The Mould King (MK) thread

[Toastie]

Folks, I know, this will be not well received in this forum.

How-ever.

I just watched Thomas' (Panke) Video on MK's set 16052 "City Rail Car". Man. €90 for this set is insanely cheap.

Not the point: The battery box (rechargeable, of course) has remote access - and, because it is fun ... a motor in it!!! I see this box as driving unit for sooo many trains. Yes, we need to check on torque etc., sure, but hey, what an idea (at least for me).

In addition to this box (check original price for TLG's #8878), you get a remote ^^ - and just to mention it, about 1500 pieces of ABS. Larger pieces, that is.

For those interested (in German):

There may be other reviews in English as well, just throw them in here.

Bricks are from GoBricks (which swiftly approach TLG quality).

I have the feeling that the MK folks will constantly come up with other cool stuff as this "battery box" is - thus this thread.

Best,
Thorsten

Edited December 13, 2023 by Toastie

[SpacePolice89]

I prefer to not buy fakes, and everyone should avoid supporting mainland Chinese companies due to the current world situation.

[Toastie]

1 hour ago, SpacePolice89 said:

I prefer to not buy fakes, and everyone should avoid supporting mainland Chinese companies due to the current world situation.

Oh my - let's put "politics" aside - as far as I am concerned, your "everyone" stops short "everywhere" with regard to mainland Chinese companies.
 

Spoiler

 

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=China-EU_-_international_trade_in_goods_statistics 

We were all sooo happy, when the cheap China stuff (you name it) came into mainland Europe, US and elsewhere ... and now we realize: Ooops - they actually took a look at what they made for us - and now they improved it? Now, I call that a very big surprise.

For sure: I don't like the system China "chose" (not many were choosing, of course) to run the country. Believe me. But: Stop the import from China - and down the drain go all countries of Europe. In no time.

BTW: Nobody enforces import; it is demand dictating import volumes. And the other way around. And oh yes: I have heard about government funding. Goto: https://european-union.europa.eu/live-work-study/funding-grants-subsidies_en

My group just got a little short of € 1 Mio to conduct research in chip lithography - to maintain the advantage the western world currently has. Sure they do the same in China.

But honestly? Not in the ABS molding business.  

 

Back on topic:
What about the quality of the bricks? What about the parts count, what about the "battery box", what about the price? And foremost: About the originality of the set? Any comments on that?

Best,
Thorsten

Edited December 14, 2023 by Toastie

[slagbijnieuwpoort1600]

I do not own any Mould King sets, but as I've seen quite some reviews (mainly on trains) and to my opinion this thread is way too short, I'll summerise what I've seen so far. I will limit myself mainly to trains, although many things are also applicable to other sets.

In general my conclusion would be that quite some of the sets had their problems, but they are getting better and better. Youtuber 'Bricked4you' reviewed quite some of their train sets, the title of the first one (on the set 12003, the Chinese locomotive QJ, from 2020) is titled noch nicht der ganz große Wurf (not quite the big hit yet), while the last (on the set 12017 EMD FP7, from 2024) is titled Der Eisenbahnkönig liefert ab (The Railway King delivers). That describes it I think in a nutshell.

Other general things to mention is that most/all train sets are designed by @marbleman, for a few years active on this forum, so no stolen designs. Most sets are complete starter sets, with motorisation, a remote and tracks and quite often also with lights or other accessories.

Pro's:

• Usually the designs are great, sometimes a bit overcomplicated for the parts that are being used (e.g. a 8w steam locomotive on R40 tracks)
• The quality of GoBricks parts are getting better and better, only the tiles are still below TLG quality, colour consistence and clamping force are better/higher. The latter is definitely an advantage for these more complicated sets.
• They include R104 curves in some of there sets
• Innovative electronics that are a great addition in building trains, e.g. a steam generator (probably the prototype can be found here: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/135094-upgrade-smoking-effect-to-my-qj-locomotive/), a train motor with battery and receiver integrated.
• I like that for once not only European and American trains are provided.
• Quite some steam trains with non-standard size train wheels (the Orient Express has 6 XXL wheels and 20 (!) M wheels)
• A very good price to value ratio.

Con's:

• Some train specific parts where quite bad especially in earlier sets, e.g. bogie plates that do not hold in a technic hole.
• They (almost?) copied the new TLG train wheels without metal axles. Although in the EMD FP7 they are performing quite good and the wheel holders are in flat silver.
• Usually no prints, all details solved with stickers
• Blue pins
• Cable management can be quite challenging, as there are usually many electronics that have to be packed in a locomotive, and it is not very clear from the manual where they should be put.
• Most sets consist of a locomotive with only one coach/freight wagon and are a bit hard to extend, because the coaches/wagon's are not sold separately.
• The train motor with integrated receiver and battery is hardly usuable as it is delivered, because the battery has only an tiny 100mAh of electricity that can be stored. This can be solved by equipping an external battery to it (while still maintaining a quit compact size). See e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gonwum_4ZuE  and https://youtu.be/CfdqLTT48Sc?t=538
• Many trains come with a remote that cannot steer the motor proportional, only on/off.

Does any one know by the way why the majority of not only Mould King but also Cada, Xingbao, Reobrix, etc are in German and not in English?

[Yperio_Bricks]

On 6/29/2024 at 11:49 PM, slagbijnieuwpoort1600 said:

Does any one know by the way why the majority of not only Mould King but also Cada, Xingbao, Reobrix, etc are in German and not in English?

You mean YT reviews?

[Rogguy]

So I just got my son the Mould King 10178 V8 engine building block set, and from what I've seen so far, I can imagine all sorts of accessories that this thing could power!  Obviously the engine itself is powered by a battery pack so the technically the engine is redundant, but hey, the cool factor is there at least!  Does anyone know if there are techno builds available that this engine would power?  I'm thinking something like a water pump, or generator and lights, or, idk, anything down that line!  Could be belt driven off the flywheel it would seem like.  I just think that surely there are some options out there.