Today's set up for review is a different beast entirely. First of all, I ended up with the set via a baseball card trade with Brett on my baseball card blog (I actually love trading cards for LEGO)! Second, the set was a giveaway set to school children...in Singapore only!
This is LEGO 2000446: Building my SG:
This is LEGO 2000446: Building my SG:
First, a word on the set itself from Brickipedia:
It can be built into either Gardens by the Bay, Changi Airport or Cavenagh Bridge. The set contains 244 pieces. The set is given to all students and teachers and they are encouraged to build their vision of Singapore in the future. As part of SG50 celebrations the students and teachers were given this set. Currently it is unavailable for sale.
Someone that is only in LEGO for the money would probably leave this box unopened (copies of it are listed on Bricklink for about $80 US right now for example) but not me. When I get some LEGO in the mail, I build it and enjoy it for what's worth!
The set itself contains 244 pieces and it has instructions within it to build three different iconic Singapore landmarks. I've never been to Singapore, so this my first exposure to all three structures.
First up, the Gardens by the Bay. According to the single manual included in the set, the Gardens by the Bay captures the essence of Singapore - this is a "premier tropical garden." The second build is the Cavenagh Bridge - the oldest bridge in Singapore (built in 1868). The third and final build in the set is the Changi Airport, which the manual says is the sixth busiest airport in the world today.
Interestingly, LEGO structured the set to be as inclusive as possible to builders of all skill levels. Each of the three landmarks (you can only build one landmark at a time) comes with three levels of difficulty. I think that's a neat touch and certainly fitting for the LEGO Education label.
The set comes with a single sticker for Singapore's 50th anniversary of its independence. The box also contains a pair of plain minifigures (one boy and one girl), both of which are nice inclusions since this is not a minifigure scale set!
I consider myself an "expert" builder, so I'm going to jump straight through to the level 3 build (suggested age 17+ according to LEGO).
First up, the Gardens by the Bay.
The Gardens by the Bay looks like an amazing structure, now that I've read up on it a little bit. The large structures you see in the above photograph are actually vertical gardens. Super cool! The LEGO version of the Gardens by the Bay is, admittedly, a bit lackluster.
In fact, I'd say that the LEGO model looks rather industrial with just a dash of vegetation, rather than the actual site which is basically vegetation with just a dash of buildings! I do like that SG 50 sticker though - it makes for a nice addition on the display piece.
As I mentioned earlier, the box contains the pieces needed for three different landmarks, but you can only build one at a time from a given box. This does mean that there are a lot of unused pieces for each model, in the case of the Gardens by the Bay the extras in the box looks like this:
Next up, the Cavenagh Bridge.
Based on the box front, I felt like the Cavenagh Bridge model was the one that was of most interest to me. I'll make my final determination after I build all three models, but I can say for certainty that the bridge model is more interesting (and a better approximation of the real thing) than the Gardens by the Bay model.
I think the bridge is a much better scale model of its subject than the Gardens. I also like the little bits of blue "waves", it helps to complete the bridge look. Overall, I like this model quite a bit (then again, I'm a sucker for bridges and water anyhow so this model was sort of meant for a person like me).
In terms of unused pieces, there are quite a few but this model uses most of the "big" pieces other than the round ones which will be used in the final model of the set.
That final model is the Changi Airport.
The Changi airport is a busy place - and judging by the above photograph, it might easily be one of the prettiest airports that I have ever seen!
So how does the LEGO version compare?
Well, I guess it's alright though again LEGO definitely went with a minimalist approach to the model. Truth be told, while this looks vaguely like an airport (mostly thanks to the giant control tower), I don't see how this model represents the Changi airport any more than say JFK airport in the US.
I will say that this model felt like it used the most pieces (I didn't actually count) but here's a look at the "leftover" pieces.
Overall, this set definitely led up to its Education name in that I learned quite a bit while building the various models and writing this post.
The Bottom Line (out of 10):
Fun: 2
Play Value: 2
Kid Value: 8
Adult Value: 4
Overall: 6
This set was extremely tough to grade because of a couple of key points:
1) It was a giveaway set in Singapore (so value is off the charts strictly speaking). I chose to grade it was if this were a $25 LEGO architecture set (which is the closest "regular" lineup option I could think of).
2) The set is designed to be an educational tool more so than a toy. The two included minifigures mean that there is some play element but ultimately the minifigures can't be anything other than "King Kong" for the models (which I suppose could be fun in its own way). That said, it is kind of fun to be able to build three completely different models from the same kit.
In the end, I think the kit succeeds for what it is trying to do. It's educational - and the three different "skill levels" mean that kids of all ages could build their version of some famous Singapore landmarks. As previously mentioned, the set was a giveaway for school kids so I think it hit all the right notes (even if I found two of the three models to be fairly poor representations of their subject matter).
I would be remiss if I didn't note that there is an entire webpage that is designed to go along with this set (found here).
Another great big thanks to blog reader (and baseball card trader) Brett who sent me this set for my collection. It's definitely a unique set for me...and one that I'll be keeping in tact (I like to take apart a lot of my sets and build my own stuff, but not with this set)! I hope to have more LEGO related content on the blog soon, but for now let me know what you think of this set (and similar LEGO education sets that are out there).
The set comes with a single sticker for Singapore's 50th anniversary of its independence. The box also contains a pair of plain minifigures (one boy and one girl), both of which are nice inclusions since this is not a minifigure scale set!
I consider myself an "expert" builder, so I'm going to jump straight through to the level 3 build (suggested age 17+ according to LEGO).
First up, the Gardens by the Bay.
 |
| Image source: https://www.lokopoko.travel/product/singapore-attraction-ticket-gardens-by-the-bay/ |
The Gardens by the Bay looks like an amazing structure, now that I've read up on it a little bit. The large structures you see in the above photograph are actually vertical gardens. Super cool! The LEGO version of the Gardens by the Bay is, admittedly, a bit lackluster.
In fact, I'd say that the LEGO model looks rather industrial with just a dash of vegetation, rather than the actual site which is basically vegetation with just a dash of buildings! I do like that SG 50 sticker though - it makes for a nice addition on the display piece.
As I mentioned earlier, the box contains the pieces needed for three different landmarks, but you can only build one at a time from a given box. This does mean that there are a lot of unused pieces for each model, in the case of the Gardens by the Bay the extras in the box looks like this:
Next up, the Cavenagh Bridge.
 |
| Image source: http://www.buildingmysg.com/landmarks-from-the-set/cavenagh-bridge/ |
Based on the box front, I felt like the Cavenagh Bridge model was the one that was of most interest to me. I'll make my final determination after I build all three models, but I can say for certainty that the bridge model is more interesting (and a better approximation of the real thing) than the Gardens by the Bay model.
I think the bridge is a much better scale model of its subject than the Gardens. I also like the little bits of blue "waves", it helps to complete the bridge look. Overall, I like this model quite a bit (then again, I'm a sucker for bridges and water anyhow so this model was sort of meant for a person like me).
In terms of unused pieces, there are quite a few but this model uses most of the "big" pieces other than the round ones which will be used in the final model of the set.
That final model is the Changi Airport.
 |
| Image source: http://www.visitsingapore.com/travel-guide-tips/travelling-to-singapore/changi-airport-singapore/ |
The Changi airport is a busy place - and judging by the above photograph, it might easily be one of the prettiest airports that I have ever seen!
So how does the LEGO version compare?
Well, I guess it's alright though again LEGO definitely went with a minimalist approach to the model. Truth be told, while this looks vaguely like an airport (mostly thanks to the giant control tower), I don't see how this model represents the Changi airport any more than say JFK airport in the US.
I will say that this model felt like it used the most pieces (I didn't actually count) but here's a look at the "leftover" pieces.
Overall, this set definitely led up to its Education name in that I learned quite a bit while building the various models and writing this post.
The Bottom Line (out of 10):
Fun: 2
Play Value: 2
Kid Value: 8
Adult Value: 4
Overall: 6
This set was extremely tough to grade because of a couple of key points:
1) It was a giveaway set in Singapore (so value is off the charts strictly speaking). I chose to grade it was if this were a $25 LEGO architecture set (which is the closest "regular" lineup option I could think of).
2) The set is designed to be an educational tool more so than a toy. The two included minifigures mean that there is some play element but ultimately the minifigures can't be anything other than "King Kong" for the models (which I suppose could be fun in its own way). That said, it is kind of fun to be able to build three completely different models from the same kit.
In the end, I think the kit succeeds for what it is trying to do. It's educational - and the three different "skill levels" mean that kids of all ages could build their version of some famous Singapore landmarks. As previously mentioned, the set was a giveaway for school kids so I think it hit all the right notes (even if I found two of the three models to be fairly poor representations of their subject matter).
I would be remiss if I didn't note that there is an entire webpage that is designed to go along with this set (found here).
Another great big thanks to blog reader (and baseball card trader) Brett who sent me this set for my collection. It's definitely a unique set for me...and one that I'll be keeping in tact (I like to take apart a lot of my sets and build my own stuff, but not with this set)! I hope to have more LEGO related content on the blog soon, but for now let me know what you think of this set (and similar LEGO education sets that are out there).
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