My Lego London Bus collection now stands at four…it’s just like I dreamed it!
double-decker bus
Lego London Bus
For almost a year, I have been anxiously anticipating the release of the Lego London Bus, so it’s no surprise that I was at our local Lego store when they opened Monday morning, for the early VIP sale. I couldn’t wait to get started with section one of four!
And then my building came to a screeching halt. Steps 1-12 were missing from my instruction book. It took every ounce of patience I had to wait for Lego to get back to me and eventually e-mail me a PDF of the instructions so I could get started!
They were very responsive, and today I got started. It didn’t take long to complete those first twelve steps, but I don’t think I would have been able to figure it out without the step-by-step instructions!
I love Lego instruction books. There’s always something new. I don’t think I’ve seen this tip before, but it was helpful since there were some very similar bricks in the set!
It didn’t take too long to complete the entire first section, which included the first of many stickers, and great details like the driver’s seat, a few passenger seats, and even a fire extinguisher…safety is important, even when dealing with Lego!
On to section two:
This part of the build was very interesting. All of the lower-level seats were installed, and I also added a used ticket box and umbrella holder. The bonnet even opens, and there’s a brick-built engine inside!
The set comes with two sets of vehicle registration plates, one retro and one modern. While I went with the yellow and white retro plates, here’s a look at the more modern black and white version:
The third section of the build included many of the same pieces as the second section:
And this was probably the most tedious part of the build. I had to make another set of passenger seats, for the upper deck of the bus, and it seemed like I would never be done with all of them!
But I did finish eventually, and was able to move on to the last section of the build:
The final step included the completion of the upper deck and the top of the bus, as well as some other external details. I love the banners on the sides of the bus. There are again both retro and modern options, and this time, I have one set of each on display!
The top is even removable, for those rare, sunny London days!
There are tons of tiny details inside, including both a newspaper and soda can that have been left behind, a piece of “gum” under one of the seats, and even stickers that give the appearance of the seats being slightly worn!
It’s just a beautiful set!
We have quite a few Lego London landmarks now…it’s hard to imagine what they might come up with next, but I hope they keep going with the London line!
Lego Big Ben–Night Five
Tonight we finished Lego Big Ben!
We started with section six:
Have I mentioned how much I love the instruction book? Like the Lego Architecture series, Â in addition to directions for building, this book contains information about the landmark being built, and I learned a few things along the way!
We’ll just call section six “The Addition of Fancies.” I especially love the tree out front!
Looking good, and even without the clock, it’s totally recognizable!
We weren’t done, though. On to section seven!
We built the clock face:
And “Big Ben,” the largest of the five bells in the tower:
And then we put them together:
And added the top of the tower:
And Queen Elizabeth Tower, housing Big Ben, as well as part of the Palace of Westminster, was complete!
Now we have big Big Ben, and baby Big Ben…I love how the Lego Architecture set looks against the bigger landmark:
And they may not be to scale, but the double-decker bus I built last year looks great with the new set!
Next up is the upcoming larger scale London bus, which I hope to build later this month. We’ll have all the big Lego London landmarks, then…I can’t help but wonder if there’s anything left that they want to build!
A Trio of Double-Decker Buses
I didn’t realize it until Ryan pointed it out to me, but I appear to be collecting Lego double-decker buses:
The first one I got came with the Tower Bridge as a kind of micro build, and I thought it was tiny…but I was still impressed by the amount of detail in it, and how immediately identifiable it was. Of course, I didn’t know tiny until I built the even smaller bus that came with Buckingham Palace! And yet, despite the fact that it uses only seven bricks, it’s still also identifiable! My largest bus came as a free-with-purchase, and while it completely dwarfs the other two, it’s still nowhere near minifig scale.
They look pretty cute together!
Now that I have these three displayed in various places around the house, I have to hope that someday, Lego will offer a dedicated double-decker bus set. Maybe minifig scale, or even bigger? But not too much bigger, because there’s no way I’d ever be able to afford a bus set built on the same scale as the Mini Cooper and the VW Beetle that Lego has offered in recent years!
I Think Lego is Trying to Tell Me Something
This month’s Lego “Gift with Purchase” was a London double-decker bus, which of course I had to have. I am decorating our house in London landmarks as designed by Lego, after all! I was not expecting this “Now’s the Time to Visit!” sticker to come with it, however, and I can only assume Lego is trying to tell me something…and I would be only too happy to comply, if only London wasn’t so far away!
