How can you resist the lure of one of the world's most loved
and popular pastimes? Certainly not possible, and that is why we are here
today, with a new review that will surely be of interest to space lovers, but
not only. If you have not yet understood it, we are obviously talking about
LEGO sets and in particular those with a space theme, which have been occupying
the international market scene for several years, establishing themselves not
only as "games" or pastimes, but as real phenomena. of model making.
Our protagonist today - as we have extensively spoiled in the title - is the
"NASA Space Shuttle Discovery" , on sale from April 1st. techsmartinfo
Although the name refers to only one "element", in
reality the set also hides a companion inside ... You have probably already
understood who and what we are talking about, but we prefer not to anticipate
anything. The product, as you can imagine, is complex and layered: with this
review we don't want so much to judge the quality in itself of the NASA Space
Shuttle Discovery LEGO , but more to give you an idea about what you will
encounter .
A little history to understand its meaning
The set is a "combo" of two elements, and more
precisely of the Shuttle Space Discovery and the incredible Hubble Space
Telescope. How come they are together? The answer is quite simple: the set
wanted to celebrate not so much one of the two units in particular, but more
specifically revives and glorifies the 1990 NASA "STS-31" mission .
This mission had the task of bringing the infamous Hubble "glasses"
space telescope into orbit , through the Shuttle program, then still in full
operation.
As we know these shuttles have not flown since 2011, the
entire program was canceled by the then American President Barack Obama due to
the financial crisis and the too high costs that the Shuttle launches were
demanding. Despite their history is studded with successes and incredible
achievements, the Shuttles have "aged badly" and found little space
during the new millennium ( being replaced by lighter but equally performing
rockets and new generation reusable capsules ).
However, imust not be forgotten that the mission in
question, STS-31, gave us an instrument that still today does not cease to
amaze and discover new details of the infinite cosmos that surrounds us. Thanks
to this launch and the crew of 5 astronauts who were part of it, the Hubble
Space Telescope was placed in a low Earth orbit (LEO) which allows it - after
31 years - to still be the most important instrument today. used for
astronomical studies and scientific research .
LEGO time: pieces, box and first look
The full name is "NASA LEGO Space Shuttle Discovery,
Item 10283", and consists of 2354 pieces (if you are not very used to
these numbers, we remind you that the LEGO Saturn V we reviewed here featured
1969 pieces ). A rather considerable number of bricks but which, once again, is
managed rather well in the organization through the well-established practice
of dividing the sections into previously numbered envelopes. In this set we
find 17 different envelopes .
Taking a look from the outside, the first thing that strikes
you is the abundant use of black and the translucent effect (clear reference to
the black and livery of the lower part of the Orbiter). On the packaging and on
the outside of the manual it looks great, elegant and "professional",
but which creates many problems in other situations (and later in this article
we will explain how and why). Overall, at first glance you will not be
disappointed , and the features of the package already suggest the amount of
work that awaits you.
The content: the pieces and the necessary sweat
The main thing that a LEGO set can never miss is the sacred
and priceless building manual . Without it you can be considered practically
lost and we advise you to always handle it with extreme care: although there
are much more practical and "indestructible" online versions, having
the physical counterpart on hand will make construction times much shorter,
especially if you are working with friends or family in a common area.
The writer, with the help of two more hands, took about 15
hours to put all the product together , dividing the work into several days at
a moderate pace.
Take this value as an estimate and not as an absolute
certainty: the most experienced of you may take less, while those who are
beginners may take even longer, especially to admire each single piece. The
details are - as LEGO has taught us by now - of incredible workmanship and it
is legitimate to waste even more than a few minutes in admiring the most
ingenious and accurate pieces, such as the on-board computers in the cockpit,
the landing gears and the engines area. By following the orders step by step,
you will find that the manual will take you to first build the Hubble Space
Telescope (much smaller and more contained) and then the Shuttle Discovery.
As you can see from the images, to represent the solar
panels of the telescope it was preferred not to use rigid bricks , but to mount
thin gold-colored plastic tabs instead. A choice diametrically opposite to what
was seen in the set of the LEGO NASA International Space Station. The visual
rendering is still incredibly accurate and faithful to the original, but an
extra degree of attention must be paid as they are parts that could tear if
handled with too much force. We leaves it to you to decide which of the two
solutions is preferable even if, among 2354 elements, adding about fifty more
pieces to make the rigid panels would not have been such an insurmountable
problem.
The goodies and unique pieces
The real value of the Shuttle Discovery set, however, lies
not only in its incredible aesthetic fidelity with the real counterpart, but in
the quantity of unique and original pieces of which it is made: among the most
noteworthy ones there are undoubtedly these mysterious "springs. "
you see in the picture.
At first glance they can arouse some suspicion, making us
wonder " what the hell are springs in a LEGO model for? ". The answer
- although trivial - is actually compelling: the Shuttle is not static, but has
some mobile and snappy sections (also organized in an ingenious way), which can
be activated on command .
The springs and the "tires" of the taxiing carriages
First of all these mobile systems is the extension mechanism
of the landing gear: the wheels are stowed under the belly of the Shuttle, but
can be "ejected" (with a loud and full-bodied click) thanks to the
pressure of the central stabilizer flap, placed right under the triptych of
RS-25 engines ( these engines will also be the ones that will push NASA's new
SLS to return to the Moon ).
The wheels - another gem of this set - are perfectly capable
of turning smoothly and with little friction, allowing you to use the Shuttle
as a real micro-machine (but we bet that most of you will prefer to keep it
stowed on its special exhibition platform included in the set).
As if that were not enough, the lower lateral ailerons are
also movable: the complex system (which was certainly the most insidious part
of the whole construction) allows the flaps to be rotated simply by twisting
and turning the central RS engine.. A solution that is not as scenic and noisy
as the release of the trolleys, but which still adds a note of originality to a
model that is already more than satisfactory in itself.
Something wrong
So far we have spent words of enthusiasm for this LEGO set,
but it is right to highlight some issues related to its construction as well.
They are not crippling or disastrous problems, but some things certainly could
have been treated better.
The manual is the most important part of the project, and
precisely this presents the most serious problem: the ultra-abundant black
(black background, black pieces, written almost always black), constitutes a
serious problem of contrast, significantly affecting legibility and usability
of the manual itself. In comparison, the one of the LEGO Saturn V we reviewed
last year is superior in all aspects (even in the attention to interior details).
True, all black gives an elegant effect and returns a sense
of homogeneity to the pages, but in our opinion it was not a wise choice. You
could perhaps opt for a box or a black frame on the pages, so as to make it
seem dark when viewed closed but at the same time much more readable inside.
Another problem to point out is that it often happened that
some steps were "taken for granted". Always comparing it to that of
the LEGO Saturn V, the Shuttle Discovery manual has a few too many holes in the
steps: some rotation of the blocks is not shown, or the placements of certain
tiles are skipped in the images. Although these are steps that can be
understood immediately and that do not constitute an insurmountable problem, it
is right to underline that - this time - the cure in this respect has been less
than in the past.
There will also be moments in which the pieces will be
difficult to access: due to the presence of these moving parts mentioned above,
it will often be necessary to add even more precision and accuracy in assembly.
A small oversight or misplaced piece could affect the mobility of the lugs or
wheels.
One thing we did not really like, however, is the use of the
reflective stickers you see in the photo : although their aesthetic appearance
is legitimate and makes the inside of the cargo compartment doors beautiful to
look at and faithful to the original, it is actually a superfluous and
insidious passage in which - without a bit of luck and without high precision -
you risk mounting the stickers that are not perfectly straight, making
everything appear much less "ordered". It would have been much better
to supply the panels with the adhesive already mounted: having detected entire
blocks - without needing to be assembled - we do not understand why to leave
this headache to the user. In addition, there are many other stickers in the
set that can be placed anywhere,
The jewel of the NASA LEGO collection?
The problems you have read about - we repeat - not only
invalidating, and are the result of the personal experience and subjective
taste of those who built this model. For the sake of truth we thought it right
to list these issues but it is not certain that you too, if you decide to buy
the set, you will find yourself with the same judgment.
There is no doubt, however, that we are dealing with a high
quality LEGO piece , and its goodness is even more appreciable if we consider
the list price at which it is sold on the official website: € 179.99
A relatively low value for such a large and prestigious set,
especially if we consider that once completed it will allow us to show off two
distinct models: the Shuttle Discovery and the Hubble Space Telescope, in fact,
are independent of each other, and we can choose whether to mount them one
inside the other (with the telescope still stowed in the cargo area) or each on
its own display platform , complete with personalized tags.
The Space Shuttle Discovery set is certainly one of the best
ever made in the NASA LEGO collection, but perhaps it doesn't quite reach the
absolute perfection we tested with the Saturn V, despite coming very close. If
we were to give him an honor, a silver medal would be more than deserved.
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