Sometime in October, I ran across a Christmas Skyline MOC. Boy, did I fall in love.

Similar to the LEGO Architecture theme, this MOC displays elements of winter and Christmas. It melds them all together into a really great micro build.

I used to blog a bit about LEGO Architecture, so it shouldn’t be a surprise I immediately purchased these instructions. Architecture, microbuilds and Christmas? I couldn’t resist buying it!

Description of Christmas Skyline MOC

This amazing MOC was created by klosspalatset.

Here’s the description of the MOC by the creator:

A custom LEGO design of a Christmas skyline that fits the LEGO Architecture line. The set includes the following structures:

• Santa’s workshop with sleigh
• Giant Christmas tree and gifts
• Winter village
• Whoville
• Mount Crumpit with Grinch

The set has a total of 321 pieces with an estimated cost to build of $25 USD.

If that sounds good to you, the instructions are available for download via Rebrickable for $3.50 USD.

My Experience Building The MOC

I’d love to say that even with our large collection, it was super easy to source the pieces, but it was not. I also wasn’t in a position to order a ton of parts during the holidays in order to get this built with enough time to enjoy for Christmas. So it wasn’t until a few days into this new year that I finally got it finished with some sort of completion.

I know that sounds funny, but you’ll see what I mean in a few minutes.

Since I didn’t have all the pieces on hand, I opted to build what I could and replace colors as needed. Or simply replace them where I didn’t feel it would matter much. I’m sure that happens more often than not for anyone who parts a MOC.

My first major replacement came rather quickly. The plate calls for a special 2×6 plate with 4 studs on the side. Those aren’t very common in any of the lots we’ve picked up. To be exact, I found one. Since I knew it was more of an aesthetic thing and not really a necessity to the build, I found myself replacing those plats with the 2×2 version. It required I switch around some of the other plates used to make the base. It’s definitely not as sturdy as the original build, but it works for now.

My next issue was with the santa’s workshop area. The arch of the cave could be a little more sturdy. I found myself fiddling with the cave bricks not snapping together well. Then, I would knock over the flame in the workshop. It was all so frustrating, but I finally made it work.

I had a few other things that I couldn’t build to my liking.

For example, I could not find 1×1 plates with clips in brown for the reindeer on Santa’s sleigh. So I replaced them with black bricks.

I also couldn’t fully build the Christmas Tree. I didn’t have all the wedge plates needed in dark green to create the tree, so I used some white wedge plates as replacements. Without enough of the tree pieces, I decided to make just two sides of the tree. Figured since no one was really going to be looking at the back side of the build, it would be fine for now. There’s enough there that you get the gist of the build.

A few other replacements I made involved:

• rebuilding the candy cane since I had no noodles,
• switching out the blue Whoville house for a lime green,
• swapping black 1×1 round plates for the brown ones used for tree trunks, and
• swapping white slope bricks where needed…among other things.

Then there’s the issue with missing The Grinch’s red sack. Would you be surprised to know I couldn’t find one in all of our winter village stash? I plan to use one of the white sacks we picked up as accessories when we got some of the pink elves this Christmas.

I don’t hate it, but I can’t help but want to get the exact parts to make the build as intended. So I’ll probably swap out pieces here and there as I come across them… if I don’t just break down and order what I need.

Final Thoughts

Despite the issues I had with finding parts, I highly recommend Christmas Skyline MOC build. The build itself is pretty fantastic. It’s fun to see all the scenes come together. Aside from the one structure issue with the cave in Santa’s workshop area, it’s a solid and interesting build.

If you’re a LEGO Winter Village fanatic, don’t pass on picking up these build instructions on Rebrickable!