Clone Brands Train discussions

[El H]

-Plastic quality wasn't that good

Lego is a company with incredible standards and international reputation for quality.

Rinky dink knock-off brands don't give a toss about intellectual property, they certainly don't care about quality.

Do you think they have people ensuring their ABS-like plastic is safe and free of toxic material?

I question the intelligence of anyone buying this crap for their kids.

[Blackice200]

Lego is a company with incredible standards and international reputation for quality.

Rinky dink knock-off brands don't give a toss about intellectual property, they certainly don't care about quality.

Do you think they have people ensuring their ABS-like plastic is safe and free of toxic material?

I question the intelligence of anyone buying this crap for their kids.

Agreed, I wasn't really expecting much, I just love the Santa Fe as a real life train.

[Flatoz]

Well it seems there will always be drama over these communist trains.

regardless, myself and the kids have fun adding them into the mix. heres a short video of the two newest additions , ones a Lego and the other is power functions added to one of Ausini's trains.

I had read that the RC trains weren't much chop, well the one I got seems to go ok. I think the battery box being low to the ground helps it go around corners faster, my son's Horizon Express can go faster, but it won't stay on the track, maybe some ballast it required.

[v6TransAM]

So what is the cheap new track option?

Hard to find that Banbao stuff cheap the switches are dirt cheap, the straight/curve pack is almost as much as real Lego.

Shame the Enlighten stuff seems to have gone away.

[edsmith0075]

I have a ton of the enlighten track but hate that it is all brown.

I bought dark grey lego matching spray paint and am in the process of painting all the enlighten track to look more appealing. Check it out...

Mods by Edsmith0075, on Flickr

Mods by Edsmith0075, on Flickr

Mods by Edsmith0075, on Flickr

Mods by Edsmith0075, on Flickr

Mods by Edsmith0075, on Flickr

I'm planning to run my freight trains on the modified enlighten track and the passenger high speed trains on the all grey lego track. Any thoughts on this project?

[alois]

For me, the brown colour would be the only good thing of Enlighten track. Track is brown in reality, not grey as Lego wants us to believe.

[JopieK]

Enlighten is a clone brand so it goes in here :)

[dr_spock]

I have a ton of the enlighten track but hate that it is all brown.

I bought dark grey lego matching spray paint and am in the process of painting all the enlighten track to look more appealing. Check it out...

I'm planning to run my freight trains on the modified enlighten track and the passenger high speed trains on the all grey lego track. Any thoughts on this project?

How are they? Would they survive the outdoors in the garden?

[zephyr1934]

I have a ton of the enlighten track but hate that it is all brown.

I bought dark grey lego matching spray paint and am in the process of painting all the enlighten track to look more appealing. Check it out...

...

Mods by Edsmith0075, on Flickr

...

I'm planning to run my freight trains on the modified enlighten track and the passenger high speed trains on the all grey lego track. Any thoughts on this project?

I like it, it looks better than the lego track or enlighten track. If I did not have a ton of all gray track already that would be the direction that I would go with ME model track. The one concern that comes to mind is that the paint will likely chip at some point. Oh, and masking the curves might be tricky too.

[Frank STENGEL]

I like it, it looks better than the lego track or enlighten track. If I did not have a ton of all gray track already that would be the direction that I would go with ME model track.

Same here. When I first saw these tracks I actually believed they were ME Model tracks

[rsb0204]

id be more worried about the paint wearing through than it chipping. If I understand correctly, he painted the actual rail. still they look real nice.

[Aaron]

The sides of most rails are almost always brown. The surfaces where the wheels touch are usually shiny due to the wheels of the trains constantly removing any potential rust, dirt, or whatever else may discolor the rails. For enlighten rails, painting the tops silver would look the best, though I still find the brown ties difficult to ballast nicely, since most ballast is usually gray, and ties are more accurately represented by 1 stud lengths with 1 stud spacing rather than the stock 2/2. Hiding the dark brown studs on enlighten track just doesn't work very well, from my experience. ME rails are nice because they're separate, and all that one would have to do is place the individual rails on whatever plates are used for ballast, using tiles for ties.

[edsmith0075]

I will post pics of curved pieces they too turned out excellent with no over spray! The tracks have been sprayed with a enamel based spray paint and then clear coated. This will ensure that the paint will take a long, long, long time to begin to show signs of wear. Curves are easy to paint and I can post pics. Painting Switches will be my challenge. Speaking of switches I have found that the Enlighten Switches are really cheap. My are slightly warped ( they arrived that way ) and at the switch point there is no spring action like with the Lego brand. In other words if a train rides over the Lego brand switch and the switch is not pointed in the correct direction it will still allow for the train to pass without derailing. The Enlighten tracks do not offer this and will derail a train. I reserve the Enlighten switches for yard track and non primary routes.

Using these tracks outdoors is possible and will hold up in the weather and sun! The track needs to be clear coated with a UV Protectant Clear Coat paint. I live in Maryland and left the track in the sun all summer and then in the winter through multiple snow events and ice. Track showed no signs of damage and the clear coating did not chip, fade or yellow. In order for the track to function well outdoors you will need to clear coat as described and nail or glue the track to a solid surface. I have found that using the plastic boards found in modern decking works amazing as it flexes with the track and is solid enough to screw into!

The biggest problem I have found with outdoor Lego railroading has been IR communications. In the sun IR remotes are practically useless. I heard there is a Bluetooth receiver available and would be interested in experimenting with that.

The Enlighten track has been a great option for both indoors and outdoors as I was afraid of buy the Lego brand track putting it outdoors and it deteriorating. The Lego brand track can be used outdoors as well as long as it is clear coated with UV Protectant paint.

OH and a side note with the enamel and clear coat on the rails the traction for my trains has improved exponentially. My Lego brand tracks really struggle making traction with a long train. The Enlightened painted tracks resolve this issue, no extra weight to the train other then now being able to add more cars!

[dr_spock]

Thanks for the tips on the Enlighten tracks. Where is a good place to purchase them? I have extra plastic composite wood boards left over from building my deck in the backyard. That stuff is great. I don't have to re-stain or water seal the deck. It's almost 10 years-old.

[edsmith0075]

I use to be able to get enlighten track through ebay. Recently though it has not been on there and has been very difficult to find.

[gololo]

Unfortunately enlighten has stopped producing their train sets not long ago.

It's now very difficult to find any stock. I got some through Aliexpress about 2 weeks ago, but.... I've been trying to locate more since without any luck.

In eBay you can see some sellers offering enlighten track sets, but to be honest, they are now more expensive than Lego's O_O!

PS. Straights and curves are OK, but the enlighten switches I got were not good at all. Stay away from those ;-)

By the way, now that I said myself that Enlighten tracks are not available anymore... Can anyone recommend any other cheap brand?

I think Ausini tracks look very much like englihten's but Ausini trains are very hard to find @__@! And they are almost as pricey as Lego's

[wondermonkey]

I am really interested in some of the parts Ausini makes. Wheels, pilots (plow - buffers) and decorative sides for motors in all sorts of colors! I mentioned to the guy from AltBricks at BrickCon that it would be great to get some of those parts, but who knows if he'll do it. So far I haven't seen individual Ausini parts/track for sale...

[John Hill]

I bought a Sluban set which didnt cost much more than lunch money so my expectations were not, um...., very high.

It is really not too bad, the rolling stock is a bit weird but nothing that a little bit of redesign could not fix however I have never seen a two wheeled rail vehicle before!

The locomotive is one piece (as others have reported) and is a bit bigger than a similar Lego steam loco, of course it has the horrible sound chip that will soon be getting disconnected! The couplings are hook and eye but it is easy enough to fit Lego couplings, which fortunately I have a goodly supply of, except for the locomotive which will need the existing hook cut off and a Lego coupling glued on.

The rolling stock runs quite easily but I do not have high expectations that the plastic 'pips' that act as axles will have any more than a short life.

The loco as received would hardly run on Lego track and derailed at the first set of points, every set of points thereafter and a few other places as well! There had to be a reason. Firstly, the loco has too long a wheel base for six wheels on the curvature of the Lego tracks but worse, the wheels were too far apart. I cured the six wheel problem by pulling out the middle axle and pair of wheels and tried to push the other wheels further onto the axles but without success. I had to remove one of the driving wheels and carefully drill it out from the outside to allow the axle to come on a bit further, success! The loco now has no problems with Lego switches and other track curves. I really should put the middle wheel pair in my lathe and turn off the flanges (like a real loco).

Sluban, I have seen worse and dont regret buying this set. The slightly tweaked rolling stock is plenty pretty enough to act as scenery fillers and for the occasion turn around the track. I dont think I will ever use the loco but it is nice to know it will run on Lego track if I ask it to.

Edited November 25, 2014 by John Hill

[Heppeng]

Unfortunately enlighten has stopped producing their train sets not long ago.

It's now very difficult to find any stock. I got some through Aliexpress about 2 weeks ago, but.... I've been trying to locate more since without any luck.

In eBay you can see some sellers offering enlighten track sets, but to be honest, they are now more expensive than Lego's O_O!

Blimey, I did not realise that - I have aquired quite a selection of Enlighten stock which I am on the cusp of upgrading/changing to Lego. I did not think that they might be worth enough to bother selling on, and was planning to re-use items like running gear and particularly the beautiful printed windows of the first class coach. Might have to think again!

[jedijon]

The situation is even stickier now with the bootleg 're-release' of Emerald Night.

 

who wants to take the plunge?

[xboxtravis7992]

Um, with the new rules on clone brand discussions on Eurobricks, you probably just necrmanced this thread just so the mods will come and lock it. Mentioning clone brands who copy Lego designs is against site rules now.

:P

 

If you want to discuss original designs made by competitor themes, they will let you do that in the Community thread.

Edited October 26, 2016 by xboxtravis7992

[Capn Frank]

6 hours ago, jedijon said:

The situation is even stickier now with the bootleg 're-release' of Emerald Night.

 

who wants to take the plunge?

Per updated Site Guidelines, bootlegged sets will no longer be discussed on EB.

This topic is closed.

Posting in really old topics like this is against Site Guidelines.  This rule is explained in the topic, Revisiting old topic (Bumping). I highly recommend you read through the Site Guidelines and the FAQ.