Available on Amazon, eBay.
Price: Over $200
Lego # 10231
Pieces: 1230
Rating:
(One of the best sets you will find but cheaped out a bit on the half size base plate.)
Space Shuttle Expedition is a retired Lego set but still widely available from Amazon sellers, eBay, and other similar sites. Be aware 10231 is the newer version. There is a very similar model 10213 (13 instead of 31) that is a year or so older than this. This model was improved for greater durability.
This is a serious build. I broke it up over two days doing the shuttle the first day and the rest on the second day. The boosters and fuel tank are made of relatively large pieces and build more quickly than the shuttle.
The shuttle has retractable landing gears, cargo bay doors that open, a Canadian Arm and inside is a satellite you can attach to the arm. The Shuttle and solid rocket boosters can all be easily detached from the main fuel tank. The cockpit opens but you can't see through the windshield, it's just small translucent bricks, no real window. The cockpit can fit 2 mini-figures. There's a wheeled vehicle (with driver), a half-size base plate, and a few "lights" to finish off the set. (See photo.)
The finial design of the shuttle is durable. You can play with this, it doesn't need to just sit on a shelf somewhere. That said I did have some issues with the overall design.
Despite being fairly tall at just under 18 inches the stand is based off a half-size (16x32) grey base plate. First thing I did was transfer the set to a larger square full size (32x32) base plate and build a structure around the back of the fuel tank to better secure the shuttle- I did not want this falling over.
Note- the 3rd and 4th image show my enlarged "launch pad" and is not part of the actual set being reviewed.
For a set this impressive I wish they would have had a more solid stand to show it off. My other issues were much more minor and easily remedied- such as adding two additional translucent red/orange 1x1 pegs to represent fire coming from the two auxiliary engines. By default it comes with a bunch to put into the main engines and it seemed obvious to me you would add two more so all the engines appeared on.
The original list price of this set was $99.99. If you can find it anywhere near that price buy it and consider yourself lucky. I personally paid over $200 (though most of it was with gift cards) and I still feel it was a worthwhile buy and build.
Price: Over $200
Lego # 10231
Pieces: 1230
Rating:
(One of the best sets you will find but cheaped out a bit on the half size base plate.)
Space Shuttle Expedition is a retired Lego set but still widely available from Amazon sellers, eBay, and other similar sites. Be aware 10231 is the newer version. There is a very similar model 10213 (13 instead of 31) that is a year or so older than this. This model was improved for greater durability.
This is a serious build. I broke it up over two days doing the shuttle the first day and the rest on the second day. The boosters and fuel tank are made of relatively large pieces and build more quickly than the shuttle.
The shuttle has retractable landing gears, cargo bay doors that open, a Canadian Arm and inside is a satellite you can attach to the arm. The Shuttle and solid rocket boosters can all be easily detached from the main fuel tank. The cockpit opens but you can't see through the windshield, it's just small translucent bricks, no real window. The cockpit can fit 2 mini-figures. There's a wheeled vehicle (with driver), a half-size base plate, and a few "lights" to finish off the set. (See photo.)
The finial design of the shuttle is durable. You can play with this, it doesn't need to just sit on a shelf somewhere. That said I did have some issues with the overall design.
Despite being fairly tall at just under 18 inches the stand is based off a half-size (16x32) grey base plate. First thing I did was transfer the set to a larger square full size (32x32) base plate and build a structure around the back of the fuel tank to better secure the shuttle- I did not want this falling over.
Note- the 3rd and 4th image show my enlarged "launch pad" and is not part of the actual set being reviewed.
For a set this impressive I wish they would have had a more solid stand to show it off. My other issues were much more minor and easily remedied- such as adding two additional translucent red/orange 1x1 pegs to represent fire coming from the two auxiliary engines. By default it comes with a bunch to put into the main engines and it seemed obvious to me you would add two more so all the engines appeared on.
The original list price of this set was $99.99. If you can find it anywhere near that price buy it and consider yourself lucky. I personally paid over $200 (though most of it was with gift cards) and I still feel it was a worthwhile buy and build.