JMBricklayer 40104 Pirate Ship Building Blocks Set Sailboat Clamp Building Blocks White Swan Model Pirate Boat Toy for Adults and Teens

Having grown up with LEGO and Megabloks (and the large gap in quality between them), I've always been skeptical of non-LEGO building block kits. However, I have always wanted a tall ship for my collection, and LEGO's tend to be outside my budget. So I took a chance on JMBricklayer's White Swan. I was not disappointed. First of all, the block quality is indistinguishable from LEGO's. The blocks are high quality and my kit had no deformities. There are even a few areas this set was better than LEGO, specifically the stickers. In LEGO kits, the stickers are pre-cut vinyl that you peel and stick directly. This leaves little room for error and tends to result in stickers that look a bit fake compared to LEGO's pre-printed blocks. In the JMBricklayer set, the stickers are instead applied similar to high end Gunpla kits, where you have a larger adhesive square that is applied and then peeled off leaving behind a smaller decal. This results in natural looking decals that don't look like stickers. The only downside to the kit was the rigging and chains. Rather than having the chains pre-assembled, you have to meticulously assemble them link by tiny link. This was fiddly and difficult and it would have been better to have a pre-assembled chain. The lines for the sails are also rather fiddly and not very high quality. I don't know that I'd recommend this kit for someone with arthritis or shaky hands as a result.

Really wonderful set! Was amazing fully assembled. It is a little on the difficult side to assemble. Had to step in and help the family. It is worth the purchase and time putting it together, won't regret it.

If you're looking for a ship model for display, this is it. Not yet completed and up to the rigging. But I can say so far it's been a pleasure to build. Everything fits perfectly. Great directions which are very clear and straight forward. It has workings below the decks also, which you'll never see again after you build it. Although you can pull it straight up and out to view (be careful of the rigging) and snap it back in. But, you know it's there and that's all that counts. It also has wheels ( rubber, by the way) if you want to sail it across a table. The sails are of material, and look great. You might want to mess around with them to give them a further wind catching look. Hey, but maybe it's not a windy day. Also comes with a stand and plaque. I like it!

All in all, I this set is a fairly good alternative to the leading brand, Lego. For the price and amount of pieces in this set, compared to a similar set you might buy from Lego, the price is great. As for the pieces themselves, there's really no discernable difference from a Lego piece. Quality seems to be about the same. The instructions are a bit less clear than a Lego instruction book, but nothing to the point where you might not be able to understand how everything fits together. I will definitely be trying other sets from the "JMBricklayer" company after this one.

It's a really nice set of Legos. It's a little over 1,600 pieces, my niece loves it and is having a great time building it up. Will be posting a picture once it's done :)