Random set of the day: Coast Guard Station
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 575 Coast Guard Station, released in 1978. It's one of 34 Town sets produced that year. It contains 319 pieces and 5 minifigs.
It's owned by 250 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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17 comments on this article
Oh My Goodness, this was my favorite set growing up!!! It's sitting somewhere in my parents' attic now, but wow, hours of playtime.
Weirdly proportioned set with the building being much too small for the minifigures, but I loved building this set when I was young. The multi-level platforms were pretty cool and I really got a kick out of the way the ladder hung from that opening. Good memories from a great simple set.
Wow, we're going really old-school today.
It's funny. The vehicles fit the minifigs, more or less, but the building is way out of proportion. It's a cool looking building, though.
About my 3rd or 4th set...back in the day. I recently, rebuilt and restored any missing or discoloured bricks, minis, etc... Was a joy to do it 'all over again' 40 years later. =)
My brother had this set. The unusually sized baseplate made it difficult to integrate into a grid. I only learned recently that this was originally sold with the previous minifigure design without arms or movable legs...which may be why the building proportions are off.
My dad had this (in my collection now) but I remember it with yellow vehicles. Is there another version?
My friend had this set when I was a kid, it was lots of fun. Those gray "rocket engine" parts were the epitome of cool, unique pieces back in the day! I'm having zero success finding a complete used copy nowadays, kids must have played their copies to death back in the day...
one of my favorites! recently found my baseplate, too--but yeah, an odd size and will be interesting fitting that into my town . . . .
Whoa I never knew this existed. Look at all those cool space parts! Younger me would’ve loved this back in the day.
How ironic we got a set with the American flag on the Fourth of July.
Maybe it's just the aged/worn quality of the box but that baseplate looks like a different shade of blue than the basic brick blue, it looks like a pleasing light blue or dark azure (though I'm pretty sure the later is way to new to be it.) I like it, it's got a more Caribbean feel to it.
Note that the set has a US national roundel on the fuselage of the helicopter, but the US Coast Guard actually only puts that insignia on the fins of aircraft. Other American military organizations put it on the fuselage. The Coast Guard has their own service mark with a diagonal red stripe that they put on the fuselage.
But, for a forty-year old Danish toy helicopter, it is quite a good attempt, indeed.
There are 3 versions. A Canadian 575, the US and the European 369. For the us set there are 2 box versions as well.
I have the european version (369). The vehicles were nice to play with (and modify). The base was far less interesting.
Eventually the antenna lost its spines and the two-bladed propellers got broken.
But I really hated the big stickers that were spread over two rows of bricks.
Kind of astonishing to see a Coast Guard set with expressly US-based graphics since our Coast Guard (unlike those in Canada, Germany, the UK, etc) is a branch of our military!
^ MataNui2009
That's not irony. It's pretty much the opposite of irony.
I have this set, but am missing the instructions!
My all time favorite! Got this for my birthday waaaay back in 1978. The then brand new minifigures blew my six year old mind away—no more faceless people with hands in their pockets lol. Still have it of course and still remember the first time I built it- my dad helped.