Tag Archives: Steamboats

New LEGO sets for April 2025 coming soon! [News]

No fooling, April is set to bring us some huge new LEGO sets on store shelves. Disney fans have their eyes on LEGO Disney 43263 Beauty and the Beast Castle, which has Insiders access beginning today. Tolkien lovers will certainly be excited for LEGO Icons 10354 Lord of the Rings: The Shire, with access as early as April 2nd. And for those who are looking to take a trip down the mighty Mississippi, LEGO Ideas 21356 River Steamboat hits store shelves on April 7th, again for Insiders only. Check out all the new sets, and some of the other releases from this year, by heading over to the LEGO website: LEGO US | LEGO CAN | LEGO UK.

Check out the images and details for all these new sets below!

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LEGO Ideas 21356 River Steamboat – A brick-built voyage [Review]

The LEGO Ideas line has been churning out sets at a record pace! There are lots of fun models coming down the pipeline. However, speed is not the focus of the latest edition to the collection. Quite the contrary, we’re headed for a relaxing, serene paddle downstream. The LEGO Ideas 21356 River Steamboat arrives on the scene as the largest Ideas set ever produced, coming in at 4090 parts. Based on the winning submission by fan designer Aaron Hall, and made a reality by LEGO designer Marina Stampoli, this model is quite the sight to behold. But does it sink or float (metaphorically – it’s definitely too heavy to actually float)? Join us on a voyage of discovery as we take a closer look! It will be available to LEGO Insiders April 7th and everyone else April 10th, retailing for US $329.99 | CAN $429.99 | UK £289.99.

The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

Anchors away!

Celebrate Fabuland with your own Maid of Fabuland microscale steamboat [Instructions]

Are you a Fabuland fan but won’t be able to make the trip to Billund for the official LEGO tribute set? Or perhaps you love steamboats but are scared by the price tag on the upcoming Ideas set? Or maybe you just love cute things and walruses! In any case, Fabuland’s biggest “Fabufan,” and all around nice human Stewart Lamb Cromer has you covered with free instructions for a microscale version of the Maid of Fabuland paddle steamer that he built for display at LEGO House.

Here’s Stewart posing with the full-size version at LEGO House. Stewart talks about the build journey and his challenges with losing sight in one eye in a moving account on his blog.

LEGO Ideas 21356 River Steamboat revealed as next fan-designed set and largest LEGO Ideas set ever at over 4,000 pieces [News]

Originally submitted to the LEGO Ideas program back in October of 2021, LEGO Ideas 21356 River Steamboat is set to finally hit store shelves in April. Clocking in at 4,090 pieces, the model is quite similar to the original design submitted by LEGO fan Aaron Hall. There’s plenty of play features, including a working paddle wheel and rudder. And the interior holds a stage, steamboat museum, kitchen, and crew cabin. If you’re looking to get your hands on it, LEGO Ideas 21356 River Steamboat will be available on April 7th for LEGO Insiders (April 10th for everyone else) and will retail for US $329.99 | CAN $429.99 | UK £289.99. After release, you may also be able to find it from third-party sources like Amazon and eBay.

Check more pictures of the steamboat below!

We’re...not...gonna need a bigger boat?

Disney’s iconic ship, the S.S. Willie, set sail earlier this year with a LEGO Ideas set. Sure, the boat was a little smaller than the cartoon original, but you could forgive that little bit of cost-cutting since few of us would be able to afford a bigger one. But at least LEGO didn’t go as far as alego alego did when it comes to reducing part count. Because…wow. This is one tiny version.

Creating a recognizable shape at microscale takes some creative part usage, and we certainly have that here. The helm’s windows are roughed in using a single 1×1 plate with black square pattern, with the front whistles represented by a round 1×1 tile with pin holder. The star of the show, though, is the re-use of Vintage Mickey’s hat as the smokestacks.
With all the huge sets being released these days, it’s nice to see fan creations that don’t require an entire spare room to display.

Fabulous Fabuland friends take Billy Goat’s Steamboat for a ride

Fabuland holds a beautiful place of reminisce for me and somehow Pete Strege seems to have encompassed that feeling in an incredible new LEGO creation. Billy Goat’s Steamboat is an incredible display of fine colour choice, confined motorisation and great shaping without compromising stability. The dark blue of the cabin walls and hull are framed nicely with white, while the rest of the colour wheel comes to life with a combination of dark azure and yellow. Though please don’t be fooled, take a closer look. Weaved throughout the yellow are trace amounts of bright light orange, which adds some real warmth to the model, as subtle as it may be. There is also a sublime amount of blue pinstriping, which tops off the build high up, with two blue half barrel containers.

Come and check out more of this beautiful steamboat