So on Saturday, I picked up the new Birds set with the plan of building it as soon as possible. Even before the set came out I knew that I would love this set. Its something new and teaches great building techniques. But as I was staying with friends, I ended up having a guest junior master builder — Max Lee. :)
Max said he would “help” me build, but he ended up doing most of it all — I can always buy another one for me to build right? ;)
Even though the set suggested age is 12+, at 9 Max had no problems building the set. Of course his dad Paul Lee is also an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) and a comic artist for the LEGO Club Magazine, so Max is a LEGO kid through and through.
If you follow me on my Model Building Secrets Facebook Page, then you already saw several of my pictures of the hummingbird build. We did the birds “out of order,” starting with the humming bird, then doing the red robin and finally the blue jay. You can do them in any order of course. ;)
I love the look of the box, both the front and the back are very pretty and totally theme appropriate.
On to building!
Hummingbird
As you can see, there’s a lot of good parts in this set, in fact this is a great parts pack. At $45 USD its a decent price too, especially if you consider that the Disney Friends Frozen set is $40, and has a lot less pieces.
The book is great with gorgeous pics of the actual birds and cool info about them
First build is the base and flower. I like how the flower is built, simple but nice.
What I really like is the nonconventional building, most of the hummingbird body is upside down
Now sure, I build like this all the time, but for the burgeoning junior Master Builder, its a great teaching set.
Red Robin
The Robin is my favorite of all three birds, I love how cute it is when its all built.
Each instruction book features a picture of Thomas Poulsom, the set’s creator, holding one of his birds.
Max had a lot of fun building these.
Here you can see the central core of the Robin, this allows for having studs in all directions
I love how the finished Robin looks
Not the greatest pic, but you can see how nice the back looks even if the photo is blurry
Blue Jay
This is my least favorite of the three birds, that’s not to say that I don’t like it, I just don’t like the gaps that are in the final build.
I do like the interior core that is in both the Blue Jay and Robin models.
Besides the gaps, I don’t like the back connection, it is a tad week and tends to fall off
Final Thoughts
I love, love, love this set! When I was still just dreaming of being a Master Model Builder this is the kind of set I would have wanted to teach me the tricks of the trade. Its a great value at $45 and should be added to your collection as soon as possible!
What I really like about this set is it doesn’t look like every other LEGO set out there. It looks like the birds Master Builders make to add to a tree or bird house at LEGOLAND. It has appeal for the non LEGO builder and for that rarest of creatures, the older female collector. I’m not saying that boys won’t like this set. Max certainly did. But girls like animals, especially cute animals. Hint, hint LEGO company. :)
Thanks Max for all the help!
