Review: 4999 Vestas Power Plant promo set, Picture heavy + video Options

[Lasse D]

Set: 4999 City, Vestas Power Plant
Price:$10 - $2000, depending on how lucky you are!
Year: 2008
Pieces: 795

I finally got my hands on a set, which I had the honor of building, reviewing and borrow for a while.

The box
The box is massive!




But the wind mill even more so


Instructions
Two A4 booklets in the usual LEGO quality.




Minifigs
You get 3 minifigs and a dog, the Vestas logos are stickers.



Van
One might expect a generic vehicle, but the Vestas van is surprisingly detailed with a nice front and a back full of tools.






There is only room for a single minifig, though.

House
The house is like all the good old classics: small, but furnished and with other details to add playability: mailbox, kitchen with oven, sink and drawers and a nice terrace.




The LEDs light up when the mill runs.


Take a look at how the chairs are made!


Hill
Green BURPs and a cute bench among the green makes for a fine hill that hides the battery box.





Tower
Being made out of the huge airplane parts, one could suspect the tower to be a bit lacking in the details department, but it works perfectly in the city set.


The cables are all PF-adapters, so you can use an old 9V transformer to power the creation.


The level of details in this set is incredible. There even is a small door behind the tower.


Turbine
Inside the turbine there is a motor and some gears. A clutch gear prevents you from driving the motor using the wings.



The wings are connected to the tower at an odd angle.




The stickers on the tower take some time to apply, and LEGO didn't hold back on the details here either.


Overall



Conclusion
For a collectible promo set, this one has blown me away. The built has a minimum of repetitions and is varied with everything from a vehicle to Technic. The high level of details makes it a great display model for home and office, but the current price is a tough one to swallow if you only know Vestas employees through Ebay.

The turbine is not completely silent, but drives for many hours on a single charge of batteries and the lights are perfect using only little power and giving lots of light in the dark.

Make sure to do everything in your might to make LEGO release this set for the public next year. It is by far one of the best City sets from 2008.

Built: 10/10. Varied with almost no repetitions.
Price: ??/10. It is a huge set and could support a price in line with the police HQ.
Playability: 10/10. Motor, Light, the turbine turns, there's a lot of interior and even the car has tons of playability!
Parts: 7/10. There are some unique parts (long adapter cables and green BURPs), but the rest of them are relatively ordinary.
Final score: 9/10.

Here is a video where you can see it working.

Brickshelf Gallery

Edit: Added parts count thanks to KimT

This post has been edited by Lasse D: Oct 27 2008, 05:41 PM

[Skipper 24]

Sweet review for a sweet set . You are so lucky to get this set, who did you borrow it from ( I need to break into there house and rob them ) ? I love the hill how it hides the battery box stopping the turbine from being bulky. I din't get the part with the LED in which bit was it? The turbines also sort of look like mini versions of the ones in miniland in Lego land Windsor.

This post has been edited by Skipper 24: Oct 26 2008, 09:23 PM

[Captain Green Ha...]

Excellent review of an excellent set Lasse!
The mill itself looks surprisingly better then i had imagined, and seeing it turn slowly in the video was great.
Too bad the torso's are stickers though.

Thanks!

[Siegfried]

Thanks for the great review! I'll buy this... if I could.

I din't get the part with the LED in which bit was it?

They go behind the transparent pieces by the front door.

[Buttons]

Coulden't have done it better ... well mabey you could have sent us all a copy of the set

[AgentRick57]

Nice review and all but the real question is...

Where can we get one for ourselves?

[Buttons]

Nice review and all but the real question is...

Where can we get one for ourselves?

Ebay buy it now £300

[AgentRick57]

Ouch, Pounds aren't my taste, plus I don't really like shipping from Europe. Too expensive. Plus I'll probably wait for the domestic release.

[commanderbly42]

Wow, an incredible review for such an amazing set! But, I really don't want to put my trust in ebay and I'm going through a dark-ish spell at the moment. But it's still a great set! Thanks for the review!

[Erdbeereis]

Thank you so much for reviewing this set LasseD!

I seriously hope that the rumors that we might get this set without the house are true, as it looks fantastic! I didn't realize exactly how big the turbine is and the little cottage has a wonderful european village feel to it.

The way it moves is much smoother than I though it would be for such a large thing and the LEDs are a very good idea.

Thanks again for the great review!

[Black Rabbit]

wonderful reveiw i have one problem with it though i drooled over my keyborad and now i need to clean it. so is there any hope of this set being released as an exclusive to the public also is there a more detailed video of this in action including the lights?.

[5150 Lego]

Wow. This is a great set! Ilike the use of the airplane hulls to make the wind mill shaft. Very clever! I like that were finding more and more uses for the large Airplane pieces every year!

[Dragonator]

Thanks for a great review, now I want this set even more! Even if it does come available, it is very unlikely it will ever reach NZ...

Ah well, I can always hope.

[WhiteFang]

I thought this set belongs to you? However, it's still a fun building experience and more importantly sharing such an in-depth review with us.

I never expect this set to be that tall. In fact the turbine and the box is so tall, just to store its wings and engine inside. The truck is a very nice realistic addition which can be included in any tabletop town set up. The cottage is lovely. It reminds me of the Classic Town design in the 1980s. It do resemble a one level structure of Holiday Beach House from the Creator series. The hilltop is just so amazing. I love to get my hands on those green BURPS and do a forest scene with my forestmen.

The windmill is just so amazing. The details are incredible. Great job!

Check out Classic Town.net. You are featured!

[Guss]

that's a really nice review of a nice set, that's sad that we can't buy it at a normal price, but I think there will be a similar set soon, seeing how many people wants it ^^ so we just have to wait !