This was my second set and boy did I have fun. Practice so many times its build that today over 35 years later, still can build it without the plans.

You get a great command base, very accurate and fully equipped to maintain law & order in your metropolis.

The motorcycles are great too.

This set is something special from 1980's sets in general, the Town theme and from the Police subtheme too. Its a bit legendary through standing as an alternative and equal to its classic predecessor and to have continued to have outshone its subsequent equivalents in my humble opinion. And yet, I find it imperfect.

Minifigures:

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Both the twin police bike patrol and the helicopter pilot are zipper top cops and one standard police uniform for the chief/officer/4x4 driver as usual could be the chief. Here is an exposure of perhaps one small flaw in the limited Police uniforms that may have benefitted from just new hat or torso variant to create a range of combinations and positions. This does not impact at all on the set or Town police force use though there is nothing new or remarkable.

Heaven Sent Justice

Maybe a black bike would have been interesting though I preferred the grey. The wheels always clip in well and its a frequently reliable piece. These make two great police outriders. They get circular head and rear lights with a square blue one atop with a black antennae and two 'Police' print white tiles on each side: perfect. They get boring grey plates to hold them out in the yard when they surely would have been better fitted inside.

This 'Land Rover' as I thought it (I'm sure it was a Jeep and many other things too) is a brilliant chunky build of white and black with many plates. Particularly good is the black on the bonnet which does not always feature on 1980's police vehicles. The white plates base includes clips for a red light baton and CB radio while the back holds an amazing red print striped traffic cone with a red light on top. The standard cab hinge and roof gets the flashy light blue tinted sunroof while the chunky town wheels are finally white to match instead of the old red. A couple of panels are included with many plates and its really hard to fault this four by ten stud vehicle.

The chopper build starts reasonably well with angled upward slants to form a cockpit and bodywork mainly in black on a white underside. Its a bit odd how the rear got elongated but the front got a stubby short design instead a bit like a car top and windscreen. All windscreens are by now in that cool light blue tint but even the helicopter gets a sunroof. Is that even safe?! I can not recall if at full tilt it hits the blades or not, perhaps they got over keen using this new part but it was not necessary here. The cockpit opens well lifting the screen off flat tiles and so quick, easy access is achieved. Twin exhausts sit ahead of the central black tail and printed 'Police' badge. This is not a personal favourite police helicopter but I would not mark it down for this. Despite its strange white blades (night flight safety actually) its a bit small, devoid of the essential camera equipment that's stuck inside the building and almost lacking in form in the most minor of ways. The trans-red tiles on top look good though and would make a halo of red light if they glowed while spinning. Its worth remembering that clever four stud plate with a hole in an extended half circle that locks centrally held bricks, such as the tail, when placed on an offset stud plate. What on earth did I just type?

The baseplate is superb: a broad driveway that narrows to a straight access and parking area. Most of it is left as studs. This allows broad building but when the main model does not use it all perhaps its better they put in more smooth road area and cool prints? I don't know.

The white and black headquarters, looks styled, strong and imposing. The cell gets a red bench and even a yellow mug of water for the prisoner/suspect/perpetrator. The garage requires those grooved and long runner bricks and gets an excellent black and transparent sectioned door. A fire extinguisher and red torch are clipped to the wall while downstairs is centrally glassed by the black framed panels with partial white blind stickers. A main sign goes above the front door and the room adjacent to the cell holds a telephone. Only through the open backed building can all rooms be accessed at all! The lower black roof also forms the upper floor and excellent raised helipad on top of the garage that gets blue lights, a ladder, a red tiled 'H' and fences. The smart office gets two turn-tabled white swivel chairs and a control panel so full of high tech it gets built as one piece; a computer, a monitor, twin recording wheels, speaker/ microphone/ megaphone clipped on, a CB radio and green and yellow lights. A door opens right on to the helipad, which is a really nicely thought out feature.

The white slants that build the upper building provide much of the style. I'm no fan of 'glass' panels that are like filler for buildings but the large windows consistently provide a modern and spacey looking design across the entire model, apart from the cell. The brilliant white radar dish and searchlights get turntables. The front entrance is complemented with a full 'bed' of red flowers for contrast, two low ground lights and two rather flimsy stanchion like signs holding little 'Police' tiles reminding who is in residence. These are stylish but just try to stop wrong doers knocking them down. What, yours was not assaulted by a heavily armed gang? Finally a white aerial and siren could have been combined and the searchlights then placed higher up for full 360° use but these are mere quibbles.

Serve & Protect

Only as an AFOL do I have a small, not very explainable problem with this set which for like many others provided an incredible Christmas and subsequent years of play. The parts are wonderful but there just seemed by this stage to be a lack of some roof substance and cohesion to the finishing sections on some larger sets but like I said previously these are just quibbles. I will always like the 1983 station much more but recognise this one to attain equal status as a choice for a modernised station, for instance the previous has a dial telephone while this has a push buttons print. I hope you like the helicopter, I used to much more and it remains smart. The extra black in this set improves overall design and its recommended highly as a superb set. The subtheme has never been as charming since the 1980's.

I got this set for Christmas and couldn't stop playing with it for weeks. It was the only Police Station I ever owned, it was so good nothing could really surpass it.

The Building

A typical early Town style building with an open back and very easily accessible to move the figures around in. I just love the nice touches on this design, the roller door garage and the use of fencing panels as bars on the prision cell was ingenious. The reception area had a nice desk and led to the garage. A few chairs for people to wait on, and some tools would have been a nice touch but it was easy to add those later. Though fire extingushers were included. The control room upstairs was well equipped with tape reels and desks and had a door to the helipad which was nicely detailed with a red 'H' and landing lights. The roof had a handy fence so the pilot didn't fall off the roof too! I liked the sloping bricks on the top floor, it gave the building a graceful appearance. The cell had a door, and although it was cramped to get the prisoner to lay down on the bed inside, had that cramped and dark atmosphere a cell deserves. Other nice touches were the bike stands outside which the bikes could clip onto, the police station signs and the rotating floodlights and antenna.

The Vehicles

The two bikes are standard Lego motorbikes but with the addition of Police signs, blue light and radio antenna. The Police Van was excellent with its rear bay with a traffic cone inside with a red light on top. It had an opening bonnet too, cool looking lights, blue lights and a traffic baton holder. It was perfect to repsonding to road accidents and the base design was so good that I built a non-Police copy in red for commerical use. The helicopter was chunky and basic, and was superseded by much better ones later on. It was good enough though, even though the blades would come of easily. It had lights and was an attractive black-white colour scheme as opposed to the later all-white examples.

The Minifigures

One policeman, two motor cycle police and one helicopter pilot. The old style helmets eventually looked out of place compared to later Police sets. The numbers of police were low, if they all get called out who is left to run the station? Still with other Police kits that problem was solved and prisioners were found.

Personal Development

I loved this set, it was so well designed and had so many nice touches. The building and the van were excellent. I eventually rebuilt this many times. It made a good looking office block too and with windows the cell could be converted into another office and the garage could either be a drive-through bank or with a wall replacing the roller door become even more office space. It looks good in any guise in the town being compact but stylish too. Its flexibility was great.

This was the first set I ever had, bought as a Christmas present for me when I was 8 in 1989. I still have every piece, may have a few teeth marks in some bits, but are in top notch condition otherwise. It's packed away very carefully in my attic. Might get it down and put it back together.

The only "bad" thing I have found with this, as a kid, was the white helicopter blades would easily come off, other than this it is in the top two sets I own, along with my Fire Control Center (http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6389-1) I got the next Christmas!

A more modern design than previous police stations, but still just as good as its predecessors. A nice station with plenty of detail, lots of useful pieces and vehicles including motorbikes, a van and a helicopter. There's also a jail for suspects and an office. A first-class design.