The LEPIN "LEGO" for non sensitive types
Discussion
russy01 said:
So, as you may be aware I ordered what I think is the Lepin GT3RS from Ali Express just 5days ago.
This is what I ordered and it cost me $94 all in, nothing to pay on receipt. - http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-687pcs-Lepin-16...
So it arrived today and first impressions are that its very similar and it feels like an utter con - I mean there is absolutely no effort to produce anything even slightly different, its a total 100% rip off, there is just no mention of the word LEGO anywhere! The overall packaging, finish and feel of the product is of inferior quality, but your ordinary person would not notice the difference when handling different pieces. I will take some photos when I get 5 and stick them on here...
Russy, did you get any surprises from UK customs, like others I'm very interested in the discontinued Star Wars UCS sets.This is what I ordered and it cost me $94 all in, nothing to pay on receipt. - http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-687pcs-Lepin-16...
So it arrived today and first impressions are that its very similar and it feels like an utter con - I mean there is absolutely no effort to produce anything even slightly different, its a total 100% rip off, there is just no mention of the word LEGO anywhere! The overall packaging, finish and feel of the product is of inferior quality, but your ordinary person would not notice the difference when handling different pieces. I will take some photos when I get 5 and stick them on here...
russy01 said:
So it arrived today and first impressions are that its very similar and it feels like an utter con - I mean there is absolutely no effort to produce anything even slightly different, its a total 100% rip off, there is just no mention of the word LEGO anywhere! The overall packaging, finish and feel of the product is of inferior quality, but your ordinary person would not notice the difference when handling different pieces. I will take some photos when I get 5 and stick them on here...
How do the plastic pieces compare in terms of colour consistency, sprue/flash bits, pin clutch/snappiness etc ? Is the manual the same size, binding style, print quality ?Ok here are some pics I took. If there are 2 pieces the same in a picture, the LEGO piece is on the LEFT.....
As they come. I accidentally bought the Lepin set without a box - so its all rammed in this mailing bag and taped to hell and back...
Contents on a table. Note how nice the LEGO box looks!!
Manuals. LEGO on the left, much better finish to the paper etc.
LEGO book at the top. Lepin one is ok, its massively condensed with each page having several steps, where the LEGO one is a little long winded. Absolutely nothing wrong with the Lepin one - decent print and in colour.
Close up of Lepin book
Another close up of lepin
LEGO wheel on the left. Very similar, mould near identical although Lepin wheels have a couple holes in the rim, but not seen when tyres mounted. Overall LEGO item feels nicer and has a better finish, more glossy and less scratched. You wouldnt be able to tell the difference if on the shelf though....
Sticker sheets. LEGO on the left, better quality, but lepin ones arent bad.
Some of the lepin packaging is bad, its literally food bags! But if you mixed up half of the contents youd struggle to tell the difference. Lepin stuff has a good colour match, although lacks a bit of the gloss from LEGO pieces
upside down, so lego on the right this time
LEGO tyre on the left, has writing on sidewall. LEPIN, very similar mould with no sidewall writing. LEGO rubber much softer and more pliable, Lepin tyre feels cheap. BUT once mounted onto the rim there is very little difference visually and you'd be hard pushed to tell once built and fitted to the car...
Lepin tyre isnt moulded as cleanly, couple rough edges, but again hidden when on the rim.
LEGO on the left, Lepin is harder, more plastic'y and shiny!
LEGO on the left
Lepin close up
More lepin close ups. Pieces are fairly well finished and I doubt random joe on the street would tell the difference. But if you do look closely the finish is down on LEGO, the surface isnt completely smooth and the pieces have small scratches and are not as glossy as LEGO. But would you notice this when built? I also think that LEGO pieces feel a little stronger and dont bend so much?
Random shots of Lepin bags
As they come. I accidentally bought the Lepin set without a box - so its all rammed in this mailing bag and taped to hell and back...
Contents on a table. Note how nice the LEGO box looks!!
Manuals. LEGO on the left, much better finish to the paper etc.
LEGO book at the top. Lepin one is ok, its massively condensed with each page having several steps, where the LEGO one is a little long winded. Absolutely nothing wrong with the Lepin one - decent print and in colour.
Close up of Lepin book
Another close up of lepin
LEGO wheel on the left. Very similar, mould near identical although Lepin wheels have a couple holes in the rim, but not seen when tyres mounted. Overall LEGO item feels nicer and has a better finish, more glossy and less scratched. You wouldnt be able to tell the difference if on the shelf though....
Sticker sheets. LEGO on the left, better quality, but lepin ones arent bad.
Some of the lepin packaging is bad, its literally food bags! But if you mixed up half of the contents youd struggle to tell the difference. Lepin stuff has a good colour match, although lacks a bit of the gloss from LEGO pieces
upside down, so lego on the right this time
LEGO tyre on the left, has writing on sidewall. LEPIN, very similar mould with no sidewall writing. LEGO rubber much softer and more pliable, Lepin tyre feels cheap. BUT once mounted onto the rim there is very little difference visually and you'd be hard pushed to tell once built and fitted to the car...
Lepin tyre isnt moulded as cleanly, couple rough edges, but again hidden when on the rim.
LEGO on the left, Lepin is harder, more plastic'y and shiny!
LEGO on the left
Lepin close up
More lepin close ups. Pieces are fairly well finished and I doubt random joe on the street would tell the difference. But if you do look closely the finish is down on LEGO, the surface isnt completely smooth and the pieces have small scratches and are not as glossy as LEGO. But would you notice this when built? I also think that LEGO pieces feel a little stronger and dont bend so much?
Random shots of Lepin bags
Thanks for posting review Russy.
I've just jumped in with both feet for a 10179 Millenium Falcon UCS and 10221 Super Star Destroyer UCS.
They're going to be hung up my garden cabin/boy/man cave - so don't sit side by side with any other Lego sets.
Will post findings here. I ordered them in boxes - though oddly they're specified as being 'pvc' - so fully expect them to arrive in ice cream tubs!
Given a new 10179 is £6500 on Amazon, I'm prepared to make a fair few allowances quality wise.
As long as they turn up of course. But went with highest rated/feedback seller (Susentoy)
I've just jumped in with both feet for a 10179 Millenium Falcon UCS and 10221 Super Star Destroyer UCS.
They're going to be hung up my garden cabin/boy/man cave - so don't sit side by side with any other Lego sets.
Will post findings here. I ordered them in boxes - though oddly they're specified as being 'pvc' - so fully expect them to arrive in ice cream tubs!
Given a new 10179 is £6500 on Amazon, I'm prepared to make a fair few allowances quality wise.
As long as they turn up of course. But went with highest rated/feedback seller (Susentoy)
Exactly what ill be doing, If you could post your findings that would be great!A few thoughts and pictures of the Lepin Vader's TIE fighter and A Wing set.
All in all, well worth the £20 or so it cost me. For display pieces to sit on a shelf, which these will be, they are pretty much identical to Lego.
Colour match is excellent. Clutch power is pretty much the same as Lego for 99% of pieces. A couple of bits are a little loose but nothing problematic.
The lack of Lego logo on the pins is the major difference (of course) and the plastic looks to be a touch more gloss/shiny than Lego.
The minifigures come completely disassembled. Unlike Lego, you have to clip the arms to the torso and add the hands, and add the legs to the piece that fits to the torso. They attach quite rightly though so don't feel much different once assembled. All in all, they're pretty close to the real thing and much better than I had expected.
The only piece missing was a flat light grey 1x2 and so was easily replaced. The stickers felt a bit differ to Lego ones. - slightly thicker plastic - but the printing is fine and they adhered nicely to the blocks. The set came with 4 sets of weapons, still attached to the plastic frame they're made on.
The instructions were fine and no harder to follow than Lego. The colours are perhaps slightly harder to differentiate than proper Lego ( black and dark grey look virtually identical, for instance) but not a problem.
As expected, the bags weren't numbered and I had to open them all and sort through them. Not an issue with a set this size but would be for larger sets.
Would I recommend it? Yes, unreservedly unless you're a proper hardcore collector, at least based on this set. It's less than a quarter of the UK RRP and is (subjectively) 95% as good as the real thing. You could happily give it to kids and they wouldn't know the difference. From a distance, neither would most AFOLs (other than the lack of Lego logo on the pins).
I'd say that it bears out the reports of high quality in recent Lepin SSD and nodular set review, and that it bodes well for anyone thinking about the Lepin Falcon-alike. If I had anywhere to display one, I wouldn't hesitate and would order one today.
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/mKleAJj1.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/x3k1uMvZ" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/x3k1uMvZ.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/smq2MpJc" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/smq2MpJc.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/dxG4MYHX" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/dxG4MYHX.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/yirADv53" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/yirADv53.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/DGY0rr4M" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/DGY0rr4M.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/yNUxUss4" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/yNUxUss4.jpg)
All in all, well worth the £20 or so it cost me. For display pieces to sit on a shelf, which these will be, they are pretty much identical to Lego.
Colour match is excellent. Clutch power is pretty much the same as Lego for 99% of pieces. A couple of bits are a little loose but nothing problematic.
The lack of Lego logo on the pins is the major difference (of course) and the plastic looks to be a touch more gloss/shiny than Lego.
The minifigures come completely disassembled. Unlike Lego, you have to clip the arms to the torso and add the hands, and add the legs to the piece that fits to the torso. They attach quite rightly though so don't feel much different once assembled. All in all, they're pretty close to the real thing and much better than I had expected.
The only piece missing was a flat light grey 1x2 and so was easily replaced. The stickers felt a bit differ to Lego ones. - slightly thicker plastic - but the printing is fine and they adhered nicely to the blocks. The set came with 4 sets of weapons, still attached to the plastic frame they're made on.
The instructions were fine and no harder to follow than Lego. The colours are perhaps slightly harder to differentiate than proper Lego ( black and dark grey look virtually identical, for instance) but not a problem.
As expected, the bags weren't numbered and I had to open them all and sort through them. Not an issue with a set this size but would be for larger sets.
Would I recommend it? Yes, unreservedly unless you're a proper hardcore collector, at least based on this set. It's less than a quarter of the UK RRP and is (subjectively) 95% as good as the real thing. You could happily give it to kids and they wouldn't know the difference. From a distance, neither would most AFOLs (other than the lack of Lego logo on the pins).
I'd say that it bears out the reports of high quality in recent Lepin SSD and nodular set review, and that it bodes well for anyone thinking about the Lepin Falcon-alike. If I had anywhere to display one, I wouldn't hesitate and would order one today.
Massive thanks to Russy and LL for the reviews!
I might just treat myself to a set which i would never buy for the original lego price (let alone current prices for retired sets)
Russy, as for the zip-lock baggies, those are commonly used by bricklink sellers to ship parts in as well, so i wouldnt be concerned about that at all.
I might just treat myself to a set which i would never buy for the original lego price (let alone current prices for retired sets)
Russy, as for the zip-lock baggies, those are commonly used by bricklink sellers to ship parts in as well, so i wouldnt be concerned about that at all.
Vitorio said:
Massive thanks to Russy and LL for the reviews!
I might just treat myself to a set which i would never buy for the original lego price (let alone current prices for retired sets)
Russy, as for the zip-lock baggies, those are commonly used by bricklink sellers to ship parts in as well, so i wouldnt be concerned about that at all.
Wasnt concerned about it, but its not something you expect on a retail product. I might just treat myself to a set which i would never buy for the original lego price (let alone current prices for retired sets)
Russy, as for the zip-lock baggies, those are commonly used by bricklink sellers to ship parts in as well, so i wouldnt be concerned about that at all.
russy01 said:
Wasnt concerned about it, but its not something you expect on a retail product.
Fair enough, i agree with that!Quick follow up, is the end result of the lepin identical to the lego porsche? I know right after release a lot of the lego community disliked that the gearbox shifts out of order (1-3-2-4 IIRC), do you know if lepin incorporated fixes for this in their instructions? (im guessing no, but you never know)
Lurking Lawyer said:
I'd say that it bears out the reports of high quality in recent Lepin SSD and nodular set review, and that it bodes well for anyone thinking about the Lepin Falcon-alike. If I had anywhere to display one, I wouldn't hesitate and would order one today.
That's the same problem I have, the UCS Falcon is massive at 84cm x 56cm so it won't fit anywhere in my house on its landing feet. However I am giving serious thought to this option -
The guy who did this gives some info on the mount here -
http://www.fbtb.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&...
Its basically a VESA TV mount with some extra technic bricks, steel L-brackets and bolts. The original structure is quite fragile on its side so some re-inforcement is required, perhaps some glue, but its just Lepin so no big deal
I'm liking the idea of hanging on the wall just not sure how to do it yet.
My Porsche gets delivered in the morning, the guy that owns the local shop will bring it over including the box so I'll post some pictures up.
Now I'm going to be in a quandary, finish the cafe corner or start this one first? Oh and to further add to the quandary the guy has said he can also bring me over the super star destroyer...
My Porsche gets delivered in the morning, the guy that owns the local shop will bring it over including the box so I'll post some pictures up.
Now I'm going to be in a quandary, finish the cafe corner or start this one first? Oh and to further add to the quandary the guy has said he can also bring me over the super star destroyer...
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