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Lego Architecture 21006 - The White House - Review

BirdOPrey5

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Administrator
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Available on Amazon, eBay
Price: $49.99
Lego #: 21006
Pieces: 560
Rating: :4stars: (On the small side, some minor design and build issues.)


While this has an MSRP of just about $50 I found it on sale on Amazon for just $37. Knowing it was a good price I picked this set up- honestly I would not have paid $50 for it- not after I was so unhappy with the Architecture series Empire State Building I had previously.

I will grant the Empire State Building was small and perhaps not the best set to judge the entire series by. The White House is certainly a larger and more complex set.

Overall I considered it a fun build but it left me with some questions. Why go with the older design? The modern White House doesn't have a black roof- most people are going to think it's a bad copy and won't care about the fact the White House used to have a black roof.

1280px-Aerial_view_of_the_White_House.jpg White-House.jpg

Once you open the box you do get a very nice book that doubles as both the instructions for the set and a fact book about the White House, design, and history. Again I must ask myself if Lego spent more money making the book and box than the actual plastic bricks.

DSC00309.jpg

The bags are not numbed- in fact in a very confusing move, and the first time I have come across it in Lego or any brand, the very same brick was in multiple bags. :b-eek: That is to say, for example, a 2x6 thin black brick was in two different bags. This caused initial panic when I thought I was missing pieces- in all my years I have never seen them do that before.

It wasn't one brick either- multiple times I was finding bricks in one pile, and then had to switch to a different pile (from a different bag) to find the very same brick.

Overall the final build is fairly sturdy although it isn't sturdy until you begin putting the roof on. There are a couple steps towards the end when you are putting in the little trees or bushes where it's much easier to do the steps out of sequence. It is very difficult to get the thin, round, 1x1 brick into the center of 4 studs on a baseplate. However it is very easy to do once you put said round brick beneath a 1x1 standard height square brick which you have to do anyway- so just do that first.

There are a couple of steps that are boring and repetitive... when you see you need 48 pieces of a small part for a step and "x16" next to the instructions you know it's going to be a while before you move into something else. This isn't end-of-the-wolrd boring but it is something to consider.

Bottom line- it is lightyears ahead of the Empire State Building set but there is still room for improvement. A larger more modern design could easily push this to a solid 5 star rating- as would a lower price. I say keep an eye out for the sub $40 pricing, if they did it once they'll likely do it again.

DSC00297.jpg DSC00294.jpg
 
Which is your favorite?
the white house is the largest of the three I have so it had the most building fun for me, but I like the Big Ben model. Brandenburg Gate was too simple in terms of building enjoyment.

I would like to get the Frank Lloyd Wright houses but they are a tad pricey.
 

BirdOPrey5

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Administrator
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...but I like the Big Ben model. Brandenburg Gate was too simple in terms of building enjoyment.
I am surprised as Brandenburg Gate is listed as more pieces than Big Ben... 362 vs 346.

I would agree from an aesthetics point of view- more fun to build a tower.
 
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