Lego Otaku

The store limit and fees are usually spelled out in the term pages and not stored in a manner that would make it easy for Brickficiency to look it up and use it. With hundreds store around and so many variations of limits and fees, it is probably not going to be easy to set up BF to process them. Not to mention time consuming for someone to check hundreds store and entering the fees and limits. Shipping is another mess to process as well. Fee varies by countries, by how well seller packs it (very well packed can weight more and go into next fee bracket), and by carrier used. Taxes and duties is also no fun to figure out but usually one would have an idea how much to expect if ordering from outside the home country.

CFOL = 100+ year old, a centenarian fan of lego?

Some update. I decided to add a second store after all. An ice cream shop. I don't have any furniture done yet but it does have cooler and I have ceiling fans ready. The front of the ice cream shop is stolen from the green grocer set. I am still trying to get the front of the hardware done. ldd file http://www.brickshel...d/hardware2.lxf

Avoid using 5 store searches. If you have a really large list, it may be easier to split them in 2. Do a search (with 1 store only setting) and it should show you a list of parts with number of stores that carried it. Take out the top few rarest pieces and hand search for it, it may be cheaper to order rare part individually. I've had case when I needed 10 of each and where rare part #1 was available in store A for $2 and store B for $5 each while rare part #2 was available in store B for $3 and store C for 50 cents. If you tried to order from store B only, you'd pay a lot more than from A and C (yes, after shipping). No software can replace human capacity for getting the best deal but the software can do the bulk of the work quickly if you don't have too many hard to find pieces.

Always wanted to do something to fit in the modular system and I thought of a hardware store. The building it's hosed in is an old building from end of 19th century and is primarily wood. At this time I am not sure if I'd stick with 16x32 or if I want to go 32x32 and leave an extra space "vacant and for rent" Currently I have most of the first floor done and the shelf will have more things added. It'd be loose pieces. A few more tools in the barrels since LDD doesn't allow "random" drop in trick like real life. There will be a few more colored "boxes" of various bits like nail and screws. Yes that is a very old cash register, it isn't used at all. Also a gumball machine out front. The second floor will be the sleeping area for the store owner, and it'll access to open roof with plants, chairs, and table for outdoor enjoyment. With the current 16x32 there won't be much room for bed, kitchen, bathroom, and place to eat or watch TV. ldd file: http://www.brickshel...dd/hardware.lxf

It's likely you'll never get complete set. The pieces often get lost over time, either from playing outside, pilfered by jealous kids next door, and traded for something like candies.

That usually depends. For small sets, sometimes it's cheaper to get complete set than individual parts as they were often more common than large sets. For large set, especially without instruction and box, it can be cheaper to buy parts. Don't buy from eBay, the seller there usually overcharges everything relative to Bricklink because eBay charges much higher fee than BL for selling.

Had a good find today! Came across a garage sale that was a bit messy, like they didn't plan on it but started selling just because it was nice outside. I did find a few interesting items but what I found weren't part of the sale originally. I spotted a couple yellow LEGO boxes off to the side and when I asked, they said they hadn't gotten that far in cleaning and setting up but I was told to go ahead if I wanted to. I pulled out a box + manual of: * 6071-1 (Inv) Forestmen's Crossing 184 Parts, 5 Minifigs, 1990 Sets: Castle: Forestmen * 6048-1 (Inv) Majisto's Magical Workshop 175 Parts, 2 Minifigs, 1993 Sets: Castle: Dragon Knights box only set of * 6054-1 (Inv) Forestmen's Hideout 191 Parts, 2 Minifigs, 1988 Sets: Castle: Forestmen and a few extra pieces including partial fire place that I recognized as from * 6040-1 (Inv) Blacksmith Shop 83 Parts, 2 Minifigs, 1984 Sets: Castle: Lion Knights No box or manual for that one but I was able to complete it from the mess of LEGO I found. The other 3 sets were missing a few pieces. Totaling about $10 to replace all the little missing pieces plus an expensive $20 printed baseplate and $20 female forestwoman. (ouch) I also found another LEGO set in box but I haven't tried to ID it yet, not pictured were a couple fluffy mouse nests (threw em out), probably winter home. Missing one blue seat and a couple pieces and it needs serious car washing before I'd try to take it out of that box. Filthy as heck. Mice have been sleeping in there for a few years.

Hopefully they can code it to be adjustable any angle from closed to flat open so I could float a partially opened book in front of a minifig to make it appear it's being held and read currently.

I would like to see partial list if it can't find any combination at all. One list for parts that are rare (too few stores for example) so someone could separate the rare parts from the rest of the list and try to get the rest cheapest way while gathering rare part individually if needed.

Any idea why it was discontinued? It's unusual for LEGO to spend several thousand dollars designing a new part and making mold for it, then stop using it a few months later. I doubt LEGO have earned back the cost of this part yet.

LEGO named their color differently from Bricklink. Light bley is Medium Stone Grey for example. http://www.peeron.com/inv/colors Nice color list of color used by LEGO and BL. Look for the color you're looking for and look for LEGO's name for it.

I've done the tower using 1x2 bricks and 1x1 round bricks and it's not easy or fun. First I get an idea of how big the tower is so I'd have an idea how many bricks. Then on the first few rows (while straight), I adjust the angle. I don't use the mouse to flip the parts, I enter the number manually in the box on top. Sometimes I have to use negative number instead to get them to go the right way. For example, the tower would be about 18 bricks per layer, which comes to 20 degrees each brick. If done right and the program doesn't futz up the alignment, the layers can be closed to complete the tower. Then it becomes real easy to build on top of the rounded layers. I don't use mouse to manually adjust hinge often on complex building because the program isn't written to be smart, it was done to be easy for little kids to build something. PS don't use hinge align tool on complex building or weird design, it had a tendency to completely warp the whole moc and make it even harder to work with. Stick to manual angle adjusting and crossing fingers.

Before I slipped into second DA early 2000, I did have a few LEGO sets after I finished college, had free space, and got a job. At the time internet was just "starting" up and it was still mostly online services like CompuServe, Prodigy, and AOL. There weren't much else although I did find eBay (back when their servers were named after skinny animals like anaconda and mudpuppy) I had never come across the term AFOL or anything related to adult and LEGO other than occasional impressive creations. Star Wars LEGO was just released when I slipped into second dark age. (first dark age was from start of high school until end of college, not enough free time or money)

I found a few LEGO sets at garage sale today and all but one were mostly clean, just a bit of dust. The one pictured below had 2 mouse nests and it looks like it's been sitting outside for a few years. No doubt covered in animal bodily wastes. I was going to get disposable gloves and completely dissemble it to have it cleaned. But how would this get cleaned since it's extra filthy and probably a bio-hazard? At a glance, it seems to be missing the rear spoiler piece (one or 2 plates) and a whole blue seat.

Intel socket 1567 CPU has 10 physical cores each and can function like 20 with hyperthreading. Get a motherboard with 4 sockets and you could have one computer with 40 cores or 80 processes. The drawback is the CPU costs over a grand a pop. For most people, anything over 4 is overkill. Most games don't use all 4 anyhow. LDD isn't optimized for multicores and won't benefit from more cores at all.

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=52635&st=300#entry1724701 updated with Simpsons haves/wants

non extended mode are mostly limited to legal colors but I have seen parts that are still illegal. You can grab LDDManager and use it to check color, it will tell you if it's a rare color or nonexistient so you can revise the set as needed. AFAIK there isn't a way to set LDD to use only legal colored parts.

Suggestion for future revision: warn users with large lots that searching for 4 store option even on a good system can still take hours to complete. 5 store options shouldn't be used unless they have a very small list of mostly rare or unusual parts.

One of that set looks like something from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids! movie.

Personally I don't care about those who invests in retired sets but I would have liked to be able to find newly released sets without paying an arm and a leg for one. Those resellers are taking advantage of marking tactic: supply and demand. Early on when releases are often scattered and somewhat limited people who really wanted the sets may be more willing to pay extra premiums to whoever gets it first. It's not really greed as someone makes it sound. I am more than happy to wait for resupply to find them at reasonable price.

I've always done it stud up for as long as I can remember- over 30 years because it looked better that way. I have a seen a few official instruction that had it stud down but I ignored those. Looking at common flowers like dandelions and daisies they have raised center that do suggest "stud" up.

LEGO took more than 30 years from when they started using 4 digits number (late 70's? early 80's?) until they ran out last year and started using 5 digits exclusively for all new sets. I think we'd be good for a few more decades before they run out of number between 10000 and 19999 :D

Tried again today, it seems to be working fine. It was likely bad connection on the internet somewhere.

I'm getting a hiccup. I've copied the last few lines before it fails: I have visually checked every item on the wanted list, all exists with the rarest part being a boat weight (black). The axle 5, bluish grey, is available in 1965 stores so something seems to have bugged out. I have tried restarting Brickficiency, dsl modem, router, and my computer. EDIT: got a bit further: I think something is breaking down the connection between my computer and Bricklink site.