nanoblock Kumamon Review

Difficulty: Level 2

Time to Complete: 30 Minutes

Item Code: NBH_074

Kumamon is a mascot created by the government of Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. He was first created in 2010 for a campaign called Kumamoto Surprise to draw tourists to the region after the Kyushu Shinkansen line opened. Kumamon subsequently became nationally popular, and in late 2011, was voted top in a nationwide survey of mascots, collectively known as Yuru-kyara, garnering over 280,000 votes. More info from Wikipedia.

This Kumamon nanoblock set is only available in Japan, and I bought it when I was in Tokyo recently. They are sold in most places that sells nanoblock, like Bic Camera, Yodobashi, Loft, etc. The box does not mention the number of bricks included in this set, but you can see from the photo below that it does in fact come with quite a lot of bricks.

Some of the more interesting bricks in this set

It took me about half an hour to build this. I really like the design of this nanoblock Kumamon. It's really cute. Also, I really like the way it's designed. There is a certain beauty to it.

You can see photos of the finished build below.

The extra bricks included in this set

For custom builders, this set is also cool because it comes with a lot of the black and yellow angled-bricks.

nanoGauge Basic Full Kit Review - Part 1

Difficulty: Level 3
Time to Complete: 60 minutes
Item Code: nGS_001

Introduction

nanoGauge is the new motorised train set from Kawada that is based on nanoblock. It is currently only officially released in Japan, so I ordered mine from Plamoya for around USD130 (excluding shipping). The box is huge, so shipping costs a bomb! 

Front of the box

Back of the box

Contents

This set comes with everything you need to get started, including the user manual, train build instructions, tracks, motor and bogie units, controller, power supply and of course, nanoblock bricks to build the actual train itself. I will go through all the items in more detail below.

Contents of this set

User manual

The user manual is a single large sheet of paper and it tells you everything you need to know to get your nanoGauge set working, so it's fairly simple to set it up.

AC Power Adapter and Controller

The controller unit allows you to control the running of the train. You can control both the direction and speed of the train. An AC power adapter that uses 100-240v is provided, so it should be supported everywhere. Yes, this thing runs on AC power, not batteries.

Motor and Bogie Units

One motor unit and four bogie units are included in this set. The motor unit drives the train, while bogie units allow you to build the other carriages that are attached to the motor unit. Each carriage would need two bogie units, one in front and one at the back. The bogie units have studs on top, so you just treat it like a brick. The motor unit however does not have any studs. Instead, a really huge brick is provided which you can build your carriage on top and around it, which the motor unit then slots into. 

Track Sections

Bottom of the track sections

There are 8 curved and 4 straight track sections and that is enough for you to build a reasonable sized track. They slide and click into place quite nicely, and each section has two points where you can actually attach nanoblock bricks under and that is also the place where you can attach the cable that connects to your controller. These things can't bend much, so if you want to create a track with portions that are elevated, you will need a very very long track.

Bricks for the train

The train itself is quite simple, but I am sure you already knew that looking at the amount of bricks above. Even though they rated the difficulty at Level 3, I think it is more like a Level 2 at most. What is interesting though, is that Kawada introduced a bunch of new of brick types with nanoGauge. As you can see below, most of them are slated bricks and their purpose is to allow us to build more aerodynamic looking trains.

Some of the new brick types

Part 2 of this review will look into the building of the train and my thoughts about nanoGauge.

Just Got My nanoGauge Basic Full Kit

Just my luck, the nanoGauge Basic Full Kit I ordered from Japan (this shop) just arrived, but it got stuck in customs, so I had to spend almost two hours to go collect it, clear customs and bring it back home ... Anyway, here's the set ... Yes, I couldn't wait to get home to open it and snap a pic to show you guys ... Hahahaa ...

Here are a few photos of the nanoGauge Basic Full Kit (nGS_001). It cost me about USD130 (excluding shipping). More photos can be found here.

Some videos for a better look at the nanoGauge:

nanoGauge Available Now

The nanoGauge nanoblock train sets are available now in Japan. Click here to get it from Plamoya.

nanoGauge Train Set

Cool! Kawada just released a video of the upcoming nanoGauge motorized nanoblock train sets =) ... I can't wait for it to be released! ... and just so you guys know, I will have these in stock when it's launched here in Malaysia ^^

nanoblock Kangaroo Review

Difficulty: Level 2
Time to Complete: 20 minutes
No of Blocks: 110+
Item Code: NBC-092

The kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning 'large foot'). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, red kangaroo, antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo and western grey kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to Australia. More info on Wikipedia.

This nanoblock Kangaroo is quite obviously a red kangaroo. It comes in a small zip-lock bag containing 110+ bricks and an instruction sheet. Most of the bricks are a shade of medium-brown similar to the fox. 

Building this nanoblock set is fairly straight forward given its difficulty level of 2. Here are some photos of the build process.

Extra bricks included with this set

Here are more photos of the completed kangaroo. It is a nice looking kangaroo carrying a baby in her pouch. 

This nanoblock set is available from Amazon.

nanoblock Empire State Building Review

Difficulty: Level 3
Time to Complete: 80 minutes
No of Blocks: 740+ Pieces
Item Code: NBM-004
Price: RM99.90

Front of the box

Back of the box

The Empire State Building is a 103-story skyscraper located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet (381 meters), and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft (443.2 m) high. It stood as the world's tallest building for nearly 40 years, from its completion in early 1931. More info on Wikipedia.

This nanoblock version is nano-scale model of the real thing. It comes in a medium sized box with 740+ pieces of bricks and a large sheet of instruction. 

Contents of this set

All the bricks in this set are either clear blue or light grey. This is not surprising given that this building is mostly just grey with glass windows. For custom builders, if you need a lot of small light grey bricks for your own project, this set is perfect.

Types of bricks in this set

The difficulty rating for this set is 3, but I will probably rate it as a 2. It is more tedious than difficult, with a lot of repetition. Other than the need to keep count of the number of times you have repeated certain steps, there is nothing tricky about this build. Here are some photos taken during the build process.

Extra bricks included with set

It took 80 minutes to complete this building and it stands at 21cm tall. The design is quite nice for a tall grey building. You can view the finished photos below.

Considering that they designed this building with lots of blue clear brick windows, one would think they would make it LED base "compatible", but no, they used a green base plate. 

Well, that is not going to stop us from lighting it up, is it? I pretty much just plucked the building off the green based plate and moved it on top of the LED base plate. Only the first bottom layer is stuck on the green base plate and needs to be manually transferred brick by brick. After that, you need to make some slight modifications on layers where bricks are blocking the light from travelling up. Only a few layers need to be modified and they are quite simple to do. The end result is very nice.

This nanoblock set is available from Plamoya and Amazon.