Building the Juhang Garden Street modular 86012

Hello, hello!  This is a bonus, behind the scenes post about the unbagging and building of the Juhang Garden Street modular 86012.  If you want to see the completed building, here's the post you want to check out.   But if you want to see the nitty gritty pictures of the build in process, stick around and look at this massive picture dump.

Here's all the goodies: a 46 page instruction manual, 32x32 baseplate, Led lights, sticker sheet and ten bags of parts which are then subdivided further into smaller bags of parts.  The bags are numbered in accordance with the steps in the manual for the most part.

This is a sample of the instructions in the manual.

These are the parts for step 1.

Step 1 completed.  Foundation is built and baseplate tiled.

Bags for step 2.

Step 2 continues build of the first floor.  This is the rear of the building.

Step 2 completed.

Parts for step 3.

First floor nearly completed.

First floor interior details.

Parts for step 4.  Builds the curved extension on the main floor.

Parts for step 5.

Second floor partially completed.

Parts for step 6.

Second floor completed.

Parts for step 7.

Third floor construction.

Step 7 completed.

Parts for step 8 and a minor adjustment to the instructions.

Step 8 completes the third floor.

Step 9 builds the rooftop terrace.

Step 10 parts builds the six minifigures, the delivery bicycle and the balloon cart.

Step 10 completed!

Thanks for visiting! Bye for now!

Gudi 9603 Not Lego Ice Cream Truck Set Review

I just got this ice cream truck off Aliexpress.  It's made by Gudi and the set number is 9603. My Aliexpress order came super fast despite having no tracking number.  I was starting to get worried that the seller was trying to scam me, but now it's all good.  

 The manual is in the form of a booklet, with all the instructions laid out fairly well.

At the end of the Gudi manual, there is a parts list, just like Lego.  I can't recall Lepin ever doing this in their manuals.

Gudi gives you a sticker sheet to apply all the details on the ice cream truck.  Unfortunately, the colours are a bit muted.  My sheet came munched due to the soft packaging.  While I won't be using the stickers on the truck, I might use them on a future Ice Cream parlour modular moc.

Time to start building.  All of the 228 pieces came packaged in six cellophane bags.  I've dumped them all out here.

I tried to sort all the pieces by colour, but kind of stopped before finishing all the white pieces.  Anyways you can see that the primary colours are the white, turquoise blue and pink pieces.

In terms of accessories, there is a small beige and pink table with a translucent pink patio umbrella.  The set also comes with 2 Lego Friends style minifigures.
There's a male minifig with an ice cream logo on his shirt, so he would be the ice cream vendor.  And there's a female minifig whom I guess will be the customer.
An extra hand was included.  As always, the Friends style minifigs will be given to my neighbours kids.

And here's the completed ice cream truck.  It's a neat little design with the cab area accessed by two opening doors. I like the green colours of the serving window.

With the low awning and the ice cream treats in front of the window, it makes it hard to see anyone inside the truck, I think.  The giant ice cream cone on the roof, is similar to one seen on the Lego ice cream truck.  This Gudi truck is a unique design and not copied from any Lego set.

Here's the Gudi ice cream truck pictured together with the Enlighten ice cream truck for comparison.  They are both relatively the same size length and height wise, except the Gudi truck has larger wheels.  Both trucks display well in on the streets of Its Not Lego town.   The Gudi truck serving window faces the road which is very dangerous.  After I took this picture, I remembered that I modified my Enlighten truck to put the serving window on the curb side of the truck for the safety of the minifigs. Clearly, I will have to do the same with the Gudi truck.

And done!  Here's the Gudi ice cream truck with the serving window moved curbside.

If these vehicles were parked against the curb, this is how they would look like.

Here's the front view of both trucks.  Note that the Enlighten version came with printed pieces, not stickered.  The Gudi truck has a taller windscreen than the Enlighten truck. I prefer the Enlighten trucks PA system.

The Gudi ice cream truck comes with a rear window, whereas the Enlighten truck has an opening door on the back.

While I do like the Gudi version of ice cream truck, not sure if I will continue having 2 ice cream trucks in the town.  The Gudi design lends itself better to a conversion to a food truck by simply replacing the pink bricks.

I already have a fries food truck, so maybe a salad food truck?  Let me know what you think.

Anyways, thanks for looking and see you next time.

My Collection of Not Lego Buses in 2019

Hey There!  Here's a quick look at my Not Lego bus collection.  Using public transit in Its-Not-Lego town has never been easier.  You have your choice of buses made by Sluban, Wange, and Enlighten.

The first ever bus in my not lego collection was from the  Sluban set M38-B0333 Middle School Set.  The 500 piece set consisted of a school building and the school bus.
The bus was subsequently released on it's own as Sluban set M38-B0507.  The bus has 219 pieces.  There were stickers that came with the set but I didn't apply them to the bus.

Next up is the bus by Wange, set number is 30132.  The bus is comprised of 318 pieces.  I modified this bus slightly to lower the bus height.  I felt that the original bus height was a bit too tall.   This small bus is the Main street complimentary shuttle.

Here's another Sluban bus.  The set is M38-B0330 and has 235 pieces  This is another bus that I'ved modified, this time I increased it in length.  This is a long distance bus used to reach other towns.

 I used some extra white bricks and the Sluban M38-B0330 instructions to make this MOC bus.  I haven't figured out how to use this bus but I may change the colours on it to make it a special police bus.

Here's a double decker bus by Sluban, model is M38-B0331.  There's 403 pieces in this set.  It includes extra bricks to build a mini gas station.  This is the main bus that goes around Its-Not-Lego town. The problem with the design is that you can't remove the roof or top level to access the interior.  It's on my list of things to fix on this set.

Finally for visitors who come to do some sightseeing around town, there's the Enlighten brand Sightseeing bus 1123.  At 455 pieces, this is the largest bus in my collection.  Unlike all my other buses that are six studs wide, this bus is eight studs wide, so it doesn't really match.  My plan is to rebuild it as a six stud bus.  I also plan to change the really weird looking front windshield.

There's just one more bus on my wish list ... that would be the Lepin 02078 city bus. I've ordered it from Aliexpress, but not sure if it's available anymore. I'll let you all know if I get it or not.   Let me know which one is your favorite bus?   See you next time!