MingCheng Train Building Blocks, 1608+Pieces Retro Steam Locomotives Building Blocks Toys with Train Track

Love this model, it's a beast. Looks great on the shelf.If you intend to run it on your Lego layout, Awesome, I have good and bad news.Pros: It comes with a functional gear train for both sets of drivers. There are 2 L-motor locations inside the boiler and room for 2 battery boxes in the tender, and with a few adjustments to the front trucks and cylinders and some other tweaks, it'll run standard Lego curves.Cons: the drive rods need reworked bad, they jam horribly, and just look terrible when trying to function in comparison with the real thing (it's all wrong). Lots of wheels on the tender. Lots of wheels with no articulation at all. The middle tender trucks just snap to the bottom. So you have the choice to remove them, or design a hinge mechanism.Looking forward to seeing this one cruise the rails.

Alot of missing parts

I don't think I have ever done a review for anything before, but I figured it would be helpful for those that were doubtful like me.First off the positives:- No missing pieces at all.- No flashing on the pieces.- The instructions are very clear and complete.- The price is reasonable.- Looks fairly close to a Big Boy.Cons:- Will not run on standard Lego curves. I didn't see anything about that in the description, but I figured it's good to know.I can't say for certain, but I imagine that you would need at least an o40 curve or larger to work. The front truck might need some work as well. I'll update this review when I find out what size it will need to be. Otherwise I think it is worth it

Very large set and satisfyingly challenging but some parts wrong or missing and customer service ignored my email for help. Still 4 stars for the size and challenge of the build.

Five stars for having all of the pieces, although one piece was smashed.Five stars for a fun, intricate build.The sad thing is this will only be able to be used as a static display. I kind of had my doubts this would be able to roll smoothly on the tracks, but I figured I'd give it a shot.The front main drive wheels do not roll smoothly, so when you are able to push it along the track, they don't turn.The front steer trucks and cattleguard are so low to the tracks, they catch on the track.Those two issues will prevent this from being able to be pushed along the tracks with other Lego trains.The build went smoothly. I would say we're intermediate/advanced builders. The directions were okay, but there were a few parts where the color-coding for the current step were not clear, and you had to really study to know where the pieces went.Everything snapped together pretty good, considering this is a knock-off lego brand product. Some of the pieces were slightly warped or loose fitting, but nothing that would prevent a successful build.It's possible a better fit would help the front drive wheels to roll smoother, but the way the front steering trucks are designed, it just sort of flops down to the track.I bought this for around $90 with the expectation I would be missing pieces, and it would likely be a static display. So, with that in mind, I would still buy it again since there were no missing pieces, and it is a really cool looking train.

This set is really nice! It's big! Quality is super close to the "big name" in building sets. I was really impressed. It's the Union Pacific Big Boy!!!

The first “red flag” that I encountered while beginning construction, was the lack of a parts list in the direction book. Then, as I began building, I continually was directed to add parts that simply weren’t there. If you read other reviews, you will find that others encountered missing parts. Fortunately, I had a large store of extra parts and even fashioned some parts from wire. I also found it necessary to glue some parts together that simply would not stay together without glue. The wheels do turn but not without a lot of pressure. Pushing the model will not cause the wheels to turn. I contacted the company rep about these concerns and received a very insulting letter that denied any short comings with the model. I do enjoy the completed model but, while I initially intended to buy other models in the MingCheng line, this experience has changed my mine.

this set is 100% china. and as expected cheep and buildable but completely unable to be used for any purpose other than a display piece. was an easy build and all pieces were in the box. this model kit is 100% compatible with Lego brick for brick. but it will in no way operate functionally as a motorized working train so do not waste the time to power this. the front support guide trucks are attacked to the engine so poorly they fall off at the slightest movement, the front trucks sit on the rail and the upper body with zero clearance for movement and will bind up of on a turn. the steam coupling for the drive wheels are poorly designed and bind up constantly. the way the front and rear drive system attaches to the main body is laughable and will fall off from the main body at the slightest whim. the scale of this train is close to O scale 1/48 but is shorter than it should be for a scale Big Boy about 2 inches. it is the same size as a O scale Challenger engine 4-6-6-4 not the 4-8-8-4 Big Boy. over all this is a great display piece and if you have a Lego train collection will look great amongst them all. I would recommend this but do not think you will get this to run on a layout without major modification.