Building Christmas part 1: Santa`s Workshop

Every year, people accuse me of not getting in the holiday spirit enough.  So this year, I decided to join in and put up my own series of decorations.

Decorations being of course this year`s Lego release, Santa`s Workshop, set 10245 and a shelf on the `memorabilia closet`.  So as soon as Saint-Nicolas had past (yesterday), I sat down and started building (the whole night).

Opening the box, you get nine polybags, namely three each of 1, 2 and 3, as well as a small sticker sheet and 2 instructrion booklets.  Now, I usually don`t sticker sets which I don`t tend to plan on keeping whole, but for this one I`m making an exception and will put them on, even though the set will be deconstructed after the holiday seasons.

The set of 1 bags will provide all the parts for the sled, the raindeers, and the small additions to the set.  Bags labelled 2 will be building the house, while number 3 will be providing the elements for the elven workshop part of the house as well as the Winter Wonder Machine (aka, the toy maker machine).

Starting with the 1s, we get our first of the 6 included minifigures, Santa Claus himself.

Building up firstly is the young reindeer, with it`s short antlers and shorter legs then those that pull the sleigh.

Next up is the pole that tells us just where we are exactly in the land of fairy tales...

Thirdly, we get the christmas tree.

But then it is time to start the main build of these plastic bags, the reindeer pulled sleigh of Santa.  Small note of critique after building this, I think one of the reindeers should have had a red instead of brown stud for a nose ;-)

The set includes many handy elements in true Creator tradition, and in very intresting colours like the dark green of the sleigh`s main 'hull'.

Using an inverted technique, the sides of the sled are attached to the bodywork.

Next up is building all 4 of the reindeers.  You have the option to either build them fully backed like with the minifig horses, or `open` and ready to be attached to the sleigh.  I went of course for the second option.

Once the reindeers are connected to the sleigh, the only thing remaining now is to of course put in all the gifts!

And such concludes the first number of bags, and we get a nice selection of small extra pieces, as well as one of those long tubes extra.

Going to the 2 series of bags, we are greeted by Madame Claus and a lovely dish of pastries.

This part of the build will see us create the house itself where the Clauses` live.

The walls are build up to reflect the typical northern european, 18th / 19th century style architecture, including overhangs, columns etc...

Adding snow to the overhang of the next floor, as well as some candy bars next to the door, we get an very nice looking house already. 

On the inside is my absolute winner, on the sticker sheet is one of Santa and his lady on holiday, in summer clothing, with a cap reading `Fiji`.  It`s a small detail and will often be overlooked, but I thought it hilarious and giggled over it enthousiastically.  The GF just looked at me oddly though...

On the second floor, we find that Santa still has a lot of work to do as there is a whole stack of mail lying around.

So we provide him with a good comfy chair to have a look at it all!

The ladder is added to go from the living room to the office.

Then we start building up the exterior again, as the big clock is added to the front of the house. 

With the chimney, the roof plates and the sign in place, the second part is also done and another selection of nice pieces for the bits boxes.

So for the final build, it`s time to bring out the Elves.  They even LOOK as having that kind of mischievous streak we get to seen in all those Santa movies nowadays hehe.

Starting by laying the foundations of the toy workshop, this part comes with a good looking, glass edged window.

The effect is created by adding arches to it, achieving the pointed look of the window.

Of course, there is the Santa motivational poster and to do checklist for the elves.

The workbech is then added to the inside.

Next we continue with building up the exterior, and the `teeth and cheeseslope` is something I`m definitly going to borrow for my Mitgardian builds to add some snowy feel to houses.

The roofplate then is next on the menu and comes with a rope to attach all sorts of lanterns and make it looks all the merrier.

The build is then connected to the house from part two and the building is completed.

Now it`s time to build the toy machine.

Levers and buttons are added to make it look as a utility belt that chunks out microscale toys, in this case a yellow racing car and what looks like a sort of Benny`s Spaceship.

The completed machine, and another heap of nice additional pieces.  The set comes with a large selection of extras, not to bad and all very usuable in builds.

The completed set

And here it is on display, on the closet.  I also have the small expansion set, the elven set, but didn`t go for the second exclusive past weekend, the ice skating ramp, as that didn`t really fit in with the Workshop.  But that build is for a little while later and a new post ;-)