10214 Tower Bridge

10214 Tower Bridge is a Exclusives set that was released on October 1, 2010. It was designed by Jamie Berard, and is his largest set produced to date, a grand total of 4,287 pieces.
== Description ==
This set is modeled after the real Tower Bridge in London, meaning that the middle part of the bridge opens up. It mostly contains tan pieces, with also some blue and white pieces as the supports for the bridge. The set measures 102 cm by 42 cm by 26 cm. It contains not only the bridge itself, but also a mini-scale double-decker bus, a yellow truck, black taxi, and green car. It also includes 5 16x32 (half size) baseplates, all coloured blue. The set contains no minifigures, as it is not minifigure-scale. At 4,287 pieces, it is the third largest LEGO set ever released.
== Background ==
Tower Bridge (built 1886-1894) is located on the River Thames in the East-end of London and was designed by Architect Sir Horace Jones. It is named Tower Bridge (although many call it "The" Tower Bridge), not for it's own towers but for it's proximity to the Tower of London. It officially opened on the 30th June, 1894 by soon to be King, Edward VII. Tower Bridge also featured the 2012 Olympic rings when London hosted the Olympic games, the rings were suspended in the centre of the upper walkways, and hinged to swing upwards when the bridge's central span was raised.
Unlike many landmarks in the city, Tower Bridge survived the Blitz unscathed. This has been ascribed to the possibility that it was used as a marker to line up German bombing raids.
=== Construction ===
Construction started in 1886, and took eight years to complete. Over 70,000 tons of concrete were provided for the massive piers being sunken into the riverbed for support, and 11,000 tons of steel were used for the framework of the bridge. The total cost of construction was £1,184,000 (£100 million today).
== Notes ==
* In the British Summer 2011 LEGO Catalogue it states that this set costs £209.99 where as other LEGO sources state that the set is £204.99.
* Approximately 1/8 of the pieces (by count) in this set are tan "roof tiles" which, through SNOT, provide the octagonal profile on the tower corners.
== LEGO's Description ==
== Team Speed Build ==
At the 2010 BrickFair in the Washington DC area, a team of five AFOLs and TFOLs worked together and completed construction of this set in 2 hours and 18 minutes, setting the first record for a team build of this set.
At LEGO Fan Weekend 2010 in Skærbæk, Denmark a new record were set by in the time 2 hours, 18 minutes and 21 seconds.
== Gallery ==
10214_London_Tower_Bridge.jpg
10214 Opening.jpg|The Bridge Opens
10214 Arches.jpg|The Arches
10214 Bridge.jpg|The Bridge
10214 Overhead.jpg|Overhead View
10214 Tower.jpg|Upper part of the tower
Bus10214.jpg|The Double Decker Bus
Vehicles10214.jpg|The vehicles
== Sources ==
* Toysnbricks.com
* Eurobricks Forums Topic
== External links ==
Category:Exclusives
Category:10000 sets
Category:2010 sets