FunWhole Old West General Store (F9057) Review

Yeehaw Cowpeople – BrickMcBricksworth back with another FunWhole review! 

Today I bring my review on the Old West General Store, set number F9057. This new product from FunWhole is an expansion of the Old West series which is now becoming a proper awesome little world of it’s own. Already available in this amazing series of sets is the Western Saloon, Sheriff’s Office, and Old West Freight Train and the Western Train Station.

The price point of this set varies from around £78 to £100, depending on where you purchase it from and of course what deals are to be had. It comprises of 1,895 pieces, so another whopper of a set to review for you today.

As always we start a review with a look at the instructions, as it’s the first thing you see and get hands on with. On this one it has to be noted there are some moments where you will look at the colours and they don’t match up exactly to the real colour of bricks you have and they booklet could be a tad brighter when it comes to the dark brown pieces. Have a good light on when building though and it won’t cause too much of an issue. Other than that they are well laid out instructions and it is clear to see where you need to put pieces etc. they also use handy little scale drawings for what size piece you need.

The set consists of 10 numbered bags and the handy F bag which contains the specialist pieces for the lights and the Minifigs. There is also an S bag in this one which I presume means special, this contains your 16×16 plates and a cloth piece which goes on later in the build.

The set contains 6 figures – the general store owner is a suave gentleman in a top hat, there are also 3 western cowboy dudes and a lady figure. A great selection of what I would call general townsfolk figures for expanding your Western world if you have any of the other amazing sets in this line. See at the bottom of the review for how to get yours with a code for a bit of money off!

As you my be aware FunWhole pride themselves on being the pioneers for their sets having light kits that come as part of the build process of the set. As mentioned before they have also now created pieces that help hide wires really well and make it so the pieces properly fit together. When you buy an aftermarket light kit from an alternative brand the process does compromise the structure somewhat but not with FunWhole, their lights are installed as you build and with the aid of the aforementioned specialist bricks is both easy and straightforward.

This set begins with the foundations of the landscape around the general store and the footings of the main building. Literally after just one bag you can see this is going to be another epic build. There is a fair bit of tile work early on that represents a wood floor and you start to build up a part of the walls. This set seems to take shape quickly and you can see it forming the ground floor of a general store very quickly with little quirky parts to make up stock and other items. There’s even one of the first western telephones in store too. 

Around the back there is a neat little way of building in the modular wall where you can open this and play with the set without the need for taking off the roof. While this isn’t new to FunWhole sets it is still a neat feature that I have not had before with other brands. This one goes one stage further and in the back corner of the store there is a little hidden part where the store owner keeps his stash and his gun for the pesky robbers that may enter his store one day.

FunWhole are using a really nice pallet of colours for this build. The sandy green of the main build looks great and is complimented quite brilliantly with an off milky white. This colour seems like it is a new colour as I haven’t seen it in any FunWhole set I have built before but I could obviously be mistaken as I have tended to stick to the Old West theme. None the less this milky white really works well in an old building setting!

As sets prior to this FunWhole are all print and no stickers so if you hate stickers these are the sets to build. The printing is again on top form in this set, particularly the two main general store signs which are seamless when they are on the build. I am still a massive fan of the no sticker concept.

The techniques used in this set are fantastic The glass doors for example to the store look really good and they are brick built mainly out of clear pieces, at first when building you think how is this going to look good but when you have it complete in your hand ready to place on the build you see just how clever it can be.
I also admire the technique of the upper front of the store which looks amazing and so well designed the way the milky white flows with the what would be wood panels on the wall.

The lights are really easy to install on this set easier than they ever have been before. Where the lights are placed and where the wires can hide in the walls is very well designed and remembering the special pieces for the lights makes it a doddle to install and not break wires with installation.

There was not a part in this build where I became stuck with weird looking pictures nor did I find it at all difficult installing the lights. It’s a proper well rounded really well designed build. I am thoroughly enjoying what FunWhole have on offer these days and hope it continues along this path.

Now for the scores:

• Figures get a solid 8 out of 10
• Playability 10 out of 10
• Display appeal 9 out of 10
• Build experience is a 10 out of 10

I’m going to give this one 9 out of 10. The only reason this one didn’t get top marks as mentioned earlier is the colours can be difficult to distinguish in the instructions at times. The actual model though is top banana. Do I think this or any of the other sets I have built are worth the dollar??? You bet your Cowboy boots I do!

I really hope you have enjoyed this review and let’s get dusted in Old West Town! Massive thanks to FunWhole for sending this to me to review.

Head over to the FunWhole website to buy yours. Currently available to most regions, Europe is experiencing a short delay but hang in there, it’ll come.

Use THEBRICKPOST during checkout to get 10% off your order at https://www.funwhole.com/products/general-store-1895pcs?ref=THEBRICKPOST