Get To The Choppa – LETBricks CH-53E US Marines Transport Helicopter (CT-1019)!

Hi everyone, Brick McBricksworth here with a review from a new supplier of bricks to us at The Brick Post! 

We are very excited to show you what is known as the MOCSAGE line from LETBricks. The set in question is the CH-53E US Marines Transport Helicopter, which has 2,657 pieces, recommended for 16+, retails for £71.99 (at time of writing is on sale at £60.79) and is available now.

On the LETBricks website this is shown as licensed to the designer Darth Designer. So what we take from that is they have worked with or at the very least contacted the designer at some point and have got approval to produce.

At the end of the review we have a treat for you – 15% off this set and any others from LETBricks.

First a little bit about the real helicopter this set is based on. The CH-53E Super Stallion is a heavy-lift helicopter operated by the United States military. As the S-80, it was developed from the CH-53 Sea Stallion, mainly by adding a third engine, adding a seventh blade to the main rotor, and canting the tail rotor 20°. (This comes in handy to know when you build the model). I built this model not knowing this little detail on the real helicopter and thought the instructions had gone wrong, but that is not the case. As you will see in the review it is actually rather accurate.

As this is a new supplier to us we must go into great depth on every part of the process, as you would expect us to do. 

The Instructions:

These are rather close in look to Cobi, another of the more known manufacturers out there. But in a way I would say the instructions although they remind me of Cobi are easier to follow than Cobi instructions are.

The manual is well presented with high quality paper and print is clear and easy to see. There are multiple stages on some pages but they are close to the parts you are building so are very easy to see and follow. They make the parts you have done already in to a light grey look and the pieces you are currently building are in their correct colour. There is also a handy yellow highlight and arrows if you have to put a piece off centre for instance.

The Bricks:

The bricks supplied in this set have REOBRIX stamped on the inner numbered bags. What I later found that REOBRIX supplies the bricks and LETBricks assemble it as the set you receive.

The Bags:

As we have all become accustomed to now there are numbered bags but this is where these guys have gone up and above the competition. Some manufacturers have some pieces in a numbered bag – some have a mass amount of all sorts within a numbered bag almost making it pointless having the numbered bags.

LETBricks do it one better, they have a large numbered bag which is a stage in the build, within that they have numbers on them, for example 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 etc. These smaller inner bags contain a small handful of around 30-40 pieces only, making building a bag short and sweet. If you are one of these builders like I am, where you get the odd half hour to keep coming back, then this is ideal as it can be tidied up after each bag if needed. I highly rate the layout of bags and instructions.

The Quality:

This is a subject high on the list of many potential buyers these days who are willing to give the others a go instead of sticking with what they know.

These bricks feel good and look the part but there is a stiffness to them when you are building. Some might say that’s not a bad thing because when you are building and the model isn’t strong yet if the clutch power is rubbish it will fall apart. If anything these bricks have too much clutch power. If you make a mistake it can be difficult to pry the parts apart again. They do however supply a brick separator. This one is one of the best I have gotten from any supplier it has a really thin flat edge for tile removal, and it works!

The Build:

As said earlier because of really easy laid out pieces and great instructions this comes together really fast. No sooner have you started but within a small sitting you have Theo outline of a large helicopter fuselage. It’s all brick built with very little to no technic and holds together from the afore mentioned Hulk Clutch power.

The set consists of 7 large bags each with between 1-9 smaller bags in. By the 3rd big bag it is really taking shape and you start to realise just how huge this model is! At only this point it is already larger than LEGO sets like the Imperial Star destroyer (1555 Pcs, about how many pieces you have used so far in this build).
By the final bag at the 2,657 piece mark it is now bigger than the LEGO Slave 1, which the newest version of this comes in at 2,970 pieces.

One thing I am always not a fan of in a brick set is stickers this one has a lot of them. At first I thought they were all the wrong size when I first put them on and had to trim the clear edges with scissors etc… I was wrong these are to be used as a guide because these aren’t normal stickers! In this set these are a type of transfer and look actually really, really good when they are on and are easy to place because of the big transfer sticker.
As good and as easy to apply as these transfer stickers are though there are a few that cross over pieces. This is a certain no go for me because if you ever need to dismantle a set for whatever reason such as moving home etc. This can ruin the stickers in that part of the build if they rip apart.

So to sum up this is a very highly detailed model (it has to be classed as a model because it weighs a ton so isn’t swooshable). Easy to follow instructions. It won’t fall apart easy. Has stickers that look good (apart from the cross pieces ones). Looking at that price for this many pieces, it walks on the big hitters for price to part ratio. It comes in at an insane 2p per piece when it’s at full price!

The Ratings:

• Build quality 7/10 (clutch power a tad too strong my fingers felt it if I built too much in one go)
• Look of the model 10/10
• Instructions and presentation 9/10
• Part selection/colour choice 9/10 (accurate to the source material)
• Stickers 7/10
• Special mention for price 11/10
• Overall a solid 8.5

Thank you to LETBricks for supply this set for review, we truly appreciate it. If you would like to grab one for yourself, or to browse their extensive selection, please consider using our affiliate link and discount code, THEBRICKPOST. Not only does this get you 15% off, it also helps us out here at The Brick Post, with website costs and bringing awesome news and other content. Thank you!

Mocsage MOC-127265 CH-53E Super Stallion 1/35 Scale Modern Military-themed Model (2192PCS)