By Rakesh Gosai (SAFOLs Brick Deputy)
This year’s long-awaited LEGO® Modular Building is the Police Station. Designed by Chris McVeigh. With styling cues from the 1950’s era, this building would fit perfectly in any LEGO® Modular scene. As predicted, this year, the LEGO® Creator Advanced Series has changed styling to fit in line with the 18+ Range and has the “Modular Buildings Collection” name on it. As with all sets of this size, the instruction manual is sealed in its own bag. A favourite in these sets are all printed tiles and no sticker sheet.
Chris McVeigh has been designing LEGO® models long before he started working for LEGO®. Please have a look at his website for the unofficial models he has made : https://chrismcveigh.com/cm/welcome.html I started following his work when I was looking for some inspiration for the interior of the earlier LEGO® Modular Buildings, as these were bare inside. Chris has also designed a few popular sets, namely the LEGO® Brick Sketches series, LEGO® Botanical Collection 10289 Bird of Paradise, and the LEGO® Winter Village Collection 10275 Elf Club House to name a few.
This set has 14 numbered bags with a 32×32 baseplate. This set has 2,923 pieces in it with a few new printed pieces, rare colours, and a few new pieces. One of my favourite printed pieces from this set is the daily brick newspaper with the headline “Donut Thief Still Hungry”. Depending on your building speed, this build should take a few hours. As you build, the three structures takes shape quickly with the donut shop on the left, the news stand on the right and the police station in the centre. Two of the printed pieces form a billboard for “Soap ‘n Suds”, the laundromat from the Brick Bank Modular Building.
The stairs in this build are amazing. Be sure to keep an eye out for this when you are building. The other items that really make an impact are the two desks which have a typewriter and a rotary telephone. Chris McVeigh has a lot more of these designs on his personal website. The donut shop is two stories high with a few hidden gems on the second floor. The bed is able to lift up, revealing an opening to steal donuts from the shop. Sneaky hey!
I do not know how important this detail is but there are two toilets in this building. One in the jail cell and the other in the police station. You would also notice that inside the jail cell, the bed is able to lift up, revealing an opening to a tunnel with a spoon, apparently used for digging. There is also a tunnel at the base of the building which adds an exciting element to the build.
I would rate this build 9/10. The Minifigures selection are good, build has many hidden gems and overall, a beautifully designed building.
