Welcome to my JIE STAR Big Boy Static Model Build. This is a model that is sold on Temu and is a product very similar to Legos and in fact works with Legos. Another forum member posted seeing this and that it was listed on Temu as "Bad Boy" instead of Big Boy. I showed it to the wife and about how I thought it was really neat and that I thought the price was even reasonable. Actually, I'd guess if this were an actual Lego product it would be about 4 times the listed price of this model. Well, the wife worked some sort of voodoo magic that all women seem to have and found a couple of offers for Temu and ended up getting this for me and a couple of other things she saw for less that what the listed price was for the model. I didn't know she ordered it until I got home from a business trip earlier this week and found it sitting on the kitchen table in my spot. I was surprised to say the least. So, lets start by taking a look at the box. It is not in mint condition and I'd guess it's as much from how it was probably stored as it was from the shipping. Front: Back Top Bottom Left Side Right side That covers the box itself. Next up was to un box it and see what we have. Stay tuned.
Now for inside the box. There are two trays of parts Tray 1: Tray 2: Under the bags in tray 1 was the track The 74 page instruction book. It was under the track sections and the cove didn't fair so well. Just like Lego instructions they are well done and fairly easy to follow. The back cover looked better Inside were some stickers and a parts size guide that I am sure will be needed. Now to start the build!
Since before Christmas I've been getting a lot of adds for TEMU (seem to be connected to Amazon). But, I wondered about quality and such. This thing does look interesting but I don't think I could afford it. Thanks for showing us.
Next update: Pages 3 & 4 Pages 5 & 6 Pages 7 & 8 Doesn't look like much yet but I promise it gets there. One item at this point in the build I found neat is the firebox. Well, I don't think they are directly connected. It almost feels like Temu is trying to establish themselves in preparation to become a full on competitor to Amazon. It they can create a US delivery system to match, they will be. Just my theory. As for quality, the 3 items we got from them so far seem to be good. The wife was recently reading about how to sell on Amazon. Something she learned was that one of the many ways people are getting the inventory they sell on Amazon is ordering from Temu and having it drop shipped to Amazon for resell. She started looking and found many of the exact same items on Amazon for twice the price Temu is selling it for. Of course, shipping time from Temu is a couple of weeks on average from what I've seen. More on the build to come
Continuing the build Pages 9 & 10 Pages 11 & 12 Pages 13 & 14 Pages 15 & 16 Pages 17 & 18 Pages 19 & 20 Now it's starting to take shape sort of To be continued
Another night, another 10 pages done! Pages 21 & 22 Pages 23 & 24 Pages 25 & 26 Pages 27 & 28 Pages 29 & 30 Now it's looking like a steamer!
Coming along swimmingly! Or steamingly? Reminds me of my time building a Metal Time stainless steel model of the International Space Station a while ago.
And tender too. Wheels will probably start showing up in the next post. Those sound fun too! Hopefully this build isn't too boring
A little more done Pages 31 & 32 Pages 33 & 34 Pages 35 & 36 Pages 37 & 38 Pages 39 & 40 20ish pages left to go.
Definitely not boring! Building kits is a very Zen activity for me (though some of the cussing would suggest otherwise...) and when I'm really into it, I'm in my "bubble", where nothing else matters, just the build. That space station took me about six weeks to build, carefully bending each piece into shape and mounting them by bending tiny tabs to hold them. It's very relaxing in the long run because it's only that which preoccupies the mind. That's something that Lego taught me way back in my childhood, in the late 1960's and early 1970's. When I played with them, I was so quiet my Mom worried about me and peeked into my room and saw me intensely concentrated on the Legos... I must have had a top of the line DeLuxe VIP Lego box - my wheels were round!
This where I'm supposed to make some comment like, "Yes, the wheels are round, it's my blockhead that's square." Besides, don't forget that quote from the famous Americana philosopher Huey Lewis who said "It's hip to be square!"
From last night Pages 51 & 52 Pages 53 & 54 Pages 55 & 56 Pages 57 & 58 Pages 59 & 60 I'll probably finish the build today so the next post will show the last 10 pages and then I'll do a wrap up post. Coming your way later today or tomorrow morning
