NB

Review nanoblock Zodiac Set NB-055

shygal

In 2022, nanoblock completed a set of Chinese Zodiac animals, which was the year of the tiger. The collection began with the year of the Rabbit. Each year, they release an animal that matches the Chinese Zodiac animal for the current year. I was super excited they put this collection together because several builds weren’t common.

I’ve written a review for each of the separate NBC builds instead of a review for the set as a whole. There is a link below for each review.

Number: NB-055

Number of Pieces: 2020

Difficulty Rating: 3/5

Based on the back of the box, the following sets are included in the set:

  • NBC_301 – Rat and Lucky Mallet
  • NBC_330 – Ox
  • NBC_361 – Tiger
  • NBC_030 – Rabbit
  • NBC_044 – Dragon
  • NBC_066 – White Snake
  • NBC_101 – White Horse
  • NBC_128 – Mother Sheep and Baby Lamb
  • NBC_162 – Mother and Baby Monkey
  • NBC_207 – Rooster
  • NBC_237 – Dog
  • NBC_285 – Boars (Pigs)

Things I liked:

  • I’m super happy they released this collection. I had tried to collect the zodiac but had a hard time finding some of the pieces. It was nice that a complete set was released.

Review of nanoblock Pad (NB-020) and nanoblock Pad Mini (NB-053)

shygal
NB-020 and NB-053 both nanoblock pads with packaging

The nanoblock Pad is by far my favorite and most used accessory. This is because I find it so useful to create my builds. When I refer to my nanoblock pad or pad, I am generally talking about NB-020 or the larger pad because it is the one I’ve had longer.

What is the nanoblock Pad?

The nanoblock pad is a silicon pad that is used for the creation of nanoblock builds. There are 2 different models. The only real difference is the size of the actual pad.

NB-020
nanoblock pad with box

The NB-020 pad has 2 sections that can fold up to protect the studs. 1 section is a pad that has studs. This is the side where you can create nanoblock builds. The other section is a flat section of silicon that is nice for laying out small bricks.

NB-053
nanoblock pad mini with package

Recently a smaller version of the nanoblock pad was released. It is much smaller than the original pad. I don’t use this pad very often because the larger pad has more flexibility about where exactly it goes.

How do you use the pad?

Close up of studs on nanoblock pad

When I start a build, I always try to lay the base layer of bricks on the pad on the side with studs. Normally this works, but sometimes it doesn’t work, and you need to build off the pad.

After laying out the base layer, I add the second layer of bricks as the top layer. Because of how nanoblock designs the builds, the first and second layers are fully connected.

Normally after I build the 2 layers, I build as much as possible on the pad but sometimes, after a few layers, it makes more sense to build while holding the model in my hands.

Review of nanoblock Standard Color Set NB-023

shygal
box from nanoblock standard set

Number: NB-023

Number of Pieces: 850

Difficulty Rating: N/A

This is the only set of nanoblock I purchased that was not a kit for a specific build. This is because I wanted to get some bricks to make custom builds.

There are instructions for the builds on the front of a box. These builds can be completed using only the blocks provided in the set. The instructions also tell you which builds can be made simultaneously.

Listing of nanoblocks that come in standard set

The above image shows what exactly comes with the set.

Link to order: