Too long since we've had an airport!

Comments

• Dedgecko Member Posts: 798

  March 2015

  Where are all of the sets with baseplates!?  So many sets these days come with small plates as a foundation, or simply nothing at all given they are vehicles...  

  

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• Dedgecko Member Posts: 798

  March 2015

  It would be nice if we got another airport shuttle/monorail set, modular style!  Priced at $499!  Complete with airport terminal, runway plates, baggage carts, a passenger jet, news helicopter!

  

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• bobabricks Member Posts: 1,842

  March 2015

  I do miss baseplates. I think they add so much more play value for kids when there is a larger area around the building. If a new airport came out with a bunch of road plates I would be very happy.

  

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• rocao Administrator Posts: 4,290

  March 2015

  #3182 was a 2010 model, but it was available until the end of 2012. After that #60022 Cargo Terminal was made, and although it is not a commuter terminal, it is meant to be an air terminal. There's little doubt an airport will return, just not this year.
  
  You're obviously not alone in wanting an airport, though. The aftermarket prices on #3182 indicates strong demand.

  

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• Dedgecko Member Posts: 798

  March 2015

  Also, someone break it through TLG's skull to stop wasting time on huge monolithic pieces.  The planes and trains all look terrible with them.  For boats... Eh, I think they serve a purpose and provide a solid, nigh-unbreakble foundation to support the rest of the structure.  Though I do like the pirate boat style of build since it allows for MOC's to expand what's already there.  
  
  Sorry this is a mere rant on the state of the building system ive come to realize in the year since coming back into the hobby.

  

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• piratemania7 Member Posts: 2,146

  March 2015

  Growing up in the 90's airports and seaports were huge - I never had any. I was always envious of all my friends who had one.

  

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• madforLEGO Member Posts: 10,787

  March 2015 edited March 2015

  Dedgecko said:

  Also, someone break it through TLG's skull to stop wasting time on huge monolithic pieces.  The planes and trains all look terrible with them.  For boats... Eh, I think they serve a purpose and provide a solid, nigh-unbreakble foundation to support the rest of the structure.  Though I do like the pirate boat style of build since it allows for MOC's to expand what's already there.  
  
  Sorry this is a mere rant on the state of the building system ive come to realize in the year since coming back into the hobby.

  Easy to rant, but think about it. If you want to pay 150-200 USD for an airport then yes they can make them more brick oriented.
  While the large fuselage does look a bit hokey, it serves a purpose, which is to keep the prices, and box weight, down. It is the same reason why the 'terminal' for the airport is not that big, it is too try to keep it under 99.99 USD.
  Same reason for the train. You do not want a heavy train model that would take two motors to get it up to speed would you? (it would also add cost and likely cause the motors to burn out quicker)
  As for the boat pieces, if I am not mistaken they float. At least that would make sense why they are one big piece. The Pirate ship is not floatable I think as it is made of pieces still, but then again look at the rest of it, pretty spartan IMO
  
  

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• CCC Member Posts: 20,526

  March 2015

  It is also to keep the aeroplanes playable. It is infuriating for a parent to have to keep rebuilding things that swoosh, especially if they break in storage.

  

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• Venunder Member Posts: 2,659

  March 2015

  I would not want to buy a £200-300 Airport as one set.
  
  Lego definitely have to bring out more modular sets.
  Small sets that work on their own, but also fit together to make a greater construction.
  1. Plane with passengers and runway,( 3 or 4 runway plates). 
  2. Baggage cart with taxi-ing lane (1 or 2 plates) and cargo building.
  3. Airport Terminal with coach depot and taxi rank (1 or 2 plates).
  each set priced at £40-60.
  
  I can then decide if my airport needs more Runways or more Airport terminals.
  This also allows relatives to work together to buy all the sets for a special child. :)
  
  They have done this before so why not now? 

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• pharmjod Member Posts: 2,916

  March 2015

  Or LEGO could do an airport in the Modular theme? That could be interesting :) An actual detailed air traffic control tower, baggage check/pickup security/terminal. Could have potential. Would probably be like the Town Hall though :)

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• monkyby87 Member Posts: 316

  March 2015

  madforLEGO said:

  Dedgecko said:

  Also, someone break it through TLG's skull to stop wasting time on huge monolithic pieces.  The planes and trains all look terrible with them.  For boats... Eh, I think they serve a purpose and provide a solid, nigh-unbreakble foundation to support the rest of the structure.  Though I do like the pirate boat style of build since it allows for MOC's to expand what's already there.  
  
  Sorry this is a mere rant on the state of the building system ive come to realize in the year since coming back into the hobby.

  Easy to rant, but think about it. If you want to pay 150-200 USD for an airport then yes they can make them more brick oriented.
  While the large fuselage does look a bit hokey, it serves a purpose, which is to keep the prices, and box weight, down. It is the same reason why the 'terminal' for the airport is not that big, it is too try to keep it under 99.99 USD.
  Same reason for the train. You do not want a heavy train model that would take two motors to get it up to speed would you? (it would also add cost and likely cause the motors to burn out quicker)
  As for the boat pieces, if I am not mistaken they float. At least that would make sense why they are one big piece. The Pirate ship is not floatable I think as it is made of pieces still, but then again look at the rest of it, pretty spartan IMO
  
  

  Well said.  It also may make it easier for kids to build them without adult help.  

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• Aanchir Member Posts: 3,037

  March 2015

  CCC said:

  It is also to keep the aeroplanes playable. It is infuriating for a parent to have to keep rebuilding things that swoosh, especially if they break in storage.

  Gotta agree here. Today's LEGO planes, on the whole, are not too much simpler than the ones in themes I grew up with. But what they definitely are is <i>bigger</i>. Instead of floors and roofs made from 4x4 sections like the plane in #6544, they have floors and roofs made from 4x6 or even 8x8 sections. Why didn't they just increase the piece count, instead of the size of the pieces? Well, despite the increase in size (which allows the planes to be more realistic in terms of seating and cargo capacity), kids are likely to play with them pretty much the same way that they played with the older, smaller planes, and that presents that much more of a challenge now that kids will need to swoosh many of the planes around with both hands.
  
  Other than that change, the main difference is in the streamlined nose pieces we have nowadays, and I think this is what tends to bother a lot of people most. And I'll admit it sometimes seems "Duplo-ish" to a degree. But while it does limit the potential uses of those nose pieces, I think the sets still offer plenty of building value, and feel less "old-fashioned" than they would have with angular slope bricks.
  
  Maybe one day LEGO might introduce new nose pieces that return to coming in three sections (Roof, windscreen, and nose) instead of just one. Certainly they don't think kids today are too dumb to handle that level of building — after all, sets like #60046 have even more complex builds than ANY aircraft sets I remember from my childhood, despite the same 5–12 age range of any other LEGO City set! So I'd wager the large, streamlined design of current plane nose pieces is more for appearance's sake than anything else.
  
  As for trains, I'm not sure quite what can be done. Real-life trains today are different than trains I grew up with. Sleek, high-speed trains are the order of the day (especially in Europe), and it's hard to build a high-speed train like that without either using a specialized nose like #60051 or considerably more advanced building techniques like #10233. A train like #4558 (which used some fairly specialized nose pieces in its own right, but again, in three sections instead of just one) would seem rather dated to many kids today, despite looking cutting-edge when it was originally released in 1991.
  

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• hkcrazy88 Member Posts: 163

  March 2015

  Venunder said:

  I would not want to buy a £200-300 Airport as one set.
  
  Lego definitely have to bring out more modular sets.
  Small sets that work on their own, but also fit together to make a greater construction.
  1. Plane with passengers and runway,( 3 or 4 runway plates). 
  2. Baggage cart with taxi-ing lane (1 or 2 plates) and cargo building.
  3. Airport Terminal with coach depot and taxi rank (1 or 2 plates).
  each set priced at £40-60.
  
  
  

  I love this idea so much!!!
  

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• TarDomo Member Posts: 515

  March 2015

  but we have the Billund Airport... well just kidding I´d definitely buy a Lego airport, I´m a huge fan of travelling.

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• madforLEGO Member Posts: 10,787

  March 2015

  I think the one thing that truly is missing from the airports of today are the lack of 'landing strip' base plates. But imagine how expensive an Airport would be if those were included.
  

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• Venunder Member Posts: 2,659

  March 2015

  ^ this is why a modular system of 3 or 4 sets to make the whole Airport is required.

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• madforLEGO Member Posts: 10,787

  March 2015 edited March 2015

  Venunder said:

  ^ this is why a modular system of 3 or 4 sets to make the whole Airport is required.

  I just do not see that working though. Remember LEGO has to sell a lot of each not just a lot of Airport 'basic' sets, and a handful of this set and accessories. LEGO is not in the business of putting stuff on clearance to get rid of it when it does not sell well. I just do not see any modular set up with an Airport working. That is why you get an airport with terminal and plane in one box, everything in one box.
  I agree it would be neat if that happened, but it is a lot like when LEGO tried to do train cars and the Build you own loco. Some cars sold well, some locos sold well, but many did not and LEGO had to clearance them to get rid of them.
  

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• mr_benn Member Posts: 943

  March 2015

  Many of you will have seen this, but here's a great airport MOC! http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=52406

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• piratemania7 Member Posts: 2,146

  March 2015

  ^after seeing the above MOC I don't even know why we are continuing this discussion. Truly epic.

  

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• Dedgecko Member Posts: 798

  March 2015

  Yep, Epic

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• Pitfall69 Member Posts: 11,454

  March 2015

  I just got done building #60050 Train Station and this is one of the stickers. This might be a hint that there will be a new airport coming  :)

  20150312_233325-1.jpg 1.2M

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• Plell Member Posts: 192

  March 2015

  And in just 10 minutes, too!

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• Pitfall69 Member Posts: 11,454

  March 2015

  ^Fast train ;)

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• piratemania7 Member Posts: 2,146

  March 2015

  Interesting observation @Pitfall69. It would be great to get an updated airport with a "classic" touch to it. I'm also looking for a revamped cargo sea/harbor port of some sort after having recently been bit by the cargo train fever.

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