Sluban SRS Rescue

[Peppermint_M]

After the Horror that was the Tatco Pirate set, I was alarmed to say the least. Would I find a set that would show clones in a positive light, ever again? Well, Autumn turned into Winter and the Christmas season took off. Hyper Extra Value (a real shop. Honest. It is red) in my local shopping centre suddenly stocked a variety of clone bricks (alongside its ever so useful storage options). Thus I found this Sluban set. SRS Rescue. It is an Orange Truck. That was enough for me. At a very reasonable £4.99 it was a steal.

268 pieces, 5 figures and a mid sized truck. Imported by our friends Ackerman Toys. The stickers announce the Light and Sound element, batteries included as a nice bonus.

Now onto the set itself!

The parts came in the standard cardboard sleeve all Sluban sets come packaged in. Four Polybags, a sticker sheet and an instruction booklet.

Interesting parts include the stretcher, Lights and Siren element, string, hooks, rolling barrel, 8 wide windscreen, turn table and the grey cylinders. The light shines a reddish orange with a simultaneous siren, but only if you hold the button, it cuts off as soon as you let go of it. The stretcher is slightly more detailed than the Lego version, however it is all one part instead of having removable “wheels” (see finished set image). The string is a decent quality polyester weave, the windscreen matches it’s Lego counterpart with only slightly extra curve and the turntable is basically a ‘+’ shape equivalent of the round 4x4 Lego element. The grey cylinders take a stud in each end, which is useful for SNOT building .

The instructions were linear and no less confusing than Lego instructions from the 90s and each step came with a parts list.

A favourite feature of mine in all Sluban sets is the tool sprue. Here we see a Jackhammer, Chainsaw, Circular Saw, Large Hammer, Wrench and Pickaxe. The Wrench is a comparable element to the Lego large Wrench as is the Pickaxe and Circular Saw. The Jackhammer is slightly larger than Lego’s, which makes it a bit awkward with the figures unless held at an extreme angle. The Chainsaw and the Large Hammer however, are much more elaborate than their Lego equivalent. Extra detailing on the hammer gives it a little more accuracy and the Chainsaw looks very realistic, including two points of grip.

These are the figures, three cheerful orange clad blokes ready to rescue the poor civilians from whatever trouble put that look on their faces. Decent quality with the common curved legs, making them incompatible with Lego minifigs. Their helmets have a peg inside the stud, it provides extra grip for the Sluban heads, with their holed head stud, but makes it impossible to put on a standard minifigure without modification.

The Finished Set. It’s big, it’s orange and it is an 8 wide truck. The giant light is lime green and the accents are dark grey. It certainly screams emergency response vehicle. The design is reminiscent of 90s town but in a modern 8 wide format. The emphasis on brick built over prefab elements makes it superior to Lego in some respects. The plastic quality and colour are very good, they do feel slightly more plastic than Lego but not in a cheap way. The large grey door on the side escaped the closing problem I had with the Sluban Riot Van. One piece was missing, a single black square plate, however there was an extra trans-yellow plate of the same dimensions so this is a problem even Lego suffers from.

In conclusion: This is the best set I have built since the Agents Mobile Command Centre. It’s a lovely truck and apart from a few specialized elements, is fully buildable from Lego. It would make a great addition to any town in orange as a Emergency Response Vehicle or Roadside Rescue. Or you could build it in red for an extra Fire Appliance for your brave Fire fighters.

I will scan and post the instructions if anyone is interested

[prateek]

Woah, that's a huge truck. I like it except that there is a light on the top of it

[Peppermint_M]

The light is a bit "Duplo" but it would look good on top of a building. I was impressed that it had batteries though.

I have a fire truck the same scale as this one, might review it later.

[larry marak]

Great review Peppermint. One very rarely finds Chinese clone sets around here (like 3 years ago, in a Bit Lots store). I believe there is a comparison review of this set with its Oxford original (Sluban apparently does no original sets, just copies of Oxford of Korea) on the bloks.hyperboards.com forum website. Love the minifig with the nauseated look on her face from chemical poisoning.

[Peppermint_M]

Here lies the confusion: A member mentioned in a post that Sluban/Oxford are made in the same place and are the same thing under different names... Is there any truth in this?

[larry marak]

Oxford is in Korea, and is just as much immitated by Chinese Cloners as Lego. They even use images from Oxford's website for their webpage, but they are Oxford's public enemy number one. Sluban markets under several export names by the way.

By the way, Sluban never clones the historical Korean themes that Oxford puts out, so to get authentic Korean temples with uppointed corner bricks, costumes, and weapons you need to find a seller in Korea.

Sluban does a top quality job of cloning Oxford by the way. Currently they are re-printing Sluban's train system, which uses a rail guage just slightly larger than Lego's guage.

Longest continuous operating brick companies

Lego system 1956

Enlighten (1964) Pioneer in Chinese cloning

Diablock (1967) Defeated Nintendo, primary building block system in Japan. Not mean't to be compatible with Lego (But there is a secret way)

Oxford (early 80's) As good or better than Lego

Mega Bloks (late 80's)

Best Lock (mid 90's) At first incompatible, now a 2nd rate compatible line

of bricks, but the first green brick company, now using bio-plastic for their bricks.

K'nex (early 90's, became a brick company 5 years ago) Reinventing the brick and the stick.

Edited February 20, 2010 by larry marak

[larry marak]

[quote name='larry marak' date='Feb 20 2010, 10:14 PM' post='68837.

By the way, Sluban never clones the historical Korean themes that Oxford puts out, so to get authentic Korean temples with uppointed corner bricks, costumes, and weapons you need to find a seller in Korea.

Bulletin! Sluban is now cloning the historical Korean sets that Oxford is famous for! I've received 3 from hong kong tis week. Sluban calls this their Ancient China series, but it is of course the Oxford medieval Korea series. I've received 3 of these knock offs in the last week.

Larry Marak, the Clone Ranger Rides Again.

[Big Cam]

This actually would be a cool LEGO set I think. That giant light thing is cool. The overall design is cool, and the features like the opening doors, winch thing on the back, and that light, would make a cool CITY set.

Great review PM!

[crossmr]

A member mentioned in a post that Sluban/Oxford are made in the same place and are the same thing under different names... Is there any truth in this?

Unless Sluban is making their bricks in Korea, no. All the Korean sets, like the ones you'll be soon receiving have "made in Korea" on them ;)