The Vespa is as iconic as they come. Since 1946, the Vespa has been creating low cost freedom throughout the globe. Even today, you’ll see this fashion icon zipping around the streets in much the same shape as it was over 75 years ago. The change to the Icons label for these sets is perhaps fitting with the Vespa as it truly is an Icon having been featured in a huge variety of magazines, movies and other pop culture. The Vespa sequences in the 1953 Roman Holiday movie with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck puttering around Rome on a Vespa was said to be worth 100,000 sales!
Like most Icon sets, the instructions start with a short history of Vespa and a quick comment from the LEGO designer. Interestingly in these instructions, dual lingual instructions in English and Italian were present. Perhaps to bring a little of the Italian Vespa flair… Eccellente!
We start the build with the core chassis of the Vespa. There’s quite a few different techniques used early in the build. Although I display all my LEGO vehicles, the pastel blue is new for this set for many of the elements so no doubt we’ll see them in future MOC’s by other fans.
As we continue Santa’s sleigh.. What’s that you say? Ok, it’s not really Santa’s sleigh but it certainly could do the job with a few modifications after the early stage of this build. Yes, Oscar also looks at me strangely as I say this.
As we move onto the rear cowling, the designers have done a fantastic job of replicating the curves of the Vespa. As we know, curves are often a challenge to get right with our favourite toy brick.
The use of the modified plates with door rails for the foot rest grip is fantastic. It looks great. We’re building a seperate MOC and building vertically, then rotating the elements 90’ to create a completely different outcome is a great technique to spice up your builds.
Although the motor is hidden under the cowling, I’m glad the designers took the effort to build it in. The grey technic discs as the radiator along with a new element for the engine cooling fan makes for a nice little engine.
Yet another new element scoots into the set with the whitewall motorcycle tyres. I’m not sure why, but I love them. It’s almost a money back guarantee that these will be used in MOC’s for early vintage cars. They would be perfect for a 1930’s Cadillac!
Adding the side pods and front fenders give the Vespa it’s iconic shape and feel quite robust.
We finish the bike itself with the front fender, light and kickstand. The use of many 1 x 1 round plates makes for a clean look for the front suspension mirroring the coils on the springs. I was so excited that after quite a few stickers for a relatively small set, we would get to see the main Vespa logo as a printed part. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Please, oh gods of LEGO, at least print the manufacturer logo on the set. I beg you..
The final accessories for the build are both splendid. The little rear carry basket has a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Hanging on the handlebars is a old school cool helmet, along with driving goggles. If it were yellow it would remind me of a Minion. If you now can’t get that image out of your head, my apologies!
Overall Thoughts
Overall, this was a fantastic build. Priced at $169.99 with 1107 pieces, it’s an excellent display piece with quite a lot of build variation. It’s clear that the Europeans have quite a lot of culture with both the Fiat 500 and this set exemplifying not only the vehicle, but the freedom that came with them. The Vespa is actually quite a bit larger than you might expect as can be seen when next to the Grand Piano and Treehouse (both amazing sets by the way!).
If you enjoy LEGO vehicles, this is a set not to be missed. Stay tuned for our review of an aftermarket light set in the coming days to make this Vespa just a little more zippy.
Set: Vespa 125
Theme: Icons
Set #: 10298
Number of Minifigs: 0
Number of Pieces: 1107
RRP: $169.99
A special thanks to our friends at Zavvi who supplied this set for us to build. Check them out for some great deals on LEGO sets.
Overall: 90%
