Review: 7415 - Aero Nomad

[The Cobra]

Let's face it, Lego bricks can build most anything. Yes, even an hot-air balloon!

Set data:

7415: Aero nomad

Year: 2003

Theme: Adventurers

Subtheme: Orient expedition

Pieces: 118 (including extra pieces and 5 game cards)

Price: 20 USD / ?? EUR / ?? UKP

Building time: about 30 minutes

MISB on review: Yes

More info: Brickset - Peeron

Box front: Maps in foreground and background.

Box back: Two odd alternate models.

Box content: Two bags with pieces, one bag with boat riggings and a boxed string, one bag with game cards, two loose balloon pieces, promo poster and instructions sheet. No stickers.

Promo poster: with a good look on the Orient Expedition theme (larger sets included gameboards for the card game) and a snapshot on some Lego sets and videogames. Please click on thumbnails for a larger pic.

Game cards: set includes 5 cards (pics features card back too); every set has its own cards, they are not randomly inserted.

Random instructions page: setting up the hose reel; the string end knot took me 10 full minutes to make!

Comic page: Orient expeditions is one of those theme to host comics in the instructions sheet.

Loose pieces: Lots of unusual bits in here.

Minifigs: Meet Doctor Kilroy and Johnny Winter... I mean, Johnny Thunder in his winter outfit.

Building the Aero Nomad: Here is your base; three more round corner plates will be added.

Building the Aero Nomad: On each of these plates lies a round fence.

Building the Aero Nomad: Adding plates to keep pieces assembled!

Building the Aero Nomad: Here are the fuel tank (filled with propane) and some weights (plain minifig heads!)

Building the Aero Nomad: Placing gas tank and weights.

Building the Aero Nomad: And here is the hose reel, with an hook at the end of the string.

Building the Aero Nomad: The hose reel is placed on the only fence that has no balancing weight.

Building the Aero Nomad: You need four of these pairings (bar + boat rigging)...

Building the Aero Nomad: ...one for each of the four sides (yes, this round thing has four sides!)

Building the Aero Nomad: Here is the "balloon" itself; two pieces connected by hinges. Those pieces inside are "fillers" to add stability and help the side pieces not to move.

Building the Aero Nomad: Let's put it this way: the "balloon" is not air-tight...

Building the Aero Nomad: ...but a net and four rubbers will come to aid.

Building the Aero Nomad: Who wants a giant lollipop?

Building the Aero Nomad: Here are the burners and the blast valve.

Building the Aero Nomad: Building is nearly complete

Building the Aero Nomad: And here is a big propellor (quite unrealistic to me, but I might be wrong...)

Accessories: Now, this is something: a sextant and a pair of snowshoes. And them some more common pieces. It's hard to fit all of them in the container box!

Leftovers: Small pieces and a rubber band holder.

The Aero Nomad: The propeller has been put into place, and we're now ready to fly!

The Aero Nomad: Front view. Is the Nomad too tall? Fear not...

The Aero Nomad: ...you can adjust its shape if you're lacking vertical space.

Review: I've never been a fan of hot air balloon in real life, but this one is definitily eye-catching! It's a bit pricey to me, but we shall consider how many unusual pieces are in there. There's much more than ordinary plates and bricks. I was surprised when I spotted this set in a local shopping mall, and would have instantly bought it, but 25 Euros was waaaaaay too much. Imagine my surprise when last December they sold it for 13 Euros only; I was lucky to grab the next-to-last!

If your sets lie in a closed space (like mine), keep in mind that this thing is a bit more than 7" / 18 cm. tall with modified shape and 9" / 23 cm. in full height

Rating:

Color scheme: 5/5. a good selection of bright and dark colours.

Minifigs and accessories: 5/5. Lego surely didn't go short of accessories this time. Having two minifigs is OK (still, the basket could host two more figs).

Pieces: 4,5/5. Looking for something unusual? This set is! Yet, piece ratio is 0,55 (leaving cards aside)

Playability: 4/5. I guess kids will like somthing like this. They just have to be a bit carful and patient while building.

Design: 5/5. MOCers will probably make balloons more colorful; as a standard set, this is fair.

Overall rating: 4/5. I know, that's not what math tells. But you should consider that 20$ is the 7092 Skeletons' prison carriage RRP. So you might think twice about buying this set for full price.

The final words: If you find it, consider buying it. If you find it on sale, don't consider. Just buy it!

[Sandy]

How funny - I just received this set today! Well, along with almost every other Orient Expedition set, but I'll talk about that in another topic.

Anyway, the lot I bought from Ebay included not only the Aero Nomad, but an incomplete hot air balloon from an older Adventurers set (don't know why the seller put it in the same box, though). After building both and doing a bit of comparison, I have to say that this balloon is more classier and bigger, even though the two don't look that different at first glance.

[Erdbeereis]

Great review Cobra!

I actually like this set quite a bit, mainly because it's a bit different than most. The "balloon" is a bit odd, seeing as it looks more like a gigantic boulder, but other than that, the set is relatively well-designed.

One big plus are the nice accessories, such as the snowshoes, which I didn't realize existed.

I give this set a 4, and the review 5. Thanks for the review!