Technicopedia: Airplanes

Airplane Sets

Airplane Comparisons

Airplanes are among my favorite Technic models, and not just because I work with airplanes for a living. These models all offer something different, and many of them feature quite realistic connections between the control stick and the flight control surfaces. There are no jets here, these are all propeller driven aircraft, although at least one is clearly a turboprop. Two have engines which rotate vertical, and one even has working trailing edge flaps!

My favorite is unquestionably 8855 for its realism and size, but 8425 is worth mention for a really cool linkage connecting the retractable landing gear and trailing edge flaps.

Feature Comparison
Set	Ailerons	Elevators	Rudder	Flaps	Engines	Landing Gear	Other
8204	None	None (fixed horizontal T-tail)	None (fixed vertical stabilizer)	None	Single fuselage mounted propeller driven by landing gear	Fixed tail dragger	None
8222	None	None (fixed horizontal T-tail)	None (fixed vertical stabilizer)	None	Dual wing mounted propellers, manually rotating	Fixed tricycle	Wings pivot upward via worm gearbox, cockpit hatch opens
8425	Outboard gear driven	None (fixed horizontal T-tail)	None (fixed vertical stabilizer)	Trailing edge gear driven, synchronous with landing gear	Dual wing mounted propellers driven by central gear system	Retractable tricycle via gear system	None
8434	None	None (fixed horizontal T-tail)	None (fixed vertical stabilizer)	None	Dual wing mounted propellers, manually rotating	Retractable tricycle driven by spring damper	Engines pivot upwards via gear system
8836	Outboard driven by control stick	None (fixed horizontal T-tail)	None (fixed vertical stabilizer)	None	Single fuselage mounted propeller driven by 2 cylinder reciproating engine	Fixed tricycle, rear bogie suspension	None
8855	Outboard driven by control stick	Full flying tail driven by control stick	None (fixed vertical stabilizer)	None	Single fuselage mounted propeller driven by 1 cylinder reciproating engine	Fixed pontoon floats	None

Feature Comparison

Set

Ailerons

Elevators

Rudder

Flaps

Engines

Landing Gear

Other

8204

None

None (fixed horizontal T-tail)

None (fixed vertical stabilizer)

None

Single fuselage mounted propeller driven by landing gear

Fixed tail dragger

None

8222

None

None (fixed horizontal T-tail)

None (fixed vertical stabilizer)

None

Dual wing mounted propellers, manually rotating

Fixed tricycle

Wings pivot upward via worm gearbox, cockpit hatch opens

8425

Outboard gear driven

None (fixed horizontal T-tail)

None (fixed vertical stabilizer)

Trailing edge gear driven, synchronous with landing gear

Dual wing mounted propellers driven by central gear system

Retractable tricycle via gear system

None

8434

None

None (fixed horizontal T-tail)

None (fixed vertical stabilizer)

None

Dual wing mounted propellers, manually rotating

Retractable tricycle driven by spring damper

Engines pivot upwards via gear system

8836

Outboard driven by control stick

None (fixed horizontal T-tail)

None (fixed vertical stabilizer)

None

Single fuselage mounted propeller driven by 2 cylinder reciproating engine

Fixed tricycle, rear bogie suspension

None

8855

Outboard driven by control stick

Full flying tail driven by control stick

None (fixed vertical stabilizer)

None

Single fuselage mounted propeller driven by 1 cylinder reciproating engine

Fixed pontoon floats

None

Sets
8204 Sky Flier I	8222 VTOL
8425 Black Hawk	8434 Aircraft
8836 Sky Ranger	8855 Prop Plane