Classic space ship 918 - pictorial review

[Hewman]

While looking at the review index for the classic space sets I couldn't help but notice the absence of a review for set 918 known as one-man spaceship or Space Transport.

Below are pics of my set that I've had since 1979. I've tried to hard link pics in but didn't work, so for now it's just links

First the front/top of the box

Now the back showing the alternate models

Pic 2

And if you open the box, there's a surprise, the back of the inner box contains a landing platform to land your ship on, obviously I didn't do this often given the condition of this 30 year old box

Pic 3

Here's a shot of the instructions, which actually incorporated a pic of this set displayed with a few other sets

Pic 4

Now we get along to some of the unique and interesting parts of this set. The 1 x 4 grey brick is a stove top brick that serves as a control panel, this was the only set it was available in grey, I believe some homemaker sets had it in white. Then there are the LL 918 bricks, obviously only available in this set, a 33 3 x 6 slope with classic space logo and some nice trans-yellow pieces. If you look very closely you can see that the minifig has the original thin chin strap which was discontinued I believe because it was too fragile however I never had one crack on me as a child.

Pic 5

The build is really very simple, the basic structure is a 4 x 8 plate with a bunch of (10) 45 2 x 2 inverted light frey slopes and a few plates.

Pic 6

If we flip it upside down you can see that this was before the days of L-shaped plates, instead they had to use 1x1 and 1x2 plates.

Pic 7

Now the ship starts to take shape

Pic 8

And finally it's complete

Pic 9

And the bonus shot with a few of its friends I've managed to build over the last few years thanks to bricklink. We have the batman 918 (bat fin at back chopped from photo), the light grey 918, the medical 918, the Blacktron 1 918, the original and still the best, and finally the blue 918.

Pic 10

For the simple parts available at the time, the designers produced a very sleek and stylish ship.

Some stats and scores:

Design: 10/10

Pieces: 81

Price: about $15 AUD in 1979, which is probably the equivalent of at least $50 and up to $100 now. So for all those that complain about today's prices, it was a lot more expensive 30 years ago, this meant every set I had got played with over and over again.

Nostalgia value: 10/10

Build: as a young child it was great, it was very difficult to make a mistake, as an AFOL the build is ridiculously simple.

Swooshability: the perfect swooshable size for all ages!

Trivia: I believe this wasn't available in North America, hence the insane price for such a small set now.

Edited June 7, 2010 by hewman

[lightningtiger]

Thanks for the review dude - I really like your Batman space ship - SO COOL !

I'm a conformist! 'Hewman' I'm a conformist! !

[Noworries]

I loved the trans-yellow baseplates that time ... very classic review, thanks a lot!

One thing: If you deeplink the pictures it would be a lot easier to watch them!

[Skulls_Eye_Schooner_Sailor]

That's cool! It's like a miniature version of the Galaxy Explorer! I never knew this one existed! It's smaller, but rare... that's a bummer because this would be a nice one to have if you couldn't get the Galaxy Explorer! Thanks for the review and bringing this excellent set to our attention!