Vintage set of the week: Helicopter and Pilot
Posted by Huwbot,This week's vintage set is 253 Helicopter and Pilot, released during 1975. It's one of 6 Building Set with People sets produced that year. It contains 49 pieces.
It's owned by 188 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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The peak of Aerodynamics in LEGO.
That looks like something I'd have made out of a Freestyle bucket, ca. 1998 or so, but with the difference that this has slightly more consistent colours.
I love it.
That many clear bricks used to make a windscreen is painfully hard to see through, but it's so nostalgic that you have to build something like it at least once
Not as detailed as 691 : Rescue Helicopter , but it had to fit a maxifig, making it still the first helicopter set with a pilot.
911: Advanced Basic Set, 6+ was the first enclosed "minifig" helicopter even if they had no faces or arms yet.
There's something very charming about those earlier brick-built helicopters, the helicopter in 733 : Universal Building Set, 7+ looks quite amazing for 1980, including the see-through bottom part of the cockpit.
Awww, it's so dumpy! How can you not love that classic LEGO aesthetic?
Where are his flight goggles? Those little spectacles aren't going to protect you, dude!
I miss the parts 3461: Propeller 4 Blade 5 Diameter with Hole for Rotor Holder and 3462: Plate Special 2 x 3 with Helicopter Rotor Holder. To me they are so much better than what we have now - which look like they have been heavily juniorized.
Strangely, I thought this set was fugly when I was a kid (and I own set 200) and now, I kind of like it. Not enough to go buy it on Bricklink but it has a certain charm to it.
Edit: most important part of this set (and Lego should bring it back) is the hand of the maxifig - part 3614 - combined with the mixel joints, this would help a lot.
At first glance, I thought this was a much smaller model, then I realized that was a maxifig, not a minifig.
Aah, the pilot looks so happy, blissfully unaware that his life will soon be destroyed by the minfig78 pandemic.
@TheOtherMike said:
"At first glance, I thought this was a much smaller model, then I realized that was a maxifig, not a minifig."
Minifigs didn’t even exist at the time!
I have this one. The tail is comically small for the overall size of the chopper (the blades are also too short, but not as bad).
If I ever get a City built, I wonder how I might incorporate it. Maybe on top of a building as a logo or something.
Or I could call it a Gonk with a fez and a tail. Wasn’t it in Kenobi?
This predates LEGO coins, so I have to assume this is wooden playground furniture.
@NotProfessorWhymzi said:
"generously, i can say that it's very 8-bit..."
Can't beat a bit of Choplifter!
Gah, it looks like that poor man has fused with his helicopter! Being slowly absorbed by it like it’s the Flying Dutchman or something
I want to see someone do a fully modern update of this with all the latest parts and techniques and a Miniland-scale figure.
That helicopter sure looks clunky, and it don't even have any stud shooters on it! :(
@goldenguy880 said:
"Where are his flight goggles? Those little spectacles aren't going to protect you, dude!"
One always wears pince-nez when flying a vintage aircraft.
@TeriXeri said:
"911: Advanced Basic Set, 6+ was the first enclosed "minifig" helicopter even if they had no faces or arms yet."
Your scare quotes “….” are certainly needed as the small, featureless, static figures from 911’s time were definitionally not minifigures. They’re sometimes called ‘slabbies’ but that’s a fan name, not LEGO’s.
I remember the maxifig era, then ‘slabbies’ and eventually minifigures. When I first saw images of minifigures, I thought they were so cool… still do!
According to all known laws of aviation, this helicopter is not able to fly.
It's rotors and tail are too small to get its fat little chassis of the ground.
This helicopter, of course, flies anyways.
Because helicopters don't care what humans think is impossible.
To all the people who say "Lego was better in the olden days when there were fewer specialised parts and it was all just basic bricks." we just need to show them this.
In 1975 I'm sure it was fine but if this was 2022 Lego then people would be buying the competitor brands instead.
@TeriXeri said:
"Not as detailed as 691 : Rescue Helicopter , but it had to fit a maxifig, making it still the first helicopter set with a pilot.
911: Advanced Basic Set, 6+ was the first enclosed "minifig" helicopter even if they had no faces or arms yet.
There's something very charming about those earlier brick-built helicopters, the helicopter in 733 : Universal Building Set, 7+ looks quite amazing for 1980, including the see-through bottom part of the cockpit.
"
Those Basic and Universal sets are beautiful. It would be great if they returned.
I am one of the 188 people on Brickset that own this set. I think I own close to half the VSOTW sets that have been featured so far.
Edit: 8 out of 17 so far, if you count the EU/UK/AUS variants of two of the sets posted
In the 1978-79 catalogs (at least in the USA), the original armless, legless, no-face-print figures were called "Minifigures", and the newfangled figures wtih smiley faces and posable limbs were called "Mini-Action-figures". Obviously once the original minfigures went away, so did the clunky name for the current design...
@Paperdaisy: Today's selection of bricks certainly allows for more realistic designs for display and a plethora of play features. However, depending on your point of view, that does not necessarily mean that LEGO today is "better". It's just a different toy now than it was 40-50 years ago (albeit with components that still work with those of the earlier eras), which has indeed allowed TLG to grow from a smallish niche toymaker into a giant conglomerate by selling boatloads more sets than they ever could back then.
Regardless of anyone's opinion, it's natural for us old fogies to reminisce fondly about our childhood toys...
@BulbaNerd4000: I didn't notice the date, and had forgotten that Saturday has the VSotW.
1x8, 2x10 AND a sloped brick? A real builder would have known how to make a much better helicopter without all those modern bricks...
Thats interesting, as I did not think LEGO really made tiny sets like this with a maxifig.
Unrealistic that a pilot would have sight problems. You never see a pilot with glasses in real life, why is this ageing businessman flying this copter?
@VintageDude:
Sure, if you mean “looks like it spent a year in a sandbox and then got stepped on”. Even into the 80’s, they were still using acrylic, which scratches with a harsh glance, and doesn’t take much force to crack.
@Norikins:
https://www.allaboutvision.com/eyeglasses/faq/pilot-glasses.htm
The only hard restriction I’ve heard is that US Navy fighter pilots (and by extension USMC fighter pilots) can’t wear glasses or contacts due to the exceptional G-forces exerted when they shoot you off the deck with the catapult launch system.
It’s probably just not common because vision tends to get worse as you age, and it would suck to get through all your flight training only to realize you’ve just got a couple years before you won’t pass the eye exam.
@GSR_MataNui said:
"That many clear bricks used to make a windscreen is painfully hard to see through, but it's so nostalgic that you have to build something like it at least once "
That’s why the maxifig is wearing glasses, to correct for the windscreen
I never liked the sets with the 2- wide bricks.