Restoring older LEGO sets is a wonderful hobby many adult LEGO fans enjoy. Perhaps you find a bulk lot on eBay or at a garage sale that is just too good to pass up, or you may rediscover your own childhood sets that have been stored away in the attic. If you don’t have the original instructions, you can find them online, and restore older sets to their full glory.
An interesting twist on restoring older sets is to use modern parts and building techniques. You may want to do this when older parts have been retired and hard to find, or when you simply want to refresh and update an older model.
The LEGO company themselves regularly refreshes some of their most popular sets. Think of all the LEGO City police and fire stations, LEGO Star Wars sets, LEGO trains, LEGO ships, etc. Some of these re-releases are complete makeovers, while others are very similar to the original design with only slight updates.
An excellent redesign I have recently run across on Facebook is by LEGO fan Jean-Marie Bellion. This is a completely reimagined and upgraded version #6364 LEGO Town Paramedic Unit from 1980. This modern take on an old set is a fitting tribute to all the world’s health workers battling the Coronavirus pandemic.
It’s interesting to compare the parts and techniques used forty years ago to those that are used today. Of course all the basic parts and techniques are going to be the same, but there are also some modern parts and techniques that were not available in the past. Overall, older sets look more blocky, while modern designs have more curvers. You can clearly see these differences in the old vs. new paramedic unit.
If you’re familiar with the #6364 LEGO Town Paramedic Unit set, and you would like to build the modern version of it, or you just want to add a small hospital to your LEGO city, Jean-Marie freely shares instructions and parts-list at the following link: LEGO Paramedic Unit Revisited Instructions.
Jean-Marie also has a reimagined LEGO Classic Castle project on LEGO Ideas that you may want to check out and support with your vote. You can find it here: Princess June’s Castle on LEGO Ideas
And if you are looking for currently available LEGO hospitals, ambulances, fire stations, and more, visit the LEGO City section of the Online LEGO Shop.
What do you think? Do you ever rebuild older sets? Do you prefer to build them as they were originally intended, or do you upgrade them with modern parts and techniques? And how do you like the updated version of the LEGO Paramedic Unit? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below!
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