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6689 Post-Station (1985)
Let the mailman deliver your minifigs' mail all over your town on his trusty red bike! Let customers post their letters at the post office or even write them on the spot! And will the mailman and brown-haired girl fall in love? Ooh la la!
For this review, we'll be looking at a set close to its 25th birthday. The 1985 Post-Station was one of my first Lego sets ever and the first one that wasn't a vehicle. With the recent mail van and mail plane, is there any chance we might see an updated version of this in the future? Who knows. Let's have a look at this nostalgic set first!
The box, courtesy of Bricklink.
Item #: 6689
Name: Post-Station
Theme: LEGO System / Town / Classic
Year: 1985
Pieces: 53
Minifigs: 2
Price: Fl. 15.50
A note on the price: None of the links below offered an original MSRP, but a scan from the Dutch 1985 catalogue found here shows it went for 15.50 Dutch Guilders at the time. Not sure what that comes to in dollars or euros when taking inflation into account (officially, 15.50 would be just over 7 Euros, but somehow I doubt a set like this would sell for that little today). We'll use this original price for rating though.
Bricklink
Brickset
Peeron
As I mentioned in my last review, we used to cut up the boxes and paste the parts on sheets of cardboard. They would then be put in a plastic cover which in turn would be stored in folders. This saved some room and is quite a bit tidier than keeping the actual boxes around. It also meant handy access to the alternate models Lego used to put on the back. Here's what this would look like:
The back of these boxes is pasted on the other side.
Just the Post-Station
Look at the two minifigs in the upper right corner. Don't they look happy together?
Want to see the alternates for 6688 and 6682? Some other time. ;)
Parts & Pieces
At 53 pieces, it's a very modest set. The grey baseplate is obviously the biggest piece. For shapes and sizes, there's not much of interest except perhaps the slanted roof parts.
One of the heads pictured is from the era, the other is not. Can you guess which one?
This is cool: the mailbox actually has the post logo printed on it. Ironically, it's misprinted at an angle. The set also comes with three printed letters.
Just the printed parts
Now there actually was a sticker sheet that came with this set. There's a sticker with opening times to put on the door and you're supposed to sticker the two yellow 1x4 bricks together with the post office logo.
I was probably about five when I got this, so I was hardly capable of stickering. My parents didn't think much of putting stickers on Lego, not to mention actually having to sticker two pieces together. So sadly, my model just has a big empty yellow sign on its roof. I wouldn't have minded the sticker to make it complete really, and I definitely wouldn't have minded putting the door sticker on, since it doesn't stick any two parts together.
I'm a bit peeved about this, but I guess it'll have to do this way. I imagine putting the building in your town with the actual big post logo on top would make it stick out a bit more.
Instructions
Folded together, the instructions are square. The square was folded in half again to fit in the box.
When unfolded, the instructions are not a conventional print size but rather a long list of pictures. I assume this was usual at the time, since I own a few more sets that have instructions shaped like this. Notice how there is no seperate instruction for the bike. I suppose in 1985, people were smart enough to realize that one transwhite piece they had left was the bicycle's headlamp.
The instructions are nice and clear and the oldtimey graphics are sure to enthuse nostalgics.
Minifigs
The Post-Station comes with no less than two minifigs: a mail man and a customer.
I really like this. They could have easily just stuck in the mailman and be done with it, but having an extra minifig to come and visit the post office or have mail delivered to really adds to the play value of this set.
As mentioned, there's also a bicycle included.
The finished bicycle: a transwhite round 1x1 plate is added as a headlight
Postman Pat ready to deliver his mail on his trusty bicycle
The Build
This model is an easy build. There's less than 50 pieces to the building, so you'll be done in no time.
Here you can see the little desk that goes inside. It has a letter and an inkjar on it. This is pretty much the only detail that comes with the set.
The wall next to the door is basically a whole bunch of blue 1x4 bricks stacked on top of each other. It does the job perfectly fine, but makes for a bit of a boring build.
The building without its roof
Small and simple
The finished set (sans stickers)
Off to work!
All done!
When finished, you have a nice little post office to put in your town. It's not big, but then this is obviously not a big set. It's not aiming to be one of those big purchases to really amp up your city. Instead, it's meant to be a small addition and for that it does the job. I do have some comments though...
"This is a letter for a friend of mine called Freely, initials I.P."
The interior is really rather cramped. I can barely fit the mailman behind his desk to help the customers.
"More mail to deliver!"
There's quite a bit of empty space left on the baseplate. Does he really need all that room to stash his bike? I wouldn't have minded a small tree or some flowers in this area.
How times have changed. These days the mailmen are too lazy to ride a bike!
"Still on his bike... silly sod!"
*honk honk* "Get a move on, ya damned hippie!"
The Final Tally
Design: 6/10 Simple and decent, but it feels pretty bare bones. Yes, it's an entry-level set, but would it really have hurt to include a tree or some flowers?
Parts: 6/10 Lots of blue, some nice black slanted bricks and a door. Not much of interest in the building, but the bike is a nice addition.
Minifigs: 8/10 The mailman looks good and the addition of a customer was a great idea. The fact that it's a girl also adds to the play value. Romantic scenerios galore!
Playability: 7/10 The thing itself is a bit cramped, but when put in a larger town it makes for a very nice addition. You'll have fun letting your mailman cycle around town to deliver his letters. Having two minifigs come with the set helps a lot.
Price: 8/10 Having hardly any concept of what 15.50 Dutch Guilders would buy in 1985, this one is kind of hard. Looking at the prices of the other sets from that year though, it looks like this set is generously priced for what it offers: a little building with some nice playability on its own as well as in context of a larger town.
Overall: 35/50 That averages out to a 7. Seems about right to me. It's a nice set, but it probably works better as part of a larger city than it does on its own, despite the good play value the two minifigs offer.
Edited by Rapseflaps, 05 August 2011 - 10:19 AM.
