Next up on the JMBricklayer reviews is the 70101 Mechanical Dinosaur. As a Jurassic Park fan, I’m excited about this build. You may also remember we have reviewed a number of this brand’s previous products such as the JMBricklayer RC Tiger Tank 61501 & JMBricklayer 3-in-1 Medieval Weapon Kit.

You can buy the mechanical dinosaur from JMBricklayer’s store on Amazon for £81

First impression

This set measures 23.60 x 11.80 x 9.80 (L x H x W) inches and comprises 1,470 pieces. This is going to be a big dinosaur – appropriate for what I presume is Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Considering the price point of £81, this is excellent value for money – both in the number of pieces but also in the size of the finished model.

As with other JMBricklayer builds, the pieces are divided into a number of numbered bags. This design definitely expedites the build, although I will comment that the numbers on the bags are difficult to see, and with numerous bags with the same number, it can be unclear if you’ve found all the bags you need.

The instruction booklet is detailed and relatively clear. I enjoy that it shades the previous steps in grey to make it clearer what’s being built in the current step. I’ve built a lot of brick models, and these instructions rank up there with what I’d expect from a good-quality product.

Design

The dinosaur itself appears to be modelled on a Tyrannosaurus Rex. However, as it’s a mechanical dinosaur, it has a range of mechanical design elements included throughout the model (i.e. it isn’t intended to look like a real dinosaur). On the right leg, there are faux pneumatic elements, and the torso has some cool design pieces.

The dinosaur is standing on a sandy base, with a rib cage underneath. The base is deceptively small considering the size of the dinosaur that stands upon it.

The limbs of the dinosaur are moveable but you can’t put the dinosaur into different positions. The knee joints are fairly weak, and the dinosaur’s body is heavy. It’s standing on the base, but it’s delicate. The design has you install the dinosaur before adding the tail, but much like a real dinosaur, the tail is needed to keep it balanced, so this should have been added first, otherwise it falls over very quickly. Once all the limbs are on, it’s more stable.

Build

This build has 6 sets of bags: base (1), left limbs (2), right limbs (3), torso and head (4 + 5), head, tail & final construction (6). I will go through each bag separately showing each stage, after showing you the instructions.

As mentioned before, the instructions are pretty clear. There’s a section showing all the pieces you need for each step, which helps in finding all the pieces you need before construction.

Step 1 was building the base. Nothing too complex here, but I did like building the elements that the dinosaur will connect to once installed. It’s nice seeing functionality that’ll be used further down the line – helps build up the excitement.

Step 2 was building the limbs, which I enjoyed a lot. It was at this point I realised how large the dinosaur would be. The only real criticism is the knee joint. Connecting both upper and lower limbs was a pain, as the force needed to connect both parts was too great for the surrounding pieces, and bits fell off the legs. I had to rebuild bits of the knee joint a few times to get them to unite. In hindsight, this could have been avoided if the steps in the build had been altered. Based on this issue, the knee joint can’t be manipulated – the joint crumbles and breaks apart instead.

 

Moving onto step 3, I was very pleased to see that the right limbs are completely different to the left limbs. This meant I wasn’t just repeating the same steps a second time. These limbs also have a lot more mechanical components than the left limbs. I had learnt from my previous mistakes and was more careful with the knee joint. I liked the faux pneumatic components on these limbs. There is a tricky bit on the ankle, though.

Steps 4 and 5 are the building of the torso and starting the head. The torso was a joy to build – lots of different types of pieces were used to build it, and more mechanical design elements were featured. As with the limbs, there’s a noticeable difference in design between the left and right-hand sides.

Step 6 completes the head, and tail and assembles the build!

You can see the difference in design between the left and right sides of the dinosaur.

Verdict

Overall, this was an incredibly fun build. I’ve never built anything from JMBricklayer before, but I do a lot of brick building in general, and this set was a joy to build. The knee joints are an exception – but no build is without its trickier moments. The design elements are done well, and the build is not repetitive or boring throughout. The final model is impressive – much bigger than I thought – and I will enjoy having it on display. It doesn’t feel very stable, but once all the limbs are in place, it feels balanced. In the words of John Hammond “We have a T-Rex”!

Product Rating    

Design: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Easy to Build: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars

Value for Money: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

Overall ranking: 4.6 out of 5.0 stars – 4.6 stars  

 

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