This set has been sitting in the corner of our LEGO room for a little while now. I’ve been super eager to build the 16th Modular building, but life kept getting in the way. Fortunately, (or not depending on how you look at it) COVID struck our household, so we had a full week’s isolation to get building!
A secondary problem was that we’d run out of space to display the Modulars. Now that we’ve solved that problem, I’ve grabbed the set with glee and started building. On a side note – The Ikea FJÄLKINGE shelving is pretty robust, adjustable and look great to display your collection.
The Police Station starts with a 32 x 32 base plate. Over the various modular sets, there’s been a few approaches taken for this foundation layer including combinations of smaller base plates to make up the 32 x 32 grid.
Each time I looked at the box, I felt that this was going to be a smaller set than others. I’m not sure why I thought that, but I was mistaken. It’s a fairly similar approach to most Modular’s with tiles used for the first 1/4 of the baseplate to align with the other sets. We then build the steps and entry to the rest to the building. Putting down the plates, particularly where a pattern exists is strangely satisfying. Perhaps it due to turning your brain off and almost painting by number?
For this particularly build, the primary location is the police station front and centre. However on the left is a small doughnut shop. For me, thinking of police and doughnuts always reminds me of Chief Wiggum from the Simpsons. In any case, no doubt the doughnut shop does a roaring trade. The shop owner is a relatively simple minifig but the candy-stripe print on the shirt fits the 1940’s era and looks great. Her shop is quaint, a little plain but full of delicious treats.
As we continue with the station build, we meet our Police officers. Our first officer is a grizzled old detective who’s seen a lot in his time. Yet, the thrill of the hunt keeps him downing coffee and working the long hours needed to fight crime. He doesn’t need a weapon as his mind is razor sharp. Almost as sharp as his world class moustache.
The other side of the station has a small holding cell. In this case, the relatively spartan nature makes sense – it’s a jail cell after all. The bandit has been slowly tunnelling his way out and the spoon to dig with shows just how persistent he is!
The construction of the stairs uses a great technique. It’s a horizontal build then attached to the wall via embedded SNOT bricks to create a floating effect.
On the other side of the police station is a small news stand. It’s an effective use of space given the jail cell behind it is quite small. Amusingly, the newstand operator is on-selling the Doughnuts for those that don’t want to buy direct from the supplier. A doughnut and a paper is a great deal for $1. I know, it was a long time ago..
The trees out the front are made using the Round 2 x 2 with 6 Gear Teeth and they looks amazing. By offsetting each gear a nice shrub is created with relatively few elements. They remind me a little of the old fashioned spherical tree’s we had growing up (Tree Fruit Plant).
Like all Modular’s, the next level is removable for easy access. There’s a very small apartment next to the police bull pen. The apartment is cute, and the old school turntable keeps the tunes happening at all hours of the night. The only entry to the apartment is via the fire escape, so hopefully the rent has been adjusted accordingly.
As we move across to the police bull-pen, the highlight is the rotary phones. It uses an old style handset with the rotary dial printed on a cheese piece. It’s a nice call back to the time period of the build. The typewriter and the old school dome desk lamps complete the scene. My favourite part of the police station is the crime map. It uses a small red rubber loop to map out the crime in the area and is exquisite! There’s even a small alcove setup to take mugshots of the captured criminals.
The blue bird on the window sneaking a doughnut is very cute and the window mounted air con are simple, but a great addition. These little features really make the build.
The use of the upside down fox head piece for the awning is an great NPU.
In fact the whole external facade looks really impressive. From the wall pieces on the apartment window to the vertical columns, it all looks amazing.
We finish the police station with an evidence locker, toilet and interrogation room, accompanied by the tape recorder to capture any verbal evidence the crooks offer up.
The perimeter of the building is adorned with a throwback to the Brick Bank set with the advertising showing the the Laundrette Owners. This adds +2 to our rating simply because the Brick Bank is our favourite Modular!
The creeping greenery also makes for a welcome additional splash of colour. The rooftop water tower also helps with the buildings environmental sustainability. Something that we’re very glad was considered by these 1940’s architects!
Overall Thoughts
Overall, this was a great build. There were a tonne of fun features that added flair and brought the 1940’s to life. If you already are a fan of modulars, then you probably already have this. But if not, it’s a fantastic way to start your Modular collection. Be warned though, once the addiction grips, it gets expensive very fast if you want to collect the whole series! Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
Set: Police Station
Theme: Icons
Set #: 10278
Number of Minifigs: 5
Number of Pieces: 2923
RRP: $299.99
Overall: 92%
