In this video we are going to review JMBricklayer 30001 3 In 1 Medieval Weapon Kit. This consists of the Catapult, Ballista and Bombard. We will start with an unboxing of the set and then look at the features of the 3 builds, and any other items of note. Following this we will then review the set overall in terms of Build Experience, Value for Money, Displayability, and Playability, and finishing off with an overall score for this set.

This was provided to us by the manufacturer but the opinions and review scores will be our own. There may also be an affiliate link around the video for which we may receive something (which helps the channel continue to make videos such as these). So let’s get into it.

JMBricklayer Website

https://www.jmbricklayer.com/?wpam_id=15

Order Medieval Weapon Kit 3 in 1 Catapult/Bombard/Ballistic from: https://www.jmbricklayer.com/product/3-in-1-medieval-weapon-30001/?wpam_id=15

Time codes to the Video:

0:00 Introduction
0:39 Unboxing
1:53 Instructions Overview
2:45 Catapult
5:42 Target
6:25 Ballista
8:41 Bombard
12:28 Bombard Design
17:41 Bombard Instructions
20:26 How to Loop Elastic
21:10 Overview Review Scores
22:59 Summing Up

Transcript from the Show

G’day everyone Matt Elder of family bricks  here and in this video we’re going to  review the JM bricklayer 3001  three-in-one medieval weapon kit this  consists of a catapult  blister and a bombard  we will start with an unboxing of the  set and then look at the features of the  three builds and any other items of note  following this we will then review the  set overall in terms of build experience  value for money displayability  playability and then finishing off with  an overall score for this set this was  provided to us by the manufacturer but  the opinions and review scores will be  our own there may also be an affiliate  link around the video for which we may  receive something which helps the  channel to keep making videos such as  these so let’s get into it.

Unboxing

So this is  how it arrives to me I have an outer  mailer and then the actual  box inside bubble wrapped so I’ll just  crack this open  here it is I’m packaging here it looks  like it’s got some of the parts of it  are shiny and then just the black  background and it’s the remarkable  ancient machines thirty thousand one 568  pieces three in one so you can see the  three different ones there having a look  over on the back back is just  straight up and down details uh a few  little other bits and pieces there again  the three different models on the side  and your general details and one of them  on the other side there looks like it’s  got a little Target as well so overall a  relatively nice presentation I would  shame the boxes a little banged up let’s  open it up and see what’s inside.

Box Contents

So with everything laid out you have the  box there and then we have the seven  numbered bags instruction book four  wheels and the additional bag with the  rubber bands and elastics so having a  look at the instruction book  it’s got a nice weight to it nice glossy  finish  it looks like it just uh general  information  and then straight into the building  looks like some pretty standard  instructions what’s that  showing you how to fire that one and  then I guess this is then the start of  the next one so it’s interesting 116 and  117 starts the next build  and 230 from looks at you build the last  one  build the target  on the back so it all looks nice clear  concise and no sort of Frills with it. 

Catapult

Here we have the Catapult design which  is really cool and it’s pretty solid and  chunky each of these main three pillars  here you got the two on the angle and  the one there all solid really  supporting the structure and the  mechanism you’ve got the spiky Wheels  which you can imagine during the day if  that’s rolling along and you’re here  it’s going to slice you up on the front  you’ve got another sort of aggressive  spiky design as well and this is common  dual three models so if you are building  between them just take that piece off  and don’t take it completely apart  because you can use it on the other one.

Color Scheme

The color scheme is this sort of earthy  retro sort of style so you have these  types of sand blues for the metallics  and then you’ve got sort of the the  Browns and the greens and the  desaturated oranges for more sort of  like woods and then your elastics and  rubber bands are generally in the black here.

Elastics / Rubber Bands

Speaking of elastics we’ll just  come over here I’ll show you the mechanism in a moment you’ve got the  main one is here which is really really  taut and stretched so the only thing I’d  be a little concerned with is the  longevity of the rubber bands if you  leave this sitting on a shelf for a long  time I know with other ones I’ve had  they can break down or really stretch in  that and in this case here this one is  actually you don’t have to take half of  this apart to have it like lying loose  so as at least the ones in the back here  controlling that sort of mechanism you  can just roll them straight off and they  wouldn’t be too much of a problem to  keep in a relatively loose state so you  don’t lose stretchiness over time. I’ve  got this on a pretty frictionless type  surface so it does move pretty well easily.

Firing Mechanism

So let’s have a look at the main  functioning mechanism you’ve got the arm  here which is going to go up and down  you can sort of see that rubber band in  there moving about as you do that  and then in the back you have these sort  of go up and down and that’s going to be  your catch mechanism for it being ready  to fire so we’ll just try to get this  down in here that drops down try to lift  both sides make sure it catches there  so it’s there ready to be fired let’s  move it over and then to fire it just  press down  and off it goes now to go find that  thing.

Projectile

Found that thing down behind the  radiator which was fun and it’s actually  a crisscross of these rubber pieces  probably a good thing it’s rubber  because when the Catapult fires it’s got  a fair bit of kick to it so if that was  solid and that kept on hitting anything  I could imagine that that’s going to  make a mess of things or at least this  is somewhat a little bit safer and this  is the leftover pieces for the set which  feels to be about another third again so  it feels like they haven’t really  compromised the model and just made sure  that they’ve had the appropriate number  of pieces and types for each model to  get it to work.

Target

This is a cool little  Target simple straightforward build but  just adds a little bit of extra  Dimension to it so if you were getting  good at these things you could go  through and try to hit it and practice  doing that and this is the brick  separator which comes with the model  which is kind of interesting a little  bit different and not really sure what  this for but it’s got a little bit of  flex and opens and closes so imagine  just to grab onto something  the only downside is doesn’t really have  anything if you’re trying to get Studs  off studs so if you’re trying to get  these off  nothing really sits in there not like  one of these ones where you just put it  on and get it off there.

Ballistic / Ballista

Here is the ballistic or what you  might think of as a giant crossbow on  Wheels and the bass structure similar  sort of design to the others so again  you’ve sort of got the wheels with the  blades some nasty little spikes and  blades at the front there and then the  main differences up here although this  base is built in a different way too the  overall top superstructure mechanism is  relatively straightforward just a couple  of rubber bands elastic bands in there  you’re able to slide that main part back  which we’ll walk in here when that flips  up like that  and then just pushing down here is the  release mechanism  and the firing works pretty consistent  and it’s pretty good your missile as  such is just a Long Rod with a cone type  piece on the end and that just slides  straight in and the firing mechanism is  pretty straightforward to be this PC  sliding along when that lifts up.

Building Quirk 

The only slight building Quirk I would  say is when you’re putting on these  elastic bands again they want you on  page 308 when you do the step to  basically thread it in and around  through the pile on there which there’s  just not enough clearance in there to  actually do it so I think again it’s one  of those things where it sounds like a  good idea to do it digitally but it’s  not until you actually do it so let’s  say back a couple of steps about 295-ish  when you’re doing this here you should  be threading that elastic band around  there so then when you put it in there  you can then get it I had built the  whole thing and then had to come back  and pull this apart that was just a pain. 

It’s not the end of the world but it’s  just more of a hassle to have to come  back and do that otherwise everything  else is pretty straightforward as you’d  expect and again this is just one of the  ones where you wrap it around and then  you pull this through and just connect  it straight onto it  and it’s pretty good to be able to hit  the target and it’s pretty consistent  and here are all the leftover pieces so  you probably use maybe about half but  given that that superstructure of  sitting on the wheelbase is quite simple  it’s not all that surprising. 

Bombard

Here we have the bombard which is a good  size and it’s nice and Big And Chunky  and it’s pretty solid the main mechanism  sits on there pretty tight  rolls relatively well this is a pretty  smooth frictionless surface all around  just some nice detailing the spikes  chains a little bit of gribbling on the  side and the earthy wooden type color  scheme of sort of you know the Browns  the oranges and the the greens work  quite well and they get sort of quite  believable as something which is  Medieval and this one’s firing mechanism  you come in here either side there’s a  piece in here you slide back  that piece here it moves up and down and  we’ll just clip into there and then from  the back here you have the release  mechanism which you push down  and it fires out.

Issue

Now this is probably  where this model starts having a few  little problems I’m assuming that I  built this correctly which I’m pretty  sure that I have this is quite rigid in  the way that it sits there the way that  you go about firing it however it does  seem to have some pretty  little quirks about it and things just  have to be just right on the back here  you’ve got a piece here which if it goes  down too far it almost seems like it  will catch when it goes to slide in  so try that again  like that so it hit there and it didn’t  allow it to slide all the way through  and when I’m firing this I’m holding it  in a very particular way.

Kids Struggling

When the kids  first saw this and they went to fire it  it took about eight or nine goes because  they could get it out and even then I  had to say here don’t hold it there up  hold it here sort of thing because a lot  of the sliding mechanisms there it seems  to have very tight tolerances and if  it’s not just spot on it won’t fire  properly so again if we just go through  you can sort of see as I lifted that up  that slid back in didn’t do that again  that locks down if you have that all the  way sort of down like that when it goes  to fire you’ll see that it’ll get caught  again  and then if I lift that piece up at the  back  it then slides the rest of the way in so  with that one there it seems to be there. 

You’ve got to have that kicked up a bit  but not too much because then it seems  like it’ll hit that part there so  probably about 135 degree angle  so you can sort of see that in there  try that  and again something got caught it almost  seems like when you push this down you  can’t push it down too much otherwise  when that slides in it will get hit and  caught again so let’s just try that  again  that might help if that goes all the way  back in  slightly up  still having an issue so I’m just going  to make sure this time too that when you  slide it in you put it in as the way the  instructions suggests so maybe there’s a  bit too much friction if you do it one  way as opposed to the other  of that push this mechanism all the way  back down to the catch make sure that’s  going all the way in that’s up a little  bit let’s push down. 

Partial Solution

I’m still having issues okay let’s give  this another try and what I’m going to  try to do this time is actually with my  fingers there be lifting up when I push  down just so that it gives just the  marginal bit of extra clearance for the  mechanism to slide in so push this down  here  I’ll lift this up a bit and then at the  same time push down on that  and that seems to fire out much better  so I think that’s where the design issue  might be with this again I’m pretty sure  that this is built correctly because 

Further Examination

When you put these pieces in here  there’s only certain ways for that to go  but I did notice and I’ll take the  wheels off to show this  these side pieces when they attach on  they seem to just slightly change the  angle so if I just detach these a little  bit  because there’s one on either side  so you can sort of see how all that is  sitting in there lift that up a little  bit okay so that should be more at rest  there  so these positions seem fixed these are  pretty solid in there now what I find is  if you just put these straight on  this little Edge bed here will catch  here  so if we just try to put that on there  the natural tendency is for that not to  be cleared like it’s just a fraction of  a millimeter  and then to put that on all the way  you kind of just got to lift it up ever  so subtly  and that really seems to lock that into  position so there’s no other ways  particularly when you put the other side  on as well again same sort of issue I  know it’s not 100 aligned because the  pins are not always in but that’s where  you can I assume get this in here  just in there.

When I first put that on, it made an indent into that piece  so that’s in there and that’s sort of  holding that whole piece in place  and firm and rigid and as I sort of  going through before just when this  mechanism slides in here there’s not a  great deal of clearance in this back  piece here  when that comes out  let’s get that to catch  so you just got what you’ve got on this  Square rectangular piece here there’s a  few studs I know it’s difficult to see  but this actually slides over the cross  of those studs and that’s going to be  providing friction which is going to be  slowing down this release mechanism  here’s that bit I was talking about  before  and that’s how it releases again it  could be encountering problems because I  just haven’t built this correctly but if  this is a way that it’s meant to be it  just seems like the tolerances are just  slightly off which really slows down  that mechanism and as I said you’ve got  to be you know lifting this up and  pushing that down at the same time so. 

Real vs Digital ?!

You can sort of see how these pieces  here are touching and even if you move  it around you can kind of always see  in there  there’s no sort of daylight or clearance  through to the back and even on the  other side  again the same sort of thing there  it’s it’s touching it but then if you  look at the instructions  or at least one of the pictures of it  you know this is generally the only  thing you can really see I don’t know  whether this is a digital render but you  can just see it looks like there’s a bit  of Gap in there so that makes me I  wonder if this is digital it’s very easy  to miss those tolerances or if I built  it wrong that might explain it so they  could be just a slight little issue  there and there’s no  all the real I suppose that’s the other  angle that you can see in there  and again it looks like you can see  through it so has me a little stumped

Rubber Bands / Elastics

The other thing from experience is that  these rubber bands or elastics here are  really really taut so I think if you’re  storing this  um you’d probably want to do it so that  those are just released like that  because certainly I’ve had on other  mocks that I’ve built elastics which  have been stretched for a long time and  you know after a couple months of course  when they’re taught the whole time  they’re going to lose their elasticity  and eventually they will just snap so I  mean that’s relatively easy to get on  and off there because certainly when I  built this it was late at night and then  I’m filming this in the next morning so  overnight I’d taken both of these off  because the last thing I’d want is for  them to sort of snap but you know that  might just be something to be aware of  the longevity of those if you leave them  in that place.

For the most part this is  pretty solid again I think the problems  you’ll find is when you’re trying to use  this mechanism here and you’re grabbing  onto it in weird places in particular  these front bits here if you just move  your fingers on them slightly they will  come off relatively easy but these are  just minor and then on this one here  the ones on the edge you’re only  attached by one stud so it’s just a  shame they probably couldn’t have  figured out a way to attach that there  but given that angle and things maybe it  wasn’t possible and of course with these  spikes sticking out you know too much  vigorous action and they’re going to pop  off but they’re locked in there pretty  tightly and when you’re putting these  rubber bands elastics on it’s not really  clear in the instructions how you sort  of do it so the way that I found is you  go through there once you bring it back  over and you pass one end through the  other and then that will give it that  tightness there and then once you’ve had  it sat on here for a while that then  really locks in there and also to notice  how I’ve got it on the upper side  because originally  I had it down on the undersign like that  and it was further down and again  because that’s lining mechanism is an  extra bit of friction and that won’t  slide back properly so you need to be  paying attention to that.

Instructions

The  instructions for this one are pretty  good for the most part but it does feel  like you are doing a lot of steps and  you’re being quite dense in them and  there are a few little quirky ones and  it’s not a hundred percent clear so you  can sort of see with this one here when  you’re putting the plates on it’s good  that it sort of points out where these  red ones are but you don’t ever get to  see it all together so you can’t really  double check because when you go on to  the next step  you’ve then put on two of these long  pieces here so you can’t see well  where’s it meant to line up and there’s  a few little ones like that throughout  this set of instructions so you are  taking your sort of best guess but a lot  of times depending upon where the pins  lie and just checking that your pins are  all right you can sort of do it by  process of elimination.

How to Loop Rubber Band?

The other quirky  little step I found is around 179 they  don’t actually show you how to Loop  these over which I’ll go through in a  separate one and show you but this can  be a real pain because it took me a  while to figure out how to actually get  this to work because it’s just like here  oh it goes in there but it’s not that  straightforward and simple so certainly  for your younger hands and things like  that you can see people going to run  into this and go well how do I deal with  this and there’s no sort of other place  in the instructions which show you how  to do these little loops and Knots which  I think is really really needed like I  understand when you’re building  instructions showing these flexible sort  of pieces and things has always been a  challenge but this being such a critical  part and step and if you can’t get this  it’s going to drive you a little bit  insane.

Awhile to Connect In

The other thing is when you  do this assembly it’s like 179 but then  these pieces don’t actually Connect into  anything for quite a number of steps so  they’re still floating there then you’re  going off  and building this whole other assembly  while these pieces are still just  floating so you know this whole other  assembly you’re joining the assembly  together  they’re still floating there still  floating there  it’s at step 202 that they actually then  go through and attach to something now  this might seem overtly critical but the  thing that I found when you put these  pins in through that elastic for the  first time they have a tendency to fall  out pretty quickly so you need to be  able to get them in there and make them  taut and everything so I think this is  one of the things where they’ve built it  and then probably just digital  instructions and then not really tested  it because for mine you’d almost be want  to be building this whole sub assembly  first before you put in that elastic on  step 179 but again that’s just something  which is really nuanced but something to  be aware of if you are building it so  when you finish the build for this these  are the leftover pieces so you can see  probably used on two thirds three  quarters of them this model does seem to  use a lot of the bits.

Rubber Band Tying Trick

now I just wanted  to go through and give you a quick  demonstration and show you how you get  this sort of knot here on step 179 so  I’ll have that just as the pin piece  there  you have your elastic what you do is you  grab one end of it and roll it over  so then you get these two Loops here  forming  and then you rotate the two Loops in on  themselves  so it comes over like that  have your PIN put it in the middle there  and then you just gradually pull  on this other end here  and that  is how you get that in there 

Overview Review Scoring

Now to give an overall review for the  set we’re looking at the JM bricklayer  30001 medieval three in one set released  in 2022 and it consists of the Catapult  bombard and the ballistic it has a price  of 39.99 us which is about 35 pounds and  about the same in Euros the set consists  of 568 pieces this comes in at about 6.2  P per piece or about 7 cents per piece  which anytime you’re getting these days  under 10 cents per piece on average  you’re doing quite well each of the  models will take about an hour hour and  a half to build the build experience we  go 75 because we took a few points off  for critical points in the instructions  either just not being there or really  not clear the builds are nice and  challenging but the instructions would  benefit from just having a final polish  to really smooth things out value for  money we gave 90 because for what you  get in the price you pay we find it to  be great value you are getting three  distinct models with three distinct  firing mechanisms the brick quality is  on par with any other major brand

Playability

For  playability we gave this 75 because it  is kind playable once you get beyond the  firing mechanism and rolling it around  it doesn’t really offer too much beyond  that

Displayability

For displayability we gave it a  solid 80 the models display quite well  and got some nice details in them but  nothing that really knocks your socks  off.

General Comments

The target market would appear to be  those who like these sort of medieval  type weaponry and Military fans it may  also appeal to those people who like the  beam and pin type Building Systems the  pros of the set is that it’s a great  value with three functioning models  which are completely different from one  another there are a variety of building  techniques which are used in it and it’s  generally a quality product the cons  would be that some of the instructions  are not clear in key steps there’s no  sort of little figures that come along  with them and it’s very much what you  see is what you get so in summary it’s a  great value three in one functioning set  if you’re into this sort of subject  matter and builds then you’re really  going to enjoy this so the overall score  comes in at a solid and respectable 80  percent

Summing Up

what are your thoughts is this  something you’d be interested in  purchasing let us know in the comments  below or just type the word “JM” and we’ll  know you’ve watched the complete video. If you’ve enjoyed don’t be afraid hit  that thumbs up button and it will be  super awesome and subscribe and share  link around the video to where this can  be purchased if you’d like to see how my  custom Sonic the Hedgehog mock Compares  with the official set check out this  video otherwise here are some other  videos you might be interested in thanks  very much for watching this family  bricks video and we’ll see you in the  next one