Major Modifications to the Sembo 107105 Wandering Earth Lunar Truck

 

Hey brick fans!  Just wanted to share my latest mods to the Sembo 107105 Wandering Earth Truck.  If you want to see my review of the truck in it's original form, go here: https://its-not-lego.blogspot.com/2024/09/lego-compatible-sembo-107105-wandering.html

The Background

In 2023, Sembo produced two vehicles for the Wandering Earth movie franchise.  They are the Lunar Truck 107105 and the Mobile base 107104.  They look so unique that I had to have one in my collection, but I only wanted one.   The mobile base truck has two circular hatches, one on each side that makes it look amazing.  So you would think that I'd naturally gravitate towards that vehicle.

But I have seen pictures of the two vehicles side by side and the mobile base truck is actually smaller than the lunar truck, once assembled.  The lunar truck has 1339 pieces whereas the mobile base only has 1182 pieces.   So I decided to get the lunar moon truck set 107105 and convert it into my own custom mobile base using inspiration from the 107104 set.   The circular airlocks on the side of the base truck are really eye-catching and I knew that I wanted to do a circular hatch on my truck as well.

The Modifications

So here is my heavily modified Lunar Truck that has been turned into a mobile base truck.  Other than a few cosmetic enhancements, the cab area of the truck is mostly unchanged.  Most of the changes involve the rear of the truck as you can see from the profile.   

Due to all of the added weight from the rear section, I created a secondary pillar for support.  Additionally I added extra bracing under each of the axles so that the wheels won't buckle.

There is room for cargo that can be mounted directly onto the chassis.

Here are some front and rear end enhancements I made.  I've moved the solar panel structure to the roof of the mobile base.  It used to sit between the two suspension supports.  The led light battery box has been incorporated into the rear pillar.

The rear box behind the cab is the new mobile base unit.  I added this grid roof to give it a more industrial look.  Cargo can be mounted on the roof.  I plan to create a lift arm that can hoist cargo from the ground up to the roof.  It will be a future enhancement.

I absolutely love the scale of this truck, it makes the minifigures look so small.

Here is the rear view.  I managed to incorporate the circular hatch by placing it on the rear of the mobile base.

The ladder can be folded down to access the hatch.

The rear hatch door can be removed to view the airlock.

With the rear panel removed, you can see the airlock which also houses storage for the space suits.  An interior door allows the cabin to remain pressurized at all times.

The entire roof of the mobile base can be removed to allow interior access.

Here's the mobile base layout after the airlock.  A small bathroom and a couple of cots make up the right side the of the mobile base.

On the opposite wall, we have various scientific devices and computers.

It's a tight squeeze into the lower bunk.

The roof can also be removed from the front cabin. I've made some minor changes to the roof to add some lights and grill.

The front cabin is quite spacious. I plan on putting a computer station in one of the areas that used to be seating.

Here's the view of the driver's station and controls.  I removed the steering ball that came with the set because it wouldn't stay on.

I removed the two sliding doors on the rear of the cabin that were on the original set, so it's more open now.

Top view with roof panels removed.

Here's some more views around the vehicle.

I tried not to apply stickers that would span multiple bricks, so some of them ended up in different places than the original placement.  I also used some printed pieces from other space themed building block sets.

This side has windows. I used dark yellow as accent stripes on both the forard cabin and the rear cabin.

This is my favourite view of the truck.

Right side, forward cabin.

Right side, rear cabin.  I originally had windows on both sides but removed them after I added the bathroom and sleeping area.

The OG Sembo set only has exteior LED lights, so I added my own light bricks to the interior.

One last look at the roof.

To supplement the Wandering Earth minifigures, I added some of my own to form a secondary team.

AFOBRICK

You can get this and other cool and unique building block sets from Afobrick.com   

Use my code itsnotlego to get an extra 5% off your entire purchase.   

TEMU

🛍️ SEMBO BLOCK 1339 Pieces Moon Base Truck Building Kit, ABS Plastic White Vehicle Construction Set with Built-in Light Module, Educational Toy for Ages 6+

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👉 item link: https://temu.to/k/umf5eubdikp

ALIEXPRESS

You can also find the Wandering Earth 2 Lunar Truck on Aliexpress.

Let me know what you think of the mods in the comments below, Thanks for visiting, see you next time bye!

I made a Custom Storage Tray for the JMBricklayer 70003 Steampunk Dinosaur Marble Run Building Set

 

Hiya brick fans!  Today, I want to show you my custom storage tray that I built to collect all of the marbles/balls that come with the incredible JMBricklayer 70003 Steampunk Dinosaur Marble Run set.

If you are not familiar, with the set, please take a look at my other blog posts where I document the building of the massive structure along with my thoughts and tips and tricks that I found useful.  The links are here:

Unboxing: https://its-not-lego.blogspot.com/2024/06/unboxing-kickstarter-funded.html

Part 1:  https://its-not-lego.blogspot.com/2024/06/constructing-5391-piece-jmbricklayer.html

Part 2:  https://its-not-lego.blogspot.com/2024/06/building-5391-piece-jmbricklayer-70003.html

Tips and Tricks: https://its-not-lego.blogspot.com/2024/07/jmbricklayer-70003-steampunk-dinosaur.html

Here's the marble ball tray.  It will hold all 10 of the marble balls that come with the JMBricklayer 70003 Marble Run set.  I made it because I found I had no place to put all of the marble balls.  They kept rolling around the base and dropping to the floor.  And during play, whenever some of the marbles would come flying off or during troubleshooting, I needed a singular place to collect them, so that's why I came up with the storage tray idea.

These are all of the parts you will need if you want your own tray.

1pc 8x8 plate

4pcs 1x6 plates

4pcs corner 2x2 sloped bricks

7pcs 2x2 sloped brick

1pc 1x2 brick with technic hole

4pcs 1x1 bricks

1pc technic pin 4studs or longer

12pcs 1x2 sloped bricks

optional: 1pc 1x2 tall sloped brick

I had all of the pieces I needed in black, but you can use whatever coloured bricks you have on hand.

The 8x8 plate will serve as the base for all of the other pieces.

Attach the 4pcs of  2x2 corner sloped bricks.

Now, attach 7pcs of the 2x2 sloped bricks.

Insert the technic pin  into the 1x2 brick with technic hole.

Attach the 1x2 brick to the baseplate.

Attach the 4pcs of 1x6 plates to each side.

Attach the 4pcs of 1x1 bricks to each corner.

Optionally, attach 1pc of tall 1x2 sloped brick behind the technic brick. It's purpose is to stop the technic pin from sliding back.

Or you can just omit the previous step.

Finally, attach the 12pcs of 1x2 sloped bricks on all four sides.

The storage tray is complete and ready to be installed into the Marble Run structure.

Locate the free pin location on your marble run structure.   

The exact location is referenced Manual B - pages 186/187 in steps 5-14 and 5-15.

Insert the technic pin of the storage tray into the free slot.  It should now be firmly attached and capable of supporting all of your marble run balls.

I hope you have found this tutorial helpful and it makes your JMBricklayer Steampunk Dinosaur Marble Run even more enjoyable to build and have fun with!    If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to reach out to me in the comments or you can also find me on Instagram and Facebook too!

BTW, the Marble Run campaign on both Kickstarter and Indiegogo are now closed, so if you are hoping to acquire this limited edition set, keep checking the JMBricklayer website to see if/when it becomes available again.

Bye for now!

#jmbricklayer #marblerun #kickstarter

How I Make the Raised Baseplates for my Modular Buildings

 

Hey brick fans!  

Some of you have asked me about the raised baseplates I'm using for my modular buildings, so this blog post will be a small tutorial and  closer look at how they are constructed.  Hopefully it will inspire you and give you some ideas for your own modular buildings.

It's still a work in progress, but I'm slowly migrating my modular building collection from classic baseplates to raised baseplates.  Classic baseplates have a tendency to warp over time and tend to flex when lifted. Raised baseplates give my buildings a cleaner and consistent appearance in addition to providing more structural integrity underneath.  

Just to be clear, my raised baseplates are not MILS plates, since mine have no connection points that allow the modular buildings to be connected to other plates such as roadways or other buildings.  Here's an example of what MILS plates look like: https://www.brickaddict.net/road-plates.  I don't need to have all my buildings attached to each other, because I like to rearrange them all the time for picture taking.

Today, we will look at how I make a raised baseplate for a 16x32 stud modular building, but the technique is the same if you have 32 stud wide modular buildings.  

Essentially we are making a sandwich structure with some blocks placed in between two sets of plates.  On the front of structure we place some SNOT bricks / technic stud bricks to which we will attach a fascia plate.

More on SNOT bricks here: https://bricknerd.com/home/snot-basics-geometry-techniques-and-pitfalls-3-18-2021

Here are all the parts you will need.   First we start off with a classic baseplate (that's the thinner single sided ones.

We then place some bricks on the classic baseplate.  It doesn't really matter the type of bricks that you use as long as you can attach them to the classic baseplate and then attach the regular plates on top.  For our example today, I'm using two pieces of 16x16 plates to place over the bricks, but you could use whatever you have on hand.  

You can use whatever technic bricks you have on hand, this is an example of 3 types of bricks you could use.  The 1x2 brick above will give you the greatest clutch power for attaching the front fascia. For most of my builds, the 1x1 brick with hole and blue pin is my preferred choice.

Here is example one.

Here is example two.

And here's example three. As I have said earlier, it's up to you to use whatever you have on hand and see which method works best for you.

Place the remaining plates on top.

These are the pieces we will use for the front fascia, 1 piece of 2x16 plate and 8 pieces of 2x2 tiles.  I've used dark gray for my fascia but you could use a different colour, just make sure that the plate and tiles are the same colour.

The completed fascia.

The raised baseplate with fascia attached.  It doesn't fit flush to the ground because of the lower baseplate and there's a bit of a riser where it meets your sidewalk.  I kind of like the setup though.

Now just finish off your sidewalk for your modular building.  It probably looks better if you have a contrasting sidewalk colour vs. fascia.  I'm using light gray tiles on my sidewalks so I use dark gray on the fascia.  But you can choose to make yours any colour you want.

There you go, that's how I make my raised baseplates with fascia for my modular buildings.  Hope you have found this information helpful and hoping to see how yours turns out.   Feel free to leave me a comment or question below.  Thanks for looking, bye!