mpfirnhaber

He's a mild-mannered train conductor by day, but when evil strikes, he dons his mask and cape and becomes... Station Master! Check out the box. He can actually fly. http://lego.wikia.co...er_and_Cool_Kid

I've read a couple of anecdotal reports of test bricks and other oddities coming out of the Samsonite factory in Loveland. Here's my favorite from someone who grew up there: "My childhood was filled with disappointment because no matter how many LEGO kits I managed to get, some of my friends, whose parents worked at the plant, had trash-bags full of floor sweepings and could make playhouses we could crawl into with their bricks. (Including a lot of weird off-colors and bricks that weren't shaped quite right.)" I just live a few hours away from Loveland, but haven't come up with anything yet. I put out some Craigslist ads a few weeks ago looking for people with connections to the factory. I'll let you know if anyone bites :)

Oldest would be this lovely slotted brick from the early 1950s Denmark. Actually have a few slotted bricks with no logo, those are a couple years older. But the trans-clear brick is prettier. No bakelite GEAS bricks yet, but I'll find one eventually :) Rarest is probably this Grangemouth test brick:

Duplo :)

Just got one of these :)

I just bought 10 of these, I can't wait to fill them up! I don't have plans for all of them yet, but I know I'm devoting one each to 1x1 plates, 1x1 round plates, 1x2 plates, 1x1 cones, 1x1 cylinders... Beyond that I'll just have to see what other small parts I have in lots and lots of colors :)

Not sure how I feel about the upcoming series. They seem off, like TLG is moving away from the small parts and simple builds we saw in the first few series, and more towards large, specialty pieces. I'm sure I'll still buy them. Mixels are an excellent source of colorful parts. Just not sure if I'll build them...

Maybe I'll start with 8183 and see if that meets my needs. Thanks!

How do those systems compare to something like 9398?

I want to by an RC motor/base and controller, but I see there have been several systems over the years. Any opinions on which one is best? I'm mostly interested in flexibility, I want to be able to use a range of wheels and not be stuck with a particular body type (my first project will be an RC Classic Space buggy!). But I'm also concerned about battery life, battery type (are they replaceable?) and power (can they run on carpet?). Thanks!

I've had nothing but good experiences. On BL I've received a few wrong parts or a few cracked parts, but the sellers have always been more than reasonable when it comes to sending out replacements. I've made maybe 50 purchases from stores all over the world with no issues. On eBay, I either buy for my own collection or I buy to resell. I often get really lucky with small lots, and can pull a few gems out before I turn around and piece it out, doubling or tripling my investment. I recently bought a lot of 300 printed parts for $15 and a lot of 150 transparent parts for $10. After pulling out about $20 worth of parts for my own collection (including some 3762 and 4448 trans-yellow in fantastic condition!), I cleaned up the rest and resold in smaller, more targeted lots. I'm up about $30 over my original investment and still have more to list. Sets are a different story. I mostly buy Classic Space and sometimes photos are deceiving. Sometimes I get what I expected, but sometimes sets that look bright and clean in photos arrive with old, beat-up yellowed parts, but then I just clean it and whiten it, and maybe make a small profit reselling it. You win some and you lose some, but in the long run I always come out ahead. I guess the only slightly negative eBay experience I've had recently is a $270 Classic Space acquisition that smelled really, really weird. Everything had a strong chemical smell, sort of a mix between moth balls and WD-40. I had to air it t for a couple of days to get the smell off. Luckily the parts were in amazing condition, and the minifigs all had bright, shiny gold on their torsos, so it was worth it in the end!

Really well done. Thanks for sharing. (I hope you do Thundercats next!)

I think it's both the washing process and the old bricks. New LEGO elements fit together with a satisfying snap!, but I've found that older elements seem to rely more on friction than precise engineering to keep them together. It requires a heck of a lot more squeeze to get two plates flush when you're dealing with pieces from Classic Space sets than anything from the last couple of decades. I've also noticed intensive washing will increase the squeaking and creaking that you mentioned. I just got a bunch of CS parts the other day, and ran all the white and gray through a hydrogen peroxide bath to counteract the yellowing. That increased the squeakiness of the bricks quite a lot compared to what they felt like as I took the sets apart (they shipped half-assembled for some odd reason).

I never build on a table. LEGO just isn't the same if I'm not sitting on the floor :)

Any tips for cleaning old white flex hoses (73590c01a) that have gotten all yellow and gross from years of play? Does the hydrogen peroxide + oxiclean trick work on these, or will that damage the soft plastic?

I'm still trying to track down 2 more from Series 4. I just love these things. Great parts, great colors - overall just a really good product. Does anyone know what the box breakdown is? Are they set up like CMFs where some are "rarer" than others?

I just bought a bunch of Classic Space sets on eBay and the seller threw in a pile of catalogs from 1981-1983 period. I had a great time flipping through them :)

They made the cheat sheet. It was one of the inserts for the series with numbers written next to them, corresponding with the number stickers (1-16) that they put on the foil packs. Probably by reading bump codes.

Too many stickers. For a licensed set they could have done better. Figs are nice, but the monsters are nothing new... That pumpkin is pretty slick though :)

The store I go to has them numbered. You just have to ask the person at the counter for the "cheat sheet" and you'll be able to know which is which. That's how I got all 16 Simpsons figs the day they came out with no effort at all :)

Well fortunately for the masses, I don't think the open philosophy behind LEGO Ideas is going to change. But you all can go ahead and exercise your right not to vote on submissions that you feel aren't worthy

I ask again, what does anyone stand to gain by limiting submissions? Why stifle creativity? Is it so you don't have to click through as many submissions that you don't like? The voting system assures that the good stuff floats to the top. I don't understand how these proposals improve the system for anyone involved.

What does anyone stand to gain limiting submissions? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of the site? The whole purpose of LEGO? "Sorry kid, I know you tried hard and you're proud of what you built, but your idea isn't good enough for LEGO Ideas. This place is for serious AFOLs only. Take your amateurish MOC and go someplace else".

Anyone know where 193b2 (old space helmet with thick chin strap) in yellow and blue comes from? I just bought a big lot of classic space stuff on eBay and many of the helmets have thick chin straps, but BrickLink doesn't identify these colors in any sets