Not Lego City Bus MOC, originally Sluban

Hmm, I wonder when the bus is going to show up today?

 It finally came!  It's a new bus for Its-Not-Lego town. I made this one based on the design of the Sluban city bus model M38-B0330, which is also part of my brick collection.  Except that I used different building block pieces from my parts stash to create this bus, not just Sluban bricks.

 I might need to make a sticker to show a route name on the front of the bus.  The front of the bus has lots of details like the mirrors, and the streamlined front grill with headlights and turn signals.

The back of the bus has taillights and a license plate.

 It was easier for me to put the door in the middle of the bus than to put it up front.

 The door in it's open position.

 The roof of the bus comes off in panels.  Here's how it looks inside.  There's only enough room for three seats plus the bus driver.  Might be standing room only during rush hour.

I like that the windows are tinted on the bus.

I've ordered the Sluban double decker bus, which I'll compare to my own when I get it.

So this will be the fourth bus in my town collection.  Here's a list of the busses I have so far:

Sluban City Bus M38-B0330 (modified)
Wange Bus 30132
Enlighten Sightseeing Bus 1123
My own City Bus (Sluban design)


Thanks for looking!

Bike Shop MOC (Temporary Build)

Hi Bricks and Figs readers, I just wanted to give you an update on one of my MOC buildings.  I built this orange and lavender coloured mini modular a ways back which you can read about here.

When we last looked at it, the small building was empty and looking for a renter.

I'm pleased to say that it is now occupied by a bike shop, if only temporarily.  I still have plans to make it an ice cream shop later.

The bike shop has a nice selection of bikes for sale outside the store.

Here's someone getting a new bike for his birthday.

 Still not crazy about the lavender bricks, but oh well.  The building is still too small for the needs of the bike shop and extra bike inventory has to be stored in the shipping container out back.

 Here's some surplus bikes still in storage.

Drone shot.

The bike shop is split into a store front and a service area.

In the service area, there's just enough room for one person to work comfortably fixing bikes.

To maximize room, bikes for sale are mounted on the wall.

Some custom high end bikes are on display by the front entrance and in the front window.

The place is a bit small for the bike shop but the price of rent was really cheap.

Service is slow because they can only work on one bike at a time.

Another overhead shot.

The three minifigs I've included in this set: the bike shop owner, the bike mechanic and the customer who just happens to be a brother of the bike mechanic.

Here's the bike shop sandwiched in between the two Lepin pet shop buildings.

I'll be making a bigger building on a 32x32 baseplate to house the bike shop.  When that building is completed, I'll move the bike shop there.

Well, that's it for now.  Thanks for looking and see you next time!

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