8412 - Nighthawk

Details: Category: Sets; Hits: 495

1995

Set Year: 1995
Set Number: 8412
Set Parts: 286
Building Instruction: No
Currency: na

Set 8412, released in 1995, was the first "Tech Build" set, and it was a great start. This medium sized helicopter reminds me of Korean War era open cockpit helicopter like a Bell 47. It features a fully articulated main rotor head, a rotating tail rotor, and a simulated turbine engine.

Although this helicopter is not very large, the functionality is really excellent and it features some interesting building techniques. The canopy is made from bent semi-rigid pneumatic tubes. The tail boom is made from exposed axles. The landing skids use axles and angle connectors. The cyclic system for the main rotor head uses the rare Flex System components including the new ball end connectors. There are even hidden parts usually used as control arms of suspension systems. The larger of these controls the pitch axis cyclic and the smaller is a spacer on the tail boom.

A technic figure will fit in the seat in the cockpit even though the set does not come with one.

This small set was an excellent and inexpensive introduction to the complexities of Technic in 1995, and still holds up very well today.

Main model
Features
Rotor Crank			Both rotors you can manually turn via double stacked Light Gray Technic Wedge Belt Wheel (Pulley) on the side with a light gray pin with a yellow Technic Hub / Handle 1 x 1 to give the convenience op no slippage when you just would use the pin directly. This works very smoothly.
Rotors			The rotors' rotation is driven by an input crank on the left side. This crank drives a set of Light Gray Technic, Gear 12 Tooth Bevel gears giving the main rotor a ratio of 1:1. The main rotor consist of 2 long blades and 2 small blades. The crank axle also drives through two Light Gray Technic, Gear 12 Tooth Bevel gears a kind of turbo engine represented by two light Gray Technic, Gear 24 Tooth gears. The 24 tooth gears drive a 8 tooth gear for the tail rotor a ratio of 1:3. The Black Propeller 2 Blade 9 Diameter tail rotor is relatively big for this set to my opinion. The wholemechanism works smoothly and gives a realistic effect.
Collective Pitch			This helicopter uses a cyclic pitch system very similar to 8856. Real helicopter cyclic works by changing the pitch of individual blades as they rotate using a swashplate. For example, the leading and trailing blades may be at 10 degrees of pitch, while the port and starboard blades are at 5 and 15 degrees respectively. This model pivots the entire rotor head instead. If a real helicopter did this it would risk striking the rotor against the frame. The rotor axle drives a spherical ball gear. A part with 4 ball joints which is similar to a swashplate connects to a pair of flex cables to allow the head to pivot on two axes. The ball joints also keep the swashplate from rotating. Inside the swashplate is a four blade rotor part. The rotor has tabs on the inside which mate with the ball gear to transmit torque. Because of the shape of the gear, the rotor can pivot on two axes while still rotating. The control of the cyclic is from a stick at the pilot's position. There is one flex cable and sleeve for each axis. Fore-aft motion of the stick (shown in red) pushes and pulls the cable using a ball joint. The flex cable runs up to a link which lifts the swashplate using a suspension control arm! Lateral motion of the stick rotates an axle which runs aft (shown in green). At the end of the axle is a ball joint and a cam which connects to another flex cable. This flex cable attaches to a ball joint on the side of the swashplate.
Tail Rotor			The 24 tooth gears drive a 8 tooth gear for the tail rotor a ratio of 1:3. The Black Propeller 2 Blade 9 Diameter tail rotor is relatively big for this set to my opinion. The wholemechanism works smoothly and gives a realistic effect.
Cockpit			The cockpit is a classic one seater,sized for a minifig, though not in the set. With the flying stick and a centered dashboard it is pretty realistic taking the simplicity topmy opinion.Love it!
Skids			The landing skids are quite sturdy and are constructed from toothed connectors, liftarms, and axles.