Every now and then a LEGO kit comes along that seems like it was specifically designed for me. This is one example:
Meticulously designed and detailed, as soon as I saw this kit I knew I had to have it. These past two weeks I’ve put it together (after dismantling and storing away the tree house).
The kit is built in three parts, designed to be easily separated for play or simply to appreciate the detail. Every level of the house has a fully furnished interior including the forge and tools, a kitchen/living area and a bedroom (in the third floor) with master bed and bear rug on the floor:
You can see in the above pic that the roof easily lifts off to access the interior. This is a particularly clever piece of engineering since it’s not immediately obvious why the roof stays on as securely as it does!
The exteriors are as detailed as the interiors, and you can see above how the timber framing is added, a touch that makes the model look more like the medieval German buildings this kit is based upon.
The kit comes with a light brick which gives the furnace a red glow when it is activated. Back in our youth LEGO used primitive versions of these sorts of bricks a lot, but now they’re led-based and the power supply is a tiny battery sealed inside the brick!
Here we see the forge which is accessibly (by the blacksmith minifig) both indoors or out. I’m pushing in the bellows which are connected to the light brick, and you can see the heat of the furnace in the above pic 🙂
Speaking of minifigs, the kit comes with a smith, an archer, two knights, a horse and a dog. Not to mention a variety of weapons and a cart to haul it all around in. It seems like this particular smith works for the military, as opposed to simple tools or nails.
I love this kit. In my opinion it’s one of the most attractive models LEGO has yet released, and it’s not too big to display on a shelf.
Self-contained original sets like this are what I prefer these days, and there’s a lot of unusual structures or buildings that I think deserve a professional LEGO treatment. In particular I hope the lighthouse they announced last year (based on this LEGO idea) ends up being as good as this blacksmith!
Honestly, almost every kit you’ve built has been interesting but I’d never want to build myself.
As you would say, this one SLAPS!
It makes me want to go to Ironforge lol..
I wasn’t sold until I reached that last photo. Magical.
Your mention of knights, archers, etc. reminded me of junior-high history projects where you’d be asked to build dioramas of scenes from ancient Egyptian/Greek/Roman or medieval life. An excuse to beg the parents for LEGO kits, plastic soldiers, cardboard buildings and even metal miniatures that we “needed for school” 🙂
Old timers like myself often wax lyrical about 1980s LEGO space sets, and B and I certaintly had a few. But my favourite memories are of the castle set we owned, which came with a large variety of knights and horses. This was one of the reasons I was drawn to this one.
I remember making diorama’s for school, and even special books they used to sell in bookstores with cut-outs for that express purpose!
Yep. Newsagencies, bookstores and more really catered to student projects in those days. Mainly Military (later to become Frontline Hobbies) had an array of historical model kits for building things like The Trojan Horse.