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Hello everyone - oh goodness, it has been quite a long time indeed since I last wrote anything here. I decided to grab a couple of things from LEGO's online store, and I was actually interested in this little freebie that was being given away for the first half of June 2017; I'm a little bit of a traveller myself and I don't mind admitting that I like to take a handful of pieces with me to waste time on long flights. I also haven't seen this guy reviewed anywhere else, so I thought that I'd lay out a few of my thoughts if you're still thinking of springing for it or perhaps picking it up from the second-hand market. To start with the basics, here's the size, with a standard City police car for scale: For the more exacting among us (and if your hobby is LEGO, I suspect that that's not a small number of people), the entire box is just over 3 inches by 5 inches and very nicely decorated with a couple of cute callbacks and references to the rest of the LEGO universe, so it's very appropriate to be carried around in a kid's carry-on luggage, let's say. The main beef that I have is that the box is really not very sturdy, so unfortunately I suspect that it can get easily flattened in a bag that's being squished underneath the seat in front of you. I guess I wasn't expecting a finished oak-panelled box, but some stiffer cardboard might have been nice to give it at least a little more resilience against bangs and bumps that invariably come with travelling, whether by car or plane or whatever. There's only 40ish pieces in here but they are a pleasant assortment of clever, colourful, and useful parts that also fit the theme nicely - one of the most useful parts included which strangely doesn't seem to feature on any of the official renders and can only be barely seen on the box is the transparent plate with shaft, which presumably is for helping to pose the minifig. A good chunk of the parts are devoted to minifig accessories like flippers, a camera, a cup, etc, so it's really a shame that there's only one minifig in the box, though I suppose that's asking a little much from a free set to get two. The included pieces don't take up that much room at all inside the paper suitcase, so supplementing them with pieces or additional minifigs from your own collection is not a problem at all. I reckon that the coolest thing about this giveaway is the little "passport" book that fits nicely inside the suitcase. I had assumed that it would empty (like a real passport book would be for the novice traveller), like a notebook of sorts, but it turns out it's full of charming LEGO photography, with the included minifig being posed against various backgrounds such as the beach, a lake, etc. It's a great bonus to have and I'm sure that it would go a long way in sparking the imaginations of the photographically-inclined, providing a little bit of extra material to help occupy innocent travellers bored out of their minds after four hours on the road. Passport aside, this is not the greatest freebie that LEGO has given away, but I do give it points for being a unique idea and one that is obviously appropriate to be handing out during the summer holidays when kids and parents are likely to be taking trips (sometimes they might even go together!). With the exception of the passport book, there's nothing in here that you couldn't easily recreate yourself if your goal is to come up with a "travel kit". So, I would say that it's definitely unique, but I don't think it's necessary to go out of your way to get it. 3.5 out of 5. And now, my true purpose for writing this review: if you had to choose 100 parts to bring with you on a long trip, what would they be? Comment your thoughts below!

I was very excited to build this set, but does it live up to my expectations? Read to find out! Box / Instructions The box nicely shows off the model in an appropriately snowy setting, with box outs highlighting model dimensions and the fact it includes track. Sneakily the rear-most level crossing barrier appears to have been reversed for photographic purposes as ordinarily you would be faced with a slightly messier view of the bottom of the plates used to create it (though a useful idea if this set is purely for display purposes…). The back of the box has the usual range of close ups highlighting certain features of both the station and bus, as well as a larger shot helpfully showing how it combines with the previous year’s train set (spoiler: you put the train onto the tracks). The instructions are as clear and straightforward as usual and spread across two booklets – the first for the bus and crossing, and the second for the station itself. Parts There are a good selection of white plates as is to be expected, including a number with angles and curves in order to represent distribution of snow on the ground. A reasonable helping of 1x2x2 window frames are always useful and the inclusion of the microphone piece in unprinted grey is a novelty I’m sure will be repeated in future sets. The new clock faces on a shield piece are the highlight of the printed pieces, which also include 1x2 tiles printed with a ticket motif, a letter, and a couple of 2x2 newspaper etils. Sadly most of the other decorative elements, such as the station sign, ticket office sign, café menus, departure boards and level crossing signs, are all stickers. There are a number of bricks in the appealing ‘dark orange’ colour, including 1x1 brick with scroll which is new, and the standard 1x3 brick which has only appear a couple of times before. Also new to me was the ‘middle’ roof piece used for the bus, and the bizarre ‘stud on a stick’ element which is used entirely appropriately for the coffee machine portafilter. Finally, the inclusion of four straight track parts is very welcome and a good, if expensive, way of getting more of them into your collection. Minifigures There are five minifigures included, covering the main functions of the set. The bus driver spots a black beanie and red scarf and a detailed printed jacket torso, while the stationmaster takes a more devil may care attitude against the cold in a suit and tie. His jacket is printed with the usual Train logo, and he has what appears to be a tiny white flag tucked in his pocket, presumably in case of the unexpected need to surrender. The barista is the last ‘worker’ in the set and the most detailed as her printed brown apron, featuring a smiling cup of coffee logo on her torso, continues onto her legs. Finally, the older lady and the child are the civilians of the set – the former rocking an attractive and practical knitted jumper, while the little boy has a hoodie which is unzipped to the extent that he surely won’t ‘feel the benefit’, as my grandma used to tell me. The Build Though branded as Creator Expert for age 12+, there is nothing here to fox most builders under that age – a few bits of the station ‘undercroft’ are briefly unstable during the build, but nothing a firm building surface can’t sort. I did get tripped up with inserting the ‘microphone’ into the chain the wrong way and then wondering why it wouldn’t all stay together, but that’s a failing of my own observation skills as the instructions do take especial pains to point out the orientation! The bus is of fairly simple construction, though is a delight for the way that (mostly) basic elements create something so perfect. I say basic elements, but is does take full advantage of new elements, such as the new corner tiles ‘with cut’ for the bracing around the top of the windows and new roof piece. The station is initially similarly simple in construction for the most part. The approach to the 45 degree angle of the tower and main door against the rest of the structure at first appears simple but is still an enlightening exercise in Lego geometry and interesting to see how it all fits together. Further up the tower things get more interesting with liberal use of jumper plates allowing for some interesting construction techniques as a central column with radiating clips is positioned behind window frames on three sides, with the shield clock faces clipped on through (and concealing) these openings. More Lego geometry comes into play for the roof, with wedge plate constructions clipped on and angled inwards to form the enclosed turret. Completed Model & Overall Opinion The bus is a thing of delight – it really is perfect and would fit into any Winter Village display perfectly. Clearly modelled on the covered charabancs of the inter-war years, the yellow and white colour scheme of the body contrasts nicely with the rich dark blue of the roof – the latter tying it in obliquely to the carriage pulled by the Winter Train. Sturdy enough in construction to stand up to the sometimes exuberant play style of an excited three year old, but delicate enough to include details like brick built doors and wheel arches, this is my favourite vehicle of almost any theme Lego has done and I’m tempted to search out alternative colours in order to make a multi-hued fleet… The station itself is also quite charming – I was a bit worried about the scale from initial photos and, while it is not as generously sized as I might have wished, this is very much a village station and sits alongside most of the other buildings in the range quite comfortably. It looks great alongside the Winter Village train, though is easily dwarfed by the larger Creator Expert trains such as the Emerald Night. The sprinkles of swept snow on, and falling from, the platform are nicely understated, along with the snow-laden roofs – in fact it wouldn’t take too much modification to de-winter the station out of season. The use of the reverse of the sand green ‘brick’ bricks around the café give an effective painted wooden cladding appearance, contrasting nicely with the nougat bricks used for the frame. Though I’m not always a fan of stickers, the designs on these are cracking – whether the menu for the ‘Café O’Sleigh’ coffee shop, the timetable, or even the station and level crossing signage. It’s a shame more of the elements aren’t printed (especially those on tiles) but the graphic design is still effective. Though releasing a station may be viewed by some as requiring the previous year’s train set in order to ‘complete’ it, it isn’t strictly necessary and I believe that the model (and especially bus) is strong enough to stand by itself alongside the rest of the Winter Village buildings without anything running on the tracks. Having said that, the two sets obviously pair nicely and together fulfills the brief of a Winter Village train setup nicely. It does fall down slightly on price and value – at no point does it feel like a $80 set, nor one that contains 902 pieces! However, what elevates this set above simply nice is the excellent bus model which adds display and play options beyond just another building. 4 out of 5.

Cool build!

Amazing build!

They are indeed amazing builds.

Cool build!

Now they are selling on ebay for more than $1000 :O

Amazing build!

Cool!

Nice build!

Cool build!

Nice!