In this video the kids review a LEGO SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket MOC*. We look at how the SpaceX Falcon Heavy works with stage 1 and stage 2. We also have a time lapse speed build and talk about some of the things to be mindful of during the build. We also cover a few limitations within the build.
This is great for getting kids interested in SpaceX and STEM, as they have something hands on and interactive. So strap yourself in and gods speed.
We got this My Own Creation, MOC, from the LEGO ideas website by Eiffleman:
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/80b37347-6083-4878-978f-fbf7d962a42b
*MOC = My Own Creation
Time codes for the video:
0:00 Introduction
0:35 Where we got the SpaceX Falcon Heavy Instructions from
1:25 Breakage from General Handling
2:09 Kids Introduction on SpaceX Falcon Heavy – Stage 1
4:15 Stage 2, Satellites and payloads
5:18 Parts from our own collection and critical parts
6:18 Time lapse speed build
7:17 Creating stickers yourself
7:40 Critical Building steps and considerations … make sure you get it right
8:50 Kids explaining reusable rockets
Transcript from the Show
Welcome to our video of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket. This was a tricky build.
In this video we will cover how the SpaceX Falcon Heavy works, which was great for getting the kids to understand and peak their interest in it . We will review the model and talk about breakage. There will also be a timelapse speed build where we will point out some things to be mindful of during the build.
So strap yourself in and god speed.
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Where We Got the SpaceX Falcon Heavy Instructions from
We got this My Own Creation, MOC, from the LEGO ideas website and will include a link around the video.
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/80b37347-6083-4878-978f-fbf7d962a42b
This is a fan designer who has put the idea forward to be a real set and included instructions if you click on the updates. If you scroll down you’ll see they are from the most recent to older with decals and the pieces you need. Showing it there relative to the Saturn V. And a couple of different payloads you can have. Whether it is traditional satelittle or the promotional Tesla car that got sent up into space.
It is a great build of medium difficultly and really meant as a display piece as it is quite fragile. I get that if it was to become a LEGO set, they would undoubtedly address this issue but there was a bit of breakage with the kids handling which was a real shame.
Breakage from General Handling
Then [breakage] … ok, that wasn’t mean to happen. Don’t worry everyone.
These parts are fragile [booster falls off the table].
Its not very fragile unless you play rough with it.
[satellite drops onto table and smashes to pieces] . And this is fragile
And that comes back down to earth [booster falls over and smashes]
Not sure why everything keeps breaking. The reason we think it [blade hinge falls off] keeps breaking is cause it is fragile.
Whoa… that was a close one.
Kids Introduction on SpaceX Falcon Heavy – Stage 1
Hello everyone and today we are going to be talking about the SpaceX Falcon Heavy. This is a rocket that will go into space, then it will land back on earth safely, if it doesn’t explode and they will reuse it again, and again, and again, and again.
The first part that I want to show you is the boosters. The boosters can come off. Yeah. Not easily.
So, this is the set. Let’s try the satellite in.
These are the mini things in. Stage 1 is boosters coming off. So, it will be flying, next the boosters will split up. They be … duuuuh. Oh, that was stage 2 just popping off. So, then they should make a firm landing.
Those 2 parts are coming into earths atmosphere, so you know what that means, they will finally engage their landing units. So, they should land on pad 1 and 2. Oh my gosh, I don’t know why that keeps happening. It won’t let me put it in the proper landing mode. These boosters land back down. Only the main booster is going. This is the main booster. But when it is flying, it will be like that.
Stage 2, Satellites and Payloads
And then, comes stage 2. Stage 2 is important, if the rocket explodes, which it shouldn’t, before stage 2 then the car won’t go into the moon. So, when it splits up, it should look like that. So then, when it flies around, and it lands. Not the real one though, the LEGO one, yeah, when it flies around, then lands on the moon, then the car will be released.
Is this the bit that goes up to space. No that’s the satellite. What does the satellite do? It just goes up and then communicates with phones and then sends the emails and addresses, call and things to the other person’s phones.
Parts from our own collection and critical parts
We largely built the SpaceX Falcon Heavy from pieces within our collection. So ideally everything exposed would be in white with a few black pieces for the base of the rocket and the Hinge Plate 3 x 12 with Angled Side Extensions and Tapered Ends.
At the time, the Cylinder Half 2 x 4 x 5 with 1 x 2 Cutout pieces were really hard to come by and had to order from LEGO.com directly (as you need about 34 of these). That was a long painful process with many calls to LEGO customer service. I have noticed now however, seems much easier to get 34 of those pieces all from one seller, so maybe have had more sets released with the piece recently.
For the instructions, we basically just printed off the page from the LEGO ideas website.
There actually aren’t a great deal of pieces to make it up, but there are some less common ones such as Cylinder Half 3 x 6 x 10 with 1 x 2 Cutout and the 32 length Technic axle, which you do need 3 of. You need one for each booster helps out with the structural integrity of the booster – so wouldn’t really recommend trying to leave it out or skip over it.
Time lapse speed build
And now onto the time lapse speed build.
The base of all 3 boosters are the same so we were able to build one each, which might get a little tedious with just one person. You can see that it is built around that 32 Technic Axle which helps compress the pieces together with anchor points throughout the length. Even then, the pieces can’t easily shear apart.
Most of the black and grey rings should be white but again, just dealing with the pieces we had available in our collection at the time.
The center booster is obviously the one that is a little different as it has second stage and payload.
You also have to cut a length of 192mm tubing (part 85526) to get 86mm pieces which help bind the 3 boosters together, in addition to the technic pins. I know some LEGO purists are going to freak out cutting that piece but again, probably wouldn’t recommend skipping it. Hence you can see the scissors and ruler in shot here.
Then onto the satellite and red Tesla car payloads – so you can choose which one you want to use.
Creating stickers yourself
For the stickers, we got some Transparent Ink Jet adhesive film that you can stick into a regular home colour ink jet printer. Around the video should be a link to one of these. Just printed the stickers from the graphics that were included on the LEGO ideas website. We may have had to scale them slightly to get the right size.
So, for anyone who hates applying stickers, having to make your own might be a step too far.
Critical Building steps and considerations … make sure you get it right
One thing we did want to point out about this build is you really have to pay attention to the rotation of the pieces at the bottom of the boosters. If you don’t, you’ll end up having the technic pin hole connections underneath the long black plate hinge plates.
This means you won’t be able to connect the 3 boosters together. It isn’t a simple job just to rotate them 45 degrees, so really watch for this when building.
We also found the black blade hinge plates at the bottom generally aren’t strong enough to support the weight of the boosters, to simulate them landing back on earth following a launch.
It might seem that we are being overly critical and appreciate it is a fan design, and not a full blown LEGO designed and tested product. It is a great build but if going to the time and effort to put together, we want you to know some of the issues so don’t get frustrated by it. Or if you decide to try to do your own designs, what are going to be some of the considerations in putting it together.
We do appreciate the time and effort that went into the fan design and its great Eiffleman has included all the information to be able to build it yourself.
As you can see from the kids explanations, it was great for them to have something hands on and engage with so they could understand the different stages and the significance of reusable rockets returning to earth.
Kids explaining reusable rockets
As you may know, rockets are never used again, once they are used once. But this one is a special type of rocket. They are going to use it lots of times, like a space shuttle. If you’ve never heard of the space shuttle, watch a video on space shuttles. This is not a space shuttle, note that in mind. This is the SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket.
Rockets, usually rockets are only used once and costs lots of money but this rocket can save money cause it is different to all the others. How? It lands on earth as I said safely.
Did you know 1 or 2 space shuttles, they exploded and guess what happened? Bits fell down, did you know that? They exploded! Exploded I said.
This is a Family Bricks video. Be sure to hit that like button, share or if you want to be super awesome, subscribe! Click the bell and select “All”, to be notified of new videos as they are uploaded.
Thanks very much for watching. Maybe you’d like to check out the kids talking about the Statute of Liberty…. Or a blooper reel … or a LEGO Simpson’s House playthrough … or a LEGO Dots Pineapple Pencil Holder Hands on Review. These and other videos you’ll find on our Family Bricks YouTube channel that can be found at www.youtube.com/c/familybricks.
Until next time when we talk about all things LEGO and Lifestyle.