LEGO 60158 Review: Jungle Cargo Helicopter (finally a Jungle set with a good price/piece ratio)

The set in its entirety (Brickset image)

I know it's been a while since I've done a LEGO review, so this is me getting back into the swing of things.

I've had my eye on the Jungle sets for a while due to not only the interesting design of the sets (which could very easily be adapted into a quasi-military range of models), but also because I see them as a spiritual successor to the jungle subthemes of the Adventurers sets that I grew up with (much like Pharaoh's Quest was a spiritual successor to the Egyptian subtheme), but avoided buying them, since like most City sets for the past couple years, they've been mysteriously overpriced.

Of course, it comes with a sticker-sheet which I promptly ignored, and 2 instruction booklets, which, like the general trend with LEGO instructions lately, I think is a bit over-inflated for a set of this size.

The Price

This set caught my attention at my local VA's store. It was $19.99 for 201 pieces, which came out to around 9 cents a piece, which is in that "10 to 12 cents a piece sweet-spot" you generally want to aim for (divide price by piece count). I needed something to busy myself with after a stressful hospital day, so I went ahead & bought it & put it together when I got home, which is why I forgot to do the usual pictures I do for a LEGO review.

Verdict: Good

The Box

(Brickset image)

The box is pretty standard for a set of this size, displays the entirety of the set pretty well. Note the new models of the machete accessory (mine came with one extra) as well as the red spider, both of which were excellent.

The Minifigs

The set comes with 2 well-detailed minifigs (both of which come with back printing): a female helicopter pilot and a male quadbike driver. Both minifig's faces only have printing on one side.

Helicopter Pilot (Brickset image)

The helicopter pilot has 1-sided female face printing with a determined smirk, a dark-orange jumpsuit with straps, buckles, and zippers, and a plain modern helmet with a slightly darkened visor.

Quadbike driver (Brickset image)

The Quadbike driver has 1-sided male face printing with a goatee, a dark-orange top with buttoned pockets, a silver radio over the left shoulder, a coil of green rope with a carabiner over the right shoulder, dark blue pants, and a dark tan baseball cap.

Minifig Back Printing

The printing continues on the backs of both minifigs, rounding it out with a nice range of detail, including what appears to be the main base of the quad driver's radio, as well as the hood on the back of his top.

If you're "army building", the heli pilot in particular would fit right in to a modern-esque army without much modification as either a pilot or a para-jumper. Meanwhile, the quadbike driver has a more "backwoods militia" look to him, or perhaps would be better off as a scout unit.

Verdict: Good

The Quadbike

The Quadbike (Brickset image)

The Quadbike itself is fairly standard as far as LEGO quadbikes go, and actually seems to ride a little high compared to previous quadbikes. I wasn't particularly impressed with the bare studs in the front, the way that the storage rack on the back means you can stow either the crate or the machete but not both at the same time, or that the default design requires the driver to disembark in order to winch the quad up onto the heli (hence I modified my quadbike within the parts available to rectify the latter two issues).

Verdict: Could be better, but easily fixable

The Cargo Helicopter

The Cargo Helicopter (Brickset image) 

 (Brickset image) 

The Cargo Helicopter is an interesting 3-wheeled "tripod" design. The front wheel is a standard airplane landing wheel, while the rear 2 wheels extend outward from the body on a skeletal Technic frame, underneath 2 "jet" plates. It has a single-minifig cockpit for the pilot, covered by a hinged, light-blue windscreen piece, flanked by 2 searchlights (that can be easily converted into weapon-mount hardpoints). The main rotor is made of 4 hinged black rotor blades, matching a small black tail-rotor. Probably the most interesting part is the winch (with a little over a good foot & a half of string), which can be used to pull up the quadbike, crate, minifigs (or whatever you can attach to it, really) into the cavity formed by the 2 rear legs. The model is fully sturdy along its 9” length even while hoisting the quadbike, driver, & crate, on the winch, so you don't have to worry about pieces falling off while "swooshing".

Verdict: Good

The Ruins

The Ruins  (Brickset image)

The set comes with a small Jungle Ruin that has a golden goblet flanked by a pair of tan columns. There is a "play feature" in the form of a green foliage piece that hinges back and forth on a brown twig piece that goes into a Technic half-pin.

Verdict: Fair

Overall:

I think the set is worth it for the money, it's got a good piece count, 2 vehicles (1 air & 1 ground), that complement each other, 2 well-detailed minifigs, and a small-but-serviceable ruin that serves as the goal of the expedition.