Parisian Restaurant (10243) - We have staff!

Slowly but surely, the restaurant is starting to take shape. Last night, we introduced the restaurant staff .... or at least just the first 2 hires. For such a high-class establishment, I hope that there will be more people manning their stations.

The first addition was our venerable Chef Albert himself. Having acquired all the tools he needs (he has hung these on the wall of the kitchen behind his carving station), he is diligently at work carving a massive turkey that looks like it is bigger than he is!

Also, the mystery of the random cheese box that I mentioned yesterday was solved last night. It's actually the bottom of a fridge! We finished building the fridge and also added a top shelf to it, holding a bottle of milk and a carton of cream.

Our second staffing addition was of our trusty head waiter Pierre. Here he is bringing a bottle of Dom Perignon to the happy couple.

We started putting together the walls of the building, fleshing it out and having it look more like a restaurant. The first floor flight of external stairs also went in.

Parisian Restaurant (10243) - First Customers!

Tonight, we started getting some customers in the restaurant. Realistically speaking, this is a little odd seeing as how the rest of the restaurant has not been built yet but what the heck, this is Legoland, not real life!

At a private table in the main dining room, we see someone proposing to his sweetheart (with what looks more like a wrist band than a ring).

It looks like someone couldn't finish their croissant and has left it on the table outside. What a waste!! The waiter hasn't had a chance to come and clean it up yet. The shrubbery on the terrace has been augmented with some potted flowers - they look like yellow hibiscus.

And here is a shot of the entire set as it currently stands. The girl riding by on the scooter looks like she is eyeballing the croissant on the table and wondering if the couple inside would notice if she were to pop on over and just help herself to it. It doesn't look like it has been touched, after all!

Parisian Restaurant (10243) - Yay! FOOD!

We decided we would start off our 2018 Lego adventures with this set, since we are both enamored with food. Plus, this set looked really good :)

I, personally, have often eyeballed the various city creator sets that Lego has released and thought how neat it might be to build a small Lego city for display. Mom was more reticent but has so far agreed that she really likes the look of this set. As we have been building this set, I have been putting on youtube videos on the Ipad of other adult fans of Lego reviewing some of the other modular building sets. She has had a pretty positive response to them so this could be the start of another series of possible future additions to our collection.

This set actually belongs to my sister and her fiance. They bought it a few years ago as they are both big fans of Paris and of French fare. However, they haven't had a chance to build it and were gracious enough to allow us to be the first to build the set. So I guess, you can say, it's on loan to us.

Even from the very start of the build, it's clear that there is a lot of detail in this set and that they have done well capturing the essence of "French-ness" with the design and the colors they have chosen. Up first is the scooter, of course. This is the first set that we have seen with the scooter and are pretty impressed with it. It rolls very smoothly and balances quite well if you position the kickstand so it is just touching the table surface.

The detailing gets better from there. Below is a picture of the foundation for the set. Starting from the bottom left, you can see what will eventually be the street-side terrace for diners. The stones in this area have been carefully laid such that CHEZ is spelled out very discreetly. This is in homage to the name of the establishment, which is "Chez Albert", something which becomes much more obvious later on when the signs are hung.

Surrounding the terrace is an organic fence of greenery, giving diners some privacy from passersby while lending some freshness to the experience. Leading up to the front entrance is an elegant red, brick walkway.

The interior of the restaurant flooring is just as detailed as the outside. The main dining area has hardwood flooring in two shades. A darker wood to frame the dining room while the middle section is made of a lighter shade.

The kitchen tiling done in white and blue checkers is very reminiscent of what a classic french restaurant would have.

Here we see some of the detail that has gone into the kitchen area. To the left is what appears to be the pastry station, as there is a pie (with a whipped topping) and a couple of cupcakes cooling on the countertop. Buttressed into the corner of the kitchen is a large sink. Directly facing us seems to be the drying area for cleaned plates and glasses with a prep counter beside that. There seems to be a cheese container snugged into the right corner of the kitchen. And at the very bottom, you can just see the handle of a broom - gotta keep the kitchen clean! We wouldn't want the health inspectors to have any findings.

Here is the kitchen from a different angle and with the island installed. It looks like someone has been busy cooking and roasting away since we last visited. There is a large turkey cooling on the countertop and pot of something bubbling away on the range.

We move to take a look at the seating in our restaurant. It's a small and cozy restaurant, with only seating for 2 small tables for 2 in the main dining room and a few seats on the terrace outside. There is also a bench just outside the restaurant where a customer can enjoy a quick snack and coffee.

 

Nanoblock Violin - A New Experience

My sister got us this nanoblock set to try out. As the name suggests, the concept is very similar to that of Lego except that the pieces are much MUCH smaller (hence NANO).

The sets range in difficulty level from 1 (easiest) to 5. The Violin set was a 1 and had less than 100 pieces in it.

Putting this set together took a lot more concentration and deliberate action than Lego sets due to the much smaller scale of everything. The pieces were so small that you had to be really careful in how they were handled. And god forbid you dropped any of them!!

The instruction set was also tiny. It comprised one side of a single sheet of paper (probably about 8" x8" large). Multiple steps were squeezed into a single diagram and the printing itself was of nano dimensions. All in all, it made for a pretty tough time deciphering what had to be done. That being said, since it was a small set, it only took us a little over an hour to complete it.

The final set is not as sturdy as most Lego sets. Additionally, the bow has no method of securing it to the baseplate and simply leans against the violin, making it extremely easy to dislodge.

The level of detail of the set is ok but nothing extraordinary. One of the nanoblock's mottos is that the smaller the pieces, the more detailed the set. However, that only works if the set itself hasn't shrunk comparably in size. If both the set and the pieces are smaller, nothing has been accomplished other than to shrink the scale of the final model.

All in all, it wasn't a terrible set but I think we will be sticking to Lego from now on.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Hard to believe but another Christmas has gone by and we are into 2018!

As you may recall, it was Christmas of 2017 and the receipt of the Ferris Wheel set that got us started on this blog and our new Lego adventures. Christmas of 2018 proved no less of season for Lego giving and receiving as mom and I got a verifiable haul of sets this year.

Among all of our treasured gifts, we received:

Ninjago City













Ninjago's Destiny's Bounty


Ninjago's Temple of Airjitzu



Parisian Restaurant



Nanoblock Violin




With the number of  Ninjitsu sets that we got, I think we may have to watch the movie in order to understand the characters and the sets!

I think the Christmas haul will last us well into the New Year. It's looking like a very good Lego year coming up!!

Slave I (75060) - Final Thoughts

We finished up Slave I sometime at the end of October, if memory serves. Overall, it was a pretty fun build. There were definitely a lot of unique colors and pieces used (which pleased mom to no end). There were a few areas that I wish were secured more rigidly to the vessel - one that comes to mind are the bumpers along the front edges of the ship. These are held on with only a few studs and tended to come off when bumped or nudged trying to pick up the ship or hold it when placing other pieces. Luckily, they were as easy to re-attach as they were to dislodge.

The ship has a lot of detail - likely due to the fact that it really is a set where all angles are visible in display/flight position. As you can see, the belly of the craft has a significant amount of detailing, representative of the complexity of the thrusters on Slave I.

The vessel - not surprisingly - has an array of weapons that Boba Fett can engage with the flip of a switch or the toggle of a lever. Missile and rocket pods are typically hidden flush with the body of Slave I but pop out to engage targets as required. There is an additional set of laser cannons at the bottom end of the vessel that is not visible in this picture.

The set comes with 3 mini-figures. Boba Fett (who is in the cockpit and thus not visible) as well as a stormtrooper and a Cloud City trooper. As with all UCS sets, it also has a descriptive placard that provides the details and specifications of the ship.

 Overall, this is a very nice rendition of a classic vessel from Star Wars. There were some areas that were challenging to build - always a nice way to exercise both finger and mind dexterity. Mom was definitely a fan of the different colors and textures of the ship as well as the very unique shape of it. She calls it the "turkey drumstick".

Slave I (75060) - We aren't dead ...

So I have been terribly remiss in updating our blog. Things just happened, life came along and updating just kind of fell by the wayside.

We did, however, manage to finish off Slave I, so here are a few pictures of the latter stages of the build. Here we've got the bottom hull all finished and have started on the lift mechanism for frozen Han Solo. The wings are also both on.

In this next series of shots, we have completed the cockpit area which seems like a very comprehensive command center for Boba Fett. His entire flight console and seat pivots so that he is always facing the action, whether the ship is in its docked position, flight position or somewhere in between. Surrounding him on both sides are blasters attached to holders in the wall so that is never more than arm's reach from a weapon.

Here we have started on the mechanical pods to the sides of the cockpit area that house the motors and other components that power the vessel.