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What is in common between Indiana Jones and James Bond movies? It could hardly be the fast cars, though Rolls-Royce Phantom models have their share in both productions. I had more in mind a piece of aviation history, the good old Douglas DC-3. While browsing on Lego Cuusoo, I came across this 5 month-old project, a Douglas DC-3, perfectly proportioned and designed by Lego fan MrSsorg.
I must say that I was quite impressed by the work and the efforts put into this design, even though Lego sets dedicated to planes aren't something new. There have been quite a few already, but apart from the special collector warplanes, commercial ones such as the Lego Boeing 787 are somewhat lagging behind in terms of design, despite their retail prices.
Typically, the best way to find decent replicas is to look outside the retail products, in the fan community, and this DC-3 certainly is a very good example. The designer of this flying legend has done his share of research about the airliner, including the landing gears mechanism where special efforts were put to make them retractable, just like in the actual design. While the inherent bulky properties of the Lego accessories make the interior of the aircraft hardly scalable, the exterior, on the other hand, is meticulously proportioned in this Lego version.
Lego did design its own Douglas DC-3 as part of the Lego set 7628-1 but went nowhere near the details found in this one. Should this project reach the required 10,000 votes on Lego Cuusoo, it would be a perfect new addition to the "Hard to find" series of Lego products.
The designer even proposes a tentative retail price of $160. If it is so, please let me buy it right away!
