Vestas Wind Turbine

This set makes an impressive display piece, and a great set for kids as well! Just watching it is incredibly fun. My only real complaint is that it's a bit unstable, but other than that I have nothing negative to say about this model. more less

I got this as a Xmas present from my wife. It took just under 2 hours to open, sort, and construct. Overall the set is awesome and worth the purchase. The mechanics of the turbine are great. I do feel the LED lights on the house are a bit "over bright", but work great. I wish the red beacon lights on the top of the turbine lit up (flashed), but they do not. The size of the built turbine is larger than we anticipated in terms of overall height (40") and you need a larger space to display it. We planned on adding this next to our growing "Lego Creator" city sets, to make it appear the turbine was provided power to the city, but due to the overall height it needed to be displayed elsewhere. more less

It is a marvellous set. It is big and tall. It's even taller than my desk fan and dinning table. Besides, who doesn't like green energy inspired building set? I also think it is a very educational set and could inspire young builders about sustainability and renewable energy. This set, along with the campaign of using sugarcane based plastic that is sourced sustainably, gives TLG a very strong statement about their support for sustainability and renewable energy. more less

I think the Vestas Wind Turbine is a great set to display because of its size and presence—particularly when the blades are operating. The little house is a waste of time, but that's just my humble opinion. more less

Having not built the original set, it's tricky to compare beyond its visual appearance. The set looks almost identical, albeit a few visual tweaks here and there. But you can definitely tell it's an 10 year old set. Much of the building around the base of the turbine feels ‘old school' especially the questionably placed cottage. As It built it up, I was instantly transported back to building the LEGOLAND sets, like the Police Station or Airport. Plus the hill section invokes that feeling as well, with its heavy use of BURP pieces. Which is why I surprisingly enjoyed building the set. more less

The wind turbine looks great, and there's no denying it. It's a solid bit of construction and it towers over anything you put it near, just as it should. The lackluster design of the home that accompanies it, however, brings the whole model down a notch. Generally, when fans call for a set's re-release, we want the exact same kit as the original, down to the smallest details–perhaps a packaging update to satisfy collectors who revel in their sealed box versions of the original, but certainly not a design change to the model itself. However, this is a case where a redesign was sorely needed. And the new model has already been redesigned in a half-dozen small ways; why not take an extra step and properly fix it? more less

One thing I do like about the set is that it does include a number of Power Functions parts and is easily worth about $25 if purchased separately so it's nice that LEGO added them in to the set. As a result, it probably also pushed the price point a little higher than what people wanted since it only has a bit over 800 pieces. One thing I didn't like about it is that it feels unstable. Even though the tower is connected pretty securely using Technic pins, it just feels wobbly to me, especially when I had to move it to take pictures. more less

So, on balance, then, £160 / $200 is a lot of money to spend on this set but when you delve deeper perhaps it's not so bad after all. Having said that, if I only had that amount and had to choose which set(s) to buy it probably wouldn't be this one. It's definitely one for the connoisseur, the collector who has everything else already. more less