Review: 31142 Space Roller Coaster
Posted by benbacardi,
LEGO has a long history of space-themed sets, with the Creator 3-in-1 theme no exception. One of this year's largest 3-in-1 sets, 31142 Space Roller Coaster, provides us with three excellent interstellar theme park rides to choose from.
The set consists of more than 850 parts, and six minifigures, including the fantastic Classic Space baby. The hardest part will be deciding which of the three rides to build first!
Summary
31142 Space Roller Coaster, 874 pieces.
£94.99 / $109.99 / €104.99 | 10.9p/12.6c/12.0c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Three excellent space-themed fairground rides and a great selection of minifigures.
- Three great rides to choose from
- A Classic Space baby!
- Plenty of detail and play value
- Alternative models could make use of more of the parts in the set
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
The first figures we build are a father and his child, with a welcome return of the adorable "spacebaby" from 71037 Brown Astronaut and Spacebaby in this year's CMF series. There's usually nothing groundbreaking in terms of minifigure design in the Creator 3-in-1 range, and this is no exception—the father is wearing a standard torso print with an open hoody over a t-shirt, and he's got a happy smile on his face. I do like the crow's feet marks around his eyes, helping provide a bit of context to the figure's age.
The torso print continues to the rear, and an amusing alternative expression is provided, showing the man feeling rather unwell, with puffed-out cheeks, a pinched mouth, and a small bead of sweat. He is clearly not a fan of theme park rides!
No rollercoaster park would be complete without some children to enjoy the experience, and this is no exception. A boy and a girl are provided, both with space-themed torsos. The boy's, depicting a full classic space minifigure on a white shirt with green arms, has been around for over a decade, and looks excellent. The girl's is more recent yet found in more sets, showing just a minifigure head in a space helmet in front of the classic space swoosh (albeit in reverse). Both minifigures are grinning broadly, and I love the print of the teeth and tongue on the boy's expression.
Both are provided with alternative expressions, with shocked open mouths such as you might expect to see while riding the thrills of a rollercoaster.
Finally, two female staff members are provided to operate the ride and enhance the rider's experience. Both themed to the ride, the first is wearing the blue flight suits with the classic space logo first introduced last year, and the second a full "EVA" suit (designed for work in the vacuum of space, rather than in a spacecraft). Both are very detailed prints, and look excellent.
The flight technician's wearing glasses above a wide smile, and the flicked-out hair piece suits the minifigure perfectly. The astronaut's also got a large smile, and blond hair in a ponytail that can be swapped out for a full spacesuit helmet and air tanks.
Only the astronaut is provided with a second expression, a similar grin but this time with closed eyes.
Space Roller Coaster
The primary build of the set is the titular Space Roller Coaster. There's a small ancillary model to be built first, a sit-n-ride space shuttle. Despite the few pieces used, it's pretty detailed, with green and red lights, flames out the rear of the shuttle's boosters, and room for a single minifigure.
Turning the gear on the back of the model causes the shuttle to rock back and forth, and the nose to rise and dip, just as it would on a real ride.
The main coaster itself is built around a solid base of beams made from plate-brick-plate sandwiches, providing a very stable foundation on which to place the track. The resulting model can be carried around in just one hand lifting the base from the middle, which is surprising but welcome.
The track rests on 4x4 circular plates at the intersection of the base grid. Half of the base is built using different shades of grey, and represents the planet's surface where the astronauts board the rocket. Rocky outcroppings hold up the track as it rises. The other half is black, and the track is held up by lattice towers, representing the path of the rocket through space.
Once complete, the coaster is a pretty decent size, rounding the corner from the station, and climbing an incline before returning in a figure of eight pattern. The track is surrounded by a myriad of mini models, both functional (such as the ride's queue system) and decorative.
The coaster is made up of three single-rider carriages, themed appropriately like a spacecraft. The carriage at the front features the windscreen and shuttle's nose, and the rear carriage the three rocket engines and tail fin, making the whole train heavily resemble a stretched-out Space Shuttle orbiter. There's room inside each for a single minifigure to sit (though children have to stand, of course, due to their inability to bend at the waist!)
Riders are first drawn to the coaster by the large SPACE sign fixed to one of the supports, each letter cleverly made using a two-by-six grid of tiles, taking inspiration from the now discontinued Dots theme in which this style of lettering is commonplace. It looks excellent, with a small shuttle-style orbiter transiting a yellow planet above it. LEGO is getting very good at building minature Space Shuttles!
The entrance to the ride's queue is round the back of the coaster, with a small ladder leading up to a turnstile. The queue winds through a white building, clearly designed for the illusion of astronauts preparing to board a real spacecraft, just as real theme park attractions attempt to do.
The building itself looks more like a module of the International Space Station than it does anything you'd find on the ground—especially as official images of the set show the fully-suited astronaut minifigure clinging to the handrails above the smaller module attached to the side! There's some greenery growing beneath a hinged dome on the roof, and a pair of communication antennas attached to the side. Out the front is a small waiting area before the coaster's loading platform, edged by handrails and a printed yellow-and-black warning tile.
Once the ride reaches the top of the incline, the passengers are greeted by a rocky comet as they begin their descent, which incorporates the red light brick included in the set. Pressing the nose of the comet lights up the flames at the rear, which is fairly effective as one of the flame pieces is connected directly to the LED, making the whole translucent piece glow.
Just behind the comet is a small ringed planet, which is one of the weaker models around the coaster—the way the rings are connected feels just a bit too clunky, though how else it could be achieved I'm not sure.
As the carriages pick up speed at the start of the descent, they pass a smaller comet, which is attached to a lever protruding above track level in the centre of the rails. This catches on the underside of each carriage when it passes, making the comet flick upwards as if it's flying past. It works relatively well, but makes a disconcerting "clack" sound for each carriage, which would certainly worry me if I were a passenger!
Spiralling down the final curve of the figure-of-eight, the coaster loops around the larges sub-model of the set, an in-flight rocket clearly modelled on the Saturn series from the Apollo launches in the 60s. It's connected to the base by an angled stand, and looks very effective for the relatively few pieces it uses. It makes a great model by itself, and an excellent focal point for the space half of the coaster.
Attached to the centre of the base of the model is a small planetary rover, modelled somewhat on NASA's Mars rover Perseverance. It sits on an orange base, and can rotate on a small turntable, with an arm for collecting rock samples and a camera on a periscope.
There's one final surprise for the riders as they make the steep descent at the end of the coaster—an alien is hiding in a crevasse in the rocks waiting for them! Four olive-green tentacles reach out from the rock face from beneath a single eye, but the passengers are safe as it cannot reach them. There's a camera waiting to take their photo as they fly past, however, hopefully to catch some memorable expressions!
Drop Tower
As a 3-in-1 set, there are two other theme park rides you can build with the set. Neither of them use anywhere near as many pieces as the primary, and come together much quicker. The first is a drop tower, using the lattice supports that previously held up the coaster track. A small loading area leads to a pair of seats that are built around one of the tower supports, allowing free movement up and down.
At the top of the tower, the seats can are held in place by a lever that can be twisted out of the way to make them drop.
There's nothing to slow them down—at the base, they land heavily on a slightly squishy piece of rubber, bringing the ride to a rather rapid halt.
The majority of the pieces in the build are used for a large Space Shuttle next to the tower—this isn't part of the ride itself, but does incorporate the light brick which can be activated from the back to light up the Shuttle's main engines. Rather inaccurate to the real shuttle, as the main engines only fire once the solid rocket boosters either side of the fuel tank were spent and had fallen away! Nevertheless, the effect is quite cool.
Another small single person ride is also constructed, this time a futuristic space vehicle that spins in a circle.
There's room for a single figure, such as the baby, and the ride can be spun by twisting the axle that protudes from the centre.
Carousel
The final build is what LEGO refers to as a carousel, although it's more in the style of a chair swing ride than a traditional merry-go-round. Two space vehicles are suspended from free-swinging arms attached to a central column, and as the ride spins the centrifugal force flings them outwards.
One of the vehicles is once again reminiscent of the iconic Space Shuttle, with room inside for one rider—as long as they stand up.
The other is less iconic in design but no less a great looking space vehicle, particularly given how few parts make up its construction.
On top of the central tower, an alien pokes its single eye above the parapet, sheltering beneath a clear dome that can be raised or lowered.
The loading area is similar to the primary roller coaster build, on a smaller scale—passengers make their way through a rounded white building (and can be "scanned" as they go through, with the entire interior being lit up by the light brick on top). Once past, a ladder is lowered against the waiting vehicle for them to climb up and in. It has to be folded away before the ride begins, otherwise the spacecraft will hit it as they spin.
The ancillary models with the carousel include a small robot, and a futuristic photo booth.
Conclusion
Some of LEGO's best sets come from the Creator line, within the 3-in-1 range particularly. 31142 Space Roller Coaster contains three excellent theme park rides, and they would look great all on display together (although purchasing three sets does push the price up somewhat).
Since the introduction of LEGO's updated roller-coaster tracks in 2017, they've been used in a wide variety of sets and function very well. In this case, the coaster works excellently, although the train does tend to overshoot the station when it comes to rest. There's so much going on around the coaster, too, and it looks brilliant on display as well to play with. My two children spent a very happy half-hour with it before I had to take it away and tear it down to build the other two models! (LEGO: I suggest sending three of each 3-in-1 set for review in future to avoid such situations ;)).
The alternative models are understandably less exciting, but both provide another fun and unique fairground ride that functions excellently. I have a fondness for LEGO's creative 3-in-1 set, and this is no exception. I suspect this will be a set that is built over and over again as the children get older.
31142 Space Roller Coaster is available on LEGO.com from 1st August for $109.99, £94.99, 104.99€.
191 likes
58 comments on this article
@benbacardi said:
"LEGO are getting very good at building minature Space Shuttles!"
I have to inquire, is LEGO singular or plural? I've always said "LEGO is" not "LEGO are," but I'm very interested to see what other people say.
@rljf311 said:
" @benbacardi said:
"LEGO are getting very good at building minature Space Shuttles!"
I have to inquire, is LEGO singular or plural? I've always said "LEGO is" not "LEGO are," but I'm very interested to see what other people say."
It's a difference between British and US English. We see the company as one single entity while they see it as a collective of individuals.
@benbacardi said:
"Rather inaccurate to the real shuttle, as the main engines only fire once the solid rocket boosters either side of the fuel tank were spent and had fallen away!"
Well actually, the Space Shuttle's main engines (and likewise the SLS main engines) light up first, a few seconds prior to booster ignition at T-0. That's because liquid fuel engines can be turned off by shutting the valves, while solid motors can't be turned off once they light (except by destroying them). So they start with the main engines to let them come up to full power and get a few final seconds to make sure everything is working right, and then they light the boosters.
The booster exhaust does look much more impressive than the main engines, because the solid propellant has particles that glow in it, while the main engines burn hydrogen and oxygen and produce mostly (very hot!) water vapor, so you only really get to see the main engines glowing when the more spectacular boosters have fallen away, but they're all burning together at takeoff!
The more you know...!
Thanks for the review.
I have the pirate roller coaster and this one is similar with a fun theme build around it.
I got that one for a reduced price, hope to do the same with this one.
I consider the alternate builds as inspiration for ideas/a base to build upon.
@MCLegoboy said:
" @rljf311 said:
" @benbacardi said:
"LEGO are getting very good at building minature Space Shuttles!"
I have to inquire, is LEGO singular or plural? I've always said "LEGO is" not "LEGO are," but I'm very interested to see what other people say."
It's a difference between British and US English. We see the company as one single entity while they see it as a collective of individuals."
Lego be...
@rljf311 said:
" @benbacardi said:
"LEGO are getting very good at building minature Space Shuttles!"
I have to inquire, is LEGO singular or plural? I've always said "LEGO is" not "LEGO are," but I'm very interested to see what other people say."
Yes! As an American it sounds weird to me when the announcers say "Liverpool ARE..." or "Brazil ARE..." during a soccer match. I'm much more used to "New York IS..." (but of course, they say "the Yankees ARE...," which does make more sense).
The small structure in the main build might be a reference to 60350, they look very similar to me. I quite like that set, and I was looking forward to expanding it with parts (or all) of this set, but - look, that price is just horrendous. I don't care what kind of metric you're using (PPP, price per 'volume of stuff', price per weight), it doesn't matter. It's just too much.
@blidablat said:
" @rljf311 said:
" @benbacardi said:
"LEGO are getting very good at building minature Space Shuttles!"
I have to inquire, is LEGO singular or plural? I've always said "LEGO is" not "LEGO are," but I'm very interested to see what other people say."
Yes! As an American it sounds weird to me when the announcers say "Liverpool ARE..." or "Brazil ARE..." during a soccer match. I'm much more used to "New York IS..." (but of course, they say "the Yankees ARE...," which does make more sense)."
Yankees being followed by ARE makes perfect sense though because even though they are a singular team, the name is plural, and it is a collective of players. Sports teams in the US are usually plural, but it's sometimes easier to refer to the city or school (in terms of college sports), which are singular. And even when the sports team is singular (ie The Lightning), it's still commonplace to refer to the team as plural because that's just kind of the way things are. It also helps that the people are not hidden behind walls and corporations, you can actually see the people involved in sports verses an Internet/Cable company or some media corporation. Except then you have something like Warner Bros. in which it makes more sense to co plural. English, it's a fickle language...
It really irritates me when Lego recycle significant elements of CMFs into standard sets. In what way are they collectable when the elements are available elsewhere?! I wouldn't mind but they charge £3.50 for them - that price should provide some level off exclusivity. The Spacebaby really should have been red in this set - makes it distinct from there CMF and give people even more reason to buy it. So lazy!
@rljf311 said:
" @benbacardi said:
"LEGO are getting very good at building minature Space Shuttles!"
I have to inquire, is LEGO singular or plural? I've always said "LEGO is" not "LEGO are," but I'm very interested to see what other people say."
Lego is a Danish company. Lego are the producers of building bricks.
Mmmm……. Is it an English/US difference or just down to the individual and possibly depending on the context of what’s being said?
Good question but I’m not sure there is a right or wrong tbh
Or perhaps I’m just not particularly good with grammar. Lol
plate-brick-plate sandwiches
not tiles
Now you just need to MOC a giant building to put over this roller coaster and you’ve got Space Mountain!
Or, for the Midwesterners, you could do Disaster Transport from Cedar Point! Though I don’t think that would be as popular of a choice for a variety of reasons…
The drop tower in space would move slowly enough that the landing wouldn't be too harsh :)
Great review for a cool set. I think the brick-built letters on the signs are well done. All three builds look like a lot of fun to play with!
Space and theme park are some of my main loves for Lego builds so this is a certain but for me. It will go well with three in one ferris wheel and some of the other gift with purchases of late. Will also fit in nicely with Friends theme park that daughters enjoy.
@rljf311 said:
" @benbacardi said:
"LEGO are getting very good at building minature Space Shuttles!"
I have to inquire, is LEGO singular or plural? I've always said "LEGO is" not "LEGO are," but I'm very interested to see what other people say."
LEGO is a singular entity. I have changed it.
I love it!
All the mini models are fun little builds and overall a great play set.
Must get!
It should have been a Space Roller Coaster / Monorail Transport System
What kind of Space Coaster is this?
I don’t see Baxter or Gary the Gnu anywhere!
@Ridgeheart said:
"The small structure in the main build might be a reference to 60350, they look very similar to me. I quite like that set, and I was looking forward to expanding it with parts (or all) of this set, but - look, that price is just horrendous. I don't care what kind of metric you're using (PPP, price per 'volume of stuff', price per weight), it doesn't matter. It's just too much."
I agree. 31084 was only $90 for a little over 900 pieces. This set has fewer pieces and cost $20 more.
I'll still get it. But the price is high for a Creator set that is usually among the more affordable themes.
I very much like the main build, decent coaster and lots of nice details. The other two....seem very much like an afterthought. Most disappointing is they don't even use the roller coaster track, which is a pretty big part of the set. I had rather seen a few alternate track configurations, or as someone already suggested, a "monorail" transport system. But other that that, good set!
@theplourde said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
" @rljf311 said:
" @benbacardi said:
"LEGO are getting very good at building minature Space Shuttles!"
I have to inquire, is LEGO singular or plural? I've always said "LEGO is" not "LEGO are," but I'm very interested to see what other people say."
It's a difference between British and US English. We see the company as one single entity while they see it as a collective of individuals."
Lego be..."
Lego... what?!
(Check price).
Ooh, LUGBulk Spacebaby?
@benbacardi:
Crow’s feet are not repeated in the pukey face, so they may just indicate someone who’s really excited and has their face scrunched up. I also wonder how obvious the moon/space color-coding would be if it was done that way on a real coaster, where you don’t spend much time looking at the stanchions. The support frame is such an inconsequential aspect of coaster aesthetics that I don’t think I would have noticed it.
@rljf311:
In the US, it tends to be pluralized with an “S”, and treated as a singular noun when referring to the company. In the UK/EU, they don’t change it when pluralizing, but I’ve never noticed how if they use it as singular or plural when referring to the company.
And of course, if you ask the actual company, they will tell you in a very exasperated tone that it’s a damn adjective, and can’t be pluralized. But, you know, nobody pays attention to what they prefer.
@HAL_9001:
On the contrary, if you’ve ever seen a super slo-mo video of the main engines firing, the way the bells ripple is downright terrifying. Watch that once, and you won’t wonder why they changed them out after every single launch. It’s like watching those videos of bridges that are flapping like limp pasta in gale-force winds. Such things shouldn’t be possible, according to our typical experience.
@CPbrickHG said:
"It really irritates me when Lego recycle significant elements of CMFs into standard sets. In what way are they collectable when the elements are available elsewhere?! I wouldn't mind but they charge £3.50 for them - that price should provide some level off exclusivity. The Spacebaby really should have been red in this set - makes it distinct from there CMF and give people even more reason to buy it. So lazy!"
I think you're missing Lego's primary point about the 'collectability' of its products. They 'collect' your money and spend it on dressage ponies and a 'collection' of Ferraris. They have shown time and again that they care little otherwise.
@Huw said:
"LEGO is a singular entity. I have changed it."
It’s an adjective. Brickset being RLFM, I’m surprised you’re not aware of that. I had to submit an article about the Mask of Light movie to a PR firm they’d hired, and the two big notes they hit me with were treating the brand name like a noun, and improper use of the (R) and TM symbols. Now they have a page on the main site that explains it all.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Huw said:
"LEGO is a singular entity. I have changed it."
It’s an adjective. Brickset being RLFM, I’m surprised you’re not aware of that. I had to submit an article about the Mask of Light movie to a PR firm they’d hired, and the two big notes they hit me with were treating the brand name like a noun, and improper use of the (R) and TM symbols. Now they have a page on the main site that explains it all."
I think everybody is aware of that, but repeatedly referring to The LEGO Group, LEGO sets, LEGO bricks, soon becomes clunky in written form, so we sometimes refer simply to LEGO. Brickset articles are not required to required to conform to the LEGO style guide.
What a cool and fun set. Sadly CREATOR is the only true LEGO theme left that follows the original toy concept.
But I would put the same blue Classic Space baby from CMF to "cons". We need a collection of different colored space babies! At least a pink one for all the LEGO gender activists. :)
can you compare this with 31084?
@R0Sch said:
"What a cool and fun set. Sadly CREATOR is the only true LEGO theme left that follows the original toy concept.
But I would put the same blue Classic Space baby from CMF to "cons". We need a collection of different colored space babies! At least a pink one for all the LEGO gender activists. :)"
What we really need is a theme that uses a few adult minifigs,(to watch the space babies,)then space babies in every color the adults are. 'LEGO Babies in SPAAAAAAAACE!' Think of a theme of reboot sets, but sized to space babies. Galaxy Explorer shrunk way down, Blacktron babies, Futron babies...Use the coaster track as a baby monorail... A shrunken, friendly looking 2152...
I like the theming. The new tracklayout is welcome, but it will not be easy to motorise this coaster (unlike the pirate coaster and joker manor, which were straight forward to adapt).
Continuing the British English vs' American English discussion, is "figure-of-eight" how you say it across the pond? Because I've always heard it as "figure eight."
When was this awesome set announced, might I ask? Perhaps I missed the reveal?
@TheOtherMike said:
"Continuing the British English vs' American English discussion, is "figure-of-eight" how you say it across the pond? Because I've always heard it as "figure eight.""
Yep.
@ozbrickcreator said:
"When was this awesome set announced, might I ask? Perhaps I missed the reveal?"
Back on the 1st of May: https://brickset.com/article/95170/new-sets-and-new-theme-revealed
Cool set but, with so many references to Classic Space in the figures, I would have enjoyed a lot more if the roller coaster was CS-themed as well. NASA-themed stuff simply don't work with CS.
Am I the only one that wishes that the Space-Baby could come in other colors, like: pink, yellow, green...just me? Ok...:)
The set: Looks good, never assembled a roller coaster yet...but on my (ever growing) Lego "Bucket" list is to build...well, an 'ultra light' rail transit system. Just need a smaller motor-system to power it; and figuring out car design, preferable allowing two per car...
To the people wanting the Spacebaby in pink and green and such: I'm not disagreeing, but if they're going to do recolors, I'd prefer them to do the original CS colors first.
@ao_ka said:
"Cool set but, with so many references to Classic Space in the figures, I would have enjoyed a lot more if the roller coaster was CS-themed as well. NASA-themed stuff simply don't work with CS."
Yeah, just imagine a broader spectrum of references. Futoron, Ice Planet 2002, Life on Mars, the list goes on...
"incorporate the light brick which can be activated from the back to light up the Shuttle's main engines. Rather inaccurate to the real shuttle, as the main engines only fire once the solid rocket boosters either side of the fuel tank were spent and had fallen away! Nevertheless, the effect is quite cool."
As stated above the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) were ignited at T-6 seconds. Due to the offset thust the whole shuttle stak would sway and as it returned to upright, at T 0 the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) would ignite, the massive explosive nuts that held the SRBs to the Mobile Launch Platform would explode releasing the shuttle to climb skyward. The astronauts called this the twang.
The SRBs provided a significant amount of the initial thrust but 3 good SSMEs were required too.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zsJpUCWfyPE
Otherwise great review I've been excited for this set a while glad to see a positive review.
@CapnRex101:
That's a bit surprising, given how many LUGs (including my own) were required to alter or abandon their old logos in order to get or retain R-status. RLFM seem like they would be a lot easier to police, reach a much wider audience, and probably receive more in the way of support than RLUGs.
The point of forcing this change on LUGs was to establish that they are putting in honest effort to defend their trademarks, so they won't be revoked. It seems odd that they'd turn around and give RLFM free reign, when it's also much easier for competitors to point to usage on all these supported sites as grounds to revoke trademarks.
@BricksandBoosters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDCCBgppG4s
Here's a good video that shows how much power those SSMEs provide. At the 0:17 mark, you see how much the bell of the engine warps when they hit full power. If you walked up to one of those and tried to compress it by squeezing it with your own body strength, it would probably feel like trying to compress granite.
@PurpleDave said:
" @BricksandBoosters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDCCBgppG4s
Here's a good video that shows how much power those SSMEs provide. At the 0:17 mark, you see how much the bell of the engine warps when they hit full power. If you walked up to one of those and tried to compress it by squeezing it with your own body strength, it would probably feel like trying to compress granite."
Thanks @purpledave. Great video hadn't seen that in a while. The SSME and the Saturn F1's before then are amazing feats of engineering and craftsmanship.
@BricksandBoosters:
Oh, the Saturn V engines were individually more powerful than the three combined main engines on the Space Shuttle. It’s too bad the camera technology back then was so far behind even what was available during the STS program. It’d be cool to see similar footage of those engines hitting full power.
Anyways, I used to watch a show that was sorta like Mythbusters, but without the “myths”, or Adam Savage. All they did was shoot super slo-mo footage of anything they thought would look cool. In one episode, they ran footage of the STS engine’s bell warping like that (obviously not shot with their own cameras). In the same episode, they showed a drum kit cymbal being struck. It rippled like water. I think they were shooting as slow as 10,000 fps, so they could show stuff like a bullet slicing a sheet of paper in half. I miss that show.
@MCLegoboy said:
" @rljf311 said:
" @benbacardi said:
"LEGO are getting very good at building minature Space Shuttles!"
I have to inquire, is LEGO singular or plural? I've always said "LEGO is" not "LEGO are," but I'm very interested to see what other people say."
It's a difference between British and US English. We see the company as one single entity while they see it as a collective of individuals."
It's grammatically correct, no matter where in the Anglosphere a speaker comes from, to refer to companies as singular entities, while the people who work there can be referred to as a collective. So in this instance:
"Lego are getting very good at building miniature space shuttles"
Should be written as:
"Lego is getting very good..."
However, if you were to refer to the people working for Lego, it could be correctly written like this:
"Lego designers are getting very good..."
See the difference here? One very common mistake is to refer to a company as a 'they', for example:
"Lego are greedy and they like to profit from us,"
Should be written like this:
"Lego is very greedy and it likes to profit from us."
So there you go :)
@rljf311 said:
" @benbacardi said:
"LEGO are getting very good at building minature Space Shuttles!"
I have to inquire, is LEGO singular or plural? I've always said "LEGO is" not "LEGO are," but I'm very interested to see what other people say."
LEGO is shorthand for The Lego Group -- singular.
It's nice when the B- and C-Models of a Creator 3-in-1 look as good impressive as the A-model and use almost all the same parts, but I suspect this is not always the goal. Here the alternate builds seem specifically designed to avoid using the track pieces. However, I see this as a feature and not a bug. If you can afford to purchase multiple copies of the set, the obvious solution is to use the extra track and other pieces to make the A-model coaster even bigger!
Great change from the usual mission control launch pad. Shouldn't be too difficult to motorise the dragging of the carts to the top. Looking forward to seeing track extensions using two sets.
@ambr said:
"Shouldn't be too difficult to motorise the dragging of the carts to the top."
Yes, it might take a bit of fiddling with the layout though, as releasing from the top of the hill it doesn't manage a full circuit.
@TheOtherMike said:
"Continuing the British English vs' American English discussion, is "figure-of-eight" how you say it across the pond? Because I've always heard it as "figure eight.""
I use both. Figure eight being the character. Figure-of-eight being a followed course, e.g. a race track or an ice skater, as in shape of eight.
@PurpleDave said:
" @BricksandBoosters:
Oh, the Saturn V engines were individually more powerful than the three combined main engines on the Space Shuttle. It’s too bad the camera technology back then was so far behind even what was available during the STS program. It’d be cool to see similar footage of those engines hitting full power.
Anyways, I used to watch a show that was sorta like Mythbusters, but without the “myths”, or Adam Savage. All they did was shoot super slo-mo footage of anything they thought would look cool. In one episode, they ran footage of the STS engine’s bell warping like that (obviously not shot with their own cameras). In the same episode, they showed a drum kit cymbal being struck. It rippled like water. I think they were shooting as slow as 10,000 fps, so they could show stuff like a bullet slicing a sheet of paper in half. I miss that show."
Indeed they were also giant mechanical computers that every thing had to check right for them to fire. It's amazing what they did. High speed video is always fun.
Why has no one mentioned 31095 Fairground Carousel, also with a UFO/space theme?
Getting this to go with my main coaster (not looping). First Post here, I'd like to say congrats to everyone, chat has turned into a conversation about pluralisation, and firing sequences of booster rockets. That's what us nerds should be discussing! ??
I like it, Ill like it a lot more when its at least 20% off at Amazon or Walmart.
@PurpleDave said:
"Anyways, I used to watch a show that was sorta like Mythbusters, but without the “myths”, or Adam Savage."
You forgot an important point, or did the show actually have Jamie Hyneman?
@BricksandBoosters said:
"As stated above the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) were ignited at T-6 seconds. Due to the offset thust the whole shuttle stak would sway and as it returned to upright, at T 0 the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) would ignite, the massive explosive nuts that held the SRBs to the Mobile Launch Platform would explode releasing the shuttle to climb skyward. The astronauts called this the twang.
The SRBs provided a significant amount of the initial thrust but 3 good SSMEs were required too.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zsJpUCWfyPE "
A cool thing to note from that launch video is the angle of the SSMEs, as they are tilted upwards along the axis of the main body of the orbiter. The reason they are like this is because they’re thrusting through the centre of mass of the entire shuttle stack, which includes the massively heavy main fuel tank.
If the SSMEs didn’t fire at the initial launch phase, the boosters would propel the stack upwards but be steered in an uncontrollable backwards roll thanks to aerodynamic drag and mass of the orbiter. If the SSMEs were angled along the axis of the orbiter’s fuselage then the whole stack would be steered around the centre of mass and quickly end up in the ocean.
So if you look closely at the trajectory of the shuttle in the first few seconds of liftoff you’ll see it stay vertical but it’ll actually slide sideways a little bit in the direction of the fuel tank. You can imagine an arrow showing the direction of thrust pointing through the centre of mass.
Now the next phase is perhaps the trickiest part of a shuttle launch. The whole reason for the roll and upside-down orientation of the shuttle stack is to get this imaginary arrow to point upwards and toward the initial target orbit. The vehicle is constantly balancing mass, which it is losing all the time as it burns fuel, aerodynamic forces, which are constantly changing as it flies upwards through the atmosphere, and thrust, which changes at different points in the orbit to limit stress on the airframe, occupants, and payload.
All part of a delicate and powerful ballet performed by the Shuttle every time it launched.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"Anyways, I used to watch a show that was sorta like Mythbusters, but without the “myths”, or Adam Savage."
You forgot an important point, or did the show actually have Jamie Hyneman?"
Time Warp, on Discovery Channel. Starred MIT-graduate scientist Jeff Lieberman, and camera expert Matt Kearney. I'd have been fine with Hyneman joining the team, if it was still on the air. I just don't think I would have kept watching if Savage had shown up.
@Rare_White_Ape said:
" @BricksandBoosters said:
"As stated above the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) were ignited at T-6 seconds. Due to the offset thust the whole shuttle stak would sway and as it returned to upright, at T 0 the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) would ignite, the massive explosive nuts that held the SRBs to the Mobile Launch Platform would explode releasing the shuttle to climb skyward. The astronauts called this the twang.
The SRBs provided a significant amount of the initial thrust but 3 good SSMEs were required too.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zsJpUCWfyPE "
A cool thing to note from that launch video is the angle of the SSMEs, as they are tilted upwards along the axis of the main body of the orbiter. The reason they are like this is because they’re thrusting through the centre of mass of the entire shuttle stack, which includes the massively heavy main fuel tank.
If the SSMEs didn’t fire at the initial launch phase, the boosters would propel the stack upwards but be steered in an uncontrollable backwards roll thanks to aerodynamic drag and mass of the orbiter. If the SSMEs were angled along the axis of the orbiter’s fuselage then the whole stack would be steered around the centre of mass and quickly end up in the ocean.
So if you look closely at the trajectory of the shuttle in the first few seconds of liftoff you’ll see it stay vertical but it’ll actually slide sideways a little bit in the direction of the fuel tank. You can imagine an arrow showing the direction of thrust pointing through the centre of mass.
Now the next phase is perhaps the trickiest part of a shuttle launch. The whole reason for the roll and upside-down orientation of the shuttle stack is to get this imaginary arrow to point upwards and toward the initial target orbit. The vehicle is constantly balancing mass, which it is losing all the time as it burns fuel, aerodynamic forces, which are constantly changing as it flies upwards through the atmosphere, and thrust, which changes at different points in the orbit to limit stress on the airframe, occupants, and payload.
All part of a delicate and powerful ballet performed by the Shuttle every time it launched.
"
I actually thought about going into this in one of my post but decided not to go down that rabbit hole. But you're right on the roll maneuver was to balance things including down range ie getting to orbital speed and altitude.
More fun was the near instantaneous launch windows to rendezvous with the ISS.
Great review! "plate-brick-plate sandwiches" XD
@Rare_White_Ape:
I suspect there’s another purpose, or at least a bonus benefit, to rolling belly-up during ascent. When the Apollo 13 problem happened, they lost all their telemetry, and had to recalculate position and trajectory by hand, using Earth as a “landmark”. Rolling belly-up also puts Earth in view of the cockpit.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Rare_White_Ape:
I suspect there’s another purpose, or at least a bonus benefit, to rolling belly-up during ascent. When the Apollo 13 problem happened, they lost all their telemetry, and had to recalculate position and trajectory by hand, using Earth as a “landmark”. Rolling belly-up also puts Earth in view of the cockpit."
Comms are always a component too, but the astronauts had very little control on ascent. They would have had to roll back in an abort to KSC or elsewhere (Zaragoza was most common can't remember the other options off the top of my head or if Zaragoza was the only one) fortunately the program never had to do that. Earth as landmark only worked for 13 as they were significantly far away. Pick earth bound landmarks for navigation at orbital speed is not really practical.