Review: 11503 Flower Wall
Posted by Huw,
If your house is anything like mine where every available horizontal surface is covered with vases and pots of brick-built flowers, you will no doubt appreciate 11503 Flower Wall, which provides another way to display them, mounted on a vertical surface, of which you probably have more.
Unusually, LEGO sent two of the set for us to review, but it turns out there's a good reason.
Summary
11503 Flower Wall, 879 pieces.
£79.99 / $89.99 / €89.99 | 9.1p / 10.2c / 10.2c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
More beautiful blooms to brighten up your boudoir or brick room
- Attractive blooms, especially the clematis
- Mutiple sets can be joined together
- Plenty of recoloured parts
- Excellent parts pack
- Two sets better than one
- Difficult to arrange the flowers 'freestyle' to fit them all in
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Recoloured parts
According to New Elementary's Instagram post, the set has 25 recoloured parts, making up 300 of the 879 in the set, including two in warm pink and two in blue violet, so it's an excellent parts pack.
The completed model
The flowers are mounted on a 'trellis' made from medium nougat Technic pieces and the relatively new 2l beam with cross axle, which be used to attach the individual flower stems.
Eight varieties of flower are provided, one of which comes in two different sizes. The highlight is definitely the beautiful blue violet clematis heads in the centre.
Camellia
The camellia comes in two sizes, two large and three smaller ones, both of which use radar dishes for the petals which, personally, I don't think look as good as the recently introduced pieces used elsewhere, but those that like their flowers made with existing pieces may think differently.
However, I do like the warm pink used for the outer petals of the larger one.
Ranunculus
Two shades of pink axe head make up the fine layers of delicate petals of this genus.
Mimosa
Really simple, but very effective.
Clematis
These are definitely the pick of the bunch, with the new petals in the new blue violet shade that was introduced this year. They are the only ones with large leaves attached to their stems.
Wolverine's claws have been pressed into service again, for the anthers and pistils.
Rose
These are cleverly constructed using eight 2x3x2 leaves angled inwards so their jagged edges interleave and face upwards to form realistic-looking petals.
Cornflower
These are constructed in much same way as those in 10342 Pretty Pink Flower Bouquet, but with an additional 'crown' in the middle.
Wax Flower
No, I've not heard of it either, but like the Mimosa, I admire its simple but effective design.
Hydrangea
This is a recolour of the purple version in 10345 Flower Arrangement, making use of butterflies for the petals.
Combining two sets
The instructions include diagrams showing how to combine two sets together, either in a square or 'L' shape, and brown 7l beams and pins are included to connect the two trellises together.
It does not show exactly how to attach the flowers, though, although inspirational photos are provided. It also suggests adding flowers and foliage from other bouquets.
So, with a double-sized blank canvas, you can have a go at arranging the flowers however you like, but I actually found it quite difficult to do, and couldn't squeeze them all back on.
Once heads have been attached to the new 1x2 beam with axle pieces, they can't be rotated and fine-tuned to make room for adjacent heads, which makes it tricky, and it's also difficult to fill small gaps without knocking petals off or out of alignment when trying to place another head in the space.
But, with perseverance, I came up with something half-decent and, of course, there is no right or wrong.
Here's an arrangement that my daughter Alice did. She could not fit all the camellias in, either.
Verdict
The main USP of the set is that it is designed to be mounted on a wall and, as I said earlier, that will be appreciated by those whose shelves are already overflowing with brick-built flowers.
The flowers themselves all look lovely, although I'm not as enamoured by the camellias with their radar dish petals as I am with the beautiful clematis flowers that showcase the new blue violet colour and new leaf piece wonderfully.
Two sets together definitely look better than one and, while it's a bit of a challenge to get all the flower heads attached to the trellis, you can have fun trying.
It's not the best, or best value, Botanicals set, and many of the flower designs have appeared before but, nevertheless, it's a very attractive one.
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15 comments on this article
I was on the fence, but then you sold me on 'hydrangea'. I do research with these plants, and I love that they are now buildable in Lego form!
So many butterflies!
This is definitely improved with the second copy but I can’t fathom prioritizing $180 of my LEGO budget here.
Additionally, while I often end up enjoying the display value of some of these type flowers, I honestly feel like I would be happiest in life never again having to perfectly align axe heads and swim fins around a wheel.
Those roses are fantastic, great usage of the fern piece.
@yellowcastle said:
"Additionally, while I often end up enjoying the display value of some of these type flowers, I honestly feel like I would be happiest in life never again having to perfectly align axe heads and swim fins around a wheel."
Yes it is a bit of PITA but they are organic objects so perfection and unifomity are not essential.
Already too expensive at $90 and now they wanna recommend you get 2 of them lol. Ridiculous.
@Huw said:
" @yellowcastle said:
"Additionally, while I often end up enjoying the display value of some of these type flowers, I honestly feel like I would be happiest in life never again having to perfectly align axe heads and swim fins around a wheel."
Yes it is a bit of PITA but they are organic objects so perfection and unifomity are not essential.
"
I’m just starting to wonder how much if at all I’ve loved these Botanicals builds. People complain about BDP builds being sketchy, I’ve been way more frustrated with Botanicals…
Oh I thought maybe they would sell a add on pack for this for just the frame so then you could take the other botanical sets you have in the collection and add your own from previous sets to the frame. I don't want to buy two copies of this set, and would prefer that I can add the others to it... It could be something akin to like a battle pack for $5 or $10 max.
@kkoster79 said:
"Oh I thought maybe they would sell a add on pack for this for just the frame so then you could take the other botanical sets you have in the collection and add your own from previous sets to the frame. I don't want to buy two copies of this set, and would prefer that I can add the others to it... It could be something akin to like a battle pack for $5 or $10 max."
Sadly, LEGO never sells what you want to buy, it sells what it wants you to buy.
I only know "USP" as the company that makes joist hangers. What does it mean in this context?
@crazylegoman said:
"I only know "USP" as the company that makes joist hangers. What does it mean in this context?"
Unique Selling Point.
@Daniel___Walsh said:
"Already too expensive at $90 and now they wanna recommend you get 2 of them lol. Ridiculous. "
The good part is, LEGO isn’t a subscription service. You don’t have to buy anything if you don’t want to.
I like it and I see from the box they also recommend combining 10342 like 10345 does. The gaps are annoying and it does seem a shame that there is a lack of instructions for arrangement. Still I will get at least one and see.
It is certainly attractively eye-catching, but is it at all unusual to see so many different types of flowers on the same trellis? Or is this meant to represent a cut flower arrangement as opposed to a true trellis supporting climbing plants? Either way, it still looks good.
These look really attractive. Looking forward to getting a couple in a few months, once they're around £50 to £55 each.