Available on eBay
Price: ~$30
Ausini #: P22607
Pieces: 524
Rating:
(Some design concerns, error in instructions)
Another set of Ausini's "Gun Series." See my earlier review of their Desert Eagle. Ausini bricks are made in the same place and the same way as BricTek which means these are in general high quality bricks- as close to Lego as you can find in my experience. In that respect this set did not disappoint- all bricks were of fine quality. There were however other issues that gave this set a less than stellar rating.
The step-by-step build video is available here for those interested. Can you spot the 2 mistakes I made along the way?
The final product looks good and I do think it is good fun for $30. The build took several hours, about 5 for me stopping to take a picture each step and a quick dinner figured in- So lets say 3 hours for someone determined to finish fast. This is a good value and a great way to get your hands on over 500 black bricks if you need them for some other project.
Do keep in mind if you order from eBay the sellers don't ship the box because it would be too expensive to ship internationally. Instead it comes in a styrofoam container- but don't fret- it's all there.
The Ausini (AKA BricTek) instructions are generally very good and I much enjoy the fact they print the stud length next to larger bricks (as in- 2x16 or 4x12) so you don't have to count yourself.
There was however a very annoying typo on step 55 - a very unique step actually.
First, the step clearly says it requires eight 1x3 thin bricks. However what I found was that only five such bricks remained. You begin to panic... Did I throw them out? Did they fall somewhere? You take some comfort in thinking that it is a common enough piece if I have to go to my Lego collection I'm sure I can find 3... Not sure they will all be black though. Better look again. Finally I look at the step more closely. 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... There are step only uses five such bricks, and there are five left! Crisis adverted! It was just a typo. ::
And wow... What a step it is- I wasn't even sure it would work, I never put bricks together like that- not on purpose anyway. But sure enough - they locked together perfectly. You can't do that on Lego Digital Designer. I was so impressed by this step I seriously considered not covering it up with the sticker, but ultimately I did.
Unfortunately the typo and annoyance that followed turned out to be the more minor of the issues. The main problem here is the set is just not well designed. What should be some of the strongest parts are in fact, the weakest.
First the handle on top- it's the logical place you think to lift the gun. That would be a seriously bad idea however as it is likely to just pull apart if you try. It's very thin in places with weak connections. In addition there are weak points in the stand, the barrel, and the where the back shoulder piece attaches to the main body of the gun. Even in limited use these pieces have already fallen off and needed repair.
These issues will relegate this to a shelf piece to display and not a toy you can pick up and play with.
Back to the overall design, it relies on too many 4x8 and larger thin plates. As any experienced builder will tell you it is difficult to get large, thin, pieces to fit together snugly, even with Lego quality bricks. The solution is to use smaller bricks instead. Unfortunately there are a fair number of steps in this set where you are pushing several large thin pieces together and you wind up with gaps between the bricks, no matter how hard you push.
I shouldn't have been surprised at they did the same with the Desert Eagle /i reviewed but they include above and beyond on the amount of extra pieces. There are pieces never even used on the gun itself. Best I can tell most of these spares are just used on the box art so customers can tell they are buying a Lego-like toy and not a pre-built toy gun.
While this is a decent replica of an M16, it is not full size. This set is just over 24 inches long where the real thing is closer to 39 inches in overall length, so slightly larger than 50%.
I would be hard pressed to find shelf space for something twice as big so I'm OK with the smaller size.
Price: ~$30
Ausini #: P22607
Pieces: 524
Rating:
(Some design concerns, error in instructions)
Another set of Ausini's "Gun Series." See my earlier review of their Desert Eagle. Ausini bricks are made in the same place and the same way as BricTek which means these are in general high quality bricks- as close to Lego as you can find in my experience. In that respect this set did not disappoint- all bricks were of fine quality. There were however other issues that gave this set a less than stellar rating.
The step-by-step build video is available here for those interested. Can you spot the 2 mistakes I made along the way?
The final product looks good and I do think it is good fun for $30. The build took several hours, about 5 for me stopping to take a picture each step and a quick dinner figured in- So lets say 3 hours for someone determined to finish fast. This is a good value and a great way to get your hands on over 500 black bricks if you need them for some other project.
Do keep in mind if you order from eBay the sellers don't ship the box because it would be too expensive to ship internationally. Instead it comes in a styrofoam container- but don't fret- it's all there.
The Ausini (AKA BricTek) instructions are generally very good and I much enjoy the fact they print the stud length next to larger bricks (as in- 2x16 or 4x12) so you don't have to count yourself.
There was however a very annoying typo on step 55 - a very unique step actually.
First, the step clearly says it requires eight 1x3 thin bricks. However what I found was that only five such bricks remained. You begin to panic... Did I throw them out? Did they fall somewhere? You take some comfort in thinking that it is a common enough piece if I have to go to my Lego collection I'm sure I can find 3... Not sure they will all be black though. Better look again. Finally I look at the step more closely. 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... There are step only uses five such bricks, and there are five left! Crisis adverted! It was just a typo. :
:And wow... What a step it is- I wasn't even sure it would work, I never put bricks together like that- not on purpose anyway. But sure enough - they locked together perfectly. You can't do that on Lego Digital Designer. I was so impressed by this step I seriously considered not covering it up with the sticker, but ultimately I did.
Unfortunately the typo and annoyance that followed turned out to be the more minor of the issues. The main problem here is the set is just not well designed. What should be some of the strongest parts are in fact, the weakest.
First the handle on top- it's the logical place you think to lift the gun. That would be a seriously bad idea however as it is likely to just pull apart if you try. It's very thin in places with weak connections. In addition there are weak points in the stand, the barrel, and the where the back shoulder piece attaches to the main body of the gun. Even in limited use these pieces have already fallen off and needed repair.
These issues will relegate this to a shelf piece to display and not a toy you can pick up and play with.
Back to the overall design, it relies on too many 4x8 and larger thin plates. As any experienced builder will tell you it is difficult to get large, thin, pieces to fit together snugly, even with Lego quality bricks. The solution is to use smaller bricks instead. Unfortunately there are a fair number of steps in this set where you are pushing several large thin pieces together and you wind up with gaps between the bricks, no matter how hard you push.
I shouldn't have been surprised at they did the same with the Desert Eagle /i reviewed but they include above and beyond on the amount of extra pieces. There are pieces never even used on the gun itself. Best I can tell most of these spares are just used on the box art so customers can tell they are buying a Lego-like toy and not a pre-built toy gun.
While this is a decent replica of an M16, it is not full size. This set is just over 24 inches long where the real thing is closer to 39 inches in overall length, so slightly larger than 50%.
I would be hard pressed to find shelf space for something twice as big so I'm OK with the smaller size.
