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1000 Steine Land is an AFOL event in Germany, and this car was made as a custom kit for the show. There are not very many of them, as there were only 300 made. Here is the model in front of the box. The box and manual art are both well done, and the style reminds me a little bit of the old Legoland sets.
The manual is of high quality printing and very easy to follow. The decal sheet that came with it appears to be from one of the old Spider-Man sets. Mine only came with one, but should have come with 2, because there is only one little badge decal per sheet. It wasn't a big deal because I had an extra one. You still have a lot of extra stickers when you are done. Side note on the stickers: I had to trim the decals with scissors to fit them properly, but that was only because there were unnecessarily large areas of clear, unused space. In other words, it's pretty difficult to mess them up.
The end of the manual even gives you some suggestions for alternative parts. I suspect the reasons some of these weren't used was due to their expense.
Here is a pic of the car overall. My apologies for the picture quality. But you can see that this is a very good likeness of an American police car. And for being a custom piece, every part appeared to be new. Even the chrome daggers were still attached to their plastic holders.
The build uses numerous more advanced building techniques. The trunk is SNOTed on the rear. The "rims"(don't know the real name) surrounding the wheels use headlight bricks with 1x1 slopes SNOTed on their sides. More proof as to how useful they can be. I also love the use of chrome daggers as fenders.
The interior is just as detailed. Although it's difficult to see in this picture, there is a black lattice fence piece to separate the criminals from the officer. Unfortunately, it cannot sit a minifig inside. But this is more intended for show rather than play. A minifig still looks great alongside it. And as the 2nd pic shows, it goes great alongside my other 6-wide vehicles.
The sturdy box the kit came in also doubles nicely as a storage container for the finished model.
And for a final look at the pros and cons...
Pros:
-Looks fantastic and is a realistic looking rendition of an NY police car
-A more advanced build with special building techniques
-Detailed exterior and interior
-Parts in new/like new condition
-Professional looking instruction manual
-Nice, strong, reusable box
-Only 3 decals used on the model, so there are several other types of decals you can save for later
Cons:
-As with most custom kits, this one is a little pricey. But that is to be expected, especially with such limited numbers made.
-Cannot seat a minifigure.
-If you like functional doors, this model doesn't have them.
My final verdict:
If you can find it, this set is very much worth purchasing for a reasonable amount. The pros outweigh the cons, and it looks fantastic. I just love it and am looking forward to see what next year's event kit will look like. Even if you can't buy this kit, there is still hope. As I've said in another topic, I bought this from the designer, and he sounded like he was interested in selling other custom kits on bricklink. So you might get a chance to see more of his work, and I'm sure any custom work he would be doing would be just as high of a quality as this kit was. His bricklink store is called "joerilla" if you would like to see what else he has to offer, now and in the future. Well, I hope you enjoyed my review.
By the way, I know I said I would post instructions, but I gave it second thought, at least for the time being. I think I should talk to Joe before scanning the manual, since this is his creation and of his design. I just think it would be proper to ask first.
Edited by Brickadier General, 24 January 2008 - 10:23 PM.
