Classic LEGO sets: airports, planes and air travel, part 1
Posted by Toymaker,
I can remember it as clearly as yesterday – that day when I pitched up in the local toy shop, early in January 1985 to find the new launches for the year. Oh my G.O.S.H. Occupying pride of place in the display was 6392 Airport. It was a seminal day in my childhood LEGO career: LEGO had gone airborne. For Classic Town the sky was truly the limit.
Of course, there had been helicopters in Classic Town since the very start, with all three emergency services having several craft over the years. But the addition of a subtheme of passenger and cargo transport along with accompanying support services opened up exciting new opportunities for Classic Town collectors. It also provided LEGO with a rich seam of promotional sets to promote in partnership with the real life airline industry. In the interests of space, this article will feature only those sets on general release.
6392: Airport
The set was the largest Classic Town set ever seen, retailing at the time for a stratospheric £25. In addition to five (FIVE !!) baseplates, four of which featured a new runway print, the set comprised a delightful yellow airport terminal, a large, red, four-engined passenger jet, a commuter helicopter, a luggage trolley, a windsock and eight minifigures.
The set unveiled a new un-named corporate look for “LEGO Air” with a plane silhouette depicted over the five LEGO colours rendered horizontally on the plane’s tail as well as the terminal. This offered a wide amount of play with a check-in desk and luggage collection facility on the ground floor with a cafeteria (in reality a table, chairs and mugs) on the first floor and a panoramic control tower on the top level.
The set abounded in nice details, from the windsock (a 2x2x2 printed white cone), the clock over the entrance and the lights along the runway and taxiway to the terminal. The two passenger minifigures were accompanied by a female air traffic controller, a customs officer (in a policeman’s uniform), two pilots and two ground crew.
The aircraft itself, undoubtedly the most innovative part of the set abounded in new elements: wings, jet engines, nose and tail pieces and a new style of hinged roof that enabled access to the interior along the port side of the plane whilst maintaining the curved roof of the fuselage. The key features of this plane were to feature in all others until the end of the Classic Town era in 1997.
6368 Commuter Jet, 6377 Delivery Center & 6697 Rescue Helicopter
The big launch of the year was supported with 6368 Commuter Jet, a fuselage-mounted, twin-engined model displaying a different (and unidentified) livery to the plane in 6392. The set had a pilot in the cockpit and a single male passenger with a briefcase.
Also released in the launch year was 6697 Rescue Helicopter, a large and impressive, yellow craft evidently designed for coastguard duty thanks to the life-ring stickers on each side and the minifigs wearing yellow lifevests. Given Classic Town had scarcely any sets of a nautical theme, this was a curious set which in many ways would have made more sense as a direct replacement for 6691 Red Cross Helicopter.
The third release of the year was the US-only 6377 Delivery Center, featuring a cargo hub, a plane, parcel van and fork-lift truck. The set utilised the blue and white livery first seen in 6367 International Transport but mixed with a logo previously featured on 6391 Cargo Centre which was to become more widely used in subsequent years as a sort of private sector rival to the LEGO Post Office. The addition of a cargo set meant that in the launch year, the LEGO air subtheme was wonderfully rich with a variety of possibilities to stretch the imagination – particularly for US kids.
6687 Turbo Prop
The subtheme was rested for a couple of years until 1987 when the small 6687 Turbo Prop was added to the range. This was a small red and white single seater plane with ground crew. Parked on the airfield adjacent to the passenger jets, it added a touch of variety and realism to the theme, with the ground crew being a welcome addition to support the growing fleet.
6356 Med-Star Rescue Plane & 6482 Light & Sound Rescue Helicopter
The following year, another large plane was unveiled, designed as a 4-prop medivac craft. Taking the same style (in reality the only style) of fuselage as the jets in 6392, 6368 and 6377, the design was developed to provide a twin tail solution, thereby allowing a rear swing door to enable access for the stretcher. The cockpit also made use of the 1x2 trans light blue panel to improve visibility. The set came complete with a pilot, medical staff and a passenger in distress being airlifted to safety.
A year later, the medivac plane was joined by 6482 Light & Sound Rescue Helicopter, a tandem-rotor craft, which although devoid of any livery other than its registration markings, essentially duplicated the same function as 6356. Much of the fuselage of the craft was taken up by the power box onto which the registration was stickered. Access to the passenger payload area came via a rear swing door in addition to roof access as per the planes. The set featured a pilot and crew member along with an injured minifigure. The main excitement of the set however was that it flashed and beeped, deploying the Light & Sound system that was introduced for the first time in 1986.
6396 International Jetport & 6399 Airport Shuttle
The year 1990 saw the next big release of airport sets with an almost complete refresh of the range. The diminutive 6392, the inspiration for so many Ryanair destinations in following decades, was replaced by the futuristic looking 6396 International Jetport, resplendent in white and trans light blue. The terminal building featured a large departure lounge with 6x5x9 curved panels, two departure gates, a rooftop terrace and a sky-high control tower offering a 360° panorama. The set featured a large, twin-engined passenger jet, a small helicopter which seemed to serve no real purpose, along with a modernised luggage cart and trailer. LEGO Air had modified their livery with a blue stripe along the plane and the crews’ uniforms modified to include blue trousers and hats, where worn. The set came with eight minifigures, each fulfilling the same roles as in 6392.
The other big release of the year was the iconic 6399 monorail – a set whose splendour and magic has only increased as the years have gone by. This vast set-up featured two large loops of track connecting two monorail terminals: one on a green plate for the airport and the other on a grey plate for the town centre. The latter featured a neat elevated platform with stairs connecting to the street level where a small hamburger stall and seating was manned by a chef. The airport terminal’s platform was sheltered by a plain white curved panel. Star of the show was the twin-car monorail with a central power pack: it was a chunky, red vehicle, looking very much in keeping with its genre and, being 4-studs wide, was of a narrower gauge than the conventional LEGO trains. The set was wonderfully detailed for its time with a phone box, trees, streetlights in addition to stickers showing arrivals and departures.
I will continue my survey of classic airports, planes and air travel in part two next week.
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20 comments on this article
I had (and still have) 6392 (airport) and 6687 (prop plane). I remember smashing 6392 to pieces by accidentally dropping the large baseboard for my train set on it... Only one piece snapped though (now replaced).
Great! I've missed the CLASSIC LEGO SETS articles. Another great read and I'm looking forward to the next part. ;-)
The wing pieces (3585 and 3586) were actually available years before, in 1972's Super Sterling Caravelle (1550), in Light Gray. Several other limited-edition sets like this were produced in the 70's including one set with blue wings.
6392, however, is the first time I'd ever seen those wings, and it wasn't until my AFOL days that I realized there had been older sets which used those parts. I'd imagine that most of us here had the same experience...
I always find it amusing that the jet in 6377 is so much smaller (even at this scale) than the two passenger-carrying airliners in these sets. Every cargo plane I've ever seen is one of the largest models avialable--I guess they spent too much on the rest of the set and had to keep the costs down. They corrected this little error with 6375 Trans Air Carrier a couple of years later...
My brother and I found a 6687 more-or-less complete and in decent condition in a box-load of old Lego we got some years ago. Neat little plane, and we had 2 ground crew (no idea where the other one came from) for some reason.
6399 - has there ever been a better Lego set ?
I had 6392. It was awesome. I moved it along a couple years ago, as it was well used and I have moved on to modulars, Super heros and the like. I loved my city sets when I was young.
I have 6392 Airport. It was one of my favorite back when it was released and is now one of my 3 year olds favorites too. 30 years have been kind to this classic set. I put it up there with my Black Seas Barracuda and my Yellow Castle.
Another great article that takes me back.
When they first came out I got the 6377 and the 6368 though I desperately wanted the 6392 as well.
Now I have all three, and the others on the list above once I got out of my dark ages. IMO The 6399 Airport Shuttle is worth a lot not just because it is rare, but because of the detail in the set. It really is amazing (though growing crazy expensive now).
I too collect all the new stuff and have the latest 3182 airport, but nothing will match to those sets from my childhood.
Wonderful, wonderful.
Some of the best sets produced for the Lego city range and TBH these offer greater play value than the modern day offerings.
I really do think that Lego are missing a trick here - whist set 3182 has just been recently deleted, the lack of runway plates and creativity in the terminal buildings is evident - do we really need yet another police station?
My dad had 6368 when he was a kid, and I have memories of building it over and over again in 2006... how he kept it together all those years is a mystery to me... anyway, this is the first time I've had a nostalgic connection to one of these articles. Now do one for Classic Town police stations!
Holy cow, that airport looks GREAT! FIVE baseplates!
I thought that 6392 had the best helicopter that was ever designed even though the landing skids were not sturdy and always collapsed under the weight of my hand! Anyone else remember that!
This a great article!!! I had all the Airport Theme sets since the International Jetport 6396. I still collect them as i love planes!! The Dc-9 look like plane from the 6396 is still here and flying ;). Can't wait to see the second part!!! :D
Thanks for a great review!! I love my airport shuttle, I wish they would bring the monorails back. I still love the classic front ends of these planes and the shuttle. I enjoy the brick built option more than the molded front ends of some of the current models. You could change up the colors and add in more custom detail. Hooray for classics!! Looking forward to part 2.
Brill review. I always thought it looked like the medevac copter 6482 was about to crush the patient and her travelling companion! At least it's just about big enough to take them both away if it does...
We need a new Monorail.
Oh, so many memories. My brother had Turbo Prop and Light & Sound Rescue Helicopter, and I had International Jetport, which is still one of my favorite of the sets I had growing up.
A very nice review. It reminded me of the "heyday" of the town series sets. I still have my 6697 Rescue Helicopter (really thought the ability to lower the rescue guy was a cool feature as a kid) and the 6392 Airport in its box. The best thing about those sets was you actually got base plates to add to the realism. Keep the good articles coming!
Nice reading. I got it HOME! At least most of it!
All these sets are real classics, and imho all of them are more beautiful than today's "fat" city sets.
Lovely article, thanks for sharing all these great classic sets. Never had the chance to own any airports, just the 6697 rescue copter. Just as calculus teacher said, it did seem like such a cool thing to be able to lower the guy for rescue as a kid! The monorail set is awesome.