LEGO Review of set 10233: Horizon Express X 2

For the last couple of days I have been building my Dad's LEGO set 10233: Horizon Express. I had shown him the Sets on the Sunday and said that he really liked the look of them. So after leaving our house he went straight to Myer and purchased the sets. He used my Myer one card plus the coupon to get the extra 10% off plus I get the points :-)

Yesterday I finally started building the first box. I forgot to take any photo's, but I did take photo's with the second box. :-) Here they are.

Lego set 10233: Horizon Express

After opening the box we have 3 lots of numbered bags, for each section of the train.You can see that there is a green brick separator. I guess LEGO did that to help you find it easier. In any other large set they give you an orange one.

Scan of the sticker sheet.

Here is the contents of the number 1 bags. They will make the main engine. There are stickers as shown above. Altogether you would only apply maybe 8. One for the front nose, a few numbers on either side and one inside for the control panel.

 The number bags 1 have the most amount of pieces in the set.

Like with every build I do, here is my son building the Minifigure. Jaspa was disappointed there was only one to begin with.

Front of the Minifigure.

Back of the Minifigure.

A few pages in. You can see that there is room later for Power Functions.

 I found the building of the arrows on the sides to be quite clever. Using 1x1 plates w/ clips and 1x1 cheese slopes to get the effect.
Love it!

A photo of the step by step process of the arrows.

Here is a close up of the arrows.

Building the nose of the Horizon Express.

Attaching the wheelsets.

 This is the dummy motor for extra detail if you don't have Power Functions. In my Dad's case he doesn't.

Engine complete! I really enjoyed building the undercarriage for some reason. The different building techniques for the bottom nose section is very well thought out, something I will keep in mind for future MOCS. 

Top View of the engine.

These are the spares leftover from bag 1.

The contents of Bags number 2. We begin building the first of 2 carriages in this set.

My son was much happier this time around having to build 2 Minifigures.

The front of the Minifigures for bag 2

The back of the Minifigures for bag 2

In this shot you can see the details of the inside of the carriage. 3 seats and what looks to be a toilet, there will be 2 inner walls and a sliding door to seal it in. There is also room for a couple of printed newspaper 2x2 tiles, and room for 3 brief cases.

 I really loved the SNOT (Studs not on top) work on the windows. Another technique I will add to my memory bank.

A better look at how the SNOT is done to make these windows stretch from one end to the other.

The first carriage complete. Overall some great building techniques throughout. Highlights are the SNOT windows and the undercarriage.

Looking forward to getting on board.

The spares for the number 2 bags. It's great that LEGO are now adding the 1x1 plates as spares into the newer models.

The contents for the final lot of number 3 bags. Time to start building the second carriage. These bags contained even less then the number 2 bags, because the other half of the wheelsets are on the first carriage.

Unfortunately by the time I got to these Minifigures my Son fell asleep, so he missed out.

The front of the Minifigures for bag3

The back of the Minifigures for bag 3

The inside detail of the second carriage. This also has 3 seats, a bar to serve drinks and a coffee machine.

Not much involved with building this carriage. Its pretty much the same as the first one. So lets have a look at it connected to the other half. 

Attached to the other half of the wheelset and now complete.

They look happy enough that it's all done and dusted!

Again the spares for the number 3 bags.

A close up of both engines. How good do they look side by side?

All the Minifigures from both models.

A shot from above, to show how nice the set is. Looks better with two!

 All connected. I had to put this monster on the floor because I had no room anywhere else to show you how all six are connected. Something I'll have work on before I get mine home.

Front end of the Horizon Express.

Side view.

Birdseye view :-D

The final shot! All aboard!!!

NOTE:
While I was setting this up I did notice, that when I tried to pull the train up into position along tracks, the engine came adrift from the first carriage. The magnets don't seem strong enough when all 6 are connected. When I held both the carriage and engine, the middle section came apart where the two sets join as well. It's just to heavy as a combined set.
So for any one thinking of putting Power Functions to this set. You will have to do some modding to help hold it together better.

Edit: Blogger Reader M. Johnson sent us a tip for keeping the whole train attached at the magnets: Quote: "you will notice that each magnetic coupling has a stud on top and bottom. You can stick a 2x1 plate or tile over them when they're connected. Easy as that!" Thanks for that great tip!

Other then that, this is a fantastic build and I cannot wait to get mine home from Lay-By.

I highly recommend getting the model just as a display piece. I imagine it would look even better watching this beauty go around on a track. I can hear the Mission Impossible theme now and picturing Tom Cruise holding on for dear life.

Let us know what you think of the Horizon Express.

Thank you for reading. Till next time...

Tan Tile signing out.