Building 10173: Holiday Train

[jaisonline]

This thread will be like my previous builds (links below).
 

Intro :
Since I became a fan of Lego trains last year, 10173 has been the #1 train on my wish list.  I couldn't wait to get my hands on one to build.  Honestly, my expectations aren't high anymore since  building 10194 Emerald Night less than 2 weeks ago.

 

10173 was released in 2006 and available only for the holiday season so the retail life was extremely short.  As of July 2014, one can expect to pay between $300 and $450 for a loose set depending on condition and completeness.  Sealed sets sell for between

 

3 versions of the train were available (from http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/10173_Holiday_Train )

$89.99 for the 965 element basic set.

$165.99 for the K2159 Holiday Train Starter Collection (included 9v power accessories, straight & curved track, and the 10173 set).

$?? for the K10173 Complete Holiday Train Collection (same as K2159 but without the straight track)

 

7 "basic " minifigs were included.  While 5 of them are still exclusive to this set, they can easily be bricklinked since the parts are fairly common in City sets.

 

The set consists of a locomotive, tender, passenger car, Christmas tree carrier, open freight car with gift boxes / toys, and a caboose.

 

Many people consider this the 1st of the annual Winter themed sets that began in 2009 with 10199: Winter Village Toy Shop.

 

Like other builds, I'll will walk through the building process, take pics, discuss various topics like elements used / how, and provide a recap.

 

Bricklink's element inventory of this set pending approval.

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=10173-1

I don't own the box.  Manual #1 is in my possession (below avg condition) and manual 2 was recently purchased by a friend in Poland (I won't have it until next month).  I will not be using the PDF of the manuals as the scans as quality is terrible.  It's difficult to distinguish back elements from each other.

 

Here are random pictures I've found on the internet of the box.

 

 

 

 

- from http://onetwobrick6.blogspot.com/2009/03/set-database-10173-holiday-train.html

 

 

 

My previous build threads.

 

7780: The Batboat: Hunt for Killer Croc :

http://www.brickpick...-croc-batman-1/

7782 The Batwing: The Joker's Aerial Assault :

http://www.brickpick...arison-to-6863/

 

7786: The Batcopter: The Chase for Scarecrow :

 

http://www.brickpick...-for-scarecrow/

 

10123: Star Wars Cloud City :

 

http://www.brickpick...ars-cloud-city/

 

10173: Holiday Train :

http://www.brickpick...-holiday-train/

 

10179 UCS Millennium Falcon :

 

http://www.brickpick...lennium-falcon/

 

10226 Sopwith Camel :

 

http://www.brickpick...-sopwith-camel/

 

10181 Eiffel Tower :

 

http://www.brickpick...l-tower-advice/

 

10194 Emerald Night train :

 

http://www.brickpick...-emerald-night/

 

10196  Grand Carousel  :

http://community.brickpicker.com/topic/13647-building-10196-grand-carousel/

 

10225 UCS R2D2 :

http://www.brickpick...0225-ucs-r2-d2/

 

75059 UCS Sandcrawler :

 

http://www.brickpick...59-sandcrawler/

 

21021 Architecture Marina Bay Sands

http://www.brickpick...rina-bay-sands/

 

21108 Ghostbusters Ecto-1 :

http://www.brickpick...busters-ecto-1/

[jaisonline]

Manual 1 included building steps for the minifigs, locomotive (38 steps) , tender (31 steps) , and passenger car (23 steps).

[jaisonline]

- Inside of locomotive

- Finished side and front views

The locomotive is an extremely simple build. Design is pretty basic will some cool uses of elements. Dark gray megaphones are nicely used (as ?) while black flag poles are horizontally slid into pairs of 1x1 windows (circle side) to look like pistons on the train wheels, the train is also small at 17 studs long. 3 pairs of non-turning train wheels are used so I assume moderate modifications are needed for powering the locomotive unless the PF or 9V motor is attached to the tender.

Thanks,

J A is Online

- Sent using an iPad

[jaisonline]

I believe this set was only advertised in the Holiday 2006 catalog. Here are pictures of that catalog (from my own collection).

And a bonus pic...

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[TheOrcKing]

Is anyone else reading this making the "chooga" noises? :senile:

[MartinP]

Is anyone else reading this making the "chooga" noises?

Yes! The building threads that are about trains make me want to build my incomplete 7939 Cargo Train.

[jaisonline]

While I wait for book 2, here are pics of book 1. Notice now difficult it can be distinguishing darker elements from each other. That is why the PDF version is nearly impossible to build from unless the majority of the elements in steps are lighter to medium colors.

Not the best condition...

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[@rtisan]

I own this one! Never thought about value nearly as much as I do now, would have bought all I could get my hands on. Need less to say, beautiful set, wonderful display, lots of fun features. It looks fantastic with a winter village set up!

[jaisonline]

Tender :

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[jaisonline]

The tender was another fairly easier build with 31 steps. No advanced building. I did realize that the light bluish gray rat / squirrel is missing.

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[jaisonline]

Locomotive and tender :

Combined length so far is about 26 studs (about 8") excluding the magnets.

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[jaisonline]

Passenger Car :

Only 23 steps. So far I get the feeling this set should be an easy Bricklink project.

I'm missing 2 white antenna, 1 black chair, and 2 black 1x10 plate elements. I only took a quick look at my spare parts bin so maybe I'll find 1 or 2 of the missing 3.

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[Alpinemaps]

I've been looking at BrickLinking this, and I believe the big expense is the red base. I'd have to look again but I don't believe it's cheap.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Brickpicker mobile app

[jaisonline]

I've been looking at BrickLinking this, and I believe the big expense is the red base. I'd have to look again but I don't believe it's cheap.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Brickpicker mobile app

 

 

yeah, the set uses two 6x28 red bases. they avg'd $10.30 on bricklink (new condition) during the last 6 months.  only in 3 other sets including the santa fe.

 

The animals costs 50 cents to 2 each.  One of the passenger minifigs runs around $5 new due to his torso (same as luke bespin , cloud city)

[jaisonline]

Looks like someone is having fun with 10173 before it's complete. It's great to be a child.

Choo choo

Who needs Thomas when we have Lego!

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[jaisonline]

For the rest of the build, I'm using the terrible quality PDF manual #2. Just horrible when it comes to black elements. I need to count studs and other extending parts (e.g. U shaped holders on 1x1 stud plates) to figure out where black elements start and end.

The tree cargo car was another simple build (13 steps or so).

The red umbrella elements are cool and it was the 1st time I used them. Need to check if they are exclusive or uncommon. This is also the first time I held a classic styled Lego tree since the early 1980s!

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[jaisonline]

Here's an example of the PDF manual.  My laptop's brightness setting always set at 100% and I zoom as needed when reading Lego PDFs.  Neither helps in this case.

 

[jaisonline]

Cargo car with gifts. 22 total steps with gifts. The car itself was 13 steps.

Missing the 3 books. I should have the reddish brown in a spare element bin. Need to also buy the purple and red plants along with 2 green stems, 1 white cat, and a sorta scarce white rabbit that was included in a handle of sets and calendars during the 2000s (should cost $5 to $10 used). The rabbit is the 2nd most expensive part to Bricklink in the set next to the $10-$15 (used) red train base. The blue tricycle runs under $4 used.

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[comicblast]

Cargo car with gifts. 22 total steps with gifts. The car itself was 13 steps.

Missing the 3 books. I should have the reddish brown in a spare element bin. Need to also buy the purple and red plants along with 2 green stems, 1 white cat, and a sorta scarce white rabbit that was included in a handle of sets and calendars during the 2000s (should cost $5 to $10 used). The rabbit is the 2nd most expensive part to Bricklink in the set next to the $10-$15 (used) red train base. The blue tricycle runs under $4 used.

ImageUploadedByBrickpicker1405520445.716516.jpg

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Even though this is a pretty simple car, I really like the look of the build, especially since it is really reminiscent of a sleigh...except bigger! Looks like someone was a good little boy/girl this year! 

[jaisonline]

Even though this is a pretty simple car, I really like the look of the build, especially since it is really reminiscent of a sleigh...except bigger! Looks like someone was a good little boy/girl this year! 

 

totally agree.

[jaisonline]

i had to bricklink only 11 missing elements and 5 minifigs.  4 orders were needed. thank goodness for my friend in poland who came through with manual #2 and some random elements needed for other sets. 

 

 

of everything i purchased to complete the set, one minifig torso i needed is killing me. i had to pay a full $5 shipped for the ugly thing (not sure which i'll get. one is more "rare"). heck, that like-new minifig w/ the luke bespin torso was cheaper.

 

the torso that came with the set was the incorrect one although it looked similar. 

 

I also paid $4 for the white bunny rabbit.

 

all in all, I spent an $19.28 (of course a good portion of that was for postage) and $10 for the 2nd manual.

 

the entire set is built.  i haven't posted pics of the caboose yet as some replacement elements were used.

[jjsrt8]

Im debating on keeping mine top build one day or sell its still sealed I paid 200 cash in June plus traded $240 in lego retail new sets for it.

[jaisonline]

I'm debating on keeping mine top build one day or sell its still sealed I paid 200 cash in June plus traded $240 in lego retail new sets for it.

10173 is def a nice set to own sealed.

Here's a hint on what my summary post will be like.

If I was in your situation...

I wouldn't open a sealed 10173 since they usually sell for a nice dime before the holidays. I would rather buy a used set and sell the MISB one. Better yet, I might even buy the latest Hogwarts Express and add holiday themed cars to it. I'll do the latter with the Hogwarts train (like last yr) or use the Emerald Night loco and tender.

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[jjsrt8]

I'm thinking about selling it but want to make $100 or more profit because of what I had to trade to get it. So I'm looking for around 550 after fees not gonna happen probably I mite be sitting on it awhile longer. I wanted to trade it but seems no one's interested.

If I can sell it for a decent profit then I will just piece it together for cheaper.

[jaisonline]

I'm thinking about selling it but want to make $100 or more profit because of what I had to trade to get it. So I'm looking for around 550 after fees not gonna happen probably I mite be sitting on it awhile longer. I wanted to trade it but seems no one's interested.

If I can sell it for a decent profit then I will just piece it together for cheaper.

I had a similar selling experience with a MISB 10132 Motorized Hogwarts. The box was a 8 out of 10. Excellent condition.

You will eventually get your money with a 10173, it will just take time.

You just won't find a brickpicker interested in your sealed set because the buyers market for it is small especially at $500+ and it's appreciating maybe 10% max per yr now (just like my 10132). Additionally, brickpickers like myself always look for a deal .

I ended up selling it on Bricklink after 7 months listing it. .

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