Set Review - Bricktober Fire Station 40182

Week three into Bricktober and more expensive, beautiful, tiny sets.  Last week I mentioned that my 6 year old daughter built the Pizza Palace herself.  In the same sitting I built the Fire Station.  I had built the cars for her so I challenged her to build the vehicles for me... from the box art only.  No instructions.  After some initial complaints, she concentrated and went at it.  She nailed it.

So while she started in, I went to work.  When I first opened the box I was greeted with a nice treat.  There were THREE bags instead of the normal two!  And the piece count was way better!  Here were 175 pieces plus 23 extras for darn near a 200 piece experience.  Lovely, lovely.


Of course, this set would have a precedent to meet.  Mini Modulars from 2012 contained the Fire Brigade which was a very nice build.  My only complaint would by the symmetry of it.  Boring.  But the techniques and final product were excellent.  Bricktober Fire Station would have some big shoes to fill.  We've already learned that the size is about 2/3 of the previous Mini Modulars and the part count is a bit less.

Immediately obvious from the box art is the fact that this build is NOT, in fact, symmetrical.  It has a nice 4 wide garage front protruding forward.  Rising up to the left and slightly behind is a 3x3 bell tower.  Very nice architectural massing.  Wait, didn't I say that with the Pizza Palace?  Well, here's another winner in that camp.

Again, the touches and details on the remaining four sides are not lacking.  There are windows all around and the bell tower is treated well too.  Behind the bell tower was a great opportunity to just lay a tile for the extra roof.  Instead, it got some slopes as if it were a real roof.  Very very nice.  I also like the roof of the bell tower.  This uses a rarely utilized technique of studs into bottom tubes.  Since the tower is 3x3, this is the perfect way to set a 2x2 pyramid slope on the very top.

But not all is perfect.  You may have immediately noticed that there is some sort of gigantic statue in front of the main door.  This is apparently a gargantuan fire hydrant.  I'm thinking this fire station belongs on Birdwell Island.  Although Clifford's use of it might just be the death of the rescue squad.  I reduced mine to 2 stacked round plates.

As for the vehicles, functionality is always cool.  The fire truck's ladder goes up and down and the helicopter's blades spin, thanks to a half pin inserted into the bottom side of a travis brick.

Next week, final installment of the (lagging behind) Bricktober minis!