Review: Racing Championship - Wange model no 040917

I knew I had done this post before but can't seem to find it for some reason.

I also lost the original shots I made when building this.

The set was a commission from the officemate of my girlfriend.  She had bought a Wange Formula Race set and then after opening decide that she doesn't have the patience to build the whole thing.  So I ended up building it.

Well on to the set!


Here's a top view of the Champion's platform!

I had a tough time with this since the instructions were off by about two pegs.  I had to do adjustments to fit the platform on to the supporting structures at the bottom.

Still turned out well.  Minus points to Wange for the confusing instructions and the wrong brick length for the portions you see below.  Again off by 2 pegs.

This is the first time I've encountered a brick set that had the wrong length.  Very strange indeed

Here's a view of the finish line!

So from this picture you can see the three major structures included in the set:  The crew pit on the left,  The finish line and the Champion's podium on the left.

In the middle of course is the Formula race car with the pull back motor.  The car looks very sweet from here.


The podium.

Sweet since it has the weird laser looking spotlight on top! I found it ingenious to use the alternating black and white bricks to form the checkered background.

Another complaint I have with this set.  The minifigs totaled about 3 race drivers.  But the box and instructions also showed a reporter and one pit crew.  Apparently there were only 3 minifigs.  Again its the first time I've had a problem with a set like this

Another view of the podium.  Very nice!  Notice that the foreground support beam (the white brick beneath the platform) is set about two pegs back.  This was what I was mentioning earlier about the instructions being wrong or the supplied bricks being wrong.  That white support strut is supposed to be two pegs forward.  I adjusted it backwards because the red platform bricks were short by 2 pegs.

A better view of the whole set.  Not bad looking at all!

The Crew Pit:

Finishing the race

From behind the podium:

Winner!

Overall not a bad set.  Just two major complaints: 1.  The red platform plates were lacking 2 pegs in length. 2. The minifig count was less than expected.

But it was nice to look at when done.  And the Race car has a pull back motor!  Awesome.

Review: Set Number 850486 Rock Band Minifigure Accessory Set

So I've been swamped with work and life.  Hence no posts since August 5.

Dad is in the hospital needing a bypass.  The term is ending in CSB, the school were I'm a part time professor, so finals preparation is needed. And then tropical depression Maring hit the country, cancelling school and work and what ever else was needed to get done.

Well time to partly take my mind of real world concerns and post something here.

This is a review for Lego set 850486  Rock Band Minifigure Accessory Set.


I bought this set almost a year ago I think.  I play bass guitar for an alternative band called Blue With Envy (https://www.facebook.com/BlueWithEnvy) so this minifigure set was an instant purchase when I saw it in Hobbes and Landes

Nice a 3 piece band with a female guitarist!  Sweet!

Sweet 3 piece band!

62 pieces.  I just told myself I was buying 3 minifigures and not an actual building set

Yeah female shredder in the house!

Yo!  Collaborate and Listen!

If they didn't say rock band I would think this guy was a rapper

Yep set 850486!

The band when built.

The price is a bit stiff at 1,499 pesos.  That comes out to about 500 per minifig.  The normal minifigs series cost about 350 pesos as of Series 10.  I guess the additional band instruments played a part in the pricing.

This costs about 30-35 USD online so overall the conversion wasn't so bad at 43 PhPeso per USD.

Unboxing!

Unboxing the band!  The drummer is in the forefront! :)

Here they are in their plastic box.

The pieces were actually assembled way before I had a Lego blog so this was in storage with the instruments built already.  We see the drums mostly here.

The short instructions manual!  Nice!

And here are the minifigs:

The names are my idea haha!

Rocker Girl Guitarist!

This is a good partner to the rocker girl from series 7 (see below) in my minifigs collection!  Although this rocker has a guitar that was actually assembled and not the normal lego guitar accessory.

image from minifigs.lego.com

 Upon closer inspection the two figures look like they came from the same template with only the colors and guitar separating them.

Next is the drummer with a mohawk and he also looks familiar.  Like the punk rocker from Series 4

Metal Mohawk Drummer!

images from minifigs.lego.com

So the punk rocker exchanges his guitar and pink mohawk for a green mohawk and drum sticks eh!

 And last is the vocalist/rapper guy.

Vanilla Ice! 

He also has a similar character from Series 3 of lego's minifigs collection:

Just some subtle color changes, lost the beard and a new pair of shades.  I didn't complete series 3 so I was happy to add this one.

I don't know why...it doesn't even matter how hard i try!!!!!!

The band is complete!

SSSHHHHHRREEEEEDDDD!

Kill those drums!

In the end it doesn't really matter!!!

Yeah!

I give this set two thumbs up and a good way to complete your Lego towns if you ever need a complete band in it.  The price is decent enough and the built up kit is awesome!

Until the next gig!

Review: Ausini Police Patrol Boat # 23309

Ausini has somehow gotten the bulk of my current alternative brick toys purchase.  Recently I bought a couple of their Farmland series because of the Lego styled farm animals as well as the minifig sized farm implements.


And then I saw this and decided to give it a try.  The Ausini Patrol Boat from their Police Series.

The kit comes in at 179 pesos or about 4 US$.  Not bad for a kit that has 2 minifgs and a boat.
 

83 pieces eh?

Yeah cheap brick toys!

Hmm that helicopter in the small box looks good too!

Opening the package you have the usual mess of bricks and GUNS!  Guns on a sprue like when you build Gundam kits.  Lego of course would not bother with molds of real guns except for the scifi type guns so I have the alternative brick toys to supply the gun needs of my minifigs.  This kit had 4!  Awesome!

4 Guns!

Well the instructions looked good enough.  Although we still get occasionally confused with the system of greying out the sections you have finished already.  Especially when you have grey bricks for parts.

Did I say 4 guns?

Ah more guns for the armory!  These Chinese manufacturers always have great guns for minifigs. :)

The sticker sheet for application after completing the model.

Decent enough bricks.  A bit on the glossy plastic side though.

Ah I love this ship frame.

The kit comes with a good sized ship frame that can be used for a whole lot of other models later on.  Haven't tested though if this will float in water like a lot of Lego ships.

We look like Lego minifigs as long as they don't look at our faces!

We have real guns! And I took Ackbar's Lego mug! HAHAHA!

Yep them ausini minifigs can pass off as LEgo as long as they cover their faces :)

Guest appearance of my brother's GF :)

Yeah she seems happy enough with building this kit!

Ha!  Guns!

Somewhat in the middle

That ship is fast shaping up!  Some of the stickers applied.

Lego on top!

Here we have some Lego bricks for comparision (The red model on top is a Lego Creator set).

Almost done with the ship!

View from the back,

Kaiju ATTACK! NOOO!

This is the POLICE!

Side view~

Kaiju Attack!  Lego and Ausini side by side

Overall this was another fun Ausini set to build and the gun accesories are really nice though a bit out of proportion.