The first ball contraption really helped me see what to do with the tubes thank you for the good ideas and visuals on what to do! Keep up the good work
A little bit of compressed graphite will help those stair steps drop down quickly into place. It will also help eliminate the friction between the stair sides as they pass one another.
I think the best way to get into GBC is to go to a convention that is having a GBC workshop. Not only do you get a small module, but you also get lots of knowledge from the workshop presenters. I understand that is not an option for everybody. Not everybody has a LEGO convention close that has a GBC workshop. The next thing is that LEGO does not make a GBC set. This forces us to use 3rd party stuff. Quality is the key here. LEGO has tighter tolerance for the parts. The last thing is the model designer, they should be properly compensated for their work. The sad truth is that GBC is not sustainable as a 100% LEGO product anymore. Train transformer, the motors, the soccer balls are even hard to get in quantity. My 2 cents.
All good points. Yeah I'm hoping FX bricks will make a replacement train transformer, I'm pretty sure they are close to having replacement 9v train motors. The only issues is the cost, I'm sure they will come at a premium. Like I said MK did get the ball rolling, I'm working on my 6th 100% Lego module since I got these a couple weeks ago 😅
@@BatteryPoweredBricks Now I can tell you a 3rd party LEGO product that I could get behind is a track powered remote control train. Something like DCC that is used in the train world. No batteries to recharge. Of course my wide radius plastic only track might be a problem. LOL The rainbow stepper, I saw somebody had built one in all LEGO, and it was always giving them fits. Not sure what design they used, but it looked just like the one you where showing. The funny thing about GBC, some modules will run really well at first, and then something wears down a little and then it never runs well again. But I have also seen modules that are stiff and hang, and catch balls until they run for hours and wear in everything... Can be maddening...
I feel like at some point there was a Lego DCC solution, but it was back in the RCX days. It would be really cool to see a more modern, plug and play solution. And yes GBC is definitely throwing me for a loop 😅 but I'm slowly getting the modules I've built working well.
Glad to see the review. I personally think these 3rd party sets that are done in collaboration with the designers are not only okay, but a great addition for curious casual builders that otherwise would never track down the parts for elaborate builds like these (plus the potential benefits to the designers). I'm curious if you've come across the KBDCraft Adam kit. That is my favorite third party Lego-would-never-do-this kit (though in my case I actually did use legit Legos as a Brinklink order was less than $30, and KBDCraft kindly made their instructions and parts lists publicly available).
Yeah both the designs here would be too much for me to try to source parts and build with Lego. I hope releasing these sets with, at the very least, permission from the designer is something they will continue to do in the future. I feel like I've seen a few different brick modifiable keyboards out there. Not really something I'm interested in myself, but these kinds of things are cool to see!
@BatteryPoweredBricks Yeah, I've never been to intrigued by the modifiable ones. This is the only one I've seen where the PCB itself is actually designed to just interface with Lego. I think their long term goal is to have additional PCBs for number pads, etc, so you can design any sort of keyboard case you want out of lego, and combine the PCBs to your liking.
I‘m totally fine with other manufacturers producing Lego Bricks. I don‘t understand why some people think Lego bricks are some holy thing only Lego is allowed to produce. As if Lego were their friend, which they‘re not. I‘m not OK with stealing designs, be it from Lego, or even worse MOC builders. If they license something it‘s all good. Also, some people say other manufacturers have better quality than Lego. I think Lego has been lacking in color accuracy, ugly mould marks and clamping force in recent times.
Lets not forget the original Lego brick was based on Kiddicraft's Self-Locking Building Bricks. There is always some nuance and discussion to be had. I don't think of these companies or anything in life in black and white terms. As for Lego I have seen some variance in quality, I've heard from Lego fans in Australia their bricks are manufactured in China and have had even more issues with quality. Sad to see
I never got the thing to work correctly. I ended up taking it apart and selling the parts. I don't think Mould King parts are high enough quality for GBC which needs extremely tight tolerances
@batterypoweredbricks what tubing do you recommend to buy for this project? I bought it for my teen but want to make sure we can get it working.. What were the name of the spacer parts you added? And brand of tubing would be great so I can order more. Thanks 🙏
I don't really have a simple solution to offer, while I did order official Lego tubing from a seller on Bricklink (which cost a fair bit) I never got around to replacing all of it. The tubing that came with it works "well enough" to play around with but it would take substantial effort and maybe some parts to make it reliable. In the end it just wasn't something I would recommend to folks unless they knew what they were getting into. There are more favorable reviews out there but they are mostly in German. I also suspect some of them got the set for free to review which may skew their opinion. I wish I could help more but in the end these were sets I completely gave up on, Mould King isn't a company known for testing their models before selling them like Lego does
@@BatteryPoweredBricks okay, we will mess around with it with low expectations, at any rate we will end up with a stair stepper, some balls and other things to mess around and maybe do our own thing in the end. Thanks so much
I have built my version of an Akiyuki design and am working on a Great Ball Pit design as well - both out of Brick Link bought parts. If those names are unfamiliar to you then I suggest searching them out as they are worth seeing! Making these are prohibitively expensive, plain and simple. Since these are collaborations with the original designers of the models then I don't have an issue. Lego won't make them, so what are we supposed to do? Please support the designers in whatever capacity you are able.
Absolutely. I've been following the GBC community for many years but just now really diving into it. My videos are scheduled ahead of time (as much as possible) but I'll have a lot more GBC stuff coming soon. I've built about 10 modules from Rebrickable and will always do my best to credit the original designer and the instructions maker when they differ. I may also do review videos of modules and list any problems I had / modifications. There is a lot of GBC videos out there but not many with voiceover / in-depth analysis
Lego is pretty expensive and these chinese manufacturers give less expensive options to kids so I'm all for that. But due to the stolen designs and still inferior (although they have gotten way better now) quality I don't want any of it. Some of the cada/mould king etc motor and rf control options seem interesting though. I think you should just try and maybe sand the axles down a bit (just slide each side of each axle once or twice over a piece of reasonable grid sandpaper) or maybe lube it with graphite instead of trying to replace parts with actual lego and just let it sit as a display piece once you get it working. It looks like all the problems you encountered are just from the axles/steps not following the cam fast enough so the balls can't hop over to the next one. You should be able to determine the spin direction by looking at the cams and seeing how they turn.
Mould King also has some modular sets designed by Berthil. I may pick one up, doubtful I'd make a video though. GBC and mechanical sets require tight tolerances on the parts, I don't think they are quite there yet. As for the rainbow stepper I've been working on it for a while now and have already swapped in a fair bit of Lego parts. Still a work in progress
It‘s about not supporting a company who is famous for stealing designs from Lego and designers. Did you know that Mouldking stole designs from Nico75… he is too small to do anything against it.
I was not aware of designs stolen from Nico71. There are plenty of channels out there that cover Mould King sets and I seriously doubt they would do as much research as I did as to which designs were stolen or not. Just like I said in the video I am refusing to cover any designs that are stolen and will call them out for it. MK will exist as a company regardless of whether I made this video or not, It was my goal to bring attention to the fact some designs are stolen and that the sets aren't even that great without modification. If they reach out to creators for their designs I'm fine with that. As for The Lego Group losing money and Disney losing out on licensing fees that's their battle to fight, they are doing just fine in the meantime. I was waiting for this video to release before reaching out to MK myself. I certainly do not appreciate designs being stolen from Lego fans / designers
At the same time, it's good to show support for product lines that are done in conjunction with designers, and encourage them to move more in that direction. If you remove yourself as a customer (or reviewer) entirely, you lose your voice in helping determine what direction they go. With this sort of review, they can see "oh, we're getting positive coverage (and perhaps increased sales of those sets, relative to the stolen designs) BECAUSE of a productive relationship with the community"
That's really why I made the video, to show they don't work near as well as advertised. That's why I don't think Lego would ever make a set like this they are much more concerned about quality than these third party companies.
The first ball contraption really helped me see what to do with the tubes thank you for the good ideas and visuals on what to do! Keep up the good work
A little bit of compressed graphite will help those stair steps drop down quickly into place. It will also help eliminate the friction between the stair sides as they pass one another.
I'm considering it, I was trying to get as far as I could without lubrication
Great review, thank you! I support other brick manufacturers original designs. Adds a nice variety to my sets.
I think the best way to get into GBC is to go to a convention that is having a GBC workshop. Not only do you get a small module, but you also get lots of knowledge from the workshop presenters. I understand that is not an option for everybody. Not everybody has a LEGO convention close that has a GBC workshop. The next thing is that LEGO does not make a GBC set. This forces us to use 3rd party stuff. Quality is the key here. LEGO has tighter tolerance for the parts. The last thing is the model designer, they should be properly compensated for their work. The sad truth is that GBC is not sustainable as a 100% LEGO product anymore. Train transformer, the motors, the soccer balls are even hard to get in quantity. My 2 cents.
All good points. Yeah I'm hoping FX bricks will make a replacement train transformer, I'm pretty sure they are close to having replacement 9v train motors. The only issues is the cost, I'm sure they will come at a premium. Like I said MK did get the ball rolling, I'm working on my 6th 100% Lego module since I got these a couple weeks ago 😅
@@BatteryPoweredBricks Now I can tell you a 3rd party LEGO product that I could get behind is a track powered remote control train. Something like DCC that is used in the train world. No batteries to recharge. Of course my wide radius plastic only track might be a problem. LOL The rainbow stepper, I saw somebody had built one in all LEGO, and it was always giving them fits. Not sure what design they used, but it looked just like the one you where showing. The funny thing about GBC, some modules will run really well at first, and then something wears down a little and then it never runs well again. But I have also seen modules that are stiff and hang, and catch balls until they run for hours and wear in everything... Can be maddening...
I feel like at some point there was a Lego DCC solution, but it was back in the RCX days. It would be really cool to see a more modern, plug and play solution.
And yes GBC is definitely throwing me for a loop 😅 but I'm slowly getting the modules I've built working well.
Glad to see the review. I personally think these 3rd party sets that are done in collaboration with the designers are not only okay, but a great addition for curious casual builders that otherwise would never track down the parts for elaborate builds like these (plus the potential benefits to the designers).
I'm curious if you've come across the KBDCraft Adam kit. That is my favorite third party Lego-would-never-do-this kit (though in my case I actually did use legit Legos as a Brinklink order was less than $30, and KBDCraft kindly made their instructions and parts lists publicly available).
Yeah both the designs here would be too much for me to try to source parts and build with Lego. I hope releasing these sets with, at the very least, permission from the designer is something they will continue to do in the future.
I feel like I've seen a few different brick modifiable keyboards out there. Not really something I'm interested in myself, but these kinds of things are cool to see!
@BatteryPoweredBricks Yeah, I've never been to intrigued by the modifiable ones. This is the only one I've seen where the PCB itself is actually designed to just interface with Lego. I think their long term goal is to have additional PCBs for number pads, etc, so you can design any sort of keyboard case you want out of lego, and combine the PCBs to your liking.
hmm that does sound pretty cool 😀
I‘m totally fine with other manufacturers producing Lego Bricks. I don‘t understand why some people think Lego bricks are some holy thing only Lego is allowed to produce. As if Lego were their friend, which they‘re not. I‘m not OK with stealing designs, be it from Lego, or even worse MOC builders. If they license something it‘s all good.
Also, some people say other manufacturers have better quality than Lego. I think Lego has been lacking in color accuracy, ugly mould marks and clamping force in recent times.
Lets not forget the original Lego brick was based on Kiddicraft's Self-Locking Building Bricks. There is always some nuance and discussion to be had. I don't think of these companies or anything in life in black and white terms.
As for Lego I have seen some variance in quality, I've heard from Lego fans in Australia their bricks are manufactured in China and have had even more issues with quality. Sad to see
As a life long lego collector, I feel alienated by the brand. I don’t t see any problem with alt bricks other then stolen designs.
Great vid and how did you get that high roller sponsor?
Thanks! As for the sponsor, I actually reached out to them initially. It's a product that I love and use every day. I have three of them!
@@BatteryPoweredBricks My envy is immeasurable, we don't get products like that here in Europe.
no matter how hard i try, i can never get the balls to feed into the tire correctly for the 26002 set, they just get stopped before the tire.
I never got the thing to work correctly. I ended up taking it apart and selling the parts. I don't think Mould King parts are high enough quality for GBC which needs extremely tight tolerances
That cheeky LTT shirt 👌
I got 4 of them on sale for like $50 total. They are about all I wear anymore, It's hard to find shirts that fit right 😅 LTTStore dot com lol
@batterypoweredbricks what tubing do you recommend to buy for this project? I bought it for my teen but want to make sure we can get it working.. What were the name of the spacer parts you added? And brand of tubing would be great so I can order more. Thanks 🙏
I don't really have a simple solution to offer, while I did order official Lego tubing from a seller on Bricklink (which cost a fair bit) I never got around to replacing all of it. The tubing that came with it works "well enough" to play around with but it would take substantial effort and maybe some parts to make it reliable. In the end it just wasn't something I would recommend to folks unless they knew what they were getting into. There are more favorable reviews out there but they are mostly in German. I also suspect some of them got the set for free to review which may skew their opinion. I wish I could help more but in the end these were sets I completely gave up on, Mould King isn't a company known for testing their models before selling them like Lego does
@@BatteryPoweredBricks okay, we will mess around with it with low expectations, at any rate we will end up with a stair stepper, some balls and other things to mess around and maybe do our own thing in the end. Thanks so much
I have built my version of an Akiyuki design and am working on a Great Ball Pit design as well - both out of Brick Link bought parts. If those names are unfamiliar to you then I suggest searching them out as they are worth seeing!
Making these are prohibitively expensive, plain and simple. Since these are collaborations with the original designers of the models then I don't have an issue. Lego won't make them, so what are we supposed to do? Please support the designers in whatever capacity you are able.
Absolutely. I've been following the GBC community for many years but just now really diving into it. My videos are scheduled ahead of time (as much as possible) but I'll have a lot more GBC stuff coming soon. I've built about 10 modules from Rebrickable and will always do my best to credit the original designer and the instructions maker when they differ. I may also do review videos of modules and list any problems I had / modifications. There is a lot of GBC videos out there but not many with voiceover / in-depth analysis
Lego is pretty expensive and these chinese manufacturers give less expensive options to kids so I'm all for that.
But due to the stolen designs and still inferior (although they have gotten way better now) quality I don't want any of it. Some of the cada/mould king etc motor and rf control options seem interesting though.
I think you should just try and maybe sand the axles down a bit (just slide each side of each axle once or twice over a piece of reasonable grid sandpaper) or maybe lube it with graphite instead of trying to replace parts with actual lego and just let it sit as a display piece once you get it working. It looks like all the problems you encountered are just from the axles/steps not following the cam fast enough so the balls can't hop over to the next one. You should be able to determine the spin direction by looking at the cams and seeing how they turn.
Mould King also has some modular sets designed by Berthil. I may pick one up, doubtful I'd make a video though. GBC and mechanical sets require tight tolerances on the parts, I don't think they are quite there yet.
As for the rainbow stepper I've been working on it for a while now and have already swapped in a fair bit of Lego parts. Still a work in progress
It‘s about not supporting a company who is famous for stealing designs from Lego and designers. Did you know that Mouldking stole designs from Nico75… he is too small to do anything against it.
I was not aware of designs stolen from Nico71. There are plenty of channels out there that cover Mould King sets and I seriously doubt they would do as much research as I did as to which designs were stolen or not. Just like I said in the video I am refusing to cover any designs that are stolen and will call them out for it. MK will exist as a company regardless of whether I made this video or not, It was my goal to bring attention to the fact some designs are stolen and that the sets aren't even that great without modification. If they reach out to creators for their designs I'm fine with that. As for The Lego Group losing money and Disney losing out on licensing fees that's their battle to fight, they are doing just fine in the meantime.
I was waiting for this video to release before reaching out to MK myself. I certainly do not appreciate designs being stolen from Lego fans / designers
At the same time, it's good to show support for product lines that are done in conjunction with designers, and encourage them to move more in that direction. If you remove yourself as a customer (or reviewer) entirely, you lose your voice in helping determine what direction they go.
With this sort of review, they can see "oh, we're getting positive coverage (and perhaps increased sales of those sets, relative to the stolen designs) BECAUSE of a productive relationship with the community"
I need doesn’t work it doesn’t work I spent days on my life wasted, and the ball can’t even go when the ball hits the tire. It just goes up 1 inch.
That's really why I made the video, to show they don't work near as well as advertised. That's why I don't think Lego would ever make a set like this they are much more concerned about quality than these third party companies.
did you manage to figure it out?
I built the marble run and when I turned it on it blew itself apat
Apart