Building the Lego James Bond Aston Martin DB5
I've had my eye on an Aston Martin for some time now. I think they are beautiful, powerful, sexy cars. There is only one thing stopping me from buying one...the $$$. I bet a few of you are in the same situation as me. Well, there might be something to help tide you over. The Lego James Bond Aston Martin DB5 is a pretty fun 2nd choice and the best part for me was that you get to build it yourself.
This Christmas my Wife's family all chipped in an bought me the Lego version of the Aston Martin I've wanted ever since I saw Sean Connery as James Bond driving it in Goldfinger. The DB5 is such an iconic car, it's no surprise Lego decided to create a version of their own we could build. As a kid growing up, I built hundreds of Lego projects from Medieval castles to Police and Fire Stations to everything in between. Each Birthday and Christmas, Lego was always at the top of my list. Somehow now at 33, that was the case again. I'm sure glad it was. The DB5 was an absolute blast to build. I don't think I've ever undertaken a build of 1200+ pieces before and when you spread all the pieces out over your table you are a little overwhelmed, but as soon as I started going, it took me right back to my childhood...only this time I wasn't fighting my brother for the pieces I wanted!
The actual engineering of the build is mind blowing. Something you put together during step 4 comes back into play during step 99 to match up perfectly and allow a bulletproof screen to raise itself from the trunk. A piece you placed during during step 19 flips to reveal the machine guns from behind the lights. There where multiple times as I was building I said 'WOW, that's so cool' to myself as I connected the pieces together.
The build is also quite time consuming as it took me a few hours a day for 3 days to put it all together. One thing I would recommend early is to separate each of the colours into their own piles as you sort of build each element of the car separately before adding it to the chassis and while it make take a few minutes to sort the colours, it really saves you time when you're looking for 1 of 50 small grey pieces in one particular pile rather than scattered all over your table. I would also recommend a scotch or two during the build as you need to have steady nerves attaching the sticker to the different parts of the car. But don't over do it because if you mess up a connection early on, you might have to dis-assemble a large part of the car so everything connects. REALLY pay attention to what way a block faces and exactly how far to push something in because that part will almost certainly come into play later on.
I really had a lot of fun doing this build. The engineers at Lego must have had an awesome time putting this project together. From the revolving license plates to onboard computer, telephone in the door, machine gun lights and bulletproof screen...oh and a WORKING EJECTOR SEAT this DB5 had everything from the film. As a huge Bond nerd I was nerding out the whole time doing this project. If you're on the fence about getting this, don't be! It's worth every penny and you'll have a blast working on it. It also makes a great conversation or decorative piece in a movie room or office. We placed ours right under our projection screen in the basement and it's a great touch to the room.
I hope this review of my build helps you make your decision a little easier if you're thinking about getting the Lego James Bond Aston Martin DB5. I would really encourage you to do it. If you have kids, it would be a really fun project to do together. Just make sure you bring your patience to the table, you might need it! It's all worth it in the end though. Get your Lego Aston Martin DB5 on Amazon HERE.
