CaDA Shell Retail Station review: grown-up ‘Lego’ for car enthusiasts
This is obviously Lego. Except it isn’t Lego. Which, somehow, makes it better.
The CaDA Shell Retail Station (C66028W) sits in that pleasingly niche overlap between toy, desk ornament and quietly obsessive motoring ephemera. If you grew up surrounded by bricks – or spent years helping small children undo mistakes, apply stickers straight, and definitely not lose patience – there’s something faintly indulgent about building a set that is unapologetically for you.
In my case, it’s also deeply on-brand. A Shell V-Power forecourt feels very ‘me’. My fleet of questionable old cars lives on E5 because E10 remains the devil’s juice, and long-time Petrolblog readers will already know more about #Pump10 than is strictly healthy. Entire photo histories have been built around it. Sadly, the model only gives you two pumps, so there’s no Pump 10 joy here; a missed trick, frankly.
Still, what you do get is excellent.
The build took around 90 minutes, made up of 305 pieces, and it’s one of the most enjoyable sets I’ve put together in years. The instructions are clear, the tolerances are good, and the quality is right up there with the famous Danish benchmark. Nothing feels cheap or reluctant to click into place.
The joy is in the details. Tiny pump displays. The little numbered signs above the pumps. Litter bins. A ‘Way In’ sign. The canopy proportions feel right. There are even bits of string standing in for fuel hoses. All gloriously nerdy and exactly the sort of thing this set gets right.
At 13cm high and 17.8cm across, it’s compact rather than imposing, which makes it ideal as a desk piece. It looks best with a couple of old Majorette cars parked by the pumps, rather than the slightly odd, riderless motorcycle included in the box. This is a petrol station; it deserves cars with stories and scrapes.
Price-wise, I’ve seen it online for under £20, which is, quite frankly, a bargain. Yes, this review is probably too late to inspire a last-minute Christmas purchase – unless you go full ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger chasing Turbo Man’ – but it’s exactly the sort of thing to pounce on in the January sales.
All it really needs now is one final accessory: an annoying driver in front of you who’s gone into the shop for groceries and is waiting for the Costa machine to finish a large cappuccino.
Five minutes later.
Nissan Juke still on the forecourt.
No sign of the driver. No shame.
Other brick sets are available, as indeed are other petrol stations. But there is only one Petrolblog #Pump10.
Disclosure: This set was sent to me for review, with no expectation of a positive verdict.
