K'Nex City Rides 10 Model Building Set

by K'Nex

Product Features

• Comes with new light-up brick
• Build mail trucks, police cars, buses and more - with working lights
• Includes building ideas for 10+ unique models, and has over 120 pieces
• Handy storage container for portability and easy clean-up
• For ages 5+

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 3 x 8.5 inches ; 1.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001HN6QZ2
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: 61021
• Manufacturer recommended age: 5 years and up
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,061 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Build lots of cool, city vehicles - with working lights. Includes the complete K'NEX building system plus the new light-up brick. The lights activate when you move the model. Ideas and instructions for 10+ unique models. For ages 5+.

Product Description

Build lots of cool, city vehicles - with working lights! Includes the complete K'NEX building system PLUS the new light-up brick! The lights activate when you move the model. Ideas & instructions for 10+ unique models. For ages 5+

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Individual bricks well-designed, but interlocking design not so good, January 29, 2010

By 

natskou - See all my reviews

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: K'Nex City Rides 10 Model Building Set (Toy)

The K'nex bricks feel like quality material. They are slightly different aesthetically from Legos--rounded corners (cute) and a plus sign on each brick--but the differences must be more than aesthetic because the bricks don't seem to stay together as well as Legos.
The people who designed the models for you to build also seem to lack knowledge of basic interlock engineering--when you're putting bricks together, you've got to do it strategically so that the whole structure is interlocked. The models seem slapped together. Case in point: when my little boy tries to push around the big rig on the front of the box, the whole front of it comes off the wheelbase. Repeatedly.
Also, I was fascinated by the idea of the light-up brick, but I couldn't envision it really well while studying Amazon's write-up. I wondered how many there were and if they worked by some "shake-electricity" technology. Here are the answers: there is one brick and it is run off 3 button batteries.
I personally plan to stick with Legos.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars knex vs lego for young builder, November 5, 2010

By 

C. erickson "big sky" (mt) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: K'Nex City Rides 10 Model Building Set (Toy)

We purchased this for my son when he was 3.5 years, now he is 4 and still loves it. The primary pieces of this set are brick type "legos," and then the added bonus of the typical knex pieces to add creativity. We also own a few car building type lego sets, but this was my best purchase overall. The designs are much more simple compared to lego (construction 3 vehicle set) and do able for a young child. yes because the designs are simple they do not hold together as well- but well enough! And if I build a vehicle with the design concepts of "legos" but with these knex pieces, then it holds up to rough play just as well as lego. When my son was 3.5 he could put these tires on the rims and axles independently but with legos he still cannot do it alone-just so many more pieces and complexity. with the "knex" type connectors that come with the kit my son likes to make a 2 wheel trailer to pull behind his main vehicle (because of the knex pieces it actually pivots and turns like a real trailer). Great product. He doesn't build by following the included dirrections thats too complex- but he is free to build watever type of vehicle he thinks up. And it comes with enough pieces to make that happen! A similar priced lego set does not offer the possiblities of this set!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Go elsewhere., December 26, 2010

By 

Tell_It - See all my reviews

= Durability:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: K'Nex City Rides 10 Model Building Set (Toy)

Wow, only 10 dollars for a kit that builds 10 models! What a screaming deal, right?

If that's what you're thinking (as was I), allow me to help you better invest your money. As other reviewers noted, these bricks stay together LESS WELL than Legos (and I have issues with how poorly some Lego sets stay together, especially those for younger children.)

The box states that the toy is for ages 5+, but the instruction sheet is so difficult that adults have trouble following it. Unlike the Lego instructions that break down the assembly into multiple steps and show pictures of each step, these instructions show a couple of pictures with multiple bricks already assembled and a token brick or two floating above the assembled piece with cute little arrows pointing down.

Imagine instructions for building an automobile engine that show it already assembled, but with the dipstick floating above and the obligatory arrow pointing down. It would be funny if it wasn't so bleeping frustrating. The pictures aren't even shown in multiple perspectives!! Just the same side-on view. No wimpy rotating the pictures so that you can count holes here!!

Well, I'm having fun but let me get back to the reason that I decided to write this review. The very first model in the instruction book, the VERY FIRST ONE! is wrong. You cannot possibly, in this universe, construct that toy with these bricks. I have double and triple-checked the parts against the parts list. I have tried multiple configurations, but the fact is that the axle will NOT stick out far enough past the flared brick to put the tire on. The picture itself is NOT an actual representation of these bricks. It _has_ to be computer-generated. What gives?? K'Nex cannot afford to pay people to actually construct the models???

Perhaps the remaining models in the book can actually be constructed. Perhaps not. But really, when this is your first experience with a new toy, do you even want to sally on? Do you continue to chew rotten food?

I should add that I am a software engineer by trade and while I don't deal in concrete objects, I am very deliberate, methodical, and precise. Much more so, apparently, than K'Nex.

My advice: enjoy your Lego sets.