LEGO was worried 76405 Hogwarts Express Collectors' Edition would be too big

The new LEGO Harry Potter 76405 Hogwarts Express Collectors’ Edition is the biggest Wizarding World train to date – but the designers were worried it might actually be too big.

Coming in at a whopping 118cm long, 26cm tall and 20cm deep, the 5,129-piece train is up there with the longest LEGO sets of all time. For most of us, that makes it a tricky proposition even before considering the £429.99 / $499.99 / €499.99 price tag, because – as with many of the LEGO Group’s flagship releases – the first question is: where are we going to put it?

It’s a question that was apparently also at the forefront of designer Marcos Bessa’s mind while determining just how big 76405 Hogwarts Express Collectors’ Edition should be – a decision ultimately cemented by the space required for the minifigures in the carriage.

“We did have some conversations here in the office, as some people were concerned whether people at home would actually have [room] to display this,” the former LEGO Harry Potter Design Lead told Brick Fanatics and other LEGO Fan Media. “That also played a part: how long do we even want to get with our models, or how big do we want to get with our models?"

The answer was apparently ‘very big’, because those concerns seemingly didn’t stop Bessa and his team from taking the Hogwarts Express to enormous new places. It means it’s probably the most difficult LEGO Harry Potter direct-to-consumer set to display (at least alongside 71043 Hogwarts Castle), and certainly much trickier than the other incredibly long Wizarding World D2C.

“This one is not like 75978 Diagon Alley, where each module is just big enough that you can fit it inside these IKEA traditional shelves [KALLAX] that have these squares,” Bessa admits. “It’s quite easy and flexible in that way that you can just accommodate one building in each square. This one is not as easy, but you can put it on top of the cabinets. By the way, IKEA is not sponsoring my answers.”

If you’re looking for the perfect LEGO Harry Potter display, maybe a KALLAX unit is the way to go. Or any other shelf that happens to be at least 118cm long and 20cm deep, with a height clearance of at least 26cm. Either way, as Bessa says, displaying 76405 Hogwarts Express Collectors’ Edition is definitely not easy – but then the same could also be said of 10294 Titanic, 75192 Millennium Falcon and so on. If you want a massive building experience, you’re going to need a massive display space.

Feeling up to the challenge? 76405 Hogwarts Express Collectors’ Edition is available at LEGO.com right now. You can check out our review here, in which we try out various different display options, including the floor. We definitely wouldn’t advise that one.

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