LEGO® Icons parts review: 10326 Natural History Museum

We are nearing the end of the year; traditionally the time LEGO showcases their next Modular Buildings set, and this time it's arriving a month earlier. With an impressive lineup of 17 previous sets (18 if you count 10190 Market Street), the bar is set high, but we are in for a real treat this time with a field trip to 10326 Natural History Museum. Before we enter the exhibition to study the models on display in Part 2, we will first have a closer look at all the new elements found in this set.

Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
10326 Natural History Museum
US$299.99/ £259.99/ 299.99€/ AU$449.99
4014 parts
1 December 2023, pre-order available now
Please consider using our affiliate links, we may get a small commission if you purchase: Set 10326 on LEGO.com

First impressions

The immediately noticeable thing is the size of the model. Set 10326 has the highest piece count of any Modular, beating 10255 Assembly Square by just 12 parts. The 4014 parts are spread out across 713 unique elements. 

But aside from a similar piece count, the two sets have another important thing in common: both sets deviate from the standard 32x32 baseplate size, adding another half for a total footprint of 32x48 studs. This means we can finally create a closed up (rectangular) block of Modular buildings when including Assembly Square.

The walls of the museum are for a large part made out of Olive Green bricks, resulting in 32 unique elements with a total quantity of 682 parts to be found. It won’t surprise you most recolors in the set are in this color. 

Funnily enough, Sand Yellow/ Dark Tan is also used in the walls and comes with 29 unique elements, but only gives us one element as a recolor - a head. There are colors with higher total quantities and unique elements, but these feature more common bricks in Black, White, Light Bluish Grey and Reddish Brown.

With Olive Green and Dark Tan being the most prominent in the set, it was disappointing to see both come with color inconsistencies. For Dark Tan, we've also spotted this recently in 21060 Himeji Castle, but here the Olive Green also comes in several shades, albeit to a lesser degree. 

At this point, these levels of color variation seem to have become standard! These differences are not an error; they fall within the limits of acceptable tolerance that TLG have set, so that they can deal with problems such as supply chain issues. However, as usual, we've reported this to Customer Services hoping for an improvement because they only way TLG will change their standards is if enough consumers complain that it is a problem for them.

An exhibition of elements

New moulds

Although Modular Buildings don't introduce new molds, they often make use of new molds introduced for the new year's assortment of sets. There aren't any in this Modular though; perhaps a casualty of moving the release date to December?

I did spot an updated mold, though.

Back in March, a new version for Window 1 x 2 x 3 appeared on the LEGO Missing Parts page with Design ID 3662, shown below in the above image. As is often the case with updated molds, LEGO seems to clear out the stock of the old version before switching to the new one. In September, the new mold became available on Pick a Brick online, and now with this set, I've spotted it for the first time in a box. The main difference is that the teeth on the underside have a different shape. I was not able to spot any functional differences.

Recolors

Let's commence with those exciting Olive Green recolours:

• 14x Brick 1 x 1 x 3 (6473440 | 14716)
• 39x Brick 2 x 2 Corner (6469102 | 2357)
• 18x Brick 2 x 3 (6473444 | 3002) is listed on Rebrickable and Bricklink as existing, without a set listed for the element. This probably means the part was at some point molded in Olive Green for LEGO Certified Professionals or LEGOLAND Model Builders. 
• 7x Brick Special 1 x 2 with 2 Studs on 1 Side (6473447 | 11211)
• 4x Brick Special 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side (6473446 | 87087)
• 10x Plate 2 x 2 Corner (6473460 | 2420)
• 14x Plate 3 x 3 Corner (6473445 | 77844)
• 10x Brick Arch 1 x 4 x 3 (6473448 | 80543)
• 4x Plate Special 1 x 4 with 2 Studs with Groove [New Underside] (6257596 | 41740). Eagle-eyed readers might have spotted this part before in Olive Green, but as far as I can find those are all the old mold version, 92593.

Despite Olive Green being one of the major colors, we also get plenty of elements recolored in other colors:

• 16x Window Round 3 x 3 x 2 in Black (6473450 | 73878)
• 4x Fence Decorative 3 x 3 x 2 Quarter Round with 2 Studs in Black (6473451 | 41823) is one I had to double-check, as I could swear I’d seen this one before.
• 15x Slope 45° 2 x 2 Double in Medium Nougat (6433735 | 3043)
• 15x Slope 45° 2 x 1 Double with Inside Stud Holder in Medium Nougat (6475291 | 3044c)
• 14x Plate 3 x 3 Corner in Dark Brown (6473454 | 77844)
• At first glance, the Minifig Heads Plain don’t seem new, but they are all of the new Vented Stud - 2 Holes mold, appearing for the first time in Light Bluish Gray (6454730 | 28621), Dark Tan (6454725 | 28621) and  Brick Yellow/ Tan (6454714 | 28621), after also popping up as Pick a Brick exclusive parts in October.
• 2x 3484 Bar 1L with Clip [Cut Edges and One Side Hole] [Full Clip] in Bright Blue/ Blue (6439050 | 3484) is another that needs a caveat! The element was reported to exist a few months back already, but I thought it had not appeared in any sets yet, probably because LEGO is clearing out the stock of the old mold 48729b first. After taking the photo I found out the new mold has been spotted in some copies of 10313 Wildflower Bouquet. At that time I already started the build and couldn’t retake this photo.
• New foliage options come with the 5x Star with Stud Holder in White (6469041 | 11609) and 29x Plant, Stem with 3 Leaves and Bottom Pin in White.
• Slope 45° 2 x 1 Inverted with 2/3 Cutout in Black (6465248 | 2310), found in 10326.
• 20x Tile Round 1 x 1 with Hollow Bar in Tan (6463667 | 20482).

Decorations

As with most Modular sets, there are no sticker sheets. However Modular sets usually come with a load of new prints but, aside from the minifigs which I’ll show further on, we only get one here:

• Tile 1 x 6 with Silver ‘Museum’ print in White (6475073).

The other decorated piece is a foil sheet with 2 banners promoting the exhibitions. I'm in luck, as there are currently exhibitions on space and paleontology.

Rare elements

Aside from the elements that are new, there are others that are worth mentioning, again starting with the Olive Green:

• Brick Special 1 x 4 with 4 Studs on One Side in Olive Green (6411584 | 30414) has only been seen last year in 10308 Holiday Main Street.
• The same goes for Brick Arch 1 x 3 x 2 in Olive Green (6411585 | 88292).
• Tile 1 x 2 with Groove in Olive Green (6100158 | 3069) was introduced last year, and has since appeared in 1 other set.
• Brick 1 x 3 in Olive Green (6058220 | 3622) is a Modular original, brought in by 10243 Parisian Restaurant in 2014 and since only seen once since, in 2018.
• Brick Special 1 x 2 with Masonry Brick Profile in Olive Green (6202628 | 98283) has appeared in 3 sets since 2017.

 

Now for the other colours, starting with those that have appeared in only a single (official) set:

• Crown / Flower / Egg Shell Half in Sand Yellow/ Dark Tan (6431686 | 39262) was the subject of our Flowerfest earlier this year. 
• Technic Ball Joint in Dark Azure (6412745 | 32474) was introduced in 21337 Table Football. If you count Educational Sets, you can also find it in 45823 MASTERPIECE Challenge Set.
• Brick Round 2 x 2 Sphere with Stud [Plain] in Bright Yellow/ Yellow (6433693 | 37837) was spotted in Gift with Purchase 40588 Flowerpot, as well as a giveaway during the coronation of King Charles III.
• Technic Panel Fairing 2 x 1 x 1 in White (6434569 | 89679) was given a crappy job in 71799 NINJAGO City Markets.
• Plate Special 1 x 4 Rounded with 2 Open Studs in Reddish Brown (6463591 | 77845) was introduced last month in 43231 Asha’s Cottage. Keep an eye out for our upcoming review of this cute set.
• Plate 2 x 2 Corner in Dark Brown (6454543 | 2420) was called into action by 75371 Chewbacca, another set with an upcoming New E review.
• Tile Round 1 x 1 Half Circle in Bright Green (6375605 | 35399) is flown in from LEGO® Minecraft™ set 21189 The Skeleton Dungeon.
• Plate 1 x 1 x 2/3 Half Round with Side Stud in Medium Stone Grey/ Light Bluish Gray (6448793 | 3386) popped up 2 months ago in a LEGO® Harry Potter™ set...
• ...as did Equipment Candle Stick in Brick Yellow/ Tan (6454936 | 37762).
• Tile Round 1 x 2 Half Circle in Transparent/ Trans-Clear (6443797 | 1748) drove by in its Porsche 963, set 76916.

 

Less rare but still interesting are:

• Plant, Leaves 6 x 5 in Light Purple/ Bright Pink (6195274 | 2417) has been seen in 2 sets.
• Container Box 2 x 2 x 2 - Top Opening in Earth Blue/ Dark Blue (6256612 | 61780) has been spotted in 2 LEGO® Friends sets since June 2023.
• Plate Special 1 x 3 Rounded with 3 Open Studs in White (6450820 | 77850) is still fresh, brought in in September 2023.
• Tile 3 x 3 Curved, Macaroni in Medium Nougat (6438781 | 79393) has been spotted in 2 LEGO Friends sets in June 2023.
• Plant, Pumpkin in Dark Orange (6426472 | 51270) was also used in our Flowerfest, as well in 21343 Viking Village which we’ll take a closer look at soon.
• Plant, Banana in White (6298929 | 33085) has appeared in 2 sets back in 2020.
• Equipment Candle Stick in Medium Stone Grey/ Light Bluish Gray (6436421 | 37762) is another fresh part, appearing in 2 summer 2023 sets, including 10321 Corvette.
• Plate Round 1 x 1 with Open Stud in Transparent/ Trans-Clear (6449836 | 29387) is the final rare element, introduced in 2 summer 2023 sets.

Minifigures

The museum comes with 9 minifigures, equaling the count of Assembly Square. I should add that 2 of the minifigures are actually statues, so feel free to set the count to 7 depending on your definition.

We start with 3 employees. 

The sleeveless cardigans are a new printed torso in Bright Light Blue (6475402). The heads for the figs in the center and the left are relatively new, as they have appeared previously in 2 LEGO® City sets from 2023 (but not the same 2 sets). All other parts are more common. With that beard and cap, the window washer reminds me of a certain LEGO designer...

The curator of the museum is an older man. He is the only fig to come with a newly printed head (6475074), and his Dark Bluish Grey torso also features a new print (6475401). Of course, a museum's curator has to be a person who has a deep knowledge of the museum's artifacts, and I think this man has more than enough first-hand knowledge, as it seems he retrieved most of them himself, back in the 1990s. Just compare him to Dr. Kilroy / Dr. Charles Lightning from the LEGO® Adventurers theme, seen above right in set 7423 Mountain Sleigh. 

The statues come with the same torso that was introduced in 10316 Rivendell. The statue on the left has a recolor for Hair Long Wavy/Curly in Light Bluish Gray (6473817 | 2632), while their heads are the first appearance of the new Minifig Head Plain [Vented Stud - 2 Holes] in Medium Stone Grey/ Light Bluish Gray (6454730 | 28621).

A museum needs visitors to survive, of which we get 3. 

The elderly person on the left comes with a wig that has appeared in 2 sets from 2023 on top of a head that has been seen in 3 other sets since 2022. The center fig has a rare hair piece, introduced in 21339 BTS Dynamite and 76915 Pagani Utopia in March 2023. The prosthetic leg has been seen in 2 sets. The enthusiastic kid on the right has a torso seen in 3 sets previously, including 10308 Holiday Main Street. 

Conclusion

Modular sets are always a great way to get started on building MOCs, providing both standard bricks and a variety of other bricks needed for your real estate. Set 10326 Natural History Museum is no exception, and gives us a high quantity of standard bricks in Olive Green and Dark Tan, as well as some welcome recolors in various part categories.

I was a bit disappointed in the lack of decorative elements though, as we get just 1 new printed tile, 1 foil sheet and 3 new minifigure parts. Of course, a LEGO set doesn't need to rely on printed parts to be pretty, so I'll start building to find out if the design can hold its own.

Join me next time as we build the museum and wander through its halls, inspecting all the models on display.

10326 Natural History Museum is  already available to pre-order from LEGO.com priced US$299.99/ £259.99/ 299.99€/ AU$449.99. If you've enjoyed this review please consider using our affiliate links, we may get a small commission: LEGO Shop

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