Strikeman

This is the exact reason I bought it, for the mini linear actuators :-) They are very good for making electric train switches :-) The selection of other parts in this is great as well, and I was able to pick it up at 25% discount, which made it all the more value for money ! Judging by your review I might have to give the model itself a go as well though :)

This is just perfect !

The only Technic set on discount that I see (Belgium) is the 8052 container truck, 55.99€ instead of 69.99€. That discount is not really that good considering there are more than 15 for sale on Bricklink for even less and the average price in shops over here at the moment is 59.95€. Add to that the Christmas discounts (25% in Fun for example, 10% in Dreamland, the two biggest toy retailers here) and the price can drop to 45€ if you're careful

Don't be too jealous, my collection is still dwarfed by many collections around here After checking Bricklink and ordering the remaining parts I'm 100€ lighter, so it's not like I have all of them lying around That said, there is a distinct lack of blue parts around here, it looks like I'm going to have to search them outside of Belgium ... Good thing I can substitute most parts with another colour if needed If anyone has 8 pieces of Blue Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular Double Split then please give me a shout as the closest supplier with that amount is in Canada

Jurgen, I can upload the XML file straight into BaseBrick, which I've already done by now Just need to order some new parts tomorrow and I'll be able to build this soon, I'm only missing a few more exotic parts No more help needed from you there, thanks man !

Jurgen, will you or Barman be so good as to get the parts list available on Basebrick as well ? It'd be much easier for me to figure out which parts I'd need to build this. I'd imagine it'll be quite a few :p

After a small bricklink order I finally found some time to tinker with the trucks a bit more. I think I finally cracked the front of the garbage truck with this new tweak I've made. L@go, I hear what you're saying about the cabs of the trucks. My only experience with new 6-wide trucks in sets are from the truck from 7939 and the 7990 cement truck, which both have this same "mistake". Anyway, I do agree with you on this , so I've modded the cab of all 3 converted trucks to have the minifig sit 1 plate lower. I've also taken into account your comments on the trailer and made that 4 studs longer as well. Pictures (click for larger): These will probably be the last changes to these 3 trucks, it's time to move on to the next conversion

I'm going out on a limb here and post a question because there seems to be no-one at the other end of the support@brickshelf.com email address (I've sent a mail about 3 weeks ago I think): 1. I can't upload anything but images. No MLCAD files (.ldr, .mpd), no PDF documents. I know that it's possible as I see many other people with these files on their accounts, yet I can't. I tried changing the filenames to very short filenames, does not work either. After the site finishes the upload, I come back in my folder and nothing new appears when I try to upload one of these files. 2. I can't upload zipfiles (probably same reason ?). I have to manually upload everything at the moment, not cool If anyone could shed any light on these issues it'd be appreciated. ps: I tried with Firefox & Internet Explorer, haven't used another browser yet but I'm 99% certain it's a problem on the receiving side

I have uploaded the instructions for the 6 wide version of the 6357 to this Brickshelf Gallery in PNG format. PDF available on request. Thank you pinioncorp, I'll see what I can do with the front to make it look more like the picture you are referring to. Not promising anything as I already like it as it is bootz, those 1821 Rally Racers look just fantastic Although not in my collection, I might be tempted to do these as well, if you don't beat me to it though I was looking to do what you said (for the garbage truck) - making the top side 1 stud smaller - but at the moment the front is secured just like the front of the truck from set 7939 - Cargo Train, with a red 87609 - modified plate 2 x 6 x 2/3 with 4 studs on top. I'll keep looking in to it though !

Thank you all very much for your comments guys, it is really cool to hear that you like these ! Thank you bootz, but I don't see how I can let the red line up through the façade ... I've tried multiple things (short of just placing a 1x6 red brick there) and I can't seem to figure it out. As promised, the next truck to be updated is the 6357 - Stunt 'Copter N' Truck from 1988. To me, this one is a bit special as it represents the "cooler" part of a LEGO town: a big rig with a helicopter on it isn't something you see everyday, but I've always liked this design very much I did not want to fiddle around too much with the trailer, as I thought it was perfect, so all I did there is widening it and making it longer by 4 studs (otherwise it'd be too chunky). I did not touch the helicopter. I do believe that I managed to make the truck way more bad-megablocks than it was in its 4-wide original form Although not play-friendly any more (the roof is difficult to remove to insert/remove a minifig) I think I am going to keep it like it is and not change it to a 6x4 roof slope. On to the pictures then: The original: The rebuilt version: It features a sloping roof, which came out way better then I expected, chrome exhausts and much bigger air tanks than the original. I also made the ride 1 plate lower than is usual on a truck, and I quite like it like that. It also explains the bigger air tanks as the shock absorbers are going to have to do a lot more work to keep the wheels from hitting the fenders The new version is 2 studs and a plate longer due to the grill (1 plate), the cab (1 stud) and the back (1 stud). not too much fiddling around with the trailer as said: trailer hitched: And as usual, only the minifig faces have been upgraded: Last one for good measure: I hope you like this one ! More pictures are in this Brickshelf Gallery. I have also made this truck in MLCAD so I have instructions for this truck. If you'd like them please ask here or leave me a message as I'm still unable to upload PDF documents to Brickshelf.

Thanks tiger, appreciated Thank you pinioncorp, what do you think about this little modification then ? I have to admit that you are on to something ... I know what you mean by the missing wheel arches on the end, but I figured that the original model doesn't have them either, and if you look at the truck from 7939 - Cargo Train, you'll find that it's the same on that truck: no wheel wells under the load, only under the cab. I've also made a few modifications to the tow truck. I wasn't completely happy with how grills on the front didn't align with the black tiles on the hood, so I redid that. As per your suggestion, I also added some "weight" under the door, I choose to implement a step to get into the truck. Lastly, I closed the gaps around the back wheel arch so you get a more integrated feeling and I changed the airtanks to yellow instead of black because apparently I didn't have yellow 1x1 round bricks when I built the original a year ago and I worked from there Thanks Syn. I don't know about the wheels actually ... they seem to be the ones that are used now, maybe I'll try some other ones if I can find some :)

As you might know, one year ago I've come back to LEGO after a hiatus of about 15 years. Since then I've been buying lots of new sets (it's good not to have to rely on you allowance anymore ), but I also have a lot of sets from my youth, ranging from 1980 - 1995. Since I value these sets very high, I'm reluctant to remove them from my layout. But truth to be told, a 4 wide truck does a look a bit petite when you set it up next to a new 6 wide truck. Thus came the idea to start converting my models because I don't just want to replace them with their new counterparts, some of which I don't really like to be honest. I'm lucky to have almost all my sets twice (thanks to a couple of boxes that weighed in at 100 kilogram which I bought in the beginning of the year) so I still can set my original 4 wide vehicles on a shelf or something My main aim with the updates is the set still has to be recognizable. While I'm not afraid to use new parts like new 6x4 roofs and making it more in line with today's style, it still has to look 80%+ the same as the original. Here are my first 2 conversions, the rest will follow as time and available bricks permit. We start this jouney in 1987, and in that year I got the 6693 - Refuse Collection Truck. I loved this set as a kid, and I still do. I know there are newer trucks out there, but they don't do it for me. It was a simple and effective model, came with 2 minifigs, 2 dark grey garbage cans, a broom and a shovel: what more could you wish for ? (all pictures link to bigger images) In real bricks: This one wasn't too difficult to convert, and after a few tries on the cab I'm happy with how this came out: Next to each other: Total length was expanded by only 2 studs, 1 for the cab and 1 for the garbage collector bin: I also try to give the minifigs an update, but only the face. I like the torsos the way they are : More pictures in this Brickshelf gallery Next up, the 1988 classic tow truck appeared, but LEGO called it the 6674 - Crane Truck. Again a simple model (as they mostly were at the time) with a hook to lift the vehicle that you wanted to tow. 1 minifig, hammer and wrench included. In real bricks: After a lot of fiddling around with this, I can say that I'm actually very happy with how this turned out. The only thing that's a bit of a shame is that there isn't a red 1 x 2 x 2 panel with a highway logo (only a yellow one), but it doesn't really bother me: Next to each other: Total length was expanded by only 1 stud on the back, the cab was already large enough because the hood is extended: "Action shot" with tow (with respect to their age) and minifigs posing: More pictures in this Brickshelf Gallery I usually make all my models in MLCAD, but haven't made these yet. If there's intrest in instructions, I'll make them, just gimme a shout! I hope you like them as much as I do. C&C is welcome and appreciated. Next up will be 6357 - Stunt 'Copter N' Truck (1988) . As it has almost the same front as the 6674 - Crane Truck, I don't suppose it'll be difficult. After that it'll be a firemen vehicle, either 6480 - Hook and Ladder Truck (1985) or 6358 - Snorkel Squad (1987).

I've created my first real MOC for the 7777 redux contest. I've recreated pages 22 and 23 from the 7777 idea book for the contest. Since we weren't allowed to make trains for the contest the focus was on the bridge that is used to get the vehicles on the train, but I'm actually very happy with how the shunter that I made for the diorama turned out. It isn't visible in the pictures (which was the whole point ofcourse), but I managed to get a battery and PF receiver in the shunter without compromising space for the minifig, a goal I'd set for myself when creating the shunter. The bridge went through 5 iterations because I wasn't happy with how it moved: it needed to make a vertical motion to get the cars on the upper deck, but it also had to make a horizontal motion towards the train so there wasn't a gap where the car had to jump over Pictures (click for larger): The shunter (dirty, as is to be expected from a shunter and also because I have lots of old parts): complete diorama: the train bridge motion (I wanted to recreate the overlay effect from page 23 but I found out I suck at photo manipulation ): and finally, my official entry: More pictures, POV-Ray renders and instruction for everything can be found in my Brickshelf gallery The instructions not in PDF as I wasn't able to upload those to Brickshelf (I don't know why ). If you'd like them though, just ask here or send me a PM. As this is my first MOC, I'm very interested in your comments and suggestions !

In the last 2 supersets I bought the "main" set was loose in poly bags in the large superset box and the smaller sets are in their own cardboard boxes as if you'd have bought them separately.

I have the same feeling about this. Since I've returned to LEGO I've bought a bunch of new sets, but honestly I like my old sets way better. I can live with the 6-wide trucks, as I feel trucks should be a bit wider than normal cars, but then again once you put them in your town layout they are FREAKISHLY large. Indeed a truck that's 1 city block long is a bit stupid in my book. When playing with, for example, the cargo truck that came with 7939 I can't round a corner without going over the side walk or crashing against oncoming traffic. Not even going to start about 3221, which I LOVE, but I can't do anything with it in my city.

Yes Thank you very much

sorry to ask this question, but I was on a website a while ago that listed the contents of the PaB wall in each and every store in the world, and I can't for the life of me remember the URL. I've extensively Googled for it but I am not able to find it again ... So if anyone knows, I'd love to hear the URL :) Thanks!

There's a promo over here in Belgium at the moment which consists of a combination of this set and set 3661, Bank & Money transfer, for a total of 50€. I might have to buy it for that price as the S@H price for both is 90€...

As the topic subtitle suggests, I'm going back to the 90's with my first city, as 90% of my sets are from that era. That doesn't mean I'm not going to use new sets/construction vehicles to build it This is also the reason I choose to work with the light grey baseplates I'm indeed not sure about the racetrack plate with the full setup (left one), but the one on the bottom right is going to be used as a "ramp-on" for the loading dock that's being built there. It's the place where trucks wait to go onto the loading dock. If I get by IKEA again I'm probably going to buy a few more tables and then I'm going to implement my racetrack, using those 2 gridplates. But first I need to get my hands on 4 matching old-style curve baseplates without sidewalks I don't know, I want to keep them as I find them very cool, but I'm thinking of moving the left one out of the city center a bit. The black one I'd like to keep actually. We do have quite a lot of old forts/castles in our city centers here, fully restored, so I don't think they're that out of place ;) And I actually have 2 Eldorada fortresses, those are going nowhere Thanks tiger, the service station is actually the one from the book that came with set 720. I do reckon the towtruck is quite big compared to the one on the left from set 6674 ... It's kind of weird as my sets are from the 4-wide era, and this one is 6-wide ... I've always wondered about that that's an idea as well :) It IS a great hobby, isn't it Thanks for all the kind words guys Don't worry I'm going to incorporate some MOCs (once I relearn to use my own imagination again) as well, but the first thing I'm going to do is set up all my old sets and I'm going to work from there !

After playing around too much with MLCAD and having finally finished my attic (where I have been banished to with this "weird hobby"), I was finally able to start work on my new city . In the past few months I've assembled all the sets from my youth, bought too much bulk LEGO from people my age, bought way too much new stuff and discovered Bricklink ... needless to say, I'm really itching to start building now, as are the workers in my town . I've finished sorting all the bulk LEGO (took me long enough as you might imagine when buying 10 cases full). I've been fiddling around with Bluebrick for the past week now, and yesterday evening I started laying down baseplates. Here are the first pictures of my town which is under construction, as you'll soon discover. I plan to update this thread as often as I can, and I welcome any and all comments, remarks and hints. I also already apologize for the image quality, these are my first real shots of anything LEGO and I don't know if these are good enough ... click on a picture for a highres image, WARNING they are approx 3.5 megabytes each Let's start with the Bluebrick layout I've come up with. I'm working small 55cm x 55cm tables (22" x 22") so I can change it on the fly pretty easily. I've cheated a little bit with the old style tracks, can you tell where ? And this is how it looks in real life. workers everywhere, they're scrambling to get this city set up as fast as possible. Luckily the fort survived so let's hope the bluecoats can get rid of those pesky pirates The massive (it really is big, isn't it?) crane is going to build the harbour an overview of the downtown area. the cops have already established a presence Let's hope they don't write too many tickets while construction is ongoing. a view from the left, as you can see I ran out of table a bit And a view from the right, where you can see construction going on on the cargo land terminal. I don't know who allowed that small Technic crane to help out, but it's doing a very good job at blending in I think ! One thing I've noticed already while setting things up is that I'm afraid I have to get rid of the forts to make room for some actual buildings as it doesn't look like I have much space left. Or I can just buy some more tables, but I can't put that much more in the attic or I won't fit in anymore What do you think ? That's it for now, I hope you guys like it.

with all the craze around the new Maersk train and almost everybody here buying one (two, three, four, five), I was wondering if I should do it too ... At the moment I have 3 trains (7715, 7939 and an as yet unidentified for which I have all the parts but no booklet) and I am not sure if the Maersk train would fit in. Since the Maersk train is a cargo train, how does it stack up against the 7939 cargo train ? Is it going to dwarf it or are they going to live happily next to each other ? Since I'm also a classic town collector (no modular buildings in my town at all) I don't know if it will look out of place much, as it is a very realistic train ... Any suggestions or photo's with both trains would be greatly appreciated !

Nothing special just a standard light gray 6x16x5:2 container. but I find it best to have a non-conspicuous container when its contents are a bit macabre ... the backside has a small indentation to accommodate for the door handle and control panel when stacked side by side. (sorry for the mess I'm in the middle of sorting )

Great man, I see the site is up and running again ! Thanks for your super cool software ! Once I'm ready sorting my LEGO I'll make sure to publish some GIFs of the sets I've created in LDRAW to add to the Library !

Question: any idea as to WHY TLC insisted that deejay wouldn't sell his creation anymore ? I'd really like to hope it is because they are prepping to release their own electric switch points, but I've read nothing anywhere that points in that direction ... Anyone dare to speculate or maybe deejay himself got a good explanation from TLC ?