LEGO Airbus H175 Rescue Helicopter (42145)

Name: LEGO Airbus H175 Rescue Helicopter
Brand: LEGO
SKU: 42145

A big motorized rescue chopper that runs on plain battery power, no app needed.

Brick Rated Score

4.1/5

Set 42145 · 2022

Pieces2,001

Minifigsn/a

Year2022

Set number42145

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The verdict

What I like most here is how refreshingly old-fashioned it is.

This LEGO set has three motorized functions plus a hand-cranked swashplate, all running off a simple battery box with no phone tether in sight, and finished it looks properly sharp on a shelf. Two honest caveats: it retired at the end of 2024 so prices are creeping up, and those big neon yellow panels split the room hard. Buy it if you want a functional showpiece and can live with the colour scheme.

Best for: Technic fans who want a motorized model without the Control+ app faff

The full review

What it is

The Airbus H175 Rescue Helicopter is the first officially licensed helicopter LEGO ever put out, and instead of leaning on the Control+ app and a phone tether, it keeps things refreshingly old-fashioned, which I loved. You drop batteries in a plain hub, flip a switch, and things move. The main rotor spins with two speeds, the tail rotor turns, the landing gear retracts, and a winch on the side lowers and raises. There is even a manual swashplate so you can tilt the rotor blade pitch by hand. For a 2001-piece set, it packs a genuinely satisfying amount of function into one airframe.

The catch

Now the honest bit. This launched at 209.99 dollars, and since it retired at the end of December 2024 you are shopping the aftermarket now, so expect to pay over RRP for a sealed box. It is also a long sit. Plenty of builders clocked 6 to 9 hours, well past the breezy afternoon some folks expect, so treat it as a weekend project rather than a quick one. And then there is the colour. Those big neon yellow panels are meant to read as a rescue livery, but a lot of people find them jarring against the otherwise clean red and grey body, and I understand why. If bright yellow slabs bug you, they will bug you every time you glance at the shelf. One more small gotcha: the battery box needs a screwdriver to open and the packaging never mentions it, so do not get caught out at the fun part.

Who it's for

If you are a Technic person who loves clever gearing and wants a model that actually performs its tricks, this is an easy recommendation from me. It sits in a sweet spot where the mechanisms are rich but you are not wrestling with an app or firmware, and the finished chopper is a proper display piece at nearly three feet long. If you are mostly after a looker and the yellow puts you off, or you want a fast casual build, this probably is not your set. But for the right builder it earns its 4.3 Brickset average and then some. A really likable, hands-on model.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

The build walks you through the helicopter in logical chunks, and the early going is all gearbox, which is where I had the most fun. You assemble the two-speed transmission and the drive lines before the body ever takes shape, and it is the meatiest, most rewarding stretch because you watch the mechanisms come alive as you go. From there you cage it all in the fuselage, add the retractable gear and the side winch, then cap it with the long tail boom and the rotor assembly. It is a steady, engaging pace with almost no filler, and every section adds a function you can immediately test. The main gripe is length: this is a 6 to 9 hour affair, so treat it as a project rather than a quick fix.

On the parts front there is some good stuff for collectors. The rotor blades are a fresh variant of the 31L blade where the rubber tip is now yellow instead of black, safer and easier to spot on a fast-spinning rotor, and you get five of them in dark bluish grey. The set also brings the Dish 8 x 8 Inverted in red for the very first time since that mould debuted back in 1979, plus the Technic Panel 3 x 7 x 1 in a new red (two of those). At 2001 pieces for the 209.99 dollar RRP you are at roughly 10c a part, which is fair for Technic, and the value here really sits in the working gearbox and functions rather than raw brick tonnage.

Fun facts

01This was the first officially licensed helicopter LEGO ever released, and it pulls off its motorized tricks without any Control+ app or smart hub.
02It's the first LEGO helicopter to feature a real two-speed transmission, so the rotor genuinely has fast and slow settings.
03The red Dish 8 x 8 Inverted included here is the first time that particular mould appeared in red since it was originally introduced in 1979.
04Finished, the model stretches about 72cm (28 inches) long, and the real Airbus H175 it's based on is a super-medium twin-engine helicopter used for offshore transport and search-and-rescue work.