Howdy, pardner.

Yarr, Cap'n!

Ok...I give up: which one is "Walker", and is he Chuck Norris, or Jared Padalecki...:D

Also: Black Cactus? Wow, Lego really carried that "No green 'bricks'" policy far...:)

I prefer Rangers who ride giant robot dinosaurs, rather than horses, but I ain't judging.

Is that a black cactus in the background? Green bricks weren't around, but yellow would make more sense to me.

For Chuck Norris, the only illegal building techniques are the ones he can't do with a roundhouse kick.

Cool set, the closest I got was the small 617 set. Which had a similar build for the horse, though interestingly, replaced that 2x1 plate for the ears with a tile.

Ah 1977, a very good year! I had this and still use those colorful hats sometimes.

Is the US Flag in this a print or sticker?

I had no idea this set existed. I knew about the full town and but not this one.

So I guess the red stands in for brown in the buildings, and the overlapping protruding corners indicate they're built log-cabin style?

Omg! Curved base plate and time travelling minecraft cactus!

Yee-haaaw!! This set is the gift that keeps on giving! Can make countless cowboy jokes and enjoy playing with these epic retro minifigs! *shoots six shots in the air* The LEGO Movie missed a trick by not including this!

@brick_r said:
"Ok...I give up: which one is "Walker", and is he Chuck Norris, or Jared Padalecki...:D

Also: Black Cactus? Wow, Lego really carried that "No green 'bricks'" policy far...:)"

When I got this a few years ago, I Bricklinked the parts for a replacement cactus in dark green. Not historically accurate but looks a lot better.

Does anyone else suddenly want this now? Because I want this now.

This is a VSotW that I'd want for the parts alone--the red cowboy hat, mainly, but it's a nice bunch of parts.

@miskox said:
"Horses have human legs. "
Haha, hadn't noticed that before. Kinda freaky....

Earlier I mentioned 617, that horse just used regular bricks and plates for the legs. So despite being a set with two figures and a horse, there's only one leg piece....

Also while that did use a tile instead of plate for the ears (and oddly enough a year before this set was released), it was still a tile without groove. I think with those it would still be considered an illegal building technique?

@Eightcoins8 said:
"Is the US Flag in this a print or sticker?"

sticker.... they didn't print very much at this point in time.

@Tupperfan said:
"Yarr, Cap'n!"

Now you've got me wondering what it would have looked like if they'd done a pirate-themed set in this era. Wonder if it would have looked anything like 398.

Other non-promo sets with the name of US states in their name:
10745 Florida 500 Final Race
21028 New York City
40519 New York Postcard
There's also lots of promo sets from different states, plus a few Indiana Jones sets with Indiana in the name (7621 Indiana Jones and the Lost Tomb, for example), but those aren't especially referring to the state. (Though it could be argued that the New York ones are referring to the city rather than the state, anyways)

I like this.

@WizardOfOss said:
"Also while that did use a tile instead of plate for the ears (and oddly enough a year before this set was released), it was still a tile without groove. I think with those it would still be considered an illegal building technique?"

https://bramlambrecht.com/tmp/jamieberard-brickstress-bf06.pdf

Don't know for sure. Jake never addressed the insertion of old tiles between studs. The only mention the old ungroovy tiles got was that it's illegal for a clip or minifig hand to grip them by the edge. I don't own any of those tiles, but I know one of the issues between tiles and plates is the modern groovy tile is thinner than a plate. The change in thickness means the groovy tile just fits better between two studs, where a plate gets pinched way too hard. I'd therefore think that the answer would depend on whether or not the original tiles were also thinner than plates, or if they were just plates with no studs.

I really like the idea of this set. Nice job of pre-90s cowboys...

Ahhh... the memories. :) This was one of the first LEGO sets I got as a kid along with 699 safari. I got this set in Germany while visiting relatives with my mom. We saw it in the window of the toy shop but the display copy was the only one they had so I had to wait and come back the next day so that they could disassemble the set.

@PurpleDave said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"Also while that did use a tile instead of plate for the ears (and oddly enough a year before this set was released), it was still a tile without groove. I think with those it would still be considered an illegal building technique?"

https://bramlambrecht.com/tmp/jamieberard-brickstress-bf06.pdf

Don't know for sure. Jake never addressed the insertion of old tiles between studs. The only mention the old ungroovy tiles got was that it's illegal for a clip or minifig hand to grip them by the edge. I don't own any of those tiles, but I know one of the issues between tiles and plates is the modern groovy tile is thinner than a plate. The change in thickness means the groovy tile just fits better between two studs, where a plate gets pinched way too hard. I'd therefore think that the answer would depend on whether or not the original tiles were also thinner than plates, or if they were just plates with no studs."

Of course, it's all academic anyway, as Lego hasn't made those tiles in decades. The closest they've come in my time was the original 1x2 jumper, and that's another piece they added a groove to long ago.

Just noticed this. It looks like the yellow horse without the rider has its "ears" on backwards!!

Edit: My bad. The instructions show the "ears" positioned with the studs forward. I always thought it looked better with the studs pointed to the back end of the horse and it looks like the other horses in the picture are done this way!

@TheOtherMike:
In the sense that it’ll never happen in a forthcoming set, sure. In the sense that these pieces exist and someone may actually give it a try, I’d rather know ahead of time if it’s guaranteed to damage the part, especially since they aren’t making more.

@Blockwork_Orange:
Depends on the mood of the horse. Studs facing back would look like ears pointed forwards, indicating a calm and attentive horse. Studs facing back would look like ears laid back, which is a sign that novice riders might want to let someone more experienced take over.

@PurpleDave said:
" @TheOtherMike:
In the sense that it’ll never happen in a forthcoming set, sure. In the sense that these pieces exist and someone may actually give it a try, I’d rather know ahead of time if it’s guaranteed to damage the part, especially since they aren’t making more."

There's really no way to know unless someone bites the bullet, although if someone were going to try, maybe using the end of one of the original jumper plates might be a more palatable option, since those pieces aren't quite as old.

@TheOtherMike said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @TheOtherMike:
In the sense that it’ll never happen in a forthcoming set, sure. In the sense that these pieces exist and someone may actually give it a try, I’d rather know ahead of time if it’s guaranteed to damage the part, especially since they aren’t making more."

There's really no way to know unless someone bites the bullet, although if someone were going to try, maybe using the end of one of the original jumper plates might be a more palatable option, since those pieces aren't quite as old."

Meh. Just use calipers to check the height. Or even putting it next to a groovy tile and a 4x4 plate with one row of studs will let you check the height by running a finger over them. If there's any height difference between the two tiles but not with the plate, don't ever do it. Or just don't do it in general, since those parts are now so rare, but note whether or not it will cause damage for academic purposes.