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

Hsanhe 6410-2 7-11 Convenience Store Modular Building gets an updated interior (not Lego MOC)

 

Hey there!  Welcome back to the Its Not Lego blog.  This week I  revisited the Hsanhe 6410-2 Convenience Store aka 7-11 Shop.   In case you're not familiar with this set, I posted about it here.

This is how the Hsanhe building looked when I first bought it two years ago.

Not long afterwards, I modified the original Hsanhe building set and made it into a 16x32 modular which I documented here. 

At the time, I only had enough brick parts to create a rudimentary interior and I had to leave the baseplate unfinished.  But, I finally got all the parts I needed to upgrade the 7-11 shop and so this week I sat down and completely rebuilt it.   Here's how it looks now.

 The sidewalk in front of the convenience store has been tiled and the baseplate widened by 4 studs to accommodate the banking ATM ( inspired by the one found in the Lego promotional store 40305 / Lepin store 36013 sets).

  A closer look at the ATM.

Out back, the service door is now covered by an awning and I took the recycle bin from the Parisian restaurant.

A closer look at the back of the store. I got rid of the street lamp that was previously next to the door.

Not much to see on this side of the store.

An overhead view.

The 2 piece roof removed to expose the new and improved interior.

 The slurpee machine got a makeover and it's flanked by a magazine rack.

New orange and white flooring installed to give a more polished look.  There's El from Stranger Things who is buying her Eggo waffle.  The store keeper keeps the store nice and clean with the handy broom at his side.

There's so much more product on the shelves now.  The girl is having problems choosing the right item.

 The cooler section is preserved from the previous build.

I was able to squeeze in an extra shelf of merchandise by the front door.

A few more looks around the inside.

The mailbox out front was lifted from the Sluban set M38-B0516.

Buddy, can you spare a dollar?  The light standard is a new addition.

 Here's a final look at the 8 minifigures.  The outside ones include a lady at the mailbox, the Fanta store mascot, a down on his luck guy and girl using the ATM.

 The four inside minifigures include girl at the shelves, Stranger Things El, and cooler boy and Zombie store clerk (both holdovers from the previous version).

This completes my review of all the changes to the Hsanhe 7-11 convenience store.  Please let me know what you think of the latest improvements.  Thanks for visiting!

Flower Shop Building MOC - Update

Hey there!  Today I'll be giving you an updated look at my Flower Shop mini modular building MOC which I first told you about back in the fall of 2017.  Here's the original post.  Since then, I've furnished both the main and second floors.

The flower shop has a total of six minifigures, consisting of 3 staff and 2 customers and a painter.  Outside the shop, here's one of the employees selling a pot of flowers to a potential customer.

There's a large flower box in front of the window and I added a few flowering vines on the front of the shop for interest.

On the second floor exterior, we have a painter coming to freshen up the shop.  I am Groot!

The painter wants to know why we are looking at him.

As you can see the building itself is a hodge podge of  different bricks, as discussed in my original Flower shop moc post.  I still haven't put in the stairs to the second floor yet, but this is where they will go.  At some point I will redo the back wall and provide the apartment flat with a larger picture window and exterior door leading to some stairs going down the street level.

 Currently, the space is occupied by one of the employees scooter and some planters in the back.

 Meh, not much to see on this side of the building.

Here's how the flower shop looks when separated.

On the main floor, we find a menagerie of plants and flowers.  Inside, we find the store owner and one of the helpers, as well as a customer buying a bunch of flowers.  I had all these turquoise coloured tiles from knockoff Friends sets, so I decided to combine them with some leftover sand blue tiles to use on the floor.  It was done as an afterthought, so a bit of a jumble there, sorry.

Here's a look at the flower assortment towards the front window corner.

Poison Ivy was released from prison and now she works at the Flower shop.

Some more views of the flower shop interior, different angle.

Despite the plethora of vegetation, there's still decent access to the back door which is covered in a large vine.

Moving up to the second floor, we find a small two room apartment.

 There's a living room with sofa, side table with lamp, planter and a big screen TV. The plants were provided by the shop downstairs of course.  Some prints on the wall complete the living room.

 The bedroom has room for a desk and chair ...

... and a comfy bed and side table.

 That's it!  Thanks for checking out my updated Flower Shop Moc.   Feel free to let me know what you think in the comment box below.  Bye for now,