mrklaw

Also, aren't Pegg and Wright starting to write the third part of the cornetto trilogy about now (Shaun/Hot Fuzz/xxxx)? If so and if it's the same studio supporting, they might like the positive press this gets to keep fans interested

could just glue a baseplate onto the front of some normal drawers?

how big do you feel a collection needs to get before it starts being worth looking at sorting by colour again? I suppose it can vary depending on how many of a particular piece you have, but is there a general point?

- cuusoo is designed to allow smaller runs of community builds - it doesn't need kids to buy it or to sell large volumes. - I don't see a pub being an issue as other sets have taverns/inns - I don't see zombies being a problem, other sets have zombies - licensing will most likely be more of an issue, but fingers crossed Simon Pegg has the rights to this and can get those cleared.

I don't think this is an issue really. There is a level of familarity and popularity that is required of a SW vehicle to justify releasing a UCS of it. While a few AFOLs might want a UCS version of an obscure rebel ship only seen fleetingly in RotJ or maybe only in the EU, I doubt there are enough fans to warrant a UCS. Some of the examples you give - B-wing, Slave 1 etc are good solid sets though Still plenty of scope for redesigns of the more popular classic vehicles - they have another 10 years, maybe 2-3 UCS a year?

I think having a bunch of modulars like you have is a great starting point - bricks and instructions. Use the pieces you have from your current sets (don't worry about colour), use ideas from those too for windowsills, steps, little details etc. Just play with what you have and try to start off with a rough shape and then adjust it. When you're happy with what you have, you can make a note of what pieces you need (eg different colours) and order those off bricklink. I wouldn't order blind from bricklink without having an idea first what you need.

nah, as long as the kerb is the same size all along one street, I think you could get away with building it out a little at the corner - maybe a hot dog van or a few trees? Might have a play myself

we only did miniland right at the end, so it was a bonus that Darth Vader was there (they also had a lifesize lego Darth Vader walking around). Liked miniland a lot. Didn't really care for the prequel trilogy, but loved the OT trilogy sets. The millenium falcon was just massive and gave me goosepimples. The Hoth scene is so iconic and is just beautiful to look at. And the Endor layout with the Shuttle was sublime - I've just built the UCS imperial shuttle and the miniland one dwarfs it! Hopefully they'll do one every year - it was very popular at a time of year where the park is usually fairly quiet (just opened)

sorry for the bump but I was admiring this in the local lego store. How cost-effective is it to buy all the PF parts separately, plus some track - Vs just buying eg the passenger/cargo train set which has all of that included (plus the bonus of another train to build). I have a technics battery pack and IR receiver/transmitter, so would I just need the train motor and train transmitter for speed control? Or is the battery box different to fit in the maersk?

I find LDD a little complex to prototype and visualise things. I just like to jump in with a pile of bricks and play. Don't worry about having the right colour, or not quite the right shape - if you make a great looking Dunkin Donuts but its rainbow coloured, you can at least perfect the design, then figure out what colours you're missing, rather than ordering adhoc based on what you think you might need. Likewise with shapes - maybe you'll have a few lumps sticking out, or you'll be missing a couple of finishing touches - by building/prototyping you'll get a good idea what you're missing and you can change it up until you're happy with it. You say you have a bunch of modulars already. Why not break some down into parts and just start playing? Once you're happy with the results, you can see what parts you've used and order them on bricklink and then rebuild your modulars again. They don't have to be cannibalized permanently.

Even worse for the TIE fighter pilots that were there

You still looking? I have an 8421 with instructions but no box that I can let you have for what you sold your old set for. Let me know if you're interested. I'm in the UK and am guessing you are too? BTW, your story is hugely inspiring, thanks for sharing with us.

The first one I remember, and one of my all time childhood favourite 'toys' was the 8860 chassis. Working suspension, rack and pinion steering, gearbox(!), moving pistons, adjustable seats. To my young mind it was the 8th wonder of the world. I rebought one from ebay a couple of years ago, but my parents passed all my lego onto relatives etc when I grew up. When I got back into lego I started with technic - the 8421 mobile crane and 8275 bulldozer, and most recently 8043 excavator. Now I've started to migrate into Star Wars and modular stuff with my kids, so I'm selling 8421 and 8275, but I'll be keeping my 8043

I popped along with my family this weekend - they had a 'star wars invasion' weekend to celebrate the opening of the miniland exhibit. Tons of stormtroopers, Rebel pilots etc walking around, and they were nicely themed too - Legoland windsor has an 'enchanted forest' section and they had an ewok in there along with speeder bike riders etc. and an RC R2-D2 which the kids loved. Seeing a guy in a stormtrooper outfit is fun. Seeing twenty of them walking in formation towards you is quite a rush. A lot of them had cool voice changers which gave off radio static too. few pics from the event Lord Vader inspecting the damage from the attack on hoth ewok in the forest speeder bike guy

thats fairly recent though - think they only started a 'hard to find' section late last year. Normally its full of dreck and not interesting at all. Just a shame they are exempt from the 10% discount you normally get with an annual pass :/

get bricklink to automatically remove ordered parts from wanted list rather than manually doing it via excel

I'm mostly scared of when my recent buying spree gets broken down. (tower bridge, imperial shuttle, queen anne's revenge, venator, pet shop, grand emporium, fire brigade, Cafe Corner) It'll just overwhelm my current structure, so I'm contemplating keeping most of those (modulars, tower bridge, shuttle) as complete sets and out of my bricks.

yes, they should update and release new versions of the more popular UCS models - X-wing, Falcon and Star Destroyer, using the newer pieces and techniques they've developed since they were originally released (especially the X-wing and Star Destroyer) I'd buy all three instantly. It doesn't stop the originals being collectors items, but there are a lot more new people into lego now that weren't around when they were first issued, so I think there would be a clear market for redesigns.

Not sure how much it'd be worth, but would you be interested in a trade for a Tamiya CR01 Land cruiser, complete with Rooster crawler and hitec servos, upgraded tyres, along with a DX3 transmitter and receiver set up for four wheel steering? IMG_8528 by richard.plumb, on Flickr IMG_8543 by richard.plumb, on Flickr

Just had a look with my GE. It's more tricky as you can't tuck in two road plates on adjacent sides without them hitting each other. Maybe you could raise the building up and have a larger kerb on on side?

nothing stopping you sliding the roadway out a little and building out the sidewalk, just using that vid as a guide. I guess you could avoid using the green 32x32 plate as its just used to raise the modular up to give clearance for the road plate. You could do the same with miscellaneous plates attached to the underside of the modular

buy the red roof slopes direct from lego.com - much cheaper.

Nice first review! Are the columns built up from normal pieces? Looks like white tiles on the faces of the columns. That has me intrigued - might check out the instructions online to see how they're built up. Tempted by it, but not in a huge hurry to buy (although 10% off AND double VIP points AND free delivery in the UK is a good deal)

no, it was somewhere else, but I think Nicoga posted it

I think they're close but maybe not exactly the same