PlaymoFriends

General => Report & Review => Topic started by: Rasputin on September 03, 2008, 22:14:24

Title: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: Rasputin on September 03, 2008, 22:14:24
Well i went to TRU to return the other set so while i was there i picked up a few new ones . One of the sets is the 5842 mini helicopter based on the same platform as the 4423 news crew. The only difference is a new landing pad to allow the water cannons to mount .
(http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/8693/p1010004xl4.jpg)
(http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/8259/p1010005bl4.jpg)
Set up was easy and quick . stickers and a dozen small parts .
(http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/2559/p1010006fw9.jpg)
Nice looking Klickie but once again it has a new badge logo . This time it is similar to the junk Fire engine and the new two klickie box set . Does not match anything i have already
(http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/9279/p1010010xf4.jpg)
Here we see it in action fighting an arsonist
(http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/985/p1010012wg8.jpg)

The set looks nice and with the mini water cannon i am sure the kids will love it in the tub .
(http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/3646/p1010014xt3.jpg)

Over all @ $9.99 not bad and the kids will love the play-value
Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: Rasputin on September 03, 2008, 22:41:53
and her is the conclusion to the arsonists plans
(http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/4655/p1010001sv4.jpg)

Now that i had my fun , the boys grabbed the set and off to the tub for fun
(http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/1286/p1010002vf2.jpg)
Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: playmofire on September 04, 2008, 03:30:11
Thanks for the review, Ras.  It strikes me as very much aimed at the kids' market, and that's perfectly reasonable, has lots of play value and is much more Playmobil quality than the fire engine.  The proliferation of fire badges is something I'm not happy with, the uniform lack of these is one of the advantages of Playmobil fire engines and, until recently the international police vehicles.

I'm intrigued with how the water cannon works.  Does it actually operate via the two hose branches on the undercarriage as the box shows, and how effective is it (in distance not in putting out a fire!)?
Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: Gustavo on September 04, 2008, 04:13:08
 :lol:

Arsonist!!! :lol: :clap:

This was wonderful, Rasputin!!! Thanks, really really thanks!!! :lol: :clap: :clap:




Kids picture's nice as well, and give us a notion of a ... er another kind of fun that we, collectors who have no children around, don't usually have contact with, but is, in my case, something that takes me back to those days ...

Your review shows you having great fun.
Last pic shows the little guys having their fun.

It's all fun, in Ras' home, I imagine ;D!

Thanks again!




Gus
:blackhair:
Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: Gustavo on September 04, 2008, 04:22:44

I'm intrigued with how the water cannon works.  Does it actually operate via the two hose branches on the undercarriage as the box shows, and how effective is it (in distance not in putting out a fire!)?


By the pictures, Gordon, I'd say that the water cannons are fake, and that there's a true one under the helicopter, which comes straight from the bomb at the back ...

If so, it could be different, I think, but ... :(
And, well : I'm guessing, here.

Gus
:blackhair:
Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: playmofire on September 04, 2008, 06:06:58
To me, Gus, it looks like the red and grey tank fits into the undercarriage which seems to be hollow, and the hoses and nozzles also fit to the undercarriage.  The question then is, do they connect up?  The pictures on the box front suggest they do, but that might be artist's licence.
Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: Martin Milner on September 04, 2008, 09:19:59
I agree with Gus, it's clear to me from Rasputin's pictures that the red hoses & twin silver nozzles are just for show, and a single jet of water comes directly from the central hole in the red nozzle that fits on the front of the water tank.

The boxfront is slightly and I suspect deliberately misleading.

For $10 it's still great value, the TV news blue version of this helicopter was £7 in T K Maxx recently, and there's more in this set.

It is a shame they've started putting these FF logos and the flames on the firefighter sets, but I suppose this is meant to be more appealing to children.

Definitely a great bathtime or paddling pool toy.


Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: Bill Blackhurst on September 04, 2008, 12:54:52
Hey everyone!
 Martin & Gus, you are correct! The red hoses are solid, & do not connect to the water reservoir source. If you look at the front box picture, there is only one stream of water coming from the right outboard silver hose nozzle, none coming from the left. In a picture on top of the box it shows the black squeezable reservoir connected to the red mounting nozzle, & shooting a stream of water while disconnected from the helicopter. The front box picture is a true marketing strategy, because it makes the helicopter look like a true firefighting piece of apparatus. It's a shame that both silver water nozzles have holes all the way through them that serve no purpose for this application.
Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: Rasputin on September 04, 2008, 14:12:20
Well you are partially correct . Yes the red hoses are the same ones that came with the Mad Max race-cars and vacuum cleaner. But the silver nozzles are not totally useless. with a few parts it is very easy to make them work
(http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/9179/p1010001vk2.jpg)

I put this together in 3 minutes and it may pose a little flight or landing problem  :lol: but i was unwilling ( at this point ) to cut the hoses to fit properly . "Watch out for that tree" George is now a Fire fighter  :P
(http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/8536/p1010003ot0.jpg)
Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: playmofire on September 04, 2008, 14:53:03
Well, I can't see your picture, Ras - it downloads so far and then disappears - but I guess that as Playmobil have gone to the trouble to have a hole going through the nozzle it will appear in some working set sooner or later.
Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: macgayver on September 04, 2008, 16:01:16
Well you are partially correct . Yes the red hoses are the same ones that came with the Mad Max race-cars and vacuum cleaner. But the silver nozzles are not totally useless. with a few parts it is very easy to make them work
(http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/9179/p1010001vk2.jpg)

I put this together in 3 minutes and it may pose a little flight or landing problem  :lol: but i was unwilling ( at this point ) to cut the hoses to fit properly . "Watch out for that tree" George is now a Fire fighter  :P
(http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/8536/p1010003ot0.jpg)

Lol

cool 
Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: playmofire on September 04, 2008, 16:24:15
The pics fed in with no problem this time.  An interesting configuration of equipment!
Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: Rasputin on September 04, 2008, 17:33:03
The pics fed in with no problem this time.  An interesting configuration of equipment!

Yes and it gives the crew plinty to do back at the station ( all the fun hose drying and rolling )  ;)
Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: Gustavo on September 05, 2008, 02:48:04
Does it make the canon actually work, Ras? ...

If it does, it may well be done with shorter er ... don't know how to say "mangueira" in English :-[ I'm definitely not a firefighter collector.

Anyway, if the ?? (white parts) are shorter, maybe it'll get more ... useful ;D

If the canons can actually shoot, then it's solved, I think.

It was a great idea, by the way.

Gus
:blackhair:
Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: Martin Milner on September 05, 2008, 07:12:22
Does it make the canon actually work, Ras? ...

If it does, it may well be done with shorter er ... don't know how to say "mangueira" in English :-[ I'm definitely not a firefighter collector.

Anyway, if the ?? (white parts) are shorter, maybe it'll get more ... useful ;D

If the canons can actually shoot, then it's solved, I think.

It was a great idea, by the way.

Gus
:blackhair:

Gus, if you go back and read what Rasputin actually wrote, he said this set up does make the nozzles work, but he was unwilling to cut the hoses at the time for this test.
Title: Re: 5842 Mini Fire helicopter
Post by: playmofire on September 05, 2008, 07:45:02
Gus, if you go back and read what Rasputin actually wrote, he said this set up does make the nozzles work, but he was unwilling to cut the hoses at the time for this test.

The length of hose and how it "lies" appear to be crucial to the successful working of the Playmobil water systems, particularly the pressurised one.  Because the hose connectors only push in to the tank at one end and the nozzle at the other, the hose has a dual role - acting as a channel for the water and also acting as a means of absorbing excess pressure which would blow the hose connector either out of the water tank or out of the nozzle.  With the pressurised system I once cut the hoses down between the two tanks to minimise the space they took up and found that connectors regularly blew off, even during the pressurising process.  Also, having the hose too straight between the tank and the nozzle tended to produce the same problem.  By using longer lengths of hose (the standard Playmobil length) and allowing curves in the hose, the problem was solved.  With the older tank where you press a button to pump the water through the hose, the length of hose seems less crucial.  The same factors may apply to the new helicopter water system.

The hose in the firefighter carry set (review coming up) is different from early hose, being semi-transparent.  Whether this is just a change in the type of plastic or to solve the "pop-off" problem with connectors I don't know.  The real solution is to have the connection of the hose to the water tank and the hose to the nozzle locking in some way, but this may be difficult to do because of the scale and possible cost.