29 replies to this topic

[Doctor Sinister]

Well, since no-one seems to have done one for this set, here we go....

Here's the complete set in all its glory.  Yes, I really like it, but then, Tabletown has the capacity to support it and my green Army have their eyes on it as a potential military transport as well.   :-)



I'll start out with the little airport ground car thingy - very neat and functional, here are views front and back:





Next up, the steps which allow the plane crew to embark and disembark:



And to round off this little trio, the cargo loading platform, here in its lowered position.  Note the prong thingy sticking out from the rear:





And here raised.  The prong thingy is now hinged up to support the back of the platform and keep it level:





Here's a slightly different angle so you can see the pieces under there:



The all-important cargo itself!  Hmmm...not much for a plane this size...



The cargo pallet slots neatly onto the loading platform:



Here's the complete set of ground equipment - all attached:



And so onto the plane itself.  Note that unlike the other large planes, the main wing sits at the TOP of the row of bricks making up the side of the fuselage:



I took it apart a little so you can see the internal construction of the fuselage.  Note that the cargo area is really small, right at the back.  What else is this thing carrying?  Illegal immigrants?   :-)



A picture of the rear of the fuselage, just because I like the sticker:



Front landing gear.  WAY better than on the other large planes.  I don't know if this is a new piece or what but I've had no problems with it at all, and my kids have been playing with it as well:



The rather sexy rear undercarriage - this area reminds me of one of those giant Russian transport planes - wicked:



Those angled grey slopes atop each side of the rear undercarriage annoy the heck out of me as they KEEP COMING OFF whenever I pick the plane up.  I think a 1x4 plate on top to bind them together might solve that.



A slightly blurry view (sorry) from underneath.  The gear LOOKS like it might be capable of retracting internally, but alas, no.  This is a shame as there's certainly enough room in there and it's a wasted opportunity IMO. Might have to modify that...



A view of one of the four engines, I personally think they look too small and should have something under the wing as well to make them rounder:



Cockpit:





Crew door, open.  I LOVE the smooth action of these doors and the way they seal flush against the fuselage when closed:



Cargo door, open:



Crew door with docked ladder:



Cargo door with docked loading platform:



Cargo slots inside and locks into place the same way it sits on the loader, neat:





The minifigs, sorry this one is a bit blurry:



And that concludes this week's "Show and Tell".

Dr. S.

[Commander Andrew of 501 st]

sweet plane looks much better than in the catalogs *sweet*

[Batbrick]

Thanks Dr.S for this great review, this is your what, second one?
Anyway, this aint half bad, I actually kind of like the bigger planes despite the annoying big pieces, and this one looks to be the best yet.

Batbrick Away!  >:-)

[Lt. Veers]

I do admit the amount of cargo is rediculously small, but It still looks good. Say, how much can the plane hold?

Thanks for the review! *sweet*

[Doctor Sinister]

Lt. Veers, on Feb 4 2008, 11:42 PM, said:

I do admit the amount of cargo is rediculously small, but It still looks good. Say, how much can the plane hold?

Thanks for the review! *sweet*

That's all the space you get.

Now, it MIGHT be possible to rip out that rear bulkhead at the back of the wing and fill the middle area with tiles so cargo pallets could slide up the fuselage.  But that would definitely prevent the undercarriage folding internally if that's what you wanted to do as well.

Dr. S.

[Sinner]

Thanks for the review and pics Dr S! I am still considering this set. What is the instruction manual number?

[Doctor Sinister]

Sinner, on Feb 4 2008, 11:51 PM, said:

Thanks for the review and pics Dr S! I am still considering this set. What is the instruction manual number?

There are two - hopefully these are the numbers you need:

4525919
4525920

?

Dr. S.

[Sinner]

Doctor Sinister, on Feb 5 2008, 09:53 AM, said:

There are two - hopefully these are the numbers you need:

4525919
4525920

?

Dr. S.

They are perfect!  *wub* Thanks very much.  *sweet* It's built very oddly.  *wacko*

[Asuka]

Thank you very much for a good and informative review, Doc Sinister.  *y*
This looks like the best of the BigPlanes to me, very nice and smoother than the rest.  :'-)
Although, like you´ve said, what the heck´re they transporting, diamonds and pearls? So much wasted space....
And the landing gear should really fold in.  *n*

[Svelte]

I loved the pics in the catalogues but was a bit disappointed by the build and end result. My own thoughts:

CONs:
- as noted, the cargo space is really small considering the size of the plane, although I can see this is restricted due to playability - without the barrier in the middle, the cargo would slide all over the place while the plane was being swooshed
- the cargo 'lift' (I'm not sure how else to describe it) is very weak and snaps off, although it is a clever design I think it's badly implemented
- there is nothing to hold the cargo pallet to the cargo lift truck so it tends to slide off all over the place as soon as the truck moves
- colour issues - I had at least 3 shades of green with the larger plane pieces and noticeable variances even with identical cargo hatch pieces. At least one of them also came quite scratched, which was a little disappointing
- At $79.95 AUD it's $10 more than the Passenger Plane was with less pieces and figs, and no printed pieces whatsoever! more $ for less, methinks.

PROs:
- Lots of nice cargo crate pieces and even the stickers for these are pretty good.
- landing gear piece adjusts very well to height differentials so the plane doesn't lose its gear as often as the earlier passenger planes
- the hinging mechanism works very well to open the cargo holds - opens very smoothly and is not noticeable - I'd definitely like to see more of this technique
- the little vehicles work well chained together and are all good small designs

OVERALL:
- I really like the large planes since 06 but I don't think they've still quite hit the nail on the head. Whereas the earlier planes were a little flimsy, this one is sturdier but has its own issues. The look of the Cargo Plane is nice, and the new landing piece and cargo hatch pieces are really great, but some design weaknesses and colour issues detract from the overall product. It's a shame as with a bit of tweaking this could have been a must-have set.

[Hairy Ruben]

Wow, that's a great review of a great set Dr S! *y*

As you yourself have already noted, this has the potential to be a fantastic military MOC! With a bit of modification you can get the engines to be rounder, or perhaps do away with them completely and replace them with jet engines. *sweet*  Though I can't think of a system to retract the undercarriage at the top of my head it seems like there's indeeed more than enough potential to do so.

It reminds me rather of an Ilyushin Il-76, one of my favourite cargo planes. :'-)

[RupeeClock]

Hairy Ruben, on Feb 5 2008, 10:55 AM, said:

Holy snap that thing is ugly  :-X  Luckly those doesn't fly above us.  :-/

[xwingyoda]

Tks DrS for your cool review !!

I admit tht this plane is way better than I imagined  ;-)  Even if I still dislike the new hull, the engines and landing gear are really improved and the way to operate the crates work really well !!

Tks for sharing these pics  ;-)

*yoda*

[Hairy Ruben]

RupeeClock, on Feb 5 2008, 05:16 PM, said:

Holy snap that thing is ugly  :-X  Luckly those doesn't fly above us.  :-/

Really? I love the way they look, granted they go back to the 70's but so does the 747 or the C-130.

You can't argue about tastes and colours, I guess :-P

Dr S - How much did the set cost?

Edited by Hairy Ruben, 05 February 2008 - 04:36 PM.

[Doctor Sinister]

Hairy Ruben, on Feb 5 2008, 04:33 PM, said:

Really? I love the way they look, granted they go back to the 70's but so does the 747 or the C-130.

You can't argue about tastes and colours, I guess :-P

Dr S - How much did the set cost?

It's £34.99 on S@H but I got mine as part of a bundle they'd put together:

# #7731 Mail Van
# #7732 Air Mail
# #7733 Truck & Forklift
# #7734 Cargo Plane

All for £64.56.

Dr. S.

[Cardinal Brick]

Thanks for the review, I like the looks of the set but I'm not sure about it still. Is it work £35? Would you recomend buying it?

[Doctor Sinister]

Cardinal Brick, on Feb 5 2008, 08:49 PM, said:

Thanks for the review, I like the looks of the set but I'm not sure about it still. Is it work £35? Would you recomend buying it?

Well, I can only speak for myself - I like it.  Worth £35.00?  Well, it's a big box for that amount of money, but full of big parts of course.  I dunno - could do with being cheaper, but then I'm sure we all think that of our favourite hobby.  £30.00 would be nearer the mark IMO.

Dr. S.

[daoudbazaar]

Thanks for the review
That seems to be a nice set but as far I'm concerned, I don't think it's worth EUR 49.99.

There aren't so many parts though those new curved slope will add some more building possibilities.  *y*

What lacks :
- A 2 x 4 cut out in the lower part of the nose to retract the landing gear.
- A 4 x 6 cut out in the lower part of the tail to allow passagers to get off through the back like in a DC-10
- some real plates and tiles instead of these crappy wings. This part is the useless one that TLC ever produced  *n*

[casewindu]

The amount of cargo that huge plane carries!  8-° green peace would have a field day!  X-D

Nice review Dr S but this set is just too big for my town scale!  ;-)

Edited by casewindu, 05 February 2008 - 09:54 PM.

[PaulC]

Nice review, Dr. S! I have been thinking long and hard about the scale of the planes in my town. I would like to keep my passenger planes in their classic 4-wide fuselage style, but I really don't mind the new plane hull pieces if they are used as an enormous transport plane like the Ilyushin-76.

Unfortunately I can't afford this lovely new green one at the moment  (which would be perfect to go with my green army) as I took too much of a hit buying the new 2008 Star Wars sets! But I have modified my white one to take huge cargo loads, in fact my APC is designed specifically to fit inside.

Unfortunately I'm a bit busy to take pics at the moment, but hope to put some up soon.

[TheBrickster]

Dr. S:  I was not planning on buying this set after my disappointment with the other large airplane, but after looking at this image review, I just might buy.  The green color is really the aspect that makes this airplane stand out.  I think it looks great!  Thanks for the review.

[Darth_Legois]

If i do end up geting this set it will be for my slowly growing army.


btw Nice review  *y*

[alex54]

Thank for the review Doc!

The only thing I like in this set is the small car. So I will not buy this set just for it! I really dislike those new planes, toooo bbiiiigggg! With this size, this cargo plane can carry just fiew things! What a shame! I think that the way TLC has made the wings is not very good... Like the rest of those big pieces...
Just my thought.
The positif point of this it's that it makes me saved some money :-D

[maiq the liar]

Asuka, on Feb 5 2008, 12:43 AM, said:

Although, like you´ve said, what the heck´re they transporting, diamonds and pearls?

And nintendo  DSes?!
HAWHAW GET IT?!
*cricket cricket*

*cricket cricket*

[Piranha]

An excellent review Dr. Sinister!  *y*
I really like how TLC is using the new crate mold in different sets!
The transport car is really neat as well as the lifting thingy
Plus I love the green color!  *wub*

P