knyghtbyte
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knyghtbyte's Stats
knyghtbyte's Stats
- 3.7Average Rating
- 128Helpfulness Votes
- 0Featured Reviews
- 3Review Count
- May 24, 2015First Review
- June 18, 2017Last Review
knyghtbyte's Reviews
Heavy-duty Rescue Helicopter
Heavy-duty Rescue Helicopter
Posted:June 18, 2017
knyghtbyte
Age:
35-44
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Expert LEGO builder
Overall:
4
/
5
Totally Coastal!
" I've decided to review this product, mainly as a comparison to the 'Bus Station' set that has also just been released, at the same price point.
Where the 'Bus Station' failed to bring home it's titular concept, 'Heavy Duty Rescue Helicoptor' lives up to it's nomenclature fantastically!
The set consists of the aforementioned chopper, a buoy sized lighthouse, a jet ski and a mad kayakist!
The buoy/lighthouse is a slightly strange item and to be honest could probably have been left out, with more detail going to either the jet ski or the chopper.
The canoeist may well have simply wandered too far out of the jungle explorers territory, but the mini fig for it has a nice hairpiece, so I'm prepared to overlook it not really being a maritime rescue opportunity.
The jet ski has a fairly simple approach, but carries enough detail for a City set that I was quite happy with it, more so for the fact it can slide in to the back of the chopper.
Finally, we 'get to the chopper; and I'm pleased to say this is a lovely build, with some interesting and new (to me at least) methods of construction. The sliding door mechanism is simple yet mostly effective, although as another review states, is prone to sliding open a little too easily. The cockpit has a couple of nicely printed slopes and the rotors are a nice, balanced, freespinning design.
I'm happy to rate this set quite highly on the principle it provided the level of build and quantity of brick at the price it has been set. It far out does the 'Bus Station' at the same price point, providing plenty of play options and even display level quality (from a City perspective)
Ps, ignore my build time, as with most of my builds, I usually do it watching TV, so cannot confirm how long I actually spend doing it.
"
I would recommend this to a friend!
From: South Benfleet, Benfleet SS7, UK
From:
United Kingdom
Age:
35-44
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Expert LEGO builder
Purchased For:
Self
Play Experience (Optional):
4
/
5
Value for Money (Optional):
4
/
5
Level of Difficulty:
Average
Very Easy
Very Challenging
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share:
+27points
27of 27found this review helpful.
Bus Station
Bus Station
Posted:June 8, 2017
knyghtbyte
Age:
35-44
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Expert LEGO builder
Overall:
3
/
5
The Wheels on the Bus....
" As with one of the previous reviewers, I was quite excited when I saw this set due to be released. I am hopefully going to be laying out a nice townscape this year once a shed is built for it, and some public transport (other than the myriad train sets I now possess!) would be a nice touch.
As far as the external side of things goes, I think the bus looks in keeping with the City range. Nice choice of colour and I like the door/window frame style. I did however have 5 middle roof pieces, the extra one taking the place of one of the end pieces. Thankfully a quick visit to the missing pieces section of the website has resolved that, with the missing piece in the post as I type.
Internally, I think the bus is a little lacking, as mentioned in another review, but then the City range vehicles are often fairly basic internally, as are the trains. I was a little dismayed when I realised that the bus did not have a retractable wheelchair ramp, as the buses do here in England (I'm guessing elsewhere in the world as well), as the main box picture gave me that impression.
The Bus Station is a little substandard relative to its title, but I think the newsstand is quite nicely done.
Minifigure count was quite pleasing, and with a wheelchair to boot!
Overall, I feel a little let down with the bus internals and the simplicity of the 'station', but this is more really to do with the price point. If this had been around three quarters of the price, I'd have been happy to go four stars, if only so I could pick up a couple extras later in its lifespan even cheaper and combine them to build a station worthy of the name!
ps. Ignore my build time, I often build while watching TV and I cannot for the life of me remember how long I actually spent on this set!
"
I would recommend this to a friend!
From: London
From:
United Kingdom
Age:
35-44
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Expert LEGO builder
Purchased For:
Self
Build Time:
01
hrs
Play Experience (Optional):
3
/
5
Value for Money (Optional):
2
/
5
Level of Difficulty:
Easy
Very Easy
Very Challenging
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share:
+43points
53of 63found this review helpful.
Cargo Plane
Cargo Plane
Posted:May 24, 2015
knyghtbyte
Age:
35-44
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Expert LEGO builder
Overall:
4
/
5
Carrying the hobby to new heights!
" 25 years. That's the time since my last real Lego set. Let's ignore the 5 Star Wars Microfighters currently playing kiss chase on top of my home cinema centre speaker.
I bought those on a whim. However, I enjoyed clicking them together so much as I watched something mind numbing on the telly, that I decided to have a browse on the Lego store.
Good Heavens! I had no idea Lego had swung to such fantastic reaches. Everything from brand name kits to classic brick sets, the brilliant looking Creator town buildings and then I saw the current line up of Technic Lego kits.
Falling in love immediately, I opted to test out how much I would enjoy a return to the brick on the Cargo Plane. It seemed to be the optimum balance between cost, brick count and complexity to dip my toes in again.
It arrived one evening, I opened up the box, closed it again immediately, scared at the number of bags! Then thought I'd slide out this huge flat solid brick....which turned out to be the manual :O
Sucking it up and sticking it together, I opened up the bags, turned some of them out in to little ramekin bowls I 'borrowed' from the larder. I highly recommend these for the little peg pieces!
I marvelled at the nice simple layout of the manual, just like I remember from my younger days, when I tried my hand at a pneumatic fork lift truck. Sadly, it was missing a key three way air splitter and I couldn't finish it off, and back then getting a spare piece was a more long winded affair and I think it turned in to a monster truck with air suspension!
So, to the Build!
Easy to follow instructions meant building every section of this aircraft was fun. Only a few sections perhaps required a bit more thought on how best to push things together so it all clicked in to place nicely. And without accidently pushing out something important like a gear wheel!
I found the stickers ok, there were a few to do, but for the most part they were easy to line up and put, but I can appreciate where some people may have preferred actual window pieces for example.
The gear shift system is an absolute delight, both to put together and use. At various steps in the build my mind wondered at why something was going where it was going, what was its purpose etc. Once the power sections were in, I have to confess to being mesmerised by switching it on and watching the cogs spin, even though nothing else was happening!
Once I had completed most of the superstructure, and had just the tail and wings to do, I was already feeling a sense of accomplishment by raising the cockpit and ramp up and down.
Although, this was almost ruined when I realised at one point, I hadn't noticed an extra cog should have been put in on the underside, consequently one of the features would not work. I had already built up and around this area and attached a lot of the stanchion like side pieces too! Thankfully, after years of working in manual jobs as well as typing a lot, I managed to use finger power to pull things apart juuuust enough to get the cog in, without disassembling the last 28 pages of work!
Towards the end, I got very nervous I'd end up running out of a key piece to complete things with the propellers. My tray was looking barren of pieces, and my ramekins as empty as though they'd contained chocolate puddings at a kids party....
OMG, NO! A long blue connector pin was not there! ARGGGHH. For the second engine, I was missing a piece. Nightmares of my pneumatic past flooded back and my mind raced as to whether this cargo plane would end up as an ambulance with working back doors.....
I studied the book carefully, and realised that the pin was mainly just for stability, and so I pushed things in, together, on top, added more and voila! A finished engine block that I could see no reason it would not work.
Taking a break, I put all the gears in neutral, turned on the power, and one by one tested each of the power functions.
Cockpit raise to let pilots in - Check!
Tailgate drop to let cargo in - Check!
Propellers on to take off - CHECK!!!
Wheels up to reduce drag - Check!
Tailgate drop to let cargo in - Check!
Propellers on to take off - CHECK!!!
Wheels up to reduce drag - Check!
WE HAVE LIFT OFF!
Pros -
Very nice aesthetic design with the white panels and blue stickers
Overall good resemblance of a cargo plane
Build was a nice 16 hours give or take, so value for money pretty good!
Piece count likewise good value for money
Brilliant gear shifting design, am tempted to remote control it and stick in a motor for the wheels one day too.
Good power function features, and as batt/motor included, even better!
Very nice aesthetic design with the white panels and blue stickers
Overall good resemblance of a cargo plane
Build was a nice 16 hours give or take, so value for money pretty good!
Piece count likewise good value for money
Brilliant gear shifting design, am tempted to remote control it and stick in a motor for the wheels one day too.
Good power function features, and as batt/motor included, even better!
Cons -
For want of a pin the battle was nearly lost! I feel these should be overprovisioned and not as part of the piece count
Feels a bit bare on the sides to the rear, perhaps some panelling there would be nice, although one of the gear systems would get in the way.
Panels for tail as well possibly.
flap/aileron stick a bit too loose, could perhaps have a ratchet feature
For want of a pin the battle was nearly lost! I feel these should be overprovisioned and not as part of the piece count
Feels a bit bare on the sides to the rear, perhaps some panelling there would be nice, although one of the gear systems would get in the way.
Panels for tail as well possibly.
flap/aileron stick a bit too loose, could perhaps have a ratchet feature
Overall, my first real foray back in to the world of Technic Lego has been an overwhelming enjoyment, a real sense of accomplishment achieved. Hats off to the designers, having had a thing for technical design at school, I appreciate the complexities of something like this, and only wish I'd followed through and not ended up working for an energy company!
I already have the Crane Mk2 set sitting in my room ready to go, so I bring this review to an end as I cant ignore it any longer! Happy Days are here again, may they forever be filled with little Lego men (and women, dogs, cats, aliens, etc).
"
Images for this Review
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I would recommend this to a friend!
From: London
From:
United Kingdom
Age:
35-44
years old
Customer Type:
LEGO Fan
Building Experience:
Expert LEGO builder
Purchased For:
Self
Build Time:
16
hrs
Play Experience (Optional):
4
/
5
Value for Money (Optional):
5
/
5
Level of Difficulty:
Average
Very Easy
Very Challenging
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share:
+44points
48of 52found this review helpful.