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2017 LEGO Disney Frozen sets review

One of the most successful LEGO Disney Princess sets has been the #41062 LEGO Disney Princess Frozen Elsa’s Sparkling Ice Castle, which was first released back in 2015. So it was surprising and interesting to see that LEGO decided to replace it with a set that is even bigger and better; the #41148 LEGO Disney Princess Frozen Ice Palace. And there are two other LEGO Disney Frozen sets released as well! So let’s take a closer look. 🙂

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#41148 LEGO DISNEY PRINCESS FROZEN ICE PALACE: This palace takes sparkliness to a whole other level! It uses the same color combination of white, translucent-light-blue, lavender, and light-aqua as the previously released #41062 LEGO Disney Princess Frozen Elsa’s Sparkling Ice Castle, which means that the two sets can be seamlessly combined. The sparkliness is achieved by some of the translucent pieces having glitter embedded in them, and by sparkly stickers. So beautiful! The set also comes with some lovely play features that you can check out in the video-review below. Here is the official description: Build a grand and glittering Ice Palace for Elsa and feel the magic and adventure with the special sliding bridge and revolving staircase functions. There’s so much detail inside and out to help recreate scenes from Disney’s Frozen and Frozen Fever, or to create new and exciting stories with these much-loved characters. Includes Elsa and Anna mini-dolls plus Olaf, Marshmallow and four Snowgies. Elsa’s Magical Ice Palace measures over 12” (31cm) high, 11” (30cm) wide and 7” (19cm) deep. 701 pieces. Price: $79.99 – BUY HERE

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:arrow #41147 LEGO DISNEY PRINCESS FROZEN ANNA’S SNOW ADVENTURE: This is a small, but lovely set with Anna, her horse, and a couple of structures. Even though the buildings are small, they are full of very nice pieces; printed 1×6 tiles with a decorative pattern, gems, light-blue flowers, a printed chocolate bar, light-aqua and medium-nougat parts, white leaf elements, and more. I also really like this version of Anna with her pretty dress and hair. Here is the official description: Enter the world of Disney Frozen and join Anna as she takes a break on her journey to visit her sister. With a feeding station for her horse and a campfire to make hot chocolate, they have everything they need to rest and refuel. The sleeping shelter has an opening function for easy play inside. Includes an Anna mini-doll, plus her horse. Shelter measures over 2” (7cm) high, 3” (10cm) wide and 3” (8cm). 153 pieces. Price: $19.99 – BUY HERE

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#10736 LEGO JUNIORS ANNA AND ELSA’S FROZEN PLAYGROUND: This set is not under the standard LEGO Disney Princess line, but under LEGO Juniors, meant for younger kids who are transitioning over from LEGO DUPLO. It is basically a cheaper and simpler version of the larger palace. However because the playground has the same color-scheme as the other sets, they can be easily combined to make a larger layout. A noteworthy feature of the LEGO Juniors line is that all the decorations are printed. So that nice swirly design you see at the front, the 2×2 round tiles with ice crystals, and the designs on the medium-azure base are all prints. And you also get a cute baby polar bear that only appeared in one other set to date. Here is the official description: Play in a magical winter playground with LEGO Juniors Disney Frozen´s Anna and Elsa, featuring an Easy to Build ice palace with slide, bench and table, ramp for skiing, rotating fountain, snowball-firing catapult and an opening treasure chest with hidden ice crystals. LEGO Juniors is an age-appropriate build and play experience for ages 4-7. Includes Anna and Elsa mini-doll figures and a polar bear cub. Ice palace measures over 7” (18cm) high, 7” (20cm) wide and 5” (15cm) deep. 94 pieces. Price: $24.99 – BUY HERE

I really like that the Frozen palaces all have the same color-scheme, so they can be combined to make a much larger layout. Even if you are not a fan of Frozen, the pieces can be very useful for any icy/snowy creation. There are no any other sets with so many sparkly, crystal-like pieces. The mini-dolls are also very nice, and come with some sweet new hairpieces that can also be used on regular LEGO minifigures. All in all, this is a delightful collection that I would highly recommend. The sets should be available at all LEGO retailers, and are also listed at the Online LEGO Shop.

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LEGO shingles & roofing techniques

(Written by Geneva – gid617)

Some of the first LEGO sets were houses, which means that besides basic LEGO bricks, standard LEGO slopes are some of the oldest pieces. The 1×2, 2×2, 2×3 and 2×4 stud slopes, the 2×2 convex corner slope (for outer corners), the 2×2 concave corner slope (for inner corners), and the 1×2, 1×2, 1×3 and 1×4 size roof caps have been around since the mid-1950s, and are still heavily used to this date.

Besides basic slope bricks to build roofs, both LEGO designers and LEGO fans have been coming up with a number of other roofing techniques. Some take advantage of newer LEGO pieces, while others use standard LEGO elements in clever ways. The new curved slope pieces, the small 1×1 and 1×2 “cheese” slopes, and even the 1×1 round bricks are popular choices for roofing. Even simple plates and tiles can be angled to create a sloped roof effect. Below I will show you a few interesting roofing techniques that I have run across that you might like. 🙂

LEGO ROOF WITH CURVED SLOPES: This is a technique used in a number of official LEGO sets. The #10243 LEGO Creator Parisian Restaurant is one of the best examples. You can study the instruction manual for this set to learn how to use this technique. One important feature to notice is that the curved slopes are staggered to break up the smoothness of the surface and give it some texture. Otherwise the slopes are too smooth and would look unnatural.

LEGO ROOF WITH PLATES: One of the easiest and most cost-effective way to build a roof is to just use two large plates in an A-frame shape, with studs facing out. You can add a few tiles, cheese slopes, or even some vegetation to make the surface more interesting. A good example is the #71006 LEGO Simpsons House. If you use the large plates with the tubes facing out, you can get a different texture for variety. An interesting technique is to insert yellow or tan minifig hands into the tubes for a straw roof effect as demonstrated by Geneva in the second picture below.

LEGO ROOF WITH GARAGE DOORS: This is quite an unusual technique used in the #70751 LEGO Ninjago Temple of Airjitzu. Because the garage door panels are flexible, you can create pretty much any round shape, by simple fixing the garage doors at the peak of the roof, and then draping them over the rest of the building.

LEGO ROOF SHINGLES WITH TILES: Standard LEGO tiles can be used as roof shingles. However if you just place them flat on a plate, they will look too smooth (like a tile floor). Staggering the plates is one way to make them appear more realistic, or you can also stack them (first image below by Siercon & Coral – video tutorial here). Tilting the plates is another way to break up their smooth surface for a corrugated roof effect (second image by Tim Gould). Another nice technique is to use round tiles, which gives the roof a storybook-like look (third image by Parks and Wrecked Creations).

LEGO ROOF SHINGLES WITH CHEESE SLOPES: 1×1 and 1×2 “cheese” slopes are fairly new pieces, and they are excellent for roofing because of their shape and myriad of color choices. They can be simply attached to an angled plate, or you can use a more advanced technique, as pictured below by The Brick Time Team. This solution works particularly well on medieval buildings and small shacks.

LEGO ROOF SHINGLES WITH MODIFIED SLOPES: This technique was shared by LEGO designer Mark Stafford, using some of the newish 2×2 modified slopes with cutouts. The final result is similar than what you can achieve with the 1×1 cheese-slopes.

LEGO ROOF SHINGLES WITH ROUND BRICKS: This technique is very popular for Asian and Mediterranean style buildings. In an official LEGO set an excellent example is the #10232 LEGO Creator Palace Cinema. Because the round bricks have hollow studs, you can push a rod through them to add more rigidity. And if you want a more curved effect, like on an Asian buildings, you can run a flexible tube through the round bricks, and prop up the bottom rows. (Second image by Paul Trach.) A variation of this technique is to use 1×1 cone pieces instead of round bricks, as demonstrated by o0ger in the third picture below.

LEGO ROOF SHINGLES WITH FLIPPERS: LEGO minifig flippers happen to make great roof shingles, as you can see in the image below by Barney Main. Flippers are particularly great for shacks, cottages and debilitated houses. They come in a number of useful colors like black, light-gray, blue, dark-purple, red, yellow, black, orange and lime, so you have plenty of options for roofing.

LEGO ROOF SUPPORT WITH LADDERS: This technique was shared by LEGO fan Adeel Zubair. It is used with standard LEGO roof pieces, which are quite sturdy on their own, but by adding one-piece staircases under the roof the structure gets additional support, plus the staircases mimic the look of rafters, as demonstrated on the picture below. If you plan to make the inside of an attic visible, this is a great solution.

As you can see, there are many ways to make LEGO roofs, from simple to elaborate, pretty much being able to imitate all real-life roofing styles. The techniques mentioned above are well-established and have been successfully used by a number of LEGO fans. There are also many esoteric methods using pieces in clever ways that I haven’t covered here, and of course you can also experiment on your own.

What do you think? Do you have any favorite LEGO roofing techniques from official LEGO sets or from other LEGO fans? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

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