Friday, June 30, 2023

Review: Turbo Wheels Micro Vehicles Track

Let's finish out the month by looking at using non-Lego pieces for Cover/terrain.  I came across this in a recent Dollar Tree excursion.  I've wanted to build a roadway/overpass as terrain for a MFZ game for a long while so I grabbed this to see what it would look like when put together.


Box.  MSRP is
 $1.25, for a $0.03 Price per Piece.

"Instructions."












Parts 1.  Overpass Columns, Overpass Sections, Curve
Sections, Straight Sections, Curve Merge Sections, SUV, Street
Sign, Straight Link Section, and Straight Extender Sections.






Build.  I added in my usual suspects.  So this needs to be assembled on a hard
surface for the road sections to clip together correctly.  I feel like the main
issue comes in deciding how many Hits it will take.  Is each section of road
a Piece or is each section of road a Hit?  I'll leave that up to you to decide.

Size Comparison 1.  That SUV looks to be roughly 4P scale.




Size Comparison 2.  A closer look at the height of the overpass section.  The chest of a Classic is 12.5 Plates tall, so the overpass is firmly in "Cover" range.
  
Size Comparison 3.  As you can see, the whole set is a decent size.  I'd say you'd need four of them to fill an entire battlefield with roads though.

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Cover/terrain.  (0)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Below.  (+5)  
(The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  No.  (-5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No.  (-5)
Score: -5 (B-).  Not a great score.  Still, it's terrain so the object is to look good on the table more than anything else.

1 comment:

  1. Disclaimer: I currently work for Dollar Tree as an assistant manager (but trust me, they don't pay me enough to shill for them)

    I picked up 4 sets of these a while ago for playing with my nephew. You can make some nice layouts with that much, but the primary limits to your creativity are that you only get one T-intersection and one double-male jumper per set. No 4-way stops in this town.

    Now, the neat thing is that the space between the curbs of the road is just slightly wider than 3 studs. A tiny strip or two of masking tape against the curb makes the fit snug. Put a couple 1x2 plates on top of a 2x3 (to avoid center studs bumping into the molded divider line), add a 1x2 brick or two under that, repeat a few times, and you'd have a nice freestanding raised highway. Maybe jump straight to a "Slope, Inverted 45 3 x 1 Double" and then a couple 1x1 bricks if you're worried about parts count.

    Unfortunately, that brings us to the second big issue. Neither the curves nor the straights play nice with the LEGO grid. Funnily enough, the jumpers seem to be 1 stud long. Looks like 5 straight sections between curves will put you "close enough" to being back on grid, but that would make a simple "square" loop hang off the edge of a 32x32 baseplate. I'm sure there's something clever that would lock them in while off-grid, but just laying them on top of tiles is probably the easiest.

    Anyway, it's a cool, if mildly frustrating, little set. I suggest building the road in your hands instead of on the table, twisting the connectors together, and then pressing from both the top and bottom to make sure it's flush.

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