GLVBrick

My son and I recently went through the series 6 packets looking for the figures we wanted at a local K-Mart, and none of them were opened. Although, some of the bags are a little more wrinkled now... If I saw one opened I would probably not report it. If it were a large number I might. I think most department stores inspect the various sections after closing each day anyway to straighten up the shelves, pick up any trash, and put things in the right places, especially in toys where there is normally more "customer/merchandise interaction." So, any opened products would get handled at that point. Greg

Very nice MOC. One down, six to go. I drive by a real one in BA livery frequently (parked on display outside of the Naval Air Station here in Jacksonville, FL) and you have captured the look very well. An official set could certainly provide a cleaner canopy and a blue nose piece. One advantage to modeling craft used for carrier operations is that the prototoype landing gear is intentionally beefier so LEGO gear will not look too off-scale. One final note, the plane's actual designation is the F/A-18A (or 18B), for Fighter/Attack (the plane's dual mission capabiliity), with the A denoting single-seat version and B dual-seat. Blue Angels plane 7 (pictured in your first post) is the B version. - Greg

Hello, I am new to Eurobricks. I am 40-something father of three who is finally coming out of his "Dark Ages." Until now I have just watched my kids play with LEGOs and helped out on the occasional build. It seems that it took a trip to LEGOLand Florida last Friday to wake me up! LEGOLand is incredible! I am so happy that I now live within three hours of one. Anyway, I bought a modest Creator set while I was there (6913 Blue Roadster) and thoroughly enjoyed the short build. I almost bought the Technic 8068 Rescue Helicopter, but something told me to keep it small. Now I know why: while surfng the web looking up the original Lego Sopwith Camel 3451 set (which I saw once at a train show in Jax), I found news of this new one! This looks like a terrific model. The Camel is one of my favorite planes from childhood (thanks to Peanuts and Snoopy). Other than the working control suraces, what I like about this one vs the 3451 set are the tail shape, the enclosed cowling, and the number of cylinders (eight) that is closer to the nine of the prototype. The wings have lost the angled edges found on the prototype, but I am OK with that. I am already considering how to modify this model to have a motorized propeller and machine gun muzzle flash (need some tiny LEDs). I hope there is some room inside. Keep on building - Greg