Showing posts with label decool brand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label decool brand. Show all posts

Saturday, September 19, 2020

Decool 2113 Bell Boeing V-22 Building Set Review (Not Lego)

Hello and welcome back to Its-Not-Lego, my blog that reviews the good and bad of Lego knockoffs and alternate brick brands.  In this post, we will be taking a detailed look at the Bell Boeing V-22 tilt motor airplane building set.

TL;DR


Here's the quick details:

    Model: Bell Boeing V-22
    Set Number: Decool 2113
    Number of pieces: 318+
    Number of minifigures: 5
    Fake Lego?  No.
    Missing Parts: Y/ Deformed pieces: N/ Scratched pieces: N
    #itsnotlego Rating:  3 out of 5 stars.  I wish the plane was bigger.



Intro



I bought my set from Aliexpress in late July and received it about a month later.  There are 9 bags of parts, of which 5 bags belong to the minifigures.  When I ordered the 318 piece set, there was no indication that 5 minifigures were included, so this was a bonus.

The instruction booklet has 47 pages and 44 steps.  According to the front and back covers of the Decool manual, this V-22 aircraft is part of the Modern War series.  Other sets in this series include what looks to be like a Hummer, a troop carrier and a helicopter.  It looks like you can supplement the sets with additional minifigures that are sold separately.


Here are the 5 minifigures you get with the set.  There are 4 soldiers decked out with vests and camo pants.  There's one figure who has a black helmet and vest so I will assume he's the V-22 pilot.  Each minifigure comes with several weapons including rifles, pistols and knives.  I should point out that the legs don't clutch very well to the torsos on any of the minifigures.  I will probably add a dab of glue to keep them in place.

The Build



Ok, let's start building!  Although there are number bags for the parts, they don't correspond to the build steps, so I just unpacked all the parts into a pile and then sorted them by colour, more or less.



The aircraft fuselage consists of a cockpit with printed control panel. There are some additional windows on the side, but the rest of the interior is quite small.  There's rear hatch but I don't think I can actually fit the other minifigures through it. Brick clutch is good though.  I would like to be able to extend the fuselage and make it taller so the minifigures will fit inside, but not sure how to do it yet.

With the fuselage completed, it's time to focus on building the wings.

Here's the progress so far.  Got the wings attached to the body and also have the 
landing gear attached.


Here's a quick peek at the aft section of the plane.


Assembling the tilt motors.



So I ended up getting two plates the same, but they are supposed to be mirrors of each other, so I can't fit it into one of the engines. I don't have a piece like this in my stash, so I'll just leave it off for now.

Here's the engines attached to the wings.

Pictured with propellers facing forward.

And with the propellers in upright position.  The tilting is simply performed by clicking the hinges up or down.


These are the extra pieces leftover after the build.

Final Pictures and Thoughts





So, in conclusion, I thought this was an ok build.  The Decool tilt motor V-22 model is based on Lego's Cargo Heliplane set 60021, but the colour scheme has been changed to dark gray to reflect it's military purpose.  

Play value is acceptable with opening hatch and cockpit and tilting motors. The plane is very swooshable with very good brick clutch for the plane but not so good for the minifigures.  The minifigures are quite detailed and you get a lot of accessories with them. I find the plane rather small and not proportioned to minifigure scale, hence me giving it a rating of 3 out of 5 stars.


What did you think of this set?  Do you agree or disagree with my rating?  Please feel free to leave your comments below!  Thanks for visiting and see you in my next post. Bye for now!

Update!

The knockoff of the 1636 piece Lego technic version of the V-22 Osprey is showing up on Aliexpress.  This is the version which Lego cancelled.


  

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Decool 1104 Not Lego Mini Town Hall Set Review

Special Delivery!  Hmm, wonder what's in the truck?  Lisa the delivery lady makes Larry sign for the shipment.   Some of the neighbourhood kids in Its-Not-Lego town all gather to see what's going on.

 Lisa opens up the truck.  Whoa!  So many brick parts!  Lisa's helpers bring out the rest of the pieces.

Izzy wades into the huge pile and finds the instruction manual.  It's the Decool Town Hall!

Ok, time to build this thing.  While Larry goes through the manual, he tells Edwin and Peter to start grabbing parts.  Nibbles the dog wants to be in the thick of things.

 Need more parts!  Izzy carts them over in the wheelbarrow.

Peter snaps the pieces into place while Izzy and Edwin pass him the bricks.

Building up the walls.  Larry watches the kids build.

 Nibbles wants to help.

 Larry comes over to check on the progress.

 So many transparent pieces!

 Larry has to help the kids.

 Keep on building!


 Working on the first floor still.  So much detail.

 Almost done this level.

 Tada, time for a group selfie!  Um, Edwin, we can't see you.

 After a short break,  the construction crew is back at it.

 Er, where do these go?

All modulars need a light post and tree.

Izzy gets to climb up to build the next level.  Larry has to give her a boost.

Ooh, great views from up here.

 Ok, everyone start passing bricks up to Izzy.

 Peter grabs a ladder so that he can give Izzy a hand with the heavier pieces.

 Edwin has the sand green wedges all ready for the roof.

Everyone pitching in.

Another group selfie shot!

 Time for Izzy to get off the building.

 Not sure if the ladder will hold both Peter and Izzy.  Larry makes sure it's ok.

 Larry decides that two people on the ladder is not safe.  There just happens to be a Sluban airplane ladder close by.  Now Izzy feels safer.

Getting a lot harder to reach the top. 

 Time to assemble the clock tower for the Decool Town Hall.

 So, um how do we get the clock tower up on the roof?  It's too high!

 Nick brings his Lego cherry picker over to help.  Yay!

The Decool town hall is completed!

Side view.

Another side view.

Here's how the back looks.

The kids ask Lisa to be in the shot too.  Larry, Edwin, Peter, Izzy and Nibbles all say Hi!

 There you have it, the Decool 1104 Mini Town Hall.  Just in case you were wondering, the wheelbarrow, instruction manual, ladder, airplane stairs, Lego cherry picker truck, Kazi delivery truck and assorted minifigures are not included in the set, lol.

I discovered that this Town Hall is actually a knock-off of Lego set 40183 which was a ToysRus Bricktober promo in 2014.  Based on what I've read, the Lego version of this set retailed for  $19.99 USD.

The set also comes with two little vehicles, a double decker bus and a taxi cab, which I didn't build.  Clutch and brick quality of the Decool version is great. Both the Decool and Lego versions have 186 pieces.

This little set was a gift from the Aliexpress store when I bought my Lepin 15005 Grand Emporium from them.  LOZ brand makes a similar model in case you're interested.


Thanks for visiting Its-Not-Lego.blogspot.com and see you next time!