Aliexpress: Not Lego Cargo and Passenger Planes

Today, let's look at some Aliexpress deals related to aircraft related building sets.

Gudi 8913

Here's the Gudi large passenger airplane.  The set number is 8913 and it has 856 pieces. The plane has 4 engines mounted to large wings.
It comes with 6 Lego style minifigures, a pilot, co-pilot, flight attendant, aircraft mechanic and 2 passengers.   This plane is 8 studs wide and can house both the pilot and co-pilot comfortably in the cockpit.   There are a total of 16 windows on this plane if you don't count the cockpit.  
There's room for 6 passengers and even more room in the cargo hold.  You could turn the cargo hold into a passenger compartment if you need extra space.   Access to the passenger compartment is from the front door of the plane and access to the cargo hold is on the back of the plane.This set is great because it also comes with a control tower and 2 service vehicles.

Gudi 8912

The Gudi 8912 Passenger plane is a smaller version of the 8913 plane.   This version only has 2 engines vs. the larger 4 engine aircraft.  There are 652 pieces in this set but it still includes an airport and control tower, a service vehicle and 6 Lego style minifigures.  It has a total of 16 cabin windows.

Sluban M38-B0371

Next up is this large cargo plane.  This model is the Sluban Cargo plane, set number is M38-B0371.  This cargo plane is comprised of 383 pieces.  The plane has 4 propeller type engines and is serviced by 2 vehicles.  It comes with 4 Sluban designed minifigures.  With such a large cargo hold, you can easily convert it to a passenger plane by adding seats to it.   You can access the interior via the front door or the rear cargo hold door.  What's neat about this plane is the tail swings away for large cargo.

BZDA 82031

Finally, here's another large passenger jet from the BZDA manuafacturer.  This set not only comes with this awesome jet but also includes the airport and flight deck.  There's also a luggage delivery vehicle included in this 718 piece set.  There are 6 minifigures included in this set which is model 82031.  This jet has 24 cabin windows and 2 rear mounted jet engines.
You can find the sets above by following the links.  If you want to find more Aliexpress stores that sell these search Aliexpress using the set brand and model number.

How to Buy Fake Lego in 2020

I'm reposting this Its-Not-Lego blog post I did way back in 2014 when I first stumbled onto the world of not Lego building block sets, otherwise known as Lego compatible, alternate Lego and downright fake Lego.

I've updated the blog post to reflect what has changed in 2020.  I've also removed all the eBay references, as I feel this is no longer a viable platform to purchase Lego compatible building sets.  I now only use the Aliexpress shopping platform to buy my not Lego sets and minifigures.

Mini-figures

Mini-figures can be bought individually, or in sets of 4, 6 or 8.  You can also buy big figs either in sets or individually.  The knock off minifigure world used to be dominated by Sheng Yuan and Decool, but now the best quality bootleg mini-figures in 2020 are made by Kopf, World Minifigures, Pogo and Xinh.  There are other less known Chinese brands but their quality is questionable.  Some of those brands include Dargo and Koruit.  The most popular themes for minifigures are Superheroes and Star Wars.

If you ever need to find a particular Superhero or Star Wars minifigure, I recommend using the HeroBloks website.  I find it's a great resource in searching for that elusive minifigure.

Building block sets

Building block sets can be bootlegs of older and newer Lego sets, or unique designs by Chinese brands such as Sluban, Enlighten, and Ausini.
Sluban makes a few airplane and city vehicle sets.  Enlighten sets clones some of the older Lego sets like submarines and trains.  Ausini makes their own train series that Lego has not produced.

Examples of knock off Lego sets are Creator and City sets or more recently, Modular buildings and Star Wars themed sets.

The latest block company to enter the foray was Lepin.  They successfully cloned all of the Lego modular buildings and several of the large Star Wars sets.
However, they were shutdown in 2019 when the Chinese authorities clamped down, but since then there have been a number of newer brick brands to hit the scene, namely Sembo, King and Mould King.

Where to buy - Aliexpress

I've been using Aliexpress since early 2014.  Aliexpress is like an online mall where many sellers have virtual storefronts.  You are basically dealing with a seller and not Aliexpress directly, although they will try to mediate disputes.  There's no auction style listings, only fixed price listings.    Some listings will state a minimum quantity that needs to be purchased, because they might sell both retail and wholesale.

Some items will be shipped for free and others will charge for extra shipping.  I don't know why but it takes up to one week for a seller to ship an item, and then it takes over one month for it to arrive.  Aliexpress guarantees shipment within 2 months or 60 days.  If you don't receive your item after that period of time, you can raise a dispute and get your money back.

It's somewhat intimidating for new users because of the plethora of products available.  There's a learning curve to figure out how to filter out the items you are looking for.  Start by browsing the Toys / Blocks category and use the search filters to find things you are looking for.

Be warned that seller ratings and feedback are irrelevant. Do not trust any of the feedback or reviews because they may be bogus.  Even  sellers with great ratings will still try to scam you.  You have to understand that it's buyer beware and ethical behaviour is not always followed on Aliexpress.

You may discover some amazing deals, but even though they are listed, the seller might not actually have any stock.  I have bought items only to find out that the seller lied about having inventory. Sometimes they will give you a fake tracking number and indicated that they shipped it when in fact they didn't.

There is no requirement for a seller to honour an item's price.  They might decide not to sell you the item because they realized they priced it too low.   Sometimes they try to ask you for more money after you have bought.  If that happens raise a dispute right away.  I tried to file an Aliexpress complaint against the seller, but there are limited complaint categories and if it isn't listed, they will not listen to your complaint.  Seller asking for more money after an item purchase is not considered as fraudulent by Aliexpress.

Your only recourse is to get a refund but you will have to raise a dispute and wait sometimes up to one month to get your money back.

Paypal is not an option for Aliexpress users.  I have purchase protection on my Visa card so I use this as my payment option.

Package Tracking

Most items come with a tracking number but there are two types, one for small packages and one for larger packages.

Small packages are usually sets of mini-figures or items under ten dollars.  The tracking numbers associated with these items consist of ten numeric digits.

I use this website to track packages originating from China.
https://www.17track.net/en

Larger packages come with a different format tracking number, ie: RI586779712CN.  
The first letter will always be R and the last two letters will be CN, sometimes SG or HK. The last number is a check digit to verify the other numbers in the tracking number.

Here's a link to the Blocks category on Aliexpress if you are interested to know what sort of sets are available.

Here are some popular searches for building sets on Aliexpress.

1.  Modular Buildings

2. Technic sets

3. Star Wars

Hope this information has been useful to you.  As always, thanks for visiting Its Not Lego and See you next time!

Success and Failure Buying Not Lego on Aliexpress in 2019, Part 2

 I made this website to let you know about the latest Lego alternate, knock off and bootleg sets that I find on Aliexpress.  I also want to share with you my personal experiences that I've in using the Aliexpress shopping platform and hope that you find this information useful and helpful.

So I get a lot of questions in my comment section about finding reputable fake Lego sellers on Aliexpress and what I can say is that it's really fluid.  There are some shops/sellers that give great prices and service, only to disappear after a few months.  Then I've had well known fraudster stores that actually shipped me ridiculously cheap bootlego sets, then try to shaft me on the next order.

In this second of two parts blog post, I'm going to share with you, my personal success and failures in dealing with the various sellers and stores I had in the past for July through December of 2019.   

Ok, let's continue!

July 2019 stores - Success

Bicky Toy, Pleasure Shopping, Annaa Store, XingSheng Toy store

July 2019 stores - Failure

None!

August 2019 stores - Success

Buildmoc, Age Of Innocence store, Funtiming store, Dream Toys, Shop4403001, Morefun, Kacuu, Shop4616029, Dhp store

August 2019 stores - Failure

None!

September 2019 stores - Success

Buildmoc, Shop4616029 store, Transing store, Morefun

September 2019 stores - Failure

None!

October 2019 stores - Success

Hero Block, King Bear, Gikids

October 2019 stores - Failure

None!

November 2019 stores - Success

SuperGalio, Moc Bricks, Pengyuyan Store, Jjjkkk store,

November 2019 stores - Failure

Taiyang - never sent
SuperGalio - never sent

December 2019 stores - Success

Hero Block, Baby Cutes store, Changan store, Morefun, Shop5498092, Minifigures Toy store, Toy World store

December 2019 stores - Failure

Dream Toys - item not received
Luckk Toy - item never sent
Varus Store - item never sent

Final Word

In summary, you will find that I had a very small percentage of items that were never shipped or never received.  I received a full refund from Aliexpress after raising a dispute within the allotted timeframe.  The most egregious Aliexpress sellers are the ones that pretend to ship you an item and then give you a fake tracking number which never works.  In those cases, I definitely leave those stores negative feedback so that others can be more wary of dealing with them.

Don't let one or two bad apples on Aliexpress deter you from finding those great not Lego deals.    Hopefully, by me listing out those offending stores and also highlighting the good ones, you'll feel more confident about which stores to deal with.

How about you?  What successes and failures have you had buying not Lego on Aliexpress?  Did you get your money back or did you have lots of problems?  Please share your experiences in the comment box below.  Hope all your Aliexpress transactions are successful!   Don't forget to check out my latest not Lego reviews on my Its-Not-Lego blog and latest minifigure and MOC reviews on my BricksandFigs blog.   And please follow and like my Instagram @itsnotlego!   Bye for now!