So much so that I just had to have it in my City, Gregsville, the main question was how to show it off in all its glory. Do I have it on the road, transporting passengers to their destinations just like a regular bus or do I, wait for it…. mount it to the ceiling above my City, with Minifigures jumping out and gliding down?

Gregsville, so far…

I had to do the Battle Bus justice and there was only one way I could do that, so here’s how I went about suspending it from my garage ceiling and the bita & bobs I used to do so. If you are on the fence about grabbing the set, read our review here for an in-depth look at the build process and the many awesome Minifigures.

A sort of ‘how to’ guide:

I’m not the most hands-on of people and DIY often scares me, but I know how to use basic tools so here is how I went about hanging the LEGO Battle Bus. First of all I hopped onto Google to see how others have done it, there were many good results but nothing I could really base my vision on. In my simplistic mind I thought ‘how hard could it be‘ as I added fishing line and eyelets to my bracket and checked out.

I borrowed a drill and drill bit from my Dad and that weekend planned and executed my masterplan. I tapped the ceiling to make sure there were beams to screw into, made sure there were no cables near drill site and marked where I’d drill pilot holes.

After double and triple checking I finally went for it, holes were drilled and the eyelets screwed into place, they were longer than I needed but that didn’t matter as I did a thing!

The next thing to do was measure, cut and thread the fishing line through the eyelets and under the bus. This was relatively straightforward although deciding on how far down to dangle the Battle Bus was tough. Did want it too high so looked separated from. The City, but also scrapping the rooftops was a no no too, I think I got it just right, as I want to have Minifigures jumping out and in action poses underneath it.

I went one step further and popped narrow clear tubing, about 12cm long, onto the fishing line to help protect the undercarriage of the Battle Bus. This hopefully also helps with moving and removing it when I want to take photos and other scenes.

LEGO Fortnite add-ons:

To expand on the whole LEGO Fortnite theme in my City I’ve decided to MOC (my own creation) some additional items. I’ve yet to place them in and around Gregsville, including Loot Chests, Pickaxes, Gliders and Builds (walls). Having these dotted around should give on-lookers more details to find and link the LEGO Battle Bus to the City. I can’t wait to place these in my City, especially the Builds (walls), I think I’ll place them on the roof of a modular, overhanging the road below.

Unfortunately I’m terrible at making instructions, but the Gliders are based on the builds seen in the LEGO Fortnite game and are extremely easy to recreate. The other bits and bobs are also very simple and are basically thro together so again shouldn’t be to hard to build yourself. Once they are in the City I’ll make sure to update this page, so watch this space.

Do you have any suggestions of what to add to Gregsville, Fortnite relate or not. We love hearing from you and can’t wait to see what you put forward, use the comments section below.

The Build:

The first thing to say is that the box looks awesome with two smaller boxes inside having pictures of Salacious Crumb and Max Rebo on them to help keep the bags grouped together which really helps with the building process.

There are 35 bags (which are all paper) and 2 instruction books. The sails came in separate paper bags to stop them being damaged. There are also 10 stickers, which isn’t too bad for a LEGO Star Wars set, but I do think a few of these should have been printed considering the price point.

I really enjoyed the build, which as is the case with these kind of sets uses a technic base and then builds up on it. There is however a fair bit of repetition in this set, particularly with the side panels as they’re the same either side but because you build them and then come back to them it didn’t really bother me.

The inside moving from front to back features areas that aren’t seen in the movie so the designer has had to improvise in places. First up we have the pilot areas which has two seats. There is then a jail cell that uses a sticker to tell you how many days the prisoner has been in captivity and can be lifted out easily. Next to it is a small armoury so if you do break out you haven’t got far to go for a weapon to blast your way out. 

We then have a small Kitchen area to prepare the food for Jabba and his guests. In front of the kitchen is the stairs leading to the top deck, which can be removed to access the kitchen.

We then come to the recognizable part of the barge and Jabba’s throne area. The inside works well and possibly the throne room could do with being slightly bigger as it is cramped but I’m not sure the designers could do much more here without making the set bigger which would then push the price up.

The top deck has the main turret that Leia uses in the films and the sails themselves. The size and height of the sails does make it difficult to pose minifigures on the top deck. 

The Price:

There’s no getting around this but this set is way overpriced at £429.99. If you bought the set within the first week or so of the set being released then you got Luke Skywalkers Light Saber, which gets good money on the after-market. Full disclosure I sold mine to help pay for this set so by selling that and another GWP for just over £100 and at £329.99 that feels a lot more reasonable. Whilst the build is great, it doesn’t make up for the set being so overpriced. Particularly when you compare it to Rivendell and the Avengers Tower, which in my opinion are much better sets with better building experiences and Minifigure selection for the same price.

The Minifigures:  

The Minifigures with the set are great with the exception of Leia who looks less like Slave Leia but more Beach Day Leia (I’ll come to that later). 

I’ll start with the positives and Jabba looks awesome. The mould is the same but has different details on the body. The head is joined to the torso by a technic pin. I don’t own the original version so I’m unable to compare them. One thing I did like was that the two parts came in separate paper bags to avoid them being scratched. 

The C3P0 we get should have been the same as the one from Luke’s Landspeeder but instead we get the one that’s been featured in a few different sets. His buddy R2-D2 has a tray that uses a 2×4 piece between the head and body, there are a couple of printed glasses, including what looks like hot chocolate which I haven’t seen before. 

We get an updated Max Rebo Minifigure, who last appeared in the 2013 Jabba’s Sail Barge. Most of the other Minifigures are exclusive to the set and I doubt we’ll see them in other sets. The Gamorrean Guard is the same from Boba Fett’s Throne Room. 

I guess it wouldn’t be a UCS set with some controversy over Minifigure selection. I don’t own any of the other Slave Leia’s but looking online I will say the hair piece is an upgrade from previous sets but the legs really let this Minifigure down, which although they are dual moulded, make her look like she is wearing shorts. 

The other issue I have is that there are some obvious omissions, such as Luke, Chewie, Lando, Han and Boba Fett all missing for the set. The reason for this is that they are in the Desert Pit and Sarlaac Pit sets, which you need to buy as an add on to complete the Minifigures. I can see why LEGO have done this but it does feel unfair that you need to pay £500 to get the full selection of Minifigures.  

The Display:

In order to display the set you’re going to need a very big shelf as it’s 77cm long but thankfully isn’t very tall which will make it easier to display. Once finished it looks awesome and the sides can be lifted down to show off the insides which gives you a couple of display options.

There is also a Minifigure display stand if you don’t want to display the Minifigures within the set itself. The only slight issue I have is that the sails make it difficult to display Minifigures on the top desk as the sails obscure them.

Overall this is a great set, which unfortunately is let down by the price and minifigures. 

The Score:

• Build – 8/10
• Price 5/10
• Minifigures 7/10
• Display 9/10
• Total – 7.5

When LEGO announced a Battle Bus set I rushed home to tell my boy that the set will be dropping soon and we just had to get it. I could have pre-ordered it but thankfully I didn’t as a themed gift with purchase set was revealed just days before the sets launch. Release day came and I placed my order, only a few days latee the package turned up and we were both so excited to get it built that we sat down that weekend and did just that. Read about our experiences during the build and what we think of the set as a whole and the Minifigures.

Product details:

• 77073
• Fortnite Battle Bus
• 954 pieces
• £89.99/$99.99/€99.99
• 1st October
• 9 Minifigures
• 650 Insiders points

The Box & Contents:

The box art is great, it’s so bright and cool, every inch of it pops with excitement. The Fortnite branding really shines through here with the purple and yellow accents, combined with the blue Battle Bus and white & light blue balloon, is awesome. On the back you’ll see some of the play features including the removable balloon contraption, the roof and the interchangeable Minifigure heads/hair pieces.

The instruction manual is surprisingly thick for what from the outside looks like a generic, albeit blue and battle-ready, bus. Before I moved any further I scanned the QR code in the front and claimed my 20 free Insiders points (become a member and scan the codes to get 20 points, these soon stack up and can get you some cool goodies). The sticker sheet is nice too, not many individual designs but enough to match it to its on-screen counterpart.

The Build:

As the bus is the main and only build, you make a start in the base and build up from there. Comprising of the odd colour piece, the base is layered with mostly blue and black pieces, along woth randomly placed stickers which represents rust and general wear & tear. I really like the use of the stickers on the side and think it adds so much to the overall build, without them it wouldn’t be the Battle Bus we know and love.

Wheel arches, bonnet, windscreen, front grill, back bumper and seats are added along the way. The seats are simple builds but quite satisfying to make, with basic hinges, slopes for the backs and 2×2 one-sided stud plates. 10 seats are made in total with one being for the Driver, although that character isn’t included (or known), it seems both logical and odd to include a seat. Oh and don’t forget to thank the bus driver when you exit!

The later part of the bus build is enjoyable but basically layering at this stage, blue bricks on top of blue bricks, 21 windows & panes to fit and place, 3 doors and the many slopes that finish off the roof. The last couple of parts to build and add is the holding brackets and balloon.

The arms that form the brackets that subsequently attach to the balloon are mirrored build and don’t really differentiate from each other much. 4 of the same sticker are also added to the arms which again give them more detail and makes them more realistic. Held on with a series of clips they do tend to raise up occasionally which is a little anno, especially when trying to attach the flexible tubes on each corner. Trying to get them tight is a pain and just can’t be done, similar problem with the strings/mast on the LEGO Ideas Jaws (21350) set, they don’t really work. This can be overlooked and isn’t a massive issue, just a general annoyance.

The balloon sections are fun to add and sinply clip into place at the top and base of the central column. Once it is all together the set looks awesome and one I’m so glad I picked up on release day, the characters included are the real show stops, as you’ll see below.

The Minifigures:

There are a total of 9 Minifigures includee in the set, which is rather generous of a set in this price bracket. I’m in no way saying this is a down point, far from it, I would actually say more the merrier. From some cool original skins right up to present day characters, there is something for everyone to get excited about here.

The characters included are:

• Battalion Brawler
• Adventure Peely
• Brite Bomber
• Cuddle Team Leader
• Cube Assassin
• Trespasser Elite
• Drift
• Meowscles
• Raven

Each of the Minifigures bring something cool and unique to the set, from Adventure Peely’s new moulded Banana head-piece, Cuddle Team Leader’s pink design and again new moulded head-piece, infact most of the characters come with a new head-piece. It’s so refreshing to have something to display and okay with, sure the other LEGO themes such as Star Wars, Marvel, City and so on are great and offer funky Minifigures, but this just feels better, it’sikenthe design team were told to have fun and go all out.

A couple of the Minifigures come with additional hair pieces, incase you want to display them without their hoods/masks. I love it when LEGO do this, it seems like it’s standard practice now, which is how it should be.

Included with each character is either a Pickaxe, Grappling Gun or Slurp Juice power ups. These are valuable items for any Fortnite gamer and it’s good to see LEGO include them. The basic but super effective builds are great and really do look the part, especially at Minifigure-scale, I feel it’s time to make a small BrickLink order and get some to stash around my LEGO City!

Final Thoughts:

Overall the set is fun to look at and play with, it’s the perfect shelf-sitter for Adult collectors and a perfect play set for younger fans. The build process doesn’t feel slow, although there are 21 windows to assemble and fit.

The contraption that holds the balloon to the Battle Bus can be removed surprisingly easy but it also sturdy enough that it doesn’t just come off, a series of studs, clips and hinges hold it all together. I plan on suspending the Battle Bus from the ceiling over my LEGO City and having the Minifigures and my Sigfig jumping out and landing in Gregsville!

I highly recommend this set to fans of the game, it captures so much of the excitement both the Fortnite game, and the expansion LEGO Fortnite, has to offer.

We’ve compiled all the weeks articles into this weekly roundup to keep you up-to-date and help digest the goings-on within the LEGO World. From details of the first half of the years LEGO financial report and updates of two upcoming books, to two seasonal LEGO Botanical sets being revealed. We also have a few reviews this week, one from our guest writer Brickmcbricksworth. A lot more happened during the week so why not take a look at our recap below.

Only A Few More Days Left To Grab The LEGO Flowerpot (40588) GWP Set!

Winning Front Cover Character Of The Upcoming LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia Announced!

LEGO Timelines By DK Books Preview

LEGO Announces Double Digit Growth for 1HY 2024!

Meet The Designer Of LEGO The Burrow Collector’s Edition (76437)!

LEGO Botanical Collection Poinsettia And Wreath Officially Announced!

New Bright & Colourful Poster For Pharrell Williams ‘Piece By Piece’ Movie!

LEGO Fortnite Big Build Livestream Stars Tomorrow!

LEGO September 2024 Releases – In A Nutshell!

LEGO Batman The Classic TV Series Batmobile (76328) Revealed!

LEGO Harry Potter Prints Available For Insiders!

LEGO Speed Champions NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 (76935) Review

Funwhole F9036 Western Train Review

Funwhole F9033 Antique Store Review

The Box & Contents:

The box art is just as colourful and features the multicoloured car racing along a very grey NASCAR track. The usual details can be found in the front, including theme logo, NASCAR Logo, age rating, title and number. On the reverse are a few different shots of the vehicle, again racing around the oval track, there’s even a shot of the drivers set and interior.

Inside the box are 5 numbered plastic bags, sadly no paper bags insight, 2 sticker sheets and an instruction manual. As you can see each bag is filled with brightly coloured pieces, purples, yellows and reals. The amount of parts in each bag is lower and spread out over the 5 bags, making for a seemingly quicker build experience, although it did take me over an hour to build live on Instagram.

The Build:

Starting with the base, as usual, adding part of the bonnet and some interior pieces such as gearstick, drivers seat and a basic dashboard. The second bag adds to that by building up the front of the car and adding some of the stickers, the flames look especially badass. Bag 3 sees the sides built up a little more along with the mid-section. Bag 4 is the largest of the 5 bags and makes good progress on the rear of the car, adding the spoiler and curved roof.

The fifth and final bag obviously finishes the set off, adding the windscreen, wheels and the last of the stickers. The wheels look especially cool with the clip on covers that say the make & model of the car. Overall the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 set looks stunning and the use of the stickers is great, at first I thought it may have been too overpowering having all those colours together, but it works. Some of the stickers could lineup better but this could be a placement thing, as the flames are broken by the black tile underneath showing through.

There is also a Minifigure included with the set, more on him below.

The Minifigure:

As Minifigures go this one suits the set but that’s about it, he’s a pretty generic character, apart from the printed torso. The hair is a standard piece, the face is very lacklustre and the spanner accessory is pretty much the goto for LEGO Speed Champions sets.

As mentioned above the only real exclusive part is the torso, which in itself is great with the NASCAR logo slap-bang in the centre. The purple legs are a nice addition to although plain, it is the same colour as the purple Spaceman Minifigure. Also included as a matching purple helmet, I love it when LEGO supply both that and a hair piece, giving you an option of how to display the Minifigure.

Overall the set is good, the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is the Star of the show, obviously. The bright colours, the shape, the techniques used for the front all help make it a great build. Using a wheel arch on the bonnet is genius and creates such a cool look, it surrounds a monochrome USA flag which is fully printed, 1of only 2 printed parts in the whole set (the logo on the side of a 1×2 black plate).

Do I recommend this set? Yes I do but for only those that appreciate these types of vehicles or the awesome colours used throughout. For the price tag of £20.99, it is worth the money, in my honest opinion. Who’ll you be grabbing this set? Do you already have it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

We’ve compiled all the weeks articles into this weekly roundup to keep you up-to-date and help digest the goings-on within the LEGO World. From new and returning GWPs in the form of McLaren P1 Logo and Space Micro Rocket Launchpad (40712), to the Third 2023 LEGO Ideas Project Review results. Also available are the start of the week was the LEGO Ideas Jaws (21350) set which is now available on general release. A lot more happened during the week so why not take a look at our recap below.

LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga Heading To PlayStation Plus!

Disney D23 Expo – What Does This Mean For LEGO?

New LEGO Ideas Sets Revealed – Willy Wonka, Italian Riviera And Pixar Lamp!

LEGO Fortnite v30.40 – Battle Bus Fast Travel And More!

LEGO Ideas Jaws (21350) Now Available For All!

LEGO Dungeons & Dragons CMF Pre-order From Brick-A-Brac-UK!

LEGO Life Magazine Is Now LEGO Magazine!

Last Chance To Grab LEGO Space Micro Rocket Launchpad (40712) & LEGO McLaren P1 Gifts!

It’s LEGO Marvel Vs LEGO Star Wars In A Week Long Hashtag Battle!

LEGO Insiders Double Points And LEGO Trophy (40688) GWP Now Available!

Dotted Games – LEGO Group & Asmodee Expand Partnership!

BrickLink Designer Program Issues New Guidelines For Series 6!

LEGO Bricktales VR Summer DLC Now Available!

LEGO Star Wars Rebuild The Galaxy Official Trailer Is Here!

Double LEGO Insiders Points On DreamZzz Sets!

LEGO Harry Potter Pencil Case Promotion Available At Walmart (US)!

LEGO Ideas Feature: The Moon Lunar Landscape By SharkyBricks

LEGO Minions’ Music Party Bus (75581) Review By Brick_Shed

With the new Despicable Me 4 film out now in Cinemas, LEGO released a small wave of sets to coincide with it. Having seen the movie a couple of weeks ago with my two boys, I was able to recognise some of the sets from the movies. I am sure the Party Bus is featured briefly in the movie, when the Minions are taken to the Anti Villain League HQ and the usual mayhem ensues on route. This set doesn’t quite resemble the film version, but I am hoping in the future we get a couple more sets based off the film, particularly some of the flying vehicles.

The Build:

Having just built and reviewed the Barad-dûr set, this isn’t a difficult set to build when compared as it’s intended audience is 7+, although if you want to make it a challenge I’d suggest building with a very excitable 4 year old, who kept walking off with pieces and Minifigure!

There are four bags and with no printed pieces and the set relies on stickers. One really cool feature with one sticker is that it has a QR code on it that if scanned takes you to a short on the Lego Website for the bus.

The base of the bus is a mixture of technic and inverted pieces, together with green and pink tiles used to make the dance floor. A technic lift arm is used to assist structural stability to the middle of bus that allows it to be fully open, as well as the lights for the disco.

Within the bus we have a small swimming pool area with a cute little rubber duck and a sparsely filled drivers section with just a seat and steering wheel. As mentioned just now the bus can be fully opened up to reveal the inside, clips to lock these sections in place when you want to close it up and have it as a regular bus. There are also a couple of little side builds such as a guitar stand and keyboard.

The Minifigures:

For those of you that haven’t seen the movies there are 5 Mega Minions and this set has one of them in the form of Gus. There are also three regular Minions, one of which is included in the smaller set of this wave, the Banana Car. As with all Minion Minifigures, the torso and legs are all one piece with the head joining onto them in keeping with the “party theme” the Minions have various party headwear.

Gus is easily the best minifigure from this set, the head and torso are printed and come in a slightly different shade of yellow compared to the other Minifigures. The cape is molded into the head piece and isn’t a sperate piece. The other Minions have a variety of different head pieces to tell them apart with different hair styles and eyes.

There is a seat for the driver and I think one should have been included as the front of the bus looks empty with no driver.

The Price:

The price of this set is £34.99, which does feel a little overpriced to me as the build itself reminds me of the smaller LEGO City vehicle sets. When you compare against the recent Sightseeing Bus (60407) you’re paying £10 more but get the same number of Minifigures. I feel like a couple of extra Minions should have been included.

The Playability:

The bus opens up on one side so that you can see the dance floor and the disco area. The roof opens up too, giving access to the TV screens which have some cool stickers of Minion in various music poses.

I hope you enjoyed my review of LEGO Minions’ Music Party Bus (75581). To follow my LEGO journey please consider following me on Instagram. Below are my ratings for the different aspects of the set, do you agree? Leave a comment below.

• Build – 6
• Minifigures – 7
• Price – 5
• Playability – 6
• Total – 6

The Box & Contents:

The box art for LEGO Minecraft sets has also been spot on, with the shades of green and ‘blocky‘ design that both LEGO and Minecraft share. I ntje front are the usual details, set name & number (21260) and age rating. Front and centre is the set itself along with the 2 Minifigures and creatures. On the back are a few of the play features, including the Sniffers rummaging through the landscape and Bees that are loosely placed on top of poles to give their movement a more natural feel. 

Inside the box are 3 numbered paper bags, yes paper! These ‘new’ paper bags are becoming more frequent although their appearances are sporadic at best. None-the-less it’s also a pleasure and I love ripping the tops of the bags off, so satisfying.

The Build:

Pretty much all LEGO Minecraft sets are built in a similar way, individual sections that come together to make a larger landscape. The biome of choice here is a lush Cherry Blossom one, complete with 2 trees and matching petals on the floor, when playing the video game I tend to seek out this biome to build my house in.

This set has a nice selection of parts, including big 2×6 bricks to small 1×1 studs, making the build diverse and perfect for the intended 8+ audience. Fan’s of the video will be able to identify the side builds as being blocks they translate nicely into LEGO form, such as the lantern, heart stamped pottery and more, can you tell what they are?

The real star of the set are the Sniffer creatures, there are 3 in total although one is still an agg. These are the builds myself and my Son look for when purchasing a new LEGO Minecraft set, the creatures and Minifigure characters play a massive part in that decision. My Son has a decent sized display in his room with multiple sets merged together to make a bustling Village, adding to this with new mobs (Minecraft slang for characters) is always exciting, especially when it’s a brand new one.

The larger Sniffer has a built-in play feature, pressing down on the back makes the head jolt up and down, this is for rummaging around the landscape unearthing treats. There is a particular space where this can be put and implemented where a section of the landscape pings off.

The Minifigures:

Two Minifigures are included, a Zombie and a character called ‘Sunny‘. Sadly I don’t know enough about the Minecraft video game to know who Sunny is, but the Minifigure itself looks great.

Zombies have been around since the LEGO themes conception so we have entry of these. They haven’t really changed since the first one so there’s not much to say about it. Sunny on the other hand is brand new and is the first time in a set.

The Sunny character has the usual design on the face but with a different colour palette to previous Minifigures, same goes for the torso, a section of it is the standard Minecraft blocks. This is also repeated on the back, it’s a shame the legs are unprinted, but the silver arm makes up for that.

Overall the LEGO Minecraft Cherry Blossom Garden (21260) set is a nice little build, similar to the other sets in this theme. There isn’t anything special about it apart from the trees and Sunny Minifigure. For the price, £22.99, I’d say you could easily leave it and not miss it, or simply build it from your spare pieces, most have appeared on the PaB (pick a brick) wall at some point. I’m my personal opinion, this should have been a sub £20 priced set.

Do you have this set? What do you think of it? Use the comments section below to express your views.

When in the process of building a new set, say a new Modular, the Excavator can be placed in the space where that set will eventually go and not only act as a place holder but also several photo scenes. I personally can’t wait to take some cracking shots of this construction vehicle in action.

I started to build this live on Instagram, so if you would like to watch that back please click here. I stream once a week every Thursday, it’s a fun and relaxed environment perfect for older fans to chat with like minded people and ask questions as I build.

The Box & Contents:

The boxart is bright and colourful as you’d expect a LEGO City set to be, filled with lots of details and things going on, from the Minifigures busy working and the Excavator doing it’s thing. Flip the box around and you’ll see more of what this set has to offer in the form of playability. The base swivels, the arm moves and the bucket swings, all the things you’d expect to move, do.

There are 6 numbered bags, an instruction manual, 2 rubber pieces and a small sticker sheet. Each bag feels full, apart from bag 6, that is just chockablock with track elements that will need connecting together later in the build process. Oh I nearly forgot to scan the booklets QR code, don’t want to miss out on my free 20 Insiders points.

The Build:

The first bag is full of parts, more so than I’ve never noticed in a bag. It builds quite a substantial block of bricks that makes up a large portion of the Cab. Using a lot of SNOT (studs not on top) parts, also added here is a small control panel, seating area, engine bay and a walkway to climb up onto when entering/exiting the vehicle.

In the console there is a 2×1 printed tile, thankfully stickers don’t usually come in that size so a print was used, again it is basically a calculator type design but still it’s nice to get at least one printed element in a rather pricey set. Coming in at £49.99 with 633 pieces, the price is somewhat high, yes you get 3 Minifigures but for me personally it feels like a £35 or at a push £40 set.

Bag 2 adds to the Cab and rear section, polishing off the curves on the sides and back. It also adds a small engine which is placed under the flap on the back, hidden away bit easily accessible. This bag isn’t as full as the first but it does still add a substantial amount to the set before moving onto the next bag.

Bags 3 and 4 finally make the Excavator vehicle recognisable, with the arm and bucket additions. The entire arm is held in place with very chunky LEGO Technic pieces and a couple of long bars/pins. I particularly like the piston style elemtents as they not only function like you’d expect but they look good too, lifting and extending the arm and bucket makes the pistons go in & out.

Bag 5 is the construction of the wheel base and the final part to the main Excavator vehicle. Again this section is a substantial hunk ok bricks and bits, including wheels and other LEGO Technic parts, as those are considered the strongest. In the picture you can see a green part that is connected to a red part, this is the turning mechanism, to be precise the ball and socket joint that allows the whole top section to swivel. Simple but very effect!

There we have it, the finished vehicle, complete with 82 individual track pieces joined to make two wheel coverings. That was a long process but not too tedious that it puts you off. Wrapping the tracks around the wheels is very satisfying though which makes up for it.

As constructions vehicles go, and being my first, I must say this was very enjoyable to build, having only built several LEGO Speed Champions sets in the past and smaller vehicles, it was well over due that an Excavator was on the list. I wonder what will be next, perhaps a look on LEGO.com for others or eBay for some older models. As I said earlier in the review this will sit nicely in Gregsville (my LEGO City), as both a way to show building progress for sets and appearing in Scenes/photographs.

The only thing missing here are the Minifigures, which got given names during our Instagram live stream build. Keep reading to which Minifigures you get in the set and their made up names.

The Minifigures:

All 3 Minifigures fit the set well and represent two different roles, an Site Supervisor and construction workers. All have different outfits too, making for some great photos and scenes. Each one has been given a made up name, during the live stream as mentioned above. Our viewers often give roughly the same names such as Steve or Larry, but that day was different, each name given was a derivative of Jeff, so I’m happy to introduce Jeff the builder, Geoff the Site Supervisor and Georgina (not quite Jeff/Geoff) the operator.

The Site Supervisor character is your stereotypical businessman, with his hair slicked back, waistcoat, tie and hard hat. This particular Minifigure is exclusive to the set even though the parts have appeared in other set, the arrangement is unique. His comes with both a hard hat and a hair piece, this is one thing LEGO has been doing right for the last couple of years. It’s a fun character and one I’m glad is included, every construction site needs a supervisor, he also comes with a cool 2×4 blueprint tile of the Ice Cream Parlour set.

Next up is the male Construction Worker, sporting a brand new for 2024 outfit. The hi-vis looks great and I am happy its been included in a slightly cheaper set, as it isn’t exclusive and appears in the other construction set released at the same time, LEGO Mobile Construction Crane Set (60409).

He also has a separate hair piece along with a red hard hat and ear defenders. Thosnis definitely a torso & leg combo I need to get multiple of, to flesh out the workforce.

Last but not least we have the female construction worker, who is also an exclusive Minifigure, but again just in this arrangement of pieces. Again the torso and leg combo is available in the aforementioned set, which is good as they should be readily available on Bricklink/Brickowl soon.

Overall the set is well worth it, although shaving a few quid off the price wouldn’t hurt. The Excavator itself is fun to build with a mixture of standard LEGO techniques and Technic elements. Chuck in the 3 Minifigures and you have a well rounded set that will fit nicely into a City, sit on display or be played with, it truly is a toy with many purposes.

We hope you enjoyed our review of the LEGO City Yellow Construction Excavator (60420) set. Thank you for taking the time to read what we have to say about it. Please do let us know your thoughts via the comments section below, we love hearing from you!

I am not the biggest fan of the classic Disney films, I much prefer the more recent films such as Moana and Zootropolis. But when the Snow White Cottage was announced  I really loved the look of it and decided this was a set I had to get!

Before building it I decided to watch the film with my two boys, which they’ve never seen before and I hadn’t seen for probably 30 years. We all loved it and I think we’ll be revisiting other classic Disney films.

The Build

There are 2,208 pieces and the set is split into three builds, the main cottage and then two smaller builds for the wishing well and the glass build. There are 15 bags in total and 12 stickers, which isn’t bad for a set of this size.

The first build isn’t the cottage but the wishing well where Snow White wishes for a better life, this looks charming with flowers and birds around it. The birds look similar to the film when Snow White sings to them.

After the wishing well you move onto the Cottage itself. The interior has some great details with a large table set up with seven plates and seven chairs. There are seven beds on the first floor that built in the same way but have patterned quilts and headboards with each of the dwarves name, unfortunately these are all stickers. The Wooden Organ was a great build and really stands out on the Ground Floor with the colourful organ pipes. The organ uses 5 of the stickers showing decorative animals.

The Cottage does open up so if like me you have fat fingers this does help to access parts of the Ground Floor. The First Floor isn’t an issue as part of the roof can easily be detatched.

There are several printed elements and one of my favourite is the owl printing used for the exterior to great effect and the pie having “Grumpy” written on it just like the movie.

The build can be a little repetitive at times when it comes to the roof as you’re using three types of yellow/orange wedges to create the effect. Once finished it looks fantastic and just like the thatched roof in the movie. The instruction book suggests that you sperate out the pieces to avoid being frustated and uses “Happy” and “Grumpy” to illustrate this.

The outside of the cottage looks great with printed elements for the shutters and are angled slightly which gives it a rustic look. There are various 1 x tiles used for the wooden beams to the outside, which again give it an authentic look.

As the cottage is in the middle of a forest there are various tress dotted around the outside with various build techniques used for each one. Just like the movie a birch tree stands outside the cottage with white seaweed elements (the first time this element has been used in the this colour) is used to make the top branches.  There is a cute bird box at the front. The trees use various shades of green and different elements for the foliage to break things up. The set also makes good use of the new 4×5 leaf element that was introduced this year and has mainly been in Friends sets.

The set finishes off with the Glass Coffin, which is a simple build but looks charming with the trees and flowers around it. There are printed tiles with “Snow White” on them. One of the trees has a medium lavender colour to the 4×5 leaves which stands out compared to the other leaves and is currently exclusive to the set.

The Minifigures

The set comes with all 10 Minifigures that you would want for this set. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (obviously), the Evil Queen in disguise and the Prince.

Snow White and the Prince are the same Minifigures from 2023 Disney Castle and the Evil Queen is the same from Disney 100 Icons set. All three look excellent with Snow White being the best with printed arms, torso and legs and a lovely hair piece so she looks accurate to the films.

The Seven Dwarves are excellent, they all have their own unique Torsos and Faces. The faces look similar to the movie. Currently they are all unique to this set and make use of two new beard elements.

As you’d expect there several animals/birds included but if I was being critical there should be a couple of larger animals like a deer as you see in the movie.

The Price

The price is £189.99, which feels about right for a licensed theme that includes 10 Minifigures with the set (7 of which are exclusive).

The Display

The set looks excellent on display and is packed full of colour and details. The cottage looks really accurate from the movie with the bench outside and the printed pieces used on the window shutters. Although it was a little repetitive the thatched roof really stands out with the colour choice against the rest of the set and in particular the beams.

Thank you for reading my review of the LEGO Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ Cottage (43242) set, I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know if you have the set and what you think of is via the comments section below.

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