Customer Reviews

LEGOŽ Creator Taj Mahal (10189)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love this set. It is my first LEGO set and I'm 47 years old! When I was a kid in the 60's I had an Erector Set and loved it. I knew two kids with LEGO. One had a Mother from Germany, and the other had an Airline Pilot for a Father.

I was creating my LeGummies Lego brick shaped Gummi Candy Instructable for Instructables.com and needed some Lego pieces to make the silicone candy mold.

I looked around for a general set of assorted pieces and couldn't find one in a store. I went to Lego.com, saw this set and fell in love. At the time it was still exclusive and could only be purchased from Lego.com so I bought it there.

I'm an architecture fan (I've given historic architecture tours for over 20 years - it's my passion). Since the Taj Mahal is arguably the most beautiful building in the world, I had to have it.

I was concerned the model would not do the building justice. I thought it might look like a cartoon with broadly drawn details. Boy was I wrong. The model is stunning. There are small gorgeous details that can only be seen when you get close.

When standing more than a few feet away, you can see that the proportions are wonderful.

People see a set like this and often think it must be full of custom parts that are only useful, or used in this model. I don't think there are any parts that only work for this model. It seems that these pieces are all stock. When you see them up close you realize they were not designed for this use, but to be something entirely different. As an example most of the beautiful decorative curved details are made of parts from hinges.

When I received the box I was lucky enough to have the next 3 days free. I started building immediately and didn't stop except to eat, sleep and shower. I enjoyed building it so much I did not want to stop. I finished it at the end of the 3rd day. If it were spread out over time in 2 hour spurts, it could be a fun project that would entertain for a couple of weeks.

It is huge, but it is built in modules, so it is easy to move. The base is 6 rectangular blocks that are locked together with pegs. The building sits on the base, but isn't locked to it. It sits perfectly and doesn't move, but the fact that it isn't hooked to the base makes easy to lift off. The building is solidly built. If you want to move it, just lift off the building, disconnect the six base pieces and carry them to another location then easily reconnect them, and set the building back down in the center.

I didn't find any clear separation in the many bags of parts. Some seemed to be bagged up by the module they are used in, but others seemed to be scattered in different bags. I went ahead and sorted all the parts before beginning. It took a few hours, but I was glad I'd done it. With this many pieces, looking for them one at a time would have been frustrating.

When building you start with the base modules. The 4 rectangles that make up the sides are mirror images so you build them at the same time. The front and back centers are different so you build them individually (the front has a staircase inside) Then you build four matching corners, and four door porticos. Those are hooked together with pegs and then you add the roof which ties them all together very solidly.

You build the central dome separately - it's a fun build all by itself, and four smaller domes. Put these 5 domes in place and you are done.

The only area in my apartment that was large enough to hold it, was the top of my refrigerator and there it sits looking beautiful. I enjoy it every day.

There were no missing pieces, and not very many extras so keep track of everything while you build it - a challenge with almost 6,000 pieces.

I used some battery powered led light strings that are meant to go into holiday door wreaths to light the inside. A single light bulb in the center would work just as well. I only turn it on for special occasions. It looks stunning lit up from the inside. (I only wish there was a way to easily get lights into the tops of the minarets without visible wires, or drilling).

If you enjoy a challenging, and long build, and are an architecture fan like me, you will love this set.

It is not scaled to MiniFigs and does not include any.

This is a GREAT set!!!! Looks very nice when completed and was a ton of fun to put together. The set itself is built very solidly except for the tower sections that get placed on the corners. They can be a little wobbly when moving around so I would recommend leaving them down until you are completely finished or place a small amount of glue down to increase stability. I would highly recommend this set to anyone looking for a good challenge and something to spend some extra time on.

A cool LEGO set to own and show off. However, you can buy directly from LEGO's website for $299.99 (as of Nov. 2008).

My son loved building this Lego after Christmas. Came "as new" in original
package. WAY overpaid as this was unavailable on the Lego website just
before Christmas. But I did get was I was looking for.... :)

My daughter (11 years old) and I built this over the course of two weeks. I work two jobs, and since she's in school with all the homework and extra-curricular activites that entails, we were only able to build in many 1-2 hour stretches over that two-week period. This set is by far the largest set I own, about twice as many pieces as some of the other sets (UCS Death Star II, UCS Star Destroyer, Eiffel Tower). My son (16 years old) intends to tackle this as a solo-building challenge.

The biggest suggestion I would have is to make sure you have the time and space set aside to properly sort your pieces. At 5900+ pieces, sorting saves a huge amount of hassles / headaches down the road. Most of the pieces in this set are 1x1 plates in varying colors - these can be put into small bins or baggies. As we tend to build and rebuild my sets, I will be sorting the pieces and putting them into individual baggies and bins for storage.

I am an architect, so it's always interesting to me to build Lego renditions of real-life structures. This set appears to get the basic proportions great, and there are lots of nice little details (the windows, arches, color separations, alternating ridge checkerboards, center steps to name a few (but not all) of my favorites. The onion domes are great examples of SNOT (Studs Not On Top) building techniques. The size of this set appears just about perfect for the detailing it contains - very nice balance overall.

i bought this at the request of my 9 year old twin boys. the other lego sets would not do. only this huge set meant for older kids. it will take them a few months to complete and it is very complicated. other sets come with instructions and numbering that this one does not. but that is the point of it being more difficult than something meant for younger kids. they have the base of the thing done so far. it is great for them, challenging and educational, and time-consuming on a concentrated effort.

I received the product in tact with original pack with all pieces in tact. Delivery was on time. Building this ICON was really moment of satisfaction. Unlike any other LEGO product, this ICON piece gave me immense satisfaction in looking at the finished product from 6000 pieces. It is worth spending that much money.

It is not as hard to build as it seems to be. My 8 year old son built it within 3-4 days. Instructions are easy to follow, but some help to find the pieces will be neccesary. Besides, there is almost no extra pieces so sometimes it is very hard to find the last one. In our case there were 4 missing pieces. It is a beautiful set, definitely. We added a lamp inside and it looks great. I do not believe it worths the price, way to high. To take the pieces apart is going to be quite an adventure too, because they are so small. It should come with characters and extra pieces.

Fantastic!

On first sight it was overwhelming. Almost 6,000 pieces. Huge. Insane. But the instructions take you through step by step, and working on it part time for half an hour after dinner, it was done inside of four weeks.

The end result is incredible. It is a large model that takes up space on my largest coffee table. I have been to the real thing, and this model does it justice. I am very satisfied!

Bravo Lego!

This was requested by my grandson. He loved it-my only issue was the cost and the fact that it only took an 11 year old about 4 hours to put together with minimal use of the instructions. Otherwise it was a great buy and Amazon has great delivery.