It’s been 20 years since the final flight of one of the most beautiful planes ever made — the supersonic Concorde — and you’ll soon be able to buy one in Lego form.
Technology
Lego’s new $200 Concorde is a fantastic homage to the supersonic passenger jet
It’s nearly three and a half feet long.
The $200 Lego Icons Concorde is nearly three and a half feet long, has a 17-inch (43cm) wingspan, and three neat tricks up its sleeve. Not only does it capture many of the real plane’s iconic curves, but it’s also got an incredible Lego mechanism hidden inside to raise and lower its landing gear with a twist of the tail cone on the end.
The hidden gears run nearly the full length of the plane, and at the front, you can manually lower the Concorde’s distinctive droop nose — which pilots would do for more visibility on takeoff and landing, before popping it up again for streamlining. Like the real plane, there’s a second windscreen nested inside the front visor.
Last but not least, while the plane doesn’t appear to fit Lego minifigures — a real Concorde would seat over 90 — the company does let you lift off part of the fuselage for a microscale look at seating and toilets.
The 2,038-piece set will go on sale September 4th for Lego VIPs (it’s a free signup) or September 7th for everyone else.
In some ways, it’s a pretty timely homage. The Concorde was in the news just this week as one floated down the Hudson River to be restored at the Brooklyn Navy Yard:
More significantly, the world is actually investing in supersonic planes again. United Airlines, American Airlines, and Japan Airlines have all ordered as many as 130 planes from Boom Supersonic, targeting 2027 for the first flights. NASA is still preparing its X-59 Quesst prototype to gather data on whether quiet supersonic flight is feasible over land, also aiming to deliver results by 2027.
I’m not sure if I’ve got room on my shelf for this awesome set next to my Lego Space Shuttle Discovery and Galaxy Explorer, but I absolutely love how it looks. I also love my colleague Thomas Ricker’s story about what it was like to actually fly Concorde.