Item: FunWhole Steampunk Watch Tower F9070
Rating: 8
Author: The Adventures Of My Minifig

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We’re heading into alternate timeline territory today. I, @the_adventures_of_my_minifig, will be taking a look at the latest offering from FunWhole, with their steampunk inspired Watch Tower (F9070)!

This set is the next addition to the ‘steampunk world‘ theme from FunWhole and consists of 2,744 pieces and 5 Minifigs (6 if you include the figure which represents a statue and tribute to the watch tower’s founder).

If you wish to purchase this set please use our affiliate links located at the end of this review, thank you.

The Box & Contents:

From the moment I removed it from its shipping package, I noticed that the box had a wonderful feel to it. It’s thick card housing makes the product immediately feel like something quite special and produced with care. The print is vibrant and crisp with a very clear picture of the build itself being prominently displayed across the majority of the front.

As you would expect to find, all the specific details of the set are included, such as the FunWhole logo, the set number, piece count, age rating (16+) and a unique emblem with the set name and theme.

Inside the box are 14 individually numbered bags, an “F” bag (Containing 5 of the sets minifigs and the special bricks that will be required to install the sets light kit and of course the brightly coloured orange box that contains the light kit itself. The kit consists of a battery pack, 3 numbered paper bags, tweezers, a small screw driver and an apparently new element. The “2×3 C-port expansion board”. This new element allows for two methods of powering the light kit. Either from the included battery pack or by attaching the expansion board directly to a 5 volt power supply. Thus eliminating the need for the bulky battery pack.

The Build:

As with most plastic brick based systems. You start with the base, and build your way up. There is nothing new or revolutionary here, but it does settle you in nicely with its familiar feel. The builds footprint is 32×32 studs, and is achieved by decorating 4 sepreate 16×16 stud plates with tiles, and then ultimately attaching them together.

The first 4 bags form the ground floor. This section of the build comprises of the entrance, a public museum area with various historical artifacts and information about them on display and a generator room. Both the museum and generator room contain quite a few printed bricks, tiles, door and wall panel elements. Once again from FunWhole there are no stickers in this set. It should also be pointed out, that as with any good steampunk build, there a cogs and gears aplenty in the generator room. The light kit for this floor not only lights the front doors, but also provides a light in the museum area, a wall light, console lights and a rather healthy glow under the reactor itself which is visible from both the generator room and museum sides of the dividing wall. The wires themselves were easy to place and install and the specialist bricks provided make securing them (and indeed hiding them) very simple.

There are many nice brick built details in this portion of the build. Such as the telescope and display case in the museum. One of the printed slopes in the museum even throws a good deal of foreshadowing over a “Mechanical observation bird” that features toward the back end of the build. The reactor itself looks suitably victorian, with it pipework and cogs (which revolve by turning the attached 4 spoke handle). However, one of the best features is the working platform lift on the outside of the building, which gives the figures access to the “Viewing platform”. We’ll cover the platform lift later.

Now, here is where we start to really gain some height. Bags 5 – 11 form the main shaft of the tower, this section of the build alone adds about a whopping 25 bricks to the over all height of the build. The base of the column is surrounded by a public observation deck on which minifigs can stand and lookout over the surrounding area. It has a three, brick built turrets and a plinth for displaying the observation bird later on. The wiring for this section, again, is very simple if not a little fiddly at one point. The main tower features a “Stained glass” window build that hides and LED light panel. The instructions are clear on how to fit it but due to the size of the connectors and the available space to get my hands in (Even with the tweezers provided) it did feel very cramped and a little tricky.

The other feature of the tower is that it serves as an elevator to the platform that protrudes from the side of the building. This is honestly a LOT simpler to build than it first appears when you pour out all of the cogs, gears and chain link elements onto the table. A lot of the gears are simply there to add an element of move to the outside of the tower as the lift raises and, unless I am mistaken, many of them seem to be there just to make the mechanism look heftier than it actually is. There are a number of gear protruding through the side of the building and several decorative element that either hold, hide or both the exposed ends of the rods on which the gears are attached. Like I said, its Steampunk. Cogs, gears and elaborate mechanisms are the order of the day. There are different build techniques, more prominently used in this section. Offset studs and SNOT techniques are used here to achieve recesses or to put together the stained glass window itself. Two removable panels are also built into the sides to give better access to the platform itself, or seeming to make reattaching the lift platform easier should it become detached.

The panel at the base, which allows you to easily place the minifig on the platform, is made from 2 half cylinder transparent panels, which have a wonderfully ornate print on them.

Bags 12 and 13 form the uppermost lever. The Observatory. This is back to being a rather simple build . With no really challenging or particularly new techniques. The telescope slides in and out of the dome rather nicely and has a good range of vertical movement. The entire top level is capable of revolving through 360 degrees thanks to a mechanism that was built during the previous section of the build. The windows and doors on this floor are all printed with an exquisite decorative print that gives this level a really nice look. The top dome of the observatory can be removed to gain access, but other than the rear of the telescope and a rather nicely printed 1×1 slope there isn’t much else inside. This section makes use of a secondary power pack (This time requiring 2 CR2032 batteries) just to light the top floor. This separation allows the observatory to turn without restriction. The lights in this are simply illuminate the observatory interior, the telescope and a pulsating beacon just below the tip of the spire.

The last bag contains the finishing details. A statue dedicated to the watch towers founder, the mechanical observation bird which was eluded to earlier in the build and a rather nifty flying machine (Possibly a nod to the previously released “Steampunk Flying club” set).

Whilst none of the builds are especially remarkable they do all add extra detail and flesh out the story of life at the watch tower. The mechanical bird is well designed given the number of parts it uses versus the overall look of it, and the inclusion of the flying machine does give a reason for the platform at the side of the building.

The Minifigs:

As I said earlier, there are 5 character minifigs in this build and one representing a statue. The minifigs appear in the usual FunWhole style and I must say they are rather cute.

However, these minifigs form one of the few parts of this set that I was not really a fan of. Not because of their design or appearance, but because you have to build every part of them. Legs and hips are not attached. Arms and torsos are separate. Even the hands and arms have to be put together. Now I know this seems like a small this to moan about. But some of these parts are rather fiddly and I felt like quite a lot of pressure had to be applied in order to connect them. It also should be pointed out that the right and left arm differ from each other in their pose, and if you get it wrong your minifig looks like they’ve had a rather nasty accident. Removing these parts is quite tricky and delicate work due to how thin the figures arms are. The good news is that FunWhole do provide a couple of spares in case it doesn’t go to plan.

The figures are all uniquely printed with varying character designs, and all the prints are crisp and well defined. My only criticism regarding the design here is the gold torso and arms used on one of them. That may be a personal thing, I’m just not sure about metallic colours used as clothing.

It would have been a nice touch to know more about each of the characters, though. At the start of the instructions, a back story is given to the Watch Tower. In it, only one figure is given a name specifically. Another has their name implied, although no specific figure is attributed to it. This feels like a missed opportunity as some of the figures are wearing “costumes” that imply they may be rather important within this world created by FunWhole.

The figures are well made though. They feel sturdy enough to be played with and a few characters come with a second head, with an alternate facial expression.

Overall:

Once complete the build is impressive. Standing at 64cm tall it should stand proud above most of the other builds in this theme. The colours used, consisting mainly of light tan, brown, gold and brass/copper are all common staples of the steam punk genre and the inclusion of a dark green makes for a wonderfully victorian feel.

All the printed elements a very clear and crisp. This is especially noticeable in the museum portion of the build, where some of the information signage can actually be read.

The doors located in the sides of the ground floor give wonderful entry points which are great for looking into and will make any photographs you wish to take with it much easier. Especially for lower angle shots, which can be trickier with other brands. It also goes without saying that the included light kit makes taking this shots even easier.

Speaking of which. With the singular exception of the stained glass window LED panel. The light kit was very easy to install. Not only has its installation been very carefully thought through. The instructions, which are very clear throughout the whole build, easily demonstrates how the wires should be run and where each element needs to go. There is even a slip of paper in my edition of the instructions, pointing out an error in the booklet itself and the correct parts required, indicating that FunWhole is not taking an “Oh, it’ll do” approach to their product.

The inclusion of the elevating access platform and the elevator shaft make it really easy to believably move the minifigs around the tower, and the mechanisms that operate them are incredibly smooth, easy to operate and kind of satisfying in how sturdy they feel.

My one concern with the main elevator platform is that it is only held on by a 1×4 tank track element, and is secured by the small pegs on the underside of plate it attaches to. Whilst I haven’t had many experiences of it becoming detached, given the number of times my 5 year old has played with it whilst I’ve had it built and allowed him to test it. It has come off several times and I can only imagine that this particular connection could become weaker over time and use.

There are a great deal of positive things to be said about this set. For me personally, as a first time FunWhole builder, I am incredibly impressed with design, quality and over all presentation

of this set and it has made me consider picking up some more from this particular theme or investigating some of the other things FunWhole has to offer.

Now, there are one or two things that I must point out that let this set down for me. I’ve covered that the minifigs are fully deconstructed. I have pointed out a connection that I don’t have complete faith in. However, one detail that really left me feeling rather disappointed came whilst constructing the observatory level of the build.

Given that the ground floor and Viewing Platform and the viewing platform and “landing pad” are connected by some very clever and well thought out lift mechanisms, I was shocked to discover that there is no means for a figure to access the observatory. There are no stairs to this level, no lift. Not even a drop down ladder of any description. The backstory implies that this is where the action happens in this set. So for such an omission to be made does feel rather odd.

That said, this is still a very nice set which looks great both in the daylight and at night with the light kit in full effect. I am certain that I will be able to find a place for it either in my own city or as part of a wider display.