Johnny1360

Extremely well executed, great to see it in real bricks as well. Of all things though what I really like is the seats, great use of crow bars.

It is rubber and it is pretty soft, very handy as well.

I am sure there are many other options and the one you show should work fine but instead of the black technic part you could use the cam piece, might make for smoother operation. Or even one of the newer technic 2x3 curved panel extenders.

Very interesting, I would have never considered that reason, I always thought it was more of a safety concern. As in not being able to easily puncture little Johnny's epidermis.

Coming along nicely, I never expected it to grow so much, so quickly. Will be interesting to see the final setup, good luck. The funny thing is I thought, when you first posted that the river course was to symmetrical and unnatural but you have done an excellent job on that and I like how the river changes hight yet remains smooth, although a rock or boulder wouldn't look so bad.

I occasionally have similar issues with the instructions and tend to work with bright lights as a consequence, I have always attributed it to old age though, as I am over 60 years old. Curious what age group you fall into?

You might try an inexpensive Dremal tool with a cut off wheel, I have had very good experience modifying LEGO using one. (No need for all that sanding and whatnot)

Indeed, a simple ball type check valve, would be very useful and could be simply made small enough to fit in any line. The biggest problem I see would be getting it correctly installed, I could see many people installing it backwards, causing much frustration. Still to me that would be a minor problem and I would love to see such a part. Great idea.

Exactly and all plates bow slightly towards the stud side, by design as mentioned.

I have found just a little bit of a quality dish detergent to be fine. I usually fill the sink with hot soapy water, then put your dirty LEGO in a colander and submerge that in the water. That way you can easily agitate the parts and remove them from the soapy water and makes it easier to rinse the soap off, with out worrying about washing small bits down the drain.

That's hard to say for me, as one of the things I like about them, is how each one does the build a little bit different, I enjoy each build and they are inexpensive enough that I can afford them all.

Maybe one of those Dots Stitch-on Patches would help to secure the base to the dashboard. If you don't mind me asking, what type of vehicle, will this be in.

It is odd, to me, you see it that way. In my experience, you could easily pack two sets worth of bricks into most all boxes. Even flattened the boxes are very large and stacks of different sized boxes become unwieldy and space consuming. Not sure where you live either but around here cardboard and paper make a wonderful home for rodents and insects as well. I will say this though if I were interested in reselling LEGO it would definitely still be in an unopened box, or new. As far as opened sets, I still maintain that box saving is a waste of time and money 90% of the time. If I want the box I would always buy new.

Guilty of the same, also only save maybe 10% of the boxes, they take up far too much space, in my world anyway, lol. I even mix up my parts with parts from other sets, unless It is an absolute great set or a highly collectable set that I just pick up without really looking for. I do hang on to the instructions though, which are quite heavy and also take up valuable space in my micro apartment. As far as value, I think far too many people overestimate the value of LEGO, I doubt seriously any of my LEGO sales will amount to anything other than some pocket change.

They will have to be exceptionally well done for me to continue buying Speed Champions sets, one of my personal favorite themes. Prices have pretty much doubled in the past five years for SC sets, one of the big draws for me was Inexpensive sets, didn't matter if I liked them or not. In todays environment though they will have to be much liked for me to crack open the vault.