42145 - Airbus H175 Rescue Helicopter

[nerdsforprez]

1 minute ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

I would have no problem with it if the Airbus H175 license is removed and everything else stays the same. If it's a licensed model then being compared with the original machine is inevitable, and a certain degree of similarity is expected.

Agreed.  As mentioned, I share the same opinion as @Seasider

[howitzer]

46 minutes ago, Seasider said:

I’m a big fan of 9396 but this just isn’t doing anything for me. The overall colour scheme and external parts look messy (although I do like the minifigure seat and the barrel being used for the engines). Also the proportions just seem weird, I haven’t looked at the real thing but the rotor head (as I’d call it) just looks massive in comparison to the rest. 

I made a comparison overlay with the real thing few pages past. The proportions are indeed all over the place, but I guess there must be compromises as there's also tons of functionality inside. You're entirely right about the colour scheme and messy exterior though.

[Akbalder]

7 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

Oh, okay, so you either spin the rotors or use the winch. Maybe it's safer for the hands :)

It seems possible to use all the functions at the same time.

[SNIPE]

I think the motorised functions are:

Blade rotation, landing gear up/down, and winch.

Manual functions are:

Opening doors, cyclic blade adjustment, and collective blade adjustment.

[Akbalder]

The description also talks about a moving engine.

[technicfanatic]

16 minutes ago, nerdsforprez said:

lol... the folks at TLG must be reading this thinking that we AFOLs are a funny bunch.  We criticize the UCS cars for being "shelf-queens"  - i.e. being all about the looks and having no functions.  But then we get a set like this that may very well be functionally at least competent but poor in terms of looks and we gripe and gripe.   I am not singling anyone out.... I share the same opinion     but i am sure they look at us thinking we are quite finicky.... 

It does look like it has nice functions, and a realistic collective/cyclic mechanism, but it still could have been modeled on a different, even generic, helicopter that looks less like it got dented in the front. 

 

[Erik Leppen]

59 minutes ago, nerdsforprez said:

lol... the folks at TLG must be reading this thinking that we AFOLs are a funny bunch.  We criticize the UCS cars for being "shelf-queens"  - i.e. being all about the looks and having no functions.  But then we get a set like this that may very well be functionally at least competent but poor in terms of looks and we gripe and gripe. 

I agree. I must say, I like how it looks, and I couldn't care less how "the real one" looks, so I didn't even check. It looks like a helicopter, which for me is good enough, as long as it has cool functions, and if it's also a good parts pack then I might pick one up. (200 bucks is steep though.)

That said though, the fact we're given photos means all we even have is how it looks. If they want us to comment on the functions, then show us a video of the functions working. And if they want us to discuss the parts, then show us the parts. It's really not hard. TLC not doing this, only shows their priorities. Apparently, they want us to know how it looks before all else. Well, AFOLs always deliver ;)

Or has a designer video been released already? Because if so, then shame on us for not sharing and discussing it.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Erik Leppen

[kbalage]

1 hour ago, Erik Leppen said:

That said though, the fact we're given photos means all we even have is how it looks. If they want us to comment on the functions, then show us a video of the functions working. And if they want us to discuss the parts, then show us the parts. It's really not hard. TLC not doing this, only shows their priorities. Apparently, they want us to know how it looks before all else. Well, AFOLs always deliver ;)

Or has a designer video been released already? Because if so, then shame on us for not sharing and discussing it.

TLG couldn't care less about the discussion here. This is not a major release for them, there's no proper reveal or press release. The product is not even live yet on lego.com, a bunch of photos were published in the kid's section so far. I would be very surprised to see a designer video, but if it ever happens then that will be after August 1st as that is the expected release date. 

[howitzer]

1 hour ago, kbalage said:

TLG couldn't care less about the discussion here. This is not a major release for them, there's no proper reveal or press release. The product is not even live yet on lego.com, a bunch of photos were published in the kid's section so far. I would be very surprised to see a designer video, but if it ever happens then that will be after August 1st as that is the expected release date. 

When can we expect reviews? 

[deehtha]

18 hours ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

Apparently there are two switches on one side and one switch on the other side. According to the stickers, one switch will control the winch function, but there are two winches in the model. Does that mean both of them are connected to the one switch, or is there another switch somewhere that I missed?

It looks like there are two levers by the winch sticker. Maybe the sticker refers to the lower and upper winches and not raise/lower the winch?

[Jayden]

10 minutes ago, deehtha said:

It looks like there are two levers by the winch sticker. Maybe the sticker refers to the lower and upper winches and not raise/lower the winch?

that makes sense since the battery box can be reversed.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

7 minutes ago, Jayden said:

that makes sense since the battery box can be reversed.

Not really, the control for the battery box is blocked in one direction.

 

20 minutes ago, deehtha said:

It looks like there are two levers by the winch sticker. Maybe the sticker refers to the lower and upper winches and not raise/lower the winch?

The bottom one controls the landing gears.

Edited June 10, 2022 by Ngoc Nguyen

[Jayden]

13 minutes ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

Not really, the control for the battery box is blocked in one direction.

it is too!

[kbalage]

10 hours ago, howitzer said:

When can we expect reviews? 

Based on the previous years I would expect them 2-3 weeks before the street date. 

[Seasider]

I think the biggest issue I have with this is to me it just looks too messy and off scale for a licensed set. I appreciate that it’s got lots of functions that us AFOLs love but if it had less exterior colour vomit and messy little panels, wasn’t representing a real copter but had the same functions I’m sure we’d be raving about it.

oh and I’m a fan of the 1:8 cars and the empty “boxes” like the McLaren F1. I think there is a place in the lineup for both types of sets

[steph77]

Personaly i don't see any problem with this set.

Of course there is the question of the overal proportion, but and i can easealy understand why this end up like this.

When building my own helicopters mocs i always had to make a clear choice between getting realistics flight control or integrate other additional functions as retractable landing wheel, winch, etc. This must be understood to keep good proportions.

A second fact is that a lego rotor head is ways more voluminus, pariculary in height, than real life machine's ones. This has for direct consequence of having less space in the cabin if you want to keep good proportions once again.

My conlusion is that for TLC they had to get more function than realistics flight control alone, and this for commercials reasons. It is fully understandable.

And IMHO, when we all get the set in hand, we will all be stunned by what we will see.

 

On a minor side, and looking at all picture i begin to understand how they managed the different flight controls and i have one thing that worry me. If you look closely at the mecanical sheme, you 'll see that they made use of some gearing to transfer the movement to the swashplate, essentialy via some knobs and the new gears appeared this year. I believe this could be a source of problems due to the excessive play in between the different gears, but wait and see.

The fix tail rotor is also a problem, but i guess that they wanted to keep some future set possibilities

Steph.

[HydroWorld Outlook]

Never mind my idea of this new swashplate element interfacing with the 28-tooth bottom half. Looks like we're getting a totally new piece for that.

[HectorMB]

4 hours ago, steph77 said:

Personaly i don't see any problem with this set.

Of course there is the question of the overal proportion, but and i can easealy understand why this end up like this.

When building my own helicopters mocs i always had to make a clear choice between getting realistics flight control or integrate other additional functions as retractable landing wheel, winch, etc. This must be understood to keep good proportions.

A second fact is that a lego rotor head is ways more voluminus, pariculary in height, than real life machine's ones. This has for direct consequence of having less space in the cabin if you want to keep good proportions once again.

My conlusion is that for TLC they had to get more function than realistics flight control alone, and this for commercials reasons. It is fully understandable.

And IMHO, when we all get the set in hand, we will all be stunned by what we will see.

 

On a minor side, and looking at all picture i begin to understand how they managed the different flight controls and i have one thing that worry me. If you look closely at the mecanical sheme, you 'll see that they made use of some gearing to transfer the movement to the swashplate, essentialy via some knobs and the new gears appeared this year. I believe this could be a source of problems due to the excessive play in between the different gears, but wait and see.

The fix tail rotor is also a problem, but i guess that they wanted to keep some future set possibilities

Steph.

Regarding the first part, I couldn't agree more. And regarding the second part... well... it could have been a great oportunity to see the flex cables back again!

[lmdesigner42]

We won't know until the reviews are out, but I wonder how they fixed the gearbox problems from the Osprey. I think the fuselage is 2 studs wider, maybe that helps?

[R0Sch]

On 6/10/2022 at 6:42 PM, lmdesigner42 said:

We won't know until the reviews are out, but I wonder how they fixed the gearbox problems from the Osprey. I think the fuselage is 2 studs wider, maybe that helps?

Not only that, but you don't have two heavy, 90 degree tilting rotors that have to move and rotate at the same time, thus the motor and gears are less stressed. Plus, it's really easy to fix if you don't use 8T gears and now we have the more robust 12T and 20T spur gears.

Speaking of Osprey, I really like the similar artwork style on the box front and all the functions shown on the back, unlike those bland 18+ boxes. I bet this model is also designed by Markus Kossmann.

On 6/9/2022 at 8:10 PM, kbalage said:

 I would be very surprised to see a designer video, but if it ever happens then that will be after August 1st as that is the expected release date. 

Remember the good old days when almost every Technic set was presented in a Designer Workshop video?

 

 

[CP5670]

I love that swashplate design. It's the first time they have ever had a full cyclic+collective one, although the parts for building it yourself have existed for a long time. I did it on one of my mocs.

I'm not a fan of the look either. The cockpit looks way too small compared to the rest of it. 9396 and its alternate model (which is the better model IMO) look much nicer.

[HydroWorld Outlook]

2 hours ago, CP5670 said:

I love that swashplate design. It's the first time they have ever had a full cyclic+collective one, although the parts for building it yourself have existed for a long time.

Absolutely 1000% agreed. I can't wait until somebody attempts a full RC mod of this set. And who knows, maybe they'll carry on the Buggy Motor Rotor Drive tradition from the 9396 set too while they're at it. 

Edited June 11, 2022 by HydroWorld Outlook

[CP5670]

2 hours ago, HydroWorld Outlook said:

Absolutely 1000% agreed. I can't wait until somebody attempts a full RC mod of this set. And who knows, maybe they'll carry on the Buggy Motor Rotor Drive tradition from the 9396 set too while they're at it. 

 

I knew I wasn't the only one who did that. Here is an old video I took.

 

Edited June 12, 2022 by CP5670

[Pato Sentado]

I find amazing that LEGO could make a Kamov model in the day.

 

About the current Eurocopter one, I always defended function over looks in Technic sets, so I like It.

Edited June 14, 2022 by Pato Sentado

[Ngoc Nguyen]

6 hours ago, Pato Sentado said:

I find amazing that LEGO could make a Kamov model in the day.

That's the advantage of non-licensed sets.