Qman 1132 Bun Shop Set Review (Not Lego)

Hey and welcome back to my Its Not Lego blog!  Today's set review is this Bun shop by Qman brand.  This is the first Qman set to be added to my collection of not Lego building sets.

TL:DR

Here's the synopsis, if you just want the details.

Model: Qman Bun Shop
Set Number: 1132
Number of pieces: 112
Number of minifigures: 2

Fake Lego?  No.
Missing Parts: N/ Deformed pieces: N/ Scratched pieces: N
#itsnotlego Rating:  3 out of 5 stars.  The set is ok for the price but the minifigures are not Lego standard.

Here are the other Qman sets listed on the back of the instruction booklet.  There are six other sets in this series of City themed buildings and vehicles.  Set numbers range from 1131 through 1137.

There's just 1 bag of parts for this small set.  I think the set name is supposed to be Golden Baozi shop but Qman got the english spelling wrong, so it's called Gloden Baozi shop.

Sadly, no printed parts. Here's the sticker sheet.  You can see that in the lower corner, it's printed as Enlighten 1132.  So Qman is a sister brand to Enlighten.  As with most Enlighten brand sets, the brick quality and clutch is pretty good.  The clear parts are not scratched or deformed.

The minifigures that come with this set are not compatible with Lego minifigures.  Here you can see that even the parts that make the minifigs are completely different.  I can't even salvage any of it for use with other minifigs.  I'll just end up giving these figures away.

Here's how the minifigs look after assembly.  You get one boy and one girl minifigure and I think the boy works in the shop because he has an order pad in his pocket. I've included a couple of random Lego style minifigures in the picture for comparison purposes.

This is a very easy build and a good beginner set for little kids.  The shop is pretty basic but it has a light fixture, a computer for taking orders and some sauce bottles. I like the little buns and the steamers on the counter.

The yellow brick that sticks out is supposed to be a sign which you get a sticker for.  There's also stickers for the store banner, the computer screen and menu above the steamers. I didn't add any of the stickers yet.  I think Qman did a good job in designing the steamer fixture above the shop.

Other sets this size don't usually have a back wall but this bun shop does.  It even has a door and curved glass wall.  I wonder if they could have just made a solid wall instead of the curved glass.  If I were to rebuild this set, I would add my own bricks to complete the back corner and then move the curved window to the front of the shop.  The set also comes with a table and stool so patrons can sit and enjoy their buns.

Summary

The Qman 1132 Gloden Baozi Shop is a nice little build for the younger kids.  At just 122 pieces, it's not too challenging but will have a lot of play value.  One could add more tables and have lots of minifigs come and enjoy the buns.  If I could change anything, it would be to have standard Lego style minifigures and having extra buns.  I paid about $5 Cdn from Aliexpress for this set.  That included the free shipping.

Sembo Block 601070 Japanese Crab Shop (Not Lego) Set Review

Hey and welcome back to my Its Not Lego blog!  Hope you guys are all doing well and staying safe.  Today we will be looking at another set by Sembo Blocks.

TL:DR

Here's the synopsis, if you just want the details.

Model: Sembo Japanese Crab Restaurant
Set Number: 601070
Number of pieces: 341+
Number of minifigures: 3

Fake Lego?  No.
Missing Parts: N/ Deformed pieces: N/ Scratched pieces: N
#itsnotlego Rating:  4.5 out of 5 stars, excellent play value, solid build, excellent clutch, wish it was bigger.

On the back of the instruction manual, Sembo shows you all of the other Japanese themed shops in the series.  From what I can tell there are six different shops.

Just wanted to point out that the parts bags are numbered.

The crab restaurant sits on a 20x16 stud base plate.  The building itself is 18 studs wide but only about 8 studs deep.  In the front of the shop, there's two large windows and an entrance.  On one side you can probably watch them steam the crabs in the cooking area.  On the other side there is a tank that holds the fresh crabs.  Outside of the shop is another stand-alone tank with more crabs.

The inside of the crab restaurant is mostly empty except for the grill and prep area.

Here's the sticker sheets and the fabric banner.  I won't be installing the stickers just yet.

This is how the shop looks just before placing the shop banner.  There's lots of signage which looks bare without the stickers.  There's also some extra details over the crab tank.

Here's a side view of the crab restaurant.  I really like the big distinctive crab on the second floor.  Too bad they didn't put any walls on the side of the second floor.

The second floor is supposed to be the restaurant and seating area, except I haven't put the pieces in place because I plan on rebuilding the set as a modular building.  At that time, I will add the furnishings to make it look more legit.

Minifigures

You get three minifigures with this set, the crab shop owner and two japanese ladies in their colorful kimonos.

Summary

The Sembo Japanese crab restaurant is a fun little build.  From a parts to price perspective, it's a tad more than I want to pay, costing around $20 USD.  I think the shop could have been more detailed but I do like the crab sign.  Like the other Sembo japanese shops I have reviewed, this set doesn't scale very well with the minifigures. The external crab tank is way too tall and the minifigures wouldn't be able to reach what's on top very easily.   For this reason, I only give it a 4.5 out of 5.    I will be rebuilding this set soon as a modular building.  Look for that review in the near future!   Thanks and bye for now!

Sluban M38-B0780 Not Lego Recycling Truck Set Review

Intro

Hello and thanks for visiting Its-Not-Lego!  Today I'm going to do a detailed review of the Sluban Recycling Truck which is a fairly new set for 2019/2020.

TL:DR

Here's the synopsis, if you want to skip all the pictures.

Model: Sluban Recycling Truck
Set Number: M38-B0780
Number of pieces: 432
Number of minifigures: 3
Manufacturers Details: 
http://www.sluban.com.cn/ShowProduct.aspx?ID=833

Fake Lego?  No.
Missing Parts: N/ Deformed pieces: N/ Scratched pieces: Y
#itsnotlego Rating:  4.5 out of 5 stars, excellent play value, solid build, excellent clutch

What's Inside?

This is the first time I've seen Sluban number their parts bags.  Eight numbered bags in total. The instruction manual refers to each bag as you need it.  It made for building very quick and easy.

Minifigures

Sluban does not use Lego style minifigures, instead they have their own proprietary design which they have been using for years.  You'll need to assemble the minifigs yourself.

The Sluban Recycling truck building set comes with three minifigures:  a small boy, a girl and a truck driver/operator.  Sluban minifigures have a higher degree of motion than Lego style minifigures.  They can twist at the waist, and angle their head sideways and up and down.

The little boy has a backpack and the truck driver has overalls, but not sure what is supposed to attach to it.

Set Assembly

Let's start building!  Each bag of parts corresponds to the steps in the instruction manual.  Brick clutch is excellent.

I was disappointed to find that the windshield glass was deeply scratched.

I had the cab one stud too far back in the above picture, which I subsequently rectified.  I don't particularly like the curved glass windshield, nor the cab design. It's something I will change at a later date.

Something you don't see a lot of in other vehicle sets are windshield wipers.  I like the side mirror design.  Unfortunately, there are no opening cab doors.

There is a lift up door behind the driver's seat, but it's blocked by the exhaust stack, so it is unusable.  The right side gets a small storage compartment.

Waste is sorted into different colour coded bins.

The multi-jointed arm lifts the trash and recycling containers.

Here is the completed Recycling truck.  The jointed arm can travel along the length of the truck to access the required trash compartment.

Access to the recycling compartments is via corresponding doors on the right side of the truck.

Here's how the rear of the truck looks like.

Secret storage maybe?

There are stickers you are supposed to affix to identify each compartment, but I didn't use them.

There are four separate compartments depending on what's being thrown out.

The Accessories

There are colour coded containers with lids which you could slide into the truck.

And here are the four containers to hold different types of trash.  The gray bin holds non-recyclable material, ie garbage.  The green bin holds kitchen waste.  The red bin is used for hazardous materials, and the blue bin is used for recyclable materials.

An extra set of brown accessories can be used to replace the green ones if desired.

Here's how the containers attach to the lifting arm.

There's a small number of spare parts coupled with some trash accessories.

I believe this set is targeted at the Chinese market, based on the accompanying literature.  The pamphlet probably serves to educate children from a young age how to identify what is trash and what is recyclable material.

There are 4 sheets of items, which can be placed into the applicable colour coded boxes.  So this set serves both to entertain and educate.  An excellent idea.

Summary

That brings this post to a close.  In summary, I gave this set a 4.5 rating out of 5 because I thought that  this set was well designed and came with a good assortment of accessories.  It's great that it also had an educational component to it too.  I took marks away for the less than attractive truck cab design and the scratched windshield.  I don't mind the non standard minifigures, but having said that I don't use them much alongside my other minifigures.  Hope you've enjoyed this review of the Sluban Recycling truck!  Bye and talk to you in a future blog post!