Subject:
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Brickmania #03 Country Mill (Dan Siskind custom model)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.reviews
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Date:
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Thu, 18 Jul 2002 02:27:29 GMT
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7551 times
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Brickmania #03 Country Mill
Custom Castle kitby Dan Siskind
For picturs and more information on this set, see Dan's pages:
http://www.brickmania.com/store_pages/CastleKits.html#anchor336648
http://www.brickmania.com/Gallery2/castle/mill.html
Ages: no age given, intended for "intermediate to expert level builders"
Pieces: 596 (Dan says and I did not bother to check).
Released: 2001
36 full-colour page manual for 1 model, including master parts list and list
of parts needed for each step
Price Range: kit (now discontinued) US$200
instructions-only (still available) US$27
[I purchased only the instructions. I do not have the kit itself. This makes
some aspects of the standard review form a bit irrelevant or perhaps
speculative on my part. I will comment as appropriate.]
RATINGS (Scale: Must-Have Excellent Very-Good Good Fair Poor)
Set: Excellent / Model: Excellent / Playability: Good
DECALS? None in the instructions-only.
SET DESCRIPTION
The set is a windmill intended to grind grain etc. It has 4 levels. The top
level has the sails. The level below has the grinding stone, from where the
now-ground grain goes down a shute to the level below that (the main mill
floor level). The bottom level is a storage basement.
The exterior walls are white with black half-timbered ("Tudor") detailing
with red windows and trim. The roof and sails are also red. The base of the
mill is a
mixture of light and dark grey with a black curved staircase leading to the
main mill floor level. The windmill sits on a Ramp-and-Pit baseplate. There
is a
miller minifig, and a horse and cart with driver minifig.
There is a mechanism to drive the mill (grinding the grain) from the sails,
and to rotate the top of the mill to catch the wind. The model splits open
to reveal these mechanisms plus other internal detailing.
The set is clearly in the style of the Lego Castle theme, but has a much
more enclosed and solid appearance than most Lego Castle sets, which tend to
have a somewhat open structure.
The instructions were printed in full-colour on good quality paper. The
steps were clearly presented and were numbered. There were some steps that
involved sub-assemblies. Occasionally it was difficult to see the edge
between adjacent pieces of the same colour (especially black) in the
instructions. However, the list of parts included at each step made it
fairly straightforward to resolve any such ambiguity.
SPECIAL ELEMENTS
Because this is a custom kit, it must be built from parts available in other
Lego sets, so no elements can be described as truly unique or special.
IMPRESSION
I first became aware of Dan Siskind and his custom models when the
announcement was made about Lego licensing his Blacksmiths Shop as part of
their My Own Creation theme. As a consequence, I found my way to his WWW
site (www.brickmania.com) and was very much impressed and inspired by his
custom models, particularly his Castle-themed ones. I would have loved to
have bought some of his kits, but frankly they were just too expensive for
me. I fully understand why custom kits are more expensive than Lego's, but
that still didn't put them in my price range. So I was very pleased when Dan
decided to sell instruction-only versions of his kits, as this was a more
affordable alternative for me, as I felt I probably had most of the parts
likely to be needed.
Set Rating
Having bought only the instructions, the rating of the set (Excellent)
more-or-less directly reflects the rating of the model.
The set is built from a wide selection selection of what I would call
special parts but not overly specialised parts. That is, it is not just
built from basic bricks, but has slopes, arches, windows etc of the kind
which are often found in Lego's Castle theme. However, the parts involved
are not super-specialised (i.e. they are all reusable parts) nor incredibly
rare. For example, it does not use those Castle wall pieces with the arch
window cut-out that have limited application apart from castle building.
How rare / unusual / reusable a part is are somewhat subjective
issues, as it depends what you already have and what you hope to build
in the future. But clearly these are important issues to the purchaser of
instructions-only versions of a custom kit. It is not much fun having the
instructions if you don't have the parts! While the set predominantly uses
parts familiar to most Castle fans, it does involve a number of Technics
pieces (e.g. a worm gear) that are very familiar to most Technics
enthusiasts, but might be regarded as rare, unusual or un-reusable to a
Castle enthusiast.
When deciding to buy instructions-only, I had made the assessment that I had
a good collection of the kinds of parts that I could discern from the photos
on the WWW site, and that I was prepared to substitute or purchase any other
parts, according to how important I felt it was to be true to the model as
Dan designed it. I ended up having to bricklink a few of the more exotic
red roof pieces (specifically the double concaves, the double inverted, the
triples). I did have the parts to have built the roof in black, but I felt
it looked better in red. I substituted yellow pulley wheels for the brown
ones Dan used.
Model Rating
This is an excellent model. I cannot think what I could do to improve on it.
It makes a great display piece on its own and would fit into a larger
castle/medieval town. As you can open up the side of mill, you can admire
both the internal and external details, see the grinding wheel in action,
etc.
I particularly liked Dan's technique for opening up the side. It's not just
a simple hinged wall or straight-down-the-middle hinge, but a more irregular
arrangement that negotiates its way around windows, and internal details. I
certainly learned some new techniques from building this set.
Note. I do not give this set the highest rating of Must-Have, because I
think that it is a stupid rating. I'm telling you what I think about the
set, and I'll assume you
have the intelligence to decide for yourself whether you must have it or
not. :-)
Playability Rating
I rate the set as "good" for playability in that it is dynamic, having
working mechanisms and opening up.
However, the mill does not go "whoooosh" like a spaceship. And I think
children would be more interested in playing "lets invade the castle" than
"lets go to the mill to grind some flour". There's not a lot of scope for
"good guy vs bad guy" play with a mill.
As an adult who builds and displays, I don't care about playability, and
I suspect this set will be more popular with adults than children.
Likes/Dislikes
I like the design and use of parts, I like the colours and detailing, I like
the working mechanisms. I dislike nothing.
Scale
The set is minifig scale.
Errors
There were a few minor errors in the instructions and parts list, but
nothing that would really confuse you.
Extra Elements
There were no extra elements in my instructions-only kit :-)
CONCLUSION
I would absolutely recommend this set to anyone interested in the Castle
theme. However, if you buy only the instructions (the only way it is now
sold), you need to consider the risk of additional cost of buying parts that
you don't already have.
REVIEWER INFORMATION
Review Written: 17 July 2002
By: Kerry Raymond
Age: 40+ Favorite Lines/Themes: Castle (but it changes regularly)
--
============
Kerry Raymond
kerry@dstc.edu.au
Proud to be LUGNET Member 599
www.lugnet.com/people/members/?m=599
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