JMBricklayer 2nd Anniversary Sale! 25% to 50% off most items!

 

Hello brick fans!

If you've been waiting for that special set from JMBricklayer.com, now is the time to stock up on the building block sets!

JMBricklayer is commemorating it's 2nd anniversary and our Facebook followers milestone of 200K! To mark this occasion, they are offering an exclusive promotion for the entire month of November!

On the JMBricklayer Global store:

1. 25% to 50% off for all: 2024.11.01-11.30 ( sorry, not including custom printing tiles & Rainbow Unicorn 70008)!

Free shipping to the US, Canada, the UK, the EU and more!

New registers will receive $10 off their first purchase!

2. Clearance Sale: Enjoy 40% - 50% off on selected items in the US, CA, UK, and DE.

3. Fun giveaways from November 8-17 and November 21-30, check the JMBricklayer Facebook page and their Instagram page for details.

On the JMBricklayer Amazon stores:

Amazon US: https://reurl.cc/myObjG

Amazon CA: https://reurl.cc/bYrbpl

Amazon Germany: https://reurl.cc/7d8A5d

Amazon UK: https://reurl.cc/kyejnd

If you are planning to buy some gifts for Thanksgiving and Christmas, don't miss these big discounts! Click here to get now !

Another Temu Buy: Lego Compatible Brick Elements 19006 Coffee Shop Building Block Set

 

Hey brick fans!

Look what I found on Temu last week, it's a Lego compatible coffee shop that comes with 5 minifigures, a ton of accessories, and it only cost $8 CDN.

The Temu store is called Happy Building Blocks.  Here's the current Temu listing, the price changes often, so keep checking to see when it goes on sale again.  But even at it's current price of $16 CDN, I think it's still a great little deal for what you get.  Here's the link:

>> 390pcs Street View Building Blocks Set - Includes Coffee Shop & Store, Perfect for Birthday, Christmas, Valentine's, Halloween Gifts

🎉 Coupon price[CA$16.66] 

👉 item link: https://temu.to/k/uc9p78fxze8

On the Temu listing and the manual, it doesn't tell you the brand, so I went sleuthing on brick4.com and searched by the set number 19006 and found that the brand is called Brick Elements.  It seems like a one off because I didn't find any other sets from the brand on brick4.  The set was produced in 2021 and it's comprised of 398 pieces.   

Here's the set contents.  For cheap price of $8, I was worried that the set might be Loz sized and not Lego sized, but I'm happy to report that this set and the minifigures within is fully Lego compatible.

Here's the instruction booklet.  Instructions were very easy to follow.

There is a small sticker sheet for the signage but suprisingly there are also some printed parts.

The Coffee shop set comes with 6 bags of parts and two 16x16 double sided baseplates.  One of the bags contains the minifigures and accessories.  Note: The bags are not numbered, so I just opened all the bags and dumped them onto the table.

The base is made up of placing one of the baseplates on top of the other.  I don't know why as each plate is rigid enough to hold the set, so I decided to only use the grey plate and save the white one for a future project.

The minifigure bag contains the minifigs themselves, set accessories and printed parts.  There are 5 minifigures, two who work at the shop and 3 customers.  There is also a baby, a dog, a bike, a hotdog, a broom, a sack and lots of mugs and glasses. 

As mentioned earlier, the base dimensions are 16x16 studs.  I found the bricks to be excellent quality with great fit and finish.  Just look how smooth the tan and gray tiles are.  No scuffs or defects.

The first build after the base is what looks to be a coffee bean roaster?

Here it is placed on the baseplate.

Next up is what looks like a phone booth but it's actually the room that houses the coffee roasting machine.  The door is transparent glass, which is a piece I've never seen before.

Here's the coffee station with grinder, expresso machine and sink.  Coffee mugs sit on top.  Another unique piece in this set is the transparent purple coffee mug.

A printed love sign is attached on the customer facing side.

Next there is a set of drawers with a small blender and payment machine.  Note the printed pieces.

There are some baked goods for sale along with the coffee and in case you are really hungry, they have hotdogs available as well.

With all the interior finishings built, it's time to put up the exterior wall.  There's a printed clock piece on the interior side of the wall.

There are two stools next to the counter, or are they tables?  Not sure.

The coffee shop roof has an exhaust stack from the roaster room, and a moveable sign board.

Ten goblets are mounted to the underside of the roof using this cool technique.

And here's the completed set!

With the stickers applied, the coffee shop looks even better.

The perfect spot for the red bike that comes with the set.

This is the rear view of the coffee shop.

Side view.

Adding the included minifigures brings the set to life.  Just a great little set for a great price!

Hope you enjoyed this look at the Brick Elements 19006 Coffee Shop!  Bye!

Teddoo Lego Component Lighting Kit 08L1X4-20 on Aliexpress

 

Hey brick fans!

This component lighting kit popped up in my Aliexpress feed the other day and I bought one to see if it would satisfy my requirement to light up some of my modular buildings.  I think it looks like a great deal!

I paid $18.68 CDN for the Teddoo lighting kit which consists of 20 LED light strips, 20 1x4 white bricks , 20 LED connecting wires and 3 USB plugs.   I checked how much each of the components would cost if one were to buy them individually on Aliexpress and this is what I came up with:

1 LED light strip costs about $1 each.

1 LED connecting wire costs about $1 each

1 USB plug costs about $2 to $3 each

The cost of all of the components in the kit would cost about $40 to $50 CDN in total, so it makes sense economically to buy them together in this kit.

Here's the Store link:  https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DeBg6Sd

The superfast shipping from Aliexpress only took 8 days from order date to delivery.   Let's unbox the kit and see what we got.  

There's a detailed multi-lingual instruction sheet that shows you how to connect the lighting components together, along with a list of the part specifications.  The name of the kit is 08L1X4-20, not the mostly user friendly name, from Teddoo, Light Up Your World.

There are four pouches in the box.

The pouches contains exactly what's described in the kit.  20 pieces of 1x4 bricks, 20 led light strips, 20 connecting wires and 3 USB plugs.

Each of the LED light strips comes with an adhesive backing which you can stick to one of the white 1x4 bricks.  The LED light strips come with 2 ports to which you can attach the wires.   You can attach one of the USB plugs to one of the LED light strips and then chain other light strips together with the wires.

Note: While you get three USB plugs in the kit, you have to provide your own power source.  You can use any USB compatible source, such as a battery pack, power bank or household USB outlet.  In the picture above I'm using a battery pack to verify that all the components work properly.

FYI, When choosing the light kit from Aliexpress, I had the option to choose between warm white LEDs and bright white LEDs for the same price.   Mine are warm white.

I didn't encounter any problems with the parts in the kit, but I guess you'd have to reach out to the seller on Aliexpress for support because the although it's branded as Teddoo, there is no official website to get parts replacements.  The seller's name on Aliexpress is Teddoo store but I'm not sure if it's official or not.

The LED light strips are easy to attach.  Here you can I see I've stuck two of them on the underside of my modular building roof.  I also chained these strips to another one on the first floor.

I've got a total of 4 LED light strips connected for my modular building, two inside and two outside.

And here is the final result of using the Teddoo light strips in my modular building.  The LEDs are very bright and using just one strip on each floor lights up the entire interior.  I was very happy with how the LED light strips worked and I've just order another kit from Aliexpress.  They are easy to install too.

To improve this kit, I would add a few more USB plugs, and have some longer connecting wires (maybe a combination of short and long wires).  Probably the price would have to be a bit higher but I'd be ok to pay another $5 for 3 extra USB plugs.

If you are a fan of lighting up your Lego modular buildings or other sets, you should consider getting this LED lighting kit from Teddoo.

Thanks for looking and hope this helps you decide on whether to choose this kit to light up your Lego sets or not.

Bye for now!

JMBricklayer 2024 Easter Sale on Lego Compatible Building Sets!

 

The JMBricklayer Easter Sales

Hey brick fans, just letting you know about the latest deals I found on the  JMBricklayer website.  Feel free to check it out if you have a favourite set.

https://www.jmbricklayer.com/offer-sale/

45% Off Mecha Warrior SAKKI 70132 For EU!

https://www.jmbricklayer.com/product/clearance-price-sku/

15% off code for all non-discounted sets: itsnotlego% 

Sign up to get 100 points ($10.00)

Saving Money Tips:

1. On full-priced items: First apply your discount code, then redeem your points.

2. On sale items: Redeem your points for discounts directly.

Simply refresh the checkout page if it is unavailable.

I got a Fake Lego Holiday Camper Van 60283 From Aliexpress!

 

Hi ya brick fans, I'm back to show you another set that I bought from Aliexpress.  It's an obvious knock-off of the Lego Holiday Camper Van 60283 and it comes complete with the van and even copies of the minifigures in the set.   I paid around $14 CDN (which is about $10 US) which included free shipping from a store called AooA Lucky Store.  It's another of those fly by night stores that has the listings one day and then they are gone the next.  Let's review this set and see if it meets expectations.

I ordered the Camper Van on Feb 11, right in the middle of the Chinese New Year Holiday, so I wasn't expect to get the fake Lego set for quite awhile.  On Feb 14, Valentines day, I decided to check on the item status and found that it was already shipped!   And it landed on my doorstep on Feb 20, with an insane shipping time of just 8 days from China to Canada!  I think this is one of the fastest shipments I've ever received from Aliexpress!

I got the standard white package from Aliexpress and inside I got this brown envelope with details about the set.  It indicates that there are 218 pieces but no mention of the brand or set number.  I even checked brick4.com which is a database of every Lego and not Lego set and this one doesn't even show up there.

Unpacked the brown envelope to find a cellophane bag of parts and a thin instruction booklet with no branding other then the City logo.

The parts for the Camper Van are broken down into 7 bags, one for the minifigures, two bags marked with the number 1, two bags marked with the number 2, and two bags with no markings at all.

Inside the instruction booklet I found this sticker sheet with the license plate stickers showing the proper Lego set number.

Here are the two minifigures and the baby in a carrier.  The mom?  also has a second sleepy face on the other side of here head.  Do you think they look like the original minifigures from the Lego set?  One thing I noticed right away is that the tan coloured part all have a pinkish hue.

Here's a sample of the brick pieces for closer inspection.  The bricks seem to use a softer plastic than regular Legos.

Brick clutch was decent though and the brick finish was quite good.

The set also comes with printed parts.

I haven't seen this instrument cluster piece before.  I'm assuming the Lego version has this same part.

So the instructions don't have any numbered sections that refer to the bags numbered 1 and 2.  I simply opened the first two un-numbered bags and then bags number 1 and followed the instructions.  When you get to step 32, you realize that those parts are in the parts bags numbered 2, so the despite the numbered bags, they don't really match up to the instructions.

Fortunately this set isn't that big nor complicated, so the lack of numbering during the build isn't really a problem.

While the opaque glass window pieces are relatively unscuffed, the windshield glass is a whole lot darker than the side windows. In fact, it's almost black.

The roof comes off the Camper Van and the side wall pivots open to display the interior.  I don't know if the original Lego set has that small gap in the roof fairing, but I find it a bit annoying.  I checked the instructions and it doesn't look like I missed any steps.

Extra accessories include a croissant, a camera and a portable stove with frying pan and printed egg.  The trailer hitch in the rear will be handy for hooking up future trailers or watercraft.

Removable roof top.

Not much room for three of them to sleep methinks.

Sleeping at the wheel is dangerous!

And here are the extra parts that were leftover ,which begs the question: why do I have an extra arm?

This was a fun and quick low cost replica build of the Lego Holiday Camper Van.  

I was pleased about the price I got the Camper Van for, and the free shipping was super fast.  I think whoever did the knockoff of the set, at least did a good job of reproducing the minifigures.  Not a fan of the pinkish tan bricks or the super dark windshield, but overall it's a nice little set which rolls well.

• Brand and Set Number: Unknown and unknown
• Copies: Lego 60283 Holiday Camper Van
• Piece Count: 218 pieces
• Numbered Bags: Yes, but they don't matter
• Minifigures: 2 adults and a baby
• Stickers: Yes, but not used
• Printed Parts: Yes
• Brick clutch and quality:  Great except for the aforementioned tan bricks and windshield
• Price paid:  $14 CDN/$10 USD

Where to get it?

The listing for the Holiday Camper Van is already sold out, but search for the term "Camper Van Blocks" to find other similar listings on Aliexpress.

I hope you have enjoyed this quickie review of the unbranded bootlego copy of the Camper Van.   Bye for now!