[Review] LEGO Architecture 21028 New York City

[Ice]

Introduction

LEGO Architecture 21028 New York City is a set released back in 2016. You get to build 5 famous New York City landmarks. The set is recommended for those aged 12+. Contains 598 pieces. Price for the set is $59.99 USD / $74.99 CAD / £44.99 GBP / $69.99 AUD. It is currently temporarily out of stock due to the holiday season at LEGO Shop at Home (USA | Canada | UK | Australia). However, it may come back in-stock at a later time. Search 21028 at the LEGO Shop site to check on availability. 

Official LEGO Product Description

Celebrate the architectural diversity of New York City with this detailed LEGO® brick model. The LEGO Architecture Skyline Collection offers models suitable for display in the home and office, and has been developed for all with an interest in travel, architectural culture, history and design. Each set is scaled to give an accurate representation of the comparative size of each structure, with true-to-life color depiction. This set features the Flatiron Building, Chrysler Building™, Empire State Building, One World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty, and is finished with a decorative “New York City” nameplate.

• LEGO® interpretation of the New York City skyline.
• Features the Flatiron Building, Chrysler Building™, Empire State Building, One World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty.
• The included booklet contains information about the designer, architecture and history of each building, as well as historical facts about New York City and its architectural heritage (English language only. Other languages available for download at LEGO.com/architecture. Ask your parents' or guardians' permission before going online).
• Includes a 4x32 tiled base with decorative “New York City” nameplate.
• Recreate the world's most beautiful cities with the LEGO® Architecture Skyline Collection.
• LEGO® Architecture celebrates the world of architecture through the medium of the LEGO brick, and is developed for all with an interest in design, architecture and history.
• Measures 10” (26cm) high, 9” (25cm) wide and 1” (4cm) deep

Box

Here is the front of the box. Unfortunately, the set that I bought had a bit of box damage.

The back of the box shows some more details regarding each New York City building that you will get to build in the set.

The top of the box shows the actual size of the LEGO microfigure. In this case, the LEGO microfigure is the Statue of Liberty.

Contents & The Build

Inside the box, there's the instructions booklet and a LEGO Architecture product survey leaflet. You'll be entered into a draw to win a prize if you do the survey.

The instructions booklet has pages explaining each building. Here, it talks about the One World Trade Center that was built in 2013.

There are 6 bags of LEGO pieces in the set.

Here are the pieces sorted out. You get an orange brick separator in this set. It took me about 10 minutes to sort the pieces out. 

You get cool pieces in this set including the LEGO microfigure which would be used as a Statue of Liberty. You also get a printed piece for New York City. LEGO sometimes gives us a sticker instead so its definitely a plus its a printed piece this time.

You first start off building the base of the set.

After completing the base, you build the Statute of Liberty. This is probably the simplest build out of the 5 landmarks that you build. 

The next building is the Empire State Building.

Chrylser building is up next.

You then build the Flatiron building. This is probably the second simplest landmark to build after the Statue of Liberty.

Here is the back of the Flatiron building.

Finally, you build the One World Trade Center.

You get some spare pieces including an extra Statue of Liberty microfigure. 

Complete Built Set

This is the complete New York City LEGO Architecture set. The tallest building in the set is the One World Trade Center followed by the Empire State building. Both of these buildings took the longest to build out of the 5 landmarks. 

The landmarks are all detachable which is a nice touch.

Here is the view looking at the skyscrapers from the Statue of Liberty side.

Finally, here's the view from top.

Set Ratings

• Design: 9/10
• Build: 9/10
• Minifigures: N/A
• Playability: 8/10
• Parts: 8.5/10
• Price: 8/10
• Overall rating: 8.5/10

Overall Thoughts

This set took me about 1 hour and 20 minutes to build (includes sorting the pieces). Like most of the LEGO Architecture sets, its not really a set that you play with. After you have finished building it, its used for display purposes. The instructions booklet has some nice featured pages for the landmarks which is great. Though, it is a small set despite the price that you are paying. There's 598 pieces but majority of them are quite small. However, its still an awesome set. Overall, the set shows New York City quite well and is instantly recognizable. Great for adults and for displaying!