Review: LEGO 40450 Amelia Earhart Tribute

In correspondence to the Woman’s Day 2021, LEGO released the Amelia Earhart Tribute set. 

It is a small set to celebrate the bravery and passion of a woman that since her childhood wanted to push her limits and follow her passions. Thanks to her character and backbone, today she is an icon for a lot of people. 

Overview

Amelia Earhart needs very little introduction: her story is full of exciting adventures and her disappearance is shrouded in mystery.

During her aviation activity, Amelia gets several records and achievements, including the first woman Transaltlantic solo flight.

The LEGO Amelia Earhart tribute set celebrates Amelia’s solo Transatlantic flight from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, Canada, to Derry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, in May 1932. She flew with a Lockheed Vega 5B which became famous for its use by a number of record-breaking pilots, including Amelia, of course.

The Amelia Earhart tribute set was a gift with purchase for a few days in March 2021. LEGO already did a similar tribute also to Charles Dickens just before Christmas 2020. I think we will see more of these tributes, in the future.

The set comes with a nice box with an old fashioned design. The feeling is that the set comes directly from Amelia’s airfield, ready to fly for a new adventure.

It is a small set with 198 parts including one minifigure. As for other special sets, LEGO customise the instructions. 

Two pages of the books resumes the story of Amelia, making this booklet part of the set and not just simple instructions.

Assembling the set is really fun, simple but accurate. It is a nice build also for the passionated of flights but not LEGO fanatics.

The Minifigure

I start my review from the minifigure of Amelia Earhart. It is a girl in a pilot uniform coming directly from the pioneering era of flight in early Twentieth Century.

Amelia has a printed torso with a pilot scarf tied and a leather jacket zipped up. The color of the hands is a kind of light tan as the leather flight gloves. 

The print on the torso continues also on the back, including both the collar and the seams.

A single face completes Amelia’s minifigure with a personalised expression. As headgear, she has a flight leather helmet with aviator goggles.

Finally, the accessory us a world map printed in a 2×2 tile. 

The map shows the flight path of Amelia’s first solo Transatlantic flight in 1932.

The Lockheed Vega 5B

The second main part of the set is the airplane: the Lockheed Vega 5B piloted by Amelia in her solo flight. Since it is a tribute set, the airplane is not in minifigure scale, but it has all the characteristics of the original airplane.

The double bladed propeller is done with a rod and two fins, which well represents it. Despite the official LEGO propellers used for several sets, I prefer this customised version.

The airplane is all streamlined and all the interiors are covered and protected. The LEGO bricks make a great job to replicate its structure and the shape. 

The airplane is all red with some yellow parts and a few stickers with the registration number: NR-7952. A big sticker is on the upper side of the wing with the registration number and a smaller one is on the rudder together with the Lockheed logo.

So, after a nice and funny building, you can move the airplane in the display support to emphasise it.

Final Display

The minifigure of Amelia in this set is simple but quite accurate and unique. The rumors of this tribute set where anticipated also with the Minifigure of the airplane costume girl in the Series 21. The Series 21 minfigure shares a red airplane and the pilot helmet with googles. I like to combine the two minifigures and my final display will include both.

So, my final display of this Amelia Earhart tribute is as follows, including both Amelia and the airplane costume girl. 

This set will fit perfectly in my library at home together with my aviation book! 

Thank you for reading my review and if you like, please let me know in the comments what do you think of this Amelia Earhart tribute set.