Belchher

Hazarding a guess, I'd say its probably the promotional give away from the grand opening of the NY Lego store at the end of this month.

For whoever was after the SP3 K-9 impulse, my local Target had a whole new rack of the current impulse sets out today, including heaps of the k-9s.

Yeah Pac Fair is the Gold Coast. As for Target, I couldn't agree more, but given this new thing they all seem to have of not giving a preview till a week before at the earliest, and prices only 4 or 5 days before, I wouldn't hold your breath. I REALLY want to see what exclusives Target have, especially given they're touting it as their biggest toy sale ever, fingers crossed it isn't largely a huge load of nonsense like the Big W and KMart ones have panned out to be. Also hoping this supposed TRU lego sale in august/september is a bit more interesting. ( I guess there's a chance Target might get the new Shuttle Adventure as an exclusive, not sure if that's still strictly S@H or not though ).

I must say I love all your trucks, much better than any I've managed. I am curious as to the doors on the back though, whats behind them? Milk trucks here in Australia are generally just great big tanks on the back.

This is another great MOC from you, righteous, and as another parent whos lego creations have "must be child friendly" foisted on them, I must say I keep a close eye on everything you do as it helps convince me that my original notion for adult facades and themes with big open backs is not only possible, but can be every bit as good as the adult oriented modular trend! Hopefully soon after the rather large amount of sets I have on lay-by is in my grubby mitts I'll be able to present a MOC close to the standard you keep on setting.

Thanks for the answers folks! Sadly this all seems to mean that my goal of trying to get it going without spending much money or time doing alterations could be a lost cause. Guess I'll think it over, although its looking like I might be best off just sucking it up and buying the XL direct from S@H.

They also have the pig farm and the red technic car! lol But yeah both seem pretty poor for "big sales". Given how much both TRU and Target are hyping their sales I'm waiting to see what comes of it, fingers crossed ( probably in vain ) that one of them might get exclusive on the Emporium, or at the very least Target will stop being lame and get some more MMV's in for the event.

Shamelessly bumping this back up to the top, and again my apologies if this has already been covered ( I did search, but I've driven 500k's already today and am a bit out of whack ), but how would the EN fair with an M motor rather than the XL? From browsing EB I get the impression the M is geared for more speed and less torque. Given I'll be running the EN with 3 passenger cars ( the standard ones that come with it, at first anyway ), I have no idea what issues there might be as far as burning out the motor, lack of traction, or what have you. The only reason I ask is, for today and tomorrow only I can get the power functions box set with the M motor in it for 30% off, so its as good a time to check options outside ordering from S@H as any. Any and all advice appreciated as always!

Where the Mario bags giant red canvassy things? I noticed they where putting everything into them, but didn't pay much attention beyond thinking "wow, a free giant canvassy bag"

Really? Thats odd, when I hit the register at Loganholme around 10am there was no issue with the lay bys, in fact they where asking ever customer if they wanted to lay by AND if they where a Myer One member for the extra 10% off. To Cammy, I'd just go back and ask to speak to a manager, there where signs all over the place informing people of the One discount at Loganholme, and theres no reason you should be out of pocket because of an ignorant staff member at the register. I knew I chose well going to Logan instead of Pac Fair!

Buying 3 at $100 a pop is the easiest way to get 3 carriages, that bloody great engine with 1 just looks naff.

Myers is EVIL! All I can say is thank the gods for lay by Thankfully K-Marts sale is uninspiring for me, although I'll probably grab the fire station for the kids. Now I just have my fingers crossed that TRU dont have anything I feel compelled to buy, or my wife might neuter me! For those interested, I got into the nearest Myer at 9.45 this morning, and got the LAST cargo train, and by the time I left the dozen or so Emerald Nights where all gone. Can't complain I guess, have a modular fire station, cargo train, train station, and 3 Emerald Nights on lay by for under $800, that would be closer to $1200 normally.

By the sounds of things all these K-Mart prices are pre-sale, for people silly enough to buy this week instead of next when the sale starts. Lets hope its a nice fat discount! I'm going to have to make sure I check if the on-line catalog is up tomorrow before I head out to Myers, so I know how much cash to save or spend

Nice setup, I especially like the alien saucer abducting the cow! Is that a SP3 villain I spot piloting it?

I hope that's the pre-sale price, as 299 is the RRP...and by fire station, I take it you mean the City one, not the old fashioned modular one?

I'm actually surprised there hasn't been a hospital in this years batch yet, given its been 4 years since the last. When does TLG usually start leaking out information on the final few sets for the year? I'm not holding my breath though given how many large city sets have already come out.

!!!!! Great idea, and thanks for making me feel like an idiot for not thinking of that cunning plan first lol

Gawd I hope you're right concerning stock levels, unfortunately I live in a "Myers dead zone", with the two closest being around 30 minutes away either north or south, so I was planning on heading to one some time mid-morning on Thursday to avoid peak hour traffic. I'm going to be bummed out if I get there and there's no cargo trains, ENs, or stations!

Ah ok, I'd skimmed over the 9v conversion stuff without realising it was a similar process. A bit sad that those "third holes" are just indentations, I was really hoping TLG had made the holes just so they could make old steamers with lots of wheels using that motor. Thanks for the info though! Edited for dodgy spelling.

That town hall is just lovely, as are the 4 lamps at the corners of the square. I do, however, agree with the inventor. A few more stalls would really bring the market to life and make this build even more superb. edit: Just noticed the stilts! Brilliant!

Rather than starting a new thread, I figured I'd hijack this one a little bit as Jamzee seems to have gotten his answer! I apologize if this has been asked elsewhere, I did look and couldn't find it. But would it be a fairly straightforward task to omit certain parts of the EN during build and use the new train motor that comes with the passenger/cargo trains to power it? I really don't feel like forking out the cash required to power an EN as I have the passenger train on order ( and will be grabbing the cargo on Thursday ), but have no objection to using the passenger train as parts and stuffing its PF bits into the EN, especially given it should also allow ( unless I'm mistaken, which I very well could be, being a train noob ) the battery box to squeeze into the engine where it can't be seen. From eyeballing the EN instructions on TLGs site, and images of the new PF train motor, it would appear the PF motor has 3 appropriately spaced axle holes, but I'm not sure if the plates for attaching the front and rear bogies can be put on it in the appropriate place. Any advice on this is greatly appreciated, I'm really hoping my plan is viable

No idea about the TS truck sorry, but I'm fairly sure Endor is NOT an exclusive, and vaguely remember somebody saying they saw it in Myers. I'd pop into your closest on Thursday if you get a chance and see if you can score it for 20% off if it is in fact there.

I asked at a couple of Myers stores today re catalogs ( and stock :P ) and was told they where due out tomorrow or weds, guess they're a bit behind this year. Sadly all they could tell me, as far as their Lego stocks went, was that they'd had over 7 pallets of toys at each store, along with those displays the toy reps where setting up themselves ( Lego being one of these ), so they had little clue what they actually had yet ( apparently a fair bit isn't going to be put on shelves until weds after close, ready for the sale on thurs). They DID however confirm that the catalog showed they should have the Cargo Train, the big imperial ship, and the Emerald Night ( that one they knew they actually had in stock ).

I'd be surprised, given Just Bricks has it for $119.95 + 9.95 postage, guess I'll keep looking given that still works out to a massive $5 more than S@H lol. As always I guess there's the option of buying a handful of stuff from S@H in one hit to get the best postage cost for dollar spent I can...blah, wish TLG would just put some Lego stores in Australia already. PAB wall in Brisbane would make life so much easier.

Has anybody noticed the PF rechargeable battery in their travels? They're expensive, but then so are regular rechargeable batteries. I don't recall seeing them anywhere yet, and as always would prefer to avoid having to pay shipping costs.