Is there any diffrence in UK and USA city sets?

[exon_from_youtube]

I just got my 100+ pound collection of 1984-1996 legos back because I had my first child and well that was the deal I made with my cuz... So I started to build my town in my office on a 4'x4' glass table and bought some of the new cool houses in the creators theme... long story short, I got the lego bug again and want to build more.... Problem is the selection in the toy store I go to (toysRus) is kind of week and I had to buy two beach houses already for spare bricks to make other buildings in the town.... I never ordered bricks custom from lego before and if I have to I am sure to have to place multiple orders because I know I will forget a couple diffrent bricks I need here and there.

As the Topic title states, I was curious if I would have a better chance with better detailed sets if I ordered my buildings direct from the UK or even Germany... I did notice on line the cornerstone three story buildings in the past from the UK differed from the US... Is this true?

If this is true, then some one pop me a good importer so I can build the city I have planned in my head faster.

On a side note, any one know of background picture software to make a wall look like the lego back drop in all the lego boxes? (yes I found the selection of backgrounds on the forum already, but the best one I seen was for an airport theme and I want a whole city theme)

Thanks for the help if any one can spare the time to give it..

I will upload pics of my layout soon

[pacc]

You already seem to have plenty of lego, though you can always spice it up.

To make you feel a bit welcome I can just point to a few sites to begin with, there are several similar.

brickset : Just to keep a list of your sets. Picture, price, bit count and instructions for newer sets.

Peeron : When you find an old set you want to rebuild, they will have inventory and scanned instructions.

Bricklink : You can buy bricks and even full inventories generated from some programs, the shops are independent sellers but searching here before you buy a set second hand somewhere else can help you from getting scammed.

You can always check lego.com which have exclusive sets (three story modular buildings) and some bricks, all at 'market prices'

Back to your question. Only some sets are hard to find for City; 7848 (the TrU truck with toyshop) and 8404 public transport station are exclusive for toysrus in both US and Europe (and some other chains aswell) and the city house 8403 in some other store. e.g these are not in the printed catalogue but shows up in some stores.

For exclusives you probably mean the modular houses,

which rarely shows up in stores so have a look at lego.com. I cannot afford them and couldn't dream about buying a set out of stock...

On the other hand I bought Medieval market, then I'll have some more houses without having to jump into three-story exclusives all at once ...

For importing, any reason not to import yourself? What you miss out on is holiday deals in the us brand stores but there is still bricklink/ebay/amazon selling from different countries worldwide (if you find out what is a decent price and are aware of shipping and the risk of customs)

[exon_from_youtube]

Thank you for the help... I do appreciate it greatly..

I want the three story buildings because my bricks are all 80's and 90's and well that is over 20 years of age on them and they all look it.... I made a white building the other day and well it looked like holly hell in the end... some off white and some egg shell next to brand new ones.... the only color that is still nice is black and well because I was a big fan of the space sets back in the late 80's, I have tons of those...

I like the $150 sets because if you figure the 100 piece per $10 spent. those sets are the best bang for the buck.

I do plan on hitting the flee markets in spring time and pick up another 100-200 pounds of random legos for city details and with that said, my town (4'x4')will soon be a city (9'x4') too bad the monorail kits are hard to find these days... I was so close to get back into legos back in the mid 90's because the trains that came to the market them years were very nice.

as for up and coming projects, I am in the plans for some cartoon theme buildings for my town... moes tavern is one of those and the Simpson's house as well.

[Tervlon]

Set selection is virtually the same between countries. There is rarely a major set that is available in one country and not another. If you are in the US I'd check out stores beside TRU (set get a significant mark up there). Also, the Online LEGO shop is a great resource to see what is available in every country.

[exon_from_youtube]

Set selection is virtually the same between countries. There is rarely a major set that is available in one country and not another. If you are in the US I'd check out stores beside TRU (set get a significant mark up there). Also, the Online LEGO shop is a great resource to see what is available in every country.

Well I asked because the 1950's theme town set with the prez of legos on the cover never made it to the US it seems and the mustang car and the movie theater was very cool in that set....

acouple other sets come to mind as well, but I do belive you are right for the most part...

I like TRU because they have the buy two get one free sale all the time, but if the new sets dont get here faster I would have already picked up every city set by Xmass.... LOL its cool having kids and buying legos again... dont matter how old you get, you still get hooked! LOL

thanks again for the responce

[meyerc13]

Well I asked because the 1950's theme town set with the prez of legos on the cover never made it to the US it seems and the mustang car and the movie theater was very cool in that set....

Are you referring to Town Plan? You'll see at the link below that it was available in the US until 1 year ago:

http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=10184-1

I believe it was pretty much exclusive to the LEGO stores, I never saw it anywhere else.

[exon_from_youtube]

Are you referring to Town Plan? You'll see at the link below that it was available in the US until 1 year ago:

http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=10184-1

I believe it was pretty much exclusive to the LEGO stores, I never saw it anywhere else.

oh, then I stand corrected...

but it still is a bad ash set

Edited November 23, 2010 by exon_from_youtube

[pacc]

Try to restrain yourself and get the oldest modular house that still have a decent price on lego.com by black friday.

Then you won't regret it when it's out of stock, though I don't see the point of looking for out of production sets when you haven't even begun, there will be new sets next year even though standard city looks dry.

I haven't seen great deals on modular houses, though someone else might fill me in here ( just in the game since summer )

[exon_from_youtube]

Try to restrain yourself and get the oldest modular house that still have a decent price on lego.com by black friday.

Then you won't regret it when it's out of stock, though I don't see the point of looking for out of production sets when you haven't even begun, there will be new sets next year even though standard city looks dry.

I haven't seen great deals on modular houses, though someone else might fill me in here ( just in the game since summer )

agreed with you.... Yes I have only had my legos for a short bit back my self... But have the best type of lego addiction, the adult type. when your a kid, your collection really only gets add ons when your B-day comes or the holidays.... But when you get older and have a family your self, buying legos depends on what you need at the time and well money is less of a problem for them big sets... Like I said before, when spring hits, I want to hit up the flee markets in the area and score some more legos on the side of buying sets... Right now I dont need to sort my legos by brick type, just color... as soon as I get up to close to 200 pounds of them I will have to set up the closet in the office with like 50-100 trays/bins to keep the loose ones in order... right now my loosies only need 6 bins... hehe

[Jasper Joppe Geers]

Some months ago i sold my last Cafe Corner. It had been in my street for

this long that i got bored and fed up with them. When you start creating

these modular houses, it's great fun in the beginning, but even more when

you get more and more familiar with building techniques etc.

For me, it started with just the building. Then the inside became more and

more interesting and fun to do. Then i noticed the detail you can grasp,

and if you have a floor, why not spend some time on a ceiling as well?

After some time you may find that the original sets are perhaps still fun,

but you are certainly able to create something of you're own. And that's

the moment when you have to control yourself before getting lost in bricks,

houses and ideas!! :)

Cheers!

JJ.

[exon_from_youtube]

I do a lot right now, but since my collection lacks some basics...(large base flats) I run out of bricks for floors and I dont buy the big sets in hopes of building the box picture... I was and always was a lego fan that looked at box content over the picture for things I needed for other builds.... the only reason I have three stock modular houses is well, I have not built in over 10-15 years now and back then I either could not afford them or we just did not have the details in a box set like that in the past.... I picked up the beach house first because I lost one in real life to divorce and having one set up in my city relaxes me when I see it...

I look at a lot of the pictures on the forum and am amazed to say the least with what people have done and until I buy new detailed sets for some major parts I need, I will have a hard time to create any thing that compares.... all my collection is based on 90% 1980's legos... So bare with me until I have another 100 pounds of spare bricks to do details like floors alone.... or I may just have to stick with a trailer park looking village like I have now...LOL