Jiestar 89100 European Jazz Cafe Set Review

Hey whats up, alt brick fans?   Welcome back to Its-Not-Lego.blogspot.com!

I had the opportunity to pick up this latest modular building, which is called the European Jazz Cafe, set 89100 from the Jiestar brand.   

I just finished building it and I can tell you this is unlike any other modular building I've built before.

The European Jazz Cafe is an alternate build of the Assembly Square.  This version has 3369 pieces.  It is a corner modular building and comes with a unique vehicle, a three wheeled stroller and eight Lego style minifigures.  The set design can be found on the rebrickable site as MOC 32576, the original designer is Inyong Lee.  Jiestar has copied it and made some minor changes to the original design.

Here's a fun fact:  In December 2016, I made the original jazz cafe by customizing my Hsanhe 6410-1 corner coffee set.  Follow the link to see more pictures of it.

The Exterior

The modular building consists of a cafe on the main floor and a stage on the second floor where patrons can listen to live music.  The third floor overlooks the stage and has extra seating.  

The interesting thing about this design is that it's schizophrenic.  It has two completely different facades depending on which side you are viewing it from.  Which do you like better, the left side or the right side?

Here's an overhead shot so you can see the rooftop.  There's a lot of great building techniques in this building.  The sloped roof on the third floor is an example of that. I'll probably employ this design in a future modular build.

Just some views of the backside of the Jazz Cafe.  It should be noted that the clutch of the bricks is extra tight, that's why you see a lot of gaps between the bricks.  I didn't press down too hard because it will be difficult to separate them in future.

I wasn't really a fan of how the back walls are put together, but I guess the original designer had to use what bricks were available to him.  I really want to rebuild parts of this building using normal building techniques.  The main floor walls in the rear  is also a hodgepodge of colours.  I'd want to fix that.

Thankfully the pretty front facade makes up for the ugly backside.

First Floor Interior

The first floor is a masterpiece.  I like the use of colours, and the fact that it has a bathroom conveniently under the stairs.  Each floor has a little micro build. On the main floor stair wall, there is a little red train.

This coffee counter looks amazing and is probably my favourite part of this set. I don't have enough words to describe all the little details, so just look at the pic.

Here's the seating area by the windows.

The entrance to the Cafe is on the corner of the building.  But it looks like there's also an emergency exit near the stairs, which take you up to the second floor.

Second Floor Interior

The second floor consists of a large stage with a drum set and upright piano.  The VIP seating is closer to the stage.  Regular seating is by the windows.

I probably didn't build the drum set properly.  Looks a bit wonky.  The drumsticks are located on the wall.

Those blue tables are crucial in securing the triangular shaped windows to the wall. This was probably the most challenging part of the build.

The second micro build can be found by the corner window of the second floor.  It's a tiny representation of the Assembly square modular building.

Third Floor

The third floor mezzanine can be reached by the stairs.  There's more counter seating and lighting for the stage located here.

The last micro build can be found on the third floor, it's the tower bridge.

Here's the modular building deconstructed into it's various floors.

My favourite things

This coffee sign.

The folded patio umbrella.

The design elements.

The dark tan accents along the turret window.

The triangular windows that stick out.   The Jiestar version uses different pieces to secure the window.  The original design uses thor's hammer.

Here's a screen grab of the original building technique used.

Here's the oddly looking vehicle. It probably didn't need to be made, in my opinion.

The three wheeled stroller and a bike with no tires.

These are the minifigures that come with the Jiestar version of the Jazz Cafe.  You'll definitely see some differences between the these ones and the figures depicted on the rebrickable website.  I wouldn't have expected minifigures to be included on a MOC design building, so this was a pleasant surprise.

I can say honestly that this set is for advanced builders only.  Anyone else might get frustrated at some of the techniques used, but if you are looking for a challenge, this set is definitely for you.

You can also find the Jiestar Jazz Cafe on Aliexpress.  Search for  other modular buildings by using the search term: streetview.

I'll be doing a separate post highlighting the build process of the Jiestar jazz cafe.  Look for that one soon!   Bye for now.

Sherlock Holmes Apartment - Pantasy 86218 - BrickKK.com exclusive

Hey alt brick fans!  Welcome back to Its-Not-Lego.blogspot.com !  Just wanted to share some pics of the newest Pantasy brand set, it's the Sherlock Holmes Apartment, set number is 86218.  Pictured above is the boxed set.  

Use discount code ITSNOTLEGO at checkout

I snagged some of the pictures from the brickKK.com website, as I couldn't find any other site selling this cool set.  This set depicts the residence of the fictional character Sherlock Holmes which is located at 221B Baker Street in London England.

I found this plaque on the wikipedia page for 221B Baker Street.

There are four minifigures that come with this set, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, the landlady Mrs. Hudson and I can only surmise that the other minifigure is the criminal mastermind Professor James Moriarty.

The set features three different rooms.  The first room is the kitchen where Mrs. Hudson prepares the daily tea she serves to Sherlock Holmes.   Here we see a well stocked kitchen with sand green walls, dark tiles on the floor, a large dining table and two chairs and curtains over the window.  On the table is an assortment of bottles and jars including a microscope.   The kitchen has lots of cupboard storage above the sink and counter.  There's even a single burner stove with a range hood and pot.  I really like all the different canisters of tea along the top of the cupboard.  I hope those are all printed pieces. 

The second room is the sitting room where Sherlock and Dr Watson make their deductions and solve the mysteries.  This room has burgundy coloured walls and hardwood floors.  In the sitting room, there's a fireplace with an assortment of nick knacks on the mantle and a big area rug under the two comfortable armchairs.  I'm very curious about what's in the closet next to the fireplace.   Other fun accessories include a table and chess set, a stand for sheet music, an old style rotary phone, a coat rack, book shelf and end tables.  Lots of old letters and newspapers litter the floor.

I'm not sure if the third room is a continuation of the sitting room or represents an entirely different room.  Given that the walls and floor match the sitting room, I'm going to guess that this is just an extension of the sitting room.  In this room, there's a big orange sofa (reminds me of the sofa in the Friends Central Perk set).  There's a hutch and desk with typewriter and chair.  More letters and newspapers on the floor.  The most interesting set piece is the deer head with the large antlers. 

This is a set I would love to get and then incorporate into one of my existing modular buildings.  I found this picture of the 221B Baker Street.

Coincidentally, the front facade of the Sherlock Holmes museum looks similar to the Juhang Garden Street modular building I just finished building.   I'm sure it would look awesome if I made some minor changes to the building and merged the two sets.

Use discount code ITSNOTLEGO at checkout

Feel free to check out more pictures of this cool set at the brickKK.com website.  If you're interested, brickKK.com have it on sale for a special price right now.  Let me know what you think of this exclusive set by Pantasy and brickKK.com.

That's it for now, see you in my next post!

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!