Princess Kaila here.

[Kaila]

Hello Princess Kaila here and I recently started rekindling my enjoyment of Lego and in particular trains. Back in the 80's when I was a child my favorite toy was Lego. I had mostly City, Space, Castle and Train of which they are all mixed up in a giant official Lego tartan bag/round playmat. I really like castle but was silly and took it to school to share with friends. In lunchtime somebody stole my whole bag of it >< It was many sets too unfortunately.

These were some of the castle sets I remember having -

I had many City sets but strangely only kept 2 of the boxes XD, these 2 I still have with the boxes being in great condition -

Originally I really liked space lego and these were some of my sets from that genre (I still have these but without boxes) -

But my honest favorite was Train! After reading around for the last day about Lego I keep hearing that the 80's was the golden era of Lego train. Seeing the limited stuff available now I might agree. I remember a commercial on T.V about the Lego rail system and it sent me C R A Z Y. I still remember the jingle.. I even taped the commercial just to watch the trains in it over and over to get ideas for building.

But yeah I got this train still -

But also got that 12v Transformer Kit and all the electric railing with the converter piece for the train. I hated that 12v transformer because it cost mum heaps but died after about a month and my train fun was completely spoiled.

So anyways I really love Japanese Manga and I stumbled across the Exoforce range a few years ago. I bought so many of them lol, even the Sentai Fortress. Managed to pick up this Golden guardian guy on a trip to Japan, I'm glad I did now cause it seems harder to find this Exo stuff anymore. -

It's good to meet everyone here and yeah I'm right into train stuff. Just bought the 3677 Train yesterday along with the new station and extra tracks. Will be going back to mums house tomorrow to pick up my old 12v rail sets ^^ (Too bad the tracks arent the same anymore.. oh well guess i'll run them alongside separately). Also am going to try and find instructions off the net to fully rebuild the old 80's space sets.

I only really had 2 questions if anyone cares..

1. Is there a good website for instructions of those old 80's kits anywhere?

2. I was thinking of doing an overseas order from that Chowren Toys website for some old sets.. the prices seem a little too good and their description all mostly say the same thing - it made me suspicious, has anyone ordered through them?

I'm sorry if this was a long intro post and thanks to anybody kind enough to read it.

Edited July 9, 2012 by Kaila

[Spider-Man]

Welcome to Eurobricks! I did read your entire post but seeing as I am pretty new here I don't really know any of the answers sorry. There are a lot smarter people on here then me so I am sure you will find your answers somewhere!

[The Blue Brick]

Welcome to Eurobricks. Also, I guess we shared some of the same memories with those sets as a kid.

I hope you enjoy the community.

[Skipper]

Go find that thieving kid who took your castles and beat him up.

Welcome to EB! Not really a train fan myself, but I the classic Castle and Exo-force sets.

1. Is there a good website for instructions of those old 80's kits anywhere?

2. I was thinking of doing an overseas order from that Chowren Toys website for some old sets.. the prices seem a little too good and their description all mostly say the same thing - it made me suspicious, has anyone ordered through them?

Peeron has a pretty comprehensive library of instruction scans. As for Chowren toys, I've never used them myself but Brickset seems to have endorsed them so I'm inclined to think they're ok.

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Welcome to EB your highness!

I only really had 2 questions if anyone cares..

1. Is there a good website for instructions of those old 80's kits anywhere?

2. I was thinking of doing an overseas order from that Chowren Toys website for some old sets.. the prices seem a little too good and their description all mostly say the same thing - it made me suspicious, has anyone ordered through them?

For the first question, I primarily use Brickfactory.info for instruction scans. It's pretty easy to use, searching by year or theme, etc. There is also Peeron.com, another commonly used site, though I am less familiar with.

Your second question: I have bought from Chowren Toy's eBay store once or twice about a year or two ago, for some discontinued Indiana Jones sets. They were very nicely priced for new in box (NIB) and shipped quickly, to U.S. I have bought hundreds, literally, of older city sets from sellers on eBay. Very seldom have I or do I ever pay over it's original RRP. I love it for the quick shipments, and lower domestic shipping costs. Plus I have found most of every old set I missed out on. And if you are worried about faulty lying sellers, which there are, eBay/paypal have a very good buyer protection program. I have never lost money without receiving a set. Just check the sellers feedback. I like higher number sellers, 500+ positive feedback. Just so long as they don't have less than 98% positive rating. I'd give it ago or just keep an eye on it.

Hope this is what you were looking for! See ya in the boards

[Kaila]

So many thank-you's to all you kind and welcoming people ^_^

Many thanks for those links also! I just got home from my mums house and all that classic 80's Lego was still there with most of the instructions in a tartan lego bag and a plastic yellow container. YAY! I think i'm falling back in love just thinking about 12v trains and what I can make. Am thinking about making a rebuild thread just for fun to document my own cataloging..

[Alasdair Ryan]

Welcome to Eurobricks.

[Lightning Dragon]

Well, there's specific forums for different stuff, for trains, for town. But I don't think anyone does reviews or anything on old kits any more. Most of us on EB are adults, and we have some old kits too. And for your first question, I use brickfactory.info Welcome to EB!

[Captain Green Hair]

What an introduction, welcome to Eurobricks!