8480 - Space Shuttle

Vital Stats

Set No.	8480
Set Name	Space Shuttle
No. of Pieces	1366
Main Colour	White
Electrics	9V Motor Micro-motor Two pole reversers Fibre Optic Element
Pneumatics	None
My Rating	8/10
LB's Rating	8/10
Features	Open/Close bay doors Rotate satellite platform arm Raise/lower satellite platform arm Open/Close satellite solar panels Flash through rocket motors Raise/Lower wheels Raise/Lower elevons
Unusual Parts	Fiber optic element Micro-motor Pole Reversers Gear box mechanism
Alternate Models	1 (Submarine)

Review

This is an unusual model. It makes a good change from the usual Technic diet of cars and cranes. The alternate model is unusual too - a submarine. I bought this one on ebay and it came with the box. The parts were all in such good condition (nice and shiny) that I did not go through the washing and drying hassle.

The construction is a bit difficult as the model is very fragile during the initial stages. The Little Builder was constantly frustrated by pieces falling off. He was pretty happy with the final model because of the various movements. Each step can be quite complex with the entire construction squeezed into 68 pages.

The model looks a lot like the real space shuttle with a good combination of black and white parts to look like the real thing. There are seven separate movements. The motors are turned on or reversed using pole reversers held in the neutral position using rubber bands. Four of the movements are controlled using a 9V motor and part of a gear box mechanism similar to the one seen on cars. This is used to channel the motor motion to one of four axles. I haven't seen this in any of the other models yet and seems to be an ingenious way to handle the problem of switching the motor between four outputs. With the right collection of parts, this could be used to control any number of movements in a model, provided you are OK with manually switching the outputs.

The various movements in the model are:

Open/Close shuttle bay doors. This is the first movement controlled by the 9V motor and the gearbox. The satellite platform has to be completely retracted before the bay doors are closed.
Rotate satellite platform arm. This is the second movement controlled by the 9V motor and the gearbox. The motor drives a turntable that rotates the satellite arm.
Raise/Lower satellite platform arm. This is the third movement controlled by the 9V motor and the gearbox. The motor drives a set of gears to raise the arm.
Light up engines. This is the fourth movement controlled by the 9V motor and the gearbox. This rotates the fiber optic element. This lights up the fiber optic strands threaded through the engines. This is not as effective and the appearance is not all that great. Still, the fiber optic unit is a novelty and I haven't seen a very good use for it yet. There are two fiber optic strands through each main rocket engine and one through each of the two maneuvering rocket engines. The latter are even less effective.
Extend satellite panels. This is controlled using a micro-motor. This extends the solar panels of the satellite.
Raise/Lower wheels. A lever on one side raises and lowers wheels using a series of gears. A cam and a shock absorber hold it in place once lowered. The actuating lever may be obstructued if the bay doors are open. But then why would you want to extend wheels when the bay doors are open.
Raise/Lower elevons. A lever on one side moves the flaps at the trailing edge of the wings. There are two sets of flaps on each side and they move in opposite directions when the lever is actuated. Again, the bay doors may obstruct the lever when they are open but, in outer space, elevons are not much use anyways :-)

Gearbox Mechanism	Main and Maneuvering Rocket Engines
Satellite Platform Arm with Satellite	Wheel and Elevon Controls on the sides
Rocket Flash with Fiber Optic Unit

Box

Most of the times, when I buy a model on ebay, I get the box as well. In this case, I did. The box is the usual kind with a cover that lifts up and has an image on the inisde. The set also has a yellow plastic tray inside that is becoming rare with the newer models.

The top has an image of the shuttle, the bottom, an image of the submarine and the inside of the lid shows images of the mechanisms in the shuttle. The top of the lid also has a graphic of the fiber optic unit.

Box - Top	Box - Bottom
Box - Inside Cover	Detail - Fiber Optic Graphic

Links and References

To learn a bit more of the original space shuttle this model is based on, check out the Wikipedia page on it.
NASA's page on the Space Shuttle
Peeron's page on this set
Reviews on Brickset of this set
Jim Hughes' and Ben Constable's review of this set.