Author Topic: 4311 new airport  (Read 5885 times)

Offline socrates

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4311 new airport
« on: February 04, 2007, 13:29:56 »
So... a little late, but in the context of my new plane, here is a little review of the new airport...

First of all, I think it is a pretty neat set, with a lot of details and new parts...
...even though, in general I found it a little narrow and "overstyled"...

If the old airport would have been a first mp3-player, the new one is the iPod, if you know what I mean...
They definitely set more focus on design elements but somehow this is clearly on the cost of the functionality... just to mention one thing: There are no more stairs or an elevator to the visitors platform... no idea how the klickies now should get up there... ;)

but see the pictures I took...
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Offline socrates

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Re: 4311 new airport
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2007, 13:39:27 »
...and another drawback: They changed the color of the basic SysX-boards...
(see picture), so the new set has a bad downward-compatibility to older airports...  :hmm:

Another thing that proves my "now they have hired designers instead of engineers"-hypothesis: They finally started to use connectors that fit the color of the walls... All glass wall (blue on white walls) do not have to be connected with the red standard hooks but get the darkgrey connectors with the set...

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."
— Hans Christian Andersen

Offline socrates

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Re: 4311 new airport
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2007, 13:48:22 »
...and one final "what happens if the designer do engineering stuf..."  :P
The platform balcony (this place that never ever can be reached by any klicky... ;) ) has a very stylish shape but is just connected by four yellow SysX-bolts...
(on the blue glass balustrade the color match of the connectors failed btw. ;) )

The static of this part is weak. I tried to simulate the average weight of a klicky by my finger... the whole thingie is a subject to fall down all the time when played with by kids... I have never seen something like this before from playmobil.  ::)



"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."
— Hans Christian Andersen

Offline socrates

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Re: 4311 new airport
« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2007, 13:54:12 »
but now to the cool thingies...  :yup:

first: they finally made a holder-clip for the desktop computer... :)
aaand they placed a handy holder on the desk. I am not sure how many of you got already upset about loose things on playmo desks that fall down all the time. now they solved the problem... I just dont know why this clip had to become red...  :hmm:
(they still forgot to equip the desk with connectors to the floor, though... )
"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."
— Hans Christian Andersen

Offline socrates

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Re: 4311 new airport
« Reply #4 on: February 04, 2007, 14:03:42 »
oh, forgot to mention... They got rid of the stupid chair as well.
It cost me years of my life to place klickies behind the desks with the old chairs... Now she is working without a chair behind her desk, and doesn't she look happy?  ;)

So, another veeeeery cool thing is the gangway!  :wow:
I love gangways... they are about the coolest things on airports... :love:

They at least did not fire all engineers, as this again is a masterpiece... They reused a lot of well known pieces like parts from the elevator and the front wheel from the plane...
It runs very smoothly from left to right and the snout can be turned very nicely as well, the opening is made of the elevator doors...
"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."
— Hans Christian Andersen

Offline socrates

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Re: 4311 new airport
« Reply #5 on: February 04, 2007, 14:08:34 »
I love the gangway... did I say this already?
I just wonder what then is the sense of the new stair-carrier...  :-\

It is approved for the complete playmo-fleet... If you ignore the fact that the old planes have a buildin stairway, you can use the gangway on the old planes as well...
"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."
— Hans Christian Andersen

Offline playmofire

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Re: 4311 new airport
« Reply #6 on: February 04, 2007, 14:12:54 »
Thanks for the excellent review, Socrates, and the detailed photos.  Very useful indeed.

If Playmobil  "set more focus on design elements....on the cost of the functionality...", I suppose they can argue that they are reflecting the real world, but it's worrying that they should go that way; in the long run it won't win them long term customers.  I suppose that with the lack of stairs and a lift/elevator, it can always be argued that imagination gets the klickies up to the higher floors (as with Steck), but when bits drop off easily it leads to frustrated users and angry buyers.

It's worrying, too, if the designers are taking over from the engineers.  My view is probably the same as yours - let the engineer do the design and then let the designer round off the corners and chose the colour (though not too much choice of colour or everything ends up Barbie pink!)

Having said that, that walkway is great - maybe they sacrificed the stairs so that they could afford this part. 

I can see the use for the stair-carrier when the airport is very busy and all the gangways are in use or when the gangways break down because of a lack of engineers. ;D


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Offline socrates

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Re: 4311 new airport
« Reply #7 on: February 04, 2007, 14:25:57 »
Having said that, that walkway is great - maybe they sacrificed the stairs so that they could afford this part. 

I can see the use for the stair-carrier when the airport is very busy and all the gangways are in use or when the gangways break down because of a lack of engineers. ;D

:lol
you might be right with both suspicions... after all there are parts of the elevator used for the gangway...  :hmm:

well, what else to say? :)
Oh, the thingie I missed most from the last set is:
- this strange part from the space series the security guy had in his hand in the old airports...  :P

Aaaand a good news for all pirates: Together with the cinderella fairy tale set there are now two of these nice ties from the stewardesses available in the DS, a yellow and a gray one...  :o

best
socrates
"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."
— Hans Christian Andersen

Offline Tiermann

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Re: 4311 new airport
« Reply #8 on: February 05, 2007, 00:47:46 »
I like this set, but the observation deck access would bother me. I would probably move the parts down to ground level and leave the area empty up there.

Offline socrates

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Re: 4311 new airport
« Reply #9 on: February 05, 2007, 08:33:48 »
I like this set, but the observation deck access would bother me. I would probably move the parts down to ground level and leave the area empty up there.

I would like to make it larger... But it is not too easy because of the color change they made on most pieces...
Just wanted to mention that there is another special part: A round glass wall piece. Please look at this thread for a beautiful conversion of this pieces into a park diorama by playmo-family... it is just beautiful... (but as she claims it "expensive"...  ::) )
http://www.playmo-portal.com/playmobilforum/viewtopic.php?t=15004&highlight=park

best
socrates
"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."
— Hans Christian Andersen