’s no angle you can position the headlamps to hide them, sadly. That being said, at least it’s only about 1/4 of the pin visible, so it’s not nearly as bad as the AT-AT set from last year, for example.
Another smaller problem would be the area where the door connects to the body. In newer sets, the hinge piece is nicely hidden within the construction of the door, but in this set the door hinge area is very visible. This gives the door a weird “textured” look almost, which is something I think they’ve greatly improved on over the years.
Overall, I really love the design of this set, although there may be some bias in that given how much I like the car in real life. It’s so iconic in it’s shape and colour that my collection would always feel incomplete without this set.
Value
When this set came out in 2015, it retailed for €89.99 ($99.99). That actually makes it considerably cheaper than the newer Creator Expert Vehicles but I honestly kind of prefer this one. It could’ve retailed for €20 – €30 more and I’d still consider it good value.
But that was 2015, and this set has long since retired and greatly increased in value. Nowadays, the set sells for $250+ on Bricklink. Because of where I live, with shipping considered, I actually ended up paying €308 for this. So the question now is, “is this set worth the price now?”
No, it really isn’t. Not at the price I paid anyway.
BUT I would 100% pay it again because I consider this an essential part of the Creator Vehicles subtheme. The Ferrari F40, especially in this colour, is just too iconic to not have as part of my collection. It doesn’t help that it was also the one set I was missing that I really wanted from this subtheme.
If you’re like me, and you only really need this set to complete your collection, I’d almost say it’s worth the $250. It really is a fantastic build, and the display value it brings to your collection is worth more than it’s own weight, if that makes sense. If you’re hesitant, and you don’t mind cleaning pieces/potentially missing some, maybe buying this set used would be a good way to complete your collection.
Conclusion
To conclude, I think this is a really good looking model with an incredibly fun building experience. I consider this an essential part of a Creator Vehicle collection, which makes it almost worth the inflated price nowadays, if you can afford/justify it.
Creator Expert Vehicle Rank
Looking at the Creator Vehicles subtheme, I’d actually rank it as the best set of the subtheme, 1st out of 7 sets. I just think it’s so valuable to your collection, looks so good, and is just too fun to build to not place it on top. I will say though, that it is very close between it and the DB5, and on another day it could easily fall to 2nd place.
Creator Expert Rank
Taking every Creator Expert set into account, I’d rank it 5th out of 16 sets I own. The reason being I generally prefer Modular Buildings and I feel as though the Downtown Diner set provides a similarly fun building experience but inherently has more display value with it being a Modular Building. The DB5 again finds itself just below the Ferrari.
All Themes Rank
Looking at every set I own, the Ferrari finds itself in the same Creator Expert sandwich, but lower down the list at 21st out of 94 sets. Same reasons for it’s position in the sandwich, but with the added competition of the UCS sets (among others) it’s natural that it slips down the table a bit. Overall a really good set, finding itself in the Top 25 I own.
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