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REVIEW: 60013 - Coast Guard Helicopter Coast guard review index: 60011 - Surfer Rescue 60012 - 4x4 & Diving Boat 60013 - Coast Guard Helicopter 60014 - Coast Guard Patrol 60015 - Coast Guard Plane In the summer wave of 2013 LEGO has release a number of sets related to the coast guard. The last time Lego used this theme was in 2008, which was when I was still in the dark ages so for me, someone who loves the sea and boats, this was quite an exciting announcement. As soon as the sets hit the stores, I bought them, and build them, and boy did they deliver. Next up is the third set of the lot, containing a helicopter and a catamaran. Let's see how this set fares. 60013 - Coast Guard Helicopter Set Nr: 60013 Theme: City Year released: 2013 Nr of parts: 230 Minifigs: 4 Price: US$39.99 / €24.99 / £24.99 The Box On the front of the box we see the diver heroically dangling from the helicopter, trying to rescue the sailor from a broken sail, a great white shark, and certain death. The waves carrying the boat seem to gravitate to the rocks in the background, adding another peril for the poor sailor. In the bottom left corner is an illustration showing the wind-up motor which can reel in the hook and any body it might carry with just a push of the button. Also in tiny text is a notification that the boat does, in fact, not float. On the back of the box the diver tries to get our attention, but let's just ignore him for now and look at all the pretty photo's. First on the left there's an illustration showing the phased build with mltiple bags hovering over the same image as the front of the box. Moving on to the right is the sailor having fun on his catamaran, the sail breaking to show the play feature, the sailor being rescued, and finally the diver in the water with the great white shark, which to me seems one of the least smart ideas I've seen on the back of a LEGO box in..well..forever. . On the side of the box we have all 4 minifigs standing in a row on a pier, whist the shark comes in from the left, looking quite hungry. All the way to the right is the pilot for the second time, this time with a 1:1 annotation. The instructions The front of the booklet is the same as the image on the front of the box. Inisde the booklet we find out how the parts for the models are separated into bags. In my opinion, if they´re gonna split the parts in numbered bags, why not just put the catamaran in a seperate bag aswell? As it stands the first bag is absolutely packed with parts, and the second bag is quite puny in comparison. Now we get to the main part, the instructions. Like all sets in this series so far the background is a pleasing soft pastel watery pattern which in no way shape or form interferes with the building process. The color differentiation between the different parts is good, at no time did I have any doubt what color piece I was supposed to be looking for. In the back of the booklet we have the usual advertisements and promotional material. ...Including the damn screaming kid..again..ugh.. The parts Rattling around loose in the box is this sail, and a sticker sheet, which I already used at the time of writing this review, and thus have no pictures of. I have separated the parts from the first bag in a few separate piles, as to keep the images a bit less cluttered. This first lot of parts, together with the sail, make the catamaran. Looking at it I almost can't believe such a small number of parts make such a convincing little boat. Ah, the wonders of LEGO. This mess of not very neatly ordered parts make the first half of the helicopter. A few of the dark grey parts are actually from the second bag, but accidentally got mixed in with this lot. The contents are mostly white, with some blue parts and a few big orange pieces. The white control panel in the center is printed, all other parts are stickered. Lastly in the first bag, are the parts for all 4 minifigs, of which we will get into more detail in a moment. The second bag contains some color, which is mostly used on the bottom of the helicopter, and of lot of black and grays, which are mostly for the engine build-up This assemblage is a combination of parts from both bags, but as I don't feel like taking the whole thing apart for this review, I'll just photograph it separately. The minifigs The sailor comes with the same great wetsuit as the surfer from the water scooter set. He has a short dark brown haircut and comes equipped with a life jacket. Safety first! The pilot is wearing an orange uniform with lots of safety gear on it. Looking at the photo, i suddenly notice how great the grey parts of the legs connects with the torso printing, completing the geared up look. He comes with a white helmet to cover up his unnervingly smirking face. Man, he looks like he REALLY REALLY likes flying and rescuing people! The diver has the same outfit as the pilot, but comes with the basic diving gear we've all come to know and expect from LEGO. His face is a bit more heroic looking. In fact, I totaly take back my comment about him swimming with the shark from the back of the box. He totally looks like someone who would wrestle a shark..and win. The last member of the coast guard is what looks like a communications officer. It's also the only female coast guard so far. Her uniform is the same as coast guards from the cheaper sets, with non of the usual female curves added. The comes with a life jacket, a walkie talkie, and a hat with headphones. The headphones are a separate piece which connect to the hat via a hole on the top. Finaly there's the great white shark. It's basicly the same as the shark from the water scooter set, but in a nice white color. The only downside is that, while the shark on the box is a new mold with gills, somehow mine has a gill-less body. Though the new shark with gills is being produced, somehow the early sets have the older shark bodies, so if you want the newer body, wait a while before buying the coastguard sets. (extra info added thank to LEGO Guy Bri and Aanchir) The build The first thing to be build is the catamaran, which, for it's simplicity, simply looks great. The red/white color scheme really looks great, just too bad the sail is in a different color scheme. Would it have been too much trouble to print a red/white sail, i wonder? The sail is connected quite ingeniously with clamps, with the top one holding it in place, and the bottom one allowing rotation to simulate sail failure.... ...Like this. When the sail is "broken" it is still quite firmly attached to the boat. Next up we start with the helicopter. We begin by building the base upon which the rest can be build. Then the "hoisting" system is put into place. Which, as you can see, is actually quite simple. In the next few steps the cockpit is build up and added to the base of the model. And finally the "top" is put on the whole thing, finally making it look somewhat like a helicopter. Time to move on to the second bag of parts! Firstly a few small parts are added on the top of the helicopter before... ...Turning it over and adding the bottom and wheel assembly. I really like that front wheel piece. No I don't care that it's been around since 2008, it's new to me! The helicopter is put back onto it's wheels and the hook assembly is finished. A start is made on the very detailed engine. Here we have the engine, mostly done except for a few finishing plates on the back. I really REALLY love the amount of detailing they have managed to put into this engine. It's easily my favorite parts of the model. After the engine is done, the tail is added, along with those last finishing pieces for the engine, which also hold the tail in place. And finally the model is finished off with a huge set of rotors. Looking at the model, it's a lot larger than I has initially expected it to be when looking at the box. It is quite amazing to look at. A great model with lots of detailing. The rappelling function works just as advertised and adds a lot of play value to this already great set. One downside to the model is that, when you turn both the top and the tail rotor, while you hold the helicopter at certain angles with the tail pointed downwards, they can collide with each other, it's not a really big deal, but worth mentioning nonetheless. (info added thanks to paul_delahaye) Conclusions (Disclaimer: I don't believe in giving numerical scores. It is up to the reader to decide what they think of any given model, and I believe mandatory scores detract from this notion.) minifigs: Not only do the figures look great, you get four of them with this set! As an added bonus, you also get a great white shark.. Build/design: The catamaran looks very cool for the small amount of pieces used, and I'm simply in love with the engine on the helicopter! (Not that the rest of the helicopter isn't worth mentioning, that's great looking as well.) Playability: With the 4 minifigs, the shark, the rappelling feature and the catamaran the can break, this set has a lot of search and rescue potential. Overall I quite like this set, especialy for the pricepoint at which I bought it (25 euros). For the noted (by brickset) price of 40 US dollars, it might be a it on the expensive side though.
