32 replies to this topic

[Doctor Sinister]

INDEXED

I found two of these today in my local TRU - £29.99.  Been a while since I did a review, but without further ado...

The box:





The contents - three bags, a hosepipe thingy, a sticker sheet and two instruction books.



Book 1 deals with the 4x4 car:









Yum, new pieces - 1x3 tiles:











Nearly there:







Ta-daaa!  About 5 minutes work this bit:



And onto book 2, bag 2 - look at these new pieces:



And so we start to build the helicopter itself:





We have a MAJOR colour-matching issue here:









Yes, I apply stickers.  So sue me:













And onto the third bag.  Now this just looks like a bomb from this angle:



Building the engine for the chopper:







The underside does at least have some thought given to it with that spotlight:



Rotor blades are nicely offset from centre:



Here's that red thing again:



Just a big bucket really:



For sale - lots of 1x1 trans-blue cylinders:



Splosh!



It hooks onto the rear:



And here is the finished chopper:













The fine crew:



The whole set:



I do like helicopters, and this is a nice one, but the huge pieces make it far too light to make me think it's LEGO - does that make sense?  It's not as swooshable as it could be because it's not got enough weight to it.  I'll give it 3.5 out of 5 though.  And the Jeep is lovely.

Dr. S.

Edited by Siegfried, 19 December 2009 - 02:08 AM.

[Sinner]

Thanks for the review! I have a question; is the "glass" screwed into the canopy piece like this one?

[Doctor Sinister]

Siegfried, on Dec 19 2009, 01:41 AM, said:

Thanks for the review! I have a question; is the "glass" screwed into the canopy piece like this one?

No, it snaps into place.

Oh, and thanks for the Emperor Eternal reference.  :-D

Dr. S.

Edited by Doctor Sinister, 19 December 2009 - 01:46 AM.

[Sinner]

Doctor Sinister, on Dec 19 2009, 11:44 AM, said:

No, it snaps into place.

Better! I really dislike screws that show on LEGO pieces. (I don't mind it on electrical parts.)

Doctor Sinister, on Dec 19 2009, 11:44 AM, said:

Oh, and thanks for the Emperor Eternal reference.  :-D

Dr. S.

I'm only showing due respect.

[JCC1004]

Sinister, your poll is messed up. Nice review!

[Doctor Sinister]

JCC1004, on Dec 19 2009, 02:01 AM, said:

Sinister, your poll is messed up.

Hmmm, don't recall setting one actually.  It's been a while since I posted a review here, was I meant to?

Dr. S.

[Sinner]

Doctor Sinister, on Dec 19 2009, 12:07 PM, said:

Hmmm, don't recall setting one actually.  It's been a while since I posted a review here, was I meant to?

Dr. S.

I think some staff member did it. In any case, I fixed it.  

[Doctor Sinister]

Siegfried, on Dec 19 2009, 02:09 AM, said:

I think some staff member did it. In any case, I fixed it.  

Thank you sir.

Dr. S.

[keetong]

Doctor Sinister, on Dec 19 2009, 10:42 AM, said:

Yum, new pieces - 1x3 tiles:

Dr. S.

The set looks awesomely designed. The colour co-ordination they have used really makes it stand out. Along with the addition of the new 1x3 tiles, this season of lego is looking great.

Great review buddy it really shows us some great points of this set.

[GIR 3691]

It looks like a really well-designed set, but those big helicopter pieces are too awful for me.

[Defi]

Is the bucket a new piece?

[Sinner]

Defi, on Dec 19 2009, 05:54 PM, said:

Is the bucket a new piece?

I believe it's this...

[lightningtiger]

'OH YEAH' (Chef Mundal - Chowder)
Must have this fire fighting set - must have it !!!!!!
And who said it was juniorized because of three big pieces - just look at the number of plates, tiles, bricks, slopes, etc., and OMG that jeep is cool   - except the axes on the hood - I think I might put shovels there instead as this is more like a wild fire/bush fire fighting vehicle ! (axes can go in the back).
So thanks goes to er, the good doctor for this highly photographed and excellent review.

[CommanderFox]

Thanks for the review Doctor Sinister.
This looks like a very nice city set. I like the design of the helicopter and the jeep.
Thanks for the review!

CommanderFox

[Rick]

The off-road vehicle looks pretty decent, although TLG really needs to go 5-wide for these vehicles (I know: that's not going to happen). I'm having the same   thoughts as most of you on the helicopter. It doesn't look badly designed at all, but it just has too many big pieces. Anyway, my fire brigade is already massive, so I'm not going to get any fire sets this year (or next year   ).

[Zorbas]

Thanks for bringing this review to us Dr.S.

The truck looks nice but I think that it's a little bit big even for the current 6-wide scale.

The helicopter looks better in these pictures, in comparison to the first photos that were released.

lightningtiger, on Dec 19 2009, 09:54 AM, said:

And who said it was juniorized because of three big pieces - just look at the number of plates, tiles, bricks, slopes, etc.,

The same thing also crossed my mind. Big pieces are most of the times not accepted from me,  but after seeing this review I look at this set in a different way.

[Steven]

Seems to be a quite big helicopter. So much empty space, they could at least put in a stretcher or something.

[Scorpion]

Man, I sure as hell am gonna get me one of these. Then I'm gonna cannibalise the SW engines from the Freeco Speeder to MOD the shit out of those engines!
I allways wanted to hae my own LEGO Puma! :P

[Gassmann]

This is a great review Doctor Sinister. Thanks for prepare it.

Even if I never liked the fire fighter line of TLG. During so many Years they released only Fire Fighters, Policemens, Hospitals year by year, only these...I am full with them...

Anyway the 4x4 car is a great concept. Without fire fighter stickers even can be good for a forestmen or belonging to a farm...

The helicopter is very big...too big...almost same like coast guard line...even I can not imagine how big landing space shall be prepared near the fire rescue station to be able to land such a copter.

[sens1992]

Thanks for the review Doctor Sinister.  I really like that helicopter set.  I was never a big fan of those large nose parts but I guess I got used to them.  This is a great addition to the city line and a major improvement over the 4900 Fire helicopter (2008) or 7238 Fire Helicopter (2005).  It is more in line with the helicopter in set 7738 Coast Guard Helicopter & Life Raft (2008) as it is closer to what a real chopper looks like, at least that is what I think...

[insanerobo]

I love those yellow guns.

[metalandi]

Thanks for this review! I don't think i will buy this set. The front pieces of the helicopter still is a big thorne in my eye, and there might be  alot of controls in the cockpit, but again like in the coast guard helicopter there is no interior at all in the middle section. Come on, they could have included at least some oxygen bottle or something like that!

[Demon Officer]

Is the interior compartment big enough to hold other mini-figs?  Just thinking I could use it as a small troop carrier despite the red color.

[Nightshroud99]

I really like the jeep but I don't like those big pieces that make up the nose of the helicopter. Anyway good review and I'm glad you apply stickers.

[prateek]

The jeep is no doubt the best part. The helicopter is cool too, but the huge pieces spoil it, although the other pieces are awesome.