Post by El Caracho on Mar 13, 2019 17:37:29 GMT
Hello
Although most of the packages I order from China vanish without a trace or are destroyed by customs lately, to my surprise the Gudi Abrams set 6102 showed up at my doorstep.
It was not send in the usual "drug bag" parcel (dark plastic bag), but split over 2 packages out of styrofoam, so it looked like I was receiving packages for an urgent organ transplant. Maybe that's why the packages arrived in the first place, because customs couldn't immediately figure out that they contain building bricks, which apparently they do not allow into the country anymore.
Anyway, I started to assemble the set immediately, and the result is VERY impressive.
The tank has the exact same size as the Mega Bloks Probuilder M1A1 Abrams set 9734, so it is only logically to compare these two.
The Gudi Abrams is constructed much more sophisticated, with lots of non-standard parts, and has a detailed interior, including driver's seat and engine.
But to be fair, the Mega Bloks set and the Gudi set are many many years of building blocks development apart (16 years to be exact).
One big advantage is that the Gudi Abrams has individual track links compared to the "rubber band" of the Mega Bloks Abrams.
But due to a design flaw the Gudi tank is not able to roll on its tracks at all.
All the road wheels are mounted on fixed cross-axles and thus are not able to rotate.
And the tension between the front and rear axles with the gears is so high, the axles are bended towards each other
(and there are no additional track links included to fix this)
I had no spare parts left after I finished the assembly (except 2 tiny black lever pieces), but I didn't encounter any missing parts either.
And the overall quality of the bricks itself was surprisingly good.
I had one heavily scratched and deformed part though (tan 1x2x2 inverse slope), which looked like it got caught somewhere between the machinery along the production process.
So I used a cutter knife to at least get it into a shape that would make it fit into the intended place.
And as you don’t see this part from the outside once the model is finished, it was not a mayor problem.
With the included bricks, you get to build 2 different sets of side armor plates at the same time ("flat" ones and "bumpy" ones), which you can then swap as you like.
One of the tank "features" is an openable engine compartment hatch at the back (revealing the detailed engine).
There is a rod to keep the hatch open, but if you mount the rod as described in the building instructions, the hatch will not be able to fully close.
But you can modify it by placing the whole rod mounting one stud more inwards, and then it will fit, because you now push down the rod inside the engine compartment, enabling the hatch to fully close.
But after adding the turret, you will no longer be able to open the rear hatch at all, anyway!
The rubber hoses mounted on the engine also wouldn't stay in place like described in the instruction booklet.
They were constantly popping off again, so in the end I mounted them differently.
The turret mounting is a bit wobbly (same as on the Mega Bloks Abrams), and my turret seems to be a bit tail-heavy, so it always points sort of upwards at the front.
If you try to rotate the turret, the turret mounting will most certainly twist and break apart (as it is only held by 4 thin pillars made out of the "62462" technic pin connectors), so better leave the turret alone.
The gun barrel is quite massive, but it's only held by the friction of two "technic axles 3L with stud" squeezed into the holes of technic beams, so that friction may loosen off after a while causing the gun barrel to constantly stay in the "down" position.
Conclusion:
Despite being just a display piece (because the tank is not able to roll), it is very impressive and very well done.
So if you are into giant tank models out of building bricks for display purposes, this one is highly recommended.
Well, it looks like flickr is intentionally crappy now for free users to force you to pay for their service.
But I'd rather not share any of my pictures anymore than do that ...
Although most of the packages I order from China vanish without a trace or are destroyed by customs lately, to my surprise the Gudi Abrams set 6102 showed up at my doorstep.
It was not send in the usual "drug bag" parcel (dark plastic bag), but split over 2 packages out of styrofoam, so it looked like I was receiving packages for an urgent organ transplant. Maybe that's why the packages arrived in the first place, because customs couldn't immediately figure out that they contain building bricks, which apparently they do not allow into the country anymore.
Anyway, I started to assemble the set immediately, and the result is VERY impressive.
The tank has the exact same size as the Mega Bloks Probuilder M1A1 Abrams set 9734, so it is only logically to compare these two.
The Gudi Abrams is constructed much more sophisticated, with lots of non-standard parts, and has a detailed interior, including driver's seat and engine.
But to be fair, the Mega Bloks set and the Gudi set are many many years of building blocks development apart (16 years to be exact).
One big advantage is that the Gudi Abrams has individual track links compared to the "rubber band" of the Mega Bloks Abrams.
But due to a design flaw the Gudi tank is not able to roll on its tracks at all.
All the road wheels are mounted on fixed cross-axles and thus are not able to rotate.
And the tension between the front and rear axles with the gears is so high, the axles are bended towards each other
(and there are no additional track links included to fix this)
I probably have to order a whole bunch of Lego technic parts to fix the non-rotating wheels, but this doesn't look like an easy job, as you have to come up with a whole different method of mounting the road wheels.
And the overall quality of the bricks itself was surprisingly good.
I had one heavily scratched and deformed part though (tan 1x2x2 inverse slope), which looked like it got caught somewhere between the machinery along the production process.
So I used a cutter knife to at least get it into a shape that would make it fit into the intended place.
And as you don’t see this part from the outside once the model is finished, it was not a mayor problem.
With the included bricks, you get to build 2 different sets of side armor plates at the same time ("flat" ones and "bumpy" ones), which you can then swap as you like.
One of the tank "features" is an openable engine compartment hatch at the back (revealing the detailed engine).
There is a rod to keep the hatch open, but if you mount the rod as described in the building instructions, the hatch will not be able to fully close.
But you can modify it by placing the whole rod mounting one stud more inwards, and then it will fit, because you now push down the rod inside the engine compartment, enabling the hatch to fully close.
But after adding the turret, you will no longer be able to open the rear hatch at all, anyway!
The rubber hoses mounted on the engine also wouldn't stay in place like described in the instruction booklet.
They were constantly popping off again, so in the end I mounted them differently.
The turret mounting is a bit wobbly (same as on the Mega Bloks Abrams), and my turret seems to be a bit tail-heavy, so it always points sort of upwards at the front.
If you try to rotate the turret, the turret mounting will most certainly twist and break apart (as it is only held by 4 thin pillars made out of the "62462" technic pin connectors), so better leave the turret alone.
The gun barrel is quite massive, but it's only held by the friction of two "technic axles 3L with stud" squeezed into the holes of technic beams, so that friction may loosen off after a while causing the gun barrel to constantly stay in the "down" position.
Conclusion:
Despite being just a display piece (because the tank is not able to roll), it is very impressive and very well done.
So if you are into giant tank models out of building bricks for display purposes, this one is highly recommended.
Well, it looks like flickr is intentionally crappy now for free users to force you to pay for their service.
But I'd rather not share any of my pictures anymore than do that ...
