Lego 21338 A-Frame Cabin Review: Play and Display

Prompted by the threat of this set retiring soon (end of 2024) I decided to finally bite the bullet and purchase Lego set no. 21338 A-Frame Cabin.

Set No.	Name	Theme	Released Date	Retired Date	Pieces	Minifigs	Retail (£)	PPP
21338	A-Frame Cabin	Ideas	Feb-2023	~Expected~ End-2024	2,082	4	£159.99 $179.99 €179.99	£0.08

(The set at a glance)

I managed to pick the set up for a small discount at my local toy store, however, normally the set retails for £159.99. The set isn’t the cheapest when you consider you only get 2,082 pieces or a price per piece of £0.08. Although you do get 4 suitably dressed Minifigures and multiple small animals. Lego’s A-Frame Cabin was released back in February 2023 and sits comfortably in the Ideas theme.

All the Minifigures look unique but also coherently fit together to make a suitably autumnal party. My favourite has to be the guy figure with dark brown hair, backpack, and dual coloured leg piece. For those feeling creative all the Minifig pieces work well together so you could mix and match torsos and legs to create your own unique figs.

I’d say this set was a medium length build, taking a few hours to build over two days – building at a leisurely pace. The set comes in 15 numbered bags with bags 1-7 building the ground floor of the cabin and the log storage. Bags 8 and 9 build the upper-floor and bags 10-15 build the roof and final mini terrain section and trees. The set utilises several clever building techniques including using 18 Mjolnir (Thor’s hammer) as the cabin’s foundation stones. The use of two brown whips to create a rocking chair was also a nice touch.
Although, the building process does get a little repetitive towards the end with the last few bags being devoted almost entirely to building the identical trees.

Additionally, I did find some of the building quite fiddly, especially the smaller details / decorations making up the interior of the build.

The building instructions also required you to place tiles and bricks on the side of the walls fairly often. These were quite easy to misplace and required a delicate hand if you didn’t want to knock down half the wall. (Although that could be more of a skill-issue on my part!).

Overall the effort is worth it as the effect it creates is really unique and not something you see often with Lego.

The set is cleverly modular meaning the log storage and canoe sections can be easily detached from the main cabin.

These could then be displayed separately giving the build an increased footprint; or combined into one medium sized, accompanying, nature build (as shown in the picture).

The main cabin also features multiple connection points on both sides of the build. This allows you to connect the log storage to either the front or the back of the cabin’s wall. Although, the right side also has two connection bricks due to the curved nature of the canoe holder build it can only be connected at the back of the cabin.

Personally I think the build should have included two additional very small accessory builds that could have attached to the empty connections. This could have covered up the holes that are present in the cabin’s foundations. The back of the cabin features amazing detailing so its a little bit disappointing that this wasn’t taken into account for the sides.

The set is full of small (and large) details and presents endless opportunities for play or display. I especially like the inclusion of a Dark Orange Canoe. This is quite a rare Lego piece appearing in only three other Lego sets. The Dark Orange Canoe seems to be the new Red Canoe which sadly hasn’t been seen since 2014’s Lego Camper Van.

Speaking of camper vans – The A-Frame Cabin goes very well with Lego’s numerous camping themed sets. I also own set no. 60283 Holiday camper Van, and the cabin pairs extraordinarily well.

With a few extra accessories the scene really comes to life!

Those with a large Lego collection could quite easily combine the A-Frame Cabin with multiple other sets to create a very unique camping scene. Personally I’m aiming to pick up Camping Adventure from BrickLink’s Designer Program Series 3.

Alternatively you could quite easily replicate some of the set’s design features in your own creations to expand and customise the set. All the Lego pieces needed to create a few more trees or rocks can be found in Lego’s pick a brick section here.

Overall I think the A-Frame cabin is a must have for any older Lego collector, especially if you can get the set at a discount before it retires. The ability to combine it with other sets or MOCs is endless. It looks great on the shelf and is retiring too soon in my opinion – having only been on sale for two years! If the set was cheaper I’d even consider purchasing multiples and creating a little alpine community!

Overall Score: