Set Review - #10321-1: Corvette - LEGO Icon

The LEGO Icons line has been kicking out some classic cars pretty regularly at a similar scale and 2023 was no exception with #10321-1: Corvette. This is the classic 1961 version according to the instructions. This set was released on 1 August 2023 and retails for $149.99 in the US. With 1,210 pieces, it works out to $0.124 per piece which is pretty steep. There are a lot of larger pieces and some non-standard ones so I’m sure that added to the cost. I grabbed this one before Christmas from LEGO when they were offering 3X Insider Points so it was a slightly better deal. Still, look for opportunities to grab this one at a discount or with something better than just the standard high price.

The box showed up in a cardboard box designed for the set which was slightly damaged during shipping. The front shows the set with the Corvette logo, Chevrolet logo, Icons logo, and 18+ greebling. The back gives some additional shots of the vehicle and a schematic with dimensions.

The box contains nine individually numbered parts bags, a bag with the wheels, and then I got two of the new paper bags with the two windshields in them. The instructions come in a paperboard envelope for protection.

The instruction book has a few details about the vehicle and the set in the front before launching into the build. Sadly, this set comes with stickers. Thankfully, they’re all pretty small and add some decent detail to the set overall.

Bags one and two start with the chassis of the vehicle. There are a lot of Technic beams and pins that get connected together before you start to attach pieces that will contain the outer mold line of the vehicle.

Bag three gets some of the trunk built along with a bit of the front.

Bag four adds more of the trunk space along with some of the curves. When I started this build, we had a few days of nice weather before the cold spell that hit the US and I brought a table to build outside while my kiddos played with friends. A neighbor who walked by saw the box and said “That’s LEGO? Wow!” I agree. It’s not the blocky, rectangular sets we’re used to. There are a lot of curves to make this a smooth vehicle. The question I have is whether it’s too far. While I think the vehicle looks sleek, have we gotten too far away from the LEGO concept where we are not making whatever parts we need to get the shapes we desire? I’m not sure there is a wrong answer here. It’s really up to the fan base.

Back to bag four… you add stickers to the license plates. You get three so pick what you like. Also, the bumper includes some gray banana pieces which is a fun detail.

Bag five adds some details to the front of the car to include the mechanism for the steering column. It’s pretty similar to past vehicles, but that’s okay. I don’t buy Icons sets for functionality. It’s more of an added bonus. If you want functionality, go for Technic sets.

Bag six builds the sides of the front of the car to include the wheel wells. You also add in the bumper which includes more gray banana pieces.

The seventh bag adds in headlights using a piece that I haven’t seen used before. Maybe it’s new? You also add the curvature to the top of the car over the wheels in the front. You add in some tiles which are printed to get the racing stripe look. This bag also adds in both doors. They are built in a similar way only mirrored. You use some interesting techniques to build them, but there are more pieces which seem a bit specialized so you be the judge here.

The eighth bag adds the front hood and trunk in the back. The hood in the front opens from the back up versus the front. The fit didn’t seem quite right to me and I’m not sure if I did it wrong or that’s just how it’s intended. Also, the hood piece doesn’t stay onto the assembly that connects to the front of the car real well as you open/close it. The hood has some larger curved tile like pieces… again, helps the model look great, but seem to be rather specialized. I forgot to get a picture here, but you’ll see the engine parts next. You build an engine with this bag. The trunk is added as well. There is a small Technic piece that is loose that seemed out of place that you added in earlier. This piece is used to help you open the truck as it is hard to do otherwise. A smart move and it doesn’t really stand out so I appreciate the effort. There is a sticker on the trunk and I think I centered it okay.

I also failed to take pictures of the seats, but they get added here too.

Here’s the final build with a few picture of the final vehicle. Bag nine adds in the windshields, roof, an antenna, and the steering wheel. Overall, it’s a sleek looking build. I’ve already complained enough about the specialized parts. I enjoyed the build, but wasn’t so sure about all the parts. Also this car is a bit overpriced considering the piece count. The 3X Insider Points along with GWPs helped encourage me to grab this one, but I wouldn’t buy it without multiple promotions.

What are your thoughts on this one? Could have been better? Just right? Awesome?

Happy building!

Set Review - #10304-1: Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 - Icons

While some of the previous cars in the Creator Expert line turned Icons line seemed to have a lot of excitement, the Camaro seems to have been released and then it went quiet. I haven’t seen much about this one since it was released in the US on 26 July 2022. Part of the reason might be the pricing on this one. It retails for $169.99 in the US and contains 1,456 pieces. This works out to $0.117 per piece, which is a bit high. I took advantage of the Black Friday sale to spend 100 VIP points to get $30 off so I got it for $139.99 which brought it down to $0.096 per piece. I also grabbed a few GWPs so maybe that helped. Still it seems a bit pricy for an Icons set. I suspect that if LEGO put a discount on it this soon that it might not be selling real well. That’s just a guess on my part though.

The box shows the final set on the front with some brick red colored greebling on the bottom. It also has the Chevrolet logo. The back shows a picture of the actual vehicle and some of the customization options you can use when assembling the vehicle.

This set comes with eight numbered parts bags, a sticker sheet, and the instruction book. The instructions have some information about the vehicle and its history, information on the design team, and little tidbits about the set as you go through the build.

There aren’t a ton of stickers, but still, I’d prefer to not see stickers in an 18+ set.

The first bag assembles the bottom of the vehicle. I didn’t show the bottom in the picture, but it has a Technic base that you build upon which helps to keep it sturdy.

The second bag adds in more of the insides, some of the steering column, and the center console with the 1x1 printed tile with the number 5 on it for a nickel I guess.

The third bag adds some of the front bumper, the front axle attached to the steering column, and adds a few details to the engine area.

The fourth bag adds the doors. They swing open and closed pretty well. The mechanism to do it sticks into the seating area slightly and wouldn’t be ideal for actual passengers. The doors fit in pretty smoothly with the vehicle and there aren’t massive gaps which is good.

The fifth bag adds some detail to the engine area. I don’t know what an actual one looks like, but I guess it is realistic. You add in some larger pieces on each side of the engine which work well, but are on the verge of being BURP type pieces.

The sixth build adds in the front and back bumpers. This is where you can start to customize the build. I decided to go with the brick red stripe, but you have pieces to build each of the options shown (but only one option at a time). The instructions let you know you have options at first, but then you had to pay attention at a few steps to make sure you were doing the right version for the option you picked.

I think the designers did a good job capturing the angles for the bumpers. There are some small gaps, but overall it looks pretty good.

The back of the vehicle has some large ax pieces as one of the structures. I’m not sure what the specific detail is called nor do I know what set the huge ax piece is from, but I like the use of the piece and I think it fits there perfectly on either side of the license plate. You get two options for license plates. One is California and the other is Michigan. No options for Germany or outside the US like the Mustang or Porsche. Maybe that’s because this vehicle was only available in the US back when it was released by Chevrolet. I don’t know.

The seventh bag builds the front hood. No issues with the design here. It doesn’t open up very high due to the windshield, but it’s not a major limitation. You also build the bench seat in the back and the two seats in the front. I like the red stripe on the hood with the red seats. The steering wheel is a bit bigger than some of the previous vehicles. I’m not sure if it’s to scale or not, but it works okay for me.

Bag eight wraps up the set with the trunk, the rear window, and the roof (assuming you decide to build the set that way. My set didn’t have scratches on either of the windscreens. I’ve heard of a few folks complaining about this recently, but I haven’t seen it on any of the sets I’ve purchased with larger windows.

The hub caps are silver and you add another silver piece on top versus a Technic piece like you do with the Mustang and Porsche. I think this makes it look a bit more classy than the other two vehicles.

Overall, I enjoyed the build. It’s not super detailed, but I think there is enough detail considering the scale of the vehicle. I like that you have options for assembling the car and you can change it up as you want. As for downsides, the price obviously isn’t the best and when looking at the previous two vehicles, it does have some similarities which make you feel like you’re building the same car again. Unless you are a big fan of classic vehicles, I wouldn’t rush out to grab this one right away. Wait for a sale, double VIP points, a GWP, and/or some other bonus.

I still have #10295-1: Porsche 911 and #10265-1: Ford Mustang assembled and on display. They all look about the same size for length and width.

Here you can see the Technic piece that you put on the rim of the Mustang (left) which is the same for the Porsche versus the different piece of the Camaro. The Camaro also looks a little sleeker than the Mustang from that angle.

You can also see the wheels are different The Mustang (right) has thicker wheels which is the same as the Porsche (not pictured). The Camaro’s wheels are thinner. I have no idea if that is to scale or not. You can also notice the bottom of each vehicle, the lack of details (not surprising considering the scale), and the similar axles. The Mustang’s customization was related to making the car more of a hot rod versus changing color, which was okay with me.

Feel free to share your thoughts on the different vehicles in the comments below or send me a note at store@bricksforbricks.com. I’m curious to hear what you all think.

The Making of a Large LEGO® Model

Normally the LEGO fan sites are all over everything that gets posted well before I get to them, but every once in a while I see something that others don’t catch for some reason or don’t deem worth posting. The Detroit Auto Show was 14-27 January 2019 and LEGO worked with Chevrolet to built a LEGO version of the Chevy Silverado. They unveiled it on 19 January and a few days back they released this video describing the build process. This video goes through the LEGO build process to include the software used and how it was built. It also talks about how the metal structure was made as well as how they coat the build with protective materials. It’s definitely worth the watch if you have a few minutes.