Lego story #031: A stargazing station

Another alternate build, before I bid the Ideas Treehouse farewell.

Since I already had the Arcadian Hut out, I followed it up with another build using parts of the 21318 Ideas Treehouse.

Must confess I got a little burnt out from building two large sets back to back. But the final result was amazing.

The Observatory is made of about 1,900 parts. It's the work of Gr33tje13, an amazing designer who's made six alternate builds of the Treehouse alone. Gr33tje13 has also got tons of fine-looking MOCs using the 21325 Medieval Blacksmith.

Please enjoy this beauty:

It's a three-storey building, or two storeys with an attic that serves as the observatory. The first storey is more of a basement/cellar, while the second storey is a bedroom. The observatory actually rotates!

The Observatory MOC cost 5 euros, which was more than worth it. The only difficulty I had making it was getting the blue roof panels on. In the end, I couldn't figure out how to slot them in stably. Just had to be careful while turning the model around to photograph. (For easy rotation, I placed the whole model on top of Miss S's big dinosaur book, which was covered with a felt cloth.)

I plan to sell the Treehouse to make space and funds for something new. Aiming to recover 70% of what I paid for it, 50% at least.

It'll be sad to say goodbye to such a wonderful set. I'm still keeping the original box as a memento (flattened, of course). Hope I don't regret selling it someday when Miss S grows up and says, "Why did you?!" But then again, she might not be big into Lego. And besides, there are tons of great sets out there, not just this one.

Plus I've decided to go for smaller (and more affordable) sets now. If building the Treehouse, Arcadian Hut, and Observatory have taught me anything, it's that 2,000 to 3,000 piece sets are a huge investment of time and energy. I don't foresee having that time and energy in the next few years, as our family might be expanding...

Anyway, building's not the problem; it's dismantling and sorting. Perhaps, by the time I'm done sorting the Treehouse into numbered bags (and then checking every piece in every bag again, since it's for sale), I might be more than ready to bid it goodbye!

Regardless, I'll always remember the Ideas Treehouse as my first big set. The one that got me truly hooked.