Many months ago, while clearing the endless heap of lost stuff from the attic, my dad found the shattered, dirt covered, discoloured remains of his childhood stuck in a box with some old spider exo skeletons residing inside. (Great start I know)
After many months of bricklinking, chemical baths for parts and cleaning, I slowly reconstructed what was once the grand daddy of Lego spaceships, into its full blue, grey and trans yellow glory.
The first part of the set are the minifigures, who surprisingly survived the test of time well.
Here we can sort of see just how simple the old stuff really used to be. Yet back in the day this was released, this kind of thing was revolutionary in the Lego world.
The figs all share the same expression, ready to (peacefully I hope) explore their local star clusters. You could almost see them floating on the surface, planting their flag down to show that they had made another breakthrough. The gold print it seems did not last, but this is common, and really just gives some old worn charm to the little guys.
The next component to the set is a little buggy for the brave astronauts to use. On an alien and nearly lonely world far away from home, you need a fancy way to get around the surface. Well this thing isn’t really fancy at all. It’s a little bland rover that can carry one fella. And it’s not bad at doing that. Very neat indeed.
Moving up a little we have the “base”/landing pad. It’s not really a base, lets just get that clear. More of a space toll booth, with a radar slapped on top. It adds to the set quite well, giving something else to build, and has the rare antenna piece sitting on the top. Unfortunately mine is broken, and those things are so darn expensive! It also has a few nice printed pieces tucked away.
The inclusion of base plates make me wish that more modern sets had this luxury.
After this super challenging build, one must test their ability to look at instructions to build the beast itself. The only true reasons somebody would want to buy this set…
the galaxy explorer itself!
“What a piece of junk!”
Oh boy, this thing is great. I legitimately found myself swooshing it around, making stupid noises and “landing on planets”. I know you will anyway, but don’t judge me.
The ship boasts a large amount of features, including a ramp,
A large cockpit,
And a lot of bottom thrust.
The ramp feature can be activated by removing this handy dandy little 1x2 tile
The rest just relies on a couple of hinges. Rather simple, but very nice for carrying the buggy.
Overall, the set is very nice. It’s a fun build, looks great on display, and really leaves many different scenarios and ideas to be had.
