REVIEW – Like most 80’s kids I grew up addicted to Lego bricks and now that I have a 9 year old boy, building Lego sets are a way of life for us but I have noticed they have gotten a bit pricey lately. If you are interested in a cheaper building block set that is compatible with Lego read on.
What is it?
JMBricklayer entered the connecting building block space in 2022 as a cheaper alternative to Lego. I suppose it’s no surprise with almost everything these days having an off brand or store brand version of a brand name product that Lego would be a natural target. My fellow Gadgeteer’s are no stranger to JMBricklayer and have reviewed a Spaceman, Chameleon, Pirate Ship, Lighthouse, and most recently a huge 5,391 piece Marble Run set. So when they offered their Western Train Station Bookend 50002 I decided to give them a try myself.
What’s included?
- 1,379 pieces
- Instruction manual
- Brick tool (identical to the Lego one)
Tech specs
- Model Number: 50002
- Pieces: 1,379
- Age Recommendation: 14+
Design and features
I recently purchased Lego set 43249 as a birthday present for a friend’s daughter and with 730 pieces it cost $55.99 which is 7.6 cents per piece. For comparison this JMBricklayer Western Train Station 50002 is 1,379 pieces for $59.99 which is 4.3 cents a piece. The JMBricklayer Mech Robot set 70125 has 744 pieces and costs $39.94 which is 5.3 cents per piece. Not a huge difference you might think but as fellow Gadgeteer, James, found out on a larger 5,391 piece JMBricklayer Marble Run set the price difference could be four times as much for a comparable sized Lego set.
For me the biggest question I had was if they were compatible with normal Lego blocks which they are as well as with Technic blocks. They have excellent clutch and I did not find any issues with warped pieces or pieces that didn’t fit as they were supposed to. I would say quality was pretty on par with Lego blocks.
Assembly, installation, and setup
Assembling the JMBricklayer Western Train Station Bookend 50002 was actually pretty straightforward and although I did have to back track once or twice because I used the wrong color piece I place no blame on the instructions. That was totally my oversight. The instructions were clear, easy to follow, very color correct, and even for the dark shiny “chrome” pieces they placed a little star on the part to denote that as seen in the pictures below.
The Western Train Station Booked consisted of four main parts with the two stations and the two trains. There are 24 bags in total and clearly numbered except for the base plates which were just in a clear bag. I couldn’t figure out why some bags were yellow, blue, or red but it didn’t seem to matter. One thing I really liked better than Lego is the instructions would grey out previously installed pieces so the only color would be the current pieces needing to be installed. A nice touch to avoid confusion. It also shows at the beginning a picture of what each numbered bags would build so in this case I could have gone in any order really with no issue.
The first train station took me a couple hours to put together. I did take my time and had to use multiple bowls to keep the parts in. I realized you pretty much have to open all the bags since the pieces were probably bagged according to production availability and not actual assembly order. Not a big deal but you just want to have enough bowls or a big pan to put all the pieces in.
The first train came next and again assembly was straightforward and easy to follow. Unlike Lego the JMBricklayer pieces came with stickers already installed on the pieces and I liked all the detailed signs for the station and on the train. The box states this set is for ages 14+ but the instructions were clear enough for my 9 year old to follow and the pieces fit together just as well as our Lego blocks.
Finally the second train station and train were next.
What I like about the JMBricklayer Western Train Station Bookend 50002
- Compatible with Lego bricks
- Good clutch and quality
- Great price
What needs to be improved?
- Maybe add some minifigures
Final thoughts
JMBricklayer is a fun and cheaper alternative to Lego building blocks. At $59.99 this set comes out to 4.3 cents per piece! If you are invited to a lot of kids birthday parties the JMBricklayer sets are a great cost saving option. I also liked some of their other sets which aren’t tied to the usual movie scenes or characters. The JMBricklayer Western Train Station Bookend was fun to build and I really had nothing I could complain about except the set might have been better with a few minifigures. I was pleasantly surprised that every piece was perfect and fit together as intended. They have excellent clutch just like normal Lego blocks and it was a lot of fun to build with my son over a few days taking probably about eight hours total. If you like Lego building blocks then I highly recommend giving JMBricklayer sets a try.
Price: $59.99
Where to buy: JMBricklayer website
Source: The sample for this review was provided by JMBricklayer. JMBricklayer did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
