Wow, check out this new mechanical astronaut set from JMBricklayer! Hey guys, welcome back to Its Not Lego, my blog about Lego compatible building block sets.
I've seen this JMBricklayer spaceman/astronaut several times on the internet and always wondered about the brick quality and how well it would display. It turns out this cool looking set displays beautifully and is very sturdy and well balanced. With over 900 pieces, one can have a lot of fun building this set. There are many printed parts which are an added bonus!
JMBricklayer has once again provided this set for my review today, thanks so much!
Details
- Brand: JMBricklayer
- Set: 70102 Mechanical Spaceman
- Theme: Science Fiction
- Piece count: 900+ pieces
- Numbered bags? Yes
- Stickers or printed parts? Printed parts! No stickers!
- Missing or deformed pieces: No
- Extra parts: Just a few
- Minifigures: No
- Lighting kit: No
- Brick Quality and Clutch: Excellent
- Measurements (approx): almost 10 inches tall
- Age Rating: 14+
Unboxing
The mechanical spaceman comes in the familiar JMBricklayer box listing all the important details of the set.
Inside the fully packed box, you'll find a full coloured 86 page instruction booklet with 269 clearly marked steps, a brick separator, a chromed helmet visor and 19 numbered bags of parts, labelled 1 through 4, to correspond to the sections in the manual. According to the box, there are over 900 pieces used to construct the astronaut, so I would classify this as a mid-sized build.
Build
For me, the easiest way to build the spaceman is to open all of the bags, section by section. In section 1 there are six bags of parts. Here I've separated the parts into the different colours. I find it helps me find the right part during the building process.
In section one, the astronaut's backpack and chest is constructed. Be very mindful of all the small pieces that make up the greebling. As you can see there's some really nice printed parts here. I have no idea what JASC means though.
In section 2, I've unpacked the five bags of parts. They will be used to construct the legs.
If it wasn't apparent before, at this stage of the build we find that the astronaut is part robot with half of the spacesuit having it's internal mechanisms exposed.
Check out how well balanced and stable the structure is! I only installed one leg and it still manages to stay upright. The joints hold up really well!
Both legs are firmly attached.
The contents of the four bags in section 3 will build the arms.
According to the instruction manual, you're supposed to install the black discs between the hands and the arms, one on each side. When I did that though, the hands would not stay on the arms. Once I removed the black discs, the hands attached properly, so I would make the recommendation not to use them. The lack of the discs will not affect the mobility of the hands. I should mention that even the fingers can be moved easily.
The arms are attached to the astronaut torso via ball joints to allow the arms to move freely. Being a mechanical robot, it would have been awesome to have a cockpit and seat inside the helmet for a minifigure to occupy it.
The last four bags of parts are used to build the spaceman's helmet and the display stand.
Here's the helmet, with the chrome visor attached. The visor is very shiny and free of scratches or defects.
If you are wondering about the quality of the parts used, here is a snap I took of the black tiles and plates used for the display stand. They are excellent quality and have a scratch free finish, as you can see for yourself.
The fully constructed stand for the mechanical spaceman.
And here is the fully completed mechanical astronaut! I've pictured it here with a Lego compatible minifigure so you can get an idea of the size. Don't be alarmed about the visors, lol, I cropped out my camera reflection. Your set's visors should be perfectly OK!
The mechanical spaceman can be attached to the spacesuit via the pegs on the display, but because the astronaut is well balanced, you don't really need the stand.
Unless, of course, you choose to make your spaceman look like he's floating or trying to catch a soccer ball, then yes, use the display stand. As you can see the arms, hands and legs can be positioned in many different ways.
The display stand also comes with a small plaque that describes the mechanical astronaut.
No missing parts in my set, but not a lot of extra pieces either.
In Summary
All in all, a very fun build. Pieces were high quality and brick clutch was excellent. I liked that the set used printed parts instead of stickers. The mechanical spaceman is a very unique looking building block set and you can pose it in different ways.
If only the designers made a little interior space inside the helmet, so I could make one of my minifigures operate the giant mechanical spaceman. For this reason, I will give it a 4.9 out 5, because I always try to incorporate minifigs into my display, even if the set doesn't come with any.
I suppose it is doable. I might have to make my own cockpit.
Here's the direct
link to the 70102 spaceman if you'd like to get it. At the time of this writing, I think there is a limited time sale on this particular set. Don't forget to use my discount code "itsnotlego15%" to save on applicable purchases.
The JMBricklayer Amazon store can be found
here.
And also check out JMBricklayer's other Sci-fi related sets while you're at it.
Thanks for visiting! See you next time, bye!
The mechanical spaceman comes in the familiar JMBricklayer box listing all the important details of the set.
