Review: LEGO 40505 LEGO Building Systems (LEGO House Exclusive #5)

March 19, 2024 | 3

If you ever find yourself in Billund, Denmark (aka the birthplace and home of LEGO), it’s likely that a visit to the LEGO House is on the agenda, simply because it’s one of the coolest places on Earth, especially if you happen to like LEGO.

One of the big drawcards of visiting the LEGO House is of course the chance to get your hands on LEGO House exclusive sets, and for 2024, fans can look forward to 40505 LEGO Building Systems, which will retail for 699 DKK (approx US$100 / AU$150) and is only available at the LEGO Store located at LEGO House. Alternative, you can pick the set up on Bricklink, where it isn’t too pricey if you don’t count shipping.

This is the 5th LEGO House exclusive and is LEGO History-themed, paying homage to the History Collection at the LEGO House, an awesome museum/archive dedicated to The LEGO Group’s history, which is one of my favourite parts of The LEGO House.

Previous LEGO House exclusives include The Wooden Duck, 40502 The Brick Moulding Machine (retired), 40503 Dagny Holm Master Builder, and last year’s 40504 A Minifigure Tribute.

Here’s a quick review of the set, the historical references contained within, as well as plenty of insights of the design process from the Design Lead, Stuart Harris, Master Builder of The LEGO House!

Special thanks to LEGO House for sending this early review set

40505 LEGO Building Systems Set Details

Name: LEGO Building Systems
Set Number: 40505
Pieces: 2111 pieces
Price: 699 DKK
Exclusive to: LEGO Store @ The LEGO House, Billund
Theme: LEGO House Exclusive
Release Date: 1 March 2024
Designers: Stuart Harris, Markus Rollbühler

The 2024 LEGO House Exclusive pays homage to the LEGO House’s History Collection, a sprawling underground archive of The LEGO Group’s history that’s one of the highlights of the House of the Brick.

The slightly muted grey background and black base are nods to the History Collection, and is designed to celebrate the history and roots of LEGO’s 3 primary building systems: Duplo, System and Technic, all of which are featured heavily in LEGO’s historical archive, and that’s what Stuart Harris decided to focus on when designing the sketch model for the set.

Here’s the completed model, which features a simple diorama-style display, with 3 brightly coloured segments, each dedicated to Duplo, System and Technic.

Some interesting observations that you’d only get if you’ve been to the LEGO House History Collection – the gold accents on the walls mimic the gold accent colours of the Historical Collection.

I learned from Stuart Harris that each “zone” in the LEGO House has a primary and accent colour, and in the case of the History Collection, the primary colour is grey, with gold accents.

Here’s a look at how the gold accents are represented in the History Collection!

FIrst, let’s take a look at the Duplo segment, which has a large Duplo-ish brick on the wall, and a colourful Duplo model train!

According to Stuart, the Duplo section initially began life as a Duplo farm, but the scale made and size made it look awkward next to the Micro Town Plan next door, so the train was selected as the next best thing.

Stuart was kind enough to share some early concept images with me, and here’s what the Duplo Farm looked like!

It draws inspiration from two early Duplo Train – 2705 Passenger Train and 2700 Freight Train, both from 1983!

The Duplo Train is affixed to the track via a strategically-placed jumper plate, and I did appreciate the clever use of clips to bend the hose used to give it a curved look.

I really like that the great use of primary colours, and also the fact that the red wagon can swivel from side to side, as well as it being oriented upside down so that it looks like you can fill it in.

In the initial sketch model, the Duplo Train began its life as a Green Train, and here are various iterations that showcase the various design options, and how different the wheels look.

While we tend to only see the end result in store-bought sets, it’s quite eye-opening to get to see so many different variants get created and refined during the design process.

Next we have the Town Plan, which is a set that epitomised LEGO’s System In Play and when introduced, was quite a revolutionary concept as it provided so near-unlimited possibilities for play, with buildings that you could build, but also vehicles, trees and small figurines to populate the bustling town center with.

This is a photo I took of the Town Plan on display at the LEGO House in 2022, which is the very display that inspired the final model being represented here.

There are of course many different Town Plan sets, and in Stuart’s early sketch model, he used the one that had blue-ish/aqua colours, which Markus corrected in the final model to the Green that we see in The LEGO House.

The set was first designed from this Micro Town Plan, which Stuart passes by every day on his way to his office, and he was inspired by the history and how LEGO’s System of Play was birthed in this very product.

LEGO designers begin work when receiving a brief, and it can be something quite simple like “honour the building system” – which Stuart then took to create giant Duplo, LEGO and Technic bricks to get the design process rolling.

After learning more about the Town Plan from the Historian, and also descriptions and notes on the walls, Stuart realised that this set truly did personify the System of Play, of inventing your own town, buildings and more, which then led to a micro scale that we see here.

I have a soft spot for Micro-scale builds and history, so this is naturally the one I connect to the most, and having seen the Town Plan in the LEGO House, the layout of all the elements, vehicles and orientation of the buildings here felt immediately familiar.

And last but not least, we have the section dedicated to LEGO Technic, with an ode to 853 Technic Car Chassis from 1977. The Technic portion was initially going to be based on 851 Tractor, but after discussions with the LEGO Historian, the Car Chassis was selected as it was a better representation of the Technic origins, and was THE flagship Technic set in the 1970s.

This holds true today, with the flagship line of Technic supercars (like 42083 Bugatti Chiron & 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37), which can all trace their lineage back to this humble Car Chassis set.

A really interesting technique employed here is that the Car Chassis is built upside down, which is a little disorienting at first, but after awhile, you do appreciate seeing the anti-studs, especially the circular holes in the tubes to mimic the look of hollow Technic studs.

It’s very uncommon to build things upside down, so I really enjoyed the novelty of this, and the aesthetic choices here.

Here’s a look at the original model, next to a scaled down initial model, and the final version that we find in the set to illustrate the progression between these sets.

Each module can be separated easily and are connected via these Technic axles. If LEGO ever introduce a new Building System, it should theoretically be easy to add on another section.

And like previous LEGO House exclusives, the name tiles are printed, which is always a welcome sight.

Where the set gets really interesting is when you look at it from the back where there are 4 chambers filled with micro models that are iconic to the LEGO Group’s history.

In the diagram above and the list below, I’ve listed out all the different micro models and the sets they represent.

Early History

• Wooden Duck
• Wooden Fire Truck
• 700 Automatic Binding Bricks
• Town Plan Truck

Vintage Era

• 127 Train Set
• 375 Castle
• 511 Duplo Building Set
• Technic 850 Fork-Lift Truck
• 928 Galaxy Explorer

Classic Era

• 2705 Duplo Passenger Train
• 6285 Black Seas Barracuda
• 2655 DUPLO Farm Set
• 8480 Technic Space Shuttle
• 9719 Robotics Invention System

Modern Era

• 8534 Bionicle Tahu
• 70751 Temple of Airjitsu
• 21318 Ideas Tree House
• 42108 Technic Mobile Crane
• 41095 Emma’s House
• Free Slot

I was surprised to learn that this micro Historical Collection in the back was not in the original sketch model. When Stuart Harris brought Markus in to show him the model, he remarked that there was a lot of wall, and wanted to do something a bit more creative with it.

After brainstorming, Markus then came up with the idea of doing a historical timeline, which again, is a nod to the Archive that’s the centerpiece of the LEGO House History Collection.

If you’ve never visited the LEGO House, check out this video to see how the collection is displayed, and how the back of the set pays homage to all these iconic and historic sets produced by The LEGO Group.

What I liked:

• A lovely homage to the History Collection in the LEGO House
• Interesting, and sometimes odd build techniques
• Micro Town Plan is a lovely re-creation

What I didn’t like: 

• A very niche subject matter
• Hard to get unless you’re near/visiting Denmark

FINAL THOUGHTS:

40505 LEGO Building Systems isn’t for everybody and really only appeals to a niche selection of LEGO fans who are deeply interested in LEGO’s history and have visited (or plan to!) the History Collection in the LEGO House.

Unfortunately, I fall into that category as the historical and archival side of LEGO is one of the things that gives me the most pleasure of in the lobby, and in my visit to the LEGO House, I enjoyed the Historical Collection more than anything else.

The build itself is just okay – it’s a decent enough display model, but unless you’re steeped in LEGO History, it’s not immediately recognisable without additional context. 40505 LEGO Building Systems also has the unfortunate privilege of coming after 40504 A Minifigure Tribute, which is one of the best LEGO House exclusives, and has more mainstream recognition than a couple of 1980s and 1970s Duplo and Technic sets, plus the Town Plan, which the average LEGO fan might not even know exists.

The timeline at the back with the micro models is a nice little touch, that feels a lot more representative of LEGO sets that fans might connect better with, including fan-favourites like the Bionicle Tahu, Black Seas Barracuda, 928 Galaxy Explorer and 375 Yellow Castle, all the way to modern classics like the Ideas Tree House and Temple of Airjitzu.

But it remains hidden in the back, and won’t be something you can appreciate if you have this set on display.

Ultimately, it’s a very niche LEGO House exclusive, and more akin to 40502 The Brick Moulding Machine and 40503 Dagny Holm Master Builder, so it’s not such a huge loss that this is only a LEGO House exclusive that you can only find in Billund.

That said, if you’re a completionist, you will need to make your way to Billund, Denmark to pick the set up, or alternatively, buy one off Bricklink where it’s thankfully not too expensive.

Rating and score: 3/5 ★★★✰✰

Build [3] – Some really interesting and slightly odd build techniques such as building the Car Chassis upside down
Real Value [3] – Priced pretty fairly, if you don’t count the trip to Billund
Innovation [3] – Nothing too innovative introduced, but I like the amalgamation of different building systems. Would be nice to have a Duplo brick incorporated in for the chaos.
Coolness [4] – Largely depends if you’re a LEGO history die-hard, and have visited the History Collection in the LEGO House.
Keepability [3] – Not something to display permanently, unless you really like the history of LEGO.

Thank you so much for reading this review of 40505 LEGO Building Systems!

40505 LEGO Building Systems is only available at the LEGO Store, located in the LEGO House, Billund, or you can find one from a Danish reseller on Bricklink.

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