 The Ulmer Münster is the first BlueBrixx set that I decided to buy as a test of this brand. I didn't know this cathedral and in fact I discovered it thanks to BlueBrixx while browsing the site to find an interesting set. The church immediately struck me because compared to other cathedrals it had only one central tower while at the back rather than ending with the curve of the apse, it also had two lower symmetrical towers. Normally large Gothic cathedrals all have two tall bell towers at the front while this one in Ulm in a certain sense broke the pattern. I was very intrigued by this design and in addition to purchasing the set, I also went on Google Maps to see the original church. It goes without saying that I put the cathedral in the things to see and I hope in the near future to be able to visit this small German city. The BlueBrixx box was basic in the sense that it was a simple brown box with only a sticker to indicate the model. Inside the box there were 27 unnumbered bags plus the two pieces of the base for a total of 266 steps. This detail of the lack of numbering of the bags had already happened to me with the Lego set of the Ducati Panigale and it was a very boring thing for the assembly. Another detail that was missing from the box were the instructions that must be downloaded online. However, these instructions in PDF were very similar to the Lego ones, in some aspects even more precise so better than those of the Wange sets. The main problem was organizing the way of selecting the bricks and to tell the truth, already from the first 10 steps I had to open ten bags. Already on the second day, having difficulty finding the bricks inside the bags, I decided to open them all and scatter all the pieces trying to give a logic and differentiation. It took me six days to complete this set, a time that could have been even less if the envelopes had been progressive and numbered. The phases were quite linear but with some very technical steps; after the base, the arches supporting the structure and the rear part of the apse, the assembly involved the assembly and installation of the two naves. This process, in addition to being made up of bricks laid in an almost repetitive manner, was also quite long. However, after the two naves, the assembly continued with the installation of the various floors and therefore with simpler and more diversified phases. The most laborious thing was fixing the roof, first of all I had to modify part of the central beam because I had made a previous installation error and then I had problems with a small piece whose fixing was always precarious. Correcting the roof error made me notice how this set is designed in such a way as to be able to recover from any error. The structure is not interlocked in such a way that it has to be completely dismantled to correct an error but rather it seems that the various parts are independent. Exactly the opposite of what happened to me during the assembly of the Wange Empire State Building, where due to an error on the lower floors I had to dismantle the entire structure. The final stages were focused on assembling the high buttresses and then I assembled and fixed the last roof. It was made up of two separate sections and while one was more stable, the other was more fragile and the installation required much more time and attempts with several dismantling. Subsequently the construction continued on the front part with cladding, then the construction of the tower and finally the assembly and fixing of the spire. In general, the experience with this first real BlueBrixx set was more than positive, excluding the singularity of the unnumbered bags that still make you waste a bit of time, for the rest this brand has its own logic and personality. There were certainly some passages where the fixing of some bricks remained a bit precarious and unstable, a problem that if it happens again in another similar set, I will solve with a bit of glue. For the rest, the set of this cathedral, in addition to being rich in details, also has a simpler construction of the structure that allows you to correct errors without having to dismantle everything. Even if I have never seen the Ulm Cathedral in person, I must say that I really liked this reproduction from an aesthetic point of view, it is one of those cases in which a model leads me to know a structure that exists in reality, making me like it to such an extent that now I am incredibly curious to see it in person. The BlueBrixx brand is therefore promoted as far as I am concerned and I always hope to buy several sets this year, not only of very beautiful structures but also of cars whose catalog includes very famous models that have never been reproduced by Lego. Even the instructions that must be downloaded separately are very clear and definitely better than those of Wange. The only thing I have to deal with is the logistics of managing the bricks inside the unnumbered bags, once this problem is solved the BlueBrixx sets will be, for me, on par with the Lego ones. Construction and Details          Gallery    A.M.
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