Lego

[sesselpupser]

Another week, another retired set I must have:



Only problem this time is this is a limited edition of something like 53 copies, it's a Lego Inside Tour set and maybe the second rarest set of all time? It's 4000012 "Piper Airplane". The instructions are impossible to find, I assume because Lego never published them and everyone who owns the set knows they'd immediately significantly devalue all copies of the set by sharing them. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if most copies of the set have never been opened.

So I've been researching it, assuming that someone, somewhere must have created a replica of it, and they have. The inventory is available on Brickset, you can buy a set of reproduction stickers from at least one site that sells them and a German AFOL site and a separate forum discuss the reverse-engineering of all the elements into functional models that "feel" right and look correct, except some of the leftover parts don't look like your usual Lego set extras, plus the box claims there are more parts than there actually are but apparently this is quite common for LIT sets.

Anyway, my collection of planes will clearly never be satisfactory unless I too build a replica of this, so it's now on my list (somewhere between a replica of Pursuit of Flight and hoovering up the many Creator 3in1 planes I have left to collect!) I've been toying with the idea of documenting the process in a YT video as there's very little, basically no coverage of it out there, but I already know I won't be able to do it justice.

 

[SPhilli911]

Another week, another retired set I must have:

View attachment 1288063

Only problem this time is this is a limited edition of something like 53 copies, it's a Lego Inside Tour set and maybe the second rarest set of all time? It's 4000012 "Piper Airplane". The instructions are impossible to find, I assume because Lego never published them and everyone who owns the set knows they'd immediately significantly devalue all copies of the set by sharing them. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if most copies of the set have never been opened.

So I've been researching it, assuming that someone, somewhere must have created a replica of it, and they have. The inventory is available on Brickset, you can buy a set of reproduction stickers from at least one site that sells them and a German AFOL site and a separate forum discuss the reverse-engineering of all the elements into functional models that "feel" right and look correct, except some of the leftover parts don't look like your usual Lego set extras, plus the box claims there are more parts than there actually are but apparently this is quite common for LIT sets.

Anyway, my collection of planes will clearly never be satisfactory unless I too build a replica of this, so it's now on my list (somewhere between a replica of Pursuit of Flight and hoovering up the many Creator 3in1 planes I have left to collect!) I've been toying with the idea of documenting the process in a YT video as there's very little, basically no coverage of it out there, but I already know I won't be able to do it justice.

Pretty sure I saw this set in a video about one of the most expensive and hardest to obtain sets of all time, being one of those individually numbered Inside Tour Exclusive sets.

As for other planes, always liked the Island Hopper (5935) from the 2000 Adventurers theme.

 

[sesselpupser]

being one of those individually numbered Inside Tour Exclusive sets.

Not only that, most other LIT sets had editions of 80 copies, this only had 53. I'm not a collector or an investor, though, I just like the model! Buying just the pieces for the plane comes out at about £40, plus another £15 for the stickers. Much cheaper than the £2,500-ish the set sells for but still a bit much for one small plane for me. It's already 11 years old so I figure it can wait a few more months while I scoop up more retired 3in1 sets.

As for other older planes, I really like Sky Pirates (1100):


It's rare, also £40 for a small plane model of not even 100 pieces. I tried to part it out but the orange boat hull pieces on the bottom were unique to this set and thus hard to find, in the UK at least. The Island Hopper set is nice too, seaplanes are so cool.

 

[sesselpupser]

Bought a few more planes 'n' stuff from Bricklink, this is 31086, 31008, 31034, 31047 (the one I'm most excited for), 31066 and 3178, my first City set, and it's a seaplane because

seaplanes are so cool.

These are all used and I've spotted quite a lot of yellowing on a couple of them, but being Creator sets it won't cost much to replace the worst of it, probably.

I've also just ordered a couple of slightly more obscure things... Looking forward to sharing those!

Edit: built 'em!



Edit edit: aaand they're all back in their bags again, waiting for the day when my son can see these things without needing to instantly destroy them. The top middle is easily my favourite but they're all good sets and decently large too - top left is less than 150 pieces, bottom middle is less than 100.

 

[sesselpupser]

I've also just ordered a couple of slightly more obscure things... Looking forward to sharing those!

They've arrived:



First of all, I didn't realise Master Builder Academy was as popular as it was in the US, this copy of the Flight Designer manual was the only one on Bricklink being sold in the UK and it was £2.50 - copies on eBay were being sold for £40+ so I swooped on it, collecting planes as I am. It's surprisingly nice though! It's aimed at teaching you techniques so I might collect a few more, if I can find them cheaply enough, because that was always something my childhood Lego play never actually taught me, so I'd like to teach my son (if he's into Lego, of course). Just need to buy the pieces now...

Then there's a Designer set, only a small one of something like 150 pieces. The manual contains instructions for a whole load of different designs, none of them are particularly special but it too seems like a good way to get you to think about how to build, rather than simply just follow the instructions to build something specific, because all the specific things in the manual just aren't very good! I do quite like the plane on the cover but I think some techniques and pieces from more recent sets could be used to make it better.

I also got a shark suit guy.


Oh and I went to the local toy shop to get my son a new ball yesterday and they had bags of used Lego and boxes of records outside so I'd spent £6 on a Jean Michel Jarre record and a fairly substantial bag of bricks before I'd even stepped inside. I've spent something like £25 on used bricks there now and have almost filled six pick a brick cups, not a bad deal since they're mostly in good condition.

 

[sesselpupser]

I bought a 60250 Mail Plane, this guy:


Second hand from Bricklink for £9 including postage, and six of the 74 pieces are broken! I've had second hand sets with broken pieces in the past but only one, maybe two at the most, not nearly 10%... I've sent a very dry message to the seller who sold it as "used, very good condition".

I also made the mistake of assembling it while my son was awake so he's taken very enthusiastic ownership of it (minus several small pieces like the marker lights and jumpers on the wingtips, the vertical stabiliser and everything below the plate that holds the front and rear fuselage together), I've been trying to disassemble it piece by piece so he won't notice but he's not quite that stupid and as soon as it stops looking like a plane he thrusts it into my hands and says "plane!", so I have no idea how to deal with the fact that he'll require it in bed tonight and will definitely wake up screaming in the night if I take it off him when he falls asleep.

Lesson learned!

 

[SPhilli911]

Picked up the Corvette set despite a good chance my sister also got it for my upcoming birthday. It looks great! I was also happy to see that the windshield pieces came packaged in separate paper bags... can't say how many times those have arrived in the past with deep scratches on them.

Ewok sold separately.

 

[Awong124]

Picked up the Corvette set despite a good chance my sister also got it for my upcoming birthday. It looks great! I was also happy to see that the windshield pieces came packaged in separate paper bags... can't say how many times those have arrived in the past with deep scratches on them.

Ewok sold separately.
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I just bought this yesterday during 2x points. Along with the Yamaha.

 

[SPhilli911]

I will be getting the Yamaha in the next day or two as I just hit enough Insider points for a $100 discount with the purchase of the Corvette. Man, Lego really knows how to take my money. 😂

 

[Jump_Ace]

1/4-ish through the Venator.

Jerome

 

[Roo]

Halfway-ish through the Venator.
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Jerome

Looks like you'll need a bigger table.

(What's the buggy thing next to the BTTF Delorean?)

 

[Jump_Ace]

Looks like you'll need a bigger table.

(What's the buggy thing next to the BTTF Delorean?)

I wrote halfway but meant to say 1/4 of the way

I've built the Falcon on this table like 4 times over the years, it's hella tight, but I make it work

That buggy is the Lego RC car that uses an app to control it. It's really cool except for one thing; you are either going perfectly straight or TURNING SUDDENLY @ 100%. It's frustrating AF, but still cool I guess.


Jerome

 

[SPhilli911]

1/4-ish through the Venator.
View attachment 1294407


Jerome

My brother just started the Venator. Gotta say I'm jealous, never built a set that large before but I feel like besides the UCS sets, the only sets that size don't interest me all that much like the Eiffel Tower or Titanic.

 

[Jump_Ace]

My brother just started the Venator. Gotta say I'm jealous, never built a set that large before but I feel like besides the UCS sets, the only sets that size don't interest me all that much like the Eiffel Tower or Titanic.

Yeah, I can understand that. Ideally I'd love to have the Eiffel tower, Titanic, Roman Colesium, Taj Mahal. But I don't have space atm, maybe when the kids are grown up


Jerome

 

[Jump_Ace]

@SPhilli911 Heads up for your brother. My Venator box was missing two 4x6 dark bluish gray plates (from bags 20/21 and 22/23). i had to order some new ones off bricklink. You need 8 total between just those bags, I got 6.


Jerome

 

[SPhilli911]

@SPhilli911 Heads up for your brother. My Venator box was missing two 4x6 dark bluish gray plates (from bags 20/21 and 22/23). i had to order some new ones off bricklink. You need 8 total between just those bags, I got 6.


Jerome

Thanks for the heads up, I will pass that on. He had missing pieces in the UCS Razor Crest, but weirdly also had additional pieces in that set that weren't meant to be there. Bit of a shame to see sets at that price have missing parts.

Lego is excellent with customer service, though, anytime I have missing parts (very rare) they sent them at no charge. Not that a few pieces will break the bank to begin with...

 

[Jump_Ace]

Thanks for the heads up, I will pass that on. He had missing pieces in the UCS Razor Crest, but weirdly also had additional pieces in that set that weren't meant to be there. Bit of a shame to see sets at that price have missing parts.

Lego is excellent with customer service, though, anytime I have missing parts (very rare) they sent them at no charge. Not that a few pieces will break the bank to begin with...

I totally messed up my simple math, sorry. I have 4 and you need 6


Jerome

 

[Jump_Ace]

Finally done with the Venator. That took longer than I expected, but a truly fun build, just about as good as the AT-AT and Falcon.

Jerome

 

[sesselpupser]

How about that Ornithopter? I haven't seen the "new" Dune still and I don't know how iconic the vehicle is but it might be a good fit for my collection of planes since I want to add a Batwing and a few other fictional designs (wait, except for the Concorde that I don't even have, they're all fictional so far) anyway.

Speaking of, here are some of the planes I'd like to collect eventually, excluding the Creator 3in1 sets because they're obvious:

Spoiler: Hidden for your comfort

70812 The LEGO Movie Creative Ambush

70429 Hidden Side El Fuego's Stunt Plane

2064 City Air Ambulance

1818 Err... This thing. It's like a backwards plane! You'll never convince me that pusher props aren't cool.

75901 Scooby Doo Mystery Plane Adventures

7628 Indiana Jones Peril in Peru

6544 Shuttle Transcon 2

76991 Tail's Workshop (this one I might settle for building a replica of - I don't really feel much need to have those minifigs or the rest of the set)

These aren't the ones I'm most keen on adding to the collection or anything, just some that I think I will probably start collecting after I've finished off my C3in1 collection. Although Peril in Peru is way, way up there on the list. Shame it's so expensive!

 

[sesselpupser]

my C3in1 collection

This just got larger by another three planes, I decided to go with two old sets and one small one this time:



4853 Fast Flyers, this has retractable landing gear (with fairings which is quite rare, but only on the rear wheels), moving control surfaces and, of course, a mechanism to sweep the wings. Looks great, good size too!


6745 Propeller Power, this also has retractable landing gear that can be locked into place but the rear wheel uses a trailer ball joint piece as a skid. The elevators move, wasn't expecting that, and it has no marker lights at the wing tips which is unusual for a Lego plane...


31028 Sea Plane. Smol.

I was on the fence about buying the sea plane because it's so small, it has a polybag number of parts but it did come in a box, but I got it with Propeller Power because it was £2.50 and didn't cause an increase in postage. The other two planes are great considering their age (2007 and 2008), some design aspects wouldn't fly today (pun intended) but for the sizes of the planes they're replicas of - the F14 is obvious, Propeller Power is, I think, an Air Tractor or similar - they fit a lot of character into the scale.

And you know what? I'm quite into the tiny planes thing. So much so that I spent some hours searching for as many as I could find that didn't look terrible then parted them out into one big BL wantlist of something like 25 planes, including one that was never officially released that I found on Brickipedia. I've also seen some YT videos on building micro planes and have been working backwards from there to make a parts list for those too, because I'd like to try to make a diorama or something in a small scale. But that's for the future, I have other big planes to collect yet - only five left on my Creator 3in1 list now.

 

[Awong124]

I finished the Corvette.

 

[Awong124]

I really like these 1:5 Technic motorcycles. The proportions are really nice. I think they are just beautiful. In terms of aesthetics alone, I like them more than the cars.

 

[Jump_Ace]

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I really like these 1:5 Technic motorcycles. The proportions are really nice. I think they are just beautiful. In terms of aesthetics alone, I like them more than the cars.

How tall is that one on the left, I wonder if the shelf I have in mind is tall enough? Eventually, I want to get both of these too, plus the Ferrari GT3 and the Batman Tumbler.



Jerome

 

[Awong124]

How tall is that one on the left, I wonder if the shelf I have in mind is tall enough? Eventually, I want to get both of these too, plus the Ferrari GT3 and the Batman Tumbler.



Jerome

A touch under 13 inches/33cm.

 

[Roo]

Chipping away at a set I bought some years ago. I was slightly tempted to stick monster truck tyres on it and call it a day at that point as I thought it would look good, but a) they won't fit past the bodywork already built and b)... nah.

 

[sesselpupser]

I've been looking for a good Porco Rosso MOC recently, because of course he's got a cool plane and my son is obsessed with him at the moment, and in my search I found this Flickr account full of really cool car designs that I think some of you will dig: https://www.flickr.com/photos/128291226@N07/

How good is this?!

 

[daan]

How good is this?!

Are those swingarms?

 

[Roo]

"Finished" the Sian (just the wheels to add as I left them at home to save space in the box I've been transporting the set in). Looks like I forgot to fold the mirrors back out before I took the photo:

Fairly standard Technic supercar build, which is to say complicated and hugely impressive that the designers could think in that many dimensions at once. The headlight subassemblies are an incredible build on their own.

The only fault I found was a single colour mismatched 1x3 thin beam, discovered when assembling the bonnet:

Having it front and almost centre of the car wasn't going to happen, but fortunately the headlight subassemblies were still easily accessible and contained 2 of the same that were pretty much hidden, so I swapped the rogue one out.

 

[SPhilli911]

I like that Lego is re-releasing older sets, especially when they are GWP. Majisto's Magical Workshop (40601) is a new take on Majisto's Magical Workshop (6048) from 1993, one of the few old sets I still have a box for. Just need to find the set itself and build both.

Side note... I miss the old boxes.

 

[MedigoFlame]

Some new upcoming Speed Champions: