Military Ambulance - Enlighten review

[crossmr]

Name: Military Ambulance 0273

Theme: Century Military

Pieces: I'd guess 100

Price: 3900 won ($3.25 USD)

Minifigs: 3

Time: 20-30 minutes

I finally found some Enlighten here. Not that I was looking very hard for it, but I was curious. I've read conflicting reviews about what people thought of it and decided I had to give it a shot for myself. While I was looking around one of the local shopping sites, I found someone selling some Enlighten sets. For only $3.25 I decided to pick up the military ambulance. Oxford's is currently discontinued, so I really wanted to have an ambulance. Let's see how it turns out.

Box

While not terrible, it feels a little cheaper than an Oxford box. The cardboard feels cheaper I guess. It opens like an Oxford box, so no tearing. The back shows a couple alternative builds

Instructions

Different than Oxford. They don't show the pieces for each step, feels like old school Lego instructions. Clear and easy to follow

Pieces

Not terrible quality. They definitely felt worse than Oxford but it is hard to describe. They seem to have a bit more of a "plastic" feel to them.. which doesn't make sense since they are plastic. The clutch wasn't bad. I've had it together now overnight and I'm not seeing anything popping apart. I did have issues putting on a 1x6 thin piece when building it. I don't exactly know what. I'm not sure if it was the angle or what. Once I got it on, it was fine and has stayed put. The camo pieces almost look hand painted. The lights are kind of a neon green instead of a normal yellow.

The long base plate had a slight curve to it. Not that you'd notice but as I was building it, I noticed it. It hasn't impacted the finished model.

Minifigures

Comes with 3. 2 medics and a soldier. Printed torsos. Figures are stiff. Much stiffer than Oxford figs and on par with Lego stiffness, the problem is they don't feel as smooth as Lego. Rather than a smooth stiffness, it is a bit jerky. The helmets had some printing issues. The logos were not centered on them. But the bodies seemed okay. No face printing issues that I could see. The soldiers face was interesting. Came with 1 gun. Not a bad size, but a little odd to hold because the stock bends sharply into the arm, but he gets it done.

Construction

Straightforward. Other than that weird 1x6 it was smooth. Didn't take a long time.

Finished model

Let me try to describe this. It is a very solid feeling model. It doesn't feel like a cheap ambulance. It did have a bit of that smell I got with the Ligao bulldozer, but nowhere near as bad. This might be a smell that comes from Chinese plastics. Ligao's was overpowering. This one was just enough that I noticed it while building, and you really gotta give it a whiff to smell it. I think the model could have used a windshield, and the neon green lights are a bit of an odd choice. I think they should have used translucent pieces for the cab top lights, I assume that is what the red and white smooth pieces are supposed to be. Overall it looks like a military ambulance. The step on the back is a nice touch. It's not as sexy as some of the Oxford models I've been building. It definitely doesn't look as good and feel as good for me. There is on major problem. You can't put a driver in with his helmet on. The chinese helmets stick up way too far It is just not physically possible, even with taking off the roof to get him into place and put it all back together. They should have made it a bit taller and there should have been room for the second guy somewhere. If you put the stretcher in with a guy on it, there is simply nowhere to put the second medic. He could stand on the step on the back if he had a handle of some kind to grab onto. During movement there is also nowhere to really store the IV bag they include, which is too bad, because it is a cool little piece.

Conclusion

Minifig - 6/10 Not bad, but the jerky stiffness, misprinted helmets, and overall feel put me off a bit. 3 for the price is good though.

Parts - 6/10 Nothing really unique here at all. Could be some better choices made for a few things. Clutch was decent though. Far better than Ligao, not as good as Oxford.

Playability - 6/10 You got 2 medics, a soldier, an ambulance, a stretcher, an IV bag, good stuff, you just can't drive the ambulance anywhere...

design - 5/10 As noted above, needs a few tweaks. Looks like an ambulance though

price - 7/10 Hard to call this one. It is a lot for the price, but the quality isn't great. Still 3 minifigs and an a vehicle for $3.25 isn't terrible. It is only slightly more than that horrible bulldozer

Total - 30/50. I don't quite regret getting it, but I certainly like the Oxford quality much much more.

Edited July 27, 2010 by crossmr

[prateek]

Do the helmets fit on Lego figs?

[Joey Lock]

Do the helmets fit on Lego figs?

Certainly. I've seen them used in many MOC's before.

[crossmr]

my internet finally lets me come here again. Woo!

I tried it on my 1 lego figure I've got here and the helmets fit nice and smooth. No troubles at all. The gun also fits well. The handle is actually slightly small, but the stock of the gun seems to be function as part of the design and it presses against his arm to kind of wedge it into place. I'd probably like this design a lot more if the front roof was a hatch and it was tall enough to accommodate a driver.