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!

Lepin Not Lego Factories Raided by Police in 2019!

Here is the latest news from Weibo about the Lepin factory raid.

"On April 23, with the cooperation of police in Shantou and Shenzhen, the Shanghai police successfully destroyed the criminal gang suspected of infringing the copyright of the “Lego” brand, arrested four suspects headed by Li, and smashed production and packaging. 3 warehouses, warehouses, etc., more than 10 assembly lines, more than 90 production molds, nearly 200,000 manuals, more than 200,000 packaging boxes, more than 630,000 finished products , more than 200 million yuan."

So, it looks like Lepin is shutdown for good.  But what about it's sister company Xingbao, which creates building block sets which are not based on Lego designs?  Will other Lego clone companies such as Bela, Lele and Sembo be targeted next by Chinese police?  The next few months should be of great interest to both Lepin and Lego fans alike.

Dinggao 1034 Not Lego Friendship House Set Review

Hi and welcome back to Its-Not-Lego.  You might know this set as Lego 41340 Friendship House but did you know that this Friends building has been copied by not less than five different bootleg brick  brands?  A quick search for Friendship House on Aliexpress reveals that this set can be found as Lepin 01063, Bela 10859, Lele 37077 and Sheng Yuan SY1006.   The version I got is from a new brand called Dingao or DG, set number 1034.

Here's the instruction manual that I got with the Friendship House set.  It  says DG Girls Club with the set number 1034 with 730 pieces.  The set variation that I got doesn't have the roll up door nor the bicycle and tool cart.  That alternate set has 808 pieces.

Here's a shot of the back of the manual.   There are twelve un-numbered bags in the set, a sticker sheet, 3 Friends style minifigs and 2 Friends style pets.

I emptied all the parts from the bags and then re-sorted them by colours for fun.  I put the yellow, brown and red pieces together.

Here's the beige pieces.

 The turquoise pieces.

 Lime green and dark green.

The pink, lavender, and purple bricks.

Gray and black pieces.

 Minifigs, clear pieces and minor accessories.

 Tan pieces.

 White pieces.

 The sticker sheet.

The Friendship House and Tree with swing. 

 A closer look at the Tree and working swing.  There's some flowers that are supposed to be added to the leaves, but I didn't bother with those or the stickers.

There's a balcony that sits over the carport. I think I was supposed to get a microphone but couldn't find that part.  I'm not sure why they put an alarm bell on the building.

Maybe it serves as a smoke alarm if something starts burning on the barbeque grill.

It's odd that there are glass panels for the smaller windows but none for the larger windows.  Not sure if this is only on this 730 piece set or not.

The hair piece for one of the minifigs was so gross, that I decided not to display it. 

Maybe the Friendship house is supposed to be a fire department?  That would explain the pole that runs the entire height of the building.  I believe that's supposed to be a hamster wheel near the bottom?  Would probably be better suited in the Friends Pet Hospital set.

Here's the rooftop jacuzzi.

There's sleeping for five on the third floor.  And a dining table on the second floor with seating for five as well.

 There's supposed to be a winch that lowers but I never attached the rope.

I think the set should have included a car since they have a carport/garage built into the house.

The barbeque patio has two sunbeds and access to the slide.  There are ladders to the third floor and rooftop only.  The set designer should have added another ladder behind the slide to get to the second floor.

Oops, I forgot to take a picture of the kitchen on the main floor.

 Last look.

As with all my bootleg Friends sets, I don't keep them around.  I buy them cheap and use them for parts fodder.  That's why I don't bother applying the stickers or putting the final details on the Friendship House.  The minifigs and bricks that I can't use, such as the turquoise, pink, purple and lavender parts are given to my friends kids.  The remainder of the parts will be incorporated into future modular buildings for my Its-Not-Lego town.  I estimate that I can reuse about 60 to 70% of the set.

Model Name:  Friendship House
Model number(s):  Lepin 01063, Bela 10859, Lele 37077 and Sheng Yuan SY1006, DG 1034.
Bootleg of Lego set:  41340
Number of minifigs:  3 Friends style
Number of pieces: 730

Thanks for looking, bye for now!