fishspony
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fishspony's Stats
- 4Average Rating
- 81Helpfulness Votes
- 0Featured Reviews
- 2Review Count
- August 28, 2015First Review
- June 29, 2019Last Review
fishspony's Reviews
Posted:June 29, 2019
fishspony
Age:
35-44
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Parent
Building Experience:
Intermediate LEGO builder
Overall:
3
/
5
Cool Build but Not Historically Accurate
" I bought this set for myself mainly because I've been a long time space fan and also picked up bachelor and master degrees in aerospace engineering, and, of course, this is the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing. After building it, staring at it for a week, and comparing it with the original NASA lunar lander drawings, I'm not sure if the Lego designer's goal was to create a credible Lego replica of the real Eagle lander. Rather I feel the designer used Eagle as the inspiration, but took a lot of liberty (excessive liberty in my opinion) to make something that resembles the Eagle but not necessarily a true representation.
What bothers me the most is the SCALE. This Lego version is too big! It is about 20% bigger than the real lunar lander. The Eagle, descent stage and ascent stage combined, is about 20-ft high. The Lego version, because it is a minifig-scale, and if I assume a minifig astronaut has an average height of 6' in real world, the Lego version is about 24-ft high. Actually the first thing that struck me after building it is how big it is, and I was surprised a lunar lander of this size can fit into the fairing of the Saturn V. Then I realized it is too big after checking against the official dimensions. In comparison the Lego Saturn V's lunar lander is a little bit more accurate in size.
The second problem is I don't know why Lego used a cylindrical piece as an intermediate piece between the reaction control thruster and the ascent module. The real model does have a small protrusion from the ascent stage connecting to the thruster assembly, but not as long as what the Lego model suggests. Indeed the Lego model looks a little bit like a weird octopus. Of course this is an easy fix - just removing the cylindrical intermediate piece and attach the thruster directly onto the fuselage instantly makes the Lego model look better.
The interior of the ascent module of the Lego model is a flat floor. But NASA drawings show there is a drum-shaped engine cover in the center of the floor on which the astronauts can sit. Not sure why Lego omitted this feature. A custom fix is easy.
There are some other issues: the secondary strut of the landing gear should be a pentagon with diagonal bracing but Lego has it as a triangle, the flume deflectors under the reaction control thrusters should be much larger, there is no blast crater under the Eagle, etc. I know this is a Lego and not supposed to be exact model of the Eagle lander, and I'm probably being too picky. But given the special 50th anniversary occasion, some more historic accuracy would be much more appreciated.
"
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I would recommend this to a friend!
From: Rego Park
From:
United States
Age:
35-44
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Parent
Building Experience:
Intermediate LEGO builder
Purchased For:
Self
Build Time:
03
hrs
Play Experience (Optional):
4
/
5
Value for Money (Optional):
4
/
5
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share:
-269points
65of 399found this review helpful.
Spaceport
Spaceport
Posted:August 28, 2015
fishspony
Age:
35-44
years old
Building Experience:
Intermediate LEGO builder
Overall:
5
/
5
A good set with some flaws
" I bought this set for my 4-year old son. I hesitated a lot before buying it, mainly because of the cost-per-piece factor and the aesthetics. I was trained as an aerospace engineer and at the first look the set didn't resemble the real space shuttle enough. But eventually I made up my mind because my son is so into space shuttle and it would be a good educational tool to teach him the ascending process and mission cycle of the shuttle. It took the 4-year old about five or six hours to build the whole thing, with some occasional help from me. I was delightfully surprised by how good the completed set looks. Everything looks pretty sleek, the shuttle, the main fuel tank, the solid fuel boosters, and even the transporter (although a far cry from the real thing). It immediately became my son's favorite set and he has spent lots of time playing with it.
The price-per-piece is really misleading. This set has so many large custom pieces. The fuel tank alone is made of eight large semi-cylindrical pieces that you probably won't find in any other set. The cockpit, the large wings, etc., are all unique to the shuttle series (it shares the cockpit piece with the smaller utility shuttle, which I also bought). No wonder it appears to be expensive, but I think it's worth of every penny.
The flaw is the weak structure of the fuel tank and boosters. Being long tubular shape, they have to be broken up into three segments each, and the connection can easily become loose and crack open. Although each rocket has a spine of extra long axle to hold all the pieces together, the cracking still happens from time to time. Ironically this is a problem with the real world space shuttle too, infamously the o-ring leakage that led to the Challenger accident... The other issue is the ball-shaped clip that snaps the shuttle to the fuel tank. My son has played with it for less than a week and I already noticed a bent in it. Soon I will need to buy replacement part for it. The shuttle itself, on the other hand, is built quite solid and fun to play with.
Another minor complaint is the proportion is a little bit off. In reality the fuel tank and boosters are much taller than the shuttle. But in this set the boosters are the same height as the shuttle and the fuel tank is just a notch taller. Maybe in the near future I'll buy extra pieces to make them taller myself.
Overall I recommend this set to anybody who is a shuttle fan. My son really loves it and so do I. I hope, or I dream LEGO will make a series for the famous launch vehicles, from Saturn V-Apollo to Falcon 9-Dragon... LEGO, do you hear me? Can you please make it happen, please? :D
"
I would recommend this to a friend!
From: Rego Park
From:
United States
Age:
35-44
years old
Building Experience:
Intermediate LEGO builder
Purchased For:
Son
Build Time:
06
hrs
Play Experience (Optional):
5
/
5
Value for Money (Optional):
5
/
5
Level of Difficulty:
Easy
Very Easy
Very Challenging
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share:
+13points
16of 19found this review helpful.