Building The Council of Elrond

The most recent addition to my Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit collection, the Council was a lucky find.  I passed it on in the toy stores with the idea of `later, later`... and then suddenly it went out.  

Luckily, when looking for school utensils two days ago, the GF rang me and said they had them still in that store, and brought one along, knocking me back only 23 euros for a set.

Now, the Smurf already has this one in his collection, and I am really amazed by the elegance of the model.  It `feels` and `looks` elvish, and I think it is a great set for display purposes.

Opening the box you get two bags, the first being the assembly area, the second the elven structure.  A small sticker sheet to go with bag 1 and an instruction booklet, and to finish it off 4 minifigs are in the box.

Okay, so you get yet another Frodo and a Gimli, but you also get an unarmoured Elrond (I already have the one that came with the PS3 game and which is the cause of starting me back in Lego) and a Lady Arwen.  And both elves are truly magnificent models.

So construction works started on the base of the table part, and the play feature here is a catapult that can launch a model away from the table, revealing the Eye of Sauron when during that.

This is all covered up nicely, so it isn`t visible when the model is `closed up`.  This is to reflect the scene where Gimli tries to smash the One Ring and is then repelled.

The One Ring, which lies proudly on the pedestal.

The other stickers are to add pattern to the chairs.  I really want to know the adress of the interior designer of Rivendell ;-)

Add a tree to the whole build, and bag 1 is finished.

Bag 2 is about the elvish portal building standing alongside the gathering area.

It features an elegant tiered staircase, a pattern I should try to remember to copy somewhere one day in my own MoC`s.

As you can see, the Technic pins are the parts that connect the portal to the gathering area, while another tree is nicely incorporated into the side of the building with it`s white arches.

The roof is a simple yet elegant build, and after connecting it to the pillar parts, bag 2 is completed.

All that remains now is connect both parts together and put it in the cabinets with the rest of the collection...

This is a very elegant set and at the cheap price I paid for it, a nice addition to the collection.  I`ve also calculated the total price of all the remaining Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit sets I still miss, and let`s say I got to trade off a LOT of cards still to get it all completed, but never the less the hunt is on to get this all done before the series completely retires and becomes very hard to find!