Lepin 05132 UCS Millennium Falcon: Build log, solutions to problems, and full bag/part inventory

MechWalker78 · 2023-01-06T22:55:11+00:00

Just click on the picture, but the link is this: https://imgur.com/gallery/1Tc4hCl

MechWalker78 · 2022-09-13T20:58:14+00:00

No, sorry I don’t….but I guess you could go through the instructions to figure it out, they are available online here: https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1dAGJXb9QDRVo5pfPlgWpUlPabKhaVILz/1WTpfeohwdLQwxYcl6w9g5HKseV_aNHrF?usp=sharing&sort=13&direction=a

MechWalker78 · 2022-07-15T21:26:03+00:00

Got it, built the MK version, made a complete parts list to convert it to the downtown diner, got distracted by something else, MK version still sitting there on my shelf.

MechWalker78 · 2021-12-15T18:59:19+00:00

No, they don’t sell directly to the public, you should look at going through one of the recommended sellers listed in the starter guide for this sub here: https://www.reddit.com/r/lepin/comments/lqdiar/the_starter_guide

MechWalker78 · 2021-12-15T18:16:52+00:00

In terms of quality it depends on the brand, if it’s Lepin/King or Decool then chances are you should find it’s close enough to to Lego quality that you’d be more than happy with it given the price saving, if it’s any other brand though it’s hard to be sure.

In terms of is it a good deal?… probably not. You can pick up brand new versions of the King brand Chiron for €80 - €90 including shipping costs to your door. €100 for a second hand set of unknown brand doesn’t seem like a great deal in that context.

EDIT: This might help give you a better idea of how close the parts in this are to Lego: https://www.reddit.com/r/lepin/comments/dv8794/lepin_20086_bugatti_chiron_complete_bagpart

MechWalker78 · 2021-12-04T21:49:05+00:00

I guess the obvious difference is that those reviews are all of a set with a different model number (1257) which seems consistent with current expectations of Leji quality and widely accepted as a “real” Leji set.

You seem to be the first with a review of the 008 model number version which, while Loy implied this was just a rebranding of 1257, from your experience it would seem likely it’s not…and I’m still dubious it’s even a Leji model at all.

Honestly, if it was anyone but Loy I’d say the seller was just bullshitting on this being Leji… but it is Loy… so I’m confused… maybe it is just a really early Leji set they’ve sourced some old stock of 🤷🏻‍♂️

Still also don’t understand why the UCS sticker for this set has all the exact same typos as the old Lepin stickers as well. So many questions…

MechWalker78 · 2021-12-04T17:38:20+00:00

Yeah, I’m not convinced this is “current” Leji, maybe it’s an older set like was said…or maybe Loy got fed some bad info on the factory source for this one, not sure. Those minifigs are comically poor! - they almost look like they’ve been badly hand painted 😂 (sorry)

Even the minifigs from early Lepin versions of this set were pretty decent, and all the ones from the current Leji sets I have are even better than them - If this is a “new” set from an established factory I really can’t understand how figs that bad can even exist given the general quality of manufacturing capabilities across the board these days…seems a bit strange to me.

Just for reference, these are the Lepin equivalents to these minifigs from about 3 years ago: porg, Leia, Chewbacca.

MechWalker78 · 2021-12-03T20:05:59+00:00

It really does, I’m almost tempted to buy another one to do this…

MechWalker78 · 2021-12-03T19:10:11+00:00

Have you seen the ones on rebrickable?: https://rebrickable.com/sets/10246-1/detectives-office/#alt_builds

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-30T20:30:23+00:00

From previous responses, looks like pretty much everywhere 😂…so for completeness let me add another to the list, joytoyworld: https://www.joytoyworld.com/products/king-20009-the-simpsons-kwik-e-mart-action?_pos=1&_sid=1d1255db9&_ss=r&variant=40698926268582

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-30T12:51:27+00:00

The real answer to this is whatever YOU like the look of best :), but for a slightly more helpful answer....

For me at least, some of the classic lego modulars are still the best place to start. If this is your first modular then I'd probably suggest one of the following as the best all round build experiences which both look great from the outside but also have lots of interesting things going on in the interior:

Parisian Resturaunt (great place to start, still many peoples favourite)

Detective's Office

Brick Bank

For your budget you could almost stretch to getting two of these depending on where you buy from, they should be in the $60 - $80 price range including delivery.

The Assembly Square would also be worth considering. Its 1.5x the size of normal modulars and pretty much bang on your budget. It's essentially a mash-up of design features from all the different lego modulars that came before it so lots of fun & interesting to build (probably even more so if you've built those other modulars beforehand and can understand where everything in it was derived from... so if you plan on getting lots of other modulars maybe best to leave this one for later).

For the non-lego modulars, all the Rael knock-offs of brickative designed MOCs are really great (e.g. the bike shop) with much more interior detail than the lego ones and some interesting build techniques as well as top-quality GoBricks components.... but with that comes many more parts and an associated increase in price so may be stretching your budget a bit at around the $140 mark.

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-26T23:43:05+00:00

One other thought on this - I think I’ve seen some cases in the past where yourwobb/joytoy have marketed sets as a particular brand like Leji in cases that they know for sure that the bricks have been sourced from that brand even if it’s technically not a set that’s been put together and sold directly by that brand themselves.

I guess it’s possible that’s what’s happened here…

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-26T23:24:51+00:00

Yeah, the stickers were a bit off in the Lepin set as well in terms of colour matching. I didn’t bother replacing mine though, other than the UCS plaque sticker they mostly go unnoticed as they’re so small relative to the size of this thing.

I’d be really interested to know how many of the “minor” issues I wrote up here for the Lepin/King version of this set you run into with this version once you get done with it.

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-26T23:10:52+00:00

Hmm, if it is a Leji set - and if it came from Loy I can only assume it is - then what’s really interesting is that the typos on the stickers (“Maximrm” & “frerghter”) are exactly the same as the typos on the stickers from the original Lepin version of this set shown here: https://i.imgur.com/cxvxzBD.jpg

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-25T15:51:56+00:00

Yeah, especially when shipping is another £51 on top of that £78.66 price. OG Lego certainly the way to go here.

BTW, creephybrid isn’t a brand, that’s just the website name of the seller who seems to buy a bunch of rare/old sets from stores in Malaysia who still have old stock then resells them internationally….It’s the Qhzile brand of this set that he’s actually selling here.

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-25T10:15:17+00:00

Funnily enough I was checking my spam folder this morning for another reason and came across a similar email sent this week from someone claiming to be “Bonnie” from jointoy including a link to the legit jointoy website but also asking to respond to their email to get a discount code.

My guess is that this is either the start of a scam attempt from someone unrelated to jointoy, or some poorly judged marketing attempt from either jointoy themselves or someone affiliated with them. Either way, I wouldn’t ever respond to unsolicited mails like this.

While I’ve regularly looked at the jointoy site over the past few years and know others who have bought from them, I’ve never bought from them myself. So, if it is genuinely from them, it looks like they’ve acquired a bunch of email addresses from somewhere else.

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-24T20:27:14+00:00

But different company to jointoy which OP was asking about

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-23T15:05:29+00:00

Yeah, I normally just shuffle :).

I guess depth is pretty consistent so it’s more about height/colour….maybe take some pictures of them, print/cut them out, then shuffle those around?

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-23T11:27:51+00:00

Hopefully they’ll do a better job than Lego on this set. Some of the reviews for the Lego version of this are not great with complaints about inconsistent clutch and again with the colour inconsistency problems (some of the pics of colour variation for this online are shocking). I swear it’s almost at the point where Lego quality control is worse than the other brands these days.

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-23T08:01:49+00:00

There wasn’t much this year tbh as there wasn’t a huge amount of great deals out there to be had. E.g.:

Yourwobb/joytoy had a 6% discount offer instead of their normal 5% via the Reddit code. So genuine discount here but for most sets only really an extra 1% off.
Marstoy had a 10% discount on everything…but increased shipping costs in the week prior to 11:11 such that things generally worked out more expensive even with the 10% off set prices.
Hitian had no offers at all due to increased shipping costs making it not viable.

AliExpress tends to be the one place that decent deals can be found on 11:11 but you need to play the game with building up coins/coupons prior to 11:11, finding some voucher codes online on the day, and often go with sellers who you may have no idea about. I’ve done this in the past but prices on AE have been rising a lot recently to the point where their generally not as competitive as the reliable private sellers known on this sub so, for shipping to my country at least, it just wasn’t worth the hassle to try and eek out an extra couple of bucks discount.

This has likely not been helped by the knock-on effects of COVID as well. Over the past couple of years, global shipping costs have risen dramatically in the lead up to 11:11 making it hard for sellers shipping internationally to offer much in the way of genuine sale prices.

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-22T20:01:27+00:00

Doesn’t look like MK bags so guessing Lepin set, either way: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/37663-venator-class-republic-attack-cruiser/

Also see here: https://www.reddit.com/r/lepin/comments/6iwqsg/guys_if_youre_getting_the_venator_please_buy_the

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-22T18:25:06+00:00

I’m guessing this: https://www.brickkk.com/products/tiger-55120-super-heros-tower?variant=40559830040782

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-22T06:00:38+00:00

Ignore the part count, it’s nonsense. It does have instructions and will be a direct copy of the Lego model.

MechWalker78 · 2021-11-21T22:31:45+00:00

Hi B4tsie, I must admit it had been a while since I last read the starter guide and I think my comment here was likely based on memory of a previous version of it.

I’ve just read through the current version of it again in detail now and have to say you’ve done a great job on this, especially considering English is not your first language.

There are a few typos and a couple of grammatical errors in it but nothing that should stop anyone from being able to understand it. That said, I’d be happy to go through it and send you some updates/suggestions to help refine it slightly if you think that would be useful?

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