Scrolling through LEGO City Coast Guard sets reveals that a new range of rescue boats and helicopters has been released every three or four years. It has, however, been nine years since the last batch of Coast Guard sets were released.
I have been waiting for the release of a marine-focused rescue helicopter and 60503 Coast Guard Helicopter does not disappoint. Read on as I have a look at the latest addition to LEGO City’s range of emergency services helicopters.
Summary
60503 Coast Guard Helicopter, 551 pieces.
£54.99 / $64.99 / €59.99 | 10.0p, 11.8c, 10.9c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
The latest LEGO City Coast Guard Helicopter is an accurate model and would look good in any LEGO City sea scene
- Printed parts throughout (no stickers)
- Clever hidden mechanism to release the winch
- There should have been a stretcher included
- The helicopter winch should be on the other side
The box
The image on the front of the box shows the Coast Guard Helicopter hovering over a life raft. The Air Crew Officer is winching the Critical Care Paramedic down to the life-raft while the Pilot works hard at maintaining the helicopter’s position and altitude.
The helicopter’s downdraught is buffeting the life raft as waves are breaking. An anxious sailor is waiting to be rescued in the life raft. There is a note that suggests that the life raft does not float so time is of the essence as there is a shark lurking under the sea.
The rear of the box has an image of the Coast Guard Helicopter sitting on the helipad with the aircrew preparing the helicopter for its next flight.
The 60504 Coast Guard Rescue Boat can be seen out at sea while the aeroplane from 60502: Airport with Airplane is visible in the sky beyond.
The play features of the set have also been highlighted.
Instructions
The instructions come in one 183-page medium-sized booklet.
Parts
The 551 parts are divided into five bags. The three larger components which assemble the helicopter’s airframe are loose in the box.
Printed parts
One feature that surprised me was that there are no stickers in this set. Throughout this set, printed parts provide the detailing.
There are two sets 2×6 Reddish Orange tiles with Coast and Guard printed on them. These parts have been seen in 60504 Coast Guard Rescue Boat.
The vehicle bonnet (hood) has the Coast Guard life ring logo printed on it. This part is unique to this set. The use of this red and white life ring as a logo for LEGO coast guard sets goes back forty years.
The Vibrant Yellow helicopter tail also has the Coast Guard life ring logo printed on it. This printed part is unique to this set, although an unprinted version of this element has been used in one set.
There is a first aid kit in the helicopter. This printed 1×2 White tile has been seen in 25 sets.
The helicopter has an orange and white life ring available to deploy. The Ring with Bar element is new this year. Seen in four sets, three are the orange and white version seen here, and a pink version is included with 71051-8 Crocodile Costume (CMF Series 28).
The helicopter cockpit has a control console and compass.
There are also two Trident logos printed on the life raft which I am missing from this line up of images.
Minifigures
There are four minifigures included in the set: one person who needs rescuing and three members of the Coast Guard Helicopter’s air crew.
Distressed sailor
The Coast Guard Helicopter is on a mission to rescue a person from a life raft.
The female distressed sailor is wearing a Medium Stone Grey wetsuit with lime trim, zip print and lime arms. This torso has been seen in one other set. I have not been able to figure out the stylised logo on the back of the wetsuit. To me, it looks like an uppercase letter R.
She has two expressions: a reluctant smile or an anxious frown.
Pilot
The pilot’s torso is a dark blue overall with neon green and silver safety stripes over a woollen jumper print with Reddish Orange arms and Dark Stone Grey gloves.
This torso is seen in one other set: the pilot of the 60504 Coastguard Rescue Boat.
The pilot is wearing dark blue trousers with neon green and silver safety stripes including pockets. All three air crew are wearing the same trousers.
The pilot has two expressions: a friendly smile and one where he is more serious, with focused concentration.
Air Crew Officer
Both the Air Crew Officer and the Critical Care Paramedic have the same torso which has been seen in two other sets. This part has a Reddish Orange jacket with neon green/silver safety stripes. There is a hint of a dark blue shirt underneath. There are Reddish Orange arms and Dark Stone Grey gloves.
They are also both wearing the same protective helmet. Because of this, they both have only one expression printed on their heads.
Critical Care Paramedic
The Critical Care paramedic has a hearing aid print. Maybe working in a helicopter under the excessively noisy turbine engines and rotor has caused his hearing loss.
Shark
A sea rescue LEGO set would be incomplete without some terror of the sea being included. Therefore, 60503 Coast Guard Helicopter comes with an intimidating Medium Stone Grey shark.
Bag 1
Bag 1 assembles the life raft. There is a red flare/torch included in the life raft’s equipment. The two parts that assemble the flare are included as spare parts, so I assembled a second flare and gave it to the distressed sailor to hold.
There is also a red light on top of the life raft to aid in its location at night.
The life raft has two trident logos printed on its buoyancy chambers. This part is unique to this set.
Bag 2
Bag 2 assembles the main chassis of the Coast Guard Helicopter. The rear of the helicopter hinges open as a ramp and a life ring is available for deployment. There is a large, clear area in the back of the helicopter’s cabin.
There is a new part for this year in the cockpit. The 2×6 plate has five studs across and two stops on the sides for car doors. It simplifies placing two minifigures in a six-wide vehicle.
The Black and Vibrant Yellow detailing on the helicopter’s amphibious floats is achieved using 1×1 plates.
Bag 3
Bag 3 assembles the foundation of the cockpit. The Reddish Orange colour has been used to great effect here.
The search lights in front of the cockpit can be pivoted around.
Bag 4
Bag 4 assembles the helicopter cabin.
The Vibrant Yellow colour scheme is continued on the tail section.
The doors on both sides of the cabin can slide back, which allows access to the cabin.
Completed model
Bag 5 completes the model. Our distressed sailor has successfully survived the night in the life raft and the Coast Guard Helicopter is hovering overhead. The Air Crew Officer has deployed the life ring near to the life raft.
The cockpit window lifts off easily to allow easy access to the helicopter pilot.
The helicopter’s winch is on the port (left) side of the Coast Guard Helicopter.
This is somewhat unconventional, as nearly all rescue helicopters have their winches on the starboard (right) side. This is because helicopter pilots usually sit in the right-hand seat.
Pilots will nearly always hold the cyclic control in their right hand and this is why they usually sit in the right-hand seat.
This article goes on to explain in greater detail why helicopter pilots sit in the right seat. It would be more conventional to mount the winch on the right-hand side of the helicopter, as it enables the pilot to view the winching operation.
The Air Crew Officer is sitting in the cabin with the door slid open. The Critical Care Paramedic is attached to the winch wire with a minifigure backplate. This is why he is not wearing a life jacket.
Two Dark Stone Grey barrels and assorted round elements make up the Coast Guard Helicopter twin turbine engines.
There is a clever ratchet release mechanism built into the Coast Guard Helicopter’s winch system.
The two eight-tooth gear wheels on the winch shaft act as a ratchet. The yellow 1×2 plate with rail engages the gear’s teeth.
Pressing down on the helicopter’s orange anti-collision light releases the ratchet and the minifigure connected to the winch wire is lowered down.
Overall opinion
As with many LEGO City sets that have been released in the last few years, 60503 Coast Guard Helicopter has a level of detail and accuracy in its construction.
It is quite a large model when compared to other LEGO City helicopters: It is eight studs wide when allowing for the helicopter’s amphibious floats. The helicopter is equally long when compared to other recent LEGO City helicopters.
I believe the winch should be mounted on the other side and this can be easily achieved. I do like the method that has been used to ratchet and release the winch.
While there is plenty of room in the cabin, the model is missing a stretcher. This would be standard equipment for a rescue helicopter and would add some play value, particularly given that stretchers are common in LEGO City rescue vehicles, planes and helicopters.
The model looks very similar to a Leonardo AW169 such as this real-world rescue helicopter – ZK-HLH (Westpac 1).
Background
In the few weeks since purchasing 60503 Coast Guard Helicopter and writing the review for this set, I have led three sea survival training courses where adult students are required to learn sea survival techniques. Students learn how to prepare and work with helicopters for medical evacuations and search and rescue. They must demonstrate that they can right an inverted life raft.
It is the inclusion of the life raft that appeals to me about this set. It reminds me of a cold dark night that I spent in a life raft out in the Hauraki Gulf as part of my own sea survival training. An experience that I look back on with fond memory, although I remember it as being a somewhat unpleasant experience. They don’t perform this type of training any more!
I have also served in ships that have had helicopters embarked. Being Officer of the Watch while launching and recovering helicopters from the flight deck and performing winching operations while underway.
60503 Coast Guard Helicopter reminds me of all these fond experiences.
Real world
Cape Brett Rescue – October 2019
The one-and-a-half-minute video below shows a Westpac Rescue Helicopter operated by the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust rescuing people from a life raft off Cape Brett.
This demonstrates a real-world example of a very typical scenario that 60503 Coast Guard Helicopter would be tasked to undertake.
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine posted these images on social media. He was employed as a nautical pilot helping guide a ship into an offshore mooring at an iron sand loading facility on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island.
The images show a crew member from the ship being lifted off (medivac – medical evacuation) from the ship by a Westpac Rescue Helicopter.
The Westpac Rescue Helicopter is hovering over a dedicated helicopter operating position painted on the deck of the ship while being buffeted by 35 knots (40 mph, 65 km/h) southerly winds. The ship’s crew, wearing fire suits, are standing by with fire-fighting equipment.
The image shows the Critical Care Paramedic being winched onto the ship.
Chopper Chat April 2023 – Pippa joins Westpac Rescue Auckland training
This is a more detailed twenty-minute video where a New Zealand reporter interviews the team at Auckland Westpac Rescue. Pippa Wetzell joins Auckland Westpac Rescue during their Wets & Decks training and is rescued as if she was a patient.
