But it's well worth their effort, as it shows one of the chief functions of shuttle, which was to ferry stuff up and down from space. The relative huge size of the payload bay was one of Lego's chief design challenges in making this set work. It's obvious from looking at it that it was designed to land somewhat like a plane. I already mentioned the facts in the manual, but what I also love is just how much the set shows in terms of the shuttle's capabilities. Related: 10 cool facts about space shuttle Discoveryįor those who might be introducing themselves to the shuttle, I love how the set embeds a little bit of education into the build. You can fit your completed Hubble inside this empty space, or stack it inside, or set it aside on a stand Lego gives you complete freedom to figure out your display preference. Best of all, the payload bay doors open and close very smoothly. The rudder and flaps swing back and forth. That said, it appears the wheels fold up into and down from the frame.
I love how various parts of the shuttle move when you have it put together, although being a klutz, I didn't push the set too far in terms of its flexibility. Using yellows, blues, greens and reds made it a lot easier to sail through these sections quickly, because otherwise I would have been hunting for hours for the right piece. Lego also was careful to minimize the use of black-and-white pieces in the spots that won't show on the final build. The rudder and flaps snapped together easily on the shuttle frame, along with the engines. I got smaller nostalgic flashes when constructing the cockpit, complete with the 1980s-looking computers and the tiny astronaut chairs. These are small quibbles with the otherwise incredible set, however.
Lego's new NASA Space Shuttle Discovery set comes with the Hubble Space Telescope and will launch in Lego stories April 1, 2021. Related: Lego's International Space Station model is out of this world Also, the Canadarm robotic arm has a unique piece in the middle that is easy to mistake for other grey joints, so make sure not to repeat my error of using it in an antenna and scratching my head in utter confusion for 15 minutes until I spotted the wrongly used piece. To admittedly tired eyes, as I built the set over three long days for this story, it looked like Lego was asking me to build two left wheels at one point.
#Lego space shuttle discovery manual
The diagrams that Lego sends in its gorgeous manual - filled with fun facts about shuttles - are mostly self-explanatory, although I struggled in a couple of spots. You'll also need to be careful that the base of the shuttle stays together while the top-heavy payload bay is under construction a piece or two fell out from the bottom during my build, but I easily put it back together. One example is the numerous reflective stickers that must paste precisely onto sections of the payload bay doors, which happens at the tail end of a huge bag of pieces where you might be tired anyway. Next, pace yourself, as parts of the set require a lot of delicacy to put together and you'll want to be at high energy when those sections come up. I made it in the end, but it was a tight squeeze as the final set is 8.5 inches (21 centimeters) high, 21 inches (54 cm) long and 13.5 inches (34 cm) wide. My available desk space was roughly 3 feet by 2 feet (1 meter by 0.6 meters) I'd recommend a little larger as organizing the pieces, manual and ever-growing shuttle got tougher as the hours continued. The first one is to have a very large surface. In NASA style, I recorded some "lessons learned" from constructing this set. The Hubble Space Telescope is an amazing co-star in Lego's new NASA Space Shuttle Discovery set. Related: Lego reveals space shuttle Discovery set featuring Hubble Telescope But really, what's the rush? It's a set well worth admiring as you go. Incredibly adept Lego builders will probably clock well under 10 hours, while first-timers can expect to spend a lot more time. I was moving fairly quickly as I have experience putting together other recent large space sets such as the International Space Station (864 pieces), the Apollo 11 Eagle lander (1,087 pieces) and the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket (1,969 pieces in honor of its launching year, 1969.) But your mileage may vary. My build with "frustration-free packaging" (meaning the pieces and stickers were organized in 17 numbered bags and a couple of unlabeled ones) took me nearly 11 hours to complete. This set is tailored firmly for the adult, display-only crowd. It's far from Lego's first shuttle set, and long-time Lego fans probably know that the company released a Hubble-shuttle set for children some years ago. The NASA Space Shuttle Discovery (opens in new tab) set (MSRP $199.99 USD) releases Thursday (April 1) with 2,354 pieces to put together.
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