Review: 4429 Helicopter Rescue

[Cwetqo]

Number: 4429

Name: Helicopter Rescue

Theme: City

Year: 2012

Minifigs: 4

Pieces: 425

Price: 49,99 EURO/USD

Links: Bricklink Brickset

Today I review long awaited hospital set. It's supposed to get released sometime in the summer, but I was lucky to find one in german lego brand shop.

The box:

Box is similar size like last years bank or city corner. Its only half full, but thats quite usual for todays sets, so nothing too bad about that. Its without "limited edition" band, so I guees it will not be store exclusive, like bank. If you look at it carefully, you will notice that ambulance car is somewhat enlarged and helicopter shinked (car is almost bigger then helicopter which is not exactly the case when set is assembled), which corrects one of larger drawbacks of this set.

Back side of box shows usual multiple scenes played with set, together with ever present "hey" guy, this time in paramedic uniform. This set is so far this year only one from "hospital subtheme", so the box shows "great vehicles" as its "family" sets.

Box contents:

There are four bags, one for each vehicle and two for main building. There are also some large plates (like in all recent sets there is no baseplate), three instruction manuals and DSS.

Instructions:

Like said, instruction manuals are three, all thin and different sized (which annoys me very much). There are part callouts on each page and part list at the end of third manual.

At first I was happy to see that "hey" guy is not on the back of the manuals, but then I noticed that he is still on one of small manuals. Largest also shows forest police theme.

Dreaded Sticker Sheet (DSS):

DSS is medium sized and of good quality (better than on ambulance in great vehicles theme).

Bag 1: Ambulance

First bag builds small ambulance car. There are no new parts (at first I thought that red mudguards are new, but then I saw that they were in several other sets). There is also banana, on which the patient slips and causes injury.

Finished vehicle is four stud wide and really small. It can hold driver and stretcher with patient which amazing considering its size. Strecther's handles have to go under drivers hands, and infusion bottle have to be be placed correctly hovewer.

In comparison, ambulance from "great vehicles" theme look giant:

Its roughly the same size as small truck from police helicopter set and its clear that lego is currently producing two very different sized vehicle types.

Mifigures:

Bag 1 also holds three minifigures (fourth is helicopter pilot in bag 2). Theye are: generic patient, female paramedic (different then the one in great vehicles set) and doctor, which is new. It has printed legs, which should continue body print, but is totaly different colour. I guess that they will correct this in later batches, but for now it pretty much ruins comlete minifigure.

Bag 2: Helicopter:

Bag two builds helicopter. There are generic parts for front part of helicopter, but not for back side (which would be nice, bacause white helicopter tail does not exist for now).

Finished helicopter is somewhat different than those from previous years. Its shorter (and overall smaller) than others because it has different back end with loading platform.

Back side with platform. It fits stretcher with patient and pilot at the front.

Side view is somewhat strange, because of "chopped" back side of cabin:

Pilot torso is new for me, with paramedic stripe, pockets and (i assume) parachute handles. It also has leg printing! We also get another stretcher:

Comparison with police helicopter. As we can see it shorter and its main rotor is smaller.

Bag 3: Main building - part 1

Bag three builds garage and main building base. There are mainly just larger parts, but most of them are very useful. You get (always wanted) parts for rolling garage doors, doors, window and two panels, five 4x2 DBG tiles and a lot of bricks with groove (whole set uses mostly just bricks with grove and almost no "ordinary" bricks, even for non visible parts, which is nice, because you could swap them and use them for lets say maersk train containers).

Bag three finished and we can see that floor in garage remains green, and that interior is not well equiped. We get two chairs and desk with computer. You can notice long brick with garage roller groove in place of normal brick.

Right side of garage is just large hole:

Back side of base floor:

Bag 4: Main building - part 2

With bag four we complete main building and whole set. Part wise its nothing special. We get three trans blue panels and bunch of "normal" bricks.

Finished set:

Main building looks nice and car is also in scale, only thing that doesnt fit is (too large) helicopter.

Side view:

On back side we can see how poorly equiped is main building:

On top floor there are two beds, control panel and pole with infusion bottle.

Right side shows that helicopter can hardly fit on the platform:

"great vehicles" ambulance can not fit into garage:

Buildin is same size as bank, city corner and building site building, but its not compatible like those are (so you can just change the floor). Red frame and large glass panels connect building between floors, so those can not be easily separated. Otherwise they look good together.

Conclusion:

We have waited long for new hospital and this set deliveres it, but for many people this set is disapointing. Out of scale vehicles, bad printing and empty interior are indeed bad, but I still think this set is ok for its money. It looks nice and its great basis for modding.

Design & Build 6 nice main building and interesting build, but on the other side poor interior and out of scale vehicles

Parts 7 Some nice parts although nothing new

Figures 6 Doctor is nice but it has very bad printing

Playability 8 With solid construction, garage doors, helicopter and ambulance, this set very playable.

Value 8 For 50 euro we get ambulance (which would cost at least 10 euro on its own), helicopter (whih again is at least 20 euro) and not so small main building.

Overall, this gives us 7 out of 10 points, which I think is realistic. Set has its drawbacks, but most of those could be easily modded and after all its still hospital, which is missing in many layouts (mine also)

[lightningtiger]

Oh, dear....lamb dressed as mutton !

Looks great on outside, oh dear me on the inside. These will all be modified by us AFOL's for sure. In fact I will buy one only for the wife to have on display....she loves real life medical programs on TV.

Thanks for the review 'Cwetqo', I now prefer the parking garage over this one.

[jonwil]

Nice review.

A few interesting parts but not enough to make me rush out and buy this. Whether I buy it depends on what the price here in .au ends up being :)

Nothing on the sticker sheet that's particularly appealing (unlike, say, the 2 x 2 heart monitor sticker from the Great Vehicles Ambulance)

[meyerc13]

I'm really looking forward to this set, and will buy two, but only because it is so disappointing in size and interior. With two hopefully I can make it into something worthy of the name 'hospital.' It's too bad LEGO didn't put much effort into the interior. I was hoping to get some tricks on how to make a decent operating room or emergency room.

Oh well, hopefully this will inspire some great MOC designs for medical equipment that we can use to improve our hospitals (LT - I'm looking at you!).

Thanks for the great review! Well done.

[TheLegoDr]

I really like that doctor figure for sure. I will most likely bricklink him. Hopefully they fix that printing. I like the set overall, but I doubt I will get one. The build looks interesting enough and it would work well in a city theme, but since my city is only Modulars, I would have to mod this quite a bit. I will just wait until they come out with an official Modular hospital, or maybe make my own for this contest running currently.

Thanks for the review. Keep up the good work.

[LegoSjaak]

I was pleased to see a hospital for 2012, but after having read this review i'd rather prevent my minifigs from getting ill, so i don't need a hospital in my layout.. The heli looks terrible and for the rest... it looks like a 5 year-old kid who did his best to create something.. The vehicle isn't that bad, but hey, we have already a beautifull ambulance in the first 2012 City-wave....

Disappointing set....

Greetz, LegoSjaak

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Thanks for the review Cwetqo. Unfortunately this set got a tad less appealing with a more in depth look. That profile view of the heli is worse than I thought. Going from what looked half-a**ed to no a**... Where's the the rest, and how are you supposed to off load the patient?? I think the have the vehicles mixed up with the last Hospital set. That one needed an ambulance and would have been a little better suited for this heli and this taking on the medic's car and MAYBE a helicopter...

[Alexgri]

Its design is so poor! :(

Nice review :)

[Redhead1982]

Thanks for the review, Cwetqo. Indeed, the most fascinating thing about the set is that you were able to get it so early! A hospital theme is very welcomed, and although that's what the set is about, it doesn't have any other special appeal. I see it mainly as a 'parts-pack' for MOD- or MOC-ing your own hospital. The set definitely has a potential for that, but one needs to put in some effort.

The doctor figure is one of the highlights in the set (a pro&con at the same time). The printing design is great, and could be used as a lab coat, but the colours on the legs are really poor. I sure hope it will be corrected in the future batches (either to white, or perhaps the torso to light blue to match the legs).

[cei]

As a medical student, I love the doctor mini-fig and will absolutely have to buy several to go with my scrub team. However, the rest is just disappointing. No nurse minifig? What is going on with the QRS complex in that ECG logo?

[LegoMyMamma]

As a medical student, I love the doctor mini-fig and will absolutely have to buy several to go with my scrub team. However, the rest is just disappointing. No nurse minifig? What is going on with the QRS complex in that ECG logo?

There is the "Flight Nurse" MiniFig (which could also be called Paramedic).

-----------

Thanks for the quick review Cwetqo! Seems like a basic Hospital set. I'm sure that Medevac helicopter could easily make it to surrounding cities

[LEGOfan123]

Great review Cwetqo!

But the hospital is . It's grass on the first floor and the car is just a waste of parts which could have been added to the hospital it self.

[cei]

There is the "Flight Nurse" MiniFig (which could also be called Paramedic).

Hm, kind of, definitely more HEMS paramedic (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) than a nurse you would see in a hospital. They're missing a trick here!

[Graysmith]

The helicopter is definitely way too big. I think it would've looked much nicer with a helicopter of this size and then made it so you could attach the stretcher to the side of it, like in M*A*S*H. Even if that wouldn't be exactly realistic, it'd still look pretty cool with an ambulance helicopter like that. And it would've fit the hospital's size better.

Anyway, great review!

[Vindicare]

Come on LEGO...really? Maybe they have something against hospitals, that's why they make them so lackluster... I do like the outside of the building. I don't care for and wonder why they don't fill in those open side walls. Its not a big issue because it'll probably be buddy, buddy with another building. But still. The figs are definitely the star of the show(even with the two tone lab coat). Bah, this should be in the 2012 topic, so onto the review.

It was a thorough review. Great pictures. Great descriptive text. You really showed the set from every angle. I liked the comparison shots with the vehicles. Does the pilot paramedic have back printing? He really should.

[The Joker1]

Well in my opinion this set is quite poor it looks as though LEGO cannot be bothered anymore . Hopefully we can forgive them if the car park is good. Great review anyway well done.

[Holodoc]

Thank you for the review, Cwetqo!

As a (holographical) doctor, I eagerly awaited the hospital, but once again, TLC blew it!

Maybe a nice play set for our youngsters with ambulance and heli, but nothing an AFOL would have waited for.

Okay, there is one good thing about this set: The new doctor's torso! If only it would be like it was meant to.

[The Fezter]

is it just me or is anyone else not a big ffan of the axles used on Lego's 4 wide vehicles. The wheels stick out too far for my liking. Anyone else feel this way?

[-zenn]

is it just me or is anyone else not a big ffan of the axles used on Lego's 4 wide vehicles. The wheels stick out too far for my liking. Anyone else feel this way?

You're not the only one. It's either swapping out those axles for old ones or using less wide tires. Otherwise it just wouldn't look right.

[Knapen]

Great review. Very poor design, especially the interior.

[1974]

Come on LEGO...really? Maybe they have something against hospitals

I don't think TLG have anything against hospitals, but their designermind seem to be stuck in 6x16 mode I'm very saddened by the fact that the greatest designers seem to be only doing licenced themes now ..

While a few nice designs have come out of the "6x16" mode, I'm kinda tired that it all looks the same. Yes, we have the modulars now, but why have City become such a stillstand compared to 80's? Does City not sell well? TLG have managed to come up with a LOT of nice looking vehicles in the last few years, but no cool buildings to boot?

I know TLG like to reboot and flipping through the catalogs from '82 to '89 there's a shitload that could be made again, agree do you not?

Oh, well MOC'ing is the way, but that don't put bread on the TLG table

Just imho, that is ..

[1974]

Let me give some examples :

I really want a new postoffice! :

And a favourite of my childhood (yes, I know there's a newer and bigger garage, but it does not have to so big = expensive! :

I've omitted the usual police/firestations (which have only become better, imo) and the racetracks (which seem to be an action theme now). There's a few more ordinary homes as well

I'd sure like to see some of this stuff rebooted

[Ricecracker]

I'd sure like to see some of this stuff rebooted

We have the Ideas for New City Sets thread for ideas such as yours.

[Graysmith]

Now that I've had a closer look at the pictures I can't believe this set is using so many "leftover" bricks. Walls made up of grooved pieces where it serves no purpose other than to make it look terrible.. Just wow. I would've considered buying it since despite some issues it still looks nice overall and there'd be plenty you could do with it to modify it.. Definitely going to pass on it seeing all those "wrong" pieces being used.

[Miller]

Dear oh dear oh DEAR! I was disappointed when first saw this set but good god, TLG really are taking the piddle with this set, the angle of the hospital in the picture hides the missing side of the garage, that's miss leading and sneaky! The helicopter is far too large, and the ambulance is small, yet they are reversed on the box picture again, sneaky once more, and the miss printed legs? My oh my, COME ON TLG, this is horrendous and bad.

As for the review, very good :)

Though I think you were generous with the score, I'd have given 4 out of 10 for this bodge job, what a travesty.