Review of the Bela 10997 Arctic Mobile Exploration Base Building Block Set

Welcome back, brick fans, to another set review.  Today, we are heading into the freezing sub-zero temperatures of the Arctic to look at a clone of a classic Lego set from 2018. We are reviewing the Bela 10997 Arctic Mobile Exploration Base, which is a direct 1:1 copy of the LEGO 60195 set. 

Truth be told, I actually bought this set nearly five years ago from AliExpress, and it has been sitting quietly in my closet ever since. Well, I finally dragged it out of storage, dusted off the packaging, and put it all together. Let’s dive in and see if this long-lost backlog build was worth the wait!

About Bela

Bela (sometimes branded as Lari) has been around the bootleg block scene for an incredibly long time. They were pumping out clones well before Lepin made a massive splash and subsequent exit.  While you can still find plenty of clone sets on AliExpress these days, you won't see them carrying the Bela brand name anymore. I'm not entirely sure if the company went completely under, or if they simply dropped the name to fly under the legal radar and remain inconspicuous.

Set Specifications

• Brand: Bela (Lari)
• Set Number: 10997
• Original LEGO Set: 60195 Arctic Mobile Exploration Base (2018)
• Piece Count: 804 pieces
• Minifigures: 6 Arctic Explorers
• Special Figures: 1 Woolly Mammoth (moulded)
• Sticker Sheet Included: Yes (1 sheet, but didn't use them)
• Numbered Bags: Yes but still requires dump-and-sort
• Purchased From: AliExpress in 2021 for under $40

To compare, the original retail price of the LEGO City Arctic Mobile Exploration Base (Set 60195) when it was released in 2018 was about $120 USD.   The set was subsequently retired not long after by Lego in late 2019, early 2020, hence making the original set quite rare.

Unboxing

As is typical with many of these alternative brick sets ordered straight from AliExpress, this set arrived completely boxless, packed inside a large cellophane bag. Inside, I found a handful of numbered plastic bags, a sheet of stickers, and a single instruction manual that wasn't broken down into progressive building stages.

There are parts bags numbered one through nine.

And when you open bag nine, there are another six bags numbered 10 thru 15.  But remember that they don't correspond to anything in the manual.

Interestingly, the front cover of the manual doesn't feature the Bela logo at all—it just says "Cities" across the front. You actually have to flip the manual over to the back cover to find the set number. As an added bonus, that back cover also serves as a mini-catalog, showing off all the other LEGO sets Bela cloned during that production run.

So even though the bags are numbered, they don't correspond to the manual steps and therefore  requires a "dump and sort" method.  While I don't have the original Lego manuals to compare, I think the 47 page Bela instructions are condensed.  

The sticker sheet was in surprisingly good condition but the set number depicted on the stickers reads 10997 not 60195.

The Figures

Before getting to the builds, let's look at the figures. You get six minifigures in total: an expedition leader, a driver, and four distinct Arctic explorers.  In my opinion, they look pretty legit as clones.  All the little accessories are also reproduced.

Here's the mastodon molded figure.  From the front it looks alright but from the side you can see a big gap between the head and the body. Pretty sure this was the same design cloned from Lego, so it's not a Bela issue.

The Build

So no numbered steps means dump, sort and build.

One of the initial builds is this snow bike.  It resembles a motocross bike but instead of wheels it has a rear track and a monoski upfront.

Next build is the ice cave where the mastodon will be placed.  You need to remove the four ice panels to put the mastodon in.  It should have been designed so that the ice formations are on hinges that can tilt away for better playability.

The Mobile Saw Vehicle: This vehicle is a dedicated heavy unit equipped with an adjustable boom arm and a massive, spinning circular ice blade designed to carve deep into the frozen ice sheets. Rounding out the build is a rear tow hitch and a canopy that opens up so you can drop a driver or operator into the cockpit.

Personally, I really like the inclusion of the huge balloon tires, but their massive scale actually makes the rest of the vehicle's body look a bit small by comparison. If I were to modify this build down the line, I'd probably beef up the body and add some extra height to the cockpit canopy to give it a more  heavy-duty profile.

Here's the rear view of the mobile saw with boom arm fully retracted.

Next up is the The Trailer Sled: A simple flatbed trailer that attaches to the rear of the any vehicle with a tow ball joint. 

It's primary function is to carry the snow bike or the specimen crate, however it doesn't appear to have been designed to carry the ice cave with mastodon.

The Mobile Lab Unit: The mobile laboratory unit serves as the high-tech command center of the arctic convoy. Ditching traditional wheels, this striking orange and dark blue lab is uniquely built on top of a heavy-duty dark blue ski-skid foundation, allowing it to glide across rough, snowy terrain when towed via its front ball-joint coupler. 

The exterior is highly interactive, featuring a 360-degree rotating radar transceiver dish perched on the roof and a wide side-opening panel that swings open alongside the roof canopy to provide full access to the cabin interior.

Inside the super compact research hub, the space is incredibly well-utilized for analyzing geological finds on the fly. It comes fully equipped with a computer terminal desk, a detailed touchscreen monitor, and diagnostic scanner panels. 

To help the crew endure long sub-zero shifts, the designers even squeezed in a tiny single bunk bed for tired explorers right alongside an essential wall-mounted coffee maker to keep the team caffeinated.  Personally, I think the lab is way too small and needs a huge upgrade to make it bigger.

The Heavy Crane Truck

This is the core brute of the convoy, riding on six massive, chunky rubber tires. The rubber quality from Bela is surprisingly good—soft and grippy rather than hard, cheap plastic. The crane features a 360-degree rotating base and an expandable boom arm equipped with a working winch. 

While the crane truck looks nice and wide outside, it's surprisingly cramped on the inside.  I would have at least expected to have two minifigs seated side by side.

The scale is definitely on the smaller size.

Final Summary

Overall, the Bela 10997 Arctic Mobile Exploration Base is a stellar budget-friendly alternative to the original LEGO City 60195 set. Bela has a long history of reproducing popular themes, and this particular build highlights why their brick quality consistently rivals major brands.

The set design allows you to hitch the 6x6 mobile crane, the ski-based laboratory unit, and the all-terrain buzz saw together into a massive arctic exploration train. Combined with a functional snow bike and six highly detailed and accurate minifigures, the playability and display value of this set are incredibly high.

Brick clutch-wise, I found that the Bela bricks tended on the tighter side.  It makes for a sturdy build, but I think it would not be as easy to pull the bricks apart.   I just wish that the vehicles were a bit larger, but that's something I will try to rectify in the future.

Final Rating

• Brick Quality: 4.0 / 5 (Tight clutch, but minimal scratches)
• Design & Playability: 4/ 5 (The variety of the vehicles and minifigures was impressive)
• Value for Money: 5 / 5 (Massive savings compared to aftermarket secondary LEGO prices)
• Overall Rating: 4.5 / 5

That is it for today's review, brick fans! If you are looking to expand your polar layout without destroying your wallet, the Bela 10997 is an absolute no-brainer of a pickup. Surprisingly, you can still find this set on AliExpress, though it now commands higher 2026 pricing. 

At the time of writing, the lowest price sits around $47 USD. However, if you strategically combine AliExpress coupons and promo discounts, it is highly possible to drive that price down to roughly what I paid five years ago.

Thanks for reading my blog post review!  Bye!