It would seem there is great interest in the brand we reviewed last time on Alt-Blocks, so I’m back with another review of a “deTech” set from the Double Eagle CaDA brand. You may recall from our last review that I’m already inclined to be a fan of this brand. Our friends at BuildingToyStore.com have asked me to review this set, and I am glad to do so.

Now, I will note that there has been some discussion in the blocks community about the name of this brand. I’ll try to break it down, simplify as much as I can.

Double Eagle, or “Double E” with a logo of two eagle-shaped capital “E”s, is the top-level brand, or the manufacturer. I don’t know if they have any other sub-brands, but the sets we’ve been building are further branded “CaDA”, which some brick fans have misinterpreted as “CadFi”, due to the company’s choice of glyph for the final A, which looks very much like the connected F and i glyph used in printing. I chalk this up to non-native English speakers choosing the characters, since the “Fi” glyph does appear much like a stylized capital “A”. The way we can be sure it is “CaDA” not “CadFi” is that the set-specific logo and stickers for today’s review set are typeset in a different font, and clearly read “CaDA”, no mistaking it. Next, the set we are reviewing today has a “deTech” moniker attached to it as well. This is much like the “Technic” or “Technician” name, or LEGO’s former “System” terminology, but with less standard capitalization. So, with all that said, let’s review another Double Eagle CaDA deTech set.

Today, let’s look at an AK-47-styled assault rifle in colours reminiscent of a Nerf gun. (One might say it’s a knock-off Technic knock-off of a Nerf knock-off of a real gun.) My first impression on looking over the set was to wonder how sturdy this thing would end up being, built as it is of all Technic (or deTech) pieces such as beams, pins, and girders, and it being rather long and thin. I am pleased to say that the finished product is indeed quite sturdy.

First, let’s look at brick quality: this is a fully technic set, complete with the full array of technic pieces. You’ll find long liftarms, short liftarms, T-arms, L-liftarms, bent liftarms, gears, rectangular, shock absorbers, and a variety of pins. All of the parts feel nice and sturdy, of solid, heavy plastic, with no deformities noted. Friction pins work as they ought to: inserting them is without difficulty, and they stay put. This is in contrast to some Lepin Technician pins and pieces, which sometimes are either too tight or too loose. Double Eagle/CaDA only does Technic (er, deTech) sets, and it shows: they’ve got quality control under control.

Beginning the build, like many Technic-style sets, it’s really hard to see where things are going at first, and hard to imagine how it’s all going to fit together into the finished product. With “only” 498 pieces (many of which are tiny pins holding together the liftarms–it takes a lot of pins to secure things sturdily), it’s a pretty quick build from start to finish.

I’m not a weapons expert, so likewise the terminology related to guns is not my expertise. But we begin with the pistol grip, and expand that outward and upward, to build the left half of the upper receiver. The weapon ends up being 5 studs wide, and we first build one side of that, along with the innards, followed by the right side, then the magazine, followed by the butt stock and a handy display stand (labeled “present” on the box).

No issues were encountered throughout the build. Luckily, this build has superbly differentiated block colours, so there’s no ambiguity in the instructions that one often encounters (“hmmmm, is that light grey, dark grey, or black? Dark red or brown?”). The big question I had was “I wonder if this will be functional, capable of firing?” The box doesn’t especially make it clear if that’s the case or not. It turns out it does not fire missiles of the typical “Lego” sort, but rather contains a firing mechanism that can launch elastic bands. Essentially, it’s an AK-47 Rubber Band Gun. Elastics are included for the purpose of launching at targets, with the typical warning in the manual noting that such projectiles are not to be fired at people’s faces.

Somewhat surprisingly, even half assembled, the gun is sturdy and solid. Completed, it’s as solid as any Nerf gun you’ll find, possibly more so. CaDA’s deTech pieces all fit together expertly, without any gaps, warps, or other tolerance problems. Moving parts move freely (just make sure you don’t push moving parts together too closely–friction is usually the cause of build errors, which can be prevented by ensuring that moving parts be kept slightly apart from each other).

In all, I’m very pleased with this second CaDA deTech build. The colour scheme might not be to everyone’s liking. It definitely screams “toy” as opposed to “model”. If you’re not into brightly coloured gun replicas, you’ll want to pass on this one and look more toward realistic military hardware perhaps (such as the tank I am presently working on, and shall be reviewing upon completion). In the end, I now have a fun rubber band gun, and more experience with this quality Chinese brick brand. After building two sets, I’m happy to say I’m sold on CaDA and will continue to keep an eye on their releases. The next set we’ll build is a power-functions remote-controlled tank. We shall see how their power functions hardware stacks up against the competition. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, why not stop by BuildingToyStore.com and grab a CaDA set of your own to work on?

These sets are not up on BuildingToyStore.com yet, but I suspect now that the Chinese New Year festivities and travels have come to an end, they will soon be added to the store. Therefore, I don’t know the exact price for this model yet. Just keep an eye on their page, and expect to see lots from this brand in future. Do remember that when you are ready to order, our friends at Building Toy Store are offering a coupon for 10 USD off your order, exclusively for readers of Alt-Blocks, in addition to other discounts on their site. Just go to BuildingToyStore.com using this link, create an account (which gets you a 10% discount), and use coupon code K7CXYREL. You may also find a coupon code on their site for an additional 5% discount.

Like most blogs, Alt-Blocks.com is supported by readers clicking affiliate links within posts, which links result in Alt-Blocks.com receiving a small commission on purchases made by readers. Your support is appreciated and helps us to keep providing thorough reviews and photos of brick sets. This set was provided to me for review purposes. Thank you for reading this review!