10252 Volkswagen Beetle Review

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Total votes: 5

Ice
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10252 Volkswagen Beetle Review

Post by Ice » Mon Dec 26, 2016 1:17 pm

Set Name: 10252 Volkswagen Beetle
Theme: Creator/Expert
Release Date: August 1st, 2016
Piece Count: 1167
Minifig Count: None
Age Rating: 16+
Cost: $99.99 USD / $129.99 CAD / £69.99 GBP / €89,99 EUR / 799,00 DKK

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Official LEGO Product Description
Celebrate the iconic VW Beetle with this awesome LEGO® Creator Expert reproduction. This detailed model comprises a number of special features and elements that help recreate the distinctive Beetle characteristics, including an azure-blue colour scheme, curved fenders, flat windshield, VW logo, and an authentic 4-cylinder air-cooled engine and fuel tank. The accessible interior features beige-coloured, forward-tilting seats, dashboard and steering wheel, and the roof-mounted surfboard and a cooler box can be removed. This model has been designed to provide a challenging and rewarding building experience with a touch of nostalgia.

• 1960s VW Beetle with surfer theme features an array of brick-built details including an azure-blue color scheme, curved fenders, white rims with distinctive hubcaps, round headlights, wing-mounted turn signals and opening hood, trunk and doors.
• Choose from four different license plate stickers to customize your model.
• Remove the cooler box and surfboard from the roof rails.
• Tilt the rear seat forward to access the storage space with fabric beach towel.
• Lift the hood to access the spare tire and fuel tank.
• Open the trunk to reveal the authentic, 4-cylinder air-cooled engine.
• Open the doors or remove the roof section to access the detailed beige-colored interior with dashboard, steering wheel and tiltable front and back seats.
• Check out the awesome brick-built details!
• Special elements include a round tile with printed VW logo, arched fender elements and an updated windshield design.
• This set includes over 1,000 LEGO® pieces
• This set offers an age-appropriate building experience for ages 16+.
• VW Beetle including surfboard and cooler measures over 5” (15cm) high, 11” (29cm) long and 4” (12cm) wide.
The Volkswagen Beetle set is one of the latest LEGO modular vehicles to be released. Like many of the other LEGO Creator Expert sets, this was originally only available for sale exclusively at LEGO Brand Stores and LEGO Shop at Home. However, it became available at major retailers (online) a few months later. An alternative of the Beetle would be LEGO 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van. Forum member dr_spock has written a review for that set here.

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There's also a mini version of 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van as well. This set is known as 40079 Mini Volkswagen Van and the review for the mini set is available here. Will LEGO make a mini version of 10252 Volkswagen Beetle as well? Only time will tell!

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The other modular vehicles that are currently available for purchase from LEGO includes 10242 MINI Cooper and 10248 Ferrari F40.

So what features does 10252 Volkswagen Beetle have and what makes it different compared to the other modular vehicles? Read on below to find out!

Box Packaging

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This is the box for the set. It has a nice depiction showing the Beetle near a beach along with a closer look at the surfboard and the top view of the Beetle.

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The top of the box showcases the various pieces in this set. It does not show the minifigures because there is none in this set. Instead of a 1:1 minfigure image, there's a 1:1 image for a LEGO piece.

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Another side of the box - this time, its showing the LEGO version of the Beetle compared to the actual one! Looks quite similar except the LEGO one has a shorter length and higher height.

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This side of the box shows the LEGO Volkswagen Beetle along with different languages for it. I believe there's French, Danish and a few others.

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Bottom of box. Nothing too special here!

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The back of the box shows the various features of the set. Yes, you can open the doors, the top, the truck and the front storage.

Contents

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Here are the contents of the set. The build is separated into three stages (1,2,3) as identified on the bag packaging. The instruction booklet and sticker sheet does not have protective packaging like in some of the other LEGO sets. Did LEGO stop having protective packaging for the instructions now? Unfortunately, there's a sticker sheet for the set which means many pieces are not printed.

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The instructions booklet teaches you how to use the brick separator that is included in the set. It also tells you that you start with bag packaging 1 incase you aren't aware what the numbers on the bags represent.

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There's an interesting little box here in the set. What could it be?

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In the box, its a little white elastic piece!

The Build - Bag 1

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The build quickly escalates into solidifying the base of the model. The white elastic piece goes between two pieces - potentially one the functions later on?

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After the base build, you start covering up the set with smooth pieces.

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The back of the set, now with backlights.

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These are the remaining pieces after bag 1 has been completed.

The Build - Bag 2

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Here's the bag 2 contents. Lots of blue, beige, grey and black pieces!

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There's a nice orange cloth which we would use later on. We also have a few small printed pieces as well. Included are a Volkswagen symbol along with driving meter pieces. Looks like its not all stickers! (:

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This is where the LEGO cloth piece fits. Additional pieces are added on to the model.

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A typical page of the build. I like how they make the instructions easy to understand by building smaller pieces and then putting it into the model.

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Above, you can see that the model is starting to look more like the one in the box.

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End of bag 2 remaining pieces. Suprisingly, we only used 1 driving meter and 1 Volkswagen symbol piece.

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Here is the driving wheel along with where the tiny Volkswagen piece goes. You can move the driving wheel up and down.

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Details for the driving interior includes a gear stick along with the driving meter.

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As mentioned earlier, you can move the driving wheel up or down.

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The back of the Beetle with all four seats built. This is after bag 2 has been completed.

The Build - Bag 3

Stay tune for the bag 3 build along with the finalized model!

Thank you to the LEGO Group for providing us with this set for review. Opinions from this review are directly from Toys N Bricks and do not represent the LEGO Group.

Ice
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Re: 10252 Volkswagen Beetle Review

Post by Ice » Mon Dec 26, 2016 1:18 pm

Reserved for part 2 of the review.

Welcome back to part 2 of the review! I finally got the chance to finish the writeup for this review. (:

The Build - Bag 3

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The pieces for bag 3. We finally get to use those tires!

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Some interesting pieces from this bag. We get a couple of beer bottles, the top of a pop can and the Volkswagen Beetle logo. No stickers here. (:

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A section of the build with the doors open.

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Here is the plastic piece for the windshield. You have two stickers on the sides. ):

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More stickers for the back windows....

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The sticker window goes on top of the trunk.

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Here's how it looks after the window goes on the Beetle.

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The trunk opens up showing the details of the engine!

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The build is finishing up with the top. That's a nice little locker in place to hold on to other goods.

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The wheels for the Beetle. The details for the tires shows the traction on them. Notice that one of the tires look a bit different.

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The width of these two tires are different. We'll find out soon that four of the tires goes on the Beetle while the other one is a spare tire.

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Front of the Beetle before the cover up piece is put on top.

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The front of the Beetle with it opened up.

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That's where the mini tire goes! Notice the details - from the lights to the angles of how the Beetle is shaped.

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Here, we start building the mini red cooler to store all of our drinks!

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The two beer bottles along with ice cubes are stored to keep everything nice and cool! The perfect drinks to accompany a summer adventure.

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The cooler all built up. Kinda cute!

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When the cooler is all opened up.

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This is where the cooler goes on the Beetle. It fits nicely and perfectly.

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Your summer adventure isn't complete without a surfboard! In this set, you get to build a yellow one.

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It fits again nicely on top of the Beetle next to the mini cooler.

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One thing to note though is that it can slide down easily, especially when kids are playing with it. As such, this set is probably best for adults or to be put on display.

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Next up, we build the license plates. Unfortunately, they are all stickers.

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This is where it goes on the front of the Beetle.

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And this is where it goes on the back of the Beetle. Lots of stickers! ):

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You also get a couple of other alternative license plates which is quite neat.

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Sticker sheet and remaining pieces from Bag 3.

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Leftover pieces from the whole set (bag 1-3). That's a lot of extra pieces!

Final Model

Now, let's have a look at the final model and some of the functions.

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The door opened. Notice the details even for the interior of the door.

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The door closed.

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Not that we're going to look at the bottom of the Beetle regularly, but it does show that it is quite bare.

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The back of the Beetle.

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Everything opened up and viewed from an angle side.

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The view of the complete Volkswagen Beetle!

Final Opinion

This set would be great for adult collectors as it looks good when its put up on display. For kids however, they may get bored a lot quicker than sets with minifigures.

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With that said, the bottom of the Beetle is a bit lacking. Printed pieces would also have been better compared to applying stickers onto them. There's quite a few stickers. Fortunately, the Volkswagen logo piece is printed. We're also not going to constantly look at the bottom of the Beetle so that is a minor issue.

At $99.99 USD / $129.99 CAD, this set is not too bad in pricing when compared to the piece ratio. With printed pieces, the price would probably go up. While it is a little over the golden piece ratio of $0.1/piece, the details of the model along with the pieces that you get makes up for it.

Overall, another solid LEGO Volkswagen set created by LEGO. The set is available at various LEGO Shop at Home Countries (USA | Canada | UK) and at Amazon.com.

Thank you for reading the review! What do you think of this set overall?

Thank you to the LEGO Group for providing us with this set for review. Opinions from this review are directly from Toys N Bricks and do not represent the LEGO Group.

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askthelegoguy
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Re: 10252 Volkswagen Beetle Review

Post by askthelegoguy » Sat Jan 07, 2017 1:40 pm

Ice do you like this set as much as the Mini Cooper?

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Re: 10252 Volkswagen Beetle Review

Post by StClair » Sun Jan 08, 2017 7:41 pm

That blue is so beautiful. Nice review so far.

Ice
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Re: 10252 Volkswagen Beetle Review

Post by Ice » Fri Jan 13, 2017 1:52 pm

Part 2 of the review has been updated! (:

Ice
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Re: 10252 Volkswagen Beetle Review

Post by Ice » Fri Jan 13, 2017 1:52 pm

askthelegoguy wrote:Ice do you like this set as much as the Mini Cooper?
I haven't built that set yet. But I will try to review that in the near future.

But comparing 10252 Volkswagen Beetle to 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van, I have to say that there's more interior and functions for 10220. Both look good on display though.

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