Monday, May 1, 2017

One of the Best Lego Blogs on the Planet!


Wow, how cool is that?  It's Not Lego blog made the Feedspot Best Lego Blogs List!



Read all about it here:


We rank #26 out of the top 50 Lego blogs.   Should we tell them our blog is about fake Lego?   

Nah.

Monday, April 3, 2017

Enlighten 1120 Not Lego Camper Truck Set Review



Hi there, today I will review the Enlighten brick set model 1120 which is called the Pleasant Trip Camper.   This set was released in 2015.

This 380 piece set is an original design and is not a bootleg of any Lego set.  I didn't realize that this camper is larger than I thought.  It comes with a family of 4 mini figures.

The Enlighten brick quality has the same feel and finish as Lego but I did notice that the clutch is a bit too tight.  Once you snap the bricks together, it's really hard to pry them apart.   Luckily Enlighten provides a blue separator tool.

The good thing about this set is that there is a lot of attention to detail.  There's so much going on it's hard to know where to begin.  I'll start from the front and work towards the back.  In the front passenger seat, there is a navigation screen.  This is something I've never seen in any Lego set.

The four seats are not your regular Lego seats, but these custom reclining pieces.  In the back of the camper, you get a small fridge, a sink and a cooking surface.  There's some small bottles and a mug too.

Now one thing that I'm not sure if I like is the fact that this camper is 8 studs wide instead of the standard 6 studs.  If I park this vehicle next to my other Lego type vehicles, this one will look a lot wider than the rest.  At some point, I might decide to rebuild the Enlighten camper as six studs wide.

Here's some of the accessories that come with the set.  There's a camera, a mountain bike with rubber tires, a barbeque grill, a garbage can, some goblets, two fry pans and a pair of fish.

Here's the mini figure family. They look a bit like hippies, especially the dad with his floral shirt.  The son and daughter minifigs have shorter legs but these are unique because they still can bend at the waist.  The print quality is good.

You also get a small 8x8 stud that represents a patch of grass, a palm tree and some 2x2 tiles with sea shells on them.

Here's the completed camper.  On the camper roof, there is a solar panel, and an antennae.  There are even roof rails and a shovel.

One the side of the camper is a fire extinguisher.

On the other side is a small axe.

The camper comes with rolling wheels and rubber tires but the rims are not as nice as the standard Lego rims.

At the back of the camper, there is a ladder to access the roof.  You also have a clamp to hang the mountain bike from.

The solar panels and antennae both can tilt.

The back of the camper divides into two and folds open behind the front seats for easy play access.

Despite the 8 stud width, there's so much stuff in the camper, it still feels cramped.  I could put the barbecue grill into the back, but there's no room inside for the garbage can.

Here's a closer look at the barbecue grill.

One thing I had to change from the original instructions was to move the windows from the middle of the camper to the rear.  By doing this, I can give the son and daughter mini figures, some elbow room.  If I didn't do that, it would be hard to close the back of the camper properly.

Here's a few more pics.



There were no missing or deformed pieces in this set but no extra pieces either.  I should point out that the colours of the corresponding bricks in the instruction manual don't match the actual brick colours, so novice builders might get a bit confused.  

In summary, it's a nice looking vehicle with lots of extra features but the 8 stud width doesn't make the Enlighten camper fit with my other Lego compatible cars and trucks.  Also the brick clutch is a bit too tight for my liking.


Brand: Enlighten Brick
Model: 1120 Pleasant Trip Camper
Number of pieces: 380
Mini figures: 4

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Lepin 05038 Not Lego UCS Star Wars Sandcrawler Set Review - Part Four

Yay!  Lepin's version of the UCS Star Wars Sandcrawler is finally done.  Let's see how we got here.


Step 80: Here's the assembly of the 4 tractor wheels.


The treads have been attached and the wheels fitted to the main sandcrawler body.



Step 85: A closer look at the wheel assemblies.

Step 90:  The front hatch door is operated by the gear lever at the top.  


Step 95:  I somehow messed up the installation of the extending winch and had to take apart the entire mechanism that opens and closes the door to fix my mistake.  Now the winch extends properly and the door opens and closes perfectly.

Step 100:  All the side panels are installed on the technic structure.

Step 110:  Just installed the finish pieces that link the panels together.

Step 115:  Roof and rear panel assemblies completed.

Step 120:  Done!

Here's a pic of the side panels raised up.  You have to remove the roof panel to access the central winch.  There are different accessories to attach to the winch so that you can lift droids or one of the three containers that are included with the set.   There is also a small speeder used by the Jawas to transport the droids that they capture.

A look at the front of the Lepin Sandcrawler with door open.


Here's an overhead shot of the Sandcrawler.


My previous posts about the Lepin Sandcrawler can be found here: