Big Boy
The Nifeliz Big Boy is based off of the real-world Union Pacific Big Boy train, made from 1941 to 1944. Only 25 were made, and only a handful exist to this day. Big Boy is notable for being the largest and most powerful operating steam engine in the world.
The kit has 1818 pieces, and is a standard Lego train size. Of course, these are not Lego Bricks, they are Nifeliz bricks – Lego-compatible bricks out of China that have pretty much the same quality and assortment of parts.
This is in fact a BIG kit of the Big Boy. It measures 31 inches long and is sure to take up a lot of display space.
Thanks to Nifeliz for sending this over to review. You can get yours here!
The build was pretty straightforward with no missing parts or errors in the instructions. You can see the build in the video below.
The completed train is massive and rolls freely on the included tracks. It consists of the Locomotive engine and a separate car for carrying the coal.
I don’t know alot about train terminology, so forgive me if I call a part the wrong thing. The main engine consists of a floating front end part that has a connector to connect to another train. 2 banks of wheels on either side have the working pistons that keep the wheels in line as they rotate. At the rear, there is another independent section that rests under the cab.
One weird thing I noticed in the build is that there are cream-colored gears underneath that don’t actually connect to anything. Is it just for looks, or is there a modification or feature that I am not aware of?
The front is ornately detailed with various plated gold and silver parts. Some parts come with markings printed on, some parts require stickers. it’s a very fragile and detailed front end, but it looks great. Some of the rods don’t actually connect to anything but just rest in place, which is fine for a display piece.
The cab has a seat for one mini-figure (not included) and has a nicely detailed control panel. It’s hard to see, but the hole in the center has little flames in it to simulate the engine fire.
The rear car is hollow and connects with a technic pin – I sort of wish this was a more realistic train connector as it is difficult to separate and not damage the model. The car is largely hollow, with an opening up top where I assume all the coal would go. Stickers provide the graphics here.
The base has a nice display plaque that identifies it as train 4014:
#4104 is an actual engine built in 1941 and has been fully restored. It still operates today (2023) and is based out of Pomona California in the RailGiants train Museum.
Overall, it was a fun build. Some observations:
– The gears to nowhere are weird. The ones under the wheels I can see maybe being for use in future modding, but the ones in the body seem to serve no purpose at all.
– The flexible pipes are a bit too big, and need to be cut down by an 1/8 of an inch or so on my model.
– The cab detail is cool, but could use a light. Perhaps a future modification.
– This thing is so cool, but so big. It’s gonna be hard to figure out how to display this one.
– I love the care Nifeliz puts into their packaging, but there is a lot of plastic waste. The bagged steps contain fewer parts than traditional sets, so there are more baggies than normal, resulting in a lot of trash.
This set is highly recommended. Get yours here:
Amazon US store: https://www.amazon.com/nifeliz?maas=maas_adg_CAAFFCA76FB0024D7E792FE8886A908A_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas
Amazon CA store: https://www.amazon.ca/nifeliz?maas=maas_adg_43E63BA5D7402B9C9BB6AE70CFB8D181_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas
Amazon Germany store: https://www.amazon.de/nifeliz?maas=maas_adg_BFA56C286ACE9065020AA9105DED34BD_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas
Nifeliz blog: https://www.nifeliz.club/