Comedy in the ACT with Chris Marlton

BUYING GUIDE: Top Five LEGO® Kits for 2023

September is here! And you know what that means… LEGO® Christmas! Each year, 25 September marks this most important day of the LEGO® calendar. To celebrate the occasion, Resident Brickmaster General Chris Marlton brings you the inside scoop on the hottest new LEGO® kits to buy on this Bricked Out Holiday.

Whitlam Dismissal (#10396)

One of the biggest moments in Australian political history is captured with this advanced LEGO® Old Parliament House – 11 November 1975 set. With 6,745 pieces, this set is guaranteed to challenge the staunchest Monarchist with both a complicated build and an even more complicated and unsatisfactory explanation of Constitutional events.

Packed with features, this build includes 14 mini-figures, including Sir John Kerr, Malcolm Fraser, a young Bob Hawke, Frank Crean, three journalists, two photographers, a cameraman, two undercover CIA agents, Norman Gunston and, of course, Gough himself. It’s time to say It’s Time again, and relive your favourite moments of the day that Paul Keating described as “a political coup.”

This set has been rigorously tested so you can be sure that the model is as robust as it is beautiful. On sale until the end of August, so act quickly and you’ll save some money! (but there is nothing that will save the Governor-General)

Snowy Hydro (#10452)

Enjoy one of Australia’s great engineering achievements (and ecological disasters) with this LEGO® Murray Hydroelectric Power Station set.

Modelled after the second Murray power station, this kit lets you build all four Hitachi-manufactured vertical Francis turbines and, of course, the associated ASEA generators.

At a slick 12,452 pieces, this difficult scale-model is LEGO®’s largest and most intricate.

Once completed, you can pour water into the turbines and the fully functioning ASEA generators will power the small light at the top of the set.

Also included are four mini-figures of ghost-platypus, whose\ ecosystem was destroyed by the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

First QANTAS 747 flight (#10431)

What LEGO® list would be complete without an aircraft? In 1971, the Boeing 747-238 joined the QANTAS fleet. Now you can own a part of that history with this 5,427 piece masterpiece.

The cockpit opens with seats for 5 crew members (3 crew minifigures are included with the set). The top of the plane opens too, with access to all 416 seats in the realistically rendered main cabin. You can place a LEGO® mini-figure in every seat, and even conduct your own drinks and meal service with the included air-host and hostess mini-figures.

In a first for LEGO®, one of the included mini-figures has an ultra-wide-angle lens camera built into the head, which allows owners of the new LEGO® VR headset to feel like they are inside the aircraft themselves.

Travelodge in Rushcutters Bay (#10499)

You’re in for a treat with another slice of Australian political history. In June 1987, former Liberal Party Leader Billy Snedden passed away at a Travelodge motel while spending some quality time with his son’s ex-girlfriend.

This 7,302 piece set lets you build the lobby and reception of the motel, featuring seven rooms in varying levels of disrepair.

An innovative addition is a set of board game rules that allow the display, once completed, to act as the game board to a Cluedo-style detective thriller. Can YOU figure out which minifigure dispatched the famed politician?

This is truly a build for adults, where you can spend quality time crafting all the details of this LEGO® Travelodge – Rushcutters Bay. With glamorous decor, it’s a touching tribute to the original hard man of Australian politics.

Phar Lap Wins the Melbourne Cup (#11013)

And the most prized LEGO® set that everyone is after this year is the detailed and innovative 2,319 piece LEGO® Flemington Racecourse – 1930 Melbourne Cup. After building the track you can play to your oversized heart’s content with 16 included horses and 16 mini-figure jockeys.

The James E. Pike mini-figure is especially interesting, as his beaming drawn-on smile seems genuinely genuine in a genuine way. Re-live the greatest heights of the Don Bradman of horses as Phar Lap wins his only Melbourne Cup over and over again.

The set also comes equipped with a mini-figure vet holding a shotgun.