Another Cheap way to light-up your Lego/Lepin modular sets

Hi friends,

Welcome back again. Today when i was at shop for some milk i noticed at the cashier desk small LED Christmas light with battery box. My first idea was that i will used it for my Grand Carousel. Since it is not delivered yet I give it a try at my Detective office set. I would like to share this idea because it is really cheap (cost me 1€) and you do not need any special skills to perform it. All you need is just a patience and small tools and your imagination. So let´s start.

LED Christmas lights with battery box. Powered by 3x AA batteries.

Since detective office got a lot of small rooms i decide to change colour of lightning at the bar. I have used small round one by one transparent bricks. This will change a colour and make some mood. I was thinking you can also use some stickers to lights (red, green) if you do not have those as spare. Lets start with first floor.

1st floor
All you need is to be patient here and just stick the lights with tape to walls. I used black paper tape since i have´t another one in my house. In the bar i used red/pink transparent bricks to change colour.

2nd floor
I have to modified window wall to be able get cables trough the floor. Do not worry much about it. You will get it when you get there :).

3th floor
This take me a while to figure out how to place battery box. As i said not much to worry about.

And after 30 minutes job is done. Enjoy the rest.

Lepin 15005 Grand Emporium 2182 Pcs Review

Hello Lepin my old friends,

Good to see you once again. This is my second modular Lepin set i have ordered from AliExpress. In this review i would go trough building steps and share my thoughts about it. Gran Emporium is an 3 floor shopping center. Quite a number of mini-figs included (including mannequins of a groom and bride). Let`s start from the beginning.

Manual and Base plate

Building instructions included in this set got same issue as Green Grocer set. Some of the colors are just not clearly representing real color of brick. Not big issue but could be confusing sometimes. About the base plate... This is weakest part of this set in my opinion. If you want to display this set be prepared for little bending. This does not look good at least for me. Since bending it is quite regular on all Lepin sets i would recommended use original Lego base plate. Even regular Lego plate is bending a bit but not so much.

Mini figures
I have to say just two words. Well done ! Well done Lepin, you really heard the voice of your customers and mini figures are getting better and better. I have to say all mini figures are done correctly. Hair pieces are fitting well all hands are moving smooth.

Mini figures are great. No complain here.

First floor
This part of modular set is in my opinion the best looking and have a nice play-value. There are two faceless mannequins of a groom and bride behind the window. Cashier desk with nice display self. Testing cabin with half naked customer and some shelf's with clothes. You can see some small detailed crafted perfumes all over the tables.

Mannequins of a groom and bride

Second and Third floor
I will review both floors in one section because the differences are very small between them. Second floor contains glass shop or i don't know what could it be. There are just some glasses on the table. This floor contains a lot of window pieces but half of them is covered by outside structure pillars. It is making a good looking and very believable construction style. Third floor contains toy shop. There are some small models of toys and 2 balls. I will modified it with more stuff for sure because i think all attention focus only on the first floor in this set.

Rooftop

Nice skylight windows on the top. Window cleaner hanging from roof at platform. One huge billboard with advertising. Simple and I like it. My wife said that billboard smiley is kind of scary for her, so I turn it around facing her bed now. ha-ha-ha. Building process took me about 6-7 hour total. It was enjoyable but second and third floor a bit repetitive.

Looking great at display

Final score: 9/10

This is a great set for display. The warm tan bricks combined with that corner design is great showing off to visitors. Looks even better with another modular buildings next to it as it creates a real street scene. I think LEGO has done a superb job so far as each modular set is quite different but at the same time ties in together very well. LEPIN on other side did a good job for making this available to people who don`t want to spend over 350 $ for original one.

Pros:
- Quality of mini figures
- Great set for display,
- First floor play value
- Lot of space for custom parts

Cons:
 - Base plate
 - Repetitive second and third floor

Cheap way to light-up your Lego/Lepin modular sets

Hi friends,

Today i will show you how to light up your modular buildings in really cheap way. You don´t need to have any special skills. You do not have to worry about any fire hazard. It is kids friendly and my daughter loves it so much when i light up our modular street in the evening. 

I would like to say this option is really cheap way to do it and do not expect much. In long term if you would to like it use on daily basis you have to invest more to regular LED lights which includes some cabling and also some skill in electricity. Let´s start with parts that you would need.

Party balloons led lights
You can get them almost on every supermarket. I have ordered more pieces from Aliexpress. They have manual switch on their side for power on/off and are powered by 2 small batteries. To be honest i do not recommended to buy them from Aliexpress mainly because some of them got batteries near end of life after few minutes. Maybe you will get lucky and get better one.

Then i found out those LED lights got small mushroom gap at the end. I tried few lego technics builds to hold them, but simplest solution is use single brick.

Circle one by one lego brick
I used one by one circle brick. This brick is so common in the sets and fits balloon light easily. You can also use cylinder brick if you want. Works good.

Just choose the right spot and pin up your light. You can try to set up it like it is not visible from windows then it is looking even better.

Here is the result

Pros: 

• cheap solution
• cheap way to impress your friends,
• warm light feels good

Cons:

• you have to turn on/off manually every light 
• battery life
• not bright as LED solutions

Thank you for your time, if you want to share some toughs, feel free in comment section.

Joe

Lepin 15008 Green Grocer Store review 2462Pcs.

Hi friends,

This is my review of Lepin 15008 set which makes copy of Lego Green Grocer store n.10185. There are some differences from the original but overall feels almost same.  Let´s go trough the process of assembling. Here are my thoughts. 

Price, delivery and packaging. 

Currently as i am writing this post original Lego set n.10185 is not at the market anymore. Few years ago i can not afford this set as student.  Now price for this Lego set is from 800 € - 1500€ at e-bay. Even after years i cannot afford it (sad face). But hey ! there is another option. Lepin or in another words just fake Lego. I bought this set for 54 €. Shipping was included by DHL. As you can read in my previous post delivery was really fast.Whole set comes in one square box 2kg.

Bricks are pretty much mixed and for easier building you need to  make some shorting. Actually i like this more then original. Lego marks bags with numbers and for each building part you only use bags with same number. Personally i have enjoyed get all bags opens and search for parts. Of course you can do it also with Lego bags, but let´s be honest would you?

Colors are sometime confusing.

Manual was included. Divided into sections. One section means one floor.  Lepin should work on color prints. Sometimes i get stuck because colors was not accurate. As you can see on this picture. Brick is almost brown but on the manual it looks more like vine red.

Mini-figures
This set includes 4 mini-figures and small white kitty. Kid and man in a black hat are fine. Problem was with hair pieces for woman figures. Hair pieces just don´t fit. I have tried to use small knife to makes it fit but i gave up. Weakest point of set.

Hair pieces do not fit properly.

Assembly

You are getting 2 green base plates for the set. Green base plates was little bended so I replaced them with original green Lego 32x32 plate. I have different plans with them anyway. Original mini figures are sitting well on those plates. They are quite polished so you can see some mirroring on them. 

It is looking great from every angle.

First floor

Lets start with first floor. It includes grocer store with textured floor. Inside you can find freezer, cashier desk and some vegetables. Next to store is passage to other side and also stairway to upper floor. This section also includes some post boxes. Under the stairs is hidden rat with small chess. I like that idea.

Grocery store and small passage with mailboxes.

Freezer and textured floor.

Backdoor of the store and rat under the stairs.

Second floor

This floor is really disappointment for me. It includes only stairs to third floor and fireplace. No textured floor, no accessories just empty space and few windows. I will try to fill it with some custom apartment stuff later.

So empty. Who should live here?

Third floor
This is much better then second one. Heater, textured floor, and very nice big clocks. Still i do not know for what is this floor supposed to be.

Cloks looking very cool.

Roof top
This is my favourite part. I like the idea to spend time on the roof. Eat, drink and just have some fun. This includes grill party.

Party time

Missing pieces, spare pieces

During building process i get into situation that i cannot find some pieces. Let´s be honest. Quality control in China is not on the same level that Lego. I was expecting this. So i have replaced from my own stock. Surprise at the end i have found them so i just did not search enough. In the end i found some spare parts.

Comparison with other modular buildings.

I was wondering how it will looks in compare with original sets. I own currently 3 original Lego modular buildings. Brick bank, detective office and Parisian restaurant. All those modulars fits great together. Let´s see how it fit with them.

It is really big.

I think best placed between Parisian restaurant and Detective office.

Here is my current modular setup.

Pros: 

- Great replica 

- No missing parts

- Huge building

- Looking good from every angle

- Fitting well with other modulars

- Good price/value ratio

Cons:

- low quality of mini figures

- empty interior

- low quality glass pieces

Bonus

I have added some small balloon lights in to the building.

DHL delivers Lepin 15008 Green Grocer set in ONE DAY from China to EU.

Hi friends,

If you are wondering how long it takes to ship Lepin set from Aliexpress, here is my experience.

I have ordered LEPIN 15008 Green Grocer store modular set. When i was younger i just doesn't have enough money to buy it. Of course Lepin is not original Lego set and quality of bricks may be lower but I can look beyond this as these sets aren't even made anymore and retail for crazy prices for the originals.

 

How fast could it be ? Fast and I mean really fast. I was surprised how fast can DHL deliver package from China to Europe. Shipment location was Hong Kong and delivery Europe/Slovakia. Seller send tracking number at Tuesday October 11. Thursday, October 13 was package in my hands. Big thanks to seller and DHL. Now I am looking forward to build it. Will post update soon. 

You can see delivery info here:

See you soon friends.