LEGO Creator 10234: Sydney Opera House Review.

Last week was the release of the LEGO Creator 10234: Sydney Opera House. LEGO Designer Jamie Berard is the reason for one of Australia's iconic structures to be recreated in LEGO.
I knew I had to get this set as soon as I'd seen the video posted online. I posted the video on my Facebook wall and within the hour I had a call from my Mum. She asked how much it would be and at the time of the release there was no details of a Oz RRP*. I told her I'd be guessing and "expected it to be about $450 - $500." She responded quite positively and said she would buy it for me. To say I was ecstatic was an understatement! I thanked her repeatedly and told her I'll let her now how and when to purchase it. Well... a few weeks pass knowing the release date was the 1st of September I had planned to get it from LEGO online store Shop@home, and then up came an email saying that Shop for me were taking pre-orders for $319.00... an $80 saving I couldn't refuse. So I let my Mum know and now the rest is history!

Enough babbling from me let's have a look at this mighty MONSTER!                                    *Recommended Retail price.

LEGO Creator 10234: Sydney Opera House.

 The set contains 2989 pieces and retails for $399.99.

 Comes with No Minifigures.

  

Note: All photo's can be clicked on for a larger view.

The front of the box shows the Sydney Opera House in all it's LEGO glory! Its from the Creator Expert line and on the right hand side of the box gives you the measurements of its length... 63cm long! Another thing I have notice is that there is no piece count on the front like all the larger sets I own like the modular's and the Emerald Night train.

Not a lot on the back, other then some photos at different angles.

I must mention that this is a huge box and it just fitted into my new light box! Here it a photo just squeezing in. :-0 Now because of this, I had to change the way I do the review today, opting not to lay out all the pieces like I normally do and just show you the pile of bricks for each lot of bags. I also skipped the step by step building process photos as well... Just not enough room to do both.

When you first open the box you will find a plain white box with the number 1 and 2 bags, a 16 X 16 Dark Tan Plate and a 32 X 16 Blue baseplate.

Also in the white box were the 4 instruction manuals bagged and boarded. Each book will build a section of the Sydney Opera House.

Packed tightly around the inner white box are the rest of the number 3 and 4 bags and some unnumbered bags with over sized pieces.

Laying flat under the white inner box and the tightly packed 3 and 4 bags we get for the very first the new Blue 48 X 48 baseplate and the standard Blue 32 x 32 baseplate.

Just a quick view of all the pieces for all of the number 1 bags.

Rather than give the step by step pics like I mentioned above I will just show you the complete build for each section. Here we have the first half with the main stairs and the beginnings of the restaurant on the left.

The contents of all the number 2 Bags. 

Here is the end result of the number 2 Bags. This is the second half which will be the base of both The Concert Hall and The Opera Theatre.

A side view with both halves joined together.

(left and right)

The contents of all the number 3 Bags.  This is the most pieces I have ever had at one time in the light box so far.

The largest structure "The Concert Hall" is complete! Well... sort of, the rest of the frontage will be done with the last lot of bags.

 It is truly starting to come together now with the placement of The Concert Hall.

 The contents of all the number 4 Bags. The final lot of bags for the model.

The slightly smaller structure "The Opera Theatre" is almost complete... Just the finishing touches now :-D

The Opera Theatre in its position. Once that is done we finish off the frontage/glass windows that look out to the harbor, and finish off the smallest structure in the set "The Restaurant."

All complete! Yay! "Isn't she a beauty" Heh Heh... Sorry I couldnt resist.

Some great spares.

Now firstly I must apologize for these final couple of shots as this monster would not fit long ways in the light box and had to improvise with the lighting. 

What can I say about this set other then WOW! It took me almost 9 hours to build in the course of 2 days, that's including taking Photos. Another day just to edit and crop them so by the time I post this, most of you may already have it and built . My back was killing me by the end, but it was totally worth it! Some fantastic building techniques were used in this model. I can not believe how sturdy this is! One of the highlights for me was the part call out  for 58 2X1 Dark Tan cheese slopes, I think that is the most I have ever had to pull out at one time. I don't own any of the other big sets like the Tower Bridge or the Taj Mahal so I wouldn't know if there was any other large qty call outs. I enjoyed every aspect of the build and look forward to finding a place in our home to proudly display it.

Finally... Thanks Mum (and Dad for getting on-board the LEGO train, so to speak.) Love ya both. xxx

Thanks again for reading!

As always and if you want too, let us know in the comments below, what you think of the set. I would love to hear others opinions on it.

Until next time this is Tan Tile... stretching my back for the next review.

Shop for me LEGO BLITZATHON from 11AM this Friday 19th July

Every now and then the guys over at Shopforme.com.au have a BLITZATHON.
On Friday the 19th of July... Starting at 11am and for every hour there after "Shop for me" will post a new BLITZ on thier Daily Blitz page until 11pm that night.

They usually have great LEGO deals ranging from 10% off to 40% off on some fantastic sets that they stock in-store.

So set your alarm for 11am this Friday and check out what they have to offer on their BLITZATHON.
I know I will be!

20% off LEGO At Toys r Us

Click for larger view.

If all the current Toy Sales aren't enough for you. Toys r Us are having a 20% off Lego Construction.
The list includes  Creator, Super Heroes, Legend Of Chima, The Lord of the Rings, TECHNIC, Disney's The Lone Ranger, Star Wars, City, Friends. With more in store.
The sale runs from Wednesday 10th July to Sunday 21st July 2013.
So if you missed something now you have more time to get what you need/want.

Happy shopping :-)

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.