dhc6twinotter

I try to match the music to the type of moc in some way, although, sometimes I think the music I pick is a bit dramatic (and some of the commentors agree ) Lately, I've been using music that I download from Audio Network. Everything is pre-approved for youtube use, so there isn't all the copyright stuff to deal with.

That's already doable with current parts. Several of us have built mocs using turntables as planetary hubs. I agree, and the Control Center II is really the only set I regret not buying. Exactly! Building a moc is my favorite part of playing with LEGO, and once a model is built, I really don't do much with it other than display at one or two shows. My niece and nephew like LEGO too (I got them into it ), but they don't seem to play with their built stuff much. They seem to enjoy the build and moc process better.

I'd say the differential is one of my favorite parts. All kinds of neat stuff can be done with a differential.

One of my local LEGO stores received 8 crawlers a few days ago. Somebody came in and bought all 8. Another local store received a handful, and the store sold out within several hours of receiving a shipment. Another store received 10 or so, which is where I bought mine, but it was a 4 hour drive round trip to get there. What ticked me off was that the store told me they could not sell sets over the phone, but when I finally got to the store, one of the employees was taking a phone order for the crawler from somebody else. Thankfully, they had more in stock, but I would have been pretty bummed if the set they sold over the phone was the last one. A little more consistency with their rules would have been nice. The store was pretty strict about the 1 item per customer, which I appreciated, although I would have purchased two if they would have let me. I'm on the fence about the resellers buying up bulk items. On one hand, it is a free market and people should be able to buy multiple copies of a set for resale if they so choose. On the other hand, with such a limited number of sets, finding a way to limit sets to 3 or so per person would be nice. Here's what I think LEGO should do for the future: --Limit the first 3 weeks of a product release to VIP members --Require a picture ID that matches the name on the VIP card for purchases in stores --Create computer software that will remember which purchases were made and enforce the max number of an item sold. --During the first 3 weeks, only VIP members with 200+ points may purchase the limited number sets.

42009 looks to be a pretty good parts pack, especially for trucks. 42000 has some nice suspension parts if you plan on building cars. The wheels are nice size for larger scale cars, and the 3 mini-LAs are nice too. 42008 has a pretty good variety of parts. I love the green color, but if you have a limited number of parts, I think the green may be hard to work with. Better to start with a more common color, IMHO. 8258 is also great, if you can find one for a good price. Same with 8070. Both of those sets together make for a great parts variety pack for anybody getting into Technic (or starting over). IMHO, both the pick-up tow-truck and the plane are over-priced, however, the plane does have all those red panels, which should come in handy when building cars. The quad bike is a really nice little set, but it doesn't have much to offer for MOCing. The springs and little bit of panels would be nice, but that's about it. The suspension and steering components are terrible to use in anything. 42005 is overpriced and not worth it. So, in a nutshell, here are a couple options I would suggest: Option 1: 8258 Crane Truck 8070 Supercar Option 2: 42009 Mobile Crane MKII 42000 Grand Prix Racer If you were in the U.S., I'd say throw in the log truck too. But, since you are in Australia, that will probably put you over $500. Option 3: 9397 Log Truck 9395 Pick-Up Tow-Truck (overpriced, but parts will work well with log truck) 42000 Grand Prix Racer Just my $.02.

Paul, is there any certain type of item you like to build? Trucks, cars, machinery, rock crawlers, etc? What you plan to build makes a difference in determining what sets I would recommend.

The atrocious grammar used on their website makes it look fishy to me. If English isn't their first language, they should at least have a native English speaker proof read their website. I would be very cautious.

Some of the LEGO stores received a shipment of Crawlers today. Several LEGO employes told me this is the last shipment going to the stores, and none will be shipped from LEGO S@H.

V6 in a hot rod? Sounds dumb, but I'll probably buy it if it has blue parts. The snowmobile and skip truck sound nice. The construction crew sounds interesting, and I'm curious to see what that looks like.

Very good alternate!

One of these maybe? http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?colorID=11&itemID=79833 http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?colorID=77&itemID=106357

I'd be all for that, except for most of my LEGO is 2500 miles from me. Sounds fun though!

Very nice wheeled excavator! The arm rotation is a very nice feature.

Really amazing job with the renders. I wish I had those skills.

I'm sorry you have to get rid of your LEGO, but it sounds like you have a positive outlook for your future LEGO plans. Not sure if you're willing to sell individual parts, but you have a PM.

The U.S. LEGO S@H site looks like it may be going through some updates right now. The Power Functions page is currently blank. On a related note, the Unimog and all 2012 sets have been removed from the Technic section.

Great video! Thanks for sharing it with us! Were parts of the video sped up? I'm impressed with the speed of some of those mocs. Which vehicle won the tug-of-war? BTW, I'll be flying on Asiana through Incheon in a bit over a month. Can't wait! You should check out one of the conventions here in the States. They're pretty neat events.

I could care less about the numbered plate. I was hoping to pick up the crawler because of the unique wheels and blue color, both of which I'd like to use on future mocs. I have the opportunity to buy some LEGO at a discounted price this weekend, so I was holding out till then. It appears I waited too long.

Crawler is back up on the U.S. S@H, but it's labeled as being "sold out". I'm hoping for a status change similar to what happened with 8258, but I have my doubts.

1) How does the steering work? It looks like the differential was put in backwards, but if that's the case, your steering would be all messed up too. 2) Can you verify that the differentials in both axles have the ring gear on opposite sides, as illustrated in the renderings above? 3) Is the red bushing towards the front or back of the vehicle? We'll go from there... Edited to add question 3

Yup, that's the one! Great story too.

Here are a couple more: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=68025&hl=%2Blego+%2Bairport http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=49440&hl=+lego%20+airport#entry874211 There was another massive airport that somebody built a long time ago. I ran across it once here on EB, but I can't seem to find the thread. It was impressive and even included a monorail. I've often thought about building a 1930-1940s era seaplane base similar to the Pan Am seaplane base in Miami, Florida (the building is now the Miami city hall). I would also include a few hangers and an apron, but I wouldn't need a runway since it's a seaplane base. And, of course there would be some old aircraft like the Sikorsky S-38, 42, etc. Some day I'll get around to it.

Do we know that all 20,000 have already been sold? Maybe LEGO only made 5,000 or 10,000 and those are the sets that are sold out. Maybe the rest of the 20,000 have yet to be produced? I don't know. I'm a bit surprised they sold out so fast, but the model did get some attention outside of the normal LEGO community. I think this model brought a lot of attention to the Technic line, and for that I'm thankful. The whole fan created set was a genius marketing idea for LEGO, and I'm curious to see if they do something like this again.

It seems odd that LEGO would just pull it from the site so fast. Normally an item says "sold out" for a while.

Well that went fast. I guess I waited too long for one. Oh well, I don't need to be spending the money anyways.