Japan

Review of nanoblock Five-Storied Pagoda NBH_088

shygal
Five-Storied Pagoda build and box

This post is a review of the nanoblock Five-Storied Pagoda build. Five-Storied Pagoda is part of the nanoblock Sights to See collection. Wondering what else is part of the Sights to See collection? Click here for a list.

Number: NBH_088

Country: Japan 

Number of Pieces: 320

Difficulty Rating: 3/5

Five-Storied Pagoda build front view

This kit is labeled as Bic Camera Limited. Bic Camera is a shop in Japan, so I’m guessing the set was only available there.

The Pagoda is built on a clear base and has clear blocks throughout it, which means that if the build is put on one of the LED plates, the entire pagoda will light up.

The build begins by laying the base layer of bricks on the clear 20×20 base. This includes the walls and the base of the pagoda. Over the next few steps, the wall is built, and the larger base story of the pagoda is added.

Five-Storied Pagoda build side view

While building the base story of the pagoda, there are some clear green bricks added. In the instructions, they appear to be clear kiwi green instead of the dark green bricks that were provided. I was very confused with this instruction, and it took me a while to figure out to use the dark green.

After building the base story, the 4 additional stories are all identical and added using large steps showing about 5 layers of bricks in one step. Even though there are lots of layers, there is a lot of space, and the printed arrows are clear, so the instructions are easy to follow.

Five-Storied Pagoda build back view

After building all 5 layers, the roof and roof decoration are added. Both are very straightforward.

This kit did come with 3 nanoids that I chose to not include because I’m not sure if they are in scale with the building. A lot of time, nanoids are not to scale.

Five-Storied Pagoda build back 3/4 view

Things I liked:

  • I like the use of the clear blocks so that the pagoda can be lit

Things I didn’t like:

  • I wish the color in the instructions for the clear green had been closer to the actual brick color

Review of nanoblock Umeda Sky Building NBH_172

shygal
Umeda Sky Building build and box

This post is a review of the nanoblock Umeda Sky Building build. Umeda Sky Building is part of the nanoblock Sights to See collection. Wondering what else is part of the Sights to See collection? Click here for a list.

Umeda Sky Building is one of the tallest buildings in Osaka Prefecture. It is 2 towers that are connected by bridges and escalators. For more information, check out the wiki page.

Number: NBH_172

Country: Japan 

Number of Pieces: 680

Difficulty Rating: 3/5

Umeda Sky Building build front view

Umeda Sky Building was a kit I bought open; I ensured there were bricks and instructions. Before starting the build, I pulled the kit that arrived apart and split all the bricks into reasonable piles. I then started the build.

This build has 2 major sections there is the building and the roof.

The first thing I noticed about the build was that starting from the base layer wasn’t symmetrical. This made me excited to see how the final build would look.

The first step is to create a base layer on the 20×20 base. There are a variety of colors in the base to create the various textures around the building.

Umeda Sky Building build 3/4 view

The next step is to create the base of the building. Starting in step 4, the actual windows on the outside of the building are outlined and begin creating the walls of the buildings. The building goes up in layers over the next 20 steps. Each layer is different from the previous one and needs to be carefully tracked.

The trickiest part of building the main section of the building is creating the elevators. This is because it is a chain of 1×1 bricks that can easily snap as you are adding bricks. It is also easy to miss adding a brick to any given layer since the new brick just hangs out separately from the large chunks in the directions.

Umeda Sky Building build side view

After building most of the building and locking the elevators in place, it’s time to add the escalators that go across the open area between the towers. I really like that this detail is included and how the escalators are created.

The main building is completed with a few more layers of bricks that create the top of the building

The roof was very straightforward. I could lay the roof out on my pad to create the roof. Finding enough round clears took a while because they were hard to see and like moving.

After building the roof, the final step is to attach the roof to the building.

Umeda Sky Building build back view

Things I liked:

  • That the build isn’t symmetrical
  • The escalators in the center of the build

Things I didn’t like:

  • I’m not sure what all the details at the bottom of the building are supposed to be