rob-cubed

Wow, the pad printing and attention to detail come pretty close to real LEGO on some of these minfigs. And horribly wrong on others. It's a testament to both the popularity (and cost) of real LEGO that there is a market for these. My wife is Filipina and it's far more common to see knockoffs in stores in the Philippines than real LEGO product... many people there simply can't afford the real thing.

Brick Brigade has a pretty nifty classic Willys you could take some inspiration from: http://stores.brickbrigade.com/custom-lego-military-vehicle-model-set-us-1-4-ton-willys-jeep/ Here's another (old Cuusoo submission) I quite like: While these are technically WW2 models, if you built them in another color they'd be accurate for a commercial 1980's build. I had a Jeep Wrangler for a while and it was pretty much identical to its classic military history. All you'd need to do is change some minor things like fender style.

Very close! 43. I'd jump on it soon... who knows how much longer it'll be around? Thanks for the warm welcome folks!

That mini-hearse is outstanding. Nice details!

My suggestion to get the creative juices flowing would be to start with official LEGO models you really like and begin modifying them. That way you have a base to start with, vs creating something completely from scratch. As you complete more builds, you'll learn new techniques and eventually won't need instructions to understand how things can fit together. Try building in different scales, not just mini-fig size. Micro scale is a lot of fun: doesn't require a lot of pieces and it forces you to see beyond a typical use for a piece. All of the official LEGO instructions can be downloaded online. Most times, you can partly or completely recreate new sets with what you already own. Don't be afraid to mix parts sets up. You'll need to decide how to best organize your collection so you can find specific parts, which can be a maintenance headache. But LEGO can and should be allowed to make new things. If you keep everything separated by set into separate tins, it will never become anything else.

As my collection has grown I've found I use an "all of the above" method in terms of both sorting and storage: - Pieces primarily get organized by type (plate, brick, tile, slopes, curves) and then subdivided by shape (specific sizes, regular or inverted, etc). However I make an exception for rare colors and transparent pieces, which get sorted by color instead of type to make them easier to find. - Vehicle parts stay together (axles and wheels, hoods and roofs, etc) - Odd pieces like handles, bars, technic, etc get grouped together into common parts lots and further subdivided as they grow larger. - Small to medium size parts lots go into drawer organizers. - If I only have a few of a specific piece, they go into a tiny ziploc bag and then into a drawer along with other rare bits. - The biggest lots go into gallon sized ziploc bags and organized in bins. I like the bags because there's never any wasted space. I found drawers would either be half full or overflowing depending on the current project. With larger parts like bricks and plate pieces I was constantly juggling drawers around to accommodate. - Minifigs go into transparent hinged organizers with subdividers. Ultimately I have found my approach has evolved with the size of my collection and how I build. I have a huge bag of primary yellow and blue pieces that are sequestered apart because I don't use much of either color...

Looking into my crystal ball, I'm predicting LEGO will focus on additional buildings in the Simpsons line this year. Sets like Moe's Pub or the Quick-e-Mart with a Fall release date... right in time for the holidays. There has been huge demand for the Simpsons house, at least in the US, and they'd be crazy not to monopolize on the popularity of the franchise. I'd love to see some version of Emmett's apartment building with a coffee shop on the ground floor released, but I don't think they will continue to do movie tie-ins once it's out of theaters. It also doesn't really fit the tone and "playability" of the other sets they released around the movie (mostly vehicles). Unfortunately I think the French Restaurant was it for big modulars in 2014.

Hi there, I'm returning to LEGO after several decades. My first set as a kid was 363-2 Hospital (you can do the math and figure out how old I am)! I've been back into them for about a year now. I've bought a couple of the recent modulars, and several eBay bulk lots so I have extra bricks to build with. My favorite set to date is the Haunted House. My first completed MOC is a copy of my home. Happy to be here amongst fellow AFOLs!