Tag Archives: Rescue Helicopter

LEGO Technic H2 2022 | Set Previews

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Our Elves have been sneaking again! Although we forgot to write about their discovery of the new H2 2022 Technic sets until we saw that LEGO had released them for sale on Monday. Never mind…

So, although you can find these on LEGO.com for sale right now, here are the two new LEGO Technic sets for August 2022!

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42144 Material Handler

First up (above), and looking excellent, is the brand new 42144 Material Handler, an 835-piece recreation of those giant grabby crane things that operate in scrapyards. And seeing as literally everyone wants to have a go at smashing a giant grab through the roof a scrap car, LEGO’s decision to create a fully working Technic version looks rather inspired.

The new 42144 set returns proper pneumatics to the Technic line-up, with a boom extending to 35cm courtesy of two large pneumatic cylinders pressurised by hand, whilst a small pneumatic cylinder opens and closes the grab.

A decent level of mechanical functions are present too, with 42144 including working outriggers, steering, a rotating boom superstructure, and an elevating cab.

It all looks rather good, but so it should do, as the new Technic 42144 Material Handler costs an enormous £105 / $150.

This sizeable price-tag generates a figure of 13p / 18c per piece, which is exactly double that of the 42054 Claas Xerion 5000 from five years ago, and 50% more than the 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger set from just two years ago.

Perhaps you might not want to scrap that old car after all…

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42145 Airbus H175 Rescue Helicopter

LEGO’s second new arrival for August 2022 brings a helicopter back into the Technic range, a vehicle type that always seems to translate well to the theme. Unlike past iterations though, 42145 is an officially licensed replica of a real-world helicopter, in this case the Airbus H175.

Now as a car blog we have no idea what an Airbus H175 is, and would have been just as happy with a ‘generic’ helicopter, but aircraft fans are likely to enjoy its real-world basis as much as we do LEGO’s officially licensed cars and trucks.

Measuring over 70cm long and aimed at ages 11+, 42145 includes a motor that powers both the main and tail rotor, the rescue winch, and the retractable landing gear, whilst also spinning the engines too, which is a nice touch.

42145’s mechanical functions are limited to opening doors and a working swash plate to control rotor pitch, but seeing as the latter is fiendishly difficult to create that’s probably sufficient.

On sale now, the new Technic 42145 Airbus H175 Rescue Helicopter costs £180 / $210, making it even more expensive than the 42144 Material Handler above. However with a far more reasonable price per piece figure (even with a motor included), it 42145 looks to be the much better value of the two.

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Both new Technic sets are available now via LEGO.com and other retailers, alongside all of the Technic sets from H1 revealed here at TLCB earlier in the year.

Rainbow Rescue

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This year literally everything become rainbow coloured for a bit. Utah’s Bell 407 search and rescue helicopter was ahead of the curve though, already sporting a fantastic rainbow colour scheme that might just be the most difficult paint job to recreate in Lego bricks ever devised.

That didn’t stop Eurobricks’ droomangroup though, who has replicated the Utah Bell medevac helicopter in Model Team form, somehow managing to recreate the rainbow livery in bricks with such precision it’s made our heads hurt.

There’s more to see of drooman’s monumentally clever model at the Eurobricks forum, where you can also find an image of the real Utah Bell 407 search and rescue unit for comparison. Click the link above to follow the rainbow.

Flying Dolphin

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The Lego Car Blog Elves have never met a dolphin, and thus they have little knowledge of what one looks like. The naming department of Eurocopter must only have had a loose idea too, because the clever aquatic mammals definitely don’t have rotors. Still, we suppose the barracuda doesn’t have wheels and that provided a cool car name for Plymouth.

The Eurocopter HH-65 does have a sort-of-dolphinish nose though, recreated here in superb detail by Robson M of Flickr. As well as the nose Robson has successfully replicated the Dolphin’s complex tail rotor, fitted a complete interior (with neat sliding door too), and has enhanced the accuracy with some excellent custom decals.

There’s more to see of Robson’s wonderfully realistic Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin at his photostream – click the link above to watch it do a backflip for some fish.

Holiday Heroes

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We’re back! After a few days of being shut in their cages, TLCB Elves have been released back onto the internet to hunt down the best Lego vehicles that the community has to offer. It hasn’t taken long for the first of our smelly little workers to return, motivated by the promise of a meal token and the possibility of a Smartie.

Our first post-Christmas creation is this, a rather wonderful H145M Swiss Air-Rescue helicopter built as a commission by Jonah Padberg aka Plane Bricks, and it’s a fabulous reminder that whilst we were off for Christmas the heroes of the emergency services were still at work, putting out fires, calming board-game related domestic arguments, and – in this case – saving lives.

Jonah’s spectacular H145M is a joy to look at, bursting with brilliant building techniques and including a sliding side-opening door, an opening barn-door tail exit, and folding rotor blades. There’s much more to see at Jonah’s photostream on Flickr – click the link above to make the jump and remember those that were hard at work doing the most amazing jobs that anyone can do whilst we were eating turkey.

Coast Guard ‘Copter

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This excellent Sikorsky HH-52 U.S. Coast Guard helicopter was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr today. It comes from Robson M, features custom decals, folding rotors, a sliding side door and a hoist for rescuing drowning swimmers / apprehending Mexicans. See more of Robson’s top notch build at his photostream via the link above.

Anthem Air

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Lego Mach Anthem

LEGO’s own 42078 Mack Anthem set is the flagship of the H1 2018 Technic range. With nearly 2,600 pieces it’s one of the biggest Technic sets ever, but that hasn’t stopped Paliason deciding to go even bigger. This is what he’s built, a simply astonishing Mack Anthem 70″ sleeper truck complete with a Landoll 825E-AG lowboy trailer, upon which is spectacular Sikorsky H19 Chickasaw U.S Air Force rescue helicopter.

Lego Mach Anthem

Each of the three builds is a work of art in its own right, featuring beautiful custom decals and a variety of functions. The Mack Anthem includes a piston engine underneath a tilting hood, a detailed cab interior inside opening doors, and working steering, whilst the Landoll trailer behind it features a working detachable gooseneck and side extensions.

Lego Sikorsky H19 CHICKASAW

The amazing Sikorsky H19 rescue helicopter adds a pair of Power Functions motors that turn the main and tail rotors, and features one of the coolest cockpits we’ve ever seen in LEGO form.

There’s much more to see of Paliason’s incredible trio of creations at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Make the jump to Eurobricks by clicking here, and if you’d like to see how LEGO themselves did it way back in 1990 you can read our review of the classic Model Team 5590 Heli-Transport set by clicking here.

Lego Mack Anthem Truck & Sikorsky H19 Helicopter

Air Ambulance

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Lego Helicopter Air AmbulanceKit Bricksto’s ADAC Rescue Helicopter is one of the nicest choppers we’ve seen in ages. It makes a nice change from all the military-themed aircraft too. Check it out here.

2012 Technic Sets – On Sale Now

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Lego Technic 4x4 Crawler

The 2012 Technic Flagship; 4×4 Crawler

Back in March we fired up our highly complex supercomputer and attempted to calculate the prices of the three Summer 2012 Technic releases. These new Technic models are now on sale at the Lego Shop, and we’re pleased to say our supercomputer was a) fairly accurate, and b) the small variance is a positive one; all three LEGO sets are exactly £10 less than our March estimates – how’s that for consistency!

9393 Tractor
Our estimate: £34.99 – £39.99
Actual price: £24.99
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9396 Helicopter
Our estimate: £79.99 – £89.99
Actual price: £69.99
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9398 Rock Crawler
Our estimate: £149.99 – £159.99
Actual price: £139.99
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So what are you waiting for? Head on over to Lego.com and get your hands on LEGO’s latest, all with £10 off!

Lego Technic 9396 Rescue Helicopter Preview

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Lego Technic 9396 Rescue Helicopter

Lego Technic 9396

Those sneaky Elves have done it again. What with them being small and underfed, they can get into all sorts of places. Whilst this causes all manner of problems in The Lego Car Blog office, it does mean we can get some useful spy-shots for you.

9396 is Lego’s other large Technic release for summer 2012 (the first being the awesome 9398 Rock Crawler we featured earlier in the week). As you can see from the grainy image to the left, this large rescue helicopter includes a few new pieces and some slightly ‘older’ building techniques we thought had been phased out.

Technical functions are controlled through a single input; we can reveal that 9396 uses a gearbox (as on the 2011 Technic Unimog and almost all Lego’s ‘Supercars’) to vary the output, which includes a working winch, retractible landing gear, opening ramp and simultaneously turning main and tail rotors.

To allow the price to be below the flagship models in Lego’s 2012 range the set will not come with Power Functions motors, however  it is designed to easily accept them as an add-on. We can also assume the main rotor is fully controllable from the cabin as a swash plate is visible.

9396 should reach us towards the end of summer. The Technic renaissance continues!