Sembo Brand Building Block Set Preview in 2016

 

This is my first look at some building sets put out by the Sembo brand.  I have found Sembo makes a lot of mini modular buildings, but only a few that are minifigure scale.  My post today will focus on the Sembo minifigure scale modular buildings, of which I found three on Aliexpress.

SD6701 Western Restaurant Modular Building

At first glance this modular restaurant building doesn't look too bad.  It uses a lot of the textured brick on the exterior.  There is a nice restaurant sign on the roof. Not sure if the piece is printed or stickered.  It has two floors and comes with a female and male minifigure and a scooter. 

When you look closer, you find that there doesn't seem to be any front door, only an archway, but I could be wrong.  There's an eclectic mix of windows, including a round piece on the second floor.  The design of the building is a bit hodgepodge in my opinion.

I found some other images of this building on the internet.

It doesn't look to be in a proper scale to the minifigure in the picture.

Here's another picture of the front and back of the building.  There is a back patio with umbrella and water fountain, but both look too small in scale.  I'm not sure if the light brick has been added by the set owner or if it's included in the set.

It would appear that you can't really fit the minifgures inside the restaurant first floor because the headroom is very low.  The second floor appears to have a higher ceiling.  However, the chairs seem to be very small compared to the table.  

I found a review of the Sembo restaurant here.

This set has 355 pieces and retails for about $15 USD on Aliexpress.   From a value perspective, I think the Hsanhe modular buildings are a better value because they have about 200 pieces for about half the price.

SD6701 Ferris Wheel

The Sembo SD6701 Ferris Wheel comes on a green baseplate and the set includes a ferris wheel, a water fountain, a swing set and a circular ride.  

The set comes with three minifigures.  I'm not sure if the circular ride rotates or not.  The box indicates that the ferris wheel turns, but the ferris wheel is too small for the minifigures, so they can only play on the ride or the swing. As an amusement park, it's not that amusing.  It has 447 pieces and can be found on Aliexpress for about $15 USD.

SD6900 Apple Store

This is Sembo's largest set at 1116 pieces.  It is a large building that you might see in any big city.  The lower floor houses the Apple store retail space and there is a back wall with signage.  There is a central atrium with an elevator shaft but not sure if you can come out upstairs or not.  The upper part of the atrium is surrounded by glass panels on all sides with a large Apple logo on the back.  There looks to be several light fixtures hanging from the atrium ceiling.  I think you get some light blocks to illuminate the building.

Here are some more images of the Sembo set I found from Aliexpress.

This set comes with four mini figures and looks very impressive. It retails for about $100 USD on Aliexpress.

Here's the summary of the Sembo modular buildings

SD6700 Western Restaurant - 335 pieces, 2 minifigures,  $15 USD
SD6701 Ferris Wheel - 447 pieces, 3 minifigures, $15 USD
SD6900 Apple Store - 1116 pieces, 4 minifigures, $100 USD