Review : LEGO Modular Buildings Collection 10278 Police Station

Today we are quickly interested in the set 10278 Police Station, Structure expected from January 1, 2021 in the new range soberly titled LEGO Modular Buildings Collection.

You have had plenty of time and the elements to get a very precise idea of ​​the contents of this box with the official announcement which took place a few days ago, so I will content myself with giving you as usual some very personal information about this new set which will be available at the public price of 179.99 €.

This large box of 2923 pieces allows you to assemble a new 37 cm high block including the antennas placed on the roof, to be aligned with the other references of the range and in the center of which is the police station of Modular City. On each side of the building, two narrow constructions with a donut merchant on the left and a newsstand on the right.

If the first floor of the building on the left is an apartment not connected to the premises of the police station, the right part is indeed an extension of the main building, up to the roof with an attic room which serves as the evidence room.

No surprise, the construction floor is a 32x32 gray base plate on which we assemble the sidewalk portion and the base of the main structure. As you know from the product announcement, the common thread of the set is the hunt for the donut thief and we assemble from the first bags the hole under the police station that will allow the thief to escape. We won't really play the escape sequence, but it's a nice detail that helps to create a little context around the product.

As for all the others Modulars of the range, we alternate here between sequences of stacking walls and construction of furniture or decorative elements. The assembly process is extremely well thought out and you never get bored. Designer Chris McVeigh is in charge and this specialist in micro-furniture and other accessories is also having a great time: I am not used to marveling at a bed or a table. but it must be recognized that the different elements which fill the rooms of the police station and adjoining spaces are very well designed.

Those who invest their money in the products of this range are generally demanding on the techniques of construction and on the misuse of certain parts. They shouldn't be disappointed here, the photos speak for themselves. We stay in the tradition of sets which offer sub-assemblies about which we sometimes wonder where the designer is going before realizing that the solution used is perfectly suited to the desired result. I am not a MOCeur and although I will not remember much of these creative techniques, I had a great time assembling the contents of this box.

The police station is crossed by a rather well thought out staircase, it is composed of crenellated bricks 3x3 and 4x4 and the technique used here saves a few tenons and others tiles and to avoid having a staircase too thick and intrusive. No tiling on the floors in the upper floors and that's a bit of a shame.

As often with the Modulars, the interior spaces are cramped and the designer takes care to impose on us the addition of the furniture before mounting the walls. The impression of dealing with a dollhouse that is difficult to reach is therefore a little attenuated even if it will be difficult to return to move something later without going with your fingertips. As I often say, the collector of Modulars laughs a little at the playability of the product and is happy to know that the furniture is just fine there, inside the build.

The usual toilet gimmick is once again present in this box, and in two copies: a toilet in the cell, another in the police station. Among the technical solutions that will make you smile, we will notably note the addition of the toilet paper roll in the toilet on the first floor via the right column of the facade. The roof cornice is particularly successful with the use of the part used this year for the head of the wolf in the LEGO Minecraft set 21162 The Taiga Adventure, installed here in several copies and which allows to deport the upper plate with a nice effect.

The rear of the construction is as usual more basic than the facade, but the whole remains coherent and realistic. The few windows, the door and the ladders are enough in my opinion to furnish so as not to have the impression that the back side is sloppy, although it may be regretted that the construction is not deeper and uses a few rows of additional tenons.

The whole can easily be transformed into an ordinary building, town hall or even a bank if you do not really want to have a police station in your street. With a second box, the simple replacement of the bricks Medium Lavender et Sand green, that is to say a little more than 250 pieces, which constitute the walls of the two adjoining mini-buildings will also make it possible to create an additional block to stick to a first copy of the set by varying the colors of the facades.

If there was a flaw in this product to be underlined, it would once again be the differences in color at the level of the sides of the construction. Shades Medium Lavender et Sand green are not completely uniform. With a little bad faith, we could console ourselves by saying that the effect is very appropriate here but the fact remains that it is a technical fault which is not really worthy of the first manufacturer of toys to the world.

No stickers in this box, everything is pad printed until the large poster in two pieces which dresses the side of the building and which undoubtedly refers vaguely to the laundromat seen in the set 10251 Brick Bank. Fans of pad-printed pieces to reuse will have at their disposal a few new pieces here, including two telephone dials, a typewriter keyboard, two large donuts and the tile bearing the inscription "Police".

The minifig endowment is correct, it sticks to the pitch of the set with three policemen, the donut thief and the saleswoman who reuses the torso already seen on other sellers and in the Monkie Kid range.

The torso used by the two police officers is new, that of the chief of police is borrowed from the LEGO CITY set 60246 Police Station marketed this year. The two caps are elements regularly available in the CITY range since 2014 and the thief does not make originality, he reuses the torso of Jack Davids, the young ghost hunter from the Hidden Side range.

In short, it is generally not necessary to try to convince those who collect the Modulars invest in the annual version and it will be difficult to motivate those who remain indifferent in front of these buildings to line up on a shelf. I can only tell you that the 2021 vintage should not disappoint the most demanding of fans: I have never been very impressed with this range but I have to admit that the few hours spent putting this set together have been very entertaining. The result would suit me well for a Gotham City police station by adding a Bat-signal on the roof.

Note: The set presented here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at December 25, 2020 next at 23pm. "The" I try, I participate "are automatically deleted, make an effort.

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.