starstreak

Review: 4995 Cargo Copter

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To explain the Creator series better, here is a quote on what it is from Lego.com.

Let LEGO® Creator inspire your kids with building blocks and a range of creative toys designed just for them. Whether they love building motorized toys or designing new worlds, with LEGO Creator your children can bring their imaginations to life.

What I notice from the Creator 3 in 1 series is they give instructions to build more than one set. In this set, you can build the main model, which is a a Cargo Copter, or two alernate sets. A "Piper" type airplane or a speedboat. This set has a special power part in it - a winch. We'll see how that works in the different builds.

Set Name: 4995 Lego Cargo Copter

Theme: Creator

Released: 2008

Pieces: 272

Price: $19.99 (I paid $23.99)/13.73gbp

Here are some quicklinks Bricklink, Brickset, and Lego S@H.

Lets see what you get from the store!

Front of box

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Back of the box

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Parts list on the box

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The parts bags

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The Instruction books

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Here are the two books of instructions. The first book covers just the helicopter build. The second book covers both the Airplane and Power boat build.

The build

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With over 35+ steps to build the Cargo Helicopter, I tried to limit the amount of photos to just 4. It was a interesting design in that the cockpit part is actually joined by two technic pins.

Youtube video of winch

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OK, I'm a bit upset about this. I thought this set was an awesome deal for $23.99 when it included a "+Power Function" winch. But as you can see in the video, it's like a talking doll string. You pull it, then press the button to retract it. Not happy. Not sure why Lego kept the lightning bolt symbol next to the name , when it doesn't use a power.

Extra parts from Helicopter build

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There's allot of parts left. But I'm guessing it's needed for the other builds.

Finished photos of the Cargo Helicopter

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Side view of the Helicopter. Lego made the right height for the Copter. As you can see, with the cargo fully lifted, the Copter can still roll on the ground.

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Front view. Nice use of the white dish to give the nose a finished look. I also like the wide stance that the rear wheels give the copter. I bet it wouldn't be too hard to change the basic shape into some sort of military helicopter.

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Here is a rear view. It's amazing what Lego can turn two grey barrels into turbo exhaust for the engine.

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Top view. The blades span out just the right amount to give the helicopter the right shape to make it look like it could be lifted off the table if the blades was spinning fast enough.

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Here is a close up of the rear landing gear and engine. The gear has a "stork" leg look to it, but it works well. The orange slope you see just behind the engine is what you push on to retract the winch.

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Some eagle-eye people noticed I forgot to put back on th cockpit roof. So I rebuilt the whole model and added it. :)

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Here is a better view of the cargo. The center bar is what the hook grabs on to raises the container. I wonder what's in those yellow barrels? I hope nothing fragile, as there is nothing to keep it from falling out!

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Another view. The smooth black pieces above the container are there to rest against the hull of the helicopter when the cargo is up against the hull. Smart move. It gives the cargo helicopter a very finished look to it when the cargo is being held under the helicopter.

Alternate build. The airplane.

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Very nice front view. It really does look like a "Piper" airplane..

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Side view. A good view to see the wings. Besides being very multicolored, the wings do look angled enough to give the impression that the plane could fly. Also take note of the rear wheels. Very smart. By using the normal wheel holders without the wheels, it actually looks like mini wheels that some airplanes would have on the rear of the plane. I also like the use of the smooth tail section, by getting rid of the Lego studs on the top, it has a very aerodynamic shape to it.

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Here is a better view from the back. Not bad. Lego even added a little tail light.

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From this side view, you can see the little grey studs used to make up the engine exhaust ports. Nice detail on that. Also, you can see the winch motor. You can turn the propeller blades by hand. And then press the button to cause the propeller to spin. Don't expect it to fly off the ground. It spins kind of slow.

Alternate build. The speedboat.

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Here is the front view. While you don't see the winch line, it's supposed to run from the winch motor through the center of the boat to the nose of the boat, and hang at the front. I didn't add it because I couldn't untie the knot I made for the hook, and I didn't want to cut it!

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Rear shot. Nicely done too. The two outboard motors look real from this angle. No blades, but it does look OK. The rear also has a spoiler on it. I like how they stuck on the radar dish that you see on some fancy speedboats.

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And here is the final shot. The under hull is detailed too. Lego used the curved pieces to give the boat a very aerodynamic shape to cut through the water at high speeds.

Features

The main feature of this set besides giving you the instructions and pieces to make 3 totally different sets, is the winch. I thought the winch was battery powered but it's not. I was very disappointed in that. But I guess that is why the set was "only" $19.99.

Final thoughts

Each of the three different builds, the Cargo Copter, the Airplane, and the Speedboat all look very authentic. If you think about it, it's very interesting to see how three totally different things can be made out of 95% of the same Lego parts.

My rating:

Playability: 4 out of 5. It is playable. Every build is sturdy and looks just like it's supposed to.

Design: 4 out of 5. When you consider how many parts each build shares between the other two, it's very good design on how each build looks.

Build experience: 2 out of 5. Easy to build. No stickers and the only thing hard for some is cutting the string and making knots.

Overall: 3 out of 5. It was OK of a set. I still wish the winch was a powered version.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

All smaller photos are click-able for larger picture sizes! You can see all photos including some not used here by clicking the following: 4995 Lego Cargo Copter

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I have the winch block piece from the coast guard helicopter set, didn't build it into the set, used the space for more seats instead. The only thing good about that piece is it's compact size.

The wedge pieces on the blades of this cargo helicopter really gives it a cool looking illusion as if its turning fast and slicing through the air from the top view down.

Does a minifig fit in the cargo helicopter cockpit ? It seem to block the minifig shoulders from going in, suffering same fate as 7470 which looks like a minifig could fit in but the fact is otherwise.

http://brickset.com/detail/?Set=7470-1

Good review. :thumbup:

Edited by green dewback

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Thanks! And I have to test it out about the minifig, but I would say, no. The size is just a bit off. Although I think it could be modded to take it. The Heli is a speedboat now. I'll try and rebuild the heli on my next work day. :)

Does a minifig fit in the cargo helicopter cockpit ? It seem to block the minifig shoulders from going in, suffering same fate as 7470 which looks like a minifig could fit in but the fact is otherwise.

http://brickset.com/detail/?Set=7470-1

Good review. :thumbup:

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Not bad, but there's definitely a problem with the roofless cockpit.

its just that starstreak forgot to put on the 3 long slopes on

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:tongue: Lol! I left it off when I was looking inside the cockpit area. And I started taking the pictures. :blush:

its just that starstreak forgot to put on the 3 long slopes on

update: lol. I redid the heli and reposted it. With the cockpit. :)

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a very nice review of a very special set for me^^ it's the set my girlfriend offered me when I told her that I wanted to start to build lego after a 10 years Dark age, I love it, when I only had this set, I tried to build a lot of things with it ( I even did a post here : )

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=21397

I even did a stop motion movie of the copter building ^^

thanks for this great review of this special set I love Startstreak !

PS : I loved the airplaine ^^

Edited by Guss

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Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. I saw all the MOCs you made, very nice! One of these days, I'll try and add my Lego to a background besides white. :tongue:

thanks for this great review of this special set I love Startstreak !

PS : I loved the airplaine ^^

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Nice use of the white dish to give the nose a finished look. I also like the wide stance that the rear wheels give the copter. I bet it wouldn't be too hard to change the basic shape into some sort of military helicopter.

Thanks for this nice review. I own one of these sets and knew the winch wasn't electric (of course, a spring can also be used to store energy, so it can deliver power), but I agree that it's not really useful part. I also had one from the Coast Guard helicopter and after that had been under tension for a while, it didn't work as well as it used to.

I do like this set, though. It's got some great parts and the design of the models is quite good. You are absolutely right that it looks as though it shouldn't be too difficult to turn it into a military helicopter. In fact, apart from the number of rotor blades it looks very much like a civilian version of a helicopter that the US Army used to have: the Sikorsky CH-54A 'Tarhe', also known as the 'Skycrane'

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The plane reminds me most of a Pilatus Porter.

Cheers,

Ralph

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