LEGO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

Join the astronauts in orbit with this excellent model

We can imagine that the International Space Station (ISS) might be a divisive set among LEGO collectors – we’re emphasising ‘collector’ because this is one of those sets that’s definitely not meant to be a toy. For spaceflight fans, the finished model is an excellent representation of the ISS. It’s got great stature, with the 49-centimetre (20-inch) central truss and the huge solar arrays adding depth, nicely finished off with a UCS-style plaque. On the other hand, LEGO fans looking for an interesting and stable build might be disappointed.

The International Space Station is part of the LEGO Ideas line, based on a design by LEGO fan Christoph Ruge. It’s nicely presented in its box, which has a lift-up lid rather than having to break open a seal at the side.

We tend to find that the boxes with lids and a tray are better for putting all the pieces in while building to avoid accidentally knocking any onto the floor. Inside are six bags of bricks, plus a chunky 128-page manual. In reality, it took more than 40 spaceflights – including 36 Space Shuttle flights – over about a dozen years for astronauts to build the ISS module by module. Now you can build it in a couple of hours, and unlike the real one, you won’t have to de-orbit it!

Bag one contains several mini-builds, including a fantastic snub-nosed space shuttle to give you something to swoosh around and a handful of small, simple capsules. Bag two is the stand, which uses a large black 6-by-16 plate as a base and features four stanchions niftily held in place by Technic pins, on top of which sits a cradle to hold the space station.