REVIEW: Advent calendar 12 December 2021

On the twelfth day of Christmas, the Advent Calendar gave to me… Well, I’m not going to give any spoilers, but when you are ready to know, read on to see what we got on day number 12…

The last two days have seen us getting a desk at Gringotts Bank (10 December) and a very nice version of the goblin Griphook (11 December), ready to serve the customers in the bank. As you would expect, we are still at Gringotts – though we are leaving the bank lobby behind to head down into the underground tunnels.

12 December model

Today’s model is one of the mine carts operated by the Goblins to take customers to their vaults. Given the drawing on the game board, it hardly came as a surprise to anyone.

The plastic bag was reasonably full.

Being a Sunday where I had plenty of time, I decided to see if I could build it while in the bag. It was’t too hard (but I have also practised a lot lately).

Opening the bag (and pulling the model apart again to take photos of what was in the bag), I counted 17 pieces – one of the best days so far when it comes to pieces. Two of the pieces are spares, though one of them – the 1×2 light bluish grey grille plate may have been extra by mistake, as LEGO usually don’t leave spares that large in sets (keen to know if others also had two of those in their sets).

Here is the completed mine cart.

It is somewhat simple, but so were the carts the goblins operated in the movies, and I quite like the look of it.

With the lantern in front, I think it is better than the version we got in the 2002 Gringotts bank (set 4714), though that one would fit three people (including Hagrid).