10197 Review

Name Fire Brigade 10197
Theme Modular building
Year 2009
Dimensions 25.5cm x 35cm
Pieces 2231
Minifigs Four plus dog

Intro
Well here goes my first go at a review
This set has been the source of much anticipation around the globe and it arrived at my front door.
Box


Contents
The bricks are divided into two, along with the two instruction books.

Random page



First Floor
It has a deceptively intricate facade with Jamie's trademark contrast colour stripes, requiring many small plates.
The sliding door garage took me back to my childhood and my first building; the fire station.
Yes the frogs are there to hold up those shiny helmets (and it is not a stretch) up side down they're looking like an ornate hook.
I really like how the little fire alarm comes together.
I haven't come across the 16x8 tile before, it gives the impression of smooth concrete rather than tiled pavement.
I think the station dog has been marking his territory on the tree. It looks a little sparce, however at least it won't fall apart like the medievil market 10193 tree and is easily added to.
Ingenious method of holding the piece above the garage door in place. A great example of using a technique for function rather than to be spiffy. The rear door adds another dimension, complete with muddy wheel tracks.




Second Floor
The brick facade is something I have wanted to do for a long time, but never had the parts. It creates a three dimensional focus.
The use of the old fashion car grill above the windows is used upside down and was quite fiddly/challenging to get it to come together.
The second floors interior is packed with detail and fun, especially the stocked fridge.






Roof
Without doubt the 1932 inlay was awesome to build, it is all held securely together and in case you didn't know relates to when Lego all began.
The brick built bell demonstarates the benefits of not moulding a new part to achieve realism.






The Fire Truck
The fire truck again features a brick built ladder, room for to minifigs and suits the 1930's style. Hey if your city is modern, consider doing what I did and order the 7239 fire truck as well.



Spare parts


[b]Summary
Overall the building has a more realistic colour scheme than the two previous modular buildings and just so much more believable. The fire brigade held true to the modular building use of different and challenging techniques, which can translate into your own MOCs. I thoroughly reccomend this as your next purchase, and you to can enjoy the many hours of satisfying building.



Wow factor 10/10
Design 10/10
Price 7/10 (it's only money)
Playability 9/10
Overall 9.5/10

That sure does look good. Thanks for the review.

Thanks for this review, the photos are very good. It just reinforces my desire for this set.

Fantastic review dhoman01! Love the pictures, they show a lot of detail, so thankyou! Now I want it even more!! I'm going to use the truck in this set as an antique for parades, etc. I've been thinking of getting another 7239 and turning it into a pump, but from what I've seen of the new Fire Station, it has a ladder truck, so that might end up in this Station. (Scheming already.....! :: )

Great review mate! I frontpaged it for all to see.

Thanks for your comments. If any one has any questions about the set or build. Let me know.

Thats one awsome set. Could you do me a favour?? Would you be able to post the part of the instruction book which shows how to make that fridge .. Because I love it and would love to make one. If possbily that would be great thanks.
Tycho

No worries Tycho

The fridge instructions as requested

Tychop wrote:Would you be able to post the part of the instruction book which shows how to make that fridge

Hey Tychop do you know you can get recent instructions from the Customer Service section of lego.com, you can search by set number and download them as PDF's.

peterab wrote:

Tychop wrote:Would you be able to post the part of the instruction book which shows how to make that fridge

Hey Tychop do you know you can get recent instructions from the Customer Service section of lego.com, you can search by set number and download them as PDF's.

No actually I did'nt know this piece of valuable information I shall remember this for future Refernce. Thanks thats acutally quite a usefull thing that LEGO has done.

Thanks for the info

Tychop wrote:No actually I did'nt know this piece of valuable information I shall remember this for future Refernce. Thanks thats acutally quite a usefull thing that LEGO has done.

Yeah it's really handy to be able to look at new sets instructions to see if you like the build
If you go to the bottom of the Lego.com web page you'll see a customer service link, hit it and you'll get a 'replacement instuctions' option. You can search via set number and a bunch of other things, and then select and download the PDF.

I finished building mine this morning and loved every minute of it. I did have a couple of critisims though. Firstly, the bottom floor (engine bay) in my opinion is too tall. This floor by itself is one and a half floors of the Green Grocer. Due to its height, my hands can't get in there properly. Once it was built, the tools in the brown crate fell out and the only way I could get them back in was to take out the stairwell. I think that maybe this floor could be split. I think this could only be done above the door tracks, but the leftover parts could be tacked onto the second floor.
Also, I'm not real keen on how TLG bag all the parts. It took me over an hour to build the truck, due to all the parts being distributed through all of the "1" packs. Being a small component of the overall set, I would have thought the parts for the truck would have their own bag.

Other than that, I really love this set and I'm really glad that I own a copy of it. What did everyone else who has built this think of it?

Thanks Marvin for your summary.


I thought it was good value at $200 (what I paid), but Its not worth $300 as it is now at TRU. Its actually remarkably simple in construction, but visually very effective. From a build point of view, I like the way they did the brick work for the front of the building and especially love the way they devised the 1932 construction. The colour scheme is just spot on. Not too much of one colour and in the right proportion. I also thought the first floor was abit high. I could just get my hands in there but its tight. It didn't really bother me as I don't do any brickfilming or play. The studless plate footpaths are highly scratchable.

I now wish I was an Afol about 3 years ago. These modular buildings are a treat to the eyes. They look so good in real life, better than a photo . I think I'll be buying green grocer on bricklink, its just hard for me to accept a $45 delivery charge, without going to town and doing a massive pick a brick to make it all worthwhile.

So here's a question to you guys that do have Cafe Corner and Green grocer. Which is the best out of the three and does anyone on this board have Grand Emporium yet, to compare as well.

Has anyone here made a MOC of a modular building?

guymontag wrote:
So here's a question to you guys that do have Cafe Corner and Green grocer. Which is the best out of the three and does anyone on this board have Grand Emporium yet, to compare as well.

I think all three have their good and bad points. Overall I think GG is the best model and build but I don't think the sand green is a greatly useful colour as you can only have one or two buildings using it before your town starts to look odd. I think CC is pretty cool and has a lot of useful colours, but I dont think its ground floor matches its upper floor very well in colour terms, it doesn't have an interior, and it uses panel for its first floor window frames and they have no glass. From what I've seen of GE, it's awesome. It only has one escalator per floor. Very useful colours, lots of nice windows and lots of figs though.

Overall Green Grocer seems to be the most popular on other sites, but there is quite a bit of subjective assesment going on.

The only other modular that I own is GG.
I didn't want CC as it didn't have an interior and I couldn't justify the price for just a facade. I don't know how it built up compared to FB, as I bought it second-hand on eBay. When it arrived, all I had to do was stack the floors on top of each other. I would imagine that the building process would be similar to FB. I think that both these buildings compliment my City and also add a bit of individuality. GG has the shop and apartments, while FB has the kitchen and impressive facade with the brickwork. In terms of MOC ideas FB gives you the brickwork look, while CC gives you the bay windows and fire escape. From a purely parts list view, I think FB just wins due to the colour scheme of the building.

I suppose in the end it comes down to your taste and budget. If you're happy with the way any of these modular buildings look and they fit into your layout, then pick them up.
The only final obstacle is justifying them to your other half!!