Lego Technic McLaren F1 car: Stage one

I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun.

- Thomas A. Edison -

---

---

It's been a little while since I finished my last Lego Technic build and I've been missing the fun of it. I decided it was time for another one so hightailed it to the shop and picked up the Lego Technic 2022 McLaren F1 car which you see pictured above in my front yard. It's sweet! A sixty five centimetre long, 1432 piece, model that I'm really looking forward to completing; Can you tell I'm excited? I am...in case you cannot.

A couple days ago I started the first stage which was a lot of fun...and yes, I had snacks. There's no other way to do it people; snacks and Lego building are synonymous.

The collage above shows the very first stages which, with sets like this, generally always begin with a gearbox or differential. In this case that grey 'H' part in the centre of the collage is the first part one assembles, with the shaft and yellowish gear as well; below it you can see the actual differential assembly in my fingers prior to it being fitted.

This part lies at the heart of the rear differential and suspension section and the lower images in the collage above show how the the parts come together. Those long black pieces are suspension wishbones which were cool to build as I've not built a set using them before.

Below is the completed rear suspension and differential assembly.

The wheels will eventually click ono the grey parts to left and right and the whole rear end will operate pretty much like the real Formula One car; you can see the shock absorbers in the image below which helps the suspension work on the model and real car - These are the yellow things with the springs in them.

Once to this stage the rear assembly is put aside for a bit whilst the engine comes together. You can see this below and, again, this was a first for me as I've not built a Lego Technic engine quite like this one before.

If you look at the images below you'll see how the pistons fit into the cylinders within the engine block on a crank shaft (below left) so that as the car moves the pistons will pump up and down inside the engine just like the real car. I'll admit to stopping for a little while and playing with the engine once I had it together, because it's super cool.

From here the beginnings of the floor and body frame are fitted to the rear differential and suspension assembly and the engine is inserted ensuring the crank shaft connects securely into the rear differential. This basically takes the lineal drive from the engine to the differential which changes its direction to right angles to drive the wheels...the same as the real life car.

Here's a YouTube video of Will Buxton, F1 journalist, making the car. It's only ten minutes long and is a great demonstration of how it all comes together and includes some background on the car itself. If you skip to about 9:30 you'll see the car done though. It's pretty epic.

I took my time with this initial stage as I wanted to get it right and there were a couple of tricky parts. It took me about two and a half hours and I enjoyed the process...Snacks help with the enjoyment aspect too; I had cheese and crackers if you're wondering.

I'll probably get to the next stage this weekend as I tend to be rather busy during the week and will grab some shots of it for a follow up build-post as usual.