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My informal review of BrikWorx initial offering - coaches 401 and 403 in set
405.
Check out pictures of finished models and box contents at:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=5242
My sons and I put together the models recently - I, of course, had
a head start by finishing the combination car ahead of time. I was dying to
see the color combination come into being, since I don't have any
verdigris-colored bricks in my collection. The www.bricworx.com website was
very helpful and very representative of what I actually received and put
together. I opened it upon arrival.
The instructions are top-quality. I've been putting similar coaches
together for our 9v trains at home, and I was going through all the motions to
document their construction via instructions and LDRAW. I wanted to create
something my sons could dig up form the attic many years from now and get
out for their kids (if I every have to put my LEGO away, that is). "Hey -
remember when Dad made this LEGO train set? Here's the instructions on how
he made those cool Pullman cars!" One of the attractions of set 405 was
that the set was already documented, and provided an excellent storage box
with a picture on the cover. The best I could do was to get a 2qt.
Sterilite clear plastic box up until now...
The presentation is very good. My thoughts were overall positive as I
broke the seal on the set and opened the box to find some FloPak cells and
the Authenticity document on the top. The document is great, but the
once-inflated FloPak cells were now flat. They did their job very well,
but it gave me an impression that they actually had become deflated because
the contents had shifted and caused their failure. In my eyes, I need to see
packaging materials that remains 90% or more intact, so I know the contents
had a safe ride. I liked how the contents of the color motif elements
seperated from the rest of the model elements, and the 401s and 403 were
individually compartmentalized in seperate zipper bags. BrikWorx went to
great lengths to make sure the contents were shipped intact to me by
insuring the package, using a sturdy USPS supplied Priority Mail box, and
filling voids in the box with bubble wrap, etc. Nice job!
The design is excellent. I wasn't after a very realistic form when I purchased
this set, but the design is plausible and non-juniorized. The cars assemble
in a fashion that is very consistant with the tactile feel of a good
old-fashioned LEGO set. There are parts where you say "oh - I get it now"
and no frustration. My 5 and 8 year old sons could tackle all the building
except for the initial framework of the floor of the cars, and the exact
location of the buffers. The black color is hard to present in any contrast
in any instruction detail, but the BricWorx instructions did an excellent
job. I didn't have any problems, but I've been at this longer than my 8
year old, of course! They really enjoyed putting it together with me and
pushing them around the floor for a couple of hours. We were on a visit to
Grandma and Grandpa's house in Binghamton at the time, and I didn't bring
any track with me. These models stood side by side with my own creations
and the Metroliner, each as interesting to me and my kids as the next. Even
my NLSO wife stopped rolling her eyes to check them out once they were
built. I like the design because it's close to some other Pullman-styled
coaches that I've made, and I was interested in learning from BrikWorx's
execution. It's one thing to see creations posted on LUGNET, etc., but when
you get to handle a model of someone else's creation on your own time,
that's cool.
The original sticker sheets supplied with the set were generous and
represented a decent assortment of icons and fonts. I had some problems
applying the stickers, as I found that medium pressure while I rubbed them
into place started to smear the ink. Steve and Dwayne listened to my
suggestions and offered replacement stickers in a wet decal format. While
these applied much better, I found that they became a bit brittle and flaked
off under some handling. I'll probably remove most of the larger decals,
but keep the smaller ones on as long as I can. I think the best results
would be produced on clear sticker stock printed with an ALPS dry transfer
printing technique. If I need decals or stickers that badly, I'll figure
out a way to get them on my own. Don't hold the sticker/decal problems
against this set - I bought it without much interest in applying them
anyway, and I'm certainly not disappointed. Rather, I'm pleased that
BrikWorx tried hard to correct my issue.
Also of note - all of the elements were in excellent shape, except for the
1x4x2 white fences, which were used but in good shape. I had to clean them
up a bit to get them to match the new gloss of their neighboring elements in
the set.
Did I mention that the set was shipped via USPS Priority Mail Insured - a
definite sign of premium customer service, and that scored points with me.
Most of all, my transaction was handled with high importance, and that was much
appreciated. I look forward to future orders from BricWorx.
Thanks for the read,
Ed
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Review of BrickWorx set 405
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| (...) I was among the first to order from BricWorx, and I want to echo your review exactly Ed, those guys over there at BricWorx did a hell of a job! -Harvey (23 years ago, 29-Jun-01, to lugnet.trains)
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