Review of 21029 Buckingham Palace

Hi everyone. Today I'm reviewing the London residence and administrative headquarters of the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. This is the official residence of Queen Elizabeth II and a major London tourist attraction. The Palace was built in 1698 when the Duke of Buckingham demolished the existing property. It was 319 years ago!

Lets have a look at the LEGO set. 

Overview
Name: 21029 Buckingham Palace
Theme: Architecture
Year: 2016
Pieces: 780
Minifigures: 0
Price: £44.99 / $49.99 / 49.99€

The Box

The front of the box is the box art at a very glossy black background which looks very cool. Its not very eye catching if you haven't really visited and know the place. Then at the back of the box you can see the real picture of the Palace and the measurements of the model. The side of the box showing the actual size of a 1x3 arch brick. 

The box opens up like a lunch box after removing the seal. The inside is black too and the cardboard of the box is quite solid. I stick back both the sealing tape at the side which shows 'Enjoy your building experience.' 

The content includes this hard binding instruction booklet and a survey form paper. The book is quite thick and the cover looks similar to the box cover. I like the feel of the book but after a few flip of it, the shape starts to curl a little bit. So, download the pdf online might be the solution if you want to keep the book mint. You can click this 21029 Instruction pdf to download the pdf.

You get three 8x16 dark gray plates three small packet and two large packets of bricks. In my opinion, try don't mix them all together for you to find the bricks easier when building. But if you have a lot of time to spend, do mix them all. They are not numbered but the parts are quite well distributed. I'll show in the next pictures.

First small packet are packed with 1x1 round plates, clips, 1x2 tiles and jumpers and the windowed tan 1x1 bricks.

Second small packets you get two pearl gold nanofigures, lots of tiles, roof tiles and bars.

Then you get 1x3 plates, yellow 1x1 plate with clip light, thick ring, dark tan and dark gray tiles and some trans clear 1x2 plates.

In this large packet you get lots of plates, window pieces, fences and some 1x4 bricks. It comes with smaller packet inside which contains pieces like below.

Olive green tiles and a window piece. Very nice colours here especially when they are 1x1 round tiles.

Second large packet is with two smaller bags. You get large and long plates, some bricks and an orange brick separator. Look here if you need large pieces.

Round gray 1x1 plates with open stud. some telescope, 1x2 tiles and 1x1 tan plates.

Last small bag is my favorite. 1x1 trans clear pieces and 1x1 tan round plates and they looked like diamonds scattered in front of you! I wonder if you can propose with these attached to a ring. Haha.

The Build

Firstly you get to build a 26x24 base with black borders. 

Then fill the gaps with black tiles. I really like the exclusively printed tiles with the name of the set which makes the set special.

At the upper portion, you line up the jumpers to get a slightly inward build but not standard one stud gap. Then you get to build the garden with those olive green round plates, its a cure for OCD patients like me. haha..

A closer view to the garden. Bonsai looks like this, right?

Then we move on to build the building. These book rack looking walls are representing the floors inside the building but it doesn't really matters as it will be closed by outer walls.

I like these microbuilds. The 1x1 round plates are representing floors and 1x4 plates representing pillars and the trans clear 1x1 plates representing windows.

These are attached at left and right side of the building.

Then we go on to build the front walls. There are two wings of windows attached to a center black main pillar, then put on the front of the building.

Tada.. The 1x1 plates looks so detailed when put together like this. Very amazing job by the designer of this model.

After building the roofs, you get to build these very cute microbuilds! (Antman and micro antman are NOT included in this set, they are for comparison only.) The London Bus is only a sandwich of red and trans clear plates, so amazing what LEGO bricks can bring out! The Victoria Memorial is also very nice and accurately build here. 

A closer look to The Victoria Memorial in front of the palace.

This is the final look of the finished build. It looks very majestic and nice especially if you have been there yourself! The flag always flies above the palace when the Queen is in the residence.

Birds eye view of the model. It looks simple but packed with details. 

Front view. You feel like you are a nanofig and you are in the Palace already.

Lets hop on the bus for some tour!

The real London red double decker bus.

London Black Taxi with two 1x1 tiles, one trans clear plate and one 1x2 plate. How nice!

This is the real London black cab.

LEGO is generous enough to give an extra pearl gold nanofig and all these extra parts. 

Review summary
Playability: 5/10 - I can't think of how to play with this. Taking photos?
Design / Building Experience: 9/10 - I enjoyed the micro builds and learning on how to build small, appear big.
Minifigures: 8/10 - I simply love the two nanofigures,
Price / Value for money: 8/10 - I will score this a little higher if I've been to the actual site.
Overall: 9/10 - A very nice architecture set with many details.

Conclusion

This is my second architecture set and I'm simply impressed by the design after I've finished building it. I'm not attracted by the box art or the building itself as I never been there before, but it is such a nice building standing and displaying in my working desk now. Thanks for reading!