Splat

Well it looks like you were right! The price of the Death Star has increased back up to EUR 399,99 (from EUR 339,99), and the Medieval Market Village has increased back up to EUR 76,42 (from EUR 63,90). I'm glad I ordered when I did Some of the other Lego sets don't look like they have increased though, but I wasn't really watching them that closely, so I could be wrong... There are still some good deals to be had at Amazon.fr (especially compared to the Australian RRP). PS. My Amazon.fr order was shipped in two separate boxes, via UPS, and the tracking is working fine. The boxes are currently in Dubai.

I thought that I would take up this challenge... I decided upon building the 7049 Alien Conquest Alien Striker. I've put together a few of these sets before ( ), but never while leaving the pieces in the bag.Well, here is my result: There were a few things that made this one a bit tricky: Getting the visor onto the ADU guy's helmet, Getting the alien's head out of it's little bag (a bag within a bag - the empty bag is under the Striker), and There weren't too many pieces in this set (42 plus 4 spares), but there wasn't very much room inside this bag either. I've bought a 7958 Star Wars Advent Calendar 2011, and I am going to send each day's little bag of Lego to my brother, one day at a time, leading up to Christmas. I think I might set him the challenge of building the models while still in the bag, and to make it even more difficult I'm not going to give him the official pictures/instructions either, and I'll see what he comes up with... should be fun.

Big W has a one day only sale on Lego Mindstorms - online store only, with free shipping. Lego S@H RRP = AU$449.99 BigW normal price = AU$448.00 BigW sale price = AU$348.00 That's a saving of $100, or 22.3%, so not much better than a 20% off sale, and not as good as a Myer 'buy two get the third one free' offer (33.3% off), if you want to buy 3 Mindstorms sets at once...

I just caved in and ordered the following sets from Amazon.fr: 10188 Star Wars Death Star : EUR 284,27 after VAT is removed = AU$390.86 10193 Medieval Market Village : EUR 63,90 after VAT is removed = AU$87.86 Add EUR 22,40 (AU$30.80) for fast shipping, for a total of AU$509.52. If I had of bought these sets from Lego S@H, I would have paid AU$894.98 ($699.99 + 149.99 + $45 for standard shipping (or $100 for express shipping)). So that is a saving of AU$385.46, or about 43% off the Australian RRP. For people ordering from Amazon, do you let Amazon do the currency conversion for you, or do you let the bank do the currency conversion...? I've been letting Amazon do it for me so far, but which one is better/cheaper...? PS. The Death Star is EUR 312,55 on Amazon.es, but alas, they won't ship it to Australia.

Sorry, I meant to ask if anyone had seen the Unimog in Melbourne stores (not Australian stores), as it seems to have only been spotted in other states so far. I went past Myer Melbourne Bourke St last night after work, where they had both the Unimog and Excavator in stock, and currently with their 3 for the price of 2 deal.

For anyone that is wanting to buy the the 8110 Mercedes-Benz Unimog U400 from an 'Australian' retailer, it looks like it is now available in the Australian Lego S@H website for $329.99 (previously only backorders were accepted). It is still cheaper on Amazon.fr though (EUR 149.90 - VAT + standard shipping = about AU$180 + CC fees). Just saying. Has this set shown up in any Australian brick'n'mortar stores yet...?

I'm not sure if this is 100% true, but I have found that if the item is being sold by Amazon (not a 3rd party shop), then you have a better chance of it being able to be shipped to Australia. On the left had side of the Amazon page, after you have done a search (eg. 'lego technic'), you can select the brand as 'Lego', and then the seller as 'Amazon', and you might have better luck. See screenshot here. But... this discussion probably belongs in the Buying LEGO from other countries on-line stores thread.

I would also recommend live axles for a truck, but if you really want independent suspension, you could try using funfen0's technique of moving the differential out from between the wheels. This might save some space to keep the width of truck to a minimum, but you need to find some other place to put the differential in the chassis. See this post for more details.

I just got back home from a business trip to the US, where I picked up this little stash of Lego: Clockwise from the top: 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van 7051 Alien Conquest Tripod Invader 7050 Alien Conquest Alien Defender (x5) 7049 Alien Conquest Alien Striker (x5) 853301 Alien Conquest Battle Pack (x5) 8886 PF Extension Wire (x7) 8871 PF Extension Cable (x7) 8870 PF Light Set (x6) 8869 PF Polarity Switch (x4) 8879 PF IR Speed Remote Control 8884 PF IR Receiver 8878 PF Rechargeable Battery Box (x3) 3300001 {Brickley} 7958 2011 Star Wars Advent Calendar (x2) I unboxed most of the sets so they took up less room in my luggage, and the boxes I did bring home survived quite well, except the {Brickley} box which got a bit squashed. Now I just have to find some time to put it all together...

Hi johnnyvgoode. Thanks for the compliment I have my minifigs on display inside a 'DETOLF' glass cabinet from Ikea. It seems to do a good job of keeping the dust away. The shelves are too small to fit a 48x48 baseplate, but I can fit 6 of my stands in there on one shelf (48x36). In the pic above I have Series 1-5, plus a few other Star Wars and Ninjago minifigs. The only minifig that doesn't fit on my stand properly is the Lizard Man (in the bottom left of the pic) because his tail is too long, so I have him standing on an angle. I also have the surfer dude and chick standing on their surfboards, and the two skaters on their skateboards, so they are on an angle too. Click the pic to enlarge.

You could download the Lego Technic Tora no Maki book by ISOGAWA Yoshihito. Perhaps you can find some inspiration in there. You can download the book for free in PDF format, but if you like the book, remember to make a payment of US$10.

Yeah, the PF stuff usually just come in the same type of clear plastic bag that they come in when they are part of a Lego set, but I also ordered a few little 'impulse buy' sets, so my order will probably all come together in a box. UPDATE: I just got an email from my friend in the US that said my Lego had arrived, but he didn't mention if it was in a box or just a padded bag. Yes, free shipping at the moment (until 18th Sep) for orders over US$75 on the US Lego S@H site for delivery to a US address (link). This replaced the Alien Conquest Jetpack that they were giving away last month. I think the last time Lego S@H offered free shipping to Australia was during the 'May the fourth' promotion for orders over AU$90, but free shipping to Australia is usually fairly rare from what I have seen.

I've ordered once from Amazon.co.uk, and once from Amazon.fr. Both times the box was fairly large (flagship Technic sets), and I had ordered with the express shipping option, and both times the order arrived within a few days, although the outer box was a bit squashed. I can imagine that if the box had gone through 'standard' shipping, the box might have been really squashed by the time it got to me. My Lego did arrive in good condition from Amazon in both cases, but I did get the feeling that I had been lucky. On another note: I'm heading over to the US later this month, so decided to order some Power Function items and get them delivered to a friend over there. All the PF stuff that I ordered on the US Lego site was discounted by 15% during the checkout process, although there was no mention of this on the website at all before checking out. It means that I ordered a 8878 Rechargeable Battery Box for US$42.50 rather than the Australian RRP of $99.99, and 8882 XL Motors for US$8.49 each rather than AU$20.99, etc. As these are fairly small items (although I'm sure they will come in a huge box), I'll be able to put them in my luggage no problem. If anyone needs PF parts and is going to the US, it is definitely cheaper to get them there. I'm also hoping to go to the Lego Shop while in NYC, and am hoping the 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van is available by then too.

Here are some of the pics resized smaller: It looks like it is driven by a XL motor and geared 36:16, so goes quite fast in the video.

Lego sets at Target do sometimes scan in at reduced prices too (sometimes), yet there is no mention of the cheaper price on the shelves. Last year I saw the Technic Tractor with Trailer 8063 marked down from $129.95 to $99.95, and when I went to the checkout it scanned in at $49.95. About a week later they had a 20% off sale, and I got a second copy for $39.95. In the most recent Target sale (in July), I picked up a few copies of the Creator Off-Road Power 5893 that has an RRP of $139.99, but again, it was scanning in at $39.95. I would say that if you are in Target, and see a set that you are sort of thinking about getting, definitely scan it and you might get a good bargain. Not always, but sometimes.

Ok, I don't know if anybody cares about this, but I went past Target Melbourne Bourke Street last night after work, and at the end of the Lego isles they had some Kre-o sets. Kre-o is a Hasbro brand, and is another Lego clone. They even have a sticker on the front of the box that says 'Works with Leading Brands', which I assume means 'Works with Lego', but obviously they can't just come out and say that. All of the sets they had seemed to be Transformers related, and seem to have building instructions for two or three models (similar to the Lego Creator or Technic building instructions). The prices seem to be a bit steep though. For example, the large Optimus Prime set has 542 pieces and costs AU$129.00. That's an average of 23.8c/piece! You would expect a Lego set with a similar number of pieces to cost about AU$89.95 (such as the Creator Sonic Boom set with 539 pieces), or perhaps a little bit more for a licensed theme like Star Wars. As these Kre-o sets are located so close to the Lego sets in the store, I can see a lot of kids (not being Lego purists) picking up these sets, particularly because of the recent Transformers movies. Others have reported that the bricks themselves are quite good, and very similar to Lego in terms of materials used, piece design, and clutch characteristics. Here are a few pics that I took: BrickShelf Gallery There is some more info about Kre-o in this topic, but I shall not mention this non-Lego brand in this topic any more.

Series 5 are also at Myer Melbourne Bourke Street. There were about half a dozen boxes on the shelf (near the check-out), but they looked like they had been gone through a little bit. There was one box that looked untouched (until I got to it), and I managed to use the touch and feel method to get one of each. At AU$4.95 each the price was a bit steep though. I actually picked up two boxers (because you can't box by yourself, and he has a cool double sided head). WhiteFang's Series 5 Review

You should also check out Philo's Lego Motor page. It will tell you the typical characteristics of the various 9V Lego motors. Here are some key differences between the XL-Motor and the M-Motor: XL weighs 69g - M weighs 31g So two M-Motors are about the same weight as the XL-Motor XL spins at 220rpm - M spins at 405rpm (with no load) So if you use M-Motors in the place of an XL-Motor, you would have to gear it down about 2:1 to get the same speed as an XL-motor XL draws a current of 80mA, M draws a current of 65mA (with no load) So 2 M-Motors will draw more current than a single XL-Motor, so your battery will go flat quicker XL has 14.5 N.cm of torque, M has 3.63 N.cm of torque So the XL-Motor has about 4 times as much torque as an M-Motor I'm not sure if this is correct or not (maybe someone can verify): If you have two M-Motors, and slow them down 2:1, then you should get similar rpm and torque to a single XL Motor, but it would draw more current from the battery (so the battery won't last as long). Also, because you have to use Lego gears to connect the two M-Motors together (using a differential is the ideal way), and use Lego gears to slow down the rotation speed (rpm), the drive-train won't be as efficient, and will take up more room. So, in theory, 2 M-Motors should be similar to a single XL-Motor, but there are some disadvantages. Lots more info on Philo's Lego Motor page and the Lego Power Functions site.

Big W has two Star Wars sets on sale at the moment - online only, free shipping, ends Sep 5th - link 7956 Ewok Attack $38.87 (save $10, about 20% off) 7957 Sith Nightspeeder $38.87 (save $10, about 20% off) They also have a few other sets on sale, but only a few dollars off - link

I bought two also, so I can have the plow and the crane at the same time too. The price in Australia will be about twice the European price, so I figured that buying from OS will be like a 'two for the price of one' deal (I had to come up with some way to justify it!). I now have lots of pieces left over, including the wheels, portal hubs, torque-tube pieces, suspension, differentials, CV joints, gears, etc.

I made this model out of parts that I already had (before the official set was available - see this post), and I actually quite like this model. Some sections could be better, but it is a nice size, not too big or too small, and looks good. I like the front suspension, but the back could do with independent suspension, and the steering is a bit vague at times. I also added Power Functions to it, using 1 M-Motor for drive, one M-Motor for steering, an IR Receiver, a Rechargeable battery box, and a set of PF LEDs. You can see some pics in this BrickShelf folder. Even if you don't want to modify the chassis too much, you can quite easily make it remote controlled. The only problem with my version is that the M-Motor is driving the rear wheels 1:1, so it lacks a bit of torque, and stalls as soon as it hits some bumps or an incline. Some gearing down would help here. I have since bought the official set too, but haven't put it together... yet.

Congratulations on the Reviewers Academy turning 3! I'm still yet to post my first review, but I have read many comments from the teachers in other people's reviews, and they are always providing great constructive feedback. Keep up the great work. Now I have a lot of reading ahead of me - 20 reviews all at once... wow

No, TinySRC processes the file and serves up a smaller file. The way it works is that TinySRC downloads the image from the hosting site (eg. BrickShelf), it then resizes that image and caches it on the TinySRC servers. What you end up seeing is the resized version of the image which is downloaded from the TinySRC servers, with smaller dimensions, and a smaller file size. For example, the following image is 2756 x 2067 pixels, and has a file size of 446.18KB: http://www.pressrelations.de/presseservice_material/pressemitteilungen/pics/454593_20116150436342593.jpg After adding TinySRC to the URL we get an image that is 800 x 600 pixels and 65.4KB: http://i.tinysrc.mobi/800/600/http:/www.pressrelations.de/presseservice_material/pressemitteilungen/pics/454593_20116150436342593.jpg So what the reader of the EB forums downloads is the smaller 65.4KB file, but you can always add a link back to the larger image for those that want to see more detail (and can handle the larger downloads). You can also resize it smaller again (images don't always have to to 800 x 600, here I have resized an image to 320 x 240): http://i.tinysrc.mobi/320/240/http:/www.pressrelations.de/presseservice_material/pressemitteilungen/pics/454593_20116150436342593.jpg (click the image to see the full sized version) PS. I know that I have been pushing TinySRC a bit, but I should say that I have no affiliation with them, I just like using their service. Update: It looks like TinySRC is no longer offering this service anymore

TinySRC will keep the original aspect ratio. So if you specify '/800/600/' the image will be resized to fit within an 800 x 600 box, but keep it's aspect ratio. It will also only shrink images, it won't make them bigger. I was the one that mentioned it in the RA forum too. I don't know if TinySRC's use was 'discouraged', but rather the pros and cons were discussed. The only con is that if TinySRC does go down then the images won't show up, but the original image URL is still there as part of the resized URL, so you can always get back to your original image if you need to and edit the image URL. I've been using TinySRC for about a year with no problems so far. Yes, if you're using Flickr then you don't need to worry about resizing or using TinySRC, you just have to make sure you embed the correct image size on the EB forum. But if you use BrickShelf (or other hosting), then the images still need to be resized for EB. If the EB Mods would like me to write this TinySRC tip up into a more comprehensive tutorial (if it's use is not 'discouraged'), then please send me a PM and I'd be happy to do so. Update: It looks like TinySRC is no longer offering this service anymore

I'm not sure if this is such a great deal, but I thought that I would share it anyway. Toys Etc has 15% off Lego for orders over $75. Use the code SAVE15, and the offer ends 6pm, Sunday 21st of August. There is free shipping for orders over $150 too. I've never ordered from them before, so I'm not sure what their packaging/shipping/service is like. --- Games Empire is also having a clearance sale on Lego - up to 30% off.