Subject:
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Review of ME Models 550 (Car Transporter)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.reviews
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Date:
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Wed, 27 Apr 2005 02:16:53 GMT
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Viewed:
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10483 times
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LIST OF PRODUCT LINES AND THEMES
ME Models 550
Town System / Freight (custom)
Car Transporter
Ages 8-88; 366 Pcs. (Truck 94 pcs; trailer 58 pcs., 7 cars at 30 pieces each);
(C)2005; 12-page manual; 1 model (1 truck with trailer, and 7 car load); 103
steps; building time, about 1 hour (includes cutting stickers) at a leisurely
pace.
Price Range: USD 39.00
RATINGS (Scale: Must-Have Excellent Very-Good Good Fair Poor)
Set: Excellent / Models: Excellent / Playability: Excellent
DECALS?
Yes. Stickers are laser-printed and must be cut out with scissors or a sharp
hobby knife before application.
SPECIAL FEATURES/COMPATIBILITY
Both the truck and trailer feature top decks and ramps that can be positioned in
loading/unloading or travel positions.
SET DESCRIPTION
The car transporter reviewed here is one of ME Models’ more recent releases. It
comes packaged in a shrink-wrapped box with a full-color picture of the model on
the lid. Upon opening the box, parts for sub-assemblies are packaged in
individual zip-lock bags, and are accompanied by a comprehensive set of
instructions for the main model and a sticker sheet. The truck and trailer are
executed in blue with some white accents on the truck cab. Seven identical cars
that make up the load come in black, blue, red, yellow, and white.
SPECIAL ELEMENTS
There are no unusual or new elements in this set, as it tries to capture the
flavor of the Town sets of the 1980s.
IMPRESSION
Sometime in 2003 I happened to run across the ME Models store on BrickLink. I
don’t exactly remember how I got to it, but I do vividly remember the pictures
of what looked like actual Town sets, brightly colored vehicles of all shapes
and sizes, and a couple of homes. I bought a couple of trucks and one of the
houses to see what these sets were like.
Having bought other custom sets that came in Ziploc bags or with instructions on
CD-ROM, I was pleasantly surprised when I received my shipment, with sets in
boxes and printed instructions on semi-glossy paper. The sets were fun and
challenging to build and fit in well with my collection of Classic Town sets. So
. . . when I saw the first pictures of the car transporter I knew I had to have
it. Unfortunately the set was not available yet, and after emailing ME Models,
they assured me I would have the set in about a month. I did.
The car transporter arrived in a shrink-wrapped box, filled with parts separated
in Ziploc bags by sub-assembly, a sticker sheet, and a comprehensive set of
instructions. I spent about an hour putting together the various assemblies that
make up the truck and its load, building at a leisurely pace. The instructions
only provide building steps for the main model, the car transporter and its
7-car load. There were no extra elements left after I had finished building the
model.
The car transporter is done in Minifig scale. One Minifig trucker is included in
the set and fits in the cab. Minifigs could also be put in the individual cars,
but need to be provided as they are not included in the set. All I had left to
do at the end was to cut the stickers from the sheet provided with the set. This
requires either a good set of scissors or a sharp hobby knife, and should be
done by an adult for the best results.
I really like the fact that the top decks of the truck and trailer can be
positioned for both loading/unloading and travel. While the truck has a
mechanism made up of two regular 1x2 hinges (with top and bottom parts), the
trailer’s top deck can be angled using a simple yet elegant design that uses
four 1x8 plates attached to four 1 x 2 - 1 x 4 Brackets. While it looks fairly
fragile, this design is surprisingly sturdy, and provides lots of opportunities
for play. My two sons have already had a lot of fun with this set. We are
already thinking about building a car dealership to go with it.
My main dislike of the set is the fact that the cars that make up the load all
have identical designs, and after building three or four of them, that part of
building the set becomes a little tedious. Based on the design, it would have
been easy to provide one or two convertibles, a station wagon, or a pickup
truck.
Also, while the overall design looks very good, I’m wondering if this truck
would look better in a 6-wide design. As is, it seems a little tall for its
width, especially when fully loaded. I may build a 6-wide version for comparison
purposes, as this thought has been bugging me for a while.
All in all though, the set fits in very well with my Classic Town collection,
both from a design and color scheme standpoint. ME Models has captured the
classic look very well. The set also looks great as a display piece, as it is
very colorful, especially when carrying a full load of cars. Given that the set
is fun to build, looks great, and provides lots of playability, I have given it
a rating of “excellent”.
There were a few small errors in the set, but nothing major considering this is
a custom kit. One 1x2 blue plate was missing and on one of the yellow cars I
ended up with two left doors instead of a left and a right. Luckily I had
spares. In addition, ME Models has already promised to send me replacement
parts.
I also noticed that the stickers that are supposed to go on the cab doors are a
little bit too big. I could not cut them small enough to get them to fit without
losing part of the sticker. I have contacted ME Models and they are looking into
the issue.
CONCLUSION
ME Models has been making retro Town sets for about 2 years. The fact that Mike
Fetsko and Erik Olson decided to design sets based on what Town used to look
like in its heyday (the 1980s) is what attracted me to their sets in the first
place. This means four-wide vehicles in basic colors that have substance, both
in design, amount of bricks per set, and building complexity. In addition, ME
Models is one of the very few custom set designers that can offer sets at
competitive prices when considering average cost per brick. At $39.00, the car
transporter averages out to about 10.6 cents per brick.
In conclusion, I would have liked to see a little more variation in cars that
make up the truck’s load, but if you like town sets that look great and provide
lots of playability, this set is excellent. Now all we need is a car dealership
to go with it…
REVIEWER INFORMATION
Review Written: April 15, 2005
By: Mark van ‘t Hooft (Lugnet Member #485)
Age 36
Favorite Lines/Themes: Town/Trains, Castle, Space
I have been collecting Lego sets for as long as I can remember. I have fairly
complete collections of Town, Classic Space, and Castle, and have lots of sets
in other ranges as well (Trains, Technic, Pirates, Wild West, Star Wars). I have
always liked sets for the sets, and can spend hours with my kids building castle
villages or space stations. I tend to build straight from the box, although with
the advent of BrickLink a few years ago I have also built up a sizeable
collection of parts for more imaginative building projects, and am constantly
amazed at the extraordinary creativity of other builders in the Lego community.
COPYRIGHT
This review is Copyright 2005, by the author as named above. The author grants
publication rights for all uses, public and private, with the following
exceptions: all information in the document must be published in full; any
for-profit use requires express written permission by the author for publication
in full or in part.
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