nicoga3000

I would actually tend to agree with this. Grab 7939 now where you can find it before it does go away. I've got two copies already - one for play, one to sell. Once 7939 goes off the market, you can be sure it will climb in price very quick, and then you can say good-bye to that train budget you were saving up! :P

Thanks for keeping up with this magazine - since I've found it, I can't stop reading it. Kudos to you guys.

I should have pics of my completed sorting collection. Needless to say, I'm quite proud of it. There's a few tweaks left on smaller hinge style and connection pieces, but it's essentially complete. Sweet.

Aye - thanks. I don't feel as dumb now!

Structural Engineer here. That's definitely why modular buildings and now train layouts are my main interest and purchases.

I saw a Maersk cargo truck on the road a few days ago and got more excited for this train.

I just grabbed 2x7939 for a total of $288 after shipping. Definitely an incredible deal given the price of that set and the state of trains. They have a huge selection as well - I highly suggest jumping on this. The basic $5-10 markup is nothing when you're getting two large sets for such a massive savings!

Buying 2 7939's as we speak - one for me and one for later. ;)

Emerald Night will probably go out of production sooner than later. 7939 is getting really hard to find, which is another selling point for me. :)

Good point. :P As for what you asked - 8404 looks really cool. I'm considering it eventually mainly for all the cool vehicles included. And as for trains! I only recently started to get into them, and the veterans will have their opinions, but holy cow. Trains are the coolest Lego thing I've ever played with. As an adult, playing with the Lego sets just doesn't do it for me anymore - you know, having battles in the Knight's Castle, make believing adventures in my houses, etc. But with the trains, it allows me to build much more creatively in various aspects of Lego building - structures, trains, layouts, etc. Oh, and doing track layouts is a blast, especially seeing them in action! :) There are two great sets to look at for starting - 7938 and 7939. Take a peak here to see my initial getting into trains. I own 7938 and have bought a bunch of track off of Bricklink. I'm going to probably grab 7939 off of Bricklink now because I DO want to have the extra track, train, power functions, and "extra stuff" to add to my layout. If you're on the fence and have the funds, 7938 is amazing fun. If, like my topic stats, you're pretty sure you're wanting to get into trains, find a 7939 and snatch it up.

Maybe I'm blind, maybe I fail at searching, but the old thread seems to be gone. If it IS in fact still around, delete this thread! Otherwise, I figure we can still make use of this topic...Well, at least I can! ------------------------------------------ I have a little bit more to spend on Lego this month than I thought (yay tutoring on the side) and was going to pick up 7939 Cargo Train off of Bricklink. It comes with everything I need to run another train on top of my 7938. It also comes with another IR Remote that I have zero use for, ha. Anyways, I'm wondering if the train people out there think that owning 7938 and 7939 is worth the investment? I think 7939 comes with a lot of track, too - that's a big bonus. Also...I have Emerald Night and will be ordering Maersk on day one (might be the first set I buy 2 of for holding onto even). I want to be able to power all my trains, but it looks like the only way to be able to power them and run them is to spend ~$75 per train ($50 for the rechargeable battery box, $11 for the motor, $15 for the IR receiver) pre-shipping. Will I be better off just powering 2-3 of them and moving the guts everytime I want to run certain trains? Seems like the best option given the price, but I'm not sure. I do realize I'll need to buy a motor for every train I buy anyways, but the battery box + IR receiver are my biggest concern on investment. I realize this is primarily train buying related, but I figured it might not hurt to get the topic going right.

Lame - well thanks anyways! :P I'll probably just have to buy the rechargeable if I have any hopes of running multiple trains. The reviews seem OK on it, I just don't trust rechargeable as much, ha.

Kind of a phantom bump here - but can you buy the AAA battery box anywhere? I'm sketchy on the rechargeable one...

I like seeing the design in real life, no doubt. I guess I'm a bit daunted by my collection at the moment - I feel like it would take forever to find the pieces I want to use. Then again, I won't know if I don't try! :)

I've been wanting to start a few MOC's after getting my LEGO sorted(ish), but I was wondering what the most commonly accepted way of going about this was. Do ya'll find yourself going at it free-style or putting the model together in LDD first?

I think I've seen your pics of this before. I like this idea a LOT.

Honestly, the boxes are all super nice. That's one of the things that I hard the hardest time parting with - that, and the fact that I'm a completionist at heart. I didn't want to see them go, but I realized they were just taking up space. Since I had no intention of reselling (and if I did, the box adds value, but the pieces are a majority of it), I realized the pretty cardboard wasn't helping my cause. I have the instructions kept in a big brown box, but I'd like to find a way to make a display "book" of them - maybe some plastic sleeves in a binder? It will definitely still be a nice homage the sets I've bought! It's easier for me to show my "sets" off that way anyways. :)

It was so hard for me to throw out my first few boxes after coming out of my Dark Ages, but I've never looked back. Given that I'm not investing in Lego for profit, the boxes, while cool, are only taking up space. Now, if you're not into MOC'ing, keeping the boxes with the sets together is probably not a terrible idea. With that said, doing exactly what Rick suggested is your A+ best bet. Folding them down and storing them accordingly will be the most space-saving method. Regarding the sets, you can probably bag them and label them so they won't get terribly mixed up.

97 cents a pop for those "shoe-box" style containers at my local Wal-Mart. Win.

So I went to Wal-Mart last night and found some 6 quart Sterilite tubs for 97 cents a piece. I bought 23 of them.

They definitely have these at Target/Wal-Mart according to the displays and what I've seen.

Tower Bridge! Ima come snatch that sucker up! I've been wanting it, but it's such a price bomb, I need to find a way to convince myself to drop that much on it!

I never really thought of that...Sort out what I intuitively think to sort and make an "other" container. Once that's full, I can sort of break that down. Hmmmm This could work!

Yeah, I picked some really standard pieces on accident. :P I've got some really odd pieces that just don't fit anywhere sometimes...this and this and this are slightly better examples of oddball pieces. I just have no idea where to start. Every time I have a decent idea, I pull out a piece that doesn't match any category and I end up getting discouraged.

I've been trying to organize my collection the past week or so. I'm running into a dilemma though - one I have NO idea how to fix! I've got pieces like this, this, this, this, etc. Obviously, simple plates and bricks are easy enough, but what about pieces like those above? And the pieces that are basic 1x2 with extra hinges or connectors? I don't know, my sorting got INCREDIBLY overwhelming. I COULD have little containers for every piece I come by (outside of the basic plates, bricks, wedges), but that might get ridiculous. Anyone run into this and have a decent way to start? Right now, my bricks are all color sorted, but I don't think this is the best way to do it for now.