AussieJimbo

This is a beautiful creation. The tram and cars are excellent too. :classic:

I like the new train platform. Is that the start of the pub I can see? :classic:

I'm a big fan of the recent Creator houses having bought multiples of the Apple Tree House and Log Cabin for some large MOC projects. The left over bricks from those builds left me with a great stock of parts. I like the move to real baseplates, they are much more useful than those flimsy things. The Lighthouse is a fantastic set, a beautiful model in it's own right with heaps of great parts, I'll be grabbing several of those too when budget allows. Nice art deco possibilities with those curved bricks. I'm just putting the finishing touches on a modified version of the Hillside House, placed on a more challenging site, with the Log Cabin playing a supporting role. Can't wait to see what Lego comes up with for the next Creator house or building, there are doing a great job with them. :classic:

Cheers for the review, typo. I see a lot of positives in this set. Real curves plus flexi, very glad to see this as I was worried Lego might go to flex track only for curves which would be awful. You also get quite a nice long oval of track to play with in comparison with the other starter sets which makes up for the lack of points to a degree. It's also got some cool pieces and personally I like all the new wagons. The loading gantry is nice too. How do you load it. Buy three sets and load it with the extra conveyor belts. :-) Thanks for sharing. :classic:

Myer Belconnen has one Tower Bridge set with box damaged by one of those stupid theft protection things with the wires. Several Excavator sets similarly damaged. I simply will not buy sets in this condition without a hefty discount. (if I had the money for these cool sets, which I don't at the moment) Did pick up a Log Cabin and a couple of green base plates while the 20% is still on.

Very nice tree. I wish I had the parts to build one. :classic:

Sounds like somewhere you might go off the rails. :classic:

Good one mate, hope you enjoy it. Mine looks nice sitting next to the lighthouse. Might have to fish out my coast guard platform and put it back together, I think I'll be needing a few more blue baseplates too. It's funny how I got the RRP wrong before. While building it, I was thinking how good it was for a $60 set. This might sound strange but I'm convinced I felt more satisfied with the value than I would have done if I'd known it was an $80 set at 25% off, despite the price obviously being the same. :classic:

Is that a ticket window or can you put a bench there for waiting passengers? Maybe also add one of those little red hand trolleys with a few suitcases. :classic:

Very nice little station and platform. :classic:

Some similar features to stations up in the Blue Mountains. Looks like it takes architectural designs from a number of sources, bit of a lifesize MOC really but it looks good. Enjoying the progress on the town and the JD dealership. :classic:

Ah, cool. Thanks for the clarification dotmike and hewman, the sale tag must have dropped off the shelf. Nope, left it as is so they've still got a chance. :-D Would be nice to get that extra 10%, the sales lady I spoke to said it was only for first 4 days of the sale, let's hope you're right. It's spread out I guess with the bridge connecting the two wharves but there is lots going on. Some nice little details like the coffee machine and plenty of minifig accessories to play with. :classic:

Myer Tuggeranong has a couple of Tower Bridge sets on the top shelf (I found them hidden behind one of the several excavator sets they also have in stock, has an AFOL been there hiding them away until pay day?) $320-ish with the 20% discount is still too rich for my currently restricted Lego budget but I picked up another Hillside House for a MOD I'm working on. (and another Hello Kitty bag for when my niece destroys her first one playing sack racing.) Also visited K-Mart. The City Space Shuttle was at $35 down from $49, a few other sets with minor reductions but not significant enough for me to note them individually. Picked up the Marina set at $59 (25% off), first time I'd seen it in the shops so had to grab it. I think this set is pretty good value. Five minifigs, a boat, a windsurfer, a beach buggy and a nice set of little buildings. Also some useful pieces like white train wagon ends, green roof sections and a bonus spare long antenna. Fun build. (Edited because I now know the Marina was actually on sale too. LOL) :classic:

Good luck with your next swap, retrosalad. Keep on sharing your interesting finds. I think you've done well enough out of the deal. Perhaps your swapper genuinely didn't know that the other vehicles should be in the set but regardless you've still got a nice bit of Lego history in your hands. :classic:

"1000 bucks Aussie....that about 500 pound or so !" Maybe back in the old days. Current exchange rate is now only $1.50 to the pound so $1000 AU is about 666 pounds. I remember when we used to get $2.50 to the pound on the relo's Xmas money. @snefroe- Yeah, it's easy to list it, another thing to sell it. :classic:

Do you want to sell the lot for 50 pounds then? ;-) :classic:

The new smaller cargo train set 3677 includes a couple of separate straight rail pieces. You'd want more for a layout but it shows the mould is still in use and maybe we'll see them in other future sets too. At least a small narrow gauge oval would be a start. :classic:

Ready just in time for the Tour de France. There's a scene you could do. :-) Nice job, Maks. :classic:

Lego's policy is fair enough. Thanks for the link. I thought this thread was going to be about making URL encoded Matrix/2D barcodes with Lego bricks. :-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode#Matrix_.282D.29_barcodes :classic:

I usually buy multiples when I can afford it for MOC'ing and/or running longer trains so I already have a 3 each of the current passenger and cargo train sets. I know I can bricklink but I prefer to pick up sets for the extra PF bits and the possibilities that emerge from having multiples of the rarer parts and regular pieces the sets contain. My reasons for buying when budget/special offers allow: - A great new shunter loco, all the recent locos have been main line units of one kind or another. - Another set of PF bits including that nice new red battery box. - Cool and useful pieces like the red windows, stand-alone rails, conveyor belt. - I like the cars and having multiples would be nice. I don't see it as a bad thing that the green boxcars are like the older RC-cargo train cars. They will fit in nicely but are built differently enough for variety. - More track. (I don't like the replacement of real curves with flex-track. All three (straight, curve, flexi) should be provided. I have plenty of curves but new train fans shouldn't be deprived of them.) - Don't really want another red passenger train, this is cheaper than another cargo train and gives me more varied wagons. I've been thinking about a pre-release MOD (like Toastie suggested) for a while now but haven't got around to it. The instructions haven't been released on-line yet but it looks fairly straight forward if I can find the parts in suitable colours, with green windows from the RC cargo train as the starting point. :classic:

Here you go: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=810-4 It's UK set 810 from 1962. Bricklink shows a single complete example for sale at 750 Euros or a bit over $AU 1,000. :classic:

Thanks, CZ. Much appreciated. I've got a love hate relationship with flextrack. I don't like long lengths off it but in other situations it is invaluable in making layouts fit together and there are cases where the more filled in track bed doesn't look out of place. Fingers crossed for Brick Expo, I'm a definite maybe. ;-) Cheers, CF, I'm glad you like it. I'm really happy with the stairs too and how they allowed me to transition from the flat to the slant built areas quite smoothly. Sorry the promised updates haven't been forthcoming, life gets busy. Should have something new up soon. I've got a nice standard built Hillside House sitting in front of me on the coffee table. I'm slicing it up in my head trying to work out how best to rebuild it on the slope whilst retaining the key design features of the Lego original. I could do a ground up MOC but approaching it as a MOD provides an interesting challenge. :classic:

Nice job with the dodgems, Allan. That would certainly provide a workable solution. As far as Faller System is concerned I'd love to see that. I think Polish Guy is correct in pointing out the weight differences involved. Perhaps what we would need to do is bump it up a notch to include power steering. Rather than relying on the magnet to steer the vehicle which might not be strong enough to deal with weight and inertia of a Lego vehicle, it might instead need to be used to simply detect the path and rely on a stronger motorised mechanism to drive the steering. Hard to do in Lego but I've seen a few posts on EB about using Arduino micro-controllers, this might be a good way to deal with the problem. You could do away with the mechanical tracking completely and replace it with electromagnetic sensors attached to the micro-controller. You could probably make this compatible with the clever little faller traffic light and switching mechanisms too. :classic:

Nice signs, ED-209. Simple but effective. :classic:

Cheers LGG, glad you like it. Thanks OOS for your great comments and suggestions. That's a good pic of the sort of thing I had in mind. I'm glad you like how the fenders worked out, that was the impression I was aiming for. Great suggestions, I've got solutions to some of them lined up. The pipes are a bit of a problem, I'd like them wider but as it is right now the round form of the back of the cab gets in the way. I think I'll extend the cab by one stud to fit in the driver and passenger so I'll see if I can find a way to widen the pipes at the same time. Steps, solution for that, don't know why I didn't add them earlier. Yeah, that's me. I actually want to do a steerable 6 wide for the road train. It would be great to be able to drive it around properly. However you can't really scale the tankers without brick building so I'll build something different for this one to pull. probably a low loader for starters that I can put a bulldozer or tractor on. Then maybe a standard box trailer. Once I've got a couple of trailers I'll have a go at a set of dollies so I can build an 8-wide road train. By that stage the prime mover might just have steering too. Thanks again for your feedback. :classic: