LEGO Amelia Earhart Tribute 40450 Review!

If buying a set you’ve been after for a while wasn’t incentive enough LEGO have a special way of enticing people to part with even more of their hard earned money by giving away free gifts when a certain spend limit is hit. I won’t lie and say that I’m a sucker for a good GWP (gift with purchase) and have gone out of my way to get them, adding extra smaller sets to the basket in order to be above the minimum spend limit.

But we all do it in the Adult LEGO World and sometimes the gift can be worth it. One of the latest GWP was a lovely tribute to the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, Amelia Earhart!

The Build:

Box art front & back

The box art is fantastic and depicts a dirt track runway on the front with a handful of images on the back. The background looks really nice with the sepia tones and basic blueprints of the plane and map.

The set features a brick-built replica of the plane she used and a LEGO Minifigure version of the lady herself.

Starting with the plane build, a Lockheed Vega 5B, it proudly sits on the plinth at quite a satisfying angle, sloping up as though sawing through the air.

Lockheed Vega 5B

The build process was quite straightforward and easy enough to complete comfortably within an hour. You start off by constructing the lower half of the body, adding the top part, followed by the wings, and lastly the nose and propeller.

There are a handful of stickers here but I don’t think they hinder the experience in anyway, unlike some sets. We add yellow stripes along each side which ties in nicely with the circular 4×4 yellow plate at the front. We also pop the planes registration number, again matching its real life counterpart, on the wings and tail – NR-7952.

Photo by Sergio Caltagirone

When I first heard about this a little part of me hoped it was going to be Minifigure scale, I know it would be considerably bigger if it were, but how cool would a larger scale plane have been!

I think as models go this one isn’t too bad and does look very similar to the real thing, albeit more blocky, excuse the pun.

It’s plinth is nice and the rounded edges either end finish it off nicely, giving it a more luxurious finish. I like how LEGO stick to a certain style when it comes to display stands as this one is very similar to the 40th Anniversary Train GWP, black plates and tiling on the edges, smart!

The plane fixes to the display plinth by one contact point, a half exposed 2×2 plate (so 1×2 technically) sat on top of the short brick-built column. It is fairly easy to place and remove and rests comfortably in an ‘action’ pose.

There is a very cool sticker placed on the plinth and it tells us, and anyone unknowing who it is, what Amelia Earhart accomplished.

The Minifigure:

It wouldn’t be right to not include a Minifigure, after all it is about Amelia Earhart and her accomplishments.

The Minifigure looks absolutely stunning and really fits the theme of aviation, with her leather flying jacket, scarf/cravat, cap & goggles, and look of pure determination on her face!

What makes this even more special is that fact that both the head and torso are exclusive to this set, they have been produced before and are new. This is great for Minifigure collectors, like myself, as it makes getting and owning this a real joy.

On the sticker sheet, which was filled mostly of plane decoration, is a map design. This map fixes to a 2×2 sand coloured tile and accompanies Amelia Earhart on her journey, knowing the way is pretty essential!

LEGO once again has done a superb job with the designs and printing both with the stickers and on the Minifigure itself. The lines are crisp and there are plenty of details to see, especially on the torso where you’ll see stitching and shading.

Conclusion:

Overall this GWP set (on orders of £100 or over) is great and well worth spending that liitle extra to acquire it.

The plane and plinth build are both simple and straightforward and incorporate standard and SNOT (studs not on top) techniques. It’s suitable for all ages although some younger fans may need help with the fiddly bits.

Amelia Earhart Minifigure is stunning and LEGO have done a really top bitch job, not just in the design and printing but the overall look is great and suits the theme well.

We recommend picking this up, although the GWP offer has ended you’ll find many on third party websites, such as eBay and Facebook Marketplace. Please be safe shopping online though!

Do you have this set and have built it? What are your thoughts on it and would you recommend it to others? Let us know in the comments below, we love hearing from you.

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