A Trip to the Natural History Museum
Updated: Dec 2, 2023
It's been a while since my last post on BricksOfAllSorts and that's something I aim to put right moving into 2024. Hopefully there will be more regular posts including an introduction to my own Lego City. For now though it's time to look in detail at the most widely anticipated set of the year - the Lego Icons (Creator Expert as was) Modular.
Manufacturer | Lego |
Set Number | 10326 |
Set Theme | Lego Icons |
Piece Count | 4014 |
Minifigures | 7 |
Link To Purchase |
The 2024 modular release followed the usual pattern of unfounded leaks and red herrings before suddenly it was here and it was official. In the space of about a week we had the first reviews and then the set was available for pre-order on the Lego website. As it happens, there was an actual tangible advantage for those who pre-ordered as we got the set in our hands well ahead of the scheduled release date of 01/12 - mine arrived the previous Friday.
On the back of last year's modular (The Jazz Club) the Lego Ideas team moved in a different direction. Instead of a 3 story building, we have two, and instead of 1 base plate, we have 1.5 base plates. The result was set 10326, The Natural History Museum.
Before we get onto the building, a quick look at the Minifigures. There are technically 9 in the set, although the official count is 7. Why? Well, you have the 7 pictured below plus the 2 statues which flank the museum entrance. They may be statues, and they may be grey but they are still minifgures, so I'm sticking with a count of 9! Of the official 7 you have a couple of museum workers, a handyman/window cleaner, a museum curator and three visitors.
Starting outside, we of course have the museum entrance. The pillars seem like a little tribute to the Town Hall set which had similar pillars flanking the front door. However, here they cover the full height of the building. As you would probably expect, the left and right had sides are symmetrical and this carries on inside i.e. the building is two symmetrical ends around a central core. The overall effect is very impressive and the words which come to mind are "grand" and "imposing".
One of the side builds visible out front, is the window cleaning gantry seen on the top left hand side. The gantry could easily be added to another building provided you have the appropriate single stud hook pieces in place to connect it.
Ground Floor (Left to Right) Ground Floor (Right to Left) Close up of Dinosaur Skeleton
Moving inside we enter the ground floor of the museum. Straight ahead is a reception area - behind which is a toilet and a small store room. To the left is an area which includes displays of pottery and rocks/crystals. To the right is a room containing skeletons, skulls and eggs amongst other things. The star of the ground floor (and perhaps the build) is the dinosaur. Couldn't say what type of dinosaur it's meant to be so I'll just stick with dinosaur! The skeleton is taller than the ground floor and we'll see how that's handled as we move up a floor.
First Floor (Left to Right) First Floor (Right to Left) Close up of Solar System Model
The first floor is reached by stairs which run up the left hand rear side of the museum. The area you arrive in features nods to space travel and exploration. A viewing area allows visitors to look back down to the ground floor. In the middle section are some more exhibits based around space. Included is a model of the Solar System. The right hand end of the floor is where we see the solution to the issue of the dinosaur being taller than the ground floor - its head pops up through a second viewing area.
The roof is more than just a rooftop. What we find here is the museum curator's office. This is a good use of space, as to have had his office inside the building would have taken up too much room and meant less exhibits.
The museum looks great in its new home. I have the perfect space for it as the buildings which previously occupied this space had better places to be, including the Brick Bank which you can now see in the foreground. In due course I will add lights to bring the museum to life.
Hope you enjoyed this look at the Natural History Museum. If you have any thought's please feel free to leave a comment.
Thanks for reading,
Paul.
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