Review: Holiday Home 6374 (29 Pics)

[Widdi]

INDEXED

Just bought the set on friday for a hefty price of 70€ at a stand on the creativmesse 2009 in Munich.

This one was released as Holiday Home in 1983 for about 50DM, which equals 25€ in 1983, nowadays it's worth a lot more. I'll start with the review and even show some of the 6 alternates found on the back of the Box.

1. Box and Instructions

The box is in really great shape considering the age of now over 26 years. It had a removable Inner box. Simply take it out of the cover, just like old vinyl records. Inside was a ziploc pack, since I've gotten a used one, no MISB. The instructions are a simple A4 booklet, with just 7 pages for the Main model and the car and include pictures from some of the alternates. This has absolutely no <insert that tiresome argument> pieces, not even the classic 5-brick high pillars, since they weren't invented until late 80s and I got it with an extra flower. (normally it only uses 4, instead of 5 flowers)

Box Front, really great shape after all those years

The backside with 6 alternate models shown and interior pictures for 2 of them

The instructions: They're quite worn of all the years, but still complete

2. Alternates

This set came with 6 alternate designs shown on the backside, two of them are shown on the last page of the Instructions I've built 4 of them, the two shown again in the Instructions, the vacation house with pool and the really small summer house

Classic House

This is the largest of the alternates, using 240 pcs (including the car) and having a nice white and blue color sheme, resembling wood at the upper floor for the timbering. The car from the main model is used as the car for the alternate. This was a hard build, I don't even know if I got the backside of the carport right. It's covered by the marquee, what a clever use for it.

Interior of the alternate, a kitchen living room-combo and a nice bedroom

Front view

Right-side view

Verdict: Great classy design for an alternate model,a bit hard to rebuild, but captures the 80s vibe 9/10

House with carport

This is the second model shown in the instructions. There were no interior shots for this one, so I think it wasn't designed to get an interior, but I built my own from the set's pieces. It has a complete carport, tough still just protected by the marquee in the front half, by the structure in the back half. Model contains 230pcs including the car and a interior.

Front view

Interior shot, built a kitchen and a sleeping room, which also has a little living room area besides it

Side view with a look at the balcony and the whole retro scene

Verdict:

Nice design, especially with the balcony, but that balcony isn't really holding up well, it has a hole inside when built. Modificated with an complete interior, it's a 8,5/10

Summer house

After that I've built the simple summer house, shown on the box. This is the only model without a car, but you can use the one from the set as an addition to the model. It counts a mere 145pcs and was a rather fast build, but packs a nice scene with BBQ and a bench below the marquee.

Front view of the complete scene

Back view. inside there's just a chair

Another view of the scene.

Verdict: Really simple design, but heck a LEGO summer house, which could easily stand in a garden plot, loose the colour sheme. Brings me to an 8/10

Vacation House

This is the last alternate Model I've built out of the 6. It's car is a convertible version of the classic 80s car included in the set. It looks like a bigger version of the Vacation Hideaway released in 1990, judging from the design. Other than that it has a small swimming pool, using up the 6 blue 6x1 bricks in the set for the water. The piece count including the car is 221 for the whole scene.

Front view of this great alternate

Back view with the interior, this doesn't have a bed inside

Side view

Verdict: The greatest of the alternates to me, but I've got to deduct the points a bit for the missing bed, since this house would've had enough room for a bed. The best part is the swimming pool, altough small. it is made of just 10 basic pieces, no plates and tiles used, just white bricks for the boundary and blue bricks for the water. To me a 9,5/10.

3. Building the Main Model

After disassembling the alternate model, I've dumped all the bricks back again into the inner box, which was surprisingly full after dumping them inside, not like today, leaving lots of room for more parts in the huge boxes. The model is compromised of 2 parts, a simple classic 80s car, which even has the original red wheels, connected by a metal rod, not the classic small wheel came out in 1985.

All pieces in the Inner Box

The Minifigs, just a man and a woman with pigtails, sorry it's a bit blurry

The car on step 6 with the doors attached, imagine a agents car on that classic base

Finished

Rear view, just 80s goodness

Now to the house this is, how it looks on step 1

The Interior of the ground floor is completed by step 3

View inside after having finished the ground floor by step 8

This is the step 10, showing the interior of the upper floor

Finished the Model on step 19, which is quite a lot of steps for a 26 year old City set

Interior view on the finished model

Side view made up like in the instructions

Now like on the box, with the couple shortly before hugging

Now they're hugging each other, just a nice scene, isn't it.

Verdict:

Design: 10/10 Great classic design and really enough room for the minifigs.

Playability: 10/10 Great playability ,altough not action-packed, Heck it's a house

Alternates: 9/10 Nice designs on the 4 I've built the other 2 are nice, too, but I didn't built them.

Price: NA I'll leave that out, due to the rarity of the set nowadays

Parts: 9/10, Great selection, no juniorisation and excellent for MOCcing, especially classic town

Total: 38/40 Excellent Set from the early 80s, even with great alternate designs

mFg Widdi

[Zorbas]

Many many great pics!

Great review Widdi! You've managed to build almost all the alternates and take pictures! Excellent! I was always admiring the back of the boxes back in the 80s and voila!- they are built in front of our eyes.

This is a great set in my opinion. Although that it looks simple it still has the Charm (yes, caps for "c"). We all know what Charm stands for.

The baseplate is excellent and the small details such as the arches, the tent and the BBQ are great.

Thanks for the review and the great colourful pictures!

[lightningtiger]

Ah, there's nothing like home.

Great review of a classic set.

One thing you can try, a bathroom with a toilet, basin and maybe even a shower or bath tub.

[Section8]

What a great set! I appreciate you making all of the alternates, that is really some dedication you have there. Plus it is easier to see how they turn out compared to just images on the box. I didn't know this set had a clear plate for the table to represent glass, very nice. I'm interested in seeing how the stickers held up after 26 years in place. The application of stickers like that is unique out of all the sets I've seen. Perhaps you could snap a close-up pic when you have the time?

[MetroiD]

I don't normally read set reviews, but this one caught my attention seeing as it revisits one of those 80s sets I love sooooo much... Thank you for building all the different models available, Widdi - this really is one of the nicest reviews I've read in quite a while. Sure did bring back that "warm fuzzy classic town feeling", as WhiteFang aptly put it once :)

[prateek]

A great set for sure. The design of the main model with all the small details is really cool

[Milan]

Very nice set.

I mean, every set which is Home is great!

It is nice to have a look at alternate models, too!

Great review, with lots of pics!