Sembo Blocks Hong Kong Flats Building Set Review 601095

Hello not Lego fans!  Today, I'm reviewing the Sembo Hong Kong flats set number 601095.  This set consists of two building facades representing some small shops with apartments above them.  There is another set 601096 that has the same theme but with buildings that have tan and white building facades.  I chose to buy 601095 because this set is more colourful with the sand green and dark orange bricks used.

On the back cover of the instruction manual, you get an idea of how both sets 601095 and 601096 would look like side by side.

There are supposed to be 570 pieces in this set and comes with five minifigures.

There are six bags numbered as 1.1 through 1.6.

Then there are 4 bags numbered 2.1 through 2.4.  There are also 3 unnumbered bags, containing the baseplates, minifigures and a bag for a light strips and battery.

Here's the stickers Sembo provides to adorn the Hong Kong flats.  I didn't use any of them on my set yet.  I also didn't use the LED light strips because I plan to deconstruct this set pretty soon.

Here are some of the leftover pieces that were extras or that I didn't use.  The technic pins are used to attach 601095 and 601096 sets together.

There are 5 minifigures included with the Hong Kong flats consisting of a police officer, two male pedestrians and two female pedestrians.  The torso prints are bright and properly aligned, however there's no leg printing.  With the exception of the yellow hoodie guy, everyone else looks like they're scowling, which is pretty much on point if you've ever walked along a busy street in Hong Kong.  The green shirt guy has a strange gray mark on his lips. That would be the only defect I could find.

The completed shops and apartments. I guess I would have to recommend using the provided stickers otherwise these buildings do look kind of bland without them.

Here's the backside of the set.  There's just enough room to allow a minifigure to pose there.  Interior accessories include a cooking area with woks and sauce bottles for one shop and a counter for the other.  Three of the four apartments above are each furnished with a table.

The sand green building is 5 studs deep, with the shop below being a mere 4 studs deep.

The dark orange building is only 4 studs deep overall.

The building facades look ok if you were to just display this set on it's on or with the 601096 set.  But when you display it with other Lego style modular buildings, you definitely notice that the design of these flats are a lot small in size.  The three floors of the Sembo flats equals the height of 2 storeys on a standard Lego style modular building.

Here's the final look at set 601095.  As mentioned earlier, I will probably re-build this set with extra bricks to increase the height and depth of the two buildings.  They will also be placed on a regular sized baseplate as well so I can put a sidewalk in front of the buildings.  At that point, I may entertain putting some of the stickers on the buildings to make them look more realistic.

Here's all the Not Lego sets I bought in 2020!

 Here's all the Not Lego sets I bought in 2020

Hey there brick fans, welcome to my first post in 2021 on my blog Its Not Lego.   As the blog post title indicates, this is just a quick list of all the not Lego building sets I've purchased last year.  

Some sets are knockoffs of existing Lego sets such as the Bela brand 11053 Yacht or 11342 Harry Potter Bus.   Other sets are unique China designs such as the Sembo 102348 SWAT truck or the Urge 10180 Bakery modular building.  I also added a couple of MOC design sets to my collection, including the Jerac TIE Bomber and the Kristel Cast Iron modular building.

On the topic of MOCs, I customized a lot of my own sets too last year.   I converted the King 84008 Green Grocer into a cool police station for my not Lego city.  I used the original Zhe Gao QL0935 set and transformed it into a fully furnished modular building.   You can find more example of my MOC builds on my other blog Bricks and Figs.

Here's the list of sets which I bought in chronological order throughout 2020.   I haven't gotten around to reviewing each building set, but if I did there will be a link next to the set name.

Sembo 102348 SWAT truck

Bela/Lari 11053 yacht

Sluban B0780 Recycling truck   (link)

Sembo 601070 Crab Shop   (link)

Lepin 45012 Rexplorer

Qman 1132 Bun shop  (link)

Bela/Lari 11342 Potter bus (link)

King 84008 Green Grocer

Zhe Gao QL0935 Hill Tavern    (link)

Sembo 107007 Troop Carrier

Sembo 601075 Sakura Tree

Sembo 601303 Ambulance

Lepin 05145 X-Wing

Sembo 601078 Japanese food stalls

MOC 13952 TIE Bomber  (link)

Jack JJ001 Central Perk

Decool 2113 Osprey Chopper   (link)

Bela/Lari 11429 Snowspeeder

MOC C4228 Cast Iron modular

Rael 10004 Bike Shop (unbuilt)

Urge 10180 Bake Shop

Lele Bros 8613 Food cart

Hsanhe 31001 Train station

Xingbao XB01013 Urban village (unbuilt)

Total of 24 sets - average of 2 sets per month during 2020.   As you can see, 2020 kept me pretty busy building with not Lego.   Hopefully it will continue in 2021!

That's it for this quickie post.   Thanks for looking and see you in the next blog post,

Sheng Yuan/Sembo SY90001 Old Fishing Store Building Set Review (with Mods)

Hello brick fans, welcome back to my blog Its Not Lego, where I review the latest Lego clones and other brick sets.  Don't forget to check out my other blog Bricks and Figs, where I review the latest MOCs and minifigures in my collection.

Today, I will be reviewing set SY90001 made by Sheng Yuan/Sembo with 2068+ pieces.  It's a replica of the Lego Old Fishing Store 21310.  So let's dive in!

The Back Story

I acquired my set during the Aliexpress 11.11 sale in November 2019.  There was a rather dubious store known as Super Galio whose prices were so low they were too good to be true.  

Aliexpress is known for shifty sellers who mark their wares really low to entice you to buy, only they end up not shipping you the goods.  These shops usually take advantage of the novice Aliexpress customers who don't know or afraid to raise disputes whenever there's an issue, thereby getting money but not having to deliver the promised items.

To be fair, I've had good experience with Aliexpress refunding me my money back in case of no shipment and lost packages.  I certainly expected to raise a dispute because Super Galio was selling this set for $46 Cdn, which works out to about $35 USD.  So I figured no way, I was going to be able to buy this set for such a low price.

Well, they certainly proved me so wrong.  Not only did Super Galio send me the Old Fishing Store set, they even sent it in it's original box!  As you may or may not know, typically alternative brick sets are shipped in plastic wrapped packages, because shipping the boxed items would be extremely expensive.  I could imagine that the shipping costs probably far exceeded the value of the set.  

Although I bought this last November, I'm only getting around to building this set almost a year later because of all my other builds.  Ok, let's get building!

!! Warning !! This is another one of my very wording reviews with lots and lots of pictures.   Here's the TL;DR if you don't want to proceed any further.

TL;DR

Here's the quick details:

Model: SY90001 OLD Fishing Store
Brand: Sheng Yuan/Sembo

Pieces: 2068+

Fake Lego?  Yes.
Missing Parts: N/ Deformed pieces: N/ Scratched pieces: N
#itsnotlego Rating:  5 out of 5 stars. The best set I've built in a long time.  Packed with details, excellent build quality.  Highly recommend.

Building the Old Fishing Store

Opening the box, the Old Fishing Store set includes a very thick instruction book, a sticker sheet, a tan 32x32 stud baseplate and seven well marked bags of brick pieces.  Each numbered bag contains all of the necessary parts to build the set in stages as per the instructions.  

Before I start the build, I want to point out that I replaced the baseplate that came with the set with a much larger 48x48 stud baseplate because I wanted to make a beach in front of the Old Fishing Store.  I picked up the larger non Lego baseplate from Walmart for a cost of $10 CDN.

Stage 1 of 7

Here are the 7 sub-assembly bags of parts for stage 1 of the build.

The Old Fishing Store comes with 4 minifigures and they all look to be very decent replicas of the Lego versions.  There is some minor back and leg printing, and the lady minifigure has 2 piece arms connected at the elbows.  Does the Lego version have this?

Here's pics of stage 1 completed.  Mostly consists of the foundation for the fishing store.

Bricks are top quality and clutch is great.  I really couldn't tell that I wasn't building with Lego.

Included in this first stage of the build, are 2 light boxes.  They didn't work when I turned them on and later discovered that the batteries inside were corroded.  I will test them again when I get fresh replacement batteries.   Does the Lego version come with light boxes too? I had six spare parts left over after stage 1.   Let's move on to stage 2.

Stage 2 of 7

I got 5 bags of parts for stage 2.  They will be used to build the foundation walls and floors.

There's a nice variety of colours and printed pieces.  The brick colours are vibrant  and not scuffed like some other brick brands.  I've built a few Sembo sets and this is definitely up there in quality.

Stage 3 of 7

There might be 5 or 6 bags in stage 3 of the build, can't remember from my crappy picture taking.

In this stage, we are building the first floor walls.  Pictured above is the nicely detailed hinged wall that will open to view the interior of the fishing store.

Fish hanging next to the sand green clapboard siding.

Rocky protrusions along the back of the store.

I might want to open this area up at a later date, could use it as boat storage or something.

Stage 4 of 7

4 bags of parts for stage 4 methinks.

This stage begins to furnish the store's interior.  There's a barrel, life preserver, cash register, money and some racks.

Second floor walls and railings going up.

If there's one thing I don't like about the layout, it's the very narrow passageway between the store and the office.  Two studs wide is impossible for a minifigure to pass through.  A three stud wide opening would have been much better.

Windows and doors!

Stage 5 of 7

Six bags for stage 5.

This was my favourite part of the build, because this stage has lots of little details and accessories.  Crates of lobsters in ice, tools galore.  And the interior is crammed with so many little goodies.

Around this stage, I started to introduce my own beach themed accessories to the set.  In the above picture I added a little girl with her sand castle.  Nothing on the beach is static at the moment so you will see beach themed parts appear, disappear and re-located in the following pictures.

I added a surfer dude with surfboard on the veranda. In the lower corner is a scooter and sidecar with surfboard and pug dog.  If I remember correctly, these came from a Friends knockoff set.

Opening the doors reveals the fishing store interior packed with stuff, including scuba tanks and masks, fishing rods and nets, toolboxes, sticks of dynamite.

Most of the provided stickers are for the exterior such as some signs on the walls, doors and windows.  On the inside, there are lots of printed parts and no stickers used.

A peek at the office, complete with desk, chair, table lamp and newspaper.  I'm very pleased that all the floors are fully tiled with no exposed studs.

More of my own add-ons that did not come with the Fishing store include the small green shack, some extra surfer dudes and surfboards, a fisherman and baby on the veranda, and some extra crates and tubs of crabs and fish.

Stage 6 of 7

Six bags for stage six.

Yikes, the beach is starting to get super crowded!   More siding added and roofline is starting to appear.  Anton's bait shop sign added over the doorway.

The seagulls and the cat are from the set, whereas the girl in red swimsuit and bicycle are not.  I wanted to create a waterline but all I had to represent it was these trans turquoise cylinders.  I've ordered a batch of trans turquoise 1x2 plates to replace them.

I took the fish stand from the Jie Star Fish Farm by the Sea set and placed it here.

I installed the roof, but somehow ended up with a lot of leftover pieces.  My own lifeguard station added to the beach.

Other accessories that I took by from the Jie Star Fish farm by the sea include the tanks and the diesel generator. I also added a vending machine to fill in the dead space.

More stuff I piled onto the beach.  2 girls with ice cream cones, a palm tree and picnic blanket with hotdog and soft drink.

Stage 7 of 7

Here's the last bags of the set in stage 7.  They will be used to complete the tower.

At last, the completed Old Fishing Store with beach scene.   Let's view it from different angles.

 

More add-ons: A jet ski.

More add-ons: A beach Patrol vehicle with long surfboard.

Final Thoughts

This set was a really fun build and had so many details.  As mentioned earlier, the bricks used in this set are top notch in terms of fit and finish. I didn't encounter any missing or deformed parts and had 48 extra pieces leftover (some maybe me not adding some panels to the roof).  Also included in the set was the ubiquitous brick separator and a sticker sheet I didn't use.

The only disappointment I encountered was the corroded batteries in the non working light boxes, but I think since these are not supposed to be part of the OG set, they don't count against the set in my rating consideration.

And the final verdict is?   Five stars out of five!   I don't think I've ever awarded five stars before, so this is a first.  Considering what I paid for this set, it should be six stars out of five, lol!