• NASA Space Shuttle Discovery

    <h1NASA Space Shuttle Discovery
    ©2021 LEGO Group
    " />

    NASA Space Shuttle Discovery

    ©2021 LEGO Group
    Overall rating
    Building experience
    Parts
    Playability
    Value for money

    Probably the most fun I’ve ever had building a Lego set!

    Written by (AFOL , rhodium-rated reviewer) in United States,

    As a kid I absolutely loved the space shuttle and of course I always wanted to be an astronaut. Back then I had (and still have) a very large Classic Space collection. In recent years my Lego collection has been dominated by Star Wars. So when I saw this set, I had to have it. While it is quite expensive, it was just reasonably priced enough that I could justify buying it. Plus I already have the Saturn V and it needed some company. Well let's just say, this set is about as perfect as any Lego set ever gets.

    The Box and Instructions

    The box isn't anything too special, it looks just like all the recent boxes in the 18+ category. The instructions however are very cool. Of course they feature the bit in the front about the shuttle and the Lego designers, however what sets these instructions apart is what is in the middle. As you build certain components, the instructions will include fun facts about the component you just constructed so you learn about the shuttle as you build it. Hopefully this will be something that Lego continues to do in the 18+ range as I really appreciated it and learned quite a bit.

    The Parts

    The set comes with quite a few parts that I had never seen before which is always a plus. It also features a handful of bright colors to go along with the black and white. However, the most used color that gets hidden in the build is a dark green that is fairly unexciting. Of course the most exciting thing about the parts are all the silver parts used to build the Hubble Telescope.

    The set does include stickers, and while the silver stickers that line the inside of the cargo bay may have been unavoidable, I feel the others could have very easily been avoided. There are two large stickers for the display plaques, which I feel should have been printed just like the Ulysses model. Then you get 4 smaller stickers, two NASA logos, and two that say Discovery. However the set features mostly printed parts, including the large flag and NASA Discovery logo on the wings. I don't quite understand why they left these few stickers in the set. Applying the silver stickers is the most time consuming, although they surprisingly aren't very hard to apply.

    The Build

    Building this set is incredible with every single detail utilizing different techniques to create the complex geometries of the shuttle. It includes 17 bags, with the first three being dedicated to the Hubble Telescope. Bag 1 builds the stand, while 2 and 3 build the telescope. The telescope is quite interesting to build as it is round. It is narrower than the Saturn V, so doesn't feature quite as complex a structure, but parts of it feel very similar to that build. It is small, but very enjoyable and certainly would have been worthy of being its own separate set.

    Bag 4 builds the shuttle's display stand, and then it is onto the shuttle itself. You start building the bottom of the shuttle and this build gradually evolves into building the wings. It features a bit of technic for the moving parts (landing gear and wing flaps) but otherwise is entirely brick built. This part is very (accurately) thin, yet has incredible strength and is completely solid. The most interesting part of this is how it creates the smooth edges of the wings which are at very strange angles. They seem to be very poorly attached, yet become perfectly rigid when the wings are complete.

    Next you build up the engines and the mechanical features of the set to the point that all these features function, yet they remain partially exposed. This is a very interesting part of the build and probably the trickiest as well. Even before the walls go up this section of the ship is very tight.

    After this comes the cargo bay, which needs to be large enough to carry the satellites and also includes antennas as well as a poseable arm (although it can't bear any weight other than its own). This is probably the most straightforward part of the build and goes fairly quickly.

    After this it is onto the nose which as you can probably guess requires a good amount of SNOT. As someone who builds a lot of Star Wars sets, this part of the build felt very familiar. While there is a bit of repetition with the two sides, it isn't much. This is also the only part of the set that is extremely thick. While the rest of the shuttle is incredibly thin to maximize the space available in the cargo bay and keep the sets proportions accurate, this potion of the set does not try to maximize open space. In fact it gives you only a small mid deck. You build all but the cockpit at this time.

    Now it is time to build the tail and finish up the engines and hide the mechanical components of the set. The tail I would say is probably the weakest part of the set, both in terms of techniques as well as strength. It is pretty much just straight forward stacking and a single brick wide. It does feature flaps that flare out at the back, but these too aren't too exciting. But it gets fun again when you get to the engines. This portion is kind of like building mini versions of the nose as it heavily relies on SNOT and is again a very solid build.

    Finally you build the cockpit and the shuttle is complete. The cockpit isn't anything too exciting.

    You will be left with a handful of parts and these build two things. First is a stand for if you wish to display the Hubble Telescope coming out of the cargo bay. And second are very small cylinders that represent its solar panels being rolled up so that it can fit in the cargo bay.

    I built the set (along with the Ulysses) over 4 nights, for about 2 hours each night. This made it a very relaxing and enjoyable build. I did learn quite a few new techniques, which is something that I always look forward to when building a large set. My favorite was one that appeared completely counterintuitive when you first do it. That is taking the hinges that are composed of two 1x2 plates and open and close horizontally on the circle, and attaching them so that the hinge cannot be used. I didn't understand why you wouldn't just use a 1x4 to accomplish the same thing, especially since it would be cleaner without the semicircle sticking out in the middle. However, creating that semicircle was exactly the point as it becomes used as a very subtle and elegant support.

    The Model

    The completed model looks absolutely amazing. Both the Hubble and the shuttle seem perfect to me. Furthermore, the shuttle is incredibly heavy and strong, you can let your kids fly it around the house and there is pretty much no risk of it breaking with a possible exception for the tail.

    You get two play features in this set. First is the landing gear which is deployed by pushing in the bottom flap underneath the engines. It works flawlessly for the rear landing gear, but I've found that if the shuttle is level horizontally that the front landing gear can get stuck. Unfortunately the mechanics for this are completely hidden, although with the cargo bay open you will see the floor move. The other feature is the wing flaps which can be adjusted by twisting the center engine. They move in tandem and in opposite directions so technically you can own change the shuttle's direction and not adjust its altitude. By opening up the engine compartments you can see a bit of the mechanics but not much.

    The set can be picked up from anywhere except the tail end be flown around everything about it is incredibly rigid and feels indestructible. It is large, but despite having 400 more pieces than the Saturn V, it is much smaller (although it does have wings).

    My only fear with this model is that I'm afraid it may be impossible to disassemble. Not only is it completely solid with inaccessible edges. It also has you insert some technic axles near the nose that I don't believe can be removed. Not that I don't want to keep this set assembled, it looks amazing, but I may want to take it apart to build again.

    Overall

    You really can't go wrong with this set. My only real complaint is the lack of astronauts to put in the shuttle. Obviously it isn't minifigure scale, but I did put in some of the little astronaut statues from Saturn V and they look a little small but reasonable. I also tried Baby Yoda but he is slightly too tall so you can't close the roof on the cockpit. Otherwise he may have been a better scale. So ultimately I'm keeping a few of those statues in there.

    Anyways, this is a fantastic set, and certainly anyone who grew up in the 80's and watched the shuttle launches as a kid is going to love it. I couldn't be happier that I own this set, and it is definitely one of the highlights of my Lego collection.

    35 out of 35 people thought this review was helpful.

  • NASA Space Shuttle Discovery

    <h1NASA Space Shuttle Discovery
    ©2021 LEGO Group
    " />

    NASA Space Shuttle Discovery

    ©2021 LEGO Group
    Overall rating
    Building experience
    Parts
    Playability
    Value for money

    95% Satisfaction, 5% Extreme Disappointment

    Written by (AFOL) in Canada,

    I received this set from my wife for Christmas, and I'm pretty thrilled with it. Two to three bags each day occupied a few hours of my time; each stage had a decent level of challenge and satisfaction. No boredom at any point in the build. In fact, watching the landing gear and flap mechanisms come together created some nice anticipation.

    The final build is beautiful; an excellent example of creating curves using hinges and SNOT. Retracting and releasing the landing gear is very satisfying. Cockpit detail is very appealing. I popped Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) from 75292: The Razor Crest into the cockpit next to the pilot's seat for a bit of fun.

    The Hubble telescope is a nice addition; don't ask me how they could have achieved this, but it would have been nice if the solar panels could retract and fold into the shuttle bay.

    I have mine on display in the deployment configuration, i.e. the telescope on a stand protruding from the shuttle bay; the panels and spare parts are tucked inside the bay.

    The instructions were easy to follow and the shuttle factoids were mostly interesting, which brings me to the 5% of this set which is extremely disappointing.

    Perhaps Lego didn't secure the rights or something, but there is no mention of the name one of the stars of the show – of the entire shuttle programme, in fact – beyond a brief mention of its technical name. I'm referring to the Canadarm, of course, without which the Hubble telescope (and probably just about every other shuttle payload) could not have been deployed.

    Canadarm is a source of pride for every Canadian – including yours truly – and as such this oversight is a slight to Canadian Lego fans at best. Especially since, given the beautiful level of detail granted to every other aspect of this model, the Canada logo which features prominently on every Canadarm is not included in the set.

    Overall, don't let my disappointment stop you from getting this set; this is a beautiful model and I strongly recommend it to fans of Lego and/or the shuttle programme. Now I'm off to figure out how to print a Canada logo for my Canadarm. :)

    13 out of 18 people thought this review was helpful.