8480-1: Space Shuttle

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8480: Space Shuttle
8480: Space Shuttle
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8480
Space Shuttle

It's got the lot.

Posted by jim2301 in United Kingdom on 29 December 2007

This set does exactly what it says on the tin. The doors open, the "Canada arm" lifts and turns, even the solar panels on the satellite open. if that wasn't enough for you, the engines fire up. Plus, there's working under carriage and control surfaces. This really was a great achievement for Lego way back when in the mid nineties they seem to have lost their way.
The build itself was difficult enough without being frustrating. the use of primarily black and white made the whole feel of the set much more authentic. lots of clever innovations make this set very playable and a very good display model, wether you have it packed away or in some form of dynamic pose with the satellite out. All in all a very good set. And to top it all I only paid £49, and they even threw in the batteries for free. Brilliant.

7 out of 7 people thought this review was helpful.
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0.3
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8480: Space Shuttle
8480: Space Shuttle
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8480
Space Shuttle

One of the best technic sets ever.

Posted by pincher on 10 December 2007

I was lucky enough to by this retail when it first came out. It is truly one of the most interesting and fun build to come along. The features have been listed numerous times in other reviews so I won't repeat them all. However, I was really impressed with the sturdiness and playability of this model. You would think by the picture that the wings would be weak, but they are actually quite solid. The only part i was not real impressed with was the use of the optics - they are not contained within the engine bells - would have almost been better with no optics at all. Also, like another person said, the stickers are on different bricks for the two models, so sometimes you have misplaced stickers. The second model is not as good as the shuttle, but is good enough to have been a set on its own.

2 out of 3 people thought this review was helpful.
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0.3
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8480: Space Shuttle
8480: Space Shuttle
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8480
Space Shuttle

My very first super-expensive LEGO set ever...

Posted by unicodemaster787 on 02 August 2007

My parents bought me this set from Toys-R-Us for Christmas 1996, scooping out US$ 173 from my father's credit card. It was my very first set packaged in a Euro-spec box (the multilingual box layout with the Billund DK address underneath), with a little twist: the box had a large barcode sticker on the original barcode region; this sticker had a different barcode and the familiar Enfield CT USA address. (Actually, I originally wanted for Christmas the 8880 Super Car, but by early Christmas it was gone from Toys-R-Us, so I had to settle instead on 8480.)

Ten years later, I discover that this same set is selling for as much as US$ 400 on eBay auctions. It must have really been a limited-production model or a very iconic classic set sought after by too many enthusiasts. I am now an adult with a Bachelor of Science degree, but still I consider selling my own 8480 set totally out of question. It is now my crown jewel in my collection (in terms of collector value), but still not my top favorite model (that title goes to --guess which one-- the 8880, which I finally won from a eBay auction in 2005, though I had to squeeze out nearly US$ 200 out of my credit card).

4 out of 7 people thought this review was helpful.
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8480: Space Shuttle
8480: Space Shuttle
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8480
Space Shuttle

Best Christmas ever

Posted by haoye in United States on 29 July 2007

I had the choice between this and Control Center II. While the controlled T-rex was cool, I couldn't pass up the chance for this brand new HUGE set with the brand new fiber optic system. The fiber optics are kind of a gimmick, but as mentioned in the other reviews, the features are staggering, and the design is really dense and great. The whole mechanism for controlling so many things from the one large motor is mind-boggling. The alternate sub model is also quite excellent, and I got a kick out of the motorized underwater rover that came out after you opened the hatch. My only complaint would be that the "design" pieces were sticker-based and not pre-printed. Also, the alternate model had different stickers, so if you used the stickers to make both models, you ended up with a space shuttle with some funny looking stickers on it in weird places. A better idea would have been to have separate painted pieces for the primary and secondary models. Wouldn't have cost LEGO that much since the original set was pretty pricey. (I'm slightly jealous that you guys managed to pick it up used for so cheap, but it made a pretty awesome gift for a 12-year old that wouldn't be the same even a few years down the line.)

4 out of 4 people thought this review was helpful.
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0.3
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8480: Space Shuttle
8480: Space Shuttle
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8480
Space Shuttle

Incredible Technic set!

Posted by a Brickset user on 06 June 2007

Wow....that pretty much sums it up. This set is unbelievable. The number of features is staggering, as are the features themselves. Landing gear up and down, aelerons up and down, fiber optics, cargo bay doors open and close, dual-axial crane movement, and even the satellites wings open and close! The gearbox and use of the switch is stunning. And no pneumatics or flex system, just plain old gears and motors! While I don't own some of the other big Technic sets (yet) I think they would have a hard time measuring up to this one. It's simply stunning. My congratulations to the designers at the Lego Company for coming up with this brilliant set!

2 out of 2 people thought this review was helpful.
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