Set Review ➟ 60026 Town Square
The CITY range is not only Policemen and Firemen. On the 2nd half of each year we usually find some interesting sets. This year one of the star sets is the reference 60026 Town Square.
We have had the opportunity to build it before its official launch and tell you our opinion about the set... which, I can advance, it's very positive.
The set is a scene in the central square of any city. There are a lot of different elements to bring this square to life. The box is smaller compared with the sets of last year, and it is around 70% full of bricks. I can consider that this set is a new interpretation of the set 7641 - CITY Corner, but more modern and with more elements.
The building experience is very nice. It is separated in 5 different parts (and instruction booklets), to allow kids to build it easily. Those 5 steps are:
- Monument and street sweeper
- Bus
- Pizzeria
- Bike Shop
- Building crane
The set has officially 8 minifigs, although the monument has a 9th one, a reproduction of a medieval warrior with a sword and a shield.
Monument and street sweeper
In the first bag we build the monument and the street sweeper. There are 2 minifigures, the warrior, a dog, the basement for the warrior and the vehicle.
The first minifigure is a kid (with short legs) with a skateboard in a brand new colour (purple). The second minifigure is the driver of the street sweeper (a female). It has a new cap with a hole on the top to fix the hearing protection (another new part). The dog is the same than the last Police Station with the head decorated.
The street sweeper is different than the launched last year’s. It is more like a lawnmower with a big brush in the front. It is green and it has different wheel sizes in the front and rear.
The monument has a gray base and some decoration (dark gray frogs). As I told before, the monument represents a medieval warrior. It is all built in light stone gray, reproducing marble. It has a shield and a sword. It also has a commemorative plaque with a year (1432) and some lines reproducing text. I suppose that the year represents 500 years before the foundation of LEGO (1932).
Bus
When I first saw the pictures of the set I felt in love with the bus. Compared with the bus of the set 7641, it is longer and its design is more modern. The designers have also changed the main colour, from yellow to black and red. This could allow us to have two different companies operating in the same city.
The chassis of the bus is similar than the old one. There is not a lot of work to do on this. It should be as wide as possible and without many levels. Over the chassis there are 7 seats for the passengers.
The doors are the same used in the past for the LEGO trains, which makes me think that we will have in the near future new trains with that doors. The doors are black and there is a sticker with the LEGO trains logo. Beside the doors, both sides are glass.
Entering the bus we can find the machine for the tickets, just beside the driver, the 3rd minifigure of the set. On the rear side there is no glass, but the form reproduced with the bricks remembers me the rear of the typical line buses. The bus has some advertises on both sides and the rear. They advertise the CITY Museum (Set 60008), the pizzeria and the bike shop we are going to build in the next steps.
One thing I don’t like is that there is a rare holes between both doors and the wheels. I don’t know why the designers have not used any special building technique here but when you look to that place, it looks really weird and it seems that there is something missing.
The line of the bus is 143 CITY, so I don’t really know which route follows the bus. There is also a bus sign and it clarifies a bit the destination of the bus. 143 goes to CITY Center, 166 to the park and 319 to the Museum. It would have been nice if the designers had added stickers for that other two lines.
Pizzeria
The pizzeria somehow remembers me the old Breezewey cafe (6376). Perhaps by its structure, with the curved panels in the center and the tables inside and outside.
There are 3 minifigs in this step. The pizza-man, and two citizens (male and female). Its strange that in the cover of the instruction booklet there is a red bike but it is built in the step 4.
The pizzeria has a main building, a small terrace and a small patio for the trash bins. The colour of the building is lime and black. Interesting combination. The entrance door is in the middle of the building. In the left side there is a table for 2 and in the right side there is the kitchen. Inside there is a stove, a sink and a smoke extractor. Curiously there is no oven for the pizzas…
Beside this kitchen there is a cupboard with a computer for the orders and the bills. On the roof inside the building there is a fan for the warmest days of the summer.
At the patio outside there is a board with the menu and two trash bins. On the other side, there is a table with two chairs and an umbrella.
Finally there are two plant pots with flowers on both sides of the front door.
Bike Shop
For me it is one of the tops of the set, once I built it. The bike shop is an interesting building and with some details never seen before.
Of course this 4th step starts building the proprietor of the shop in blue mechanic dress. The bike shop is a two-story corner building with a huge shop window. It has a revolving door to access inside. On the main floor there are some elements like a cupboard for the helmets, two stands for t-shirts, a desk and a computer. In the pavement there are two drains and a hydrant.
All the corner is covered by a rounded white marquee to protect the customers against the rain. A advertisement board is on the pavement with the latest offers of the shop (in this case 50% off helmets). On the first floor there is a black and orange floor. The black 2x2 tiles have a stud on center to fix the motorbikes on sell. At this moment there is a Custom motorbike and a motocross motorbike in the shop.
All the main façade is covered by glass. On the column at the corner opposite the entrance there are two bicycles (red and light blue) placed vertically to save space. There is also a cupboard with caps and helmets.
In the roof there is a big board with the name of the shop. There is a small mistake here, in my opinion, because the board can freely rotate 360 degrees. Placing two 1x1 round tiles as you can see in the picture solves this small issue.
Looking at the complete building it is something fresh and new in the CITY sets, and I really love it.
Building crane
This is the last part of the set and this is the one I had more doubts before building the set. Why a crane only to place the monument? Well the crane itself is one of the bests I’ve seen in the CITY range. It is not too big and has some nice details.
Here there is the last minifig of the set, the crane driver.
Of course the crane is big, but the size is scaled to the rest of the set. It has 6 wheels and there are 4 extensible feet to improve stability when the crane is moving a huge load (32 Tons). The feet can be stored below the arm.
The arm can rotate around 210 degrees and can go up to 45 degrees high.
The cabin allows to put 2 minifigs and it has doors!!! It has also mirrors on both sides and there is another new part (at least it is the first time I see it), a new slope curved inverted 1 x 4. The crane is 8 stud wide.
Conclusion
This new set is very interesting. It has a variety of very different elements inside, lots of minifigs, details and accessories. There are modern vehicles and modern buildings. It is not juniorised and there is a lot of building time and fun. All the CITY fans should congratulate with this set and it will become a must have. You won’t be disappointed.
1982
