Planes, Boats, and Automobiles

[chaosof99]

I am the proud owner of an 8425 Black Hawk, one of my favorite sets before I went into my dark ages. I originally intended to do a review for it, but due to my lack of photography skills, this will unfortunately not happen, though I think the model is a worthy subject for it. When I do a review, I try to construct and review both the A- and B-Model for the set, and the 8425 is somewhat peculiar in that regard. The A-Model is a plane and the B-Model is a boat.

It doesn't require a scientific degree to notice that automobiles and other land-based vehicles, usually with construction implements, absolutely and completely dominate the landscape in Lego Technic. There is the occasional helicopter to mix it up, but there hasn't been a Lego Technic plane since 2004's 8434 Aircraft. The last planes before that were the 8222 VTOL in 1997, and the 8425 in 1996. Boats are even rarer. The last boat is the 8246 Hydro Racer in 1999 after the submarine 8250 Search Sub in 1997.

While perhaps planes and boats are a bit of a difficult subject matter and don't necessarily provide as much playability as the n-th version of a front-end loader, I don't think there should be such an exclusion of the two vehicle types. There can be very nice functionality in these, as the 8425 quite well demonstrates with retractable landing gear with aligned flaps, a rudder, and of course two synced propeller motors. Though of course, most modern planes have jet engines, which are rather hard to model or mimic their function in Technic in any meaningful way.

Another reason I can think of for why there are so few plane models is TLC's aversion to military models, with a lot of interesting aircraft being for combat purposes. TLG of course has the official policy to abstain from producing realistic militaristic toys (which is somewhat in question though). The same reason could probably apply for why there hasn't been another submarine.

The problem with boats I can see is primarily the lack of functionality, since they are rarely more than a mode of transportation on the seas. Why that is such a problem though, considering that a lot of models such as the 8066 Off-Roader, 8081 Extreme Cruiser, or 8048 Buggy are also little more than a mode of transportation either.

Well, to make it short, I would like for TLC to produce at least a boat or a plane once in a while. How about you?

[mahjqa]

Well, boats float and planes fly.

Now guess what's hard to do with Technic.

[Dutch_EE]

I think we'll see a boat sooner as a plane. In Lego City we allready have seen a fully floating boat, so it is possible. Flight is way more difficult. The motors aren't strong enough and the batterypacks are to heavy .Maybe the PolyLith pack has enough power, but the motors haven't.

EDIT

The only thing possible in a way of flight is a Zeppelin or blimp as seen in Legoworld 2011. And then it is still not very easy to find helium everywhere.

Edited June 13, 2011 by Dutch_EE

[Sariel]

I doubt there are chances for any serious boats or planes seeing how children-friendly-and-safe Lego is trying to be recently. Why risk a kid falling into a bathtub or dropping a Lego set on his head when you can keep him safely on the carpet with yet another car?

[garson]

when i first heard about the extreme cruiser set i thought for sure itd be a sexy water proof one piece chassis with a motor in it to be a cruiser on the waves

[grepin]

I'd say it's unlikely the OP's intention was to imply that future boats should float and future planes should fly.

I'm all for variety, and as a collector enjoy those sets that are outside of the norm. So, it would be nice to get more Technic boats / ships / submarines / aeroplanes / airships, as well as other unusual subjects, such as animals - take the 4958 (technically a Creator set, but quite Technic-ish) and the magnificent dinosaur in 8485.

Edited June 13, 2011 by grepin

[chaosof99]

I'd say it's unlikely the OP's intention was to imply that future boats should float and future planes should fly.

I'm all for variety, and as a collector enjoy those sets that are outside of the norm. So, it would be nice to get more Technic boats / ships / submarines / aeroplanes / airships, as well as other unusual subjects, such as animals - take the 4958 (technically a Creator set, but quite Technic-ish) and the magnificent dinosaur in 8485.

Indeed. Another set that comes to mind here is the 10178 Motorised Walking AT-AT.

[minifig3]

Could a plane, like the one in 8485 be possible? Spinning propellers, the up and down, side to side thing....

[Rijkvv]

The problem with boats I can see is primarily the lack of functionality, since they are rarely more than a mode of transportation on the seas. Why that is such a problem though, considering that a lot of models such as the 8066 Off-Roader, 8081 Extreme Cruiser, or 8048 Buggy are also little more than a mode of transportation either.

And besides of that, in 1992 LEGO proved a ship set could be made with functionality with set 8839.

[Moz]

And besides of that, in 1992 LEGO proved a ship set could be made with functionality with set 8839.

That was kind of cool.

I think it'd be easy enough to build some kind of working ship, the obvious one that springs to mind is one of the numerous floating cranes. But a dredge or roll-on roll-off ferry would also work. More complex would be some sort of fishing boat like a trawler or (controversial) whaler. If you wanted to get silly I think a super-yacht offers lots of options - from the various launchers for smaller watercraft and helicopter(s) to "open it up and see the insides" - one that split down the middle so you could see the engine and so on would be cool.

If TLG went wild they could possibly make one that floated just by using a pile of one of the tanks they make. Use a series of pneumatic tanks inside the "hull" to make a raft. It wouldn't float very well, but it would float and I suspect could be made to float realistically. But that would probably eliminate motor functions which would be sad.

[Plastic Nurak]

I doubt there are chances for any serious boats or planes seeing how children-friendly-and-safe Lego is trying to be recently. Why risk a kid falling into a bathtub or dropping a Lego set on his head when you can keep him safely on the carpet with yet another car?

Obviously you're ironic. Or I may argue in TLG there's someone who needs an analist.