Lepin 15002 Not Lego Cafe Corner Set Review - Part Two

Due to my busy schedule, I'm not able to sit down and build the Lepin Cafe Corner modular all in one go.  So I'm just pacing myself and building it when I have time.   I took a look at the instruction manual and I figure I will build 10 steps each day. 

The completed Lepin Cafe Corner.

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Day One

 

The above picture shows the progress after reaching step 10 of the first floor.  All of the tiles for the base have been applied.  The building foundation has been laid and the walls and step construction is underway.  Day one complete.

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Day Two

Here's the progress after day 2.   The building has now reached step 20 as per the instruction manual. The walls of the main floor are now up, as are the doors and windows.  First floor staircase for the hotel is now complete.  I had to bring in a few friends to help out with the construction.

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Day Three

Welcome to day 3 of the Lepin Cafe Corner build.   Got lots of pictures to share today.

The first floor is now complete.  All the awnings and over door details have been installed.  As the interior space is empty, there's nothing new to report there.  The Hotel signage has also been fixed to the side of the building.

Here's Sam the supervisor confirming that the left side of the cafe is complete.

There's Dan the Man, taking a break in the shade.  Boy, is it ever hot out day.   Please note that the front door design of the Lepin Cafe is different than the original Lego door.   The baseplate corners are lifting ever so slightly, despite me trying to bend the corners down.

Carpenter Ken decides to hide from Sam the Supervisor behind the cafe.  No windows here for anyone to spy on him.

The back of the cafe is really devoid of any details.   Hmm, this would be a really good place to put an outhouse, lol.

The HOTEL sign sure looks confusing when seen from behind.   The hotel door goes up the completed staircase but the second floor still needs to be built.

Dave and Mike are still cleaning up the mess left inside.   We are now finished step 30 in the instruction manual.  Today, I encountered a missing part, light gray 1x2 tile.  Not sure if I dropped it on the floor or it was missing from the set.  Luckily I've got lots of these in my brick inventory, so no delays yet on the build.  Well that's it for the pics from day 3.   See you tomorrow.

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Day Four

So this is how things looked at the end of Day 3.  On day 4, I started to build out the floor of the second storey and found I didn't have the necessary black plates to complete.  I kept checking the remaining parts and could not find them.  It was upon reviewing the instruction manual that I discovered that I made a big mistake on the last step.  

See the black brick plates over the awning?  That's supposed to be dark gray, not black. After I realized this mistake, the build started to go smoothly again.

Ok, this is how it's supposed to look.   All the debris has been swept up from the first floor too.

The exterior details like the tables and umbrellas have been added.  Also the bench and lamppost.  The bicycle was challenging until I realized the bike rim was two pieces.   The second floor walls are now being built up at the end of day 4.

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Day Five

More brown bricks added to the second floor walls today.  The second floor kind of snaps into the first floor, but it's a little bit loose.  Not sure if it's supposed to be that way or not.

Second floor windows installed and we're starting to use some red bricks now.  The last of the light blue bricks have been used up.  Stair railing added too.

Here's the street view of the cafe corner so far.

And finally the overhead shot of the second floor.   Oh, I forgot to mention that I changed the white lamp post from the set to a silver one instead.  I didn't like how the white post stood out.  Ok, that's a wrap for today.

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Day Six

Welcome to day 6.  We didn't really do a lot today so it will be a short update.  The top of the second storey walls were completed and the arch windows and grills added.  The grills are up and down grid shaped and not diagonal like the original Lego set.  The second floor staircase was put in also.

To complete the second storey walls, you need to put some non-studded pieces around the rear perimeter of the cafe building.  I was supposed to have 4 1x4 brown smooth bricks to complete the top of the walls.  

Instead, I got 4 1x6 smooth bricks instead.   I used a couple of them and rearranged the placement of the bricks.  I didn't have any 1x2 smooth brown bricks, so I ended up using a couple of 1x2 brown grill pieces instead.

Wrong bricks, should be 1x4, not 1x6.

 Anyways, after that little diversion, work started on the third floor base.

Carpenter Ken, get back to work and quit ogling the girls.  Tomorrow, the third floor walls and windows go up, see you then.

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Day Seven

Well it's been almost one entire week, ( well actually a couple of hours each day), and the Lepin Cafe Corner is finally complete.

After the third floor walls went up, we didn't stop to take any more pictures. The workers had to hurry up construction as they have another job to go to.

These were the left over parts after completing the build.   Luckily the handful of parts that were missing were easily replaced by other bricks in my stash.

And here's the completed set. Yay!

So I really enjoyed the build, although I did it somewhat leisurely.   I did not sort out all the parts, and basically left them in their 43 different bags (yes, I counted) and hunted for them as I needed them.

I really like the colour scheme and some of the interesting building techniques such as building the hotel sign, and putting in the angled front facade.   I wished that there was an interior on each floor, but that's now something that I will plan for and add to the building later.   The set is quite sturdy so I don't have to make any adjustments structurally, however the door leading to the hotel stairs is loose (looks like a design flaw), so I will come up with a fix for that.

I'm already thinking of some minor modifications to the Cafe corner such as replacing the front door with a full glass door.  I want to fence off and make a patio area where the tables are.  I want to add some planter boxes under some of the windows and add a door and window or two to the rear of the building.

Well, that was fun, soon i will tackle my next set which is the Lepin 15004 Fire Brigade set.  See you then.

Brand: Lepin

Series: Creator Modulars

Model: 15002 Cafe Corner

Number of pieces:  2133 pieces, according to the description

Price paid: $71 CDN (after Aliexpress seller discounts and coupons),  DHL shipping included.

Recommended?  Big YES.