LEGO Amazing Vehicles Book

No Starch Press were kind enough to send me a copy of their latest LEGO construction book, The LEGO Build-It Book Amazing Vehicles.

So naturally once it arrived in my house the book immediately disappeared for 2 weeks and finally surfaced after my son had thoroughly “read” and “re-read” each and every minute detail on each and every page.

As far as reviews go I’d say that this book passed with flying colours.

The LEGO Build-It Book Amazing Vehicles

Essentially the book consists of 10 detailed instructions for various vehicles that can be built with the set 5867, LEGO Creator Super Speedster which comes with 278 pieces.

It is wonderful that the book only requires the pieces from one set to complete all the models. The downside to this approach is that this particular set was released in 2010 and so is now quite hard to find – hard or “expensive”.

However every cloud has a silver lining.

As with most Creator sets, the parts included are fairly generic. There are very few parts that are rare or expensive to acquire individually. There are a full list of parts required in the front of the Amazing Vehicles book or you can find them itemised at Brickset. So if you don’t have the 5867 set, then head over to Bricklink and pick up the pieces you don’t have.

Models and Instructions

The models themselves are beautifully designed – the perfect balance of practical functionality and design ingenuity. The instructions are clear and easy to follow.

Every now and then a cartoon-character guide informs readers about the specific construction techniques used. This allows keen designers to get an inside look into the creative decisions made by authors, Nathanaël Kuipers and Mattia Zamboni who made sure the models stand up to use.

Overall the book is a winner and if you can combine it with the afore-mentioned Creator set then it is the perfect combination for kids and big kids) who want to make the most of their LEGO building collection.