LEGO® Icons review & MOC: 10295 Porsche 911

Victor Pruvost (@leewanlego) is back today with a review of LEGO® 10295 Porsche 911, plus an original MOC!

The LEGO Group has released an unusually high number of Creator Expert sets in 2021, including three vehicles (four if you include the UK exclusive 77942 Fiat 500 in Light Royal Blue/ Bright Light Blue): 10290 Pickup Truck which has just been released, 10279 Volkswagen T2 Camper Van from August, and 10295 Porsche 911 from March. It is the latter that we’re going to talk about today. It contains 1458 pieces, is priced £119.99 / US$149.99 / CA$199.99 / 139.99€ (Euro price may vary according to the country) / AU$229.99.

Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own. This article may contain affiliate links; we may get a small commission if you purchase.

LEGO Creator Expert 10295 Porsche 911 on LEGO.com

Buy individual pieces from 10295 on LEGO® Pick a Brick

New prints

There are no stickers in this set, all of the decorations are printed, including some exclusives to this set:

• 2 x Tile 1x2 with red rectangle pattern, in Transparent/ Trans-Clear (6343001 | 3069)
• 1 x Panel 1x2x2 with white curved corner pattern – left side, in Trans-Clear (6343002 | 87552)
• 1 x Panel 1x2x2 with white curved corner pattern – right side, in Trans-Clear (6343853| 87552)
• 1 x Tile 1x8 with black PORSCHE pattern, in Bright Red/ Red (6342995 | 4162)
• 1 x Slope curved 2x2 with black turbo pattern, in White (6342999 | 15068)
• 1 x Slope curved 2x2 with black targa pattern, in White (6342999 | 15068)
• 1 x Slope curved 8x2 with Porsche logo pattern, in White (6342994 | 42918)
• 1 x Tile 2x4 with dark green number plate pattern, in White (6342997 | 87079)
• 1 x Tile 2x4 with black number plate pattern, in Flame Yellowish Orange/ Bright Light Orange (6349278 | 87079)
• 2 x Tile 1x4 with black number plate pattern, in White (6343015| 2431)

The Bright Light Orange number plate is a reference to the set designer’s name, Mike Psiaki. 10252 Volkswagen Beetle had P51 AK1 number plates, and the amazing 10265 Ford Mustang had P51 AK2 number plates. I’m not usually a fan of such Easter eggs, but these ones aren’t too on-the-nose, so I don’t mind them.

While I really appreciate the effort to print all the decorations instead of using stickers, I have to point out that this method has its downsides. Here you can see that the shade of white used to decorate the trans-clear panels doesn't quite match the shade of the bricks that surround it, unfortunately.

New moulds

Three new elements have been created in order to recreate the shapes of the 1974 Porsche 911 Turbo.

One of them is the ¼ brick round corner 5x5 with 45° slope and cutout. Four of them are included in this set in white (6334516 | 76795).

This element is basically a sloping version of the ¼ Arch Brick 5x5 w/cut out introduced in the Beetle in 2016, which also makes it similar to the existing 6x6 and 10x10 ¼ brick round corner with slopes (95188 and 58846, respectively).

The other two are the pair of 2x10x2 "Porsche bows" (or Shell 2x10x2, Outside Bow, W/ Cut), also appearing in white (6336752 | 77180 for the Left bow) and (6336754 | 77182 for the Right bow). 

I won’t actually go into them today because, in our very next article on New Elementary this Wednesday, we will take a close look: Tom Loftus is analysing and building with them, and we also speak to the Element Developers responsible for their production. (Our Medium Azure and Vibrant Coral supporters can actually read that interview on Patreon today!)

Buy individual pieces from 10295 on LEGO® Pick a Brick

Other interesting elements

In addition to the unique elements we’ve just discussed, 10295 Porsche 911 brings other rare and interesting parts. Inside the car, the seats made of Medium Nougat and Dark Orange elements give the impression of comfy leather and contrast nicely with the white of the bodywork. 

Many of the dark orange pieces were made for this set, and some others are still quite rare:

• 3 x Slope 45° 2x2 double (6340752 | 3043) – they appeared in two sets from 2004 and 2005, as well as in 10283 NASA Space Shuttle Discovery
  
• 4 x Slope 45° 1x2 with 2/3 cutout (6342971 | 15672) – unique to this set
• 8 x Slope curved 2x4 (6339310 | 93606) – appeared in four other sets between 2014 and 2017
• 7 x Tile 1x3 (6340118 | 63864) – can also be found in 10279 Volkswagen T2 Camper Van
• 2 x Slope curved 1x2 inverted (6339914 | 24201) – appears in two other sets from 2021
• 2 x Brick 1x2x3 (6315191 | 22886) – appears in three other sets from 2020 and 2021
• 4 x Plate round corner 3x3 with 2x2 cutout (6339915 | 68568) – also appears in a Jurassic World set, 76939 Stygimoloch Dinosaur Escape
• 4 x Tile round corner 2x2 macaroni (6340042 | 27925) – unique to this set
• 4 x Hinge plate 1x2 with 1 finger (6345166 | 49716) – can also be found in 10279 Volkswagen T2 Camper Van
• 2 x Plate modified 1x4 with 2 studs (6257603 | 41740) – this version of the mould, with the grooves, comes in two other sets, and the previous version of this element (6186047 | 92593) could only be found in three sets from 2017

Among the other interesting pieces we can count the rims 42716, that allow the inclusion of a steering mechanism in a reduced space. 10265 Ford Mustang was the first set to have them, and here they return in Silver Metallic/ Flat Silver (6250349). Like with the Mustang, four silver rims are included, but there are also four black rims (6339150), appearing for the first time.

Speaking of black, this set marks the return of the Corrugated Pipe 48mm / Hose, Ribbed 7mm D. 6L in black (6345089 | 71944), which was last seen in 2002, almost twenty years ago!

The Porsche 911 also introduces Tile 2x4 oval in black (6331483 | 66857) for the first time. Two of them are included in the set. I’m really happy to see this part in black, and used almost 80 of them as roof shingles in a MOC I’ve built earlier this year.

Two Bright Orange/ Orange Arches 1 x 3 x 2 Curved Top (6340751 | 92903) are used for the taillights. They only appeared in one set from 2012 before, and returned in two other sets in 2021, including the colourful 40516 Everyone is Awesome.

Other curved elements are used for the front lights, but this time it’s a pair of Transparent Bright Orange/ Trans-Orange Slopes curved 1x4x3 (6340734 | 65734). Before the release of 10295 this part had only be made in trans-clear and black (now thanks to 21329 Fender Stratocaster it also exists in red), and the Porsche is, so far, the only set to have the slopes corved 65734 in Trans-Orange.

There is also one Windscreen 1x10x4 in trans-clear (6288588 | 65735), appearing for the third time, and, not pictured here, one Windscreen 2x12x4 in trans-clear (6338604 | 35163). This element was made from 1996 to 1999, and then very briefly returned in 2012.

We saw earlier that the set contained four boomerang plates (68568) in Dark Orange, but two can also be found in White (6339103, appearing in one other set), and two in Black (6325190, a bit more common since they are in seven other sets, including the gigantic 71741 Ninjago City Gardens).

Finally, some funky Technic pieces caught my eye. Among other parts, the steering  mechanism uses two Technic Steering Arm 5 x 1 with Towball Socket (Type2) in Bright Yellow/ Yellow (6345163 | 31794), one Technic, Liftarm Thick 1 x 5 in Olive Green (6278029 | 32316), and one Technic, Liftarm Thick 1 x 2 in Bright Green (6316318 | 43857).

Interestingly, these three elements made their way into more recent Technic sets, namely 42129 4x4 Mercedes-Benz Zetros Trial Truck and 42131 Cat D11T Bulldozer).

Targa parts 

One thing to note is that you can build the Porsche 911 either as the Turbo version or as the Targa version, but you have to choose one. 

 

Some parts are used only for the Turbo (left), some parts are only used for the Targa (right), and some parts are used for both versions (middle), which means some disassembly is required to switch from one car to another. I actually quite like that as it extends the building experience a bit. Judging from the amount of parts allocated, the Turbo is the "main" version of the model, but it must have been quite challenging to design a "2-in-1" set without adding too many spare parts and while keeping most of the model intact when you switch from one version to the other.

Building techniques

A big chunk of the rear is attached in SNOT, which is quite impressive. The whole section is attached via two Technic pins at the front, and simply two studs at the rear.

It’s crazy to see how everything lines up when the model is complete! We can also see that to attach that section to the rest of the car, the designer didn’t use a regular Technic brick but a modified plate 11458, topped with a Brick 1x1 with scroll 20310. This technique was used to limit the friction between the door and the structure and make the opening and closing of the door easier.

So when the door is closed, the vertical Brick Curved 1 x 2 x 1 No Studs 37352 of the door doesn’t touch any of the gray pieces; the only area of friction between the door and the rest of the car is at the bottom, between the ½ circle plate 2x6 18980 and the plate 1x2 with bar 60478. This is brilliant! 

Victor Pruvost’s MOC using the Porsche Bows

Video game controller

With 71395 Super Mario 64 Question Mark Block fresh in mind, I decided to build a video game controller. 

It’s not based on any real-life controller in particular, I just wanted to make sure it was ergonomic (at least for me) and challenge myself by using the Porsche bows, which I initially considered too specialized.

Now that I have them, there’s so much more I want to do with the Porsche bows – a snowy landscape, a futuristic car or speeder, a mecha!

I also used a 2x4 black oval tile from the set, as well as the white 3x3 ¼ arch bricks with cutout (6294351 | 65617).

10295 Porsche 911 contains 1458 pieces, is priced £119.99 / US$149.99 / CA$199.99 / 139.99€ (Euro price may vary according to the country) / AU$229.99.

LEGO Creator Expert 10295 Porsche 911 on LEGO.com

Buy individual pieces from 10295 on LEGO® Pick a Brick

Conclusion

I love this set. It’s a nice parts pack with inspiring elements, it uses some simple but clever techniques, and the fact that it’s a 2-in-1 model means you can rebuild it into something different once you’re done and not just let the car sit on your shelf. And isn’t that the ultimate purpose of LEGO? Now, it’s not a perfect recreation of a Porsche 911 from the 1970s, but it’s well recognizable with its distinctive "face", and I think this is what matters the most.

READ MORE: Meet the element developer of the 'Porsche bows', and see MOCs by Tom Loftus

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