Temple of Airjitzu (70751) - Back From A Long Hiatus, Putting On A Shadow Play

Yes, we are finally back!! Hard to believe the last time we touched a Lego brick was back in October of 2018! What can I say? We've had a busy couple months and got hooked on other forms of entertainment. But we finally got back into the groove and made some good progress.

Last time, we finished off the blacksmith shop, which is the 2nd of the two ancillary buildings. With those complete, we now move to the main structure - the temple itself.

The lower level of the Temple is really something to be admired from the outside only. I say this because the internals are made up almost entirely of the gear-work required for the Japanese Shadow Play production. You can see the rotating table set-up below with the micro-figurines in the center. At the bottom of the picture, you can also see the handle which turns the table. Pushing on the handle assembly while turning it also activates the light-brick, casting an orange glow that is then viewed through the semi-transparent glass to the left, thus creating the Shadow Play.

This is a view of the seating area in front of the shadow screen where viewers would congregate to enjoy the show.

And here is the same view, except experienced during the Shadow Play itself. You can see the light-brick activated towards the back of the structure, acting as a projector and casting light onto the figures on the turn-table. This, of course, then generates the shadows that are viewed on the screen. It looks like this portion of the play consists of a snake trying to sneak up on a hapless couple. I wonder what happens next???

And hear we have a shot of the back end of the Shadow Play - there are 2 circular sets of stairs leading to the 2nd level of the Temple. There is also a large plinth which will presumable be used to display a large statue. Interestingly, the entire plinth sits on a rotating base - something I have never seen in real life - in order to display the future status from different angles.

Temple of Airjitzu (70751) - Finishing off the Blacksmith Shop

This past weekend, we finished off the blacksmith shop, putting the roof and the vegetation in place.

We've got the same dried out stalks sitting at the edge of the water but at least we have some trees near this building which gives it some great contrasting color as well as shapes. I really like the curved tree trunks.

From the rear, you can see the chimney that leads from the forge all the way up through the ceiling of the upper level. The upper level seems just to be an empty storage area, although how one would access it is beyond me as there are no stairs. Then again, everything living here is a ninja so they probably just scale the trees and jump through the windows.

 It looks like the trees have dropped some flowers or buds onto the roof of the smithy.

Something I really like about the smithy is the way the roof comes apart. In addition to being able to remove the second level entirely, the roof was also designed in a clamshell manner so that it could easily be opened up for placement of minifigs and other props. The "claws" on each half of the roof are offset in order to form interlocked shingles when both sides are closed.

Temple of Airjitzu (70751) - Starting on the Blacksmith Shop

With the market building complete, we move onto the second building, which is a blacksmith. I mean, what else would a community of ninjas need besides food? Weapons, of course!

 The smithy has everything you would expect - a large anvil, a bucket of water for cooling, a bin full of tools and a mug of refreshment for the smith.

In this view, you can see the other side of the shop, which includes a work area with lamp in the far corner, presumable for doing more detailed work like inscriptions. Nearer to us is the forge, complete with a roaring fire.

Here is a better look at the forge. Is is vented by a large chimney that extends up through the ceiling.

The outside of the smithy is quite plain, with only a hanging sign giving any signal of what lays within (assuming of course that the pounding of metal didn't give it away).

Again, you can see the stepping stones that lead away from the shop, presumably to a bridge that joins the smithy to the market place.

Temple of Airjitzu (70751) - Finishing off the Marketplace

It's been quite a while since I updated here - not because we haven't been diligently working on the set but because I just haven't gotten around to doing the updates.

We did finish off the marketplace building a couple weeks ago. True to Ninjago fashion, there were weapons hidden in obscure places. In this case, two chests full of shurikens and swords were hidden in the archway above the main entrance to the market.

You can see how they were skillfully hidden in the architecture to appear like part of the structural design.

If you didn't know to look for them there, you would hardly notice them at all.

The roof of the marketplace is again very typical Ninjago, with the slotted roll up theme. Definitely a favorite or ours as it evokes a very Asian (specifically Japanese) feel to the set. Adding to this are the ornamental gongs that hang from the roof peaks.

I think the fishing poles are a nice touch to the scene, though I have to admit that I have never heard of crabbing with a fishing pole. Must be an ancient ninja secret technique! The stepping stones (which I think lead to a bridge) also add some realism to the scene, as do the two small statues that frame the store entrance.

I am not a huge fan of the vegetation by this building. Given that it is situation on the shore, I should think that the soil is quite wet, meaning dense shrubbery or at least some cat tails. The vegetation provided looks more at home in a desert - there are no flower, no leaves, just a couple of dried out looking stalks.

There are a couple more weapons that have been skillfully worked into the architectural design. You'll notice that it is actually a pair of naginata being used as the poles to hold up the lanterns and the store signs.

Temple of Airjitzu (70751) - Our Next Project!

This is always the most exciting part of starting a new build - the UNVEILING!

Next up, we return to our Ninjago sets, continuing on with the Temple of Airjitzu. This set is now retired and we were lucky enough to pick it up right before retirement at our local Lego store. It wasn't even on our radar as something we wanted to build but it caught our eye as we browsed around. It was the second last set in the store and was even on sale as it was close to retiring. Definitely a good buy!

From the box itself, you can tell that it continues with the high amounts of detail that we've come to love and expect from Ninjago series sets. There are a plethora of mini-figures (12 I believe) which is really spectacularly for a relatively small set like this one.

It didn't take long for our expectations to be met. We started off building one of the smaller buildings (the one on the right side of the temple) and immediately got a sense of the detail and the overarching Japanese theme of the set.

The building is clearly a marketplace. On one side of the shop are baskets of baked goods - a variety of baguettes in a large bread crate, a basket full of either cookies or mini-pies and another basket filled with bars of some type (maybe chocolate bars?).

 On the opposite wall is a crate of apples - both green and red - and a barrel of fish with a large sink where you can rinse off your fruit or clean your fish before heading home.

In true Asian fashion, the market also has live chickens that you can buy and take home for supper. YUM!

This all fits into a fairly compact area. The 2 anchoring studs right by the chickens leads me to believe that this building connects up to something else. What, exactly, remains to be revealed ...

 

Statue of Liberty (21042) - Final Thoughts

This set was a pretty big departure from the sets we normally tackle. We've never been much interested in doing any sort of architectural sets. However, it was a good experience to try it out and see what we've been missing (or not missing haha).

Overall, we were fairly impressed with how well the Statue of Liberty was captured - not easy to do considering how small scale the model is compared to the actual statue. One area that we would have liked more detail on was the face. In the model, it is simply a flat tile piece and I think so much more could have been done with that as the face is pretty central to any humanoid model.

The use of the mini-figure hairpiece for the torch was ingenious and a great way to avoid having to make a new piece while still capturing the flickering flame effect.

All-in-all, it was not a bad build. The base was pretty straight forward while the body of the statue proved to be more of a challenge and required some diligence to detail.

That being said, I don't think we will do another architecture series set. From what I've seen, the facades tend to be quite smooth and not really accentuating too much intricate detail (unlike something like Ninjago City for instance). However, if you are a fan of various famous landmarks and buildings, the architecture series could be your cup of tea.

We finish off this post with views of the set from all 4 angles.

Statue of Liberty (21042) - The Lady is Done!

We polished off the last bit of the statue and got her all ready for display! Given how small the scale is on this model, the final rendition is actually surprisingly detailed. The last "side" of the body went quite smoothly, maybe because mom had gotten used to the mounting of the pieces or maybe it just happened to be the easiest of the sides.

Here is the lady with the iconic tablet and torch (which is actually a blonde-gold hairpiece from a minifigure haha).