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Hello, I know this is around two months since they are launched in Malaysia, but I'm happy to be able to review these four beautiful sets that represent Malaysia. Thanks to LUG of Malaysia (LOM) that gave me this opportunity to review these sets. These four sets are called Bunga Raya, Rumah Kampung, Wau and Ketupat which were lauched week by week in Toys"R"us Pavillion, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. *All the minfigures are NOT included in these sets. Let's get started. Bunga Raya (Hibiscus). Let's start with the first of the four Malaysia Limited Edition set, Bunga Raya. As we all know, Hibiscus (also known as Bunga Raya in Malay), is our national flower. Its scientific name is Hibiscus rosasinensis. After our independence day (Merdeka), our Agriculture Ministry was instructed to suggest a suitable flower to be our National Flower. However in the end of 1958, the ministry of Agriculture actually came up with seven suggestions which were Bunga Kenanga (Cananga odorata), Bunga Raya, Bunga Melur (Jasminum or Jasmine in English), Bunga Teratai (Nelumbo nucifera or lotus in English), Bunga Mawar (Rosa or rose in English), Bunga Cempaka (Carson Magnolia sp. or Champak flowers in English) and Bunga Tanjung (mimusops elengi or Spanish Cherry Flower in English). After discussion on 28 Julai 1960, 'Bunga Raya' was declared as the national flower of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu and continued to be until now. The Box. This set is not packaged in ordinary polybags but it came in a small yellow box instead. Front part you can see the poster of City of Wonders, and a piece count with 133 pieces in this box. At the back you can see other three sets to be collected and at the side, you can see the Bunga Raya but it is NOT actual size. As you can see here, it can be opened up like a lunch box. I liked it as you don't need to damage the box when you are opening it. Yeay! Lets pour everything out! You get the 133 pieces of LEGO which is mostly red in colour, and a piece of instruction paper. Its very amazing that this pile of LEGO will bloom out and become a beautiful flower. The parts consist of three main colour, red, green and yellow. As you can see in the picture, the pieces are mostly plates, inverted slopes and smooth curvy parts. I like the green and yellow parts showed up in the sea of red in this picture. They become the striking component here. Lets start building. Step one you can see the base is mainly plates. Then covered by curved parts for the bottom two petals in step two. After a few minutes building, you will get four petals attached nicely as in the picture. Step four is completing the five petals of our national flower. Its already a very nice looking flower just as it is. I love how the curved parts attached to become not squarish as LEGO parts are mostly square. Then tadaa! Build the green stem and yellow anther and you get yourself a very nice beautiful flower! In this picture you can see the bottom part of the flower. It was supported by those inverted bricks so that it won't fall apart like how it was before these slopes were attached. Then you can hold it on the stem and it will stay at your hand firmly. Lastly this is not a minifig scaled flower. With so much details inside it is quite hard to make it smaller. However, Antman (which is not included in the set) is always 'scaled' to any sized object so he can pose here nicely standing beside the beautiful Hibiscus. Pros What I really like about this set was the flower is very nicely designed with the striking combination of red green and yellow colour. Its a very nice display set where you can put on your working desk to proudly show that I LOVE MALAYSIA! Cons The only cons I think was the long pillar holding the anther tends to fall off quite often. But it doesn't really affect the appearance of the flower. Look how realistic is this. It almost looked like a real Hibiscus. Rumah Kampung (Village House). Hi, today I'm proud to present to you the second set of the LEGO City of Wonders, Rumah Kampung. Rumah Kampung is a traditional Malay houses in Malaysia. It originates before the arrival of foreign or modern influences, and constructed by the indigenous ethnic Malay of the Malay Penisula, Sumatra and Borneo. It was built with traditional architectural forms such as tropically suited roofs and they are captured in this very beautifully designed LEGO set. Let's go to the set. This set has 137 pieces, almost the same number of pieces with the Bunga Raya set but quite small compared to the Hibiscus. Emmet is excited to start building the nice village house with these bricks, plates and slopes! *Emmet is not included in this set. This is part one of the part list. The Rumah Kampung consists of brown plates, light bluish gray slopes and a dark brown clip. Part two consist of tan coloured windows and door, dark red tiles and tons of brown profile bricks. Lets open up the instructions and start building! Step one you can already see the base of the house lined with cozy dark red carpet. Emmet is comfortably sitting there watching me building. Hi! We have a helper now. The carpenter had already finished the windows and Emmet is helping him to install them for the house! After installing the windows, it started to rain! Luckily the base of the roof was done for Emmet to 'not getting wet'. Where did he get the umbrella? Hmm... Yeay! The roof was done! Now Emmet is happy that the house has two air vents at the roof to make the inside of the house cool. This is very important in our all year hot country! Then the pillars are installed. Now that the roof is taller than Emmet, he can't help but wondering 'How to get inside the door?' With the ladder, of course! I like the simple and accurately designed ladder. These are the views of the finished model. Amazing design! This house is stable and the slope of the roof are built at two nice gradient. The hole was purposely left brickless to resemble the air vent at the roof which I feel its an amazing touch to the house. In conclusion, this is a very nice set to get for your work desk! Thanks for reading and I'm not sure how tree beard feels in the next picture. Emmet: 'Can you keep that wood plank and the saw now?' *Emmet, Tree Beard and the carpenter are not included in this set. Pros Amazing design! This house is stable and the slope of the roof are built at two nice gradient. The hole was purposely left brickless to resemble the air vent at the roof which I feel its an amazing touch to the house. Cons The cons of this set is that you need to be careful of the legs that quite often fall off so you need to count the eight legs every time you bring the house from one place to another. The use of the profile bricks to make it looked like wood planks is a very nice touch to the house. It really has the village cozy feel here. The other two sets will be reviewed at the comment area. Please continue reading.

Both BrickTsar and DunksterBricks seem to have had a lot of fun making a review of our automation system! BrickTsar focuses on how to get the system up and running while DunksterBricks shows what it looks like in a real layout. Now that the switch motors, traffic lights and sensors are out, what do you think we should focus on getting out next ?

Third B-model of the 2H2017 is yet another "vehicle" (so helpful of LEGO to tell us that, now nobody will mistake it for a building ;) ). While it's the smallest of the three, I think it's quite interesting and good-looking, even if many of A-model's pieces are left unused and the functions are largely similar to those of the A-model.

Avast, me hearties! A Pirate set marked down? I need a Bluecoat to fight my Redcoats. I must acquire this piece of AFOL treasure. SET INFORMATION: Number - 70409 Name – Shipwreck Defense Theme – Pirates Year – 2015 Minifigures – 2 Pieces – 84 Price – $15.99CAD, $12.99USD, £8.99 Links: Brickset - http://brickset.com/sets/70409-1/Shipwreck-Defence BrickLink - http://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=70409-1#T=S&O={} LEGO Product Summary Recover the hidden treasure from the pirate’s shipwreck hideout! Ahoy there! A Bluecoat Soldier has discovered a marooned pirate living among the ruins of his fortified shipwreck, along with a stash of stolen treasure. Launch a surprise attack! Fire the spring-loaded cannon and blast the swaggering pirate’s hideout to smithereens, then recover the treasure and put the rogue behind bars where he belongs! Enjoy swashbuckling adventures with the LEGO® Pirates Shipwreck Defense, featuring a pirate’s shipwreck hideout with a hinged port side for realistic cannon-impact effect. Combine with 70411 Treasure Island for an even bigger pirate adventure! Includes 2 minifigures with assorted weapons: a Bluecoat Soldier and a pirate. • Includes 2 minifigures with assorted weapons: a Bluecoat Soldier and a pirate • Features a pirate shipwreck hideout and a spring-loaded cannon with torch and flame • Pirate shipwreck hideout features a fireplace with hidden treasure, collapsing port side, mast with crow’s nest, flag, bottle and a paddle • Weapons include a gun, pistol and a cutlass • Hoist the Jolly Roger! • Hide the treasure • Blast the pirate’s shipwreck hideout • Shipwreck hideout measures over 4” (12cm) high, and 4”(11cm) wide and 1” (5cm) deep • Spring-loaded cannon measures over 2” (6cm) long, under 1” (2cm) high and under 1” (2cm) wide • Combine with 70411 Treasure Island for an even bigger pirate adventure! THE BOX: The front of the box shows a Bluecoat soldier attacking the pirate's shipwreck hideout with a cannon. The pirate has some precious gem stones treasure the Bluecoat might be after. The box features the pirates artwork logo and in the background there are sharks in the distance. There are the usual LEGO labeling. The ages 5-12 is merely a suggestion that AFOLs don't have to follow. Do be aware of the choking hazard warning. My box also has a discount sticker stuck to it. I got it for $10.98CAD plus tax. The back of box shows the features of this set. It demonstrates how to shoot the 1x1 cylinder bricks out of the spring loaded cannon. There is an insert picture of the 70411 Treasure Island set. 70411 can be combined with this set if you have it. This side of the box shows where the components are made in English, French and Spanish. It also have the same of the set in French and Spanish. Interesting if you like reading other languages. Here we see the choking hazard warnings in French and Spanish. Not for childrens 3 and under. Here we have the UPC barcode, trademark and copyright notices, URL for LEGO service and club, and the logo for responsible packaging. There is 08R5 packaging code which probably means it was packaged in Mexico in the 8th week of 2015. This side has a picture of a fish chasing after Bluecoat who is chasing after the pirate with the treasure. There is an actual size cutlass picture. We have finished our journey around the box. INSIDE THE BOX: There are two bags of parts and an instruction booklet. The bags are not numbered. I don't think it is necessary for a small set like this. Here are the contents of the two part bags spreadout. The pirate flag is a printed piece. Yay, no stickers. My favorite piece is the cannon. There are also plenty of other weapons like rifles, pistols and swords. There is not much reddish browns or dark brown pieces to reuse for pirate MOCs. THE MINIFIGURES: Here is the front of the minifigures. The pirate has the new style head rag wrap. Not everybody likes the new style. He has an anchor tattoo on his chest. His clothes are pretty ragged and patchy. He has a hashtag or tic-tac-toe mark on this cheek. The Bluecoat soldier is better dressed than the pirate. He has a shako, white epaulette, and is clean shaven. The shako appears to be same design as the Redcoat ones in 2009. Both minifigures feature back printing. The head rag wrap looks a bit like tied down bunny ears from the back. THE INSTRUCTIONS: Here is a sample page of the instruction booklet. The steps are well laid out and clear. I had no problems following them. In the back of the instruction booklet is a parts list. Handy for ordering replacements or extras through LEGO or BrickLink. THE BUILD: With 84 pieces and good instructions, the build was completed quickly and without any problems. I guess you can call it a speed build. Here is the finished set. Yikes,the pirate is looking down the barrel of a cannon. These are the extra leftover pieces from the build. You get a flame, two pistols, two swords, 1x2 curved slope, a white epaulette, and a piece of cheese Let's look at some of the features in detail. Removing the fish cooker from the barrel shows hidden treasure gems. The Bluecoat will never think to look under there. The side of the shipwreck hull tilts backward when struck with a cannon shot. Good thing the pirate has clutch powers in his feet to keep him from falling off. The crow nest provides the pirate a good view of the approaching Bluecoat. 70409 VS 6239: This set feels like a Bluecoat version of the 6239 Cannon Battle from the 2009 Pirates wave. How do they compare? 6239 has 45 pieces and sold for $6.99CAD. 70409 has 84 pieces and retailed for $15.99CAD. Canadian price per piece is 15.5 vs 19, a 23% increase. For playability, 70409 has more features and accessories. 6239 does have a nicer gun carriage. Personally, I think 70409 is more fun to play with. It is easier to right the shipwreck hull back up after a cannon ball hit than reassembling the wall pieces from 6239. SUMMARY: Playability: 9/10 Design: 8/10 Price: 7/10 Parts: 8/10 Minifigures: 9/10 Overall: 8/10 There is something fun shooting LEGO 1x1 cylinder bricks around with a spring loaded cannon trying to hit the shipwreck hull and that feeling when it is on target. This set certainly provides that kind of play. Along with the extra accessories and weapons, you can let your play imagination go wild. I give it a 9/10 for play. The design is good for a small set. I like the rock works and shaping of the hull. Also the tilt function is useful to reset the target after a direct hit. There are places to hide things and for the pirate to be located. 8/10 for design. Price-wise, it is what it is. It was the lowest priced set you can get a Bluecoat in the 2015 Pirates wave. I managed to get it on sale at a 13 cents CAD per piece which is around 10 cents USD at the exchange rate. 7/10. Looking at the parts, the cannon, weapons, and bottle of rum are great for pirate MOCs. The other pieces can find some use here and there in MOCs. It is good the pirate flag is a printed piece instead of stickered. 8/10. I really bought this set for the Bluecoat soldier. Having a pirate fig is a bonus. You can never have enough Bluecoats (and/or Redcoats). 9/10 for the minifigures. Overall, I give it at 8/10. Bluecoats and Redcoats are more interested in fighting each other than the pirates. So the pirates get treated to a good show with some food and drinks.

THE UNOFFICIAL LEGO® TECHNIC BUILDER’S GUIDE: 2ND EDITION INTRODUCTION November 2012. That was the month that Nostarch Press released the first edition of the Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder's Guide. Written by, arguably, the most skilled LEGO (Technic) builder we all know. This book was the first to deal with all the aspects of building LEGO Technic models. October 2016. Four years after the 1st edition, the 2nd edition has been released. With 42 additional pages, this volume has even more content than its predecessor. The author, Pawel "Sariel" Kmiec, is a LEGO enthusiast based in Warsaw (Poland). He runs a well known blog on Sariel.pl and he is a respected member of our Eurobricks community. The book has been technically reviewed by Eric "Blakbird" Albrecht, who runs the Technicopedia and is also a well respected member of the Eurobricks community. Sariel and Nostarch have given me the opportunity to review this book. I'm very thankful for that! Obviously, I am very sorry that I haven't published this review earlier, but life happens sometimes. TABLE OF CONTENTS Below is a rundown of the contents of the book. Four brand new chapters have been added to the 2nd edition and thirteen have been updated and extended. A total of 25 chapters comprise the entire volume of this latest edition. A whopping 394 pages of pure LEGO Technic pleasure, which is 42 pages more than the 1st edition (352 pages). Part I: Basics 1. Basic concepts (updated) 2. Basic units and pieces (updated) 3. Studless or Studfull? 4. Axles, bushes, and joints (updated) 5. Wheels (new) Part II: Mechanics 6. Gears and power transmission basics (updated) 7. Chains and pulleys (updated) 8. Levers and linkages 9. Custom mechanical solutions 10. The LEGO pneumatic system (updated) 11. Pneumatic devices (updated) 12. Building strong (updated) Part III: Motors 13. An inventory of LEGO motors (updated) 14. LEGO Power Functions system 15. LEGO RC system (new) Part IV: Advanced mechanics 16. Wheeled steering systems (updated) 17. Wheeled suspension systems (updated) 18. Tracked vehicles and suspensions (updated) 19. Transmissions (updated) 20. Adders and subtractors 21. Planetary gearing (new) 22. 3D printing custom pieces (new) Part V: Models 23. Form vs. function 24. Scaling a model 25. The modeling process PART 1: THE BASICS BASIC CONCEPTS The book starts with some basic concepts, like speed, torque, power, etc. This all seems quite obvious at first, but reading them does provide some interesting insights for both beginning and experienced builders. I found the sections about camber angle, caster angle and toe angle particularly interesting. BASIC UNITS AND PIECES The next chapter explains what FLU (Fundamental LEGO Unit) entails. It tells us that the width of a 1x1 brick is 8mm. This knowledge allowed me to answer that there are approximately 31 two-by-four bricks in a meter during our last annual Eurobricks Event. That's why you always need some basic knowledge when it comes to LEGO units This chapter also discusses the available pins and their characteristics. STUDLESS VS STUDFULL Something that has been keeping the community busy for quite some time is the debate about Studless vs Studfull (intentionally written with two L's). While Studless building is here to stay, there are lots of people still building Studfull. This chapter provides some useful insights when it comes to both building techniques. AXLES, BUSHES AND JOINTS The next chapter describes every axle, bush and joint. Together with the chapter about pins, this will prove to be very valuable information, especially for people getting back into the hobby. WHEELS Recent years have given us lots of different new rims and tires. This chapter describes most of them, explaining what the difference is between top speed and acceleration. It even describes some of the popular 3rd party wheels for truck trials etc. This concludes the first part of the book. PART II: MECHANICS GEARS AND POWER TRANSMISSION BASICS Having discussed the basics in the previous chapter, we are ready to dive in the mechanics. Mechanics are the heart of Technic and they define what Technic makes Technic. The first chapter about Mechanics is about Gears and Power Transmissions. An elaborate gear ratio table is included to calculate every possible gear ratio. Sariel also has an gear ratio calculator on his website. All the different gears are discussed, much like the pins and axles. I really do like these chapters, since the provide a nice overview for beginners and experts alike. CHAINS AND PULLEYS One of the chapters that deals with things you might not think of every day. Chains and pulleys can be quite useful though, so having some basic knowledge is imperative. The section about the different pulley setups is very interesting and useful. How many of you know what a "threefold purchase" is? I reckon, not a lot. LEVERS AND LINKAGE Levers can be found on many Technic models, but using them in a MOC can be more difficult than you would imagine. This chapter provides useful insights on using levers and linkages. CUSTOM MECHANICAL SOLUTIONS This chapter is about custom mechanical solutions, like custom differentials, differentials locks, rachtes, lineair clutches, and them some. PNEUMATIC SYSTEM The (new) Pneumatic System gets a lot of attention. The different pumps and actuators are discussed. PNEUMATIC DEVICES The next chapter shows a variety of pneumatic devices made using the pneumatic system. The picture below shows an example of a pneumatic compressor. BUILDING STRONG The last chapter in Part II explains why things will fall apart when we don't build strong. It's about finding weak links and understanding where to reinforce. PART III: MOTORS MOTORS The third Part of the book is all about Motors. It starts with an overview of every motor ever produced by TLG, even the watertight motors for propelling LEGO boats. LEGO POWER FUNCTIONS SYSTEM Chapter 14 covers the complete range of Power Functions (PF for short) elements. It's a nice summary of the total range and it even includes building instructions for a Remote Control with Central Steering Wheel. THE RC SYSTEM The third and final chapter in Part III is about the RC system. While the RC system hasn't been around for some time, it is still widely used by car builders. It allows for RC cars with relatively high top speed and high torque, compared to the current PF system. PART IV: ADVANCED MECHANICS WHEELED STEERING SYSTEMS After lots of interesting chapters we have come to the fourth Part, covering Advanced Mechanics. This sounds interesting! And obviously it is very interesting. It starts with an elaborate chapter about wheeled steering systems, covering quite a few different mechanisms. The picture below shows the Ackermann Steering Geometry, which is a well known system. WHEELED SUSPENSION SYSTEM What's a steered vehicle without a proper suspension system?! Like the steering system, suspension comes in a wide variety. Quite a few of them are covered in this chapter, together with some building instructions. TRACKED VEHICLES AND SUSPENSION Since not every vehicle is a wheeled vehicle, tracked vehicles get their attention in the 18th chapter. Different track types and suspension systems are shown with detailed images. Even some custom made track types are covered. TRANSMISSIONS Chapter 19 is all about Transmissions, covering systems like orbital transmission, ratchet transmission, lineair transmissions and lots more. This chapter proves to be very useful when you are designing your own gear box and drive train. ADDERS AND SUBTRACTORS Adders and subtractors are mechanisms used to couple two motors together. Coupled motors can be used to control a single functions. Working on a big robot project myself, I probably need to couple two motors to drive the behemoth. You can couple motors the easy way and the right way. Sariel covers the right way to do this. He also covers the math to calculate the torque and speed. PLANETARY GEARING There's an entire chapter devoted to Planetary Gearing, a system used in some bicycles, different kind of toys and even in mechanical pencil sharpeners. 3D PRINTING LEGO Purists probably will skip this chapter, but for other people this can be very interesting. It's about 3D printing certain parts, which are not available as official TLG parts. You can think of hubcaps and turntables, but also of a mounting connector for a GoPro camera. The possibilities are endless. This chapter concludes Part IV of the book. PART V: MODELS FORM VS FUNCTION We have come to the last part of the book, Part V about Models. The first chapter is about Form versus Function. How can you make a model work well and look good at the same time. Finding good reference material is key when it comes to designing. SCALING A MODEL Blueprints are types of reference material which work very well when it comes to modeling. Together with Sariel's LEGO Model Scaler you will be off to a good start. THE MODELING PROCESS The final chapter of this part, also of the book, covers the modeling process. It's about turning your idea into reality. Which leaves us with one last question... SUMMARY Whether you are a skilled builder or a novice, this book contains a wealth of interesting information. It is without a doubt the most comprehensible builder's guide to LEGO Technic. I highly recommend picking up a copy and enjoy the read! PROS The books looks fantastic. Full colored pictures on every single page. A wealth of interesting information. Useful for both novice and advanced builders. Great reference book. CONS This book offers little playability. Turning pages becomes cumbersome after a while. The parts are all glued together, which is probably why it's not an official book. Building experience is virtually non-existent. The title is incorrect. Obviously, it should have been "The Official LEGO Technic Builder's Guide" Obviously, I'm joking with the Cons. I rate this book a solid 9 out of 10. Why not 10 out of 10? Because there will probably be a third edition and I need to keep Sariel sharp CONCLUSION SHOULD BE TITLED OFFICIAL BUILDER'S GUIDE

As could be expected, the 42069's B-model is way more interesting than the 42070's one, even if it's not too pretty:

Number - 41001 Name – Mia's Magic Tricks Theme – Friends Year – 2013 Minifigs – 1 Pieces – 90 Price – $12.99CAD, $9.99USD, £9.99 Links: Brickset - http://www.brickset....il/?set=41001-1 BrickLink - http://www.bricklink...m.asp?S=41001-1 LEGO Product Summary Practice and perform Mia's Magic Tricks for the big show! Mia's practicing hard for the big Heartlake City magic show. Help her to learn tricks with cards, a magic wand, flowers, her bunny and a top hat. Build her stage for the big performance then stun the crowds with a cute performing bunny that disappears into its own magic cabinet. Amaze the crowds when the bunny disappears! Includes Mia mini-doll figure. • Includes Mia mini-doll figure and a bunny • Features a magic cabinet with disappearing function and magician's stage • Accessories include magic wand, flowers, coins, cups, scarves and a top hat • Use the magic cabinet's magic function to make the bunny disappear! • Practice Mia's tricks and perform for Heartlake City! • LEGO® Friends pieces are fully compatible with all LEGO bricks • Collect all of the LEGO Friends sets for a whole world of LEGO Friends fun! • LEGO mini-dolls are LEGO figures made especially for the world of LEGO Friends that can be customized and combined in thousands of ways • Measures over 2" (7cm) high, 1" (5cm) wide and 3" (10cm) long" I purchased this set on a whim. Maybe because I like Mia in her snazzy new black tux. THE BOX: Typical Friends front box design with the girls in the upper corner. The back shows the features of this set. Warnings in French and Spanish on the side. Canadian price tag and IPC barcode on the bottom side. Actual size of bunny and the name of the set in French and Spanish on the other side. INSIDE THE BOX: There are two bags of parts and one Technic open center brick by itself. Not shown here is the instruction booklet. We'll see that later. Here are all the pieces laid out. The hat and wand look like they could be from Collectible Minifigs. Close-up of the printed 1x2 card tile. Bonus points for not being a sticker. These are the extra pieces after the build. THE MINIFIG: Mia looks fabulous in her black tux. There are nice small details like molded back pockets on her pants. Her back and arms say © 2009 LEGO. THE INSTRUCTIONS: Here is a sample page of the build instruction. This is the secret on how the bunny disappears. (Don't tell anyone.) THE BUILD: With Mia's magical help, the build was quick and easy. Instructions were clear and nothing was confusing. In a blink of the eye, it's done. SUMMARY Playability: 8/10 Design: 7/10 Price: 7/10 Parts: 7/10 Mini-figure: 10/10 Overall: 8/10 I really like Mia in her black tux. The bunny is cute and fun to make disappear. The magic cabinet could have been better colour coordinated. Although the grey pieces are in the back of the base of the cabinet, I think it would have been better to use white parts. The printed card tile is nice. There is not really much unique parts in this small set. At $12.99CAD, it is around 14 cents per piece. Interesting that the Lego product info on Shop@Home mentioned accessories includes coins, cups, scarves. But I don't see them on the box artwork nor in the bag of parts. THE MAGIC SHOW: And now, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to make the bunny disappear. Are you ready, bunny? This won't hurt a bit. ABBRACADBRA! Viola, the bunny is gone! Please note, no bunnies went missing or harmed in this magic show. The magic cabinet also makes a good diving board or walking the plank if you're a pirate fan.

INTRODUCTION: Ready, aim, fire. Can you shoot the apple off hedgehog's head? I won this set in a contest. Can't go wrong with free LEGO review. SET INFORMATION: Number - 41120 Name – Adventure Camp Archery Theme – Friends Year – 2016 Minidolls – 1 Pieces – 114 Price – $12.99CAD, $9.99USD, £8.99 Links: Brickset - https://brickset.com/sets/41120-1/Adventure-Camp-Archery BrickLink - http://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=41120-1#T=S&O={} LEGO Product Summary Hit the target to help Mia win the archery trophy! Practice your skills with LEGO® Friends Adventure Camp Archery. It features a bow with shooting function and a target that falls over when hit, along with picnic accessories and a shelter to rest and watch the little hedgehog in its den. Includes a Mia mini-doll figure plus a hedgehog. Includes a Mia mini-doll figure in sportswear plus a hedgehog. Features an archery range with a knock-over target, a bow with shooting function, a shelter with a chair to rest on and a den for the hedgehog. Accessory elements include a trophy, flag, apple, sandwich, bottle of water, cherries and a barrel with projectiles. Fire the bow to hit the target and knock it over. Sit on the chair in the shade to enjoy a lunchtime sandwich. This set offers an age-appropriate building experience for ages 6-12. This set includes over 100 bricks. Archery range measures over 1” (4cm) high, 2” (6cm) wide and 1” (3cm) deep. Picnic shelter measures over 2” (7cm) high, 2” (6cm) wide and 2” (6cm) deep. Hedgehog den measures over 1” (3cm) high, 1” (3cm) wide and 1” (3cm) deep. Combine with 41121 Adventure Camp Rafting and the 41122 Adventure Camp Tree House for more Adventure Camp challenges! THE BOX: The front of the box shows Mia shooting targets at the Adventure Camp Archery. She has a barrel full of crossbow stud ammo. There is a shelter for her to rest and have some snacks. Hedgehog also has a hog house to rest in. The box has curved sides of the Friends line of boxes, plus the image of the fives Friends on the corner. The back of the box shows the features and accessories of the set. You can see Mia resting and going for a nice sandwich. The target has a knock-out bullseye. Mia is feeding cherry balls to the hedgehog. This side of the box contains URL to get service, origins of manufacture, copyrights, UPC bar code, item codes and notice of responsible packaging. Here you have text in several languages and graphics warning not for 0-3 years-old. This is the non-North American version of the box. This side has more text in several languages, warning graphics, and a 1:1 scale image of the hedgehog. INSIDE THE BOX: There are two bags of parts and an instruction booklet. The bags are not numbered. It may not be needed for a small set. Although I find I can build faster with numbered bags. Here are the contents of the smaller bag. You get a printed 2x2 bullseye target round tile. There are a couple of cherries and an assortment of flower/leaf pieces. Here are the contents of the larger bag. You get an apple and a hedgehog. The hedgehog has only been available in 4 other sets. You get one crossbow that first appeared in the 2015 Millenium Falcon set. THE MINIDOLLS: The set comes with one Mia minidoll. Mia is sporting new torso and legs for 2016. The same torso and legs would later be reused for the 2017 Friends Heartlake Sports Center set Mia. THE INSTRUCTIONS: Here is a sample page of the instruction booklet. The steps are well laid out and clear. I had no problems following them. THE BUILD: With 114 pieces and good instructions, the build was completed quickly and without any issues. Here is the finished set. Mia looks like she is ready to shoot something. These are the extra pieces. SUMMARY: Playability: 8/10 Design: 7/10 Price: 7/10 Parts: 7/10 Minidolls: 9/10 Overall: 7/10 There is something fun about shooting targets with a crossbow. It is a challenge to aim Mia's arm correctly. For play, I give it an 8/10. For design, I like the target stand and hedgehog house. But I am not sure about Mia's shelter. It feels like it was an afterthought add-on. Maybe it should be a weapon storage shed instead. I give it a 7/10. The price seems in line with other sets. I got mine for free so I can't complain. 7/10. Most of the parts are pretty Friends set generic. I don't see it as a part pack set. I do like the printed bullseye and stud shooting crossbow. You also get a hedgehog. I give 7/10. You get a Mia minidoll in a new 2016 outfit. She is my favorite Friends character. There may be some bias in the 9/10. Overall, I give this set a 7/10. It has good play value. It is not all that great for a parts pack. The weapon, minidoll and hedgehog are cool. Ok, hedgehog, please stay still... Pew, pew, pew... (Ok, so I like Star Wars sound effects.) The set goes together nicely with other Adventure Camp sets. Is there an archery challenge? Note: Chewie is not included with the Friends sets.

Hi, today I will be reviewing something different, a medium or ordinary sized friends set. Friends sets started since 2012. The sets were targeted for girls and the mini-dolls are mainly female characters. The sets include pieces in pink and purple color schemes and depict scenes from suburban life set in the fictional town of Heartlake City. The main characters are Stephanie, Olivia, Emma, Mia and Andrea. But if you are to collect all variants of them, there would be tons to collect. As this is my first few sets of friends, let's start looking at it. Introduction This set was launched in 2015 and it was included in 66256 value pack. It featured Olivia who needs to get ready the studio for Livi the pop star to record her latest album. Overview Name: 41103 Pop Star Recording Studio Theme: Friends Year: 2015 Pieces: 172 Minifigures: 1 minidoll Price: £12.99 / $14.99 / 14.99€ Resources: Brickset The Box As usual, the box has the striking look of purple and pink color scheme which you will know this is a friends set at first glance. At the back of the box you can see Olivia is test running all the musical equipment for the superstar's arrival. At the side you can see Olivia's picture in the 1:1 actual size column. In this set you get one instruction booklet, one sticker sheet, and three unnumbered bags. Small, medium and large bags catering for their respective part sizes. I am quite fond of the parts distribution like this which makes it easier to find the parts even though they are unnumbered. There are three stickers in this set but I'm not complaining as the amount of printed parts are way more satisfying than the stickered parts. The instruction manual is a normal booklet and I suppose the one holding the mic at the top right corner is Livi the pop star. The Parts. These are the special and printed parts in this set. I loved them so much! You get a smart phone in azure blue 1x2 tile, a CD, a Cassette, purple Guitar, two keyboards, two glittering golden microphone, Mozart's notes, a newspaper in heartlake city and a normal looking panel. Wow! So much printed fun in such a small set! The Build. You get to build six small 'furniture' sized builds first before building the wall. These are the music note holder with a gold stand, video recorder on an octagonal base, and a mic stand. All of them are held by a pink flower at the base. These three minibuilds are great for modular interiors decorations. Then you get a controller with a keyboard, a pink sofa with a cup and the newspaper and a couch. These furniture are very nice especially if you are taking photos for your LEGO photographs. These are very nice household decorations as well! Let's start building the wall. First we build the CD player at the base of the wall with these grooved bricks. Then the CD ejector with a purplish black colored build. This is the sliding mechanism of the CD player. Its quite an interesting build here and I liked it. When we view from the top, this is how it works. Push the gold button and the CD will be ejected. After a few steps, you get the whole wall of the recording studio. It is quite well equipped with those smart phone controlled console, two speakers and a large music note signboard. There is a poster sticker at the trans clear door but the sticker on the right is actually a cupboard with musical certificate and trophies. The back of the wall is quite dull with a guitar hangar. Note that the cupboard screen is actually pure white instead of trans clear in color. A close up view of the controlling panels. Here you can see the music equalizer in a studio, a CD player, a smart phone and buttons. It does look like a recording studio. Tada! Completed build of the studio. I actually liked it very much after building the set. Now Olivia is ready for anyone to come for a musical recording! The extra parts are quite a number of 1x1 round plates and headphones. The Mini-doll. Olivia is the only Mini-doll in this set with a nicely printer torso and legs. The hairpiece is large compared to normal minifigure hair. Please don't put minifigure hairpiece on minidoll's head or else you will have a very hard time removing it. As with the headphone, its rubbery but it can't really stay on Olivia's hair and keep bouncing off. So I considered that as an 'extra' part. The legs are limited to bend forward, no other movements permitted. Here you can see the comparison between a mini-doll and a minifigure. Olivia is taller than C3PO while standing but the height is quite similar while sitting. The wrist of the mini-dolls are not movable so it makes them can only hold things in one direction but it was brilliantly put at an angle in which the accessories are held quite nicely. *C3PO is not included in this set. And Olivia invited all her friends for a jam in her newly set up studio! *Only Olivia is included in this set. Review summary Playability: 6/10 - The only thing to play is the CD ejector.Design / Building Experience: 9/10 - The design is very close to the real studio and the mini builds are very fun to build.Mini-doll: 9/10 - Olivia is a very nice figure in this set. The only downside is the headphone's weak clutch power to the hair.Price / Value for money: 9/10 - This set is quite worth the price with all those printed parts.Overall: 9/10 - For the first few sets of friends set, this one is quite fun and nice to build with very nice pink and purple color scheme. Conclusion This is my first few friends set and it amazed me of the design and mini builds. I thought I wouldn't like this set that much but it turned out differently. This is a very recommended set to have especially if you are building a modular building with a recording studio in it. I hope you like the review and thoughts and comments are welcome! Some karaoke session?

If you thought the 42070 A-model was bad, the B-model is here to convince you it was actually pretty good. In fact, it seems to have been built solely for that purpose:

REVIEW - 42030 - VOLVO L350F WHEEL LOADER INTRODUCTION The Nuremberg Toy Fair is always an exciting event when it comes to revealing new LEGO sets. This year was no exception. We finally got to see visuals of the upcoming Technic Flagship. This time LEGO teamed up with Volvo to create an impressive version of the Volvo L350F Wheel Loader. In this review we will find out how TLG's interpretation compares to the actual Wheel Loader and whether it's worth the whopping 220 euro you need to fork out to own this bad boy. The designer behind this model is Uwe Wabra, who has designed other great models like the iconic 8258 Crane Truck and the 8285 Tow Truck. It took him about eight months to design the Volvo L350F. Volvo Spirit Magazine "The Nuremberg Toy Fair in February saw global toy giant the LEGO Group unveil its latest flagship model from LEGO®Technic. With 1,600 individual pieces and the largest individual element ever created for the brand, the Volvo L350F wheel loader is not simply one of the company’s 2014 star performers – it is just as impressive as the real-life machine it is based upon." Read more... Volvo Press Release Volvo Construction Equipment and LEGO® Technic have joined forces to create a miniature remote-controlled L350F Wheel Loader in Volvo livery that not only drives, steers, lifts and loads just like the real thing it also converts into an equally impressive hauler. Read more... Credits Before we continue I would like to thank LEGO for providing the set and the possibility to publish this Exclusive review. Furthermore I would like to thank Volvo and Superkalle (our LDD Moderator) for giving me some very useful Volvo insights. All images can be clicked for hi-res versions. SET INFORMATION Number: 42030 Title: Volvo L350F Wheel Loader Theme: Technic Released: 2H 2014 Part Count: 1636 Box Weight: 3541 gr Box Dimensions: 57,5 x 47,8 x 12,0 cm Set Price (MSRP): 219.99 EUR DE / 169.99 GBP / 249.99 USD Price per Part: DE 0.134 EUR / UK 0.103 GBP / USA 0.153 USD With a price tag of almost 220 euro, this is the most expensive Technic flagship to date. The average price of 0,134 euro part part immediately makes clear that this is no ordinary Technic set. A high price per part normally indicates that a set has lots of special parts, like motors and other Power Function elements. THE BOX The box measures 57,5 x 47,8 x 12,0 cm which is equal to the height and width of the box for the 42009 Mobile Crane Mk II. The main difference is that this box measures a depth of 12 cm instead of the Crane's 9 cm. The additional 3 cm is necessary for housing the new Bucket, which will be discussed later. The difference in weight between the Crane Mk II (4172 gr) and the Volvo (3541 gr) is about 631 gram which is not that much, taking in account that the Crane has 970 pieces more (2606) than the Volvo (1636). One thing is sure; this box will leave little room for other Christmas presents under the tree later this year! FRONT SIDE The front of the box shows an impressive picture of the model, no surprise here. Like with most bigger models the size of the model is printed on the box. When finished, this model will measure a length of 58 cm and a height of 38.5 cm. The front also shows a Power Functions section stating it has "fully remote-controlled driving and digging functions.". The bottom right shows the large number of Power Function components this set contains. BACK SIDE The back side shows the B-model which is the Volvo A25F Articulated Dump Truck. The preliminary image of the back side explicitly showed an iPad with the digital building app. The iPad didn't make if to the final box, which makes you wonder whether the iPad instructions won't be available at all. Could it be that the size of the B-model is pushing the boundaries of building with the iPad app?! Another possibility is that the iPad app will be available later than the release of this set. INSIDE When opening the flip-up cover some cool facts of the real Volvo are revealed, together with a picture of the Power Functions and a demonstration of the manual functions. There's also a picture to emphasize the green engine. Name: L350F Horse Power: 540 HP (397 kW) Weight: 52 metric tons Bucket Volume: 6,9 m3 INSIDE COVER The inside of the cover is devoted to the Power Functions. Again all the PF elements are shown. Two remote controls are used for operating the boom and driving the vehicle. It's not necessary to switch between these functions. Three small pictures explain how the Power Functions are controlled. SIDE The side of the box shows the actual size of the bucket, which measures a width of 18,2 cm! Now it's clear why the box needed to be bigger than last year's flagship. CONTENTS OF THE BOX The box contains: 14 Bags 1 Booklet 1 Sticker Sheet 1 Bucket 4 Yellow Rims 4 Tires 9 Power Functions Components BAGS The box contains 14 bags in varying sizes. Business as usual so far. BOOKLET One of the first times we encounter a single booklet for a set this size. When you have built the 42009 Crane you might have seen this before. The first production runs of the Crane included 6 booklets, which later changed into a single booklet. I really appreciate a single booklet, since it more or less reflects the size of the model. STICKER SHEET Not only does the sticker sheet contain stickers for the A-model, but it includes stickers for the B-model as well, which is pretty unusual. This does mean that you either need to remove the A-model's stickers when you are building the B-model, or buying a few extra parts dedicted to the B-model's stickers. HIGHLIGHTED PARTS This section describes the unique and/or highlighted parts. We'll start with the massive Bucket which obviously is the star of the show! BUCKET This type of bucket is called a Spade Nose Rock Bucket. It's primary use is lifting blasted rock and the spade nose is to obtain maxium penetration when digging into the gravel. On a real bucket, the teeth are interchangeable, because they wear out. Volvo’s range of buckets is very comprehensive, encompassing buckets for all types of jobs and all types of materials; from rock and stone to ore and wood chips. Type: Spade Nose Rock Bucket Capacities: 1,8 – 7,5 m3 Applications: Hard and stony material, shot rock and where good penetration is needed. Options: Pin/hook-on, bolt-on edge, welded teeth & segments. Using a real Volvo with spade nose bucket, you could easily haul over 200 LEGO Volvo boxes and probably more than 300 LEGO Volvo models. The following two images show a comparison in size with the Bucket formerly known as the Big Bucket. The older big bucket is used in 8265 Front Loader. As you can see the previous version can easily fit inside the Volvo's Spade Nose Bucket. Makes you wonder how big the finished model will be!! The distance between the upper and lower holes for attaching the bucket is 5L, where this is 3,5L for the older bucket. POWER FUNCTIONS COMPONENTS The number of Power Functions components is unprecedented. No other Technic set has such a vast array of PF components. Admittedly, the 8043 Excavator also has 9 PF elements, but that set only contains M-motors. 1x Battery Box 2x Infrared Receiver 2x Remote Control 1x M-motor 1x L-motor 1x XL-motor 1x Servo motor All of the four available types of PF motors are included in this set. The new L-motor and Servo Motor are found in the 9398 Crawler and it's Exclusive Edition counterpart, the 41999 Crawler Exclusive Edition. The L-motor is also available in the beforementioned Crane Mk II. What's special about this set, is the return of the XL-motor. This motor was about to become a rare PF motor, since it hasn't been used in an official set since 2009. The last Technic set it appeared in was the 8258 Crane Truck (also by Uwe Wabra). What I really like about the XL-motor is it's coasting behavior. Coasting is performing a natural deceleration of a motor when the power is removed. In simple words; the motor doesn't immediately stall after you stop applying power to it. This results in fluent vehicle deceleration. The L-motor doesn't coast which results in the vehicle abrubtly stopping. I very much dislike this shocky behavior on the crawler, so I am glad TLG used the XL-motor for propulsion. Although it had probably more to do with the torque (40 N.cm for XL vs 18 N.cm for L) than the coasting behavior. WHEELS For the first time we get to see the Wheel 56mm D. x 34mm Technic Racing Medium, 6 Pin Holes in Yellow, which is great for bigger construction vehicles. TIRES I was hoping the, so called, Unimog tires would make their way into an official flagship set at least once more. So I was glad to see TLG apparently had the same thought and used these great tires for the Volvo again. WHEEL AND TIRE ASSEMBLY Below is a picture of the complete wheel and tire assembly. ENGINE CYLINDERS Technic Engine Cylinders come in two variants, Cylinders with Side Slots and a newer version Cylinders without Side Slots. The newer version only got produced in light bluish grey, up until now. One of the characteristic features of Volvo machines is their green engine color, originating from the Penta Corporation. Volvo was founded in 1927 and the first engines were bought from Penta Corporation who made green engines, and so just shipped the same color to Volvo. In 1935 Volvo bought Penta (which became Volvo Penta, the marine division). The engines were continued to be painted green. All engines back then were petrol engines. Volvo's first diesel, VDA, was made in 1945. From the 1950's some engines were painted red, but mostly these were for Volvo Cars, and were petrol engines. As for production Diesel Engines in heavy machinery and trucks, they have always been painted green since the start. THIN LIFTARMS The Black Thin Liftarm 1x7 is not very special, but it doesn't appear in Technic sets that often. The Yellow Thin Liftarm 1x6 used to be pretty rare, since it was only included in the 8457 Power Puller. However, last year this part got reintroduced in the 42024 Container Truck. The Light Bluish Grey Thin Liftarm 1x5 with Axle Holes on Ends was introduced in Black in 2013. This is the first time this part appears in another color. AXLE AND PIN CONNECTOR The Yellow Axle and Pin Connector #6 - 90 degrees was last used in the Technic 8258 Crane Truck in 2009, until it made it's comeback in 2012 in the 5885 Triceratops Trapper. Just like the XL-motor Uwe Wabra is using this part again in a Technic set. PANELS Finally we can see a small selection of panels. Mostly old style Yellow Panel Curved 11 x 3 with 2 Pin Holes and a single Black Black Panel Curved 11 x 3 with 10 Pin Holes. PART LIST Here's the complete list for all 1636 parts. BUILDING EXPERIENCE Enough with the boring part...let's build a Volvo! CHASSIS You start building the chassis and after a few steps, the pendular rear axle is taking shape. The small turntable proves to be an asset to the Technic parts catalogue. Another useful part is the Steering Portle Axle, which is rapidly becoming the workhorse of big Technic vehicles. Ordinarily it's placed vertically to provide higher ground clearance, but as you can see, it can be used horizontally as well. Here you can see images of the front and rear sections, which will be joined a bit later in the build. The front and rear section joined together. The wheelbase does not reflect the size of the finished model. Here's a picture of the articulation mechanism of the vehicle. PF MOTORS The four motors are equally divided over the front and rear section. Because two of the motors (M and L) are placed in the front section, there's no need to transfer gears or axles from the rear section. Three (M, L and Servo) of the four motors are placed vertically, while the XL-motor is placed horizontally in the back. VOLVO D16E LAE3 ENGINE The Volvo D16E LAE3 is a straight six-cylinder high performance, low emission turbocharged diesel engine with direct injection, air-to-air intercooler and Internal Exhaust Gas Recirculation (I-EGR). The engine has a one piece cylinder head with four valves per cylinder one overhead camshaft. Furthermore, the engine has wet replaceable cylinder liners, replaceable valve guides and valve seats. The Engine with V-ACT (Volvo Advanced Combustion Technology) features split injection, optimized air handling and turbocharger with waste gate. High torque at low engine speed gives the engine its characteristic feature: quick response at low rpms, even under load. The three white Round Pin Connectors with Slot are the engines oil filters. Two of them are normal, high flow filters and the third one is a fine filter that is optimized to catch finer particles, but has a slower flow. When engine load is moderate and oil/lubrication need is also moderate, much of the oil is directed to the fine filter. When the engine is working at maximum, all oil is instead passed through the two normal filters. LOAD SENSING HYDRAULIC SYSTEM The L350F features an intelligent load-sensing hydraulic system. Two variable piston pumps provide exactly the flow rate and pressure required at any given moment in time, distributing the power where it’s needed, when it’s needed. When flow is not required in the hydraulic system, all engine power is diverted to the drivetrain. This provides smoother operation, lower fuel consumption, and more precise control of machine and load. You always get full power, regardless of revs. The LEGO version uses three Linear Actuators instead of an hydraulic system. NOTE I made an error placing the LA. The top LA in the picture below should be flipped, resulting in the attachment point being at the bottom instead of the top. Thanks to Jantjeuh for pointing this out. CHASSIS AND BODYWORK At this point the chassis and bodywork are almost finished. LOADER Z-BAR LINKAGE The L350F is a heavy duty, primary production loader intended for multi-shift, high production applications. High breakout force in the digging position, high lift capacity and fast hydraulic speeds are the essential requirements for a primary production loader. The Z-bar linkage is a field-proven, effective linkage in this loader size class. The refined geometry is the same for both standard and long boom and allows common bucket range with an open design. Below is an image of the Linear Actuators operating the Z-bar linkage. ROTATING LIGHT A small detail I particularly like is the small rotating light on the top of the cabin. Other models use a transparent 2x2 Round Brick which is way too big. This smaller version fits better! STEPS The image of the real Volvo on the inside of the box shows the steps on the left side of the vehicle, while they are mounted on the right side of the LEGO version. After some research I found out that the L350F used to have the steps on both sides of the cab, but it was not a safe solution for the operator when he had to climb up the steps into the cab with a lunch box. So late last year Volvo changed the design and eliminated the steps on the left side and made the steps on the rear fender standard. Another cool feature that Volvo included was the “remote door opener”, so as the operator approaches the machine, he presses the remote door opener and the door opens automatically and the entrance lights shine down on the steps for additional safety when climbing into the cab when it is dark. INFRARED RECEIVERS The infrared receivers have been placed nicely behind the cabin, hardly visible. Although the box states that V2 receivers are included, there is no V2 sign on the ones I found in my set. FINISHED MODEL It took me approximately 7 hours to finish this model. I reckon most of you will finish it in about 6 hours. FRONT VIEW The finished model looks stunning! It's really massive. Even though I love the looks of this model, I can't help wondering why TLG didn't make some wheel caps to fill the rims and make the wheels look more massive too. REAR VIEW The rear looks great as well. In this picture the battery box is clearly visible, but from a normal viewing angle, it's almost hidden from sight. BOTTOM VIEW Just as you would expect. Nothing out of the ordinary to see here. THE GAP The side view of the Volvo is one of my main concerns. While the rear section looks massive and lifelike. The front section looks unfinished, especially the part in front of the cabin. Also, the bottom of the first section of the boom could use some more bricks to make it look more immense, just like the real machine. PARTS LEFT Quite a few parts left, even three Axles (5L, 6L and 7L). Of course nothing the bucket can't handle! FUNCTIONALITY This model has quite a few functions. The main four functions are: Articulated Steering Driving Raising and Lowering the Boom Operating the Bucket Besides these motorized functions, there are some manual features. ARTICULATED STEERING Wheel Loaders typically use articulated steering. Articulated steering is a system by which a four-wheel drive vehicle is split into front and rear halves which are connected by a vertical hinge. The front and rear halves are connected with one or more hydraulic cylinders that change the angle between the halves, including the front and rear axles and wheels, thus steering the vehicle. This system does not use steering arms, king pins, tie rods, etc. as does four-wheel steering. If the vertical hinge is placed equidistant between the two axles, it also eliminates the need for a central differential, as both front and rear axles will follow the same path, and thus rotate at the same speed. Long road trains, articulated buses, and internal transport trolley trains use articulated steering to achieve smaller turning circles, comparable to those of shorter conventional vehicles. Articulated haulers have very good off-road performance. (Wikipedia) Steering is controlled by the Servo Motor. There was some disappointment in the community because the steering looked very jerky in the videos from the Nuremberg Toy Fair. I must admit I didn't like it either. The Servo Motor has two modes, on (in either direction) or off. This means there's no gradual steering mode, it's hard left, hard right or straight on. This is illustrated in the images below. Playing around with the LEGO model, I experienced that the steering indeed is a bit jerky, but for playability it isn't as bad as it seems. A solution with Linear Actuators would have been more realistic. But since the Volvo basically is a kids toy, I can accept the jerky steering. LIFTING THE BUCKET The boom and bucket are also operated using Power Functions. Both the boom and the bucket are operated with the remote and both functions are working properly at a nice speed! LIFTING LOAD The Volvo is powerful enough to lift it's own weight. That no surprise, since it can lift up to 1 kg of load!! ENGINE BAY The engine bay can be opened from various sides for maintenance, like changing the oil filters. Opening the back reveals the big green 6 cylinder engine with the cooling fan. The D16E engine has a hydraulically driven, electronically controlled cooling fan and intercooler of the air/air type. The system not only results in quieter operation, but also lowers the fuel consumption. BATTERY REPLACEMENT Replacing the batteries in the battery box is fairly easy. Remove the two axles with red bush and unlock the black long pin with stop bush and you can easily detach the battery box from the vehicle. COMPARISON WITH 8265 Inevitable is the comparison with it's predecessor; the 8265 Front Loader. For a non-flagship set, the 8265 already was an impressive Front Loader. The following pictures show how big the Volvo actually is. It trumps the old Front Loader in every way. SUMMARY The LEGO Volvo is nothing short of spectacular! I might even go out on a limb by claiming that this is one of the coolest LEGO Technic models....ever! If not THE coolest! True, there are better looking models. True, there are technically more advanced models. However, this models combines a lot of factors, like playability, looks and the sheer size is stupendous. Adding the Volvo brand and stickers is the icing on the cake. My all time favorite Technic model is the 8043 Motorized Excavator, since this model combines, looks, functionality and playability. The Volvo shares the exact same properties, but it contains a lot more cool parts than the Excavator, a wider variety of Power Functions for instance, a gargantuan unique bucket and Unimog wheels. In all fairness; reading my own summary, I can only come to the conclusion that I like the Volvo even more than the Excavator! Even though the price is pretty steep, I would definitely recommend getting this set. PROS Offers lots of playability No need to switch between functions Finished model is massive LEGO Volvo looks like a genuine L350F Gargantuan unique bucket Unimog wheels CONS The gap in front of the cabin Front section looks unfinished compared to the rear section Omission of wheel caps to make the wheels look more massive Jerky steering due to servo motor (minor con) SCORE Design 9: Stunning looks and the sheer size is impressive. Volvo stickers are the icing on the cake. Build 8,5: Very enjoyable build, but nothing too spectacular. Functionality 9: Four different fully remote controlled functions, combined with some manual functions. Playability 9: Fully remote controlled and no need to switch between functions. Parts 10: It doesn't get any better than this. Entire range of PF motors (including XL Motor), Unimog Tires, unique Yellow Rims and much more! Value for Money 8,5: Although the price is pretty steep, you get a lot of bang for your buck. 9 Bucket Size Does Matter! Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading and please rate this set at the top of this topic!

I'm happy to report that this thing is a delightful change from the awful 42070, especially in terms of suspension and details. It's like these two sets were designed on separate planets.

I guess this belongs here, since we don't have a specific forum section for Creator cars and it looks Model Team-ish enough. I present you the bus that suffers from subpar accuracy (the front end looks atrocious) and marketing bull...t (no, it's NOT built at the same scale as other Creator cars), and yet manages to look really, really good on a shelf:

The smallest of the 2H2017 Technic set is, in most aspects, a pleasant surprise. I was expecting something dead simple, but got something ambitious and complex instead, with a brilliant steering system and 2 boom functions that can be easily motorized. Additionally, I like how normal and realistic it looks compared to 42070 and 42069. It's a pretty, functional, well-designed set and it's delightful to steer. On the underside, 42068 contains literally zero new pieces or pieces in new colors, leaving you little reason to buy it - chances are, you can build it with the pieces you already own. And some parts feel like a few corners have been cut.

Hi today I'm reviewing the very nice and exclusive version of the famous Astromech Droid, R2-D2 in polybag 30611. Overview Name: 30611 R2-D2 Theme: Star Wars Year: 2017 Pieces: 70 Minifigures: One Brick Built Figure Price: Free from shop.LEGO.com and LEGO Brand Stores with qualifying LEGO Star Wars purchases, May 2017. This is the front and back for the polybag. You can see R2 is standing on the sand scene, maybe going different direction from C3PO after a little fight. At the back of the pack, you can peek through the translucent part and see the head of R2 hiding inside. Open the polybag and bring out my beloved R2-D2! I liked the design of the polybag art where you can feel the heat of the desert already. *C3PO and Jawa are not included in this set. They will be in pictures below for illustration purpose. The plastic bag material is quite fragile, so you need to be very gentle or else the whole thing will be thorn apart and you'll need to pick up the pieces scattered on the floor. The first thing I took out was the big head of R2. Inside you'll get a small bag of smaller parts, an instruction booklet, and other parts listed in the picture below. *C3PO and Jawa and small R2D2 are not included in this set. They will be in pictures below for illustration purpose. These are the parts included in the set. Quite a few technic pins and parts for articulation and curved top bricks for the body of R2-D2. Wake up R2, the Jawas are going to sell us or melt us! I prefer selling, at least we got a new master. Lets start building. The first step will have something like a post box as the main frame of the body. Then you will build the outer curve of the body fixed to the post box. Oh now you get a photocopy machine as the body. The jumpers are for the vents to be attached later on. C3PO is holding the bottom part of R2 that will hold its center leg. Now you'll build both R2's right and left legs and attached to the body via the technic pin. See how C3PO is so impatient that he asked me to put R2D2 together faster. These two are the printed parts in this set and I really love the dome shaped head! So nicely printed and it has a slight metallic feel of the silver colour. Here is the comparison between the brick built R2 head and the minifigure R2 head. The difference is that there is a stud on top of the smaller R2 and all other printings are quite the same. Tadaaa! Now we are completed the build of R2D2! The Jawas are taking them in their sandcrawler to seek for new buyers. These are the extra parts for this set. Just in case you lose one of these. As you can see in the picture, the brick built R2 will lean forward at a gradient as the center leg is longer than both right and left. Unlike the minifigures, this R2 cannot stand straight unless you remove the center part of the leg and the clip. However, I liked the fact that its head can be rotated 360 degrees, just like in the movies! *Light blue R2D2(10225) and dark blue R2D2(75136) are not included in this set. They will be in pictures below for illustration purpose. Now I've removed the center leg and you can pose it like others with any degree of inclination you want. I like it so much that he is so flexible! Oh no! The Jawas are catching us! Run faster R2! Haha, now who's laughing? Summary reviewPlayability: 8/10 You can rotate the head and make those beeping sound to make him alive. This is something that minifigure R2D2 can't do. This is the main reason to get this polybag.Design: 9/10 The printing of the dome shaped head is top notch and very nicely done. But I think the torso part can have more printing for more details. Price: 10/10 Its a free promotional item! Overall: 9/10 I love this polybag rather than having a minifig inside only. Astromech collectors must not miss this set as it is a great addition to those cute little droids parade. Conclusion This polybag is very nice to be collected if you are a Star Wars fan. The built is very accurate instead of bulky feel. It has a very sleek design and very detailed in this size. Now I hope there is a brick built C3PO to be his partner. Thanks for reading!

Review: 21034 London Introduction "A mighty mass of brick, and smoke, and shipping, "Dirty and dusty, but wide as eye "Could reach, with here and there a sail just skipping "In sight, then lost admist the forestry "Of masts; a wilderness of steeples peeping "On tiptoe through their sea-coal canopy; "A huge, dun cupola, like a foolscap crown "On a fool's head - and there is London Town." --Lord Byron London Set Number: 21034 Theme: Architecture Subtheme: Skylines Piece Count: 468 Price: USD $39.99 Source: Brickset, LEGO Shop Official Image: Box "By seeing London, I've seen as much of life as the world can show." -- Samuel Johnson I guess I've got a ways to go then! But to get as close as I can at the minute, let's see what this set has to offer! In keeping with other box art from the Architecture Skylines, the London set is shown on top of a couple of blueprints. It's a very clean, modern presentation. The back identifies the buildings shown in the model. Like other Architecture sets, the box is nicely designed with an opening flap. Instructions "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life, for there is in London all that life can afford." -- Samuel Johnson (...again) I suspect there are a few things outside of London - say, in Denmark - that might also fall under the heading of "all that life can afford" for us Fans-of-LEGO, but be the truth of the quotation what it may, it figures prominently on the inside page of the instructions booklet for this set. The front, however, repeats the same design as the front of the box. The instructions are printed on a black background, which made the first few steps - the black base of the building - slightly difficult to follow, but not too bad. On the back of the instruction booklet there's an interesting design of the skyline fading into a blue-print style outline. At the front of the booklet, before reaching the instructions, there are several pages showing large color images of the landmarks represented in this build, and including brief descriptions of each one. It was neat to see some little fun facts scattered throughout the booklet as well: Parts “A person who is tired of London is not necessarily tired of life; it might be that he just can’t find a parking place.” -- Paul Theroux Inside the box are four bags, unnumbered. Tan, greys, black, and white predominate here, though there are plenty of trans-clear pieces and a few blues and golds. A few of the parts that caught my attention were the azure flexible bits, the silver "bowl," a host of 2x1 trans-clear tiles (40, to be exact!), a light grey clip (a first for me), an azure bar joint, a few tan front-facing teeth, the olive 1x1 round tiles, light bley 1x1 curved tiles, a nanofigure in white, and an azure jumper. These were the extra pieces by the time I was done building: (note: the transparent 1x1 round tile is trans-light-blue, not trans-clear) The construction process is fairly straight forward. There were a few clever bits, but due to its nature as a skyline, there are no hidden "solutions." It would probably have taken longer, but this is the kind of set that would be pretty easy to build just by looking at the picture on the front of the box. Final Set "London, thou art the flower of cities all! Gemme of all joy, jasper of jocunditie." - William Dunbar Flower of cities or not, this is certainly a gem of a set - lovely bright colors, instantly recognizable models, and to crown it all, some really great new pieces! It's a great set to display, though I'm afraid one of these days it will succumb to my desire for 40 trans-clear 2x1 tiles... I believe this exceeds the average skyline set in length, and as you can see from the back view, it has two sections that stick out slightly. Landmarks "Nothing is certain in London but expense." --William Shenstone First stop in your lovely, because free, tour of London here - The National Gallery! Located in Trafalgar Square, this art museum sits atop the ancient location of the King's Stables. Home to a collection of twenty-three hundred paintings, the museum is broad in scope, with important works representing all the main developments of Western art! Plus, admission is free! Note the 3x2 white tile on the back. That escaped my eye as I was collecting the interesting pieces, but it's a part I'd never seen before! Next stop: Nelson's Column! "England expects every man to do his duty!" From the cement bottom to the sandstone tip of Nelson's hat, this monument measures a full 169 ft 3 in (51.6 m) - the real one, of course, not the LEGO one... Moving on, we reach what is probably one of the most iconic sights in this skyline - Big Ben. Well, officially it's named Elizabeth Tower. Not catchy! Fun fact: on top of the pendulum there's a stack of penny coins to help regulate the time. Adding one will change the clock's speed by 0.4 seconds in a day. Although I've discovered this before, and actually used it myself just recently, the geometry of the slope bricks making up the roof never ceases to amaze me! Our fourth stop dominates the skyline - appropriately, as it is, after all, the London Eye. Or, to give it its full name (as of 2015), the Coca Cola London Eye! At the time of its erection (1999) it was the world's largest Ferris Wheel, and each capsule weighs in at 10 tonnes! It's a little tricky to bend the flex tubes that make up the Eye into a perfect circle, but it breaks up the skyline very nicely. The Eye is cleverly connected to the base of the skyline with a 4L bar pushed through a couple of technic pins. And last but not least, the Tower Bridge! Another iconic symbol, the Tower Bridge opened officially on 30 June 1894, Prince of Wales (future Edward VII) and Princess of Wales (Alexandra of Denmark) officiating! It must not, however, be confused with the London Bridge, another half a mile downstream. Let the poor sailboat on through! That concludes our little tour of London! I think you'll have to agree that the designers did a good job choosing landmarks to include in this skyline. Each one of them is quickly recognizable - at least, as soon as you know what the original looks like. Plus, they go together excellently well! Conclusion What a great way to get a lot out of a little! This is one of those builds where every piece counts. The final set is solid, well-worthy of being displayed! And as a bonus, it's a great educational springboard. I learned quite a bit about London thanks to this set! Playability: 10/10 - Kidding! This set is obviously meant to be gloated over, not played with... But if I had to give it a rating for playability, it'd be 5/10. After all, you can swoosh it around. Building Experience: 6/10 - Enjoyable, but nothing too amazing and a few repetitive parts. And attaching all 40 2x1 trans-clear tiles right was confusing... Design: 10/10 - Seriously. The micros are spot on, detailed, and beautiful. And unlike my microscale creations, these are actually attached! If you've built microscale, you probably know that that's a feat in and of itself! Aesthetic: 8/10 - On the whole, this is a very pretty set, with hardly any spots for even the pickiest to find fault. I've said it before, but the variety of heights and shapes in the landmarks chosen is really pleasant to the eye. Plus, there's just the right amount of color with the bits of olive, azure blue, and gold! Price: 7/10 - Although the set is on the small side, that's just because the pieces are small, not because they are few! On the contrary, there's a lot to like about the parts selection. And then there's always the high-quality box and instruction booklet! Overall: 8.5/10 - This is definitely one of my favorite straight-out-of-the-box sets. Lots to enjoy and admire. Well designed, aesthetically beautiful, and a fun building experience. Plus, as a MOCer, I really like the idea of those 40 2x1 trans-clear tiles. - Just in case that wasn't already obvious. And so I'll leave you all with one parting quote! “London is a splendid place to live in for those who can get out of it.” --Lord Balfour of Burleigh I have a feeling that might be true in a lot of cities... Till next time!

I have not done a review in ages so I thought I would do my take on a review of a technic set (some of you may remember some of my past reviews) from one of many unopened sets I have laying around. Name: 42061 Telehandler Theme: LEGO Technic Year: 2017 Parts: 260 Price for set: £24.99 / $39.99 / 29.99€ The Packaging Not much to say here.....its a small box made from cardboard with a picture printed on it,all be it a glossy picture. The Manual In the left hand is a 7 long light brush grey axle while in the right is a 8 long axle,who needs diagrams? The Parts Upon opening the box I was relieved to find it was not empty and it contained something.....two instruction manuals. Here are some interesting parts,I really like the new worm gear.I am however not a fan of the colour vomit. Happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday to you Lego Technic happy birthday to you. The Build Right lets get building......as always I like to sort my parts. I did not capture much in terms of building it is as you would expect for a small set. Construing the boom Here we are at step page 25....not much to say really. The Finished Model And Final thoughts Here is a picture of it finished driving past ,that is why the picture is a bit blurry as it was travelling a a good speed. I don't like how they did the rear upper part of the boom. Is it just me or are Lego's take on seats getting more weird? So the functions in this set include: 4 wheel steering 1 stage telescopic boom Boom lifting Boom tilting I am sure you would like too see a size comparison,and if it can lift anything? Spare parts and parts list So too wrap up my review I would say it is a good little set,it come with some rather useful parts. All the functions work well an has a decent level of playability too it. I am disappointed by the rear of the boom but apart from that it is a good little set. Scores: Parts 7/10 Playability 7/10 Design 5/10 Appearance 8/10

A quick review of the 2017 LEGO City Coast Guard "4x4 Response Unit" set (# 60165). The set comes with a coast guard 4 x 4 Jeep type vehicle, a rescue boat, a dinghy, an octopus, and three minifigures including a SCUBA diver.

[You can click on the pictures to enlarge them] I had been planning to do this review for weeks, but the actual release of Rogue One : A Complicated Title A Star Wars Story forced me to stop procrastinating and actually write this review. General information : Set name : Imperial Death Trooper Set number : 75121 Number of parts : 106 Age range : 8-14 Price : 24.99€ / 24.99$ / 19,99£ Release date : September 30th 2016 Links : brickset / bricklink Packaging : The box of the Imperial Death Trooper has the same size as most of the "medium"-sized boxes (the other ones are thinner, and some, like Darth Vader and General Grievous' boxes are bigger). The front shows our Death Trooper on a beach, drinking a cocktail standing in front of flames and impact marks. It's probably (SPOILER ALERT) the planet Scarif. As usual, there are the Lego, Star Wars, Buildable Figures and Disney logos, as well as the recommended age range, and the set name and number (and that's all, since I have a European box). The back also shows the Lego, Star Wars, Buildable Figures and Disney logos and the set number, but more importantly gives us some information about the figure's size and its weapons : a missile-launcher blaster rifle, and, apparently, a SE-14 pistol. The side looks good too (at least one of the sides, since the other one shows mostly safety-related writings nobody reads), since it gives us a nice shot of the character (as well as, guess what, Star Wars and Lego logos). The boxes of the January 2016 wave already had these "character shots" on the side, and it looks like the 2017 sets will have them too. If you already own a Star Wars Buildable Figure, you won't be surprised to see the helmet of the Death Trooper shown at its actual size. And, again, the Lego, Star Wars and Disney logos. The content : Let's open the box, shall we ! Inside, we find Lego, Star Wars and Disney logos, Lego, Star Wars and Disney logos everywhere ! Okay, not really. There are three bags of parts (plus one separate bag for the helmet), a big CCBS body frame, the building instructions, and a transparent plastic sheet on which the pauldron is printed. I didn't know how Lego would do the pauldron, so I was surprised to see this plastic sheet. Fortunately, it was not damaged. The building instructions : The cover of the building instructions is basically the same artwork as the front of the box. There's then a warning page about the spring-loaded missile launcher, and a kid sorting his parts. Then come the actual building instructions, followed bar the parts list, and two pages showing the first three Rogue One Buildable Figures, including K-2SO who... dances ? The booklet ends with the traditional WIN page, this time sponsored by a Clockwork Robot minifig. The complete building instructions are available here. The parts : It's no surprise that you'll find a lot of black parts with the Death Trooper. There are, however, a few new ones : The helmet, the thigh shell (which he / she (hey, we don't know if our Death Trooper is a man or a woman, or if it's even a human) shares with the two other sets of the 2H2016 wave) and the pauldron are brand new parts. The torso shell, one of the two shoulderpads (the second is plain) and the 1x3 flat tiles have new printed decorations. Hooray for printing parts ! The round 1x1x1 bush appears in black for the first time. Here's a more detailed view of some of those parts : -Thigh shell Size-wise, it's close to some of the biggest CCBS shells, like the #8 shell, or the 2.0 torso armor. It's however much smoother and curved. We notice, though, that the position of the holes regarding the ball socket is different on these parts : there are three modules between the ball socket and the holes, VS only one module for the other parts. This part comes in black in each set of the 2016 Rogue One wave, but it will be available in more colors next year. - The torso shell : We have here the usual Star Wars torso armor, with a sand blue and silver pattern. However, although it's the third time we see this part in black, it's actually the first time it's used to represent an actual armor, and not a piece of cloth as in Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren. The pattern is rather simple, which could make this part more useful for MOCcing. Unlike the currently available minifig version of the character (which you can see here), the armor doesn't have grenades attached near the stomach. It seems that there are two variants of the suits (perhaps depending on the rank of the soldier), one with the grenades and the pauldron, but without the "scope" on the side of the helmet, and another one without the grenades and the pauldron, but with the visor (the minifigs in the Imperial Trooper Battle Pack, for example, don't have the grenades nor the pauldron). This Death Trooper seems to be a blend of these two versions, unless a third one exists. Perhaps the designers of this set had to work with preliminary artwork, or perhaps did they take some freedom from the actual armor to make the set more interesting. - The shoulderpad : One of the two shoulderpad has a simple grey pattern printed on it. If you look closely, you'll see my reflection. - The helmet : To put it simply, the helmet of the Death Trooper is magnificent ; some details are printed, and some are molded. There is some kind of scope on the left side of the helmet. Again, this detail exists on some variants of the armor, but is absent from some other ones. It might sound surprising, but the helmet is actually made from (at least) three parts, two of which are dark green (one of them in particular is used for the visor). Because of that, the ball socket is dark green, and not black like the rest of the helmet. There are no sitckers in this Death Trooper ! Subsequently, the three 1x3 flat tiles (which represent here small pockets) are printed. The pattern seems to be faithful to the design seen in the movie. - The pauldron : In the movie, some Death Troopers ("Specialists", if I believe another toymaker) wear a wide pauldron that seems to be made from leather. We're more used to see fabric on Constraction Sets, but Lego chose to use here flexible plastic. At least you can't complain about the lack of opacity of the part. The pauldron is printed on a sheet of transparent plastic, then pre-cut. The build : If you have already built a Star Wars Constraction set (I think of sets such as Captain Phasma, but also Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker or Kylo Ren), of if you have seen the building pictures above, the building won't be much of a surprise. The only true originality can be seen in the way of attaching the pauldron (which could be difficult for the younger builders), which we first attach at the left shoulder, then at the neck with two holes. Some could find difficult to finish the building without leaving fingerprints everywhere. That's the problem with black Lego parts ! The complete set : The Death Trooper is tall, very tall. It's mostly due to his / her (too ?) long legs. As you can see here, removing the friction add-ons of the ankles partially solves the issue. In the future, some new kind of foot with a ballcup with rubber inserts could be useful. The new thigh shell help making the character smoother, but cause two problems : they limit the range of motion of the knee, and leave the inside of the thigh visible (I asked my brother, who's 11, and it's the first thing he noticed). The arms are also limited at the elbow. Even if it's not the first time it happens, it's a bit of a shame, because they can prevent making poses where the Death Trooper is holding the blaster rifle with two hands properly (added to the fact that the pockets add some thickness to the torso and limit the poses with the blaster even more). By the way, be careful if you want to make poses where the Trooper holds his blaster with two hands, you could unwillingly activate the mechanism and shoot yourself in the eye (or loose the missile, or scare your pet... yeah, one of those things happened to me). Getting back to the articulations, the pauldron follows the movement of the arm very well, and doesn't limit the movement of the shoulder at all. The pistol is designed to be able to be attached on the side of the leg, but the handle is slightly too long. Solve this would either require a new part, or completely remake the pistol (which I haven't been able to do, but I can't say I tried too hard). There's also a weapon on the left arm, since it's equipped with three small guns, cleverly made with claws for minifig. It's brilliant ! It's a simple, yet very effective solution. The back of the character is quite simple, with the usual cylinder near the bottom (I've never understood what they were used for), and a wide CCBS shell covering most of the back. Conclusion : The Death Trooper is an interesting set... if you stop at the waist. The legs are too long, poorly articulated (compared to the previous sets), and have been seen on many others sets before (new leg shell aside, of course). The helmet is splendid, and the character is very well armed, but in the end, the set seems bland. Its main flaw, I think, is that it belongs to the third wave of Star Wars constraction sets, and thus hardly brings novelty after the twelve sets based on the other movies released previously. Parts-wise, we don't get a lot of novelty either, although the quality of the new parts and prints makes up for their quantity. However, most of the parts are black, and with a similar inventory, we could prefer Kylo Ren, especially since he has a mechanism (like Jyn Erso and K-2SO, the two other sets of the first Rogue One wave). Now, here's a shot of my Imperial forces :

Thanks to HispaBrick Magazine, I was given the opportunity to review the latest release from the Arvo Brothers: Alien Project. You may know the Arvo Brothers from their gorgeous MOCs, or from their previous book on the Kaneda's Bike from the manga/anime Akira. Obviously, this book is all about their model of the Alien, from the Alien's movies franchise. It is divided in four chapters: Estimations, Construction of the model, Instructions and Gallery. 1. The Book The book itself is a very nice object, with a hard cover and 220 full colors pages with lots of pictures and artwork. I'm sure it can appeal not only to the AFOLs, but also to Alien movies' fans (tested and confirmed). You can view more detailled shots of the book on the Arvo Brothers' Flickr album. 2. Estimations and Construction The first two chapters are my favorites. They show the efforts needed to plan and build such a model... while writing a book about it. From size and scale determination to choices of parts, there is a lot to learn on how a model of this size and quality is designed. There is a nice blueprint of the model that indicate all its sizes. 48cm tall and 20cm width, we can say that it's a relatively big creature, not as much as the real model from the movies, but still I wouldn't like to cross one of these in a dark corridor... Why use these parts and not these ones? All is explained in this quite interesting chapter. Each section of the model is also lengthly commented. It's always nice to read what a designer (or two) think of his own model. This is maybe my favorite page of the book. It's the chronology of the 20 months of the project. 3. Instructions This may be the only reason for people to buy this book: the instructions. Sadly I'm not able to build the stand or the creature, but I can still give my impressiosn on the instructions themselves! And I must say that they are amazing. Throughout the 24 pages for the base and 116 pages for the Alien, the steps are pretty easy to follow, and for the more complex ones, the builder is guided with visual indications like brick outlines, studs connections highlights, guiding dashed lines or combinations of them. There are also alternates builds for hard to find parts. The Alien is composed of 1526 bricks, and the base of 466. By my standards it's not a very high amount of bricks, and since most part aren't rare, it's not an important investment if you want to build the model. The catalogue is maybe the weakest point of the book. Not for its design or content, but because you'll have to manually convert it to something like a Bricklink wanted list. But this is perfectly understandable as you'll have to buy the book if you want to have a look at the part inventory Nevermind, Missing Brick confirmed that the book come with a part list in electonic form that can then be used on Bricklink! 4. Gallery The book ends with some beautiful pictures of the model. If you still weren't amazed by the creature when you reach page 197, I'm sure those shots will convince you! 5. Conclusion This book is a lot more than just instructions for a model. It's a journey from the genesis of a project to its completion, detailling every steps from the drawing board to the photography studio. It shows that what we AFOLs do is not just playing with children plastic toys, it is Art. If you want to learn more about the project, if you want to build this model, if you want to convince a friend or a relative that you're not just playing with toys, I encourage you to get a copy of this book while it's still available! You can grab a copy from the Arvo Brothers website. And don't forget to visit their Flickr or Facebook accounts. I'd like to thanks again HispaBrick Magazine for providing me a copy of the book, and I'd also like to sincerely apologize for all the time it took me to finally post that review.

In my ongoing quest for providing decent pictures and slightly more info on things I think others would like to buy, I present this topic where I'll spotlight Saber Scorpion's Minifigure Decals. *Just a heads up that this will be an on-going review. I ordered a little pile of decals and gear but haven't gotten all the body parts for them yet, so I'll post updates as things get done. Here's the TL;DR version for everyone who just wants to look at pictures and are happy just browsing SS's Flickr: Are the decals good? Yes! Should you buy?: Yes! In this order I got: 1 x Alien Invasion Colony Marine 1 x Brickarms M41A Pulse Rifle 1 x Brickarms Space Magnum Pistol (Black) 1 x Brickarms XRG Railgun (Gunmetal) 1 x BrickWarriors Android Armor (Steel) 1 x BrickWarriors Desert Vulture (Charcoal) 1 x BrickWarriors Galaxy Enforcer HELMET (Red) 1 x Decals AI NM Police Officers 1 x Decals AI Zero Grav Suit (Orange) 1 x Decals AI-S4 Heavy (Female) 1 x Decals AI-S41 Female AI 1 x Decals AI-S41 Officers 1 x Decals SE-S1 Female Medium Armor (DarkBlue) 1 x Decals SE-S3 Human Female (DarkRed) 1 x Decals SE-S3 Main Character (Commander Female) 1 x Decals SE-S3 Main Character (Engineer) So if you want pictures of any of that stuff just let me know. ========================================= Alrighty, first up is a Police dude from the Alien Invasion Series 4 section: Riot Police Dude by Henchmen4Hire, on Flickr TIP #1: Face decals may make it difficult to use helmets without ruining the decal! After applying the decal, the helmet wouldn't go on without completely scraping it off. You may have to grind away a little plastic from the inside of the helmet to get it to fit safely. Not being too experienced with applying decals to minifigures, I started off with the Police decals because there are 4 of them on a strip so it's not a total loss if I screwed it up. They're also pretty cheap costing roughly less than a dollar per chest/face/shoulders set. I love those shades. B-) Is it obvious that the figure has a decal? Believe it or not, this depends mostly on the lighting and viewing angle. The decals are printed on glossy sticker paper, there are angles at which the custom minifig looks official. You can usually tell there's a decal there when the decal isn't reflecting, it simply looks like a crisp paper decal. Hold the figure an inch from your face and you can tell there's a decal there, put it on your shelf a foot away and you'll never be able to tell. How durable are these decals? They're as durable as a regular paper sticker. I wouldn't recommend you give a decal'd figure to kids or throw them in a parts bin, anything with a hard edge that bumps into the decal will leave a permanent dent. How easy are they to apply? As simple as peel and stick, BUT, you have to be careful! I ran into a few speed bumps while practicing on the Police guy, but felt confident enough to work on the female Commander from the Star Explorers Series (pictured below right). The red decals are "Human Female" in Dark Red from the same series. Yes, for the most part you can choose what colors you want the decals to be! Human Female (Dark Red) & Female Commander by Henchmen4Hire, on Flickr These are some snazzy designs, I already cut out the Commander's arm, legs, and face at this point. You only need an X-acto blade or a small pair of really, really sharp scissors to get things moving. If you think your scissors are sharp enough, you're wrong, sharpen them more! Dull scissors will cause snags and kinks in the decals as you cut them out. Cutting them out neatly is the hardest part, not much advice I can give, just keep your hands steady and have good lighting so you can see the edges. Once you've neatly cut them out it's time to move on! Coloring Edges by Henchmen4Hire, on Flickr TIP #2: Paint the edges with whatever the appropriate color is. The edges of the decals will be white because they're printed on white paper, these white edges will be noticeable even after applied to the figure. To get rid of them, simply run a marker along the edge of the decal (while the backing is still on, for rigidity). Use a marker that releases a little bit of ink at a time, you just want to color the edge, not let it seep deep into the decal itself. I'm using an old inking pen you can find at any art store. Detaching Backing by Henchmen4Hire, on Flickr TIP #3: Use a dull knife to separate the decal from the backing, DON'T USE YOUR FINGERS! If you use your fat fingers to try to peel off the backing you're just going to accidentally dent or warp the decal. Instead, use a thin dull knife to wedge between the backing and decal, this has worked flawlessly for me so far. If you use a sharp knife you risk shredding the decal! Female Commander Arm Decals by Henchmen4Hire, on Flickr TIP #4: Use something round to press over the edges and get rid of creases. Sometimes you'll get little creases along the edge of shoulder decals because of the rounded shape, use something round to roll over the creases and flatten them. Also roll over the edges of the decal to firmly stick them down. Remember to ROLL, not RUB. Rubbing may rub off the printing. The decals look very good, take your time when cutting them to get clean sharp edges. Here's how our fearless leader is looking so far: Female Commander WIP by Henchmen4Hire, on Flickr TIP #5: Cut a little bit extra off the top and bottom of the face decals. You don't HAVE to, but cutting off an extra 1 mm seemed to reduce the chance that a helmet would scrape the face off. I guess it has less of a chance of snagging on the decal's edge this way. I have to paint the helmet (only red/blue available from Saber Scorpion's shop) and switch the torso, annoyingly this torso decided to crack while taking pictures. On the up side, the Galaxy Enforcer Helmet fit neatly over the face decal with no modding needed. Much praise to the designers if the inside was slightly enlarged specifically to fit over decals, if not, good on ya anyway. I'll use the remaining helmet decal for something else most likely. By the way, I totally applied the knee pieces upside-down the first time, I carefully peeled them off and fixed them with very little trouble and no damage! TIP #6: Don't pick your nose while working with decals! Don't let the decals get wet or greasy, they'll be ruined. Now I'm off to make some more curved torsos, will post updates.

Hello! What do you think about this set? Thanks for watching!

So I bought these aircraft sets. Wange JX001, 002, 003. They're pretty neat. Quality is decent. They sort of lean toward model kit, a little, with those specialized parts. I bought them specifically for those, wanted to accessorize my MOCs with weird wings and stuff, and for that they're pretty much perfect. They're built at different scales, but the not-quite-minifigs are the same; clearly, the Chinese military is breeding a race of supersized supersoldiers. I wonder if the President knows about this. Anyways, first the jet, JX003, manual says it's a J20 heavy stealth fighter. I actually really like this. Solid, swooshable, I think it looks neat, especially those angled tailplanes. Landing gear is fixed - in fact all three use the same landing gear - and there's an opening missile bay with two missiles. Also a retractable taillight. In trans-neon-green, for reasons foreign and mysterious to me. Next, JX002, a WZ10 gunship. .....yeah Its action features include scaring small children with its face, spinning rotors and bits falling off. It's not a very good set. These things are not Lego quality, in general, and the construction of this one shows it: the layered plates add up to where parts show gaps, there are several weak connections, the cannon just sort of flops around on a turntable, and the wings are attached just by this 1x4 bit. Better design could have allowed full minifigs but noooooo. It is at least a very nice supply of unusual parts: The minifigs have little Lego Racers style bodies, the heads/helmets being slightly more narrow than Lego parts. All parts are printed, there are no stickers. Friction pins are light gray and frictionless, white. There're some interesting pieces here, I think, including 1x2 plates with studs on both sides. These are equal in thickness to Lego plates, each set comes with a bunch. JX003 bits: Also some useful junk. JX001 is some sort of license-built Sukhoi, a carrier-based fighter in the People's Liberation Army Navy Air Force. Heh. It has already been stripped for parts, here are its wings, I haven't bothered to wipe off the markings there, yet. We People's Classic Liberation Space Army now. Also it's an okay photo for showing off color differences. Here's another. Even bluer than bley.... I tend to mix old and new grays deliberately so I personally don't mind very much. Since I'm not posting 001, here's its parts inventory at least. And it's got these neat missiles: Both ends accept Lego parts, the 1x1 cones and trans-red bricks are Lego. The smaller missiles, meanwhile, only have an anti-stud on the back. Both attach to aircraft by this narrow slot, which can accept the edge of a flag piece, the vertical bit of a small 1x2 panel, that sort of thing. The intructions are of decent quality. Parts already placed are in colorless white to avoid drowning in a sea of gray. This isn't Lego quality, but good enough that I've tossed the standard plates and wedges in with Lego and use them interchangeably; the biggest problems are the slightly different color, the blank studs, and now and then the damn hideous injection mold marking whatever it's actually called. I wish I could say I haven't seen worse from Lego, though. Anyway, parts fit together decently, with tight clutch, the models hold together well, and tolerance issues only show up if there's say a bunch of them stacked together, or supporting something that's only hanging on by a 1x2 connection like the gunship's warty nose. Set design could be a lot better. 001 and 002 both have bits that fall off easily. 003 is nice and solid though, and the fit of parts like the 1x6 base of the vertical stabilizer is improved. Maybe that's a running theme? I plan on getting one more anyway - the JX006 Osprey - so I'll find out. That's about it. Thanks for taking a look. If anyone really really really wants those plates with studs on both sides, JX001 is the best purchase, it's got 25.

So the new sets only seem to be available in Hong Kong thus far. I picked up a couple from Toys'R'Us, and have reviewed the first of them on my YouTube channel. I believe this is the first review of this set on YouTube. Not up to the professional standards of Jang and the like, but I hope it's useful for people. LEGO Star Wars 75166 Review - First Order Transport Speeder Battle Pack I'll build and upload videos of 75180 Rathtar Escape, 75182 Republic Fighter Tank and 75186 The Arrowhead over the next few days. Not picked up (and have no particular plans to pick up) any of the other sets.

Hello! :) There'll be a lot of reviews of new Elves sets soon, but I think it can't be too many of them anyway :) So I decided to make one again! I've build beautiful Aira's Airship of Elves 2017 and here's some pictures of it. Hope you like it too :) Overall impression reminds me split of two amazing sets from first wave - Naida's Adventure Ship and Pegasus Sleigh with all that fancy-styled details and pleasing color scheme. Ant that's great! Play features became less peaceful: while only weapon of team of Andventure ship was frying pan, heroes of new story have boomerang and disc shooter, and little goblin with flying backpack looks more menaceful than sea shell or little dragon's house :) Most intriguing part of the main building for me was wing mechanism. It have a lot intresting joints, even gear mechanism that keeps wings in raised position. Movement is enough tight, it's not very light and smooth, and needs a little effort. But anyway I really liked that it adds technic building expirience. Intresting parts: lots of gold makes happy my inner magpie! :D Book with air symbol is my favorite item here! I like Aira most of all characters, so I glad that here's new stuff with her symbols. Boomerang is also nice weapon for an intelligent character. Map is classical feature of this series. All theese pretty items may be storaged in pantry of the airship! Also there's box with ammo for disc-shooter. Goblin's fliyng box. I can't find out how this bolts shoot :( When I press them as shown in istruction, they just falls down, may be I make it wrong way. But I don't mind it, because I like boxes :) The goblin himself looks like an desperate person that can bring a lot of troubles for elves! :) And here's comparisions :) New amulet also fits good to regular lego minifig. There were two amulets on one mould, like golden keys from other sets. This old and respectable guy is honored to show it to you! :) (it's only minifig that saved from my former collection) Comparision with Naida's Adventure Ship from 2015. Three Airas! And last picture - Aira's airfleet, of Elvendale Airlines inc. =) Also here's my jetbike moc :) Thanks for watching! I hope this will attract more intrest for this beautilul series!