The Funwhole F9026 Sheriff's Office: A Wild West Building Block Review

 

Howdy, fellow building block enthusiasts! Today, we're diving into the dusty trails of the Wild West with Funwhole's latest offering – the F9026 Sheriff's Office. Get ready for a rootin' tootin' adventure as we explore this Lego-compatible masterpiece with 1240 pieces.

The F9026 Sheriff's Office captures the essence of the Wild West with its two-story rustic clapboard building coloured in sand blue bricks and contrasting brown accent details.  Looks fantastic!  Here are the details.

Thanks to Funwhole for providing the set for this review!


Specifications

  • Set Name:  FunWhole Old West Sheriff's Office
  • Set Number: F9026
  • Piece Count: 1240
  • Compatibility: Lego-compatible bricks
  • Stickers: No
  • Printed pieces: Yes
  • Numbered bags: Yes
  • Age rating: 16+
  • Bonus items:  brick separator, tweezers, Funwhole service card

Unboxing


You can find my separate blog post regarding the set contents and included lighting kit here.


Building Instructions


The colourful Sheriff's Office instruction manual contains 186 easy to follow pages over nine stages of construction as depicted above.

The wiring for the LED lighting may require some adult supervision, but the rest of the sheriff's office can be managed by younger builders.   Ok, let's proceed to the build.


Stage 1


Follow the instructions to build the base.

Stage 2


Build the front wall and ....

... do a preliminary test of the lighting components to make sure everything works.  The Sheriff's Office set comes with a brown battery pack that uses 3 AAA batteries.  As I did'n have any around I used one of the battery packs from a previous Funwhole set.  My black battery pack uses AA batteries instead of AAA batteries.

Stage 3

Furnish the first floor interior with a desk, a chair and a shelf.  The mug shot height board and wanted posters are all printed pieces, not stickers.

...and add a canopy over the front porch.

Finally add the staircase to access the second floor.

Stage 4


The jail cell is an addition to the first floor and can be removed separately as an extra play feature.

The Sheriffs plaque and gun rack are mounted to the back wall which swings away to expose the interior.

With the first floor completed, the next stage will focus on the second floor.

Stage 5


Here's the second floor with front facade and walls built.


Stage 6


Time to add the furnishings to the second floor which is the Sheriff's apartment.  Upstairs, there's creature comforts such as an old wood stove, a bed, a safe that doubles as a nightstand, a coat rack, a bathtub with a pail.  I've turned on the upstairs lighting so that it's easier to make out all of the cool features.

With the second floor constructed, it's time to stack it onto the first floor.

Stage 7


The Sheriff signage is composed entirely of printed tiles!

And is added to the building structure.

Stage 8


Here's the two roof panels.

Finishing off the Sheriff's Office roof and building.

Stage 9



Finally,  here's a bonus play feature, an old time wooden bulletin board with wanted posters and advertisements.

Visuals

Now let's take a look at the finished Sheriff's Office and some of the cool features that come with the set.

 The Sheriffs Office features a covered porch and out front, a hitching post and feeding trough for the horses.


On one side the office, there is a staricase leading to the second floor.  Under the staircase, there's a case of  empty bottles.  


The jail cell that is attached to the office can be detached from the main building for extra play value.


The building is smartly constructed so that you can open the back panels and view and easily access the interiors of both the first and second floors.  And don't forget that you can still remove the second floor jut like a standard modular building.


After apprehending the criminals, the Sheriff transports them to his office for processing. There, he captures their mugshots and places them in the jail cell, awaiting trial for their alleged crimes.

There was one thing I found kind of weird.  The set includes a hairpiece that is supposed to attache to the roof.  I wasn't feeling it, so I decided to leave it off.


Lighting


A standard feature of every Funwhole set is the LED lighting that is fully integrated into each building block set. This lighting is what truly sets Funwhole apart from Lego and other brick brands.   




The Sheriff's Office set comes to life with nine different lighted elements, creating a warm and atmospheric glow, both inside and out.


The Minifigures


The Sheriff's Office set comes with 4 Funwhole style proprietary minifigures.  That means that while the building is Lego compatible, these figures are not.  They consist of the Sheriff, the Deputy Sheriff, and two outlaws.  

Conclusion


This was my first western themed set and hopefully it won't be my last.  I really love the rustic look of the set and all of it's unique details and accessories.  The Funwhole bricks are the highest quality and they look great.  Oh yeah, I loved the lighting effects and all of the printed pieces too.  Lego doesn't make many old western themed sets like these anymore, so Funwhole has stepped in to fill the void.


I didn't have any missing pieces and in fact, I actually ended up with lots of spare pieces.  I think this set deserves a rating of 5 out 5!  If you ignore the fact of the non compatible minifigures, this set had it all.  Highly recommend this set for you western fans!


What are your thoughts on the Funwhole F9026 Sheriff's Office? Feel free to comment or ask questions in the comments below. To embark on your own frontier adventure, find the set on the Funwhole website and on through a Funwhole Amazon store near you.


Order your sets from the FunWhole website and use my code itsnotlego to save an extra 10% off!

Thanks for looking, bye for now!