Random set of the day: Jetport Fire Squad
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 6440 Jetport Fire Squad, released during 1991. It's one of 23 Town sets produced that year. It contains 159 pieces and 2 minifigs, and its retail price was US$27.5, which equates to about US$66 in today's money.
It's owned by 2,183 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you should find it for sale at Brick Owl, BrickLink, where new ones sell for around $260.00, or eBay.
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44 comments on this article
If you turn the pressure up high enough, this is also a drilling machine.
I actually know something about this because of Cheesey Studios' video about all the airport fire trucks. And this is like the best one of all the handful that have been made because of the lights and sound, and just its overall aesthetic. LEGO supposedly gets better with each year as sets have new parts and colors and more complex building techniques, but 90s LEGO just hits different.
This feels like a solid set even if you didn't have lights and sound. Nice design, a couple of figs, and it fits in well with airports and roads. Sadly they never had a printed version of that airport logo panel. And the 5...is this a racing truck?
Finally, they are competing with Lumibricks! (Checks date) Oh.
Golly gee a whole nine volts???
In this economy???
Hell yeah.
Two features that I loved about this one were the little flip-down panel on the front with the nozzles underneath, and the use of transparent 1x2 slopes to cover the lights, rather than the dome elements that were usually used for that purpose in Light & Sound sets, although it came with some of those, too. I bought 60061 out of nostalgia for this set.
@dimc said:
"And the 5...is this a racing truck?"
You do know that racing isn't the only reasons that vehicles gent numbers, right?
@TheOtherMike said:
"You do know that racing isn't the only reasons that vehicles gent numbers, right?"
Nope. Brand new fact to me.
@dimc said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"You do know that racing isn't the only reasons that vehicles gent numbers, right?"
Nope. Brand new fact to me. "
Sometimes fire stations will number their engines so the dispatcher can communicate quickly and efficiently, like 3 is on the other side of town and just finished up so they can be told to get to [other side of town new problem] really quickly, 1, 2 and 4 are tied up with [various thingamebobs], 6 is undergoing necessary maintenance, but 5 hasn’t gone out yet today so they can go to [different, nearby problem].
LMAO
Jetport? First time I’ve ever seen that term.
1990s Jetport Fire Squad!
1990s Jetport Fire Squad!
1990s Jetport Fire Squad!
Heroes with a 9 volt!
Hey look, it's got a Smart brick!
Or at least something that can do about as much...
:-)
Wonderful Set. I instead got 6480
But always loved the set, the color scheme.
At least got one of those guys in 6309.
Love this set. Such a classic. Always have loved the design.
Beautiful and effective. It sits two, has nozzles and hoses everywhere and with lights and sound... Perfect...
It’s really hard not to see this and draw obvious parallels with today’s smart bricks. Light & Sound was interesting when it launched in the mid 80s and a handful of my friends each owned one of the sets in the range. Working out how to lay the conducting bricks so you could get the power to where you wanted it was a challenge. But when a friend showed you how they’d added flashing lights or a siren to one of their own models, they did get a good helping of kudos from their pals. Smart bricks try I think to take this too far, and are prohibitively expensive. To fans of classic town sets, please note: this vehicle is 6-wide; something almost unheard of at the time. Simpler was better. LEGO please take note.
US$66 in today's money. Holy crap
@SearchlightRG said:
"Jetport? First time I’ve ever seen that term."
I only used to know a "Hoverport", which sounds even cooler imho.
Unfortunately the ones I used to frequent (Calais, Dover) don't exist anymore. At least I will still have my VHS videos of the era.
RIP, beloved Mountbatten Class.
So many happy memories.
@SearchlightRG said:
"Jetport? First time I’ve ever seen that term."
The Portland, Maine, airport is named the Portland International Jetport... I doubt that's what this is named for.
Are they twins or just dress alike. Do you carry your axe in your left or right hand? Clever use of the wine glasses for the water cannons.
Not an ambulance this time, but this calls for a Top Gear throwback: scientifically checking which airport vehicle is the fastest:
"Your next holiday, when it's a faster experience at the airport, is because we did this research. […] From now on, all airport vehicles will be based on the fire engine, which will be brilliant as long as there isn't a fire."
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecd9_Hluwmk]
(No blithering idiot was injured during the filming of this excerpt.]
This set is soo good. There's room behind the driver! It's 6-wide, which was only done on huge trucks back then! The light and sound is cool too!
And those nozzles! That moving cover at the front. Just great!
That said, this set was very expensive back then. The electronics were cool, but idk of I'd have found them worth it.
@SearchlightRG said:
"Jetport? First time I’ve ever seen that term."
I had 6396 before I had this, which means I have all the sets with the word "jetport" in the name. All both of them.
Huwbot is on a roll this week: of the last 6 sets, 4 are real good old classics from the 80s and 90s!
@phi13 said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
"Jetport? First time I’ve ever seen that term."
The Portland, Maine, airport is named the Portland International Jetport... I doubt that's what this is named for."
Apparently it’s mostly a branding thing.
And handily allows the one in Maine to be distinguished from the Portland OREGON one.
@AustinPowers said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
"Jetport? First time I’ve ever seen that term."
I only used to know a "Hoverport", which sounds even cooler imho.
Unfortunately the ones I used to frequent (Calais, Dover) don't exist anymore. At least I will still have my VHS videos of the era.
RIP, beloved Mountbatten Class.
So many happy memories. "
There's a hovercraft museum in Lee-on-the-Solent in the UK, it's a great visit if you're ever in the area. They even have one of the Mountbatten Class-hovercrafts you can enter, the Princess Anne.
Compared to the usual 4-wide vehicles, this 6-wide one felt pretty serious in early 90s Legoland City.
I would see this in Lego catalogs for years and I always wanted it! I now proudly own it!
@Koentinius said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
"Jetport? First time I’ve ever seen that term."
I only used to know a "Hoverport", which sounds even cooler imho.
Unfortunately the ones I used to frequent (Calais, Dover) don't exist anymore. At least I will still have my VHS videos of the era.
RIP, beloved Mountbatten Class.
So many happy memories. "
There's a hovercraft museum in Lee-on-the-Solent in the UK, it's a great visit if you're ever in the area. They even have one of the Mountbatten Class-hovercrafts you can enter, the Princess Anne."
I know.
They used to have three of them, but unfortunately had to scrap two over the years because they couldn't finance the upkeep (plus they had to downsize the museum anyway).
I've never been there but I've visited their website. In any case I can urge everyone who is even slightly interested to go while there's still a chance.
Wow this is my first ever set! I asked my grandpa to get it for me when I was barely three, and when my mom saw it she hid it from me for a couple of years because she was rightfully afraid of the tiny pieces lol.
Brilliant little set and the light and sound system is great fun. The lights blink or shine constantly when flipped, and the sound brick makes two different sounds when twisted. And so many moving doors and flaps. I still have it.
Didn't know this particular set, but quite cool! And that Light&Sound system was great, it's baffling they just don't have anything like it anymore. With nowadays LED and battery tech they could easily do something similar but less bulky.
Which makes think: A couple of years ago they introduced this bar with lights and siren for City Fire and Police sets.....but seems like that fizzled out very quickly.
Six-wide! City secretly started in 1991!
I loved and still love the L&S system. The thought that went into the design so that you could simply lay out a circuit by connecting the plates and it would work without shorting out. That along with the light bars that could be switched from blinking to flashing by simply turning the light bar 180 degrees around. Pure genius!
@Captain_Eugene said:
"Compared to the usual 4-wide vehicles, this 6-wide one felt pretty serious in early 90s Legoland City."
I used to build my trucks 6-wide, but I was short of 6-wide windshields...
1991, the golden years for sure. I miss my childhood
@biffuz said:
"Huwbot is on a roll this week: of the last 6 sets, 4 are real good old classics from the 80s and 90s!"
And later today (or early tomorrow, depending on what time zone you're in), we'll get one from the Sixties or Seventies!
One of the first 6 wide truck in the Town theme. I was fascinated by it. Now I have it, and can't wait to rebuild an airport with it on the tracks.
I remember the awesome idea book 226-2 with the 6 wide vehicles built with 722 and 733 universal sets : Precisely these 2 pages : https://www.backoftheboxbuilds.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/226p20-21-scaled.jpg
Such a miss. This set would have been perfect if it had a Smart brick.
@Mike910 said:
"US$66 in today's money. Holy crap"
It was grossly overpriced for its era because it included costly electronic gimmicks. Fortunately, Lego has learned its lesson, and would never make such a mistake again.
@SearchlightRG said:
" @phi13 said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
"Jetport? First time I’ve ever seen that term."
The Portland, Maine, airport is named the Portland International Jetport... I doubt that's what this is named for."
Apparently it’s mostly a branding thing.
And handily allows the one in Maine to be distinguished from the Portland OREGON one."
There are many other ways to distinguish the two:
1. PDX is bigger, but isn't afraid to admit it serves more than just jets.
2. You are likely to get breathtaking views of at least one stratovolcano while landing at PDX. At PMW, not so much.
3. PMW has a moose in the lobby, but PDX has a carpet. The carpet is considerably more famous than the moose.
4. You can buy live lobster (lobstah?) right by the gate at PMW, while in PDX, you can visit a midget imitation movie theater showing artsy stuff.
5. PDX has a rail connection so you can go directly downtown to enjoy some artisanal fentanyl. At PMW, you have to figure out how to get there yourself.
6. The number of blue-haired, tattooed rioters per capita is much higher at PDX.
7. PDX is one of the nicest airports there is. PMW is quite bland.
I was going to make a joke that you can tell these firemen are from Maine, not Portland, because they have not been defunded to build a bike lane instead, but the truth is that the Port of Portland (OR) is not into that kind of thing like the City of Portland is.
Such a great set. Small but so many play features. I still have mine and the lights still work.
@jsutton said:
" To fans of classic town sets, please note: this vehicle is 6-wide; something almost unheard of at the time."
It being 6 wide makes sense. At least in Europe, specialist airport fire vehicles like this are wider (and generally bigger) than standard vehicles for use on public roads. This puts it "in scale" with the 4-wide vehicles that dominated at the time.
It also means of course that they can have more interesting sides than the slab (maybe with sticker or print) of the 9V battery box
At the time I was annoyed that it was 6 wide and didn't fit with the other vehicles (I was in my all must be the same width phase), but it was a LEGO fire appliance, so I did still get it. It will still sit proudly in my classic city next to the 4 wides.