Aliexpress Stole My MOD Photo?!

I just found out Aliexpress used my MOD photos as their product photo. I was wondering why their customers didn't see the difference. I guess... most Aliexpress customers were not really care or not hardcore people.

See my original here...



My AT-DP has more joints than original.







AT-ST's front angle is different too.



But... who cares :-)

2018's progress:

Lego DC Super Hero Wonder Woman Minifigure vs Chinese Copy

It's another comparison of Lego minifigure with Chinese copy. First of all, look at the shield. It proved that Chinese copy printings were re-drawn by the factory. Not just a scan. I wouldn't blame staffs of Lego couldn't find out which is knockoff. You have to look very close to find out. Someone in a Facebook page asked me if they had weight difference. I didn't weight it with those I used in chemistry lab. 99% of people wouldn't be able to find out with hands.

This minifigure came with the set of Batwing (Batman vs Superman). It was half priced last month. I expected another sale of Batman sets very soon. You would get real Lego's Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman at the same time.

Lego Star Wars Death Trooper Minifigure vs Chinese Fake Copy Minifigure

Another example of Chinese copy's sharper printing (sharper than original Lego minifigure). The helmets of the knockoff Death Troopers are very loose. The cost is also about $1. The should pad is not as good as Lego's

Lego Star Wars Shore Trooper Minifigure vs Chinese Fake Copy Minifigure

Recently, I got a few Chinese copies of Shore Troopers (~$1 each). From a distance, they looked exactly the same as Lego's. Let's take a look closer...

Other than the "dot" at mouth area, they are very similar. Most people would think Chinese factories just scan and copy the original design from Lego but they were wrong (I was wrong too). Look closer. This factory hired someone to draw the body printing from scratch (in Illustrator). The printing of the copy is even sharper than Lego's. If the person who drew it even carefully, general public would think the copy should be the real one. Interesting...

Star Wars Y-Wing UCS (Lepin Version)

It's a pretty nice model. Lepin version comes with some grey tubes for the 8 engine sticks. I don't put them on and let the white technic bars show. Then it is better than with wrong color.

Sorting LEPIN Bricks

 I have to say that Lepin triggered many Lego fans' evil mind deep inside. Most Lego fans treasure the nicely designed Lego and they love the designers inside Lego company. However, Lego is getting more and more expensive recently. I can say some of the sets are over-priced. On the other hand, I know it is not an excuse to support the knock-off brands and bootleg Lego sets. But... I fall into the dark side because of the limited availably of Iron Man suits minifigures and the attractive retired UCS sets. Moreover, the curiosity also brings me to their world. Why so many people said Lepin has very good quality? As my previous post mentioned, I bought one Lepin made First Order Transporter as 1 of 3 sets that I got for building 2 MOC Transporters. The bricks were pretty bad and I regret that too. But somehow, I saw Lepin had Creator series' Café Corner (2007 Retired Lego building). Other than a missing 1x2, two wrong 2x4 brown bricks instead of two 2x3 and a half broken window frame, everything was very nice. The feel and sizes improved a lot. Then, I decided to see if other sets were ok. Ghostbusters Fire House was my second big set of Lepin copy. It came in a big bag from DHL. The DHL people did the same thing again... The delivery guy signed by himself and left the huge package at my door steps without even press the door bell. No one knew about the delivery until I checked my front door at night. I thought DHL just let them do this. What a bad managed company!

 

The instruction was pretty thick and heavy. Same as the previous sets, they didn't have the numbered bags like what Lego had. Some people sorted them in colors. It would consume a lot of time and I would never suggest this way. The best way to save time is keeping them in the original bags but sorting them in a logical way. See the photo below...

 

I find this way is the fastest and easiest for how my mind works. It may not work for all people, I have to say.

LEPIN Star Wars: First Order Snowspeeder (First MOD) & LEGO Standard Issue

I actually purchased the LEGO First Order Snowspeeder before the The Force Awakens in cinema. I returned it to Toy R Us after I found out the whole scene was cut from the movie. During the process of writing blog post about LEPIN, I purchased its Transporter and this Snowspeeder. The experience this time is a bit better because there is no missing parts.

I don't like this Snowspeeder because of the scale problem. It's much larger than the "actual" thing. It should be about the size of a minivan. Other than toys showing you the scale, you can see the official scale and details in the book below...





I believe if LEGO designers could make it smaller, they would do it. However, LEGO has its "LEGO Standard" which is everything has to be firm. Nothing will fall off. At the same time, the "play element" at the engine's stud shooters makes the engine much larger. I think the engines will be the next thing I will work on.



I move the gun 2 studs backward first. It looks a bit closer to the actual thing.



From top: Only the walls occupy 1 stud of space when the speeder should be a car size vehicle. This problem also happens in LEGO's sports car models. When the size is the right ratio with the minifigure, the model can't even hold 2 minifigures side by side.

There are a lot of other MOC online. You can use them as reference to build yours. I don't think I will spend time in this Snowspeeder MOC.



I want to point out the way LEGO designers building the wheels are pretty good (You like the wheels or not). It's not easy.

If you like this model, I strongly recommend the LEGO one. Don't take the risk with LEPIN.

This Is Why You Should Stay Away From LEPIN (Fake LEGO)

If you are curious about LEPIN (the fake LEGO) like me, this blog post is absolutely for you. Let's jump to conclusion first (I like to write reviews like this). If you get it for filling gaps and rare missing parts for your own project, it should be ok if not affecting the structure. If you get it for your kids, you must stay away from it. Why? It doesn't come with numbered bags. I bet modern kids will be very frustrated to build something close to 800 pcs without numbered bags.



The only thing that help you to find the parts is each bag has logically similar bricks inside. You must use 3 to 4 trays to separate them before put them together. It's zero problem to adults but not kids.The instruction menu is about the same size but it condenses about 1.5 page (original) on 1 page. No different from the original but it doesn't come with the part pages at the end. Reason? LOL... It has missing parts!My set has two technic sticks and two technic bars with holes missing. Therefore, I can't build the gunner's moving seat and two back engines in LEPIN set.If you like having stud shooters and the shooters on it, you will be very disappointed, stud shooters can't shoot the green studs out. The shooter can't hold the green bar bullet.LEPIN's plastic is much better than the older fake LEGO bricks. Color accuracy improves a lot too. BUT... I don't think it worth 40% of the original LEGO price. If you are building General Hux speech scene on Starkiller Base, Mm... maybe... maybe they are ok for as the back row extras (like low budget movies' extra). I only strongly against people buying LEPIN Millennium Falcon. You should get a nice and problem-free iconic Star Wars ship, no matter what.Consider twice before buying LEPIN.

LEGO Star Wars First Order Transporter (792 pcs) 75103: MOD Version

My name is Raymond. I'm a professional wedding photographer. This is my first blog post (actually a test post). I wanted to start a blog about Lego stuff for a long time. Because of time, I didn't have much time to take the action. I spent most of my time updating my wedding photography business' Facebook Page, Instagram, and Blog. It was tough to management one more blog for hobby purpose.

Recently, I found I had too many Lego models at home and I had to pack them into boxes (too bad). I thought they should have a record for each of them especially those I really liked. Not only Lego but also my figures were packed in boxes recently. Therefore, I expected this blog would be a place showing my collections.



The first blog post is about my newly finished Star Wars First Order Transporter Mod. I bought 2 sets for this project. Why? The original design was too short comparing to the version from actual movie: The Force Awakens. Other than that, this set was very well built by Lego designers. They used the limited budget to build something very very close to the real model. I thought I was just building something that they originally built before being cut down to the retail version. How do I know? If you studied the instruction booklet carefully, you should see 12 studs at the middle of this vehicle were missing. By adding the original rectangular technic part and two black 1x6 bricks at the base, you should see how easy to fill up the missing 12 studs of contents.



See the side view from the photo above. If I had time, I would rebuild the back part of the Transporter to match the real thing closer. Main structure wasn't changed much.

I rebuild the cabin (control room) to reduced 1 stud depth. It made it looked taller and narrower.





However, I kept the play feature as the Lego designers did. The back door could be opened. The door was a 4x4 plate with 16 studs on it. I changed it into a 4x4 plate with 4 studs on one side to make it look smoother. The control room (pulled out) was modified a bit for fitting the door. I still could put a Stormtropper standing inside the cabin as the original design.



Let's look at the back. Very simple... Just turn the 4x4 with 4 studs plates around to hide the studs on the 4 engines.



I added something under the 4 engines to hide the unwanted technic parts, too.

Now, let's look at the change that I really like...



I'm not a fan of stud shooters. I super hate that and I think Lego knew adults hate them too. So, I rebuilt the cannons at the top. Simple and no tricks.

Let's take a look at interior.





This mod took 14 ~ 16 troopers (the real thing took 20). Frametroopers took up more space with the gas tanks at their back. As you could see, the original design had 3 transparent red flat 1x1 on each side and my simple mod was extended to 6 on each side. Just follow the structure pattern for the extension area.

Next thing I really cared about was the two "deflector shield" devices.



Lego's original design of the "deflector shield" devices was made into two shooters. I saw most of the adult Lego fans just mod them away. I didn't have two 1x6 light grey plates for both sides. Therefore, I just used two dark greys instead (I will change it later).

I will update the change if I have time.

Finally, I bought a knockoff version of Transporter other than my two boxes of Lego's. I thought I might need some special parts to fill the gaps but it ended up two Lego sets plus my stocks did the job very well. I will post the result of that "Lepin" version in this blog later