After the conclusion of the Apollo Moon Landing, the public’s interest in Space exploration waned. Then we saw our first images of the next phase of NASA’s manned Space Program: the Prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise being transported on the back of a modified 747, before being released to glide independently for a landing. We knew something exciting was happening.

The 747 subsequently received a a new paint job and was involved in transporting the Space Shuttles from their landing site in California across the country to Florida, in time for the next launch, through to the end of the program in 2011.

While we have seen many sets depicting a space shuttle at this scale or larger, in varying detail ( at least 20 at the most recent count), this is the first time we have seen a LEGO set depicting any variant of the 747 jumbo jet.

So, will this new model inspire us like the Saturn V from LEGO Ideas in 2017 did? Let’s take a closer look. Along the way, we will include some insights from Andy Grubb, one of the design team members who worked on this set.

In the Box

This set comes in the now standard ‘Largish set’ sized box – the same packaging that contains the Shire, as well as large playsets from City and the like. The set contains 15 paper bags of elements, two instruction manuals, and one relatively small sticker sheet. The first manual is dedicated to the shuttle, and the second to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (let’s just call it the SCA going forward).

We also get a little background on the Shuttle program, as well as the role of the Enterprise, along with a few highlights of the model.

The sticker sheet features the livery for the shuttle – USA flags, NASA logos, the word enterprise, as well as decorations pertinent to the SCA: The plane number and NASA logo on the tail plane, the catalog number for the Paris airshow over the dome, as well as two black stickers to go on information plaques.

The Elements

Here are the elements incorporated in the build for the shuttle:

We have a good selection of black and white wedge plates, as well as plenty of white tiles. There are a smattering of grey elements including some non retractable landing gear.

“This one benefits from some of these new two by two and, two by three cut bows. I believe they’ve come out of Speed Champions, and those have proven very useful in lots of models … just achieving some of these nice bits of shapes.” – Andy Grubb, Senior Designer.

The first phase of the SCA appears to include a significant number of Technic elements – for reasons that shall become apparent as we proceed. Moving forward, we see the windscreen and nose cone , as well as all of the side window elements – including 22 2×4 curved slopes – are all printed. this gave me great relief as it became apparent that I would not be required to align way too many stickers…

There are a wide variety of white plates, curved slopes and wedged slopes.

Only one new mould is featured in the set: a four-wheeled landing gear element. It has some small pin connections to attach to the wheels and otherwise binds to the mechanism using the Technic axle connection. Previous landing gear elements have predominantly system connections (i.e., plates/studs).

The elements for the wings, tail and stand include a notable recolour for the set. Elements that are important for achieving the overall shape of the wings and tail are almost obvious by virtue of their colouring. A collection of black arches and SNOT bricks brings us the stand on which the plane will rest.

I suspect there are a few new elements recoloured in white and grey, but probably the most unexpected recolour in the set is is the grey heart shaped plate, incorporated in the construction of the wings, and I am sure will be claimed to be essential in allowing the wings to be firmly attached to the fuselage.

Whiter than White?

I found myself thinking that the colour of many of the white elements in this set felt a little more… intense… than I was accustomed to. Andy confirmed that this was a new pigment for white, but we then ran out of time to discuss it further at the roundtable. I am hoping to get some further details before too long.

New Elementary has recently reported new white was first seen in the 21062 Trevi Fountain, followed soon after by the Marvel logo set. It appears to be a slightly cooler shade than other white elements we have seen in recent years. It is also significantly more opaque than identical elements from recent years – as you can see in these very basic ‘shine a light behind them’ tests

The colour appears to have been limited to bricks, plates, tiles and slopes in this set. Clip elements, which need to survive different physical stressors appear to be produced in the older colour.

Comparing the Enterprise and the Shuttle from Creator 3117 under white and UV light reveals a barely imperceptible dullness in the older set (mint in box until this week) compared with the new model. The new white bricks do not appear to behave differently under ultraviolet/black light compared to the established colour.

I’ll post an article looking more closely at the differences between these white pigments ‘soon.’ Experimentation will be in order.

The Build

The Shuttle

We start our construction with the base of the shuttle, using plates to establish the distinctive outline of the wingsTiles are laid over the wings, as well as a few stickers.

We build up the sides of the cargo bay, as well as the rear engines. The 1×2 rounded brick with vertical bars is used for stud reversal with a few plates with clips. We also line the floor with 1×3 offset plates. I’m sure we will see what they are used for later.

2×3 surved slopes allow the distinctive shape of the engine cowlings, with the cut version at the front end, lining up with a wedge plate.

We build up the cabin, as well as the cargo bay doors.The cut-curved slopes help to create a smooth line heading towards the nose from beside the cabin.

The shuttle exists in a couple of configurations: one with a cone over the engines to reduce drag, and alternatively with the engine on display. In the LEGO version, the cone is independent of the engines. We add a brick built tail.

Simple elements are used to add the landing gear and engines. The engine cones are attached to bars on a ball joint, allowing a small degree of movement. This is perfect for flying the shuttle on its own. The engines can be replaced by a plugin tailcone, and stored inside the cargo bay – engines on the offset plates, and landing gear on the inverted plates. There is even room for the block that holds the engine cones.

In our discussion, I shall compare this version of the shuttle with the one of the more recent Creator 3in1 equivalents, 31117 Space Shuttle Adventure from 2021.

The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft

The initial Sketch model of the SCA was conceived by Mike Psiaki, a LEGO design master who seemed to relish geometry-based problems. Mike, along with Carl Merriam, was responsible for converting the Saturn V ideas submission into one of the most remarkable building experiences you might have, despite a model essentially being a one-meter-long tapering tube.

The SCA has several aspects: the shape and proportions of the fuselage, the triangular form of the wings, along with the dihedral of the wings, and the mechanism for deploying the landing gear.

Landing Gear

The build starts in a mode unexpected fashion: building a stack of snot bricks around a technic core, with curved corner plates providing additional buttressing. Orange elements used in the initial build provide support during construction, but are designed to be removed when joining sections together.

This initial core features a single axle, which in turn deploys the 4 central landing gear: the front 2 open outwards, and the rear two rotate backwards.

And that, particularly for me, was the biggest challenge, because it turns out that landing gear goes exactly where you would want the connection for the wings to mount to the model to be. So that took some also brain scratching from several other people to figure out how we can integrate the landing gear and get the wings to attach in the same place, and essentially have to solve both of those problems at the same time. – Andy Grubb

Ultimately, Huang Huy Dang – another designer – worked out the best way to improve on the Concorde model’s landing gear, while Mike Psiaki came back to give the wings another look after the the landing gear had been developed.

After completing this initial section, we move towards the nose of the plane: a core of SNOT brackets builds up the sides and, if you look closely, you can see a circular plate 2×2 round (previously featured in Disneyland dresses, these plates are the key to conquering the construction of the rounded fuselage.

The trailer hitch protruding from the top will contribute to holding the shuttle in place.

We build up the nose of the jet, including the cone and lateral curves of the front end of the fuselage. I suspect many drafts were used to achieve the balance of slanted element, and curve – using a variety of sloped bricks, curved slopes and wedge plates.

These two modules join together. A connector allows limited slip in the reaction system when the front wheel reaches its new position in half the time of the main wheel bay.

After connecting these two modules together, we add detail to the upper decks of the nose section, using an angled plate, joined using clips – forming the hypotenuse of a right angle triangle triangle.

We turn to the rest of the fuselage. This looks, for the movement, like any SNOT core you might find in a creature build.

We attach the tail of the fuselage to the front end, and secure it in place with a number of plates,

As we bind them together, we also start to line the lower part of the model with tiles, smoothing the walls.

I am ever so grateful that the windows are all printed: it would have become a little unreasonable during the next phase of the build.

You can see the circular plates with ring frame inside the fuselage. This will allow an inlay strip to bind to the core, and complete the side of the jet with a less defined angle.

These inlays are repeated in the front section of the fuselage

Before filling in the roof with curved slope elements.

Overall, the fuselage is quite light on for exposed studs, except for some on the side around the forward cabins.

The tail end tapers down, aided by some tapering slopes. The underside of the fuselage is filled in by clipping panels onto the circular ring elements, while the tail end slopes up gently.

The Wings

The wings of a 747-100 sweep back at 37.5º. The wings on this model are set at closer to 45º. We start by constructing a base for the wings using stacked plates, while curved slopes form the leading edge.

We build a bracket that pivots on the vertical: this bracket plugs into the bars that have been poking out sidewards since the early days of the SCA build. The bracket is attached to the wing at 45º, ensuring it is nicely sweptback. At the most inner edge of the wings are some bars that are clipped into the ventral structure of the fuselage. This ensures the wings maintain their dihedral.

The wings are secured by a plate to the rear, and a tile over the ventral surface, keeping them in place during our vigorous swoosh testing.

The left and right wings are symmetrical, and we add 2 engines to each side. The engines are built up using a bevel gear tucked inside a cylindrical brick with a barrel (in grey) and a couple of stacked 1×1 cones poking out the back.

The SCA is virtually complete: In the meantime, we have some other small details.

The Tail

We start with the vertical tail fin: essentially a collection of stacked bricks and plates, with 2×1 plates with bars set on an angle to attach to the rear of the fuselage. The use of ring elements to attach the large tile adds interest to the build, and allows the sticker to be placed over only one elements

The tailplane itself is built around a Technic frame, and lateral vanes are attached via a small ball joint

The tailplane plugs in via a couple of holes in the tail-end of the fuselage.

The Stand

Finally, we move on to the simple, black stand: We start stacking bricks in one direction and then another., adding in some arches reminiscent of the classic model plane stands of a bygone era.

The model rests in the cradle, while a small brick sits near the landing gear, keeping the fuselage centred.

The Finished Model

I’ll use few words, mainly pictures…

The SCA on its own.

The Shuttle

The Shuttle mounted on the rear of the SCA

Swoosh test

A vital part of any LEGO Airplane or Spacecraft experience is swooshing it around, losing yourself in the moment and imagining that you are now the pilot. In short, I found this experience quite positive for both the shuttle, the SCA, and the two in tandem. I shared this in a prior Instagram post, but here it is again.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Richard Jones (@ramblingbrick)

Overall

This set represents the most recent foray into building the space shuttle orbiter, and possibly the most detailed version that we have seen at this scale. Enterprise was a fan favorite name, changed as the result of a public petition at the time, and I am glad to see it her.

Plug And Play…and Pack

There is remarkable amount of modularity, for what is essentially a display model: being able to have the shuttle with or without landing gear ( a simple pull off. Push on maneuver); swap the engine block for a tale cone – a single Technic pin does the hard work here – while all of the engine and landing gear can be stored in the cargo bay.

There are three trailer hitches used to hold the shuttle onto the back of the SCA. This lines up with real life. There is sufficient strength in these connections to allow you to pick up the combined model by the shuttle, although you might not want to apply any significant acceleration in this way. This is the voice of experience. While you might think the hitches look a little odd poking up from the fuselage, they are a reasonable approximation of the joints used in real life. Although the clear labelling of the the joint is avoided in the LEGO version (Attach orbiter here. NOTE: Black side down)!

The SCA itself is relatively modular: the tail fin and elevators clip out easily. Even the wings can be easily detached: unhooking 2 clips, and removing 3 pieces to allow the wings to simply pull out.

Here is the process in reverse…

I’d like to thank Huw Millington over at Brickset for pointing out that the whole model can fit into the box that the set comes in, allowing it to sit happily in the cupboard for a while after we have finished having it on display. To be fair, the SCA/Shuttle occupies a fair bit of bench space while it is on display, and I could sense the level of household harmony increase rapidly as I demonstrated this feature.

Getting Creative

The new version of the orbiter, i.e. the Enterprise, is around six studs longer than that Creator 3in1 shuttle 31117, and over 100g lighter. Part of this will be the lack of need to engineer the set to sit a minifigure, to say nothing of the need for retractable landing gear, or disguise the elements that would allow you to create a Rocket or Lunar Lander. On the whole I prefer the nose of this new orbiter: the angle cut sloped tiles improve the look, helping to match the shape of the original, while the nose is also slightly longer, tapering in 3 main directions (with the slightest taper underneath, compared to the use of a nose cone in the creator set. *I recognise that it is not valid to do a ‘hard core’ comparison here, due to the ‘play’ nature of Creator 3in1 sets, which come with there own set of compromises.

In fact, I should probably be giving the Creator team a more credit here than I have for capturing so much of the detail in a relatively inexpensive set.

Conclusions

On the whole I particularly appreciated the finished product in the orbiter build. However, I do have one gripe with regard to the payload bay doors on the Enterprise: the panels are held together with tiles on the external surface, and there are 4 hinge points using 1×1 plates with a clip on top. After repeated opening/closing I found some of these became loose, needing a little extra care to ensure they lined up nicely.

Overall, the shape of the 747 is well captured: the sweep back is a little greater than the real version, however, the techniques used to fill the gaps between the rows of 2x4x2/3 curved slopes are really elegant. There are, perhaps, some angles from which the view is a little odd: I feel the side view is great, while the view from the front appears a little less smooth. Perhaps that comes from the relatively high proportion of studded surfaces near the nose, compared to the rest of the fuselage?

The landing mechanism is smooth. Having all 5 wheels work together is very clever, but I did find it difficult to ensure that I had all wheels descending smoothly, and not overstretching.

I feel this set reaches the right balance between printed elements and stickers. All of the stickers of the 747 could be readily replaced by the livery of your favorite airline, while the prints for the window elements ensured the placement of those elements was non-traumatic. I look forward to seeing people work towards making a regular 747 MOC/MOD using this model as a template.

Does the lack of minifigures matter? I don’t think so. The model is not scaled for them, and no names are widely remembered by the general public associated with the Enterprise Altitude and Landing Tests in 1977. For the sake of completeness though… Fred Haise was pilot on board the ill fated Apollo 13 Mission. He flew the Enterprise with C Gordon Fullerton – who subsequently flew the 3rd Columbia mission. The other ALT pilots, Joe Engel and Dick Truly both flew on STS-2: the second flight of Columbia – proving the reusable nature of the Shuttle.

For myself, I really enjoyed this build. For me, the source material is the stuff of childhood dreams, of a boundless future. To say nothing of how the shape of the space shuttle seemed to influence the shape of all of those great classic space sets. Combining this nostalgic aspect of the build, with a personal passion point and an interesting build experience ensured that I was delighted by the experience here.

The ability to have it set up with the tailcone or the engines is a bonus. I am glad they chose the Enterprise – this was the version that captured the imagination of a generation, before the Columbia took on the role of workhorse for the next 25 years.

This is the first ‘realistic’ model of a commercial jetliner – albeit modified – since the 787 Dreamliner from 2006. That said, that model featured virtually no curved slopes, except on the engines, maintaining the blocky standard that was par for the course at that time in history.

This new model employs all the tricks at the design team’s fingertips to produce as impressive a model as they could: nifty Technic mechanisms, slot in panels, curved slopes elements and more.

The jet sits well in its stand, with or without the Enterprise in place, evoking memories of a new age in space travel, a tribute to 20th century aerospatial engineering.

And it is extremely swooshable.

I enjoyed the whole build process more than I expected, with a mixture of complex techniques (don’t blink or you’ll miss it), exciting geometry and periods for reflection while you stack repetitive elements here and there. Combine this with the personal nostalgic connection and a childhood passion point, and I think this is one of my favorite builds for a while. The only things that brings me down are the payload bay doors (not too important given this is a display, rather than play, set), and the lack of room to display it long term at home. Still, the fact that I am able to tuck it back into the original box helps to solve that problem somewhat. I am very happy to give this set 4.5 out of 5 arbitrary praise units.

The 10360 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft goes on sale on May 15 for LEGO Insiders and the 18th for others. The set has 2419 pieces and will retail for $AUD349.99 / €229.99 / £199.99 / $USD229.99.

What do you think of this set? Does it hit the right spot for you? Nostalgia, function and interest? Or just not really your sort of thing? Does the new shade of white make a difference to you or is the Rambling Brick about to vanish down another rabbit hole?? Leave your comments below.

This set was provided by The LEGO Group for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!