When Compared With Past Stations One Of The Best

7498 Police Station
The Chronicler's Rating - 4/5
Price ~ $100.00
Year Released - 2011

For the past 20+ years Lego has released, without fail, a new police station every 3 to 5 years.  Some have been excellent (1993's Central Precinct HQ), others have been terrible (1998's Command Post Central) with most falling somewhere in the middle (1996's Metro PD Station for example).  I am pleased to say that Lego has done very well with this installment, when compared to its many predecessors it emerges near the top of the list. 

This set draws obvious inspiration from its immediate predecessor, 2008’s 7744 Police Headquarters.  Most notably the dual jail cells, lower level garages, the color scheme and the included vehicles.  However, this station is not a copy and has some very distinctive features.  This set represents, as far as I can remember, an original concept in terms of city buildings.  The L shaped design joined by curved windows is an architectural feature that has not appeared in any other Lego City building to date.  I must say with how pleasing it is to the eye I hope Lego continues with this type of construction!  It is also a full honest to goodness 3 stories which puts it into very exclusive company (most 3 story buildings have a single room at the top, this has a whole floor).  7744 Police Headquarters was 3 stories but the bottom was garages which don’t, in my mind, count.  In terms of number of rooms I think only the Central Precinct HQ had more, making this one of the largest police station sets ever.    

FOR PARENTS

If your child loves the City theme you can't go wrong with a police station and you can have peace of mind buying this one knowing it is one of the best thus far released by Lego.  The only stations that I would say are better than this one are 6398 Central Precinct HQ and 7744 Police Station.  The playability of this set is such that it will provide many happy hours of play for your money and it has good pieces that can be used by your child easily in the construction of their own creations.       

FOR KIDS

No city collection is complete without a police station.  I myself have 3 of them in my collection, a main headquarters and 2 smaller auxiliary stations.  If you enjoy the city theme this would be a great set to add to your collection.

CONCLUSION

 No City collection is complete without a police station.  Having lived through most of the previous offerings you won't do much better than this one.  The only major demerit is that the price to piece ratio is worse than most previous sets; in other words you are getting a bit less for your money as far as the piece count.  Lego appears to have stretched those fewer pieces well though as I don't see anything major that this set is missing which others had.  Kudos to the designer. 

Happy Building

TheLegoChronicler