LEGO® River Steamboat (21356) Set Review

Hello again folks… It's me, amateur review writer extraordinaire…. ! I will however, as promised in my previous & first ever review, stick to my principles of telling you like I see it - Normally, that wouldn’t give me any concern whatsoever as surely, you guys n gals out there reading this, would much rather an ‘Honest’ opinion from a fellow Lego lover, than the alternative - a rather ‘biased’ review written by someone who was handed the set and generally has little interest? So.. why the slight concern? Well… this set is actually as far as I’m aware, the largest ever ‘Ideas’ set in terms of piece count? 4060 of them to be precise (exc spares) - BUT… and it’ll be a HUGE BUT for some of you - there’s not a Mini-fig in sight 😳 (Despite the ‘slightly misleading look’ that this is Mini-fig scale) - it isn’t… however that fact alone will put many people off buying this set - Why Lego chose not to include maybe a Ltd edition ‘Ships Captn’ 🫡 , I can’t say - it doesn’t bother me in the slightest as I don’t collect them or have any interest myself - but 1000’s do, and so I think maybe they’ve missed a trick somewhere… either way, read on - the lack of figures might be totally not an issue if the model and its construction live up to expectations…

First off, the box - she's a biggun…

And I actually LOVE the artwork on it - it's a stunning picture of what lies beneath and if the model looks 1/2 as good as the picture - I'm in for a real treat!

Upon opening the box, you are faced with 32 bags, and a small (Yes only 8!) sticker sheet. Most of these decals you later find are just little 'Easter eggs' inside the boat and are not necessary for the overall look of the model. That can only be a good thing.

The included manual (How long before we go all digital?) is a whopper too, and if you love reading about who designed the models you are building, and the history behind them etc, you’re in for a real treat. You get a great introduction to the ‘Fan’ designer behind the project, but it doesn’t go into any detail on the actual team within TLG that finalised design. Again though, some wonderful artwork and pictures.

Before undertaking the build, I first decided I had better make sure I have the space required as a 4000+ piece model, is not going to be small.. upon research, I find that the size when finished, is approx 69cm long, 15cm deep & 40cm tall!! Oh dear.. 😅 That is bigger than my workspace.. So I’ll need to get creative as the model gets taller as whilst I have a bespoke build station, it’s not really designed for this sort of model - my max height is closer to 20cm than 40! (However my Wife’s has no height restriction, so I may have to let her in on the build as well, so that I can move it onto her space when I need to. 😂🤫

The first few bags have you building the vast hull, and along with it, some of the Technic parts that will later be required for the functionality of the model - from what I can tell, at this early stage (I’m on bag 6 as I write) There is a small piston engine inside the boat and a fair few cogs and axles that will obviously turn the paddle and the engine when you push the model along (Small wheel under the hull) - it’s all very well thought out, and not too Technic heavy - just enough to keep you interested. After the build of the function parts, it seems the model will start to grow in height and detail at a rapid rate!

Between bags 6-9, it gets super interesting and lots of little easter eggs come out to play - a small model of the first steam engine, a decal of the schematics of a piston, an Ancient Greek Aeolipile (Look it up) and then even a full kitchen!! All these small details are easy to construct and add to the experience - although i’m building it using the digital PDFs, there is info on all the above in the manual. Very cool and a lovely touch - not just an attempt to up piece count.

It's at this point, around Bags 10-12, that you start to see that they have given you a lovely, quite well detailed 'Mini-fig' scale interior - BUT, at the same time, you now see why they haven’t supplied any - fitting even one in each area would be tight - it ‘looks’ scaled for them, but clearly isn’t.

As I embark on the next 6+ bags, the model gains height and detail at a decent rate and whilst the model is largely symmetrical - meaning you obviously have to build the same thing each side, it’s doesn’t feel overly repetitive (Well.. maybe bag 17 is….) You get a lovely little Room with musical instruments all set up in, which also has 2 drinks tables using a new piece that I’ve not seen before - it’s a 2x2 ‘Tablecloth’ - made me smile like a child 😂 (Please note, I haven’t even mentioned the bathroom with toilet, shower etc 😝).

At this point, the model is starting to really take shape and certainly looks impressive - the length is a lot more than I was expecting and I had to rejig my build station around to make sure I had enough room - and that’s without the issue of its height… more about that later.

After the 'slightly' repetitive bag 17 & 18, you move onto the rest of the middle layer - next to the music hall, is the dining area - again there are some neat touches like the parquet style flooring which looks great, followed by a couple of dining tables and some chairs - the use of ‘Technic’ cams as the chair backs is very inspired and again, it bought a smile to my face - incorporating certain elements in totally different ways from their intended use is for me, what Lego design is all about - you can’t help but be inspired as you build - that can only be a good thing in my book.

Once you hit bag 22, (The top deck & helm?) - things start to now get REALLY tall! I'll be honest, even though I'd looked at the build dozens of times before starting it, I really wasn’t prepared for just how tall this model gets (over 400mm!) - The steam stacks tower up over everything and despite dreading the part where you have to thread the supplied string all around the deck though little black clips (I think these are called ‘cleats’ in the real world?) and up and around the stacks etc, it was actually quite enjoyable to do (Like a ‘mini challenge, part way through the build 😂).

After the top deck with helm, you finally reach the closing stages and move onto making the paddle itself… Ok, I'll be honest - this is probably the most repetitive 2 bags of the model (29/30) - however, they aren’t just repetitive (Takes less than 10–15min) - they are ‘Painful…. Literally’ 😳 - I strongly suggest you send your thumb on an intensive training regime now in readiness 😂 - I’ll say no more!

Once the pain of 29/30 is a distant memory, you finish off the model by making the boarding ramps (which adds even MORE length!) and finally the display stand.