Category: Toys

Bird of Paradise

  • May 10, 2022

It’s time for a new LEGO kit:

This is the third in their ‘botanical’ series, and as a child of the jungle myself, naturally this called to me!

It’s the biggest of the botanical kits so far, mostly because (unlike the flower bouquet) it comes with a pot.

It also came with a number of tiny (~ 5 mm) golden rings. These are dazzling, and apparently somewhat special (the kit mentions it has more of them than any other LEGO kit) but they are embedded inside the pot and you can’t even see them in the finished product!

The pot is dense and heavy, and wouldn’t be fun to dismantle. Obviously the bulk is required to prevent the piece from falling over when made.

The stalks are made from smaller pieces joined together, rather than very long axles, and therefore the plant would be very customizable. I followed the instructions perfectly 🙂

Speaking of which this was a very easy kit to make, even if you’ve not done LEGO before. It was a pleasant build as we watched Japan walking videos on YouTube, and dreamed of our next visit to Japan…

Doesn’t this resemble the real thing!?! I expect as I scampered around the dense jungles of my place of birth I saw these flowers often as I listened to the singing of real life birds of paradise!

The last step was to add the soil, which was hundreds of small brown circular pieces. I expect if you bought enough of these it would make good cat litter.

And here’s the finished piece! It’s lovely isn’t it? It’s also very large, but looks great on a mantle. As with the other two botanicals, I think this one will find a permanent position in our home.

  • Posted in Blog
  • Robert

Models

  • April 16, 2022

I bought the above model kit at Kinokuniya a while back, mostly based on the lovely art. It’s a schoolgirl model kit; one in a range that includes not only the girls themselves, but also various furniture items! I don’t think it’s based on an anime or manga, and is instead an original line.

The kit had a large range of face and hairstyle options, and several skirt and leg poses. As is usual with kits from Kotobukiya, the quality was extremely high, and the kit included a few nice touches that added detail without the need for painting.

It was an easy build, taking maybe 2 hours. Here’s the finished product:

She came with several accessories, but I used only the schoolbag (the bubble tea is nice, but you need to buy the ‘After school cafe‘ set for that!). But before I put her in my glass case I felt she could be improved….

Much better!

And since I’m showcasing cute models, here’s two Nendoroids I’ve recently bought:

The left is Akane Shinjo from SSSS Gridman, an astonishing anime that will feature in more detail on this blog one day. And on the right is Nino Nakano, who will always be my favourite of the Quintessential Quintuplets. Probably 😉

  • Posted in Blog
  • Robert

Medieval Blacksmith

  • February 27, 2022

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!