Review: 21030 United States Capitol Building
Posted by Huw,
It has been a long nine months since the release of the first Architecture sets of 2016, the three city skylines and 21031 Burj Khalifa, and now two excellent ones have come along at once: 21030 United States Capitol Building and 21029 Buckingham Palace, which we reviewed last month.
The skylines are great, but I prefer highly detailed and accurate models of famous buildings and on first inspection this one seems to fit the bill.
Box and contents
The set is packed in a black flip-lid box as is usual for Architecture sets. I think it is the second-largest after 21010 Robie House. The 1032 parts are not in numbered bags. Many of them are small 1x1 bricks, plates or tiles, including 178 white headlight bricks. You can see the full inventory here.
Construction
Building begins with the base and after 33 steps, the 56w x 18d area has been prepared with tiles and plates ready for the walls to be added.
It's not much fun getting all the 1x1 tiles lined up but it is nothing compared to the next stage of construction...
The front and side walls are built almost entirely from headlight bricks, stacked three high. If you are a perfectionist you will want to take time to get them all perfectly lined up although as you can see below many of them are covered by Fence 1X4X2 W. 4 Knobs which helps to hide imperfections.
Most of the headlight bricks are mounted with the square hole facing out, to represent a window. As a result, the side stud projects inwards. To accommodate this stud, which protrudes slightly from the dimensions of a normal 1x1 brick, Technic 1x1 and 1x2 bricks are used where there is a need for a 2-wide wall: the headlight brick stud fits neatly into their holes.
The stacks of 1x1 parts are all a bit precarious until held in place with grey plates.
The roof of the building comes together quickly.
Finally the dome is constructed separately and loosely mounted on one row of studs enabling it to be removed to view the rotunda below. The Statue of Freedom stands proudly at the top.
The completed model
The aspects that strike you when you first set eyes on the model are how large it is (44cm x 14cm) and how much detail has been packed into it: the windows and columns in particular.
It is inevitable that on a model of this size the number of windows and columns and so on will not be exactly right, but that does not really matter.
I have edited this part of the review, where I compare it to the real building, in response to the comments: turns out I was comparing the model with the back of the building, which is the most-photographed. Here is a good picture of the front which is of course the part that has been modelled.
The back has no detail whatsoever and in fact the curved fences used for the rotunda make it look pretty ghastly. It does not really matter though as it will probably only be viewed from the front when displayed.
The dome lifts off to view the statues of past US presidents in the rotunda. Internals are not normally present in Architecture sets so this is a most welcome detail. (It looks like I have mounted some of them back to front, assuming they all face the centre!)
The level of detail afforded to the front extends to the sides.
Verdict
This is a set that takes time to construct and once you have built it, it is a joy to behold. If you are one who likes to snap a few pieces together to get a model made in no time then this is not the set for you. But, if you prefer to savour the build, to take the time over placing every element to ensure it is lined up and square then you will enjoy building this very much. Once finished, you will have a real sense of achievement.
The set is an excellent display piece and one I can highly recommend to Architecture fans and other adult builders that are looking for a challenging build.
Thanks to LEGO for providing the set for review. The opinions in it are my own.
JANGBRiCKS video review
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14 comments on this article
The reason the set doesn't match those pictures is that those photos show the opposite side of the building! They depict the West Front, which faces the National Mall, while the set represents the East Front ( https://s3.amazonaws.com/wapopartners.com/usc-annenberg/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Capitol_Visitor_Center_Plaza.jpg ), which faces First Street.
Good review otherwise, though! Do you know if this set is to scale with http://brickset.com/sets/21006-1/The-White-House?
The statues in the rotunda aren't of US Presidents; but of civic, religious, and community leaders from the different states. When the statues were installed, each state chose two people from their state to be represented by them. I'm sure a few presidents were included, but a large majority of the statues depict people who were never president.
EDIT: Never mind, looks like the states statues are in the room underneath the rotunda. My mistake!
Now all it needs is an ISD hovering above the building. Come to think of it, all of these historical political landmarks need the Empire (or the Reapers or ET ship) ready to blow these places.
"Although they are pretty good sets, their appearance in the lineup has led to a reduction in the number of landmark buildings being released to just two this year."
But what about the Burj Khalifa? Also wish they would do the Architect series again.
@Lordmoral: The Independence Day ships would be very nice...
Disappointing to see that one side is unfinished. This set is really expensive and for that price you should definitely be able to view the building from all angles. I wanted this set, now I'm not so sure anymore. Maybe I'll just build the Washington monument instead...
@aanchir, thank you! That explains it all. So nearly every picture on the 'net shows the back of it, I guess because the surroundings are more photogenic.
I've corrected the review. You can probably tell I've never been to DC :)
What a neat set! Nice detail of the rotunda, and to have its inclusion makes the set a little different. Your photography is always great Huw!
21017: Imperial Hotel has more parts: 1188
Absolutely fantastic set ... looks great once built. Added some lighting to it, which makes it look even more fantastic :D
Great review and our family is stoked to build this! Our kids will be visiting DC for the first time this spring; coupled with the election (shhh...) and this LEGO, they are bursting with civic awareness and interest.
Also, great timing in the US as Amazon has this at 28% off (use links on front page)!
@bok2: He meant the size of the box.
Nice display piece. All the sand green looks great.
The Capitol is such an impressive building.
Very good review, Huw.
Prior to seeing the unsightly back of the build, my one complaint about this set was the location of Statuary Hall, which is what the picture on the back of the box depicts it to be and what the floor tile pattern more closely resembles, although I assume it was done for functionality purposes. Statuary Hall and the main floor of the Rotunda are located on the second floor - this build puts them on the first floor of the building - and the accurate location for it would be under the green dish to the left of the Capitol Dome, not under the Dome itself.