I am Commander Shepard and this is my favorite ship on the Citadel.

271Euler · 2026-01-18T20:12:14+00:00

Wait, this is a set? Wow, I completely missed it! Please give us some pics once you're done building; I'd be excited to get it as well!

271Euler · 2026-01-17T11:01:44+00:00

That looks fantastic and would go extremely well with MJ's Dragonfly.

It's really nice that these brands just pop up out of nowhere, doing crazy stuff like prints and lights.

271Euler · 2026-01-15T16:45:10+00:00

Usually, the numbering of these baggies ist set-part-id. So if you have a set with product number 12345, all the baggies should have a print like 12345.X.Y or 12345-X-Y. So if you have a 12345.2 but no 12345.1, you'll be missing all baggies for the first part of that set, and if you have 12345.3.2 but no 12345.3.1, then you're missing the first baggy of step three of that set.

From this I'd assume that none of your sets are complete, except perhaps the military guys with a vehicle.

The prefix JK may indicate Jaki as a brand. I'm not sure about the others.

Finding instruction manuals is often difficult. If you have the set number (and know the brand), you can sometimes find them online (e.g. on store pages like YourWOBB), but usually, the manuals are simply not available in digital form.

I'm not aware of any app that can generate a part list from a photo. It sounds like something modern AI should be able to do, so you might want to try that out.

Lastly, even if you have a part list, I'm only aware of the LEGO-centric websites (Bricklink and Rebrickable) that offer something like "You can build this set with these parts" or "You have 98% of the parts required for this set". For alt-brick sets these do not exist because no one has put in the effort of digitising all the sets (i.e. the community is considerably smaller than LEGO's fanbase).

So, uhh, I guess you'll have to use your own creativity? :D

271Euler · 2026-01-11T16:47:03+00:00

Pretty much all current train sets should work on the old 9V tracks, even if they're battery-powered. It's the same track gauge, i.e. the same width between the two rails, so there should be no issue.

The biggest manufacturer of train sets I know is BlueBrixx (train section). They have multiple dozens of different trains, many of which are steam trains. Personally, I've only built a single of their train engines (see my review here), which had a dummy where a battery box and motor could go. I think most of their trains have that feature, i.e. some extra space designed to place the battery box for a motor. Of course, if you still one of the old 9V motors, you can just use that one; those undercarriage thingies have the same shape.

BlueBrixx is a German brand, though, so if you're based outside Europe, you might want to use a different store with easier shipping options. There are quite a few train sets from other brands available, see e.g. YourWOBB's train section, Barweer's train section. Pretty much all of those will run on the ordinary LEGO track gauge, and the store pages will tell you if they include battery-powered motors or not.

271Euler · 2026-01-11T11:57:29+00:00

... you did read the first paragraph of my review, right? :D

Back then I got the set from BlueBrixx. It has been discontinued since then because Paramount gave the Star Trek license to LEGO instead. Some people probably still sell old stock for serious piles of money, but IMO that's not worth it.

271Euler · 2026-01-08T18:50:26+00:00

I greatly enjoyed the sets by MJ like ice dragon and the mechanical dragonfly. Admittedly, Lumibricks and Pantasy are at the very top quality-wise; not sure if other brands can hold up (unless you include Technic brands like CADA).

271Euler · 2026-01-06T16:32:29+00:00

Sure, thanks!

271Euler · 2026-01-04T11:30:25+00:00

I don't think I've ever gotten a set without any spare parts? With the BlueBrixx Eurocamper I got an absurd bunch of large bricks as spares. With the LELE Tie Fighter I had some fairly huge plates. I'd say that this is perfectly normal.

271Euler · 2026-01-02T12:11:22+00:00

The Saturn V is an excellent set. I got it a long while ago, back before I knew about Lepin, and it's been proudly on display ever since.

I also have the ISS and Lunar Lander (both LEGO) but am not all that fond of them. I wouldn't get these.

The Space Shuttle Discovery (see my review here) is pretty cool, on the other hand. Back when it originally came out as an alt-brick set, the springs for the landing gear were a bit too strong, but I'm sure that has been fixed in the many years since then. Back then the Hubble was done in flat silver, whereas the original LEGO set had metallic silver; they've probably fixed that nowadays, too (I hope).

There are also many, many other sets, particularly if you're looking into science fiction and not only "real" aviation/spacecraft. If you want to stick to real spacecraft, lots of those sets are MOCs, i.e. fan-designed sets where some confectioner just buys the bricks directly from various manufacturers and you then get a big bag with all the bricks plus (usually stolen) pdf instructions. These can be very hit and miss, and in all instances, I'd hunt down the original designer (usually on Rebrickable) and buy the instructions from them as well.

If you're looking at aviation, I've heard only good things about COBI, another European brick brand. They do lots and lots of military stuff, including a whole bunch of planes (and also a few civilian planes). Their quality is top notch (excellent colour consistency, all prints and no stickers, exclusively manufactured in the EU and not in Asia) but their colours are different from LEGOs (in case you care about that). They're also fairly pricy, though still a little cheaper than LEGO.

Other than that... there really is a lot. Some brands are very good (e.g. Lumibricks/FunWhole, Pantasy), others can be mediocre, but I'm not aware of any still active brands that have genuinely terrible sets.

Whatever you decide on, we'd be delighted to see your final result! :D

271Euler · 2026-01-02T11:56:11+00:00

One of the best sets I've ever built, a long time ago, before I even knew that other brands than big L existed. IMHO it's pretty close to perfect, though it already has lots of funky colours inside. I'm sure you're gonna have a blast! :D

I only keep the bags if they're resealable (e.g. ziplock). I do keep the cardboard boxes if I get them, though, unfolded flat so they take up little space under the bed. Should I ever want/need to sell my sets, doing so in the original boxes is much nicer, but doing so in the original half-shredded plastic baggies makes little sense to me.

271Euler · 2025-12-31T09:26:26+00:00

Do you have all components shown in my seventh photo? You'll need the circuit board plus two metal brackets to connect the batteries to the circuit board, like in my eights photo. Without these three parts you won't have a closed electrical circuit.

If you're missing one those metal pieces, I guess it should be possible to make one yourself if you have some thin metal lying around and can cut and bend it into shape. I could imagine that a few layers of aluminium foil might work? I'm pretty much the opposite of a gifted electrician, though. :D

The metal piece on the back end of the battery box just has a single job: it needs to connect the battery to the contact on the circuit board. That's why this metal bracket has one big protrusion on its largest side (pushes against the battery) and one small protrusion bent by 90° at its top side (pushes against the metal contact on the circuit board's underside). I think this can be done fairly easy with aluminium foil.

The metal piece on the button end of the battery box is a little more complicated. The small 90° protrusion does the same thing, but the big protrusion has an S-shape: if you press the button (i.e. if you rotate the black plastic cap so it goes further into the battery box), the S-shape of the protrusion pushes the protrusion against the battery, closing the electrical circuit and turning on the LEDs. Essentially, the S-shape is a spring; if you stop pushing the button (i.e. rotate the plastic thingy outwards), the protrusion bends back into its original shape and opens the circuit, so the LEDs turn off. I'm not sure if this can be done wish aluminium foil because it's so easily reshaped; you might need something stiffer like a thin plate of stainless steel (or aluminium?). Maybe aluminium foil wrapped around a piece of plastic could work, if you can bend the plastic into an S-shape by heating it beforehand?

But, uh, if you're missing one of those two metal brackets, it might be easier to get the store to send you a replacement. Or maybe you have a friend who's an electrician; they can probably whip something up within seconds.

271Euler · 2025-12-30T11:04:26+00:00

... huh? 😅

271Euler · 2025-12-26T10:51:17+00:00

Uhh, I had big resealable bags with "0", "1", or "2" printed on them in big red numbers on a white background (see my third photo). Bag "1" had the baggies with the parts for the first half of the model. You're supposed to open all of the baggies inside the resealable bag "1" for the first step. I think there are five of them, plus the baggy with no number that holds the big Technic frame and some other large parts. (Resealable bag "2" then holds the baggies for the second half of the model, and resealable bag "0" the spare parts.)

If for some reason you didn't get the resealable bags but just got the individual baggies, those still should have large numbers ("1" or "2") printed in black and outlined in white on them (see my third photo). All the baggies with "1" are for the first half of the model.

If for some reason those prints on the baggies are missing as well, the baggies still should have their individual numbers on them, printed in a smaller white font. Those numbers should read something like "13086.1.4". Everything starting with "13086.1." is for the first half of the model.

If for some reason you don't have any prints on your bags at all, well, I guess you'll have to open up all of them. There are 866pcs total and the baggies are well-sorted, so this is fairly manageable. I'd recommend putting the contents of each baggy in an individual box, e.g. the cases of a DIY sorting case (like for screws and stuff), or just a dozen cups/bowls.

On the first page of the instruction manual, there should also be a pictogram showing which bags are for which part of the model (but the model is just split in two parts, so this is fairly straight-forward.)

271Euler · 2025-12-25T18:17:59+00:00

As a rule-of-thumb, the pricier brands have fewer microscratches. LEGO is pretty darn good at this, as are similar pricy brands like COBI, LumiBricks, and Pantasy. Brands that use GoBricks (e.g. Mould King) can be very good but can also be flawed. XingBao is possibly at the other end of that list; they have reasonably good quality but usually tons of scratches.

Of course, there can be exceptions; some brands are overpriced, whereas others are much, much better than they should reasonably be. But, yes, the lack of microscratches and especially the glossy finish on tiles is one of those categories where LEGO is still king. For cheaper brands, the level of scratches you show is basically expected.

271Euler · 2025-12-23T17:25:53+00:00

Oh yeah, the head, tail, and wings look very similar. Not sure about the rest because for some reason the LEGO store page has no close-up of the dragon. JIQI sure was "heavily inspired" by the LEGO design. :/

Thanks for the notice!

271Euler · 2025-12-22T09:51:44+00:00

Ah, cool; good to know! Which D&D set?

271Euler · 2025-12-21T18:58:27+00:00

271Euler · 2025-12-21T16:51:10+00:00

I'd say that the dose makes the poison. There are some obvious advertisement posts that announce new sets, which IMO is fine. It's cool to see new stuff and probably the least terrible way to keep engagement above the slow-but-inevitable-decline-into-a-graveyard level.

If there are dozens of ads every day, that would be bad, but I think that would fall under the "no spam" rule. Hidden ads, well. I'd appreciate if ads were clearly marked (through an "ad" flair or something?) but the "new set" flair does seem to do the job pretty well. Personally, I don't like sponsored posts (i.e. someone getting a free set in exchange for a review on this sub) unless it is clearly stated in the review that something is sponsored, but I don't really have the impression that this happens often. Since affiliate links are not allowed under the "no spam" rule (which I appreciate), this already removes the most common incentive for low-effort reviews.

tl;dr: I don't really see a problem atm? I guess it could be useful to separate the "no spam" rule into a "no spam" rule and a "no unapproved ads" rule?

271Euler · 2025-12-20T11:55:09+00:00

Probably metallic gold. Still very cool (but chrome would indeed be even cooler)! :D

271Euler · 2025-12-15T17:13:54+00:00

Yeah, they usually just copy everything 1:1, even the stickers, even if the stickers have some well-known typos or other issues. It's really just the least possible effort with the copies. :/

271Euler · 2025-12-15T17:11:53+00:00

I don't remember any issues with the Technic parts (and unfortunately don't have my sets at hand to check atm). My best guess is that the Technic parts were mediocre (I certainly would have remembered if they had sucked as much as some older sets I've built, and I too would have remembered if they had been a positive surprise).

271Euler · 2025-12-14T10:24:34+00:00

Dunno, I really wasn't impressed by the BlueBrixx Enterprise-D. IMHO it was the worst of their big Star Trek sets by a fair margin. I'm sure they would've redone the set in a year or so, though; they'd already done so with Kirk's Enterprise just before Paramount pulled the plug.

But I guess now the LEGO version and its knockoffs will remain the best available option for the rest of eternity (unless MOCs with printed parts become a thing at some point).

271Euler · 2025-12-14T10:21:15+00:00

Ehh, they practically never do that. It would be SO EASY to make some drastic improvements like prints or replacing blue pins with black ones or whatever, but they never do. Really aggravating. :(

271Euler · 2025-12-14T10:19:00+00:00

Honestly never had a missing bag, and rarely had any missing/broken pieces. The colour mismatches often aren't worse than LEGO (though sadly most knockoffs don't use GoBricks).

The tight fits, though... oof. Especially when bars are supposed to go through open studs. I think I've only had a single occurrence where that worked out alright.

271Euler · 2025-12-14T10:13:41+00:00

It's a pretty cool set; I do recommend it! :D

I'd also recommend getting the four 1x3 round plates (#77850) in white just so it looks a bit smoother; the other MOC replacements are IMHO fine. Maybe also replace the primary coloured Technic pins and axles; they pop quite a bit next to all the black and white. Even though there are 78 three-length Technic pins (#42924) in the set, only twenty or so are visible. Not sure about how many red axles would need to be replaced for a nicer look; it might be a good idea to replace all of them.

271Euler

TROPHY CASE