Classic Space Restoration Project

[Veynom]

Funny as I just re-assembled my LL-924 and 15 other variants as well. ;)

LL-924 and variants by Veynom, on Flickr

Feel free to read the full article with the little story here: http://www.eurobrick...wtopic=82453=

[Rufus]

924/487 Space Cruiser/Space Transporter

928/487 Space Cruiser (known as 'Space Transporter' in the UK, where 'Space Cruiser' was reserved for the flagship 928) was released in 1979 with the inception of the Legoland Space range, and together with 928 and 918 formed part of a beautiful triad of matching spaceships.

Sadly, this set didn't last as long as some of its contemporaries: it was replaced in 1981 by the popular 6929, also called 'Space Transporter' in the UK. I think that's a shame - I really appreciated the matching liveries, even when I was six. As I mentioned in the 'before' section, the ship was featured prominently in 1980's 6000 Ideas Book, and may account for some of its popularity today.

The Box

This box is in fairly good condition, although the lid is a little crumpled, and my attempts at flattening it weren't particularly successful. I'm not sure this cover shot portrays the ship from its best angle, and I wonder if this might have been a factor in the set's relatively short lifespan.

In common with many of the larger sets of the time, the box features a lifting lid allowing you to take a peak at the parts inside before purchase.

The previous owner of this set had cut the clear plastic sheet presumably to allow parts to be stored in the box without removing the internal tray; this has unfortunately weakened the box leading to tears in the cardboard in the two front corners. I've replaced the plastic sheet using overhead-projector acetate; it's a little too thick but does the job nicely, while keeping the box shape.

Inside the box is a plain cardboard tray which remains in pristine condition.

Some alternative builds feature on the back, all with a similar theme; it's great that two identical ships can be made from the set (top left); even if they aren't so much to look at.

The damage to the box tab on the right is testament to the difficulty encountered in opening the box, and may account for the decision to cut the plastic. I was delighted to find that the printing is duplicated on the side tabs!

Instructions

Apart from a tear at the top, the instructions are in pretty good condition. The same 'tall' format as 928's instructions is used, but they are folded neatly in the middle.

The staples have long since rusted, and torn through the paper so the pages aren't attached ... but there are only two sheets, or eight pages total.

Unlike 928, there are no part call-outs, though they aren't really needed. LEGO crammed a lot of steps into a small space in those days.

At the back, there's a gorgeous diorama of all the 1979 sets ...

... except, for some reason, this one. The paper's a little crumpled, but it looks worse in the picture than in real life.

The Finished Set

Here's the finished revamp! I didn't have to do much cleaning here; I simply replaced a few parts with spares I had acquired when restoring 928.

I love this little ship!

As a kid, I wasn't so keen on the stumpy front, but now I think it really works, and allows for a slimmer width. Nowadays, I'm sure they would have used 6x3 wedges to give it a pointy front, but I think it would make it look a little odd.

The family resemblance to 928 is cemented by the opening rear doors, the big rear thrusters, and the side appendages, on this set carrying manoeuvring thrusters rather than the big outrigger engines of 928.

I've replaced a number of chewed and ill-fitting blue parts at the rear; the colours match nicely.

She has a sleek an purposeful side profile:

I like the way the outriggers don't block the little yellow window behind the CS brick.

The underside is beautiful in its simplicity:

Interestingly, the design means that 924 sits a plate lower in its undercarriage than both 928 and little sister 918.

Figures & Vehicle

Whitey is the figure that came with the set: I've given him a little wipe, and he's cleaned up nicely. The red dude is a replacement that I had ordered. Neither's logo is perfect; as I've said before, it's really tricky to get these dudes in perfect condition.

The set comes with a little vehicle - simple fork lift (yes, I know, its lift isn't actually forked). All I've done here is given the parts a little wipe and replaced the 2x4 plate between the wheels. The spring is in perfect working order - no rust!

The little white box was quite discloured; I've soaked the parts in dilute bleach and they look much better.

The set's precious cargo appears to be a trans-green round brick.

As you can see, the wheel axles are rather rusty. I haven't even attempted to clean them up; it would require removing a wheel hub and sanding the chrome axle like I did for 928. Actually I'm worried about making the problem worse by scratching the metal, and weakening the wheel attachments by removing the hubs. And I'm lazy.

Details

Now let's see how she stands up to closer scrutiny.

The front badge is pristine. The trans-yellow windows are clean and almost scratch-free; better than the two replacements I found for 928.

Not much has changed on the port side. The CS brick is already very nice, and the blue 1x8 plate at the top just needed a little clean.

I've replaced the bumblebee stripes with better plates, and the trans-clear parts with new pieces - the old ones don't clean up too well, and are prone to cracking. They are the only non-period parts in the finished set.

The starboard side needed a little more work:

The dirty and chipped wedge plate nearest the camera has been replaced, as has the 1x8 plate Red is leaning on. The 1x6 blue plate with the antenna was dirty and needed a good soak, but is in great condition.

Round the back, I've soaked off the sticker residue from the blue tile, and cleaned them all; none needed replacing. Several blue plates in the doors, on the other hand, were too chewed to use, so I've switched them for better examples.

I'm really pleased with how the doors have turned out! Here you can see how the precious cargo is loaded ...

... and sits neatly in its little recess.

For a transporter, the ship's cargo hold isn't huge, and the white box has a tendency to slide forward and interfere with the opening cockpit, but that's a minor flaw. Loading and unloading the cargo is rather fun, and, like 928, the opening rear and lifting cockpit makes the set great as part of a display, with bustling activity around the landed ship.

Conclusion

I'm so pleased with this. I always wanted this set, and thanks to a little luck and perseverance on ebay, I've scored a great example that didn't need a huge amount of work to get back to top-notch quality. I'm looking forward to adding her to the Space layout ... but there's a lot of work left to do before we get there!

In the meantime, let's admire the family resemblance:

One thing that surprises me today is how light these sets are. When you compare them to modern-day LEGO spaceships - particularly the Star Wars range - these are really easy to handle. Partly this is due to the much simpler techniques used, but I hope you agree that even without a huge amount of greebling these ships still look cool.

924 doesn't have quite the svelte appeal of her big sister, but she's still pretty sexy.

I'm just delighted finally to have one after thirty years!

Hope you enjoyed the latest installment! Next up, 918 completes the family.

[Brickadeer]

@Rufus: great Is there any way to distinguish the original (classic space, white, red) minifigs from re-issued minifigs?

[Rick]

I enjoy following your restoration projects and, even though I'm not the biggest Space fan, I really love seeing these classic sets as they must have looked 30 years ago.

[Rufus]

@Rufus: great Is there any way to distinguish the original (classic space, white, red) minifigs from re-issued minifigs?

Yes. All the reissues have the newer reinforced helmet. The torsos are harder to tell, except for white ones, which have the logo in a different place:

For the other colours, you have to look inside the torso part: the reissues have internal reinforcement. I'll try to get a photo.

I enjoy following your restoration projects and, even though I'm not the biggest Space fan, I really love seeing these classic sets as they must have looked 30 years ago.

Thanks Rick! I'd do some Town restoration, but none of my CT sets are anywhere near complete.

Though one day I will do this one.

[Rufus]

Darth Vader came along and chopped up some figures to allow me to demonstrate:

Left - a blue figure from 1984 or so. Centre - a red fig from 1979 or 80. Right - reissue figure from the 850423 minifigure display stand set.

I don't know if the earlier reissue figures are the same - I don't have any.

[Si-MOCs]

Great work as always, seeing this makes the little spacer in me jumping in joy

[Roger_Smith]

Great work again, it's a real joy reading and looking at these.

Keep going! :)

[Brickadeer]

That helps - thanks!

[bruce n h]

Hey,

I don't usually post here on EB, as being an admin at CC prevents me from doing much more than checking the front page news on other sites, but I just wanted to pop in here to say how much I love this set. 487 was my first big LEGO set as a kid (after getting the small Mobile Rocket Launcher - still one of my favorites). I never did get the Galaxy Explorer set, but I played for uncounted hours with this and some of the smaller early Space sets. Thanks for sharing this. The box and instructions are long gone, but I think I still have the bricks, just mixed in with my collection. (Though I'm pretty sure I don't have the little spring-loaded forklift piece any more). Now I've got to dig through and rebuild this.

Bruce

[Tacitus]

Oh, fantastic! This takes me back. I loved that ship, until I spilled Pepsi on it, and didn't clean it properly.

[Luigi700]

Rufus, these are epic! Although I don't have any Classic Space sets, the sets you remade are much better than the originals! I wish you good luck.

[Athos]

This is a great project. I apparently missed it when you started it. I've been doing the same thing with all my old Castle and Pirate sets. I'll have to check your posts to see if I can get some ideas.

Steve

[Galaxy Explorer]

Great review and restoration! The Space Cruiser was my first "larger" Space set and really shows its miles. A restoration would be in good order, here. I got mine back in 1982 and since then I've acquired four more to make a respectable fleet.

As I have always thought the Galaxy Explorer was the LEGO equivalent of a Star Destroyer, the Space Cruiser became the Millennium Falcon. The Space Cruiser also was responsible for many unprovoked attacks on my Town layout back in the day.

[Crissmonster]

Wow! This takes me back. Thank you so much for this joyous reminder of childhood longing.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

I love these ships ...I only miss the little 918!

[starstreak]

I am jealous. This is one of those sets that got me into LEGO and got my parents wondering why it cost over $65? Or was that $85? Back then?..

[The Black Falcon]

Thanks for sharing your journey with us Rufus. Makes me nostalgic indeed. Now I just need to fly back to Australia, get to my Mum's place and get my old Classic Lego and see what I still have...... Ah Classic Space I love you still.

[snefroe]

what a great project this has become! Are you going to restore other CS sets as well or is this the end for you?

I see you didn't replace the stickered red dude with another stickered one. I guess it's even more problematic to find those in good condition than printed counterparts...

[Zzz]

Amazing. I would love LEGO to return to this theme and keep the basic design and colours of these with modern building techniques and bricks. Those little things capture more spirit and character than most of the huge SW / Space crafts from today. Your project is amazing, keep on rocking. Very interesting read also regarding organizing / cleaning the bricks, as well.

[Bobskink]

Good old memories.

Nice to read your restoration.

[SNIPE]

I saw this set but it was mixed in with other bags of assorted lego arts, grey, black and blue, I got a blue one and a black one only, now I should have got them all and built this set

I have two of the front slopes with the planet and arrow logo,red minifig, blue 2x2 brick with white arrow,1x4 bricks with hinge in the middle,grey corner plates, and the blue tail wings and the 1x4 bricks with letters and numbers in white.

I might restore the smaller set of the two

[Lakop]

Hi,

I loved that set as a child. I never got any of them but I always admired them. I loved the way the ships opened up at the back. In time I hope to make a technic version.

It takes me back.

H

I remember now. I had the rocket launch pad set, must have been early eighties.

H

[caperberry]

I recently bought my first 928 on eBay (I had/have all the wave 1 sets and boxes, except 924 and 928.) and have been considering restoring it. So great to hear a perspective on some of the trials involved, thanks Rufus.

I'm interested in the numbered supports, part 3940. Does anyone know why this was done? Did every set come with pieces numbered 1 to 5?

Edited May 19, 2013 by caperberry

[Roger_Smith]

I'm interested in the numbered supports, part 3940. Does anyone know why this was done? Did every set come with pieces numbered 1 to 5?

I'd think that the numbers are just the mold numbers. Most Lego bricks have one or several numbers printed on the underside, on regular bricks it just isn't as obvious.

The mold numbers are there to identify the different molds that are used, so for example they can tell from a defective brick which of the individual molds is the defective one and fix / replace it.