Finishing off my little run of this year’s Speed Champions sets it is time to have a look at the Ferrari F8 Tributo (76895). As I wrote in my last review, this is more a case of getting into a certain habit rather than being a genuine car aficionado, so bear with me if I get a few things wrong and don’t get lost in endless details.
As far as the reasoning behind this purchase goes, the same rationale can be applied that is so true for many of my buying decisions – the combined value of the parts in this outweighs the cost of what it would take to scrape them together on Bricklink plus the simple fact that I have surprisingly few Red parts in my collection, so it never hurts to have a few more just in case you may need them (which funny enough on another recent project already became a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts).
The above became even more apparent when I found out the the set had a full nine pairs of my beloved curved slope wedges (29119 and 29120) that are just so useful to give edges a rounded/ gently angled appearance and can be used in so many ways. The 1 x 1 brackets also appear in Red for the first time in this set and provided further incentive. the rest is pretty much standard fare, but as I said for me every single Red slope still counts and makes for a valuable addition to my stock.
That said, the price/ value ratio of the set is perhaps still not the best on the planet. Unfortunately LEGO have been massively ramping up prices on even the simplest sets and Speed Champions are no exception. This is only barely compensated by the switch from 6 stud wide to 8 stud wide construction and thus the models turning out larger.
I’m not saying that these sets per se are overpriced, but 20 Euro suggested retail price still is quite a lot. It’s a good thing that street prices typically tend to be lower and 15 Euro, while still not perfect, is much more acceptable. Still, all things considered 12 Euro would be even better. At least this particular set includes a fully printed canopy piece, so that is justifiable on some level, even if the print quality is rather mediocre and lacks saturation and opacity.
Speaking of printed parts, there’s literally just two others in this set and they are tiny 1×1 plates with the Ferrari logo printed on one of the sides. It would have been nice if the other Scuderia insignia on the front and back would also have been included as printed pieces. On the bright side, there is very few stickers and except for the headlights perhaps you can easily go without them and it still looks pretty good.
That is of course a subjective thing and “looking good” to me primarily means that it conveys the overall look and feel of a Ferrari car believably. This is easily the one set that benefits most from the wider build and thus can transport the “flat as a flounder, but strong as a bull” idea quite well. on the other hand, and that’s pretty much the greatest weakness of the model, it more or less looks like any other Ferrari, just not particularly like the Tributo.
I guess the point here is that it nicely carries over the design philosophy, but due to the limitations of the LEGO system the complex surface curvature is impossible to capture. so in a sense this could be a “whatever you imagine when you squint your eyes” model. To me it therefore superficially looks more like a 488 or even an old F40 that had those blocky, straight sides and strongly defined edges.
None of these criticisms makes this a bad model, though, you just have to be prepared that it may not look the part when e.g. put next to a die-cast model of the same car. In the LEGO universe this is pretty sophisticated. Still there would have been room for improvement. One of those spots are for instance the wheel wells where using a different part or a custom-built shaping could have done a lot to enhance the appearance. The ones used are simply too large and blocky and thus dictate some of that bulky look.
Overall this is an enjoyable set that is easy to build and even to beginners should feel rewarding by offering a reasonably realistic approximation of the real thing and a satisfying overall experience. There are no particularly outstanding features or techniques used, but at the same time it’s very straightforward to put together for that exact reason, making for an almost relaxing one-hour-build if nothing else.
You could definitely do worse and whether you’re a car fanatic, just looking for a nice diversion or any in a broader sense any LEGO set that isn’t too complex and easy to build, this could be your go-to set for a fun time.
Mylenium's Brick Corner 