LEGO Nutcracker 40640 by Simon Horton
I bought this set from LEGO.com as a top up to reach the required spend for a GWP back in October. Being a small set and not requiring too much concentration, this was a perfect seasonal build to complete during Decembers NB virtual meet.
The set costs £10.99 and is made up of 208 pieces, equivalent to just under 6 pence per piece. Once complete the Nutcracker stands just over 16cm tall and the instructions include two alternative options for the latter part of the build to make either a male or a female face.
I chose to build the male face as I feel this looks more characterful than the female version, but for the purpose of balance, I have rebuilt the figure with the female face for this review, so you can make your own choice from the photos below.
Opening the box you find the building instructions and three unnumbered bags inside, including a brick separator which I hadn’t expected in a set of this size. As with most of the small seasonal sets, the instructions don’t contain a QR code, so you won’t get your free 20 insider’s points for registering this set – but that’s certainly not a reason to pass this one by.
This is a solid build, and stands really nicely on its own, but would also complement some of the other seasonal builds such as Penguin (40498), and Christmas Polar Bears (40571), although perhaps not any of the winter village builds unless you want it to stand out like a giant!
Despite being a relatively small set, this is an interesting and varied build, and includes moving parts. The Nutcracker mouth opens and closes by operating the cross axle lever at the back, and the arms are made up of axles which connect to a modified 2×2 brick with pin, and so swing up and down freely to the front of the body. There’s also some nice part usage, such as the use of light sand coloured conical wheels to create the sleeve cuffs, black bucket handles for the belt detail, and reddish brown plates w/shaft for the eyebrows. A splash of colour to the otherwise black hat is provided by the use of chains in metallic warm gold and accentuated with round flat tiles in medium azur, and I like the way the bright red coat is trimmed with tiles in metallic gold ink colour for that extra pop of Christmas sparkle. You can see both finished versions below, front and back, and I’ve positioned this years Santa minifigure (not included) besides the build to give you an ideal of scale!
This enjoyable 54 step build took around 30 minutes to complete at a gentle pace, and was fun and easy to do. The Nutcracker makes a nice addition to my Christmas lego collection, and if you haven’t already bought yourself one, I’d suggest doing so – it would make a great stocking filler too. I’m just left wondering whether I should buy myself a second set so I can display both versions side by side!
Happy Christmas everyone!
