Vintage set of the week: Spirit of St. Louis
Posted by Huwbot,
This week's vintage set is 456 Spirit of St. Louis, released during 1977. It's one of 14 LEGOLAND sets produced that year. It contains 49 pieces.
It's owned by 390 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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25 comments on this article
Wasn't the plane silver?
Not many silver pieces in 1977...
Iconic.
I got the European version from a friend on my 10th birthday in1976, still have it.
I'm tempted to track this one down on Bricklink. It doesn't look to be to expensive there. But, of course, what I'd *really* like is for Lego to do a model of the plane with modern parts and techniques. I mean, there *was* https://brickset.com/sets/GARDENCITY-1/%7BSpirit-of-St-Louis%7D, but I'm thinking of something at least the size of 40450. Incidentally, despite being a one-off, the Spirit of St. Louis had a model designation: It was the Ryan NYP (which stood for New York to Paris.)
@MCLegoboy said:
"Wasn't the plane silver?"
Yes it was, but A: silver pieces didn't exist at the time and B: this set was made in the era when Lego didn't want to put enough gray pieces in sets to allow kids to make tanks or other military hardware.
Miss those props and the connecting piece. Oh, and those wheels...:)
Makes me think of 7307, another thing with ‘Spirit of St. Louis” which I recently got some stickers from. Wish Lego did more older-style planes. This is a nice, basic little biplane. Great VSotW!
@Wallace_Brick_Designs said:
"Makes me think of 7307, another thing with ‘Spirit of St. Louis” which I recently got some stickers from. Wish Lego did more older-style planes. This is a nice, basic little biplane. Great VSotW!"
It's not a biplane...
It's Halloween, and we get a set that has the word "Spirit" in the name. I see what you did there Huwbot. ;)
Literally never seen or heard of this set before …. That’s quite a rare day for me.
They should definitely do a modern, silver (or at least light bluish gray) version, the size of the Sopwith Camel
“That’s an excellent model sir”
“…model?”
Charles Lindbergh was famously known for his love of the colour yellow. Hence why of course he painted his plane that way.
And of course as a visual tracking aid, should he have to make a splash landing in the Atlantic. Quite sensible if you ask me. ;-)
@brick_r said:
"Miss those props and the connecting piece. Oh, and those wheels...:)"
Those clunky props, I can do without. Those wheels, I miss dearly. Not sure why we couldn't just keep those, they were functional and elegant.
We are known for basically four things here in St Louis: the Gateway Arch (completed 60 years ago as of Oct. 28th), the 1904 Worlds Fair / Olympics, being the jumping-off point for the 1804 Lewis and Clark Expedition, and sponsoring Charles Lindberg's famous flight.
The original Spirit of St. Louis is in the Smithsonian, but a replica is suspended from the ceiling of the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis and I believe another replica is / was at Lambert - St. louis International Airport here in St. Louis.
After all the complaints about how they should have made it larger, I eventually figured out that the 40450 plane (which seats one pilot and six passengers!) is almost perfectly in scale with a minifig's height (within about 1/4 stud). I'm immediately left wondering how this one compares.
Would have looked better with white pieces instead of yellow.
@Murdoch17 said:
"We are known for basically four things here in St Louis: the Gateway Arch (completed 60 years ago as of Oct. 28th), the 1904 Worlds Fair / Olympics, being the jumping-off point for the 1804 Lewis and Clark Expedition, and sponsoring Charles Lindberg's famous flight.
The original Spirit of St. Louis is in the Smithsonian, but a replica is suspended from the ceiling of the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis and I believe another replica is / was at Lambert - St. louis International Airport here in St. Louis."
There is no spirit in St. Louis anymore. It's worse than Detroit. @PurpleDave
Have you read the news from Ferguson?! Yikes!
I had that printed brick from a bulk lot. Never bothered to see if it was completable. The bricks were quite dented and I prioritized the yellow castle and some early CS sets. Unfortunately it turned out most of the minifigs are the value of that castle and there were im total like 4 incomplete soldiers in there.
I later found out about this set and still sometimes wonder if the full thing was in that lot...
It's a memorable thing due to the subject matter and brick.
@Bart_66 said:
"I got the European version from a friend on my 10th birthday in1976, still have it. "
Ah. I was wondering if it was not older than 1977.
Must have had interesting box art for adults, as I was given two sets in a short time span.
As for color:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_of_St._Louis :~:text=Not%20long%20after,golden%20hue%20seen%20today
(Copy whole link to get to right section, forum clips link.)
@Murdoch17 said:
"We are known for basically four things here in St Louis: the Gateway Arch (completed 60 years ago as of Oct. 28th), the 1904 Worlds Fair / Olympics, being the jumping-off point for the 1804 Lewis and Clark Expedition, and sponsoring Charles Lindberg's famous flight.
The original Spirit of St. Louis is in the Smithsonian, but a replica is suspended from the ceiling of the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis and I believe another replica is / was at Lambert - St. louis International Airport here in St. Louis."
Well I mistakenly believed it was Missouri's capital, as the only state capital I failed at naming. Seriously, "Jefferson City" is so forgettable.
@StyleCounselor said:
"There is no spirit in St. Louis anymore. It's worse than Detroit. @PurpleDave"
I don’t actually live in Detroit. I just work there. And the dispensary that was near our new building got shut down by the city a year or two after we relocated there.
a friend gave me a bulk of old parts. The spirit of Saint Louis was inside, with other cool sets from the 70's. very simple and efficient design !
@Binnekamp said:
"I had that printed brick from a bulk lot. Never bothered to see if it was completable. The bricks were quite dented and I prioritized the yellow castle and some early CS sets. Unfortunately it turned out most of the minifigs are the value of that castle and there were im total like 4 incomplete soldiers in there.
I later found out about this set and still sometimes wonder if the full thing was in that lot...
It's a memorable thing due to the subject matter and brick."
'Spirit of St. Louis' text is provided by a sticker, not printed. However, it's from the era of superior sticker quality printed on clear-backing which always matches perfectly with the underlying brick color. It's likely made of a vinyl-like material. I managed to apply both stickers so well back in 77 that unless looked at close up you would swear it was a print - no fading, no peeling, no trapped bubbles (mostly due to it being a smaller sticker). they've held up fantastically despite some very rough play back in the day. It might also be one of the few parts where both sides of the brick have the sticker applied, and this may be why we ended up with a sticker here instead of a print.
I'm not one for stickers and avoid them as much as possible, but if I have no choice I'll advocate for this type of clear-backing every time.
I wish we could get an updated minifigure scale version of this set, in light bluish grey (silver would be best but obviously wouldnt happen).
Lots of famous planes actually that would make great sets such as the Supermarine S.5, DH.88 Comet and Gee Bee.
Wright Brothers Flyer would be great too with minifigure Wilbur and Orville.
@Brickchap said:
"I wish we could get an updated minifigure scale version of this set, in light bluish grey (silver would be best but obviously wouldnt happen).
Lots of famous planes actually that would make great sets such as the Supermarine S.5, DH.88 Comet and Gee Bee.
Wright Brothers Flyer would be great too with minifigure Wilbur and Orville. "
Didn't come with minifigs, but 10124. And I would love some classic aircraft. A Curtiss Jenny would be great!