Review: LEGO 40478 Mini Disney Castle

Today we are quickly interested in the content of the LEGO set 40478 Mini Disney Castle, a small box of 567 pieces sold at the public price of 34.99 € on the official online store which will have no trouble becoming an end-of-year bestseller. With its compact format of 14 cm wide by 13 cm deep and 21 cm high, this mini reproduction of Cinderella's castle installed in the Walt Disney World park in Florida should indeed satisfy all those who are fans of the Disney universe. but who do not necessarily have the space, the budget or simply the desire to encumber themselves with the imposing castle of the set 71040 The Disney Castle. It should be noted that this box celebrates the 50 years of Walt Disney World Park, which explains the choice of the proposed castle.

The building experience will not take you very far, but the result is very satisfactory with a castle which is correctly "dressed" on all its sides. We could quibble about the finishes at the level of the castle walls with sub-assemblies that clip onto the skeleton arms between the towers. Some adjustments may seem a bit rough depending on your level of requirement. But this castle is not a model which is intended to be observed too closely and the whole has really allure, it almost only asks to be exposed under a pretty glass bell.

LEGO could have been content with classic colors, but the end result would not have been too sad. The manufacturer has, however, made the effort to integrate parts that give a little character to the construction with satin glass, opalescent discs and cones, a few pearly discs and a large handful of pieces in Pearl Gold including ski poles and binoculars. I'm not always a fan of the devious use of certain elements, but the crowbars, ski poles, and binoculars used here blend easily into the design of the product and don't strike me as off topic.

Rest assured those who are allergic to stickers, there are none in this box. There are only three pad-printed pieces: the clock above the entrance, the reproduction of the box of the set 71040 The Disney Castle already seen hidden under the roof of the station of the set 71044 Disney Train and Station and a small Tile pad printed with Cinderella's glass slippers. The latter is not unpublished, it was already delivered this year in the set 43192 Cinderella's Royal Carriage. Two of these three elements are to be installed in the bowels of the castle from the first bag, we will not see them again afterwards, just like the two black microfigs placed in the hall. As I often say: we know it's there, it's essential.

The Mickey minifig delivered in this box is new and for the moment exclusive. This new figure no longer has much to do with the one in the set 71040 The Disney Castle : no more buttons on the pants, the design of the torso changes, eyebrows appear on Mickey's face, the bow tie turns from yellow to red and the bottom of the frock coat embodied by a piece of fabric disappears. So much the better for collectors of variants who will have one more on hand here without having to spend several hundred euros. LEGO could have taken the effort a little further by stamping something on the character's back, which remains completely neutral. There is also a great deal of effort to be made on the alignment of the pad printing at the level of the feet and on the color of the jacket which turns gray on the black background of the torso.

This pretty castle microscale which will make a better gift under the tree than a tie or a pair of socks ultimately asks for only one thing: to be lit with a few LEDs. So I tried the integration of a very simple basic kit from the Light My Bricks brand, supplied by the Robot Advance brand which markets this line of lighting solutions for LEGO products. I assumed that it was not necessary to use a kit dedicated to this product and that the Starter Kit generic brand would suffice. The space available in the hall of the castle seemed to me to be ideal for concealing the excess cables and the few elements necessary for the installation of the lighting system.

In the box, a battery box that powers the LED circuit, 4 white LEDs equipped with a cable of about thirty centimeters, 2 LED strips that can be linked together and a hub that centralizes the connections. Two CR2032 button cells are required, they are not included.

We notice that the manufacturer tries to stand out from the competition by packaging its products in a really very successful way. Individual bags identified for the different elements, detailed documentation, additional parts to facilitate integration, stickers and large cardboard box with magnetic opening flap, everything is there and it is inevitably sexier than the much cheaper kits which do not exist. do not encumber so many frills.

In a few minutes, I was able to hide an LED strip under the ceiling of the hall, another at the foot of the central tower and then all I had to do was integrate the four LEDs into the top of the towers. The result seems rather convincing to me even if a few additional LEDs would have made it possible to equip all the towers of the castle. The individual LEDs and their cables do not prevent the cones of the towers from being put back in place even if it is necessary to force a little and leave a little space. Be careful not to crush the LED by pushing too hard.

The battery box is equipped with a simple ON / OFF button, I chose to leave it accessible outside the building, the castle is not really "modular" and access to the hall is impossible without dismantle the central tower and remove the few plates which serve as a ceiling. I specify that the kit was installed after assembling the entire model, if I was able to do it, you can do it.

I know that many fans hesitate to invest in these sometimes expensive lighting kits because the process of integrating the different elements is often laborious when it comes to working on an already assembled set. In this specific case, the intervention remains simple, it will not always be the case on much more complex models and the quality of the integration instructions provided by the different manufacturers varies. Light My Bricks has a pretty good reputation on this last point.

Le Starter Kit generic used here is sold 32.99 € at Robot Advance, you can limit the costs and get a 10% discount with the promo code CUP to enter in the basket before confirming the order. The brand offers many other kits specific to different sets, the prices fluctuate depending on the number of items supplied.

You probably did not wait for me to judge the interest of this box, I just hope I made you want to add some LEDs. For the rest, this set is obviously a good compromise between size / public price and finish, there is no reason not to buy at least one copy even if it is just to please a fan of the Disney universe. You won't let him down.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual brought into play accompanied by the supplied LED kit by Robot Advance. Deadline set at 25th October, 2021 next at 23pm. 

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.