Lego compatible JMBricklayer Vintage Car K500 Set 50101 Set Review

 

Hello and welcome back to Its-not-Lego, my blog about the latest Lego alternative interlocking brick sets.  

Today we will be doing a deep dive into another  JMBricklayer set.  They have so kindly provided this set for me to review.

If you are looking for Lego compatible sets at competitive prices, please check out the latest offerings on the JMBricklayer.com website.  They offer free and fast worldwide shipping and free replacement of missing parts.   And save an extra 15% off selected purchases using my code ITSNOTLEGO15%.

This just in, the JMBricklayer December promo now on until Dec 20.  Applies to their Amazon.com store and their website.

Full details here.

Now, here are the details of the set:

Brand: JMBricklayer - updated version of Mould King

Set number: 50101

Theme: Civilization -  Industrial Times

Number of Pieces: 868 pieces

Stickers: No

Minifigures: No

Extra parts: Yes

Deformed or missing parts: Yes (see review below)

Brick clutch and finish: Excellent

Age Rating: 14+

Background

The JMBricklayer 50101 version of the 1936 Mercedes 500K Special Roadster is based on Mould King 10003 set.  This set can also be found as the Nifeliz Retro Car.  I believe the originally designer of this model is Firas Abu Jaber, and he has done a splendid job of recreating the Mercedes in brick form.

This model has been out for well over 2 years now, initially marketed by Mould King and now sold under several other names as well.

Unboxing the K500

My set came with the box, but it was slightly mangled upon receipt.  No matter, here are pictures of the box and it's contents.

There are parts bags numbered 1 thru 4 with the accompanying manual.  I was surprised to find that the bags are actually from Mould King.  

The instruction booklet is 45 pages long with a total of 162 steps and is straightforward enough to follow. 

 The are four sections in the manual correspond directly to the bag numbers.

Section 1 starts on page 1 (steps 1 thru 30)

Section 2 starts on page 11 (steps 31 thru 75)

Section 3 starts on page 22 (steps 76 thru 109)

Section 4 starts on page 34 (steps 110 thru 162)

What immediately struck me was all of the gold plated parts, they were very shiny and for the most part not scratched.  I'm sure it was a cost cutting measure but only the surface areas of the parts were plated and not the underside.  Unfortunately there are some parts where the underside is exposed and therefore they show white instead of gold.

Assembly Pictures

I took pictures of the vintage car build at regular intervals so that you can see the progress.  

The large bag for Section 1 breaks down into 5 smaller bags of parts.

Section 1 builds the chassis and trunk.

There are three smaller parts bag in the larger Section 2 bag.

Section 2 builds the rumble seat and interior.  On to section 3.  Here there are only two parts bags.

Section 3 builds the engine compartment and front grill.  Moving on to section 4 where there are only 2  bags of parts.

There were no major issues during the build such as deformed parts but I did have two small missing pieces.

The tube arm that holds up the windshield divider was missing, as was one of the angled grill pieces, both gold plated.  I decided to forego the windshield divider.

Regarding the missing angled grill, I used some of the extra gold plated clip pieces to replace the lower angled grill.

 The new fix did not affect the overall look of the 500K Roadster, so I did not feel it was necessary to contact JMBricklayer to replace the trivial pieces, but they assured me they would replace any missing pieces.

Overall, I found the brick clutch to be excellent and bricks to be very high quality.  The completed model was very sturdy.

There were a handful of parts leftover from the build and I discovered that two of the pieces were actually new and not mentioned in the manual.  

These parts pertain to the cars horns and replace the white pieces with gold plated pieces.  I'm wondering if this is what differentiates the JMBricklayer version of the set to the Mould King/Nifelix sets.  

I youtubed the videos for Mould King / Nifelix and watched many of the reviews.  From what I could discern, all of those models did not come with the extra gold plated horns.  Or at least the reviewers didn't install them.

Here's the completed K500 Vintage Car (Mercedes 500K).  I love the classic design of this car and that it's so well built.  This model would look so nice on someone's office desk.  It's a definite must have for any classic car buff.

Our special presenter Danbo, will now give you a detailed look at the car and point out all of the special features of this special Mercedes.   

Please note that both driver and passenger doors can open wide.

The engine compartment can also be accessed but the engine is rather small.

But the side exhaust pipes look very classy.

The new fully plated horns have been installed and Danbo says that they look very nice.

The front wheels, which are connected to the steering wheel can actually turn side to side.

A very lux interior.

Danbo noted that every one of the Youtubers who reviewed the Mould King version of this car opened the trunk incorrectly.  This is the proper way.

Fancy chrome tipped exhaust pipes.

Removable full sized spare tire attaches to the trunk deck and doesn't take up any of the trunk space.

Nobody on Youtube mentioned the fact that this car has a foldable rumble seat. When opened, it allows for extra seating in the back. Great for carrying small children and/or pets.  So that makes this Roadster a 2+2!

Summary

I thank JMBricklayer for giving me the opportunity to review this model.  It's not a set I would normally add to my collection, but now that I have it, I have to say it displays beautifully.  And all of doors open and close nicely without falling off, so the clutch is excellent.  I would have given this model 5 out of 5, except because of the two small missing pieces, I can only give it a 4.75 out of 5.  But, in my books it still looks like a 5!

The K500 can be found on the JMBricklayer Amazon store and also on their website.

Use code ITSNOTLEGO15% on the website (sorry, cannot be combined with promotional items).

Danbo and I thank you for visiting, see you next time!