Review: LEGO Architecture Capitol Records Tower

tomalphin

I had the pleasure of building and reviewing a new custom LEGO Architecture set which was created to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Capitol Records.  The kit is designed by Adam Ward, a talented LEGO artist who does commissioned work, and works at Bricksburg on the LEGO movies. 



'Capitol Records Tower' by Adam Ward. 642 Pieces, 200$, 

Capitol Records Tower is an iconic round tower in Hollywood, California. Many people believe that the circular design is meant to evoke the appearance of a stack of records, but this is just a happy coincidence; the architect proposed the round shape to reduce the building’s construction costs and air conditioning needs.

Capitol Records Tower, 1956, in Hollywood, California, by Louis Naidorf / Welton Becket and Associates. (Photo JCS, CC-BY-SA-3.0)

This is a custom kit containing real LEGO bricks, four stickers, one custom LEGO compatible part, and a high quality box and manual. The packaging is faithful to both the quality and styling of the official LEGO Architecture kits.  (Do be careful with the custom part—it is very thin and more brittle than regular LEGO parts... I broke 1/2cm off the tip by accident.)



High quality instruction manual, glossy stickers, and a promotional card included.

The model is built on a sturdy base measured 16x24 studs, similar in size to other LEGO Architecture sets with a similar number of pieces.  The instruction manual is extremely high quality, and almost all of the steps are clear and easy to follow.  I did encounter a couple steps which were slightly confusing, but nothing too difficult to figure out.



The corner panels need to be slid in from the top.

This is a very good set that captures the spirit of this iconic landmark pretty well. This is especially challenging because round shapes are notoriously difficult to re-create using LEGO. The finished model looks great, especially after applying the stickers (which are very effective at reinforcing the building’s identity.) 

I do wonder if it’s possible to make the tower appear more round without making the model larger by using more than 8 panels. (At least in theory, you could create a model with 14 sides instead of 8 sides while preserving the existing diameter of 28 studs.)

The finished model looks great!

I enjoyed building this kit; it is was pleasure to step inside the mind of a talented LEGO artist with a different building style than the official sets.  I was impressed to see that this kit is comparable in quality to the earlier LEGO Architecture sets, and only slightly less detailed than current sets like the revised Guggenheim Museum building.

This set is recommended for people who already have all of the official LEGO Architecture sets, or people who have a connection with Los Angeles. It's available for purchase for 200$.


NOTE: This review was a generous excerpt of the in-depth review posted on my website.  To read a longer version  of this article with more photos, visit: http://brickarchitect.com/2018/capitol-records-tower-review/ 


Disclaimer: The kit was provided by Adam/Capitol Records for this review, but my opinions are strictly my own.

M1J0E

Cool looking model!  I’ll have to go read the full review.