42145 - Airbus H175 Rescue Helicopter

[Richombx]

6 hours ago, HydroWorld Outlook said:

Awesome features, but did Promobricks ever say anything about the Helicopter is going to be powered since they're clearly discontinuing the Simple Battery Box?

How did you come to this conclusion that the battery box is getting discontinued?

[allanp]

9 hours ago, HydroWorld Outlook said:

Awesome features, but did Promobricks ever say anything about the Helicopter is going to be powered since they're clearly discontinuing the Simple Battery Box?

Yes. I don't think the battery box is getting discontinued but it might be getting the silly four screws treatment. Batteries under a certain size (not sure if AA are under this) need to be accessible via a tool. Does the tool need to be a screwdriver?

[Bricktrain]

10 hours ago, HydroWorld Outlook said:

Awesome features, but did Promobricks ever say anything about the Helicopter is going to be powered since they're clearly discontinuing the Simple Battery Box?

The old version will likely be replaced with a new one with screws on the lid.

[HydroWorld Outlook]

14 hours ago, Richombx said:

How did you come to this conclusion that the battery box is getting discontinued?

Because it's listed as 45% off on the LEGO Shop-At-Home website, or it was. Now it's completely out of stock. See for yourself: https://www.lego.com/en-si/product/battery-box-88015

Usually if a LEGO product is on sale for only 55% of its original price, that usually means its getting discontinued. Unbrickme even posted an entire video about it. See for yourself here: 

 

10 hours ago, Bricktrain said:

The old version will likely be replaced with a new one with screws on the lid.

That's highly plausible, but we have no official confirmation of that yet. And this is now the second time LEGO has pulled this battery box off the shelves. It happened once at the end of last year. I emailed LEGO myself asking why this was the case, and they immediately responded saying that the battery box was discontinued. Then the Battery Box came back for a few months before it went on sale and then out of stock.

Edited February 28, 2022 by HydroWorld Outlook
Sorry if the video embed is too big.

[Richombx]

1 hour ago, HydroWorld Outlook said:

Because it's listed as 45% off on the LEGO Shop-At-Home website, or it was. Now it's completely out of stock. See for yourself: https://www.lego.com/en-si/product/battery-box-88015

Usually if a LEGO product is on sale for only 55% of its original price, that usually means its getting discontinued. Unbrickme even posted an entire video about it. See for yourself here: 

 

Have you completely missed that the hubs and battery box are changing that’s why they keep getting taken off and put back. If you look at the hub in the new transformation vehicle it now has the screws which where rumors back when the zetros came out so the battery box will have to have the same upgrade. It’s not getting discounted and other more credible sources like racingbrick have covered why control+ sets and components had been getting marked as out of stock then coming back days later. If you head to the aus lego page you can still buy a battery box today

[howitzer]

I only hope that if they redesign the dumb battery box, they'd add also more ports to it, so that it could run more motors. They wouldn't even need to have separate switches, something like 2+2 would be fine.

[Mikdun]

51 minutes ago, howitzer said:

I only hope that if they redesign the dumb battery box, they'd add also more ports to it, so that it could run more motors. They wouldn't even need to have separate switches, something like 2+2 would be fine.

I would not count on it... 

[howitzer]

43 minutes ago, Mikdun said:

I would not count on it... 

Me neither. But one can hope!

[HydroWorld Outlook]

On 2/28/2022 at 4:44 PM, Richombx said:

Have you completely missed that the hubs and battery box are changing that’s why they keep getting taken off and put back. If you look at the hub in the new transformation vehicle it now has the screws which where rumors back when the zetros came out so the battery box will have to have the same upgrade. It’s not getting discounted and other more credible sources like racingbrick have covered why control+ sets and components had been getting marked as out of stock then coming back days later. If you head to the aus lego page you can still buy a battery box today

Maybe. But if that really were the case, it would make more sense for TLG to redesign the battery box's layout while they're at it. No point in having a dumb battery box with only two switches and two ports when they could have a far more efficient battery box with four ports and four speed control dials. But let's wait and see what the Summer sets bring. Maybe we'll be surprised, maybe we won't.

Edited March 6, 2022 by HydroWorld Outlook

[HydroWorld Outlook]

We (might) have an update, everybody. An article was just published last week on the Paris Beacon Website April 28 highlighting the new LEGO sets coming Summer 2022. And as it turns out, the 42145 set is now listed at €399.99 with 3,778 pieces, just like the Ferrari Daytona. This may or may not be a typo, but the same listing is starting to show up on many other sites as well, including Jay's Brick Blog and Brick Fanatics, so I suppose the official parts count still remains to be seen. This helicopter may be bigger with a lot more functions than we thought...

Edited May 2, 2022 by HydroWorld Outlook

[thekoRngear]

8 hours ago, HydroWorld Outlook said:

We (might) have an update, everybody. An article was just published last week on the Paris Beacon Website April 28 highlighting the new LEGO sets coming Summer 2022. And as it turns out, the 42145 set is now listed at €399.99 with 3,778 pieces, just like the Ferrari Daytona. This may or may not be a typo, but the same listing is starting to show up on many other sites as well, including Jay's Brick Blog and Brick Fanatics, so I suppose the official parts count still remains to be seen. This helicopter may be bigger with a lot more functions than we thought...

Thanks for the heads up (real dog days in terms of leaks and rumors, whence was the last time we got a Hot Topic label on this Technic theme!) but I think Lego will not tag same price for the Super car and any other set for the same timeline release. Either one of them can be true. If the Heli turns out to be such massive parts pack then I think it might also get an 18+ label. Lots of categories got 18+, why not the Helicoptre?  Not that I want it to be 18+ LOL, I just guess it.

Same price plus same parts count for two? Nah...

Edited May 3, 2022 by thekoRngear

[howitzer]

Same price I could believe, but there's no way those two have exact same part count too. I'd much sooner bet on a typo or similar error on the leak. My money is still on the 200€/~2000 part helicopter.

3700 part helicopter would also be absurdly huge, considering that the already quite large 9396 had just over 1000 parts.

[allanp]

12 minutes ago, howitzer said:

Same price I could believe, but there's no way those two have exact same part count too. I'd much sooner bet on a typo or similar error on the leak. My money is still on the 200€/~2000 part helicopter.

3700 part helicopter would also be absurdly huge, considering that the already quite large 9396 had just over 1000 parts.

Agreed. Exact same price and exact same part count is very unlikely.

[thekoRngear]

25 minutes ago, howitzer said:

Same price I could believe, but there's no way those two have exalso be absurdly huge, considering that the already quite large 9396 had just over 1000 parts.

That also sounded absurd for the BMW bike right? But Lego have a thing for making enormous stuffs. Or, I could say Lego have the notoriority to increase parts count with limited functions and appealing the masses moar 

Edited May 3, 2022 by thekoRngear

[howitzer]

2 hours ago, thekoRngear said:

That also sounded absurd for the BMW bike right? But Lego have a thing for making enormous stuffs. Or, I could say Lego have the notoriority to increase parts count with limited functions and appealing the masses moar 

There's a limit of how large they can be before becoming too unwieldy. BMW obviously didn't go over that limit, and is actually quite manageable despite it being much larger than any motorcycle before it. A helicopter with tripled or quadrupled part-count would mean something seriously dense in construction (what?) or much larger fuselage than before, and that would mean also making new rotor blades, which in turn would mean that it's almost impossible to play with or display the set properly in a normal home.

But the main reason for my doubt is the identical price and part count as the Ferrari.

[HydroWorld Outlook]

1 hour ago, howitzer said:

There's a limit of how large they can be before becoming too unwieldy. BMW obviously didn't go over that limit, and is actually quite manageable despite it being much larger than any motorcycle before it. A helicopter with tripled or quadrupled part-count would mean something seriously dense in construction (what?) or much larger fuselage than before, and that would mean also making new rotor blades, which in turn would mean that it's almost impossible to play with or display the set properly in a normal home.

But the main reason for my doubt is the identical price and part count as the Ferrari.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. It's a bit weird that they would do this, so it could be an error, but there's still a slight chance it could be true. Maybe it has more parts than we think, maybe it doesn't. Who knows. But hopefully by late next month (June) we will finally start seeing official images of these sets, and at that point we will have a better glimpse as to how many parts it really has.

Edited May 3, 2022 by HydroWorld Outlook

[LvdH]

I highly doubt it has nearly 4000 parts. Though there are very easy ways to bloat the part count, 4000 for a helicopter is a lot of parts. It’s also very strange that it has the exact same price and part count as the Ferrari which is why I didn’t post this back when I first saw this last week.
 

Also, this one by Jeroen Ottens is already 1 meter long and “only” includes 2600 parts: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-56765/Jeroen Ottens/large-helicopter/#info.

[HydroWorld Outlook]

8 minutes ago, LvdH said:

I highly doubt it has nearly 4000 parts. Though there are very easy ways to bloat the part count, 4000 for a helicopter is a lot of parts. It’s also very strange that it has the exact same price and part count as the Ferrari which is why I didn’t post this back when I first saw this last week.
 

Also, this one by Jeroen Ottens is already 1 meter long and “only” includes 2600 parts: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-56765/Jeroen Ottens/large-helicopter/#info.

Well, it also has brick-built rotor blades, so yeah, makes sense that it wouldn't be that big. My hope is that is just big enough to supersede past Technic aircraft for all the time we've been waiting.

Edited May 3, 2022 by HydroWorld Outlook

[steph77]

Considering that TLG will most likely make use of the existing blades, the scale of this is known.

A 2000 parts model is the real maximum possible i think, my own AW169 was only 1900 parts and had the full set of flight commands + winch...

Never 399 euros and 400 parts.

 

[Brickthus]

Yes, 42052 had just over 1000 pieces and 42113 just over 1600 pieces.  A 2000-piece helicopter is around the maximum sensible size for a kit.

It is a "pick-up and swoosh" model so it would have the new version of the switched battery unit, not needing any remote control.  Hence the price should be around £200, not £400.

Hence I believe the listing is a typo, copying the Ferrari figures.

A more-sophisticated helicopter idea in the £400 price bracket could use more motors in servo mode for the pitch controls but that would not be a pick-up model.  A LEGO Technic kit model is most unlikely to ever fly under its own power, given the state-of-the-art.

It is a shame that we might be restricted to the bright colours for aircraft in order to avoid military connotations, but I hope it will be a kit I'd like to buy in multiple.

Mark

[howitzer]

13 hours ago, Brickthus said:

Yes, 42052 had just over 1000 pieces and 42113 just over 1600 pieces.  A 2000-piece helicopter is around the maximum sensible size for a kit.

It is a "pick-up and swoosh" model so it would have the new version of the switched battery unit, not needing any remote control.  Hence the price should be around £200, not £400.

Hence I believe the listing is a typo, copying the Ferrari figures.

A more-sophisticated helicopter idea in the £400 price bracket could use more motors in servo mode for the pitch controls but that would not be a pick-up model.  A LEGO Technic kit model is most unlikely to ever fly under its own power, given the state-of-the-art.

It is a shame that we might be restricted to the bright colours for aircraft in order to avoid military connotations, but I hope it will be a kit I'd like to buy in multiple.

Mark

I have actually seen a flight-capable quadcopter with fuselage, propellers and motors made of Lego parts, with third-party battery, on-board microcontroller and remote controller. I think that one demonstrates nicely what's theoretically possible, but it would indeed require much better and more lightweight electronics from TLG if such a thing were ever considered for an official set.

[allanp]

Anything is possible given the right new parts, it's probably more of a question of liability and if Lego wants to even do it.

[Brickthus]

9 hours ago, howitzer said:

I have actually seen a flight-capable quadcopter with fuselage, propellers and motors made of Lego parts, with third-party battery, on-board microcontroller and remote controller. I think that one demonstrates nicely what's theoretically possible, but it would indeed require much better and more lightweight electronics from TLG if such a thing were ever considered for an official set.

I have experimented with Technic panels 17 and 18 and the buggy motors.  A 270g model created 200g of lift when powered at 9.15V (fresh alkaline AA voltage) from a bench power supply, drawing 2.6 Amps.

Also a Ninjago Airjitzu spinner, mounted on an axle and without the pod or minifig, powered by 2x PF train motors geared up 5:1, using a PF LiPo battery for power, allowed the spinner to take off by 3cm as it slid out of a red 8-tooth cog.

I have a few of the educational propeller blades, design ID 89509.  They are more aerodynamic than other pieces but are a bit inconsistent in their shape - one has to select matched shapes to make a good rotor.  Actually similar to the selection of real jet engine fan blades!

I would really want a pure-LEGO drone but clearly the amount of power and the type of motor needed (open-frame) are not on the cards for official LEGO parts.  @allanp is right about it being a liability issue.

The video of someone using PF L-motors and overdriving them to 63 Volts is probably why LEGO would never do it.  That's a 50-times increase in motor power compared to 9 Volts; not such a toy any more!  Life would be short if motors were overvolted.

Mark

[nerdsforprez]

I think we land people on the sun before this discussion keeps popping up over and over and over.............. and over again.  

[1gor]

20 minutes ago, nerdsforprez said:

I think we land people on the sun before this discussion keeps popping up over and over and over.............. and over again.  

Who knows maybe there will pop-up "genius" who thinks that we could actually land on sun only if we wait until night