Lego 10263 – Winter village fire station is part of the Creator Expert range and is also part of the yearly winter set release, this was 2018 version, they are normally around for almost the year but do go very rare and highly sort after, much like the rest of the Expert ranges. It has 1166 pieces and 6 mini-figures ( though there’s a baby and a statue Minifigure so maybe 8), its retail prices are £84.99 which means being an own branded item (not licensed) you get far more pieces for your buck.

I love Xmas, and to be honest the Winter ranges and Expert was one of the reasons for me to start my collection of Lego, I missed outright at the beginning of this range but since then have bought all and any Winter branded items, but this set was a take on a normal building but winter themed. When I saw winter-themed I mean a little quirky, old school building with Xmas items.

Though bigger helped me on a couple of bits being an expert set I did the majority of this, as it was a little fiddly in parts, I’m also not doing my normal review of per bag, as Expert sets have fewer bags and more pieces in one go, so I will be talking about each part.

MiniFigures…

The Mini figures are a nice variety, at first I thought it would just be the firefighters male and female, there are 3 , 2 of them are standard lego pieces with a black uniform and one style face o the traditional yellow head, however, they do both come with hair aswell and helmets.

The firefighter chief is slightly different with his face but ultimately it’s the same uniform again, he also has a Helmet etc. With the firefighters is the trust Dalmatian dog, historically linked to the service for many years so it’s a nice touch here, Lego has a history of putting dogs with the Police or firefighters. he comes with his own bone as a treat.

A saxophonist joins them to add some Xmas sparkle around the area, he looks great with a black outfit and dark green epaulettes and stylish hat, he has a golden saxophone to play on. There are two more Generic style Lego minifgures, one male with hat, jumper, skates and a hockey stick ready for some play(more to come) and secondly a lady with a cute scarf and an, even more, cuter baby,

I’ve not seen these often but they are becoming more frequent with coloured jumpsuits and all in one style figure, the bay is being pushed on a sledge, simple in design with  some quick brown pieces and sword esc piece for the skates, which being gold is fine as a design.

The Outside…

The scenery around the building includes a frozen over fountain skate area, for the hockey player to skate on, this is cool, simple to create but the fountain looks great, and the edges being curved with the golden trim carries the theme, I’ve always been a fan of the water style effect like this and works perfectly for me.

Like the ice rink the bench and lampost is on a while platform, benches are common now and easy to build, no thrills but adequate, the lampost is nice as its a little different to normal, a double lantern version with a red style almost being a traditional victorian effect. A snowman is also around, he’s easy to build though his hat and carrot is fun.

The Christmas tree, is another version of a tree, there one of the most common things I the winter sets obviously and have been made in all sorts of ways, this one seemed a little simple, with a straight middle and studs showing, with 3 identical angle pieces with red and yellow in, all positioned around it, with a lovely star (that’s been around before) placed on the top, a couple of toys and presents made to be placed at the bottom.

An old-style Fire truck sits outside (can’t really fit in all the way as the building isn’t big enough, but it is wide enough) with an open style top and a ladder that ascends upwards, its a great design as its different to the Lego city ones that are out, its an early 20th Century style one. I’ve read that people had criticized the simple style but I’m fine with that, it’s a vintage one, older than the curved style one from the Big creator firehouse set.

The silver and red with little lights sticking out look great, very much a classic car feel, with some hoses on the sides and blue toolbox in tow.

The Building…

The Fire station itself is a half build design, which means it has the front and a showcase of rooms just inside, not a complete building like the bigger creator sets out there. But this is fire as the other ones in this range are done the same, not my choice as I’ve said before but I’m ok with it.

The front though looks excellent, to match the platforms dotted around it also is on white flat pieces, with snow type pieces places around the building, the green and red plants (wreathes) add that Xmas feel on a building along with the use of while slats on edges.

A couple of lanterns hang from the building like the lampost,  with space for the snowman in the grounds on one side, the other side is the distinctive red fire hose connectors, behind that is black stairs, with more snow trim leading up the first floor.

The building is decked in golden and creme style colours along with the traditional grey and red, much used in all things fire within the lego city world, let alone the bigger creator set and the ghostbuster firehouse. The doors through a stunning lighter red, with the rest of the doors being white. The roof is detachable and has a little flag sitting on top, there’s also a light brick to help light up inside and the chimney etc.. the Tower stands out and to me makes the building exceptional with it.

On the inside there is some play value, though if you’re just displaying then this also works much better, downstairs flanking the entry of the firetruck is a double set of doors and a small pole, which I find quite disappointing compared to other fire sets, the other side is some utility-style equipment, fire extinguishers, axe, pickaxe and storage of helmets.

Upstairs which because of the half designed can only be accessed via the stairs out the front, has a kitchen, table, chairs, rug, and sleeping area including a foldable bed and dog corner. This sounds a lot but its all small versions and fits on this one floor, I can see what they were doing, trying to fit a representation of it all but to me it doesn’t feel right, on display, I would be keen on showing the inside that much personally.

Overall…

Overall I’m biased and gonna say this is great, obviously, but there are lots to like about this, the theme does continue from the other area village areas, so if you were making a village it’s great, as a one-off type purchase? maybe not for you. The Building front the front looks great but the rooms inside aren’t brilliant with limited detail based on space, the extras you get dotted around like the ice rink, bench, lampost, tree, snowman and fire tuck are all good, especially the rink.

The mini-figure selection is fine, I would have liked more, either more figures or more differences in the firefighters, the baby addition is nice aswell as the grey mini-figure used for that fountain. But it’s a great little set, and fits that little winter village perfectly so for me in my Xmas display? Great!