Purchasing complete kit for Nico71’s products
If you like my creations, they are available to purchase for yourself or as a gift. There are two way to buy complete kits of my models :
- with genuine LEGO bricks
- with aftermarket bricks (Chinese bricks)
Genuine LEGO® Bricks
There are only one official retailers for Nico71’s products which use LEGO Genuine bricks :
He provides complete kits for my creations, including genuine and new LEGO parts as well as PDF building instructions.
This is the most expensive solution, but you will get the best quality bricks, best building experience, and high resale value.
If the price is an issue, some models are proposed without motorization so you can use yours, or some from other brands which may be cheaper than LEGO expensive one (CADA, Mouldking for the most renowned).
Aftermarket Parts (Chinese)
There are different official retailers for Nico71’s products which use Alternative Bricks from China under a same mother company : HK Chuangteng Trade Co (Mocsage).
They provides complete kits for my creations, including Alternative Chinese parts and PDF building instructions. This is the most affordable solution, especially for motorized set as electronics from LEGO is very expensive. But you have to pay more attention during the building, as the part frictions is not as consistent as LEGO.
The building experience is similar (children under 10 must be preferably accompanied by an adult), but the resale value is lower.
Some insights regarding the Chinese parts
Buildamoc or LesDIY are not the only stores who sell Nico71’s creations. There are some others selling through Amazon, Ebay, AliExpress, which mostly use Chinese Aftermarket Bricks.
There is no problem to buy alternative Chinese parts, and is legal now, except for certain patented parts. The only condition is that the company who sell the products has acquired legally the right to do so and so the consent of the original authors to respect the copyright.
To easy searching on my creations, here are the official lists for my creations :
- Any creations with my name made by Buildamoc (VAT ESB44991057)
- Articulated 8×8 Offroad Truck – Copyright owned by Ningbo DreamFish Tech Co., Ltd (Reg n°91330283MA2H49MF57)
- Citroen 2CV and Mehari – Collaboration between Buildamoc, Nico71 and Mehari Club of Cassis (VAT n°FR 73 385 081 161)
- Telescope – Collaboration between Buildamoc, Nico71 and MEDAS INSTRUMENTS (VAT n°FR83310914544.)
- Any creations with my Name made for CADA Brand – Doubleeagle Industry Limited (Reg n°91440515665033317L)
- Any creation with my Name on lesdiy.com, lesdiy.de, letbricks.com, mocsage.com, medievalbricks.com and enginediyshop. (HK Chuangteng Trade Co. Limited, Reg n°2035202 / 2110934)
All other stores that do not display clearly the author consent or the license acquisition proof or which do not appear in the list above are unauthorized and have simply pirated my creations or plagiarized my instructions.
By buying such products from unauthorized seller, you are encouraging counterfeiting and making yourself an accomplice to it, along with the associated legal consequences.
How to make the difference between LEGO and non-LEGO products
For the official Lego sets :
- Check on Rebrickable if it is an official set. If it is, compare the price with the official Lego product. If the price is too good to be true, it’s probably a counterfeit with unofficial Lego clone parts. Also consider the price relative to piece count. You should typically expect 0.07€ to 0.15€ per piece for genuine Lego sets.
- Look for an explicit statement about using Lego genuine parts. If it is not there, it is most probably aftermarket bricks. “bricks” or “blocks” are not Lego parts in themselves, look out specifically for the “Lego”.
- Don’t trust all reviews. Fake reviews are often short, unspecific to the product and may look odd due to robot translation into English. You can use Reviewmeta to check if they are true or not.
- Enquire on the Lego Technic Facebook page if the product is fake or not. There are many experts who can answer you.
Buying products composed of LEGO bricks is more expensive but the resell value is also more expensive and consistent over the time.
For other creations (MOCs):
- If the price is too good to be true, it probably uses Lego clone parts. Also consider the price relative to piece count. You should typically expect 0.10€ to 0.20€ per piece for independent designer sets using genuine Lego parts. Basically, a 2000-piece supercar for €100 in LEGO is just not possible.
- Look out explicit consent of the designer on the product page or the store webpage, even if you can see the designer’s original videos or pictures.
- Look for an explicit statement about using Lego genuine parts. If it is not there, it is most probably aftermarket bricks. “bricks” or “blocks” are not Lego parts in themselves, look out specifically for the word “LEGO”.
- These companies sometimes even embed the author’s YouTube video or pictures, or the Rebrickable ID (MOC-XXXX format). If so, check on the designer’s website if they authorize that particular trader. You can also contact the designed directly via their website or Rebrickable.
- Do a Reverse Image Search by downloading a picture. You should see what other websites use the picture, including the designer’s website.
- Enquire on the Lego Technic Facebook page if the product is fake or not. There are many experts who can answer you.
Buying products composed of aftermarket Chinese bricks is cheaper than genuine LEGO, but the resell value is also way cheaper and there are many brand and so not a unified quality.
Motorization Guide (LEGO and non-LEGO)
LEGO electronics can be expensive, especially since they stopped the Power Functions System (PFS) to be replaced by the PoweredUp Ecosystem (Control+ or C+) which only work with smartphone.
Nevertheless, it exists some alternative with Chinese components such as Mouldking or Cada which produce compatible motors for Power Functions and propose good remote solution.
I usually design my creations to be compatible with multiple source of electronics, so if you have trouble to find or buy LEGO official Power Functions component, you can use the table below to find equivalents depending of your need.
For Control+ components (which are controled by the PoweredUp App), there is no Chinese equivalent, but you can swap the Control+ Hub (ref 85824 / 22127) by a Buwizz 3.0 to enable a Gamepad controls in bluetooth.
Power Functions Element | ||||
M Motor (Medium) | Set 8883 / Ref 58120 
| M-0004 
| JV5030 
| |
L Motor (Large) | Set 88003 / Ref 99499 
| M-0003 (standard) 
M-0001 (Black, faster, less torque) 
| JV5028 
| |
XL Motor (Extra Large) | Set 8882 / Ref 58121 
| M-0002 
| Do not exist | |
Servo Motor | Set 88004 / Ref 99498 (Proportionnal : 15 positions) 
| M-0005 (non proportionnal : 3 positions) 
| JV5029 (non proportionnal : 3 positions) 
| |
Buggy (RC) Motor | 
| 
| M-0007 (with attached cable) 
| JV5049 (with attached cable) 
|
Micro Motor | Do not exist (5119 is painfully slow and rare) | 
| Do not exist (many Chinese equivalents exist but the quality is unconsistent to recommend a brand) | JV5043 
|
Remote Control System (non proportionnal) | 
| Buwizz 2.0 or 4.0 (4 ports) + Smartphone (bluetooth gamepad in option) 
| M-0006 (4 ports) 
| JV1010 & JV8011 (4 ports) 
|
Remote Control System (proportionnal controls) | 
| Buwizz 2.0 or 4.0 (4 ports) + Smartphone (bluetooth gamepad in option)
| * M-0021 (4 ports) 
* M-0019 (6 ports) 
| Do not exist |
*Proportionnal controls on every motor, except on the servomotor which need to be an official LEGO Servo motor (ref 99498), if not you will have only 3 positions.