Caz Mockett (@cazmockett) reviews 40524 Sunflowers, a set from LEGO® Iconic line coming 1 January 2022 priced US$12.99/ £11.99/ AU$19.99. Buying this set? Consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop | UK LEGO Shop/for Europe 'Change region'. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.
Following on from the popular 2021 releases of smaller LEGO® Iconic botanical sets, 40460 Roses and 40461 Tulips, the third in the series has just been revealed: 40524 Sunflowers.
The rear of the box also shows both flowers as built, illustrating that one stem includes two leaves, while the other has four.
Notable Parts in 40524 Sunflowers
The set may only contain 191 pieces, but there are several elements which are worth noting.
There is one exclusive recolour included:
- 24x Plant, Plate 1 x 1 Round with 3 Leaves in Flame Yellowish Orange/Bright Light Orange (6378797 | 32607) - bringing the available colours to ten for this piece
Rare elements:
- 6x Windscreen 6 x 4 x 1 Hexagonal with Handle in Green (6341913 | 27262) - previously unique to Roses
- 2x Steering Wheel with 4 Studs on Center in Dark Green (6329283 | 67811) - only appeared in 2 other sets, including Roses and 10280 Flower Bouquet
- 15x Technic Driving Ring Connector Smooth [2 rounded and 2 flat side walls] in Dark Green (6330196 | 42195) - previously seen in Roses, Flower Bouquet and 10289 Bird of Paradise
The last element in the image is:
- 48x Equipment Oar / Paddle End in Yellow (6188484 | 31990)
While this is not particularly rare, having already appeared in 11 other sets, it is notable for the number we get in this set - a whopping 48!
The Build
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but to be honest I found the build rather tedious. Step 2 in the instructions, where the paddle ends are joined to the 1L Bar with Clip, probably took longer than all the other steps combined, especially as you are advised to build both flower heads at once. So, inserting the bars and then attaching 48 petals onto the two steering wheel rings really was a bit of a pain. The rest came together pretty quickly.
The method of attachment of the leaves onto the stems also annoyed me - the green windscreens clip onto Technic Pin Connector Round with 4 Clips (90202) which have a Technic pin hole in the middle. These are just slipped over the inner axle of the stalk, which means it can spin around freely, along with the two leaves attached to it. This makes “posing” the flower for pictures or arranging in a vase a bit difficult since they don’t necessarily stay put where you want them.
The paddle heads certainly make effective petals for the flower head, as does the graduation to the bright light orange leaf pieces, which then transitions into the dark brown circular plate at the centre, representing the sunflowers’ structure really well.
I made a vase for my Flower Bouquet set from 2x4 bricks a few weeks ago, and there was just enough room in it for the sunflowers too. They add a nice splash of colour to the whole thing. I’m sure the relative scales of the flowers isn’t necessarily accurate, but the elements used are the limiting factor. I’m willing to suspend my disbelief since they look pretty!
Conclusion
The price of the set is the same as 40460 Roses (120 pieces for £11.99) but with 191 pieces that gives a reasonable price to part value of around 6.3p. Several copies would make an impressive display in a vase, if you can stand the tedium of adding all those petals to more than two flowers! It offers a budget option for acquiring some relatively rare pieces, and includes one element unique to the set at time of release, which is always a plus point, especially as it is included in a reasonable quantity.
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I’ll definitely be picking this one up! I was thinking I would display it separately from my existing Flower Bouquet (perhaps alongside the upcoming Starry Night!), but they actually do look pretty good together in the same vase. And the “tedium” of the build actually makes this more appealing to me; I find that sort of repetition to be very calming and meditative.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear! Nice display idea
DeleteI think I'm most excited on 48 (49 if extra?) orange robot claw pieces, as they can be used in masses for some interesting patterns. Also those Bright Light Orange leaves will enable neat autumn gradients with yellow and orange ones. There flower sets are like mini lugbulks, something that I enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI think the BLO leaves have been on PAB walls recently.
ReplyDeleteThe release of this set seems to have been delayed considerably? When first listed on LEGO.com, it was shown as "Coming Soon on January 1st", but when that day rolled around it was revised to "Coming Soon"... and has remained that way. Other releases such as 80108 have been passing it by.
ReplyDelete