Drop Into The FunWhole Skate Shop (F9051) – Review

The FunWhole Skate Shop (F9051) is a great ‘little’ set that brings something different to the Street Fusion and Town Life themes, what that is exactly will be revealed in the review below.

I’ll point out that this was a gift from my Wife at Christmas, this one and the FunWhole Book Cafe (F9031) were top of my list, no leading brand insight this year which was a first for me. As usual I’ll discuss the build process and how I got on. The figures, the lights and the final product will be discussed too, so without further a-do, here’s our review.

Head to the end of the review for our discount code offer. 

The Box & Contents:

The box is strong and sturdy and as always with FunWhole it features a darker design on the sides and back with a bright and colourful front image. We’ve said this a few times now but more details and images on the back would be great, showing the inside and some play features, however we are left with a lot of text and one computer generated image.

The side of the box has a nice graphic on it, ‘Welcome To The Streets‘. This is cool and really adds to the personality of the set, it gives you a taste of what the theme is and builds on that. It is of course a Skate Shop and small Skate Park.

Inside the box is a chunky instruction manual, 8 numbered bags and the infamous orange light kit box. Inside the latter are 2 orange paper bags, tweezers, small screwdriver and a battery pack, more on these and the lights later in the review.

The instruction manual is good quality too, with the cover and pages printed on quality paper. I’ve been asked many times by leading brand users “what are the instructions like?“, well I can confirm that they are on par if not better than the leading brand. With clear and precise steps, where cables and lights go and even the stud length count beside plates and tiles. Take a look at the photo below at how teach page is laid out. Granted there are some difficult colours to get right in print but every company has this issue with certain shades, even the leading brand.

The Build:

Starting off with the base, as always, we apply the tiles which make up the pathways and shop floor. I will point out that I swapped out the included plates for a 32×32 baseplate, which had to be cut down. This is a personal preference as I have a City this and other buildings will slot into, making them the same height is paramount.

Once the tiles are in place that’s when the Skate Park is built, using a number of bigger bricks to create a raised section and again tiles laid on top to give it a finished/polished look. I particularly like the way a portion of it is hidged and once done you simply lower it and it creates a ramp, simple but effective.

As you build up the shop itself, the walls, windows and flap at the back come together fast and progress seems steady and efficient. That’s one of the things I like about FunWhole sets, the bags may seem bigger but you get a hell of a lot done in each stage.

The techniques used vary from standard building and SNOT (studs not on top) to some you may have never seen before. Especially when it comes to the unique parts used for hiding the cables and LEDs. As you build up the Skate Shop and floors above, you place these specialist bricks & plates along the tops of the walls and around corners to give the fragile cables a place to sit without being crimped or damaged.

Inside the Skate Shop are a ton of details from skateboards and wheels to clothing and more. Slap-bang in the centre is a clothing rack that spins, it holds all the latest fashion items including hoodies and hats. There is a counter where the cashier stands. You’ll also notice a lot of printed parts, as FunWhole sets never come with stickers, all parts that have graphics on them are indeed printed elements, another reason to choose FunWhole. From a few skateboards and signs to posters and the graffiti outside, there are a total of 25 fully printed pieces in this set!

The Skate Shop looks fully stocked and from a build point-of-view it’s is filled to tea brim with small but much needed parts including round 1×1 tiles, slopes, clear elements, sections that spins, and more. The back wall is on a hinge so you can see inside once the upper floors are attached, this is a great feature from FunWhole and so far is a great decision as all the past sets have a flap or two.

The first floor is, which is also the top floor as this particular set is smaller in stature than past ones. Seeing this section standing alone in the photo below it looks great and could be the basis on how to expand the set if wanted, with the easy building style of basic brick layering and tiles for edge detailing. Here we use two awesome graffiti printed parts, a door and a wall, the quality of these are beyond high and as always with FunWhole they look so clean and sharp. Again there is a hinged flap on the back wall, open it up to peer inside, where you’ll see a small but fully furnished apartment.

Inside is a raised bed along one wall, drawers with a TV and stack of newspapers on it, a shelf, gaming accessories dotted around ad a fan and still in the centre. The selection of gaming attachments include a steering wheel and small handheld console, both are basic but the console has a print. The TV is is interesting as it too has a printed design in it, it’s either a game or a movie as it says “Back To The Party” in a Back To The Future style font, awesome! 

The roof section is a little thicker than previous buildings, I think this is to add a little more hight to it in general. It’s a straightforward build that is taller at the front, it is built up the set way as the floor beneath it with tan coloured bricks and grey accent. On the side is a fully printed sign that reads “Welcome To The Streets“, the tag line of this set.

In the roof terrace itself are a handful of smaller builds, a BBQ, deckchair, potted plant and some graffiti artist tools. Im guessing the person that lives in the apartment below is the Skate Shop owner, or it could be a Skateboard enthusiast that also dabbled in graffiti. I say this as there is a piece of art painted on an inside wall, it reads “Stay Wild” and looks fresh as the paint is running and the brush is laying next to it.

Put all these floors together and you have an awesome looking, albeit small, Skate Shop. For me the size is perfect and one I’ll definitely be inserting into my City, Gregsville. The smaller size means it gives the City a more diverse feeling and the skyline won’t all be the the same height.

The Lights:

As most readers of The Brick Post will know, FunWhole sets come with lights as standard and are fitted as you build. The instructions are very good at telling where to lay each cable, where to pop each LED and how to secure them.

When opening the main set box, inside you’ll find a smaller bright orange one, inside are the lights. The larger the set the more numbered bags you get, here there are 2, along with a battery pack and tools. The options for powering the lights are either by battery pack (which requires batteries) or by USB. Intend to use the battery pack to begin with and for testing purposes, once I install this set and the others, I’ll switch to USB and have a USB to handle them all.

When starting a new bag, the instructions list what you’ll need on the first stage. A couple of bags into the set it stated I needed bag 2 and bag 1 of the lights, again throughout that stage it will tell you when and where to run the cables. In the photo below is the contents of bag 1, the USB cable, a wireless connector and a few LEDs. For new comers to the brand and fitting lights, it may seem daunting, but be assured FunWhole has made the process as simple as it can be, the only fiddly part is popping the smaller plugs into the sockets, for me and my big hands I do struggle sometimes, but you can always use the tweezers, after all it’s why they are included.

Thanks to the specialist bricks that FunWhole use, you can’t really go wrong. With 1×4 bricks with a channel cutout and 1×2/1×1 plates with grooves in them, the cables rest and stay secure when wedged between other bricks. I’ve yet to have a damaged cable and honestly I can’t see it happening at all, unless accidentally cutting a corner or misplacing a cable.

Overall the box, lights and installation are what help make a FunWhole set what it is, an all round joy to set and build!

The Figures:

The set includes 3 figures, which is fitting considering the size of the Skate Shop itself. We have a shop owner, a customer and a rad skateboarder. Each have their own personality and style, but generally speaking they all feature a ‘cool dude‘ persona, with motifs on their clothing, skater hats and bling.

These figures come disassembled in a separate bag labeled ‘F‘. This is one of the low points of the set for me as you are required to build them fully, including popping their legs together, arms and hands into the correct sockets and so on. It’s a fiddly process but lucky spare arms are included as those are the ones my big fingers can’t cope with.

As I’ve said in previous reviews, the FunWhole figures are growing on me, but they aren’t there yet.

Thank you for reading my review of the FunWhole Skate Shop (F9051) set. This particular set was purchased by my Wife and gifted to me for Christmas, this does not affect the review at all, same goes to say if FunWhole these gifted me the set. I pride myself on honest and unbiased reviews.

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