Jdurg

Many thanks. I'll add that to my safe sender's list in Outlook, as well as login to my ISP's e-mail thing online to set that up as a safe sender. Don't want to miss out on any e-mails. Also, something I should have done beforehand, was call Lego's Customer Service number. Absolutely fantastic, friendly, and amicable folk there. They also told me the same thing. Was also nice in that I mentioned how the closest Lego Store near to me was up in the West Farms Mall in Hartford, and they guy on the line said that they are looking to expand and wouldn't be shocked if a new Lego Store opened up somewhere closer to me in Southeast Connecticut. Hope that comes to fruition sooner rather than later. (Though my bank account and available space in the house wouldn't be too happy. Haha).

I have placed a few orders with Lego S@H and keep coming across the same problem. For some reason, my e-mail server blocks all e-mails from Lego and I never receive them. I'm not sure if it's because I have certain rules set up in my Outlook program to prevent spam from ever reaching me, or if it's my ISP that is blocking them for me. On the Lego S@H site, it doesn't indicate what domain or e-mail address they use to send e-mail, so I can't set-up a "safe" sender/domain rule for them. Does anybody know what the e-mail addresses are that Lego uses when confirming orders, notifying of shipping, sending VIP information, etc.? If so, could you please post what that e-mail address is so that I can make sure I receive them? Many Thanks!

Yesterday the Postman delivered the Battle of Endor set I had picked up on Bricklink. A really nice set, but the part of the set where the computers reside on the main "area" is only connected via a one stud overlap of some 1x4 plates. Suffice it to say, that thing falls off constantly. So i'm going to use some spare parts to connect it better from the bottom to keep that from falling off each time the damn thing moves. Tomorrow, the Ewok Villiage I promised myself will arrive. Along with the Ghostbusters Car, but the Villiage is really the main attraction. I figure that'll keep me busy on the July 4th weekend. Decided to get this now since the day before my birthday, I have to go in for a second surgery on my balky left shoulder to remove scar tissue that is binding it. So on my b-day, I won't be able to move and will be fairly sedated.

Thanks Calabar. Very much appreciated. This software is a lot like Google SketchUp. A bit intimidating at first, but very powerful once you get used to the quirks. I just went and built a Cloud City set in LDD since I know i'll never be able to afford the real thing. Only issues I had were with the minifigs and the bendable tubing. That brought me to a couple more wishes for the software which I'm sure have already been mentioned, but it can't hurt to re-mention them. The ability to view all of the decoration options in it's own little "tab" within the main software. This way it won't lock up the decorations when viewing a large list, will also allow us to see what they look like, and also won't result in the window disappearing if our cursor goes ever so slightly outside of the pop-up window. The ability to readily import more decorations so that we can import all of the Star Wars theme decorations, let's say. Individual names for each decoration. As it is right now, they are all named the same. Ability to purchase "theme packs" for the software, this way it will have all of the stickers, decorations, mini-figs, parts, etc. for a specific theme. I wouldn't mind paying $15-$20 for a pack that would guarantee me I'd have all of the Star Wars decorations/stickers/parts ever made. The ability to determine the length/diameter of tubes/axles/etc. instead of having set lengths. In the Cloud City set I built, LDD didn't have a bendable tube long enough for the Vader/Luke father revelation area. For an easier time bending items, let us put "anchor points" on the bendable item, and link those to fixed points in the model. This way LDD would automatically bend the piece so that it would fit where it needs to be. Sometimes bending chains or tubes in LDD is an experience not all that fun.

I just started using LDD yesterday as I wanted to mess around in it before starting on my first MOC. (A modification to the Jabba's Palace/Rancor Pit combo). I think overall that this software is really great, but there are some things that are really quite frustrating. To test it out, I decided to go to the Lego Website and get the instructions for the Battle of Endor set (8038) as I recently picked this up online and am waiting for it to arrive. I decided to build the bunker in LDD to get used to the software. This is where I found some issues: When building the set via the official instructions, it became impossible to place the sliding doors in the model. It seemed like LDD wanted to have the sliding doors attach to something else, and not sit freely. I couldn't get the doors into position without it either falling through the floor, or remaining "ghosted" and not letting me place it. To finally get them in there, I had to muck around and put in some "fake studs" to attach part of the door, then once it was set, remove those studs and build back in the other parts. Still, it's not perfect as the doors don't function in LDD since the gear mechanism and the tooth plate don't exist. (Even though I had them lined up perfect, LDD must have still claimed that the collision boxes intersected. Likely because the "tooth plate" probably has a box shape and not a proper toothed shape). I would like them to include an option for "free parts" where you could group a set of pieces an declare it a "free part" so that it's not required to lock onto something and thus things like the doors here would work. Another area that caused frustration was the free panels at the end of the build. It's just impossible to make these in LDD since they are not at 90 degree angles, and are simply resting against other bricks in the model. (See the first issue I posted). It would be great if you could free rotate parts, or perhaps have LDD align the edges of things like these panels so you could snap them in, then free tilt the piece so that it lines up like it should. Basically, as it seems to be right now, if you have parts in a build that aren't connected to another piece in a perfect 90 degree angle, you can't include them. The ability to take part numbers from within an instruction book, enter them into a "bucket" within the file you have open, and have it provide the correct part and color. You can then call this a "set" and as you use up the bricks, they disappear from your bucket just as if you are building the real thing. The ability to re-define the center point and manually move the camera. Sometimes a build will cause the center of the project to move away, and there's no way to manually just move the camera directly to the left, or directly to the right. You have to fiddle around with zooming and rotating, and this is just incredibly inefficient. I would like to see this get updated like how Google SketchUp handles it. That's about all I can think of right now. The software has the potential to be something really great, and allow us AFOLs to build the sets that we simply cannot afford at the moment, or have gone out of production and are now selling at insane prices.

The only issue I've had with the Sandcrawler is that turning that knob is very difficult and rips my fingertips apart while making quite the clicking sound. Don't know if that's the way it's supposed to be, or if I just built it somewhat off.

That is WAY too cool!

I'm an OT person, and I'm also returning from the Dark Side. The Simpsons' House, and minifigures, got me back into Lego, then Star Wars just hit me. When pay day comes, I always go out and try to get some fun stuff. I will pick up some PT stuff, but try to avoid the EU or Clone Wars sets unless my addiction is too strong. Thus far, I have the following: Death Star I Millenium Falcon Palpatine's Arrest Jabba's Barge Jabba's Palace Desert Skiff Rancor Pit Anakin's Jedi Starfighter Geonesis Duel UCS Sandcrawler Death Star Battle Pack AT-RT Mandalorian Speeder Salecumi Duel (sp?) General Grevious' Wheel Bike Tantive IV X-Wing I plan to eventually get an Imperial Star Destroyer, or Super Star Destroyer, as well as the Ewok Villiage. When the Mos Eisley Cantina comes out here in the states shortly, I'll pick that up too. Also figure I need to get an AT-AT at some point. All depends on how I'm feeling, and how long I'm willing to wait to get a shipment to arrive. May need to take a trek to NYC sometime in order to visit a Lego Store or Lego Playland there to pick something up. (I'm only a 2 hour train ride from the city).

If anybody happens to have a larger sized image, I could give a go at turning it into a vector in Illustrator. Doesn't really matter what the resolution is as once it is turned from a raster to a vector image, it can be scaled to any size without loss of quality. The only issue is photographic components. The basic solid color stickers are quite easy to trace in illustrator, but photographs are a bit tough to handle due to the gradual color transitions.

So yesterday my Desert Skiff and Jabba's Palace arrived. Was really fun building those sets, and now that I have Jabba's Palace and the Rancor Pit in my possession, I can start looking at how I can MOC them to make an even better Jabba's Palace. Got quite a nice Episode VI conglomeration going with the Sail Barge, Rancor Pit, Saarlac Pit, Desert Skiff, and Palace. And as I type this, I hear a knock at the door which must be the Sandcrawler, or the Tantative IV set I ordered through Bricklink. (Also get me an Admiral Ackbar to go with it, as hey, I wanted that character). Perhaps at the end of next month, as my b-day approaches, I'll go and pick up the Ewok Villiage so that I can at least have one of each major character aside from the Tuskan Folks. My work office is now FILLED with Star Wars Lego boxes and various sets built and posed on the floor. I have an empty wall in the room, so it looks like I may need to visit IKEA and pick up some cabinets to properly store all of these in. Also need to finish building that arcade cabinet so I can get the computer I built for it out of there and leave more space for Star Wars Legos. When I hit-up BrickLink to get the blocks for the Jabba's Palace/Rancor Pit MOC I'll work on, I'll also have to see about getting a bunch of storm troopers so that I can have a nice army of them. Haha.

Pay day was this past Friday, and unlike many, Friday the 13th is a great day for me. Having HORRENDOUS luck 364 days out of the year, what is supposed to be the most unlucky day on the planet becomes one of the luckiest days for me. In addition to my regularly scheduled pay-day, I picked up a scratch off ticket and found it to be worth $300. So what did I do? Of course, I spent it on Lego Star Wars sets. I picked up the Tantavie IV and the newly release Sandcrawler. They should arrive later this week, and my recently purchased Jabba's Palace and Sail Barge will arrive on Tuesday. Yes, this is a LOT of money to be spending on "toys", but I had refinanced my home last year, looked at my spending habits and cut back needless expenses, and paid a much closer look at needless expenditures and eliminated them. I've been able to save a LOT of money in the past year and have spent a portion on that in Star Wars Lego the past few weeks. Having overcome a vicious, nasty, and life altering/ending addition of mine in the past two years, this "new" addiction to Lego Star Wars is much, much, MUCH safer and better off. I'm so happy I found this forum, and can't wait for all of my builds to arrive. Lol.

It will be well worth it. The ship, while Star Wars purists may have issues with, is a fantastic build. I was, and still am, VERY happy with the purchase. With good financial planning, I've had the ability to save up a great deal of cash and have recently spent a great deal of money on Star Wars Lego. Many years back, I had a personal issue with an addiction that was very expensive and very "not good." I kind of laugh now since I seem to be spending the same amount of money on a completely different addiction. This addiction, however, is very good and very fun, and doesn't have any negative side effects. If you are just getting back into Lego, Star Wars Lego is a great way to get back into it. My nephew is only 3 years old, but he loves this stuff. I find myself buying two of each set so that I can build one myself, then spend some hours building one with him. It's really nice seeing the joy in his little face as the parts come together, as well as seeing him get so excited just seeing the boxes. Reminds me of when I was little and was so happy to see a Lego set under the Christmas Tree each year. Before it becomes completely unreasonable to purchase, I plan to pick up another Death Star for the kid. I figure in three or four years he'll be old enough to truly appreciate the set, and I'll be able to spend some uncle/nephew time over a few weeks building it for him. Enjoy the Millenium Falcon. It's a GREAT set and has so many playable features and great characters from the series. You'll be very happy to have taken the evening out to build this, and will have a great deal of fun once it's built. Trust me on this one.

Haha. You are not alone. When I first read the title, my inner geek said "Wrong Title! It should be "No. I am your father!" Lol.

I agree. I recently left my "Dark Ages" when The Simpsons House came out earlier this year and I picked that up, along with the entire Simpsons minifigure line. After completing that set, I got the urge again and started into the Star Wars line. The OT is really my favorite line, and my collection includes the Death Star, X-Wing, Millenium Falcon, Jabba's Sail Barge, Rancor Pit, Palpatine's Arrest, some minor little sets to satisfy an urge when I've been bored, and I have the Desert Skiff and Jabba's Palace on it's way to me next week. I'd really like to see more and more sets from the OT come out. Things like Yoda's hut, the Cloud City, etc. etc. I plan to eventually get the Ewok Villiage, Sandcrawler, a Tie Fighter, etc. etc. as finances and time allows throughout the year. I just love the OT and some of the PT sets that have come out. I just wish we'd get more and more of the actual "Sets" instead of all the bevy of "ships" that seem to come out each year. I understand that I have gotten back into Lego Star Wars at a time when the Clone Wars and various ships are the main focus, but I really hope that more and more sets come out. I'd LOVE to see another, highly detailed, Cloud City come out, Luke's Home which would include Aunt Beru, Yoda's Degobah Hut, the Endor Imperial Base, etc. come out so I could add them to my collection. For the PT, I'd LOVE to see a Jedi Council Set come out. I highly doubt they'd ever do that as it would require the inclusion of all the main Jedi Council characters in the set, but that'd be great to have.

Yeah, it seems like I've just gotten into this at the wrong time. Still, I'm having a blast getting back into the fun of Lego and my youth. Actually have Empire Strikes Blu-Ray playing as I type this. Giving me so much of an urge to buy Lego sets. Wish there was a Lego Store remotely close to me. Lol.

Thank Gavralcraw. I'm scheduled to get my Desert Skiff and Jabba's Palace on Tuesday. Will need to take some time to put this MOC together, but my main focus will be in making the entrance door to the palace MUCH larger than in the actual set, and to also have the Carbonite Han in the proper location in reference to the movie. May take me many months to do this, but I already have the Sail Barge and the Rancor pit, so some shopping at Bricklink after I learn how to properly use LDD will help me figure out my end result. I'll be sure to start a new thread once I've got this going. Perhaps we can work together to come up with the ultimate MOC for this?!

Fantastic! Please post updates in this thread so we can all see how you are progressing. I'm new to Lego Star Wars, and unfortunately have arrived at a time when the focus is purely on ships and vehicles and none of the physical sets in the OT which is where I'm most interested, so following a build like this would be a nice change.

This was the first Lego Star Wars set I had picked up. I don't recall the exact time that I had spent building it, but I got it done in one evening after purchasing it. I would guess 3-5 hours total. It's a GREAT set as it gives you so many of the OT minifigures that one would like. For all starters, I would say that this is the best kit to start with. Of course, the Death Star is the absolute best in terms of structure and minifigs, and coupled with the Death Star Cannon mini-set that gives you two Imperial Guards as well as two Death Star Cannon Soldiers, you get an incredible selection. Overall, the MF is a very nice pick and you'll have a blast building it!

Is it just me, or is does anybody else out there find it really frustrating that OT sets seem to retire so quickly, and are not all that often sold in physical stores? At least around here, in Southeast Connecticut, the closest Lego Store is at least an hour's drive away and is located in a mall so it's likely restricted in terms of size. (At least from what I can see from the store photos at the Lego website). I know that I can go and do some shopping online, but there are sometimes where I'm just in the mood to put together a Lego Star Wars set and would like to go out, pick up a set, bring it home, and build it. In all the stores around me (Wal-Mart, Toys 'R Us, Target, Etc.) the overwhelming majority of the sets that are sold are all PT, or CW themed sets. I guess that's why I'm really excited for the Cantina set to come out later this year so that I can hopefully get myself a set to build at home. Thus far, I've pretty much picked up all of the OT sets that are available for purchase in stores around me. Jabba's Sail Barge, Millenium Falcon, Rancor Pit, X-Wing. That's pretty much it. Online, I was able to get myself the Death Star (Good Lord I love that set!), Jabba's Palace, and a Desert Skiff. I am somewhat interested in the PT as I picked up Palpatine's Arrest and may need to look into getting other good PT sets. I'd just much rather get some OT sets out there as those are my favorite of the 6 movies. My collection does include the AT-RT (got that because I wanted a Yoda figure), and the Mandelorian Speeder simply because I was in Lego Build Withdrawal after finishing the Death Star build. Lol. But I'm just curious if anybody else is kind of frustrated by needing to rely on the web to make purchases and then having to wait for slow delivery of the sets unless one pays extraordinary prices for overnight or Saturday delivery.

Sadly, nearly all of the pictures from this thread are no longer valid, and from the post counts of individuals I think the users have moved along. But I recently picked up a Rancor Pit and was able to get a MISB Jabba's Palace for $160 the other day. That should arrive on Tuesday. While I generally go and build sets stock with no mods, I think I'll definitely want to go and properly mod the palace/pit quite extensively. My plan is to add in the jail cell area, the droid area where the retaining bolts are added to C3PO and R2D2, as well as a proper area where Han is hung on the wall. I haven't used LDD before, but I'll fiddle around with that as I too want to make the entrance to the palace more in line with the movie. Thinking of how I'm going to do all of this on paper first, then will go into LDD to design it with the proper bricks, then hit up Bricklink for the first time to get all the extra parts I'll need. Sadly, the closest LEGO store to me is a good hour or so drive away. I REALLY wish they would open up a store here in Southeast Connecticut. I would love it, my bank account would hate it, and my little 3-year old nephew would be in HEAVEN!

Okay. It's official. I'm addicted. :) As a younger lad, many decades ago, I loved Lego. Every time my Grandma went back to Germany to visit her parents, she'd come back with Lego City kits. I always loved the City sets, but my parents would always buy me the Castle sets. No big deal. It was still fun putting those things together. To this day, I still remember when I was around 9 or 10 years old and my mother sold all of my Legos in a yard sale. I had kind of grown out of them at the time, so it didn't bother me too much, but looking back I wish I had kept them all. I had stayed away from Lego for quite a long while until I saw an article on Kotaku.com that talked about the Lego Simpsons house. Upon seeing reviews, I decided to go and get it. All of a sudden, the pain from my shoulder surgery, the stress from work, and all the cares in the world disappeared. I was like a kid once more. I put that together and anxiously awaited the release of the minifigs. Although my local Target sold out of them before I could get my Itchy, one day in the past couple of weeks I stopped by Toys R' Us to pick up some Legos for my little nephew (the 3 year old LOVES Legos and is able to build quite advanced sets at a young age. I'm a very proud uncle here). Anyway, while at Toys R' Us I saw the Millenium Falcon kit there. Yes, it was $139 but with my Visa card any purchases at Toys R' Us gave me a good cash back benefit. I decided to spring for it and I was hooked. I LOVED building the thing. I also picked up an AT-ST, I believe it was, because it came with a Yoda figure. The Falcon had Han, Luke, Leia, Obi-Wan, Chewbacca and Darth Vader, but I was still without Yoda. So I picked up the AT-ST and got Yoda, a droid figure, and a Storm Trooper as well. I was in heaven. I built that thing in one night and was immediately hooked. As this past weekend approached, I got the itch again. I decided to get one of the holy grails in Lego Star Wars and got the Death Star. OH MY GOD IS THAT THING GREAT! Having so many minifigs, being so huge in scale, and having so many great set pieces, I bought it off Amazon using that Cash Back Visa card again, and decided Saturday shipping was worth it. I was getting cash back, finances are going well, and I could do it. It arrived Saturday before I woke up at noon and I spent most of Saturday building it. I went to bed and the next day spent some time with my niece and nephew building a Lego fire truck I bought for them. When I got home, I realized I had a work meeting with colleagues in India at 5:30 in the morning on Monday, so I stayed up all night long finishing the build and playing with it. Of course, my sleep schedule is totally messed up for a few days now, but I am hooked. My local grocery store has some small Star Wars Lego sets, so I picked up what they had today and built some more. I can't wait for pay-day on Friday so I can go out to Toys R' Us and get a few more Star Wars set. I am hooked. It's official. I'm an AFOL addicted to Star Wars Lego sets now. Lol.

Ahhhhh. That might explain why at my local Target there were a ton of Marge's and Neds, but very few of some others. I'm one short of a full set, but when checking my local Target they just have one bag left (Nelson) and it doesn't look like they'll be stocking anymore. They've been down to just a handful of bags for a while now and haven't re-filled them. I then checked two local Wal-Marts and none of them carried the minifigs, only sets. (I looked all over in every area in Wal-Mart and didn't see them). So I'll just have to peruse e-bay to try and find the Itchy figure I need. Though the price will likely be higher than the in-store cost, at least I'll save on gas and wrongly felt bags. (Wow, that didn't sound to good the way it came out. lol).

Well, I'm almost there. Hehe. I'm beginning to wonder if the proportions for the individual minifigures are different from location to location, or between those sold at Lego Stores and those sold in normal retail stores. I had PT again today, so I stopped by Target after that. They don't have the characters in a box. The case for them is a grid typed thing with the baggies stacked up inside the individual grids. I've been picking up bags there since they first became available, and as time has gone on the number left has dwindled and dwindled. I also know that most of the baggies have been felt through as the foil is pretty beat up and they bags aren't mostly flat like the new ones. I also know that they haven't replenished their stock since the number printed/stamped into the back of the bags has been exactly the same for all of my go throughs. Anyway, I really went hard at the bags today and finally got my Chief Wiggum minifig. I was able to recognize him as I forcefully crinkled up the baggy so that it would be easier to feel, then I found his head and knew that he was the only character with a completely flat top to the head. That, and the pointed corners of the hat gave it away. Also noticed 6 or 7 Marge minifigs still left there, likely because she is the easiest one to pick out. I thought I had gotten myself the Itchy I so desparately need/want, but it turned out to be another Lisa. Her saxophone was lodged into her head, and so when trying to feel for the club in the bag while trying to avoid the paper and other parts, it just kind of felt like what I figured the club would feel like. This Lisa is the third one I've gotten. Also got myself another Milhouse since his 2x2 was wedged heavily inside the paper so it couldn't be felt for. That gives me 4 Milhouses. In addition, I have yet another Ned Flanders bringing my total up to 5 from that same box. Feeling through all of the dozen or so bags that are left, half of them are Marge figures, there were another two Homers (easily recognizeable by the doughnut and remote control pieces), a couple Abe Simpsons (his head gives that away coupled with the 2x2 piece), one Scratchy (tail piece gives it away), and a Ralph figure I could easily pick out. I'm beginning to think, and this would actually make sense, that the boxes distributed to major retail store chains don't have the same distribution as those that would be present at dedicated Lego Stores. This is because I was busy feeling around for bags again with another couple there who said they are complete except for Itchy as well. I think the Itchy and Scratchy figures are short produced, at least in this Target box. At this point, I'll probably either quit trying to go the retail route and buy one that's already opened on E-Bay, or just make 100% sure that the one bag I'm mangling to try and feel for Itchy's head is indeed Itchy before buying it. Lol. I'm only about 8 characters short of a second complete set. Haha. If my manhandling of the bag ends up opening it, I'll just wind up having to purchase it anyway.

Well, stopped by Target again today and did some more feeling. I don't know how you guys are able to feel the differences in the bags, or if there is some technique I don't know of, but with the folded paper in there coupled with the flat black piece, I just can't accurately feel out the character heads. Especially when so many seem to have spiked hair on them. I was able to feel out Marge's head pretty readily since it is the most distinct, but both myself and another guy there who was feeling out bags to purchase for his kids (at least, that was the story) was having a lot of trouble. In my first go-around, I picked up 10 different characters out of 11 bags picked up. This time, since I have pretty much no confidence in my ability to identify the characters in the bags, I only got three new characters out of the 11 bags picked up. I was able to add Marge, Grandpa, and Ralph. I also picked up a Homer, Lisa, Flanders, Ralph, Krusty (x2), and Milhouse (x2) to go with the extra Nelson I had from the first batch. Still need to find Maggie, Itchy, and Chief Wiggum.

I realized today during physical therapy that there is a Target right nearby. So I went to the Target (Waterford, CT) and lo and behold, there they were. I did some feeling around and expected it to be easy to feel, but man, it's a bit difficult especially with the folded up paper in there making it somewhat difficult to differentiate things. I'll need to practice more. Still, I did manage to pick up 11 of them before I figured that since I'll be back on Wednesday, I can stop by again to get more. Here is my breakdown: Scratchy Lisa Homer Krusty Ned Nelson (x2) My only repeat. Milhouse Mr. Burns Apu Bart. Not bad. Got me 6 more to try and feel out and find next Wednesday.