Review: LEGO House 40501 The Wooden Duck

Today we are talking about the set again 40501 The Wooden Duck, an exclusive unveiled yesterday that will be sold only in the LEGO House store in Billund. You will have to pay the modest sum of 599 DKK, i.e. a little over 80 €, to afford this first box of a series of products from June 22, XNUMX that will pay tribute to the toys that have marked the history of the LEGO group. Those who do not wish to make the trip to Denmark will also have to reimburse the gasoline, hotel costs and pizza from the vendor who will provide them with the set on the secondary market.

I'm not going over the history of the wooden duck on wheels reproduced here using plastic bricks, there is enough to say about this toy which should also mark the history of the LEGO group in its own way. .

In terms of the fidelity of reproduction of the duck on wheels, it is successful, it would be bad faith to say the opposite. All the markers of the toy from the 30s are there and on this point the set achieves its goal. LEGO has taken the attention to detail to include the string that in the 30s allowed a young Dane to pull the duck.

Because this is a construction toy offered by the world leader in this field, LEGO does not forget to provide us with an almost fun little feature: The duckbill opens and closes when the base is in motion thanks to a Technic beam pushed by the axis of the front axle and which raises the upper part of the spout. Some people will see it as a somewhat superfluous function on a pure exhibition product, but as usual, we know it's there and it makes us happy even if we don't use it.

The assembly of the duck and its presentation base is quickly shipped, we stack, we fit, we clip and we admire. The interior of the animal is filled with colored pieces, an appreciable bias that breaks up the monotony of the assembly of the almost monochrome blocks that constitute the base, the feathers and the wings.

And this is where this set, which should be a high-end product to the glory of the manufacturer and its legendary know-how, goes down in history: The color differences on the assemblies based on dark red bricks (Dark Red) and green are obvious and quite disfigure this model with the aesthetic yet very successful. On each of these two shades, we even reach here three different levels, from the lightest to the darkest. Great art, the injection points too visible on the blue parts of the base become almost anecdotal (see first photo in the gallery above).

The official visuals published yesterday already suggested such deviations but the images had been retouched to minimize the effect. When you have the real model in front of you, it is impossible not to notice these flaws and it would take a hell of a dose of bad faith to forget to mention this detail or downplay it.

I see from here those who will try to convince others that it is not so serious by drawing their usual panoply of arguments of bad faith: "... there is nothing to make a drama of it, it is a technical limitation ...","... it's intended, it gives a vintage effect to the duck ..." or "... I can't see anything, everything seems normal to me ...".

No, this is a problem that LEGO confirms without providing a solution. The manufacturer takes refuge behind a "tolerance threshold" invented by him to kick in touch and send back to the ropes all those who complain. At the moment, it's also the turn of the buyers of the LEGO Technic set. 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 to pay the price for this tolerance threshold with a nice mix of green on the body of their € 380 car.

To display the duck with a slightly washed-out look, LEGO provides a display that mobilizes just over 70 pieces out of the 621 items provided in the box. The two plates specifying what it is about are pad printed, as are the eyes of the duck.

The instruction booklet is embellished with some texts in English telling the usual legend and praising the know-how of the brand. The text is in English and I doubt that it will one day be possible to download a French version of the booklet, this set being exclusive to the LEGO House.

In short, the idea of ​​offering a series of sets that pay tribute to the founder of the LEGO group and his first creations is excellent. But Ole Kirk Christiansen would probably be annoyed to see that his successors have still not managed 60 years later to standardize the color of certain rooms.

We all know here that many fans will buy this box to keep it in the back of a closet without ever opening it and the finishing flaws will not affect these collectors. On the other hand, those who want to exhibit this model to show their attachment to the brand and its origins will be a bit for their expense even if they can try to save face by explaining to their passing friends that "... the different shades of red and green give a real vintage patina to this LEGO duck ...". On a misunderstanding, the explanation will perhaps suffice.

Note: The set presented here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at June 30, 2020 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.