simonwillems

I got an email the other day stating that the release date of the catalog is the 26th of june. Let's wait and see....

Mr. Panda was here before you two guys even considered signing up.... A warm welcome is, however, never to late!

You have a point there...... But, even if it is easier for the kids and AFOL's can skip steps, the issue of the storing space remains: I own 500+ sets all with instructions (stored away in ordners), thank goodness only few of those instructions are belonging to sets released in the past five years. Otherwise I'd find myself burried underneath a pile of ordners....

I have noticed this also, since I recently bought some new sets. The instructions of set 4896 Roaring Roadsters is one of the worst examples of this: three big books, one for each model in the box! Also the dimensions changed over the years: I like to store my instructions in ordners (A4- dimensions) and since a couple of years the instructions are a little bit smaller then that making them slide out of the plastic sheets more easily.... These big books from set 4896 use up almost half of one of my ordners. The most extreme example of dense instruction manuals, according to me, is the instruction of set 8865: try building a supercar in 24 steps (!) nowdays... the new coastguard helicopter uses 54 steps for the helicopter alone (the liferaft has it's own multipaged instruction-manual).

Same here, I ordered two copies from the publisher Fantasia Verlag myself on the third of june. The information said that the books were available. Do we get a notification when they get shipped?

On saturday I bought the 4896 Roaring Roadsters on clearance for 27 euros (half price), which I considered a great deal for almost a thousand shiny parts making up a beautiful model!

I have seen and made lots of temples in my life as a Lego enthousiast but yours must be one of the all time greatest, fantastic! Not only the outside looks incredible, also the surpising inside of it is stunning... What can I say

Really nice road you made there! Those helmets (from skateboarders originally I believe) certainly do the trick as cycle helmets. When I look at that pink Team Telecom bicycle I still worship the days in my life when I decided to buy 24 of those on clearance...

I undertook the same project about two years ago, bought a (by the seller marked as complete ) monorail with lots of parts missing... About those stickers: Bricklink lists the parts with stickers on them separately in the inventory of this set, meaning you can just buy a new part with sticker instead of reproducing the sticker. Only downside: quite expensive.... It was a real pain for me finding these rounded parts completely stickered, but without them the set just looks unfinished. I happened to had parts of a stickersheet left from either the 250 or 260 Idea book from the eighties, containing one big airportsticker, two monorail sign stickers (to go on top op the rounded yellow parts on the raised stationplatform) and the hamburgersticker. I don't know from which of the two books they were since I have the books and stickers separated. Good luck, out of experience I can say that it pays off to do this once you have the shuttle zooming through your layout!

Oh dear..! My condolences...

Nice car, all it needs are some wheels... The figs look cool too, however there is one piece missing there, this one! I bought some off Bricklink recently and they are great. (Officially they are from the Batman line)

For 3,75 euro (including shippingcosts from the UK) I bought this policecar off Ebay MISB. To be honest: I have seen more beautiful examples of policevehicles brought out by Lego, even some with actual policeofficer-minifigs in them....

I should have replied to this topic much earlier: busy, busy... Just like your post office really, it swarms with activity and there are all those little details to take into account. Well done! The only thing I find a bit strange is the location of the post-sorting chamber: on the second floor. That means all those poor minifigs have to haul all bags full of letters up the stairs, sort them and then go back again via the same stairs... I took the liberty to copy your simply but brilliant idea of the bags on the back of the bicycle, someone is pedalling through my (new) town as we speak with these bags.

That is a really nifty steamengine you have created here. At first glance it looks like any other locomotive, but on closer inspection half of it seems to be build upside down which really adds to the amount of detail. I especially like the use if the arches for the back side. Is the back wheel placed on a turntable or is the train capable of going through curves without that being necessary?

Man, I never realized those tanks were so expensive...! I never liked them that much though, I have one in my 8459 Front End Loader: The instructions tell you to pump 35 times to build up the pressure in the tank. When switching the valve to make the bucket go up, that bucket will launch anything containing it into outer space... Too much pressure release at one time. Or am I the only one with a (perhaps) not well functioning air tank? The 8455 is high on my to-buy list, it's a great model with the most cilinders of all times!

Thanks for reviewing this rare set! Since it came out in 1999 I have only seen this set in a toystore one single time, one single copy as well... It was in the summer of 1999 in Belgium (Arlon) in a store called 'Maxi Toys' (Belgiums TRu, I think). They had the three biggest Junglesets for sale there: these Ancient Ruins, The set with the beautiful black boat and the zeppelin. Being into Adventurers at that time I had never seen the entire Jungle theme (not even in a leaflet or catalog) and surprised as I was I bought all three sets. That was one happy Dutch boy in Belgium! Surprisingly the two smallest sets made it in very small quantities to my local stores in Holland (except for the pontoon plane and small raft which was my very first Shop at Home order). The spider's secret I bought off BL, which makes me the proud owner of the entire Jungle Serie. Back to the set: This was the first time in a long history of collecting Lego that I had a deformed piece: an 2x8 red plate was twisted, I twisted it back and it still serves it's purpose... I loved the whole steam-idea in this Jungle serie: the two boats both (including the one in this set) had nice steamengines and a very cool mechanic (yours has the wrong hat/hair btw) to come along with them. The skeleton falling down on the end of a chain was the most intriguing part of this set for me, it worked really well and when you were done scaring minifigures you could winch it up again ready for the next go. The only thing I did not really like about this set was the difference in wheelsize on the car, front small, back large and the way the palmtree consisted out of just three parts... All in all a great set that is becoming more rare and expensive as we speak/post. Get it!

Any technic fan is a friend of mine and more than welcome here! I can see the problem you have, being away from your Lego most of the time, I am suffering from the same phenomenon: studying at one place and building Lego at another... I am sure you'll enjoy it here, have a great time!

Well, that's a relief I saw that one as well, an impressive piece of machinery! This summer I was on holiday on the coast of Northern France and saw one of the few remaining real railway cannons used by the Germans in WW II to fire shells across the channel with a range of up to 86 km

This looks very nice, I like how you used the two locomotive fronts to create the control tower in the middle. One question though: When the cannons are being fired while turned won't the train go flying off the track because of the repercussion?

That's a really nice idea! I see that the bricklink price for this is $29.99, are they going to be available in stores? Though the idea is a good one, I will only consider buying this if the old figures appear in their original coulours, that means old-gray on the crook.... Having been a Lego collector all my life I will own most of the figures to be brought out, but it's nice for people who came into the hobby later on. Thanks for posting this anyway!

I voted for chickens, they are always useful in any theme. I remember reading books about the 16-17th century in which all kind of life-stock was brought along on ships sailing all over the world, especially chickens. Of course we already have drumsticks, but they do not count in being a bird species, do they? That really cracked me up, thanks!

This is when shame kicks in...

Oh, you lucky doctor!! I am still trying to get my hands on one of those. At least that means that there'll be one less competitor for the next auction

Congratulations to the winners! This really was a fun contest because of all the crazy ideas entered... I would like to express my gratitude to the brave soul who voted for my entry, it is definately appreciated

There is a Dutch saying applying to you here: "Zo gek als een deur". (Translation: "Crazy like a door"....)