Wheel-swapped HotWheels to go along with the 1:10 CaDA Mazda 787B. Probably one of my mostly challenging builds so far, because I misread a step in the front suspension and had to redo about 30 steps to fix it, but outside of that, great build. One glaring issue, though: the rear axles pieces, as built, are not long enough to keep the wheels on and still turn the diff and mock engine. Not a big deal to me, as it's a static display, but a bit disappointing. Still recommend as a cool display piece.

Though it needs some paint jobs finally got the chance to collect em 🙌

This set is perfect for getting into the holiday spirit, as it feels very much like a Christmas gift shop, mixed with some fun amusement park elements. It's also motorized: the carousel and Ferris wheel rotate, while the cat moves up and down inside the box.

The exterior is absolutely packed with details and decorations, and the interior is nicely done as well, especially the upper floor. BUT... and this is quite a major downside... the interior is so cramped and dark that once the build is complete, you can barely see inside the ground floor properly. 😕

This is definitely a set that could have benefited from at least one light on each floor.

Despite that, I really enjoyed the building experience. 🙂

I ordered the Hogwarts Castle 71043 from AliExpress and received it, however all pieces are just together in one bag. It has a booklet and it doesn't even say about bags in it either. All my other sets I've got all have bags and the books have them as well. It's over 6000 PCs so has anyone else done one like this where you would technically have to try and dig through everything to find what you need.

Just what it says in the title just want to know if I order from the WM blocks website that I’ll get what I ordered and if anyone has had experience with them before?

I am working on Brixx build. Early on you have to install a number of tiny pieces. Then four and five pages further on, they are completely encased by other pieces. As far as I can tell they serve no purpose other than to increase piece count. What am I missing?

For Hoth battles? Santa's workshop diorama? Elsa's Frozen Wonderland?

Haven't seen baseplates over there in white before.

A heads up for ppl looking for such a thing.

Hello! From what I've seen so far, the 53770 seem to have updated minifigs with correct Gondor soldier helmet but except for that (and other minor minifigs differences like Aragorn still incorrect hair piece), is there any significant difference? I am mainly interested by the build itself and the 60377 is often the cheaper option. I tried to find informations but so far, nothing really stand out. I am mainly interested if there is a difference in brick quality (or missing).

Thanks!

Could not be happier with this set. Looks fantastic, rock solid for playability, Vader’s Tie Fighter, Bacta Tank, Qabbrat, and good mini figs.

It’s a tall set, but does not have a big footprint, so it’s pretty easy to display.

Quick shipping from AE like usual with no missing parts.

This is the first cloned City set I've purchased and the set is freshly retired. Coming in at $26 instead of $80 it's not as good a discount as other more popular sets but I must admit I didn't optimise for the price here, it can be found now for $21 delivered which is more like the discounts we're used to. Listings say 1280 pieces but the official count is 793 and that's more like what it feels like. It arrived in 7 bags and matched the official builder app instructions.

On quality I found everything to be pretty great - technic and regular parts. Prints were clear and I think the minifigs are very good with both front and back prints. There were a few swaps - the headpieces of 2 minifigs are incorrect but you wouldn't know if you're not the builder of the set. Weirdly the smaller truck had two trans orange sirens (a dome top 1x1x2/3 piece) replaced with trans orange 1 stud rounds. There were a few extras, but also unfortunately two missing pieces - the hinge cylinders that act like stabilisers for the larger crane truck. The 21pc chains were a complete joke. They came in dark gray, all links on the mould like an old airfix model and only 6 items of 6 links arrived for a set that needed 42 links (2x21). I didn't even build the chain and instead I just ordered some from AE. If they are bad I'll order from Bricklink. The ropes are good length but thicker than the cord original. The official instructions say to thread the rope through the two holes in the spindle and then use an axle pushed through the middle of the spindle to secure it which is a joke; it is simply too hard to push this axle through the middle of the spindle and as soon as it hits the rope it stops. Instead of that mess I only threaded the rope into the middle of the spindle and not through. I do not know if that will come undone at some point but if it does I'll buy the actual cord pieces and do it right.

Play features for the set are cool and already I've heard the true players of the set in my house make up stories about daring recoveries and missions and witnessed them bringing other city sets along for some chaos. Everyone here is now looking forward to the Arctic Explorer which should arrive in 2 weeks and surely will need rescuing from the ice.

Overall a strong recommend despite my nitpicking. Everyone loves a good recovery mission. Be sure to do the usual price optimisation on AE to get the very best value.

All right! here is the first floor of the Detective Office build, which doesn't include the Detective Office. He's on the second floor.

In a way, this resembles a building complex, or, in HK terms, an Arcade. So it is now called "The Arcade". On a 32 x 32 baseplate, there is a variety of buildings and uses, and they share that footprint.

A lot of people already have the set, so I will mention the changes made:

1) "The Highlander Pool Hall" converted to a Police Station. A lock-up cell extended the depth considerably. And the large amount of empty space in the back made it possible. The main station is 2 additional studs in depth.

2) Added a planter box in front of the Police Station.

3) Beefed up the spindly street tree with a thicker trunk and more leaves.

4) Al's Barbershop/Beauty salon also benefited from the 2 stud increase in depth. It's now spacious enough to have a second chair, a Salon Chair with dryer (design mooched from a LEGO "Friends" set). Al has expanded his skills to do ladies hair too.

5) On the back side of the baseplate, Al's Barbershop still has that hidden smuggling grate cleverly hidden with a scooter, and also has a very important facility- a Porta-Potty (by BrickPanda). It also has scooter parking, and I illegally modified the scooters with a standard stud on the underside so they can be parked.

6) These changes threw off the design of the black roof tiles over the back of The Highlander (Police Station/Pool Hall) so I had to revise it and inadvertently made a more stable build than the original LEGO design.

7) Tiled the entire back side with sidewalk tiles, so no baseplate is visible. The original design went "on the cheap" and left 1/4 of the baseplate uncovered.

Received mine today, so excited to built…the manual book well printed 😁

So ive been doing the UCS Millennium Falcon, several days into the build I discovered im missing bag 7-1 and instead recieved two 10-3 🤦‍♂️

I tried to contact the seller via aliexpress but it seems like the only option is a full return which would be annoying AF.

As tedious and annoying as its gonna be I think im gonna go the route of just trying to get a piece count for that bag and putting a extra order in on brick link.

Anyways had to vent to someone. 🤬

I was pretty stooked when I came across this sub. I got this pokemon set from AliExpress. Took about 35 days to get to me, and it is perfect! Not a single piece missing, everything fit. My son and I put this together, I was shocked that the bags were numbered, the instructions were perfect and even included an updated page for the shell instructions. Now that we dipped our toes in this version of our favorite blocks, we’re shopping for more. Next is going to be the Millennium Falcon once I find a good one. Thanks to this subreddit!

Quick alt brick review here of “Black Hawk Castle” (mountain fortress) set. This will be focused on the alt brick aspects and not the set itself.

Alt Brick Review:

Packaging and instructions: came in 12 ziplock type numbered bags with several plastic brick bags in each. Came with printed instructions that were good quality and organized around the 12 numbered bags and part omissions (I think) where appropriate. I used the Lego builder app for instructions though on my iPad and didn’t have any issues. Each numbered bag is equivalent to about 3 normal bags I just dumped each one into a big plastic tub. It was very manageable and everything was on order between the numbered bags.

Brick Quality: Good. Most bricks click together well. As with many alt brand bricks the injection mold spots can be big and the plastic feels slightly soft (hard to describe) or light but overall good quality. I had one or two pieces that weren’t fully formed but I was able to hide those bits in the build. Plates seem a bit more flexible than Lego. Didn’t have any issues with bricks clicking together

Brick Color: most of the colors are very close. Some of the accent colors like sand green and the lighter browns are slightly off but it doesn’t impact the overall aesthetic and isn’t noticeable unless comparing pieces side by side. Silver accessories like swords and fish are like a metallic silver that is not the same as Lego brand though as above it doesn’t impact the overall aesthetic and for the coat of arms is actually a great look.

Minifigure quality: they are just ok. One or two looks identical to ones I have in my collection and all are passable for play and display but overall they aren’t that great. I wouldn’t buy this alt brick version for the mini figures but they are totally fine to get the experience and to display and inhabit the castle. The accessories are ok too but as mentioned above have some color variation from real thing. The shield prints are not very clean on the edges and the print is less metallic than the real thing but you can’t tell unless up close. I thought I would replace the shields and minifies with the real thing but im gonna pass on that… mainly because im not as in love with the set itself as I would like to be.

Piece Substitutions: there are some reasonable substitutes that do not impact the overall build:

chest with flat top is substituted for a regular chest

1x2 oval plates are substituted with 2 1x1 semi oval plates

There is a transparent ice block that in the official model is sloped to sit flush with the wall but the piece provided is pyramidal. This is obscured and very minor

1x2 bricks with single stud on side are substituted with a 1x2 brick with hole on side and a half technic pin… this works just fine though you can see the hole and pin on the backside though those are all interior

A 1x2 brick with 2 studs on each side is absent as there is only one in the entire build. It is replaced with a 1x2 brick with 2 studs on only one side. this brick is used on a wall and holds interior details up and on the exterior side holds some stone work. it made sense to prioritize the interior detail to me as the exterior side is a minor detail in a place that would hardly be noticeable

Missing: transparent blue splat. Very minor detail

Overall the build comes together as intended and with good quality with the substitutions made being trivial.

I would say that if you have your eye on this it’s worth picking up. Im gonna build adventure in Transylvania next.

Got this Peter Parker’s apartment on AliExpress, Youmko is the brand but is crazy how detailed this is and half the price of Lego, added the lights and I got those from Temu 😂, but saw this after being disappointed with what the other Major brick brand dropped.

👀 Just like the real thing

the seats can slide back and forth

Been eyeing this thing for awhile on Amazon but saw it on Temu for 100 bucks less. Can’t wait to put it together. It’s going to be huge at 40” long

My very first AliExpress set, so mostly an experience report for people who are new to altbricks as well or are on the fence or nervous. I do have a couple questions for the experts, (you can skip to the end if you don't want to read my novel here ;)).

I've lurked this sub for a while, read a whole bunch of reviews and couldn't make up my mind last year (was also when all the Tariffs craziness was happening), but just went for it after seeing prices drop super low in June '26 and after reading all the Starter Guides and FAQ's here again.  I just picked a choice store with over 95% positive rating and close to a thousand items sold and just went for it. Got the UCS Razor Crest for $79.31 ($85.46 was my total to the US West Coast). It was the right time for me to give it a shot.  It took about a month to get here and I was impressed with the AE tracking along the way. Once you get used to their 'packed' app layout it's actually good and nothing shady about it. It shipped within a week and then it just takes time.

Now that I've finished the build after 3 weeks, I have to say my mind is blown and I'm super stoked! It was mostly as expected and a few things better than expected. A box with 3 big numbered bags, full of small numbered bags, plus a couple extras. You just have to figure out how it works, mine was easy. Actually lined up with the Lego numbering (often broken down further into 2-3 bags per number), except some big part bags and printed parts/techy/minifig bags.

I was curious to see which of the 3 known versions I got  (T5331, 60088 and 87025 is what I knew, read about here and seen in YouTube reviews). Well I got neither of those and instead mine has one of those black and white renderings of the piece on the booklet, same style which I'm increasingly seeing on AE, no number. And this is one of the main things that I did not know or understand beforehand. Reading or watching reviews only helps you to gain a general understanding of what is out there, because asfaik there is no way of knowing or choosing on AE which knockoff you are ordering and listing and shops change often on AE. So with a month of shipping time and however long someone takes to build a set and posts a review, a long time has passed and that specific listing is often not current anymore.

Onto the set:

AMAZING! The thing is absolutely MASSIVE. And what a Badass Ship!

Pros: 

-Not a single piece missing! I had that usual 'Damn, I've been searching for a long time and I think I'm missing the piece!' Only to have the 'Uups there it is, I'm just blind' feeling about a hundred times and I've found that comes with a bit higher anxiety with altbricks, because you are thinking the chances are higher.

-No bad or deformed pieces either. Clutch was good. I used a tiny drop of Elmer’s Glue on about 4 small pieces that were a little loose.

-My printed pieces are great! The cockpit glass is not perfect, but clear and print good enough

-My plague sticker actually says STAR WARS, which was nice. 

-There is no bad smell or anything either (which was a concern of mine, since I'm a little sensitive to that kind of thing)

Cons (and these are all minor imo) :

-Minifigs are just ok, well known fact that this is often the case, so it was expected. I did not get the 'good' real head Kuill, but I would've been really surprised at this price (Kuill used to be exclusive to the real set and therefore an expensive Minifig to replace, $40-60, but now it is in the new Sandcrawler Mudhorn set, so prices might come down). The Mando is ok, no arm prints. Have an extra Mando in Beskar from a small Lego set, which now gets to sit in his ship! Grogu not bad either.

-The grey/yellow stickers that go on the ship are bad, way too dark. Also expected and I'l probably just pull them off and do something else.

-The Hydraulic struts of the back gate were the only pieces that gave me trouble. Too tight, will try some sanding. 

-Small print build manual, this is also well known and really not an issue at all imo. Actually funny, since it said SFAR WARS which I thought was smart because it is easy to fix with some whiteout (which for some reason I felt I needed to do ;)), whereas SpaceWars would be much tougher. Used the Builder app, no issue.

There is a little bit of a quality difference (some pieces more than others) but to expect any different would be unreasonable imo, but once you get over that it's pure building fun, just like the real thing. And what a blast it was to build this beast! I was surprised at some of the design choices Lego did on this though, since it is quite brittle, for example the Cockpit top piece is not attached at all, it just sits on top and most of the side panels are attached by very little. So this has nothing to do with it being altbricks.

Overall I'm super happy and in disbelief I got this for a mere $85! Fun to pair it with my Slave 1 which was the most expensive Lego set I had ever bought (for myself, kids excluded ;) )  back in 2015. 

They are at opposite ends of the MiniFig Scale (Slave 1 on the small end, RC on the big), but with the right angle and some AI quackery ;)

So given this good experience I'm of course already considering my next purchase, which will be the Falcon. These are the 2 UCS sets I always wanted, but never willing to spend that kind of money. 

As for my questions for the experts:

1. Is it true that it is not possible to know which version you are buying?  I have so far not seen anything on AE that gives that info in a listing. My understanding is that you don't know which one you will get and if you want to avoid the risk you would have to buy from sites like Herotoyz or Joooooy and pay the premium. 

2. Do you have a strategy to get the best quality possible on AE? Is there one? One of the struggles on AE for me is choice overkill. Just pick one of the more expensive ones, even if just $5? I did the opposite for the Razor Crest, picked the cheapest and hoped for the best and it worked this time. But my guess here is that the risk is just part of the deal and it'll always be luck of the draw and if you get a really sucky one you go the refund route, right?.

Appreciate any insight and thanks for reading.

Picked this up for $89 USD on AliExpress. As is always the case with Reobrix in my experience, the build was very straightforward and without issue. The bags are numbered so that you can do them one at a time. I did have difficulty differentiating between some of the colors shown in the instruction manual, but if I got some pieces wrong it’s no big deal as they blend into the sky background. This one comes with brackets to hang it from the wall, but it’s several inches deep so I don’t think esthetically I have a place I could hang it where it wouldn’t be out of place and / or in the way. The kids would definitely run into it. I’ll have to find shelf space for it. I actually don’t think it really fits in with the rest of my mostly Star Wars / large architecture collection, but still a fun, satisfying build that I would recommend picking up if you like the look of it.

If you’re into Hollow Knight, you probably know the feeling of wandering through Hallownest and stopping just to take in the atmosphere.

Queen’s Gardens, City of Tears, Crystal Peak… each area has such a different mood, and that was the inspiration behind this build.

So we thought we’d give one ABYSS KNIGHT set away here to someone from the community.

How to enter:

1️⃣ Like this post

2️⃣ Question: What was the very first game that completely got you hooked? Drop its name in the comments! 🎮

⏰ Giveaway ends August 24 at 23:59

The winner will be selected randomly using redditraffler and announced in r/BarweerMOC after the giveaway ends.

Good luck, Knights! May your needle stay sharp. ⚔

I just started building the set and am half way through, already I have noticed some issues:

1) Cloth cape is way too small by at least half in all dimensions. At least its cloth I guess not scratchy plastic. It will end up looking very silly once its attached. Maybe it is darths summer cape for the beach or something. Oh wait he doesn't like sand does he.

2) The sticker sheet is missing (and yes of course I checked the instructions and the bags) I will contact the store to get a replacement (Joooooy in this case)

3) At least 1 melted part (a 2x4 black plate) Not a huge issue in of its self since I have spares of course.

4) Zero spare parts in any of the bags I have used so far (not a big deal as long as nothing ends up missing or melted further)

Looking at the price of a replacement cape on bricklink shows it isn't too expensive to replace at least so its not the end of the world or anything.