Parts came in for my not Lego Jerac Tie Bomber - Update

Hey all!  Welcome back to my Bricks and Figs blog where I show you my latest minifigures, mods and MOCs.  Today, I wanted to give you an update on my not Lego Jerac's custom Tie Bomber MOC 13952.   A couple of weeks ago, I posted my fixes to the address the poor brick clutch of the model.   As you can see from the picture above, I still had issues with wrong colour body panels as well as missing hinge parts for the engine cowling corners.

I'm pleased to report that the extra parts I ordered from Aliexpress finally arrived and I was able to replace the deficient panels and hinges.   Here's how the ship looks now.  The only thing I still need to replace is the cockpit windscreen (I'm using the round skylight from the Sanctum Santorum set, temporarily).

Here's the overhead view and you can see there's no visible off-colour body panels.

This view is the underside of the TIE bomber.
 There were eleven panels that were dark gray instead of light gray.  I ended up ordering 10 pieces of the light gray panels for $1.  As a result, I have one panel that is still dark gray that hasn't been replaced.  The pic above shows where it is.

 Finally, here is how the rear of the ship looks after replacing all the hinges on the corners where the fuselage meets the engines.   The hinges cost me about $2 for 20 hinges, so the total cost of the fixes for the TIE bomber was around $3 shipped.


Here's the link for the parts I used.  They were the cheapest I could find off Aliexpress, but if you see a better deal, go for it.

Two piece hinge (set of 10).  https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dSixodA

Light gray curved panels (set of 10).  https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dXI0T7e

Well, that's it, just a short little post to let you know that I've fixed most of the issues with not Lego version of Jerac's TIE Bomber.  Thanks for looking!

If you are interested in getting the not Lego set of Jerac's Tie Bomber from Aliexpress, please follow the link below.

AliExpress.com Product - 1494Pcs DIY MOC TIE Bomber Small Particle Building Block Model Compatible Legged 13952

How I fixed my not Lego version of Jerac's Tie Bomber - Part Two

Hey there, welcome back to the Bricks and Figs blog, where I post about my not Lego MOCs, Mods, and Minifigs.  Don't forget to check out my other blog called Its-Not-Lego where I give you honest opinions about my latest not Lego set acquisitions.

Today, we will take a look at some modifications I made to the knockoff/bootleg version of Jerac's Tie Bomber.  Check out all of the build pics here.

As I previously mentioned during the building of the non branded Jerac's Tie Bomber, there were a number of issues I found.  Most were related to the poor brick clutch of the off brand bricks, and those are easily rectified.  The one area where I tried to improve the design was the angled corner pieces that make up the tapered engine cowling.  I just want to point out that I have absolutely no issues with the look of the engine cowlings, just the method of implementation.

For reference let's take a closer look at the area in question.  The little T-joints at each of the corners of the fuselage are where you clip the curved bricks for the tapering.  Admittedly, there's not enough clutch for the clips to grab onto the T-joints.

The result is that anytime you accidentally touch the curved corners, they fall off immediately as evidenced in the picture above.

To mitigate the problem, I decided to attach the curved corner directly to the fuselage using the two piece connected plate.  The lower part of the pic shows you how the curved piece was originally connected.

Here is the result of the fix.  The curved brick can still tilt inwards, but it's more sturdy and won't fall off.  Note that this solution works perfectly for all four corners of rear engines.  Unfortunately my brick stash didn't have enough of those two piece joiner plates, so I've had to order the extra parts so I can re-work the bottom corners of the fuselages.

There are two more similar connection points at the front of the ship above the cockpit, but those seem to be sturdy enough so I kept the original setup there.

Since we are looking at the cockpit, as I mentioned in the Tie Bomber build post, the provided windscreen of this knockoff set was just a plain 6x6 circular part with no design. I've temporarily subbed in the 6x6 glass from the Sanctum Santorum roof until I can find a replacement Tie Cockpit windscreen.

Another change I made was at the lower hinge that attaches the windscreen to the fuselage.  I swapped out the single clip for a double clip plate, so now the windscreen doesn't fall off anymore.

Speaking of things falling off, the technic plate that attaches the engine flames to the engine would not stay attached.  I added a single round stud in between the connection and that fixed the problem.

One can barely notice the difference.

More bits that fell off include the circular plates attached to the wing detail.  To rectify this, I first attached the circular piece to a 2x2 plate and then attached that to the wing.

This is what it looks like now.

Finally, the last issue I had was also clutch related. There's four triangular sections on each wing that kept falling off due to poor clutch of the stud brick.

 I replaced each of those bricks, eight in total, with a technic pinned brick.

Problem solved!

With all these fixes in place I can display and swoosh the model without the worry of losing any parts.  I've already ordered replacement blue gray curved pieces to replace the dark gray plates that clad the hull of the Tie Bomber.

Please enjoy the rest of the pics!

Thanks for taking time out from your busy day to check out the pics of this knockoff version of the awesome Tie Bomber originally designed and built by Jerac.  What did you think of the fixes?  Did you have similar issues with your non branded Jerac Tie Bomber?  Please let me know in the comment box below. See you next time!

Building Jerac's Tie Bomber using not Lego bricks.

How to Mod the Decool 2221 Not Lego Smart Car

Hello there and welcome back to Bricks and Figs, my blog about Lego and Lego compatible sets.  Today, I'm going to look at this cool little smart car made by the Decool brand of bricks.  Then I'm going to show you how I made it even better.  Let's get on with the show!

Building the Decool Smart car

I got this set from Aliexpress right around the 11.11 sale.  It took about 2 months to get shipped to me.  The model is 2221 and it has neat pullback feature.  Unfortunately I forgot to do a piece count before I started to build it, but I would hazard to guess it's around 50 parts, more or less.

Above is the front page of the instruction sheet.

Back page of the instruction sheet.  There's 22 steps in total to construct the smart car.

Here's the finished product.  Looks pretty nice.  It's got headlights, front grill, bumper and side mirrors.  Opening doors on both sides too.  The pullback feature works well and the car scoots forward after you pull it back.  The rubber tires give it good grip.   I had three extra pieces after the build.

The front end has a nice aerodynamic shape.

The car's rear end is completely void of details except the hinged rear window.  It is canted inwards to match the slope of the back.

Another look from behind.

It's no fun of course if you can't put a minifig inside the car.  This Sluban brand minifigure should fit because he's smaller than a regular Lego style minifigure.

To make him fit, I had to jettison a couple of interior pieces.  

It's snug, but we got him inside.

Decool smart car Vs. Lego Emmet's car

In my brick collection, I've got a Lego Emmet's car which was a free Make and Take from ToysRUs.  I also cobbled together my own version of a smart car from spare bricks.  

A view from the front shows that the Decool model has a lower stance and the wheels protrude out a lot more than the Lego Emmet car.

The Decool car also has a slightly longer wheelbase than the Emmet car.  Other than that the designs of both vehicles are quite similar.

Modifying the Decool Smart Car, V1

While the Sluban figure could fit into the Decool car, the same could not be said for the Lego style minifigs.  Due to the pullback motor built into the chassis block, the base of the Decool car sits 1 plate block higher than the Emmet car.  To rectify this problem, I had to make the car sit higher.

Here's the new driver for our car.  He's also got his briefcase which we also want to store in the car.

While I was adjusting the car height, I also decided to add some detail to the back of the car.  In this version, I installed a licence plate and taillights.

I made room behind the driver's seat to accommodate the briefcase.  In this version I toyed with a fold down trunk to access the interior.

The original rear wheel arch brick was black but I happened to have a blue one in my parts stash, so now the car is mostly blue except for the black roof and the mirror housings.

The new version of the Decool smart car looks great but I decided put one more upgrade on it.

Decool smart car mod, V2

The smart car just didn't feel right without a rear bumper, so I pulled apart the backend and re-worked it.  Now the smart car has a bumper and a new licence plate.  I replaced the hatch with a glass window.

With the new mod, I had to sacrifice the opening hatch. So sad.  I added a silver running board along the bottom of the car so it wouldn't look so blocky.

Here's the Lego style minifigure and his briefcase tucked into the car.

Oops, completely forgot about that fire hydrant!

Hope you enjoyed the pics!  Thanks for checking out my modded Decool Smart car.

Brand: Decool

Model: Racing car

Model #: 2221

Number of pieces: approx 55

Number of minifigs: 0