REVIEW: 575 Coast Guard Station

[WesternOutlaw]

Coast Guard Station (AKA U.S. Coast Guard)

Set #: 575

Year Released: 1978

Piece Count: 270

Minifigs: 5

List Price: unknown

The Coast Guard Station stands proud as the defense and rescue for sea vessels. I unfortunately lost the instructions to this classic set, but was able to reconstruct it from instructions found on Peeron, although they were difficult to read.

The set included 5 minifigs, all with blue torsos and white pants. I was only able to locate three of the five original figs but replacing them would not be difficult as stickers were used instead of printed torsos.

NOTE: also notice the older trans. round bricks with no holes.

The set included three vehicles, one jet boat, a jet ski (for lack of a better name), and a helicopter. My favorite was always the jet boat:

The jet ski:

Moving on to the coast guard station, a landing provides the helicopter a safe place to land:

The middle section of the station includes a short set of steps leading to the landing:

And the right side or tower side of the station. I always liked the steps leading into the water:

The tower itself is pretty nice, but unfortunately included the earlier 4-stud high doors. Also is a removable ladder that leads into one of the tower openings. The red building with yellow windows make for a nice contrast.

On top of the tower is a nicely colored red and white radar tower, an antena, and some sort of sonar/radio device:

The entire set:

The set also included a classic U.S. Flag. I have the piece but the stickers have been long since torn off. I didn't feel like making new decals so excluded the flag.

As a kid, I never got into this set too much. I'm not sure why, as revisiting this classic, it seems like it would be a fun set with a lot of playability.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed the review.

[Tohst]

The tower itself is pretty nice, but unfortunately included the earlier 4-stud high doors. Also is a removable ladder that leads into one of the tower openings. The red building with yellow windows make for a nice contrast.

Thanks for the review. These classic reviews are interesting.

You might be asking yourself why Lego included doors, and really an entire building thats the wrong scale for mini-figs.

The fact is, 575 was essentially a remake of 369 from 1976. Only, 369 had white trim, yellow vehicles, and the static old style legless armless figures.

One could speculate that Lego wanted to get more mini-fig sets out quickly and so didn't have time for set design.

Or that they just really liked 369 and thought it would be awesome with the new mini-figs.

OR that they were being mind controlled by aliens. Who knows?

-Tohst

[WesternOutlaw]

You might be asking yourself why Lego included doors, and really an entire building thats the wrong scale for mini-figs.

One could speculate that Lego wanted to get more mini-fig sets out quickly and so didn't have time for set design.

Or that they just really liked 369 and thought it would be awesome with the new mini-figs.

Interesting point Tohst - a good question. I think the figs were new to Lego. These small doors also appeared in Basic sets pre-dating these classic town sets. The basic sets used these same little doors with the very large 2x4 brick-built figs. They really looked awkward with the little doors. The armless figs were a nice new addition to Lego way back when.

[Last Gas]

If I remember correctly, this was the first major set my brother and I received as kids. Somehow 34 years later not only do we have all the parts and minifigs, but the stickers are still affixed (if not a little worse for wear). May have to dig it out and put it together . . .