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Thanks again! Well, for a house like this, after thinking about it from time to time, it's typically like this: First I build the ground floor front, decide where the stairs go, then build the second floor's front, floor & stairs, then third, then fourth. Then ground floor interior and rear walls, then the upper floors. Since I'm usually trying several different details, each of those 8 steps takes about 2-3 hours, some less, some a little more I wanted to keep this a little more, erm, family-friendly.

Thanks again! Yes, about 6x4 m² in the basement. No LDD. I basically planned how big the houses can be, "sketched" the basic window/wall design in real bricks (like the bright light orange part here: ), thought where to put the stairs etc. first, built the front and floors, then thought what interior furnishing could fit where (same with the rooms in the apartments, and whether it should be one spanning both upper floors or two separate ones), and then built that. And modified during building when necessary...

Thanks, everyone! Not the entire town. That'd be just too much work to disassemble, move, and reassemble. Only small parts - the inclined Pet Shop Street - have been (and probably again will be) shown in and around Munich. Well, years ago, MOCpages had a server disk crash followed by a backup disk crash (their only backup!). They said they'd try to recover the images, but failed, and I didn't really care much about MOCpages anymore, and was too lazy to replace/reupload the old images...

A nice building with a nice interior.

Hi everyone! My latest house features a shop selling the Friends minidolls as "maxidolls" for the minifigure population... » Album on Flickr (23 photos) Back side: Let's walk inside... ...warning: Lots of pink and purple! More dolls and accessories on the second floor: A gamer's living in the apartment on the second floor: Apparently a fan of Minecraft and TMNT (admittedly a bit hard to see): Fourth floor is where Ma and Pa cop are living - having a cup of coffee before leaving to the police station for their shift: And this is where it's placed in my town: » Album on Flickr (23 photos) Hope you like it...

I had another 1x1 dark blue brick instead of a 1x1 Technic brick for the ground floor. Well, better than the other way around...

That's a great building with some nice details - and some nice scenes!

So "Metro MDP" has now become "Heavy-Haul Train" for this set number. Hmm, interesting... The former source was apparently a Czech shop, where does the new name come from?

Thanks again, everyone! Photos of the reliefs can be found in this album.

The finals! Continuing from 7:8:8½... Day 22: A christmas tree with colorful lights, a little present box with contents and a christmas astromech. Who is the taller tree? Hard to see... but "I am!", says the droid, and takes his point: 7:8:9½. Day 23: A tricycle, a christmas tree with rather monotonously colored decorations and, lo and behold, even the apparently dark side of the force likes open fireplaces. Mum holds back her son - "No, you mustn't see this already today!" -, while the two Friends engage in a little training fight and Luke relaxes with the book from day 18 at the fireplace. Could this be a hint for future events in the new Star Wars movies...? Anyway: half a point for the nice Star Wars things, 7:8:10. On day 24, of course, the santas arrive - in the left corner the generic City version, in the right corner a nice Darth Vader, in between a big present with camera and ice skates... ...in the same box! But seeing these many extra skates, they are probably more concerned for these than for the camera. The children are a bit disappointed - "This one only has a small sack and only a few cookies!" - "The other one doesn't even have cookies!" But daddy and colleague are back just in time with the presents! A cat photo is mandatory - quick, upload it or the Internet dies from being neglected. Cheers! And enjoy cour cookies while they aren't yet Oh, the winner: Daddy and colleage get another point, but this can't take the final victory from Star Wars: 8:8:10. Happy holidays everyone!

Yes, really a great layout with great details!

Thanks again, everyone! Yes, these are lockers - a good place to use these old colorful car doors. :)

We’re almost done… last score was 5:6:6½. Day 17 brings us a sled trailer, a fireplace and an alleged Hoth Command Center which is in fact… …just another little shooting device. But the Friends fire makes the snow melt quickly – one point for Friends: 5:7:6½. On day 18, daddy’s colleague arrives, there’s a little table with a reading lamp and a book, and General Rieekan. While the officers drive away (to where?), the General reads to the children, presumably a pinkified version of the christmas story (which is probably why he doesn’t look too happy about it). For being so kind he receives 1 point: 5:7:7½. Day 19: A more or less set table, a sofa and a slightly holidayish speeder bike. While the children test the bounciness of the sofa, mother complains to the Caterer General that the turkey is cold and unhygienically placed directly on the table, so he must take it back. Winners today are the kids who have fun, and the sofa they have fun on: 6:8:7½. Day 20: Wood and tools, a kitty and an Imperial Shuttle. The jolly lumberjacks are happily hacking away while neither kitty nor the shuttle really know what to think about each other. 7:8:7½ Day 21: A present and a sock, music, and Anakin’s Y-wing Starfighter. A clear victory for Star Wars: 7:8:8½.Who will win this year? The suspense continues…

Thanks everyone so far! Mestari, yes, scale is always a problem in a Lego city. Carriages 8 wide and 50+ long, for instance, would look better compared to minifigs, but if you want more than just a station in a room, you have to compromise... Wookiee, don't forget emergency telephones. :) I only thought about them last week, and I would have had to change too much on the platforms to put them at a decent place.

Hi everyone! For many months, my train station was almost finished - just now I took the time to populate the platforms and make all those signs... here's the result: » Flickr album with many more photos My Lego town is called "Port Birch", and this is its South Station. I figured that only 5 tracks aren't enough for the main station of a town with trams, metro, and suburban trains (S-Bahn). Architecturally inspired by several real stations and other buildings... Back side: Interior, from top: Ground floor: In case you're interested but can't read it, this is the train schedule. Note that it's 14:58 now. 09:22 - IC 4558 - Hintertupfingen - platform 5 - indefinite delay (but it just arrived) 14:55 - IC 7740 - Stuttgart via Friedrichshafen, Meckenbeuren, Biberach, Ulm - platform 3 - delayed 15 min 14:59 - RE 2 - Lego City via North station, Belville, Legoland 15:12 - TGV 233 - Paris Est via Stuttgart, Strasbourg, Lorraine, Ch.-Ardenne - platform 2 15:17 - RE 2 - Chimatown via Springfield, Oletown - platform 3 15:29 - RE 2 - same as 14:59 15:40 - E 10194 - Istanbul via Wien, Budapest, Beograd, Sofia - platform 4 - reservation only 15:41 - RE 1 - Emmeton via East Harbor, Bricking - platform changed to 5 15:47 - RE 2 - like 15:17 15:47 - RE 1 - North station - delay 5 min So you see, the REs (Regional Express) are local to this small country, while the others are more or less actual routes. (Well, except for Hintertupfingen, German name for a hypothetical insignificant village). Second floor, offices: Left: Station master with an applicant for a new job; center: secretary; right: security, sign control, announcements. Toilets: Waiting area: Third floor, café: Flowers and books: Back outside, we can see a railway official posing with a fez next to the Orient Express: More photographers and tourists: A group of travelers in elegant (and old-fashioned) clothes going down to their Orient Express - well, looking at the top, maybe they will be down sooner than they'd like: On the next platform: Hoop diddy diddy, hoop diddy do... :) » Flickr album with many more photos Hope you like it. :)

Day 14: A little sled, food and drinks, and an alleged moisture vaporator: In troth, however, this is a thief radar. We’ll sense him soon… yes, there he is! After him! And quickly return the cheese (and finally clean the tomato stain from the landspeeder). Points for the winners: 4:5:6½. Day 15: The family dog is back, plus not everything, but the kitchen sink, and a snowspeeder: Perfect for cleaning the cheese – who knows how filthy the thief’s fingers have been? – and welcome the victorious guest. And to keep the dog happy, he receives today’s point: 5:5:6½. Day 16: A nifty police sled – that would have looked cool in the chase! -, a big cake and the pilot of yesterday’s snowspeeder. And again it’s time for a little break. Enjoy the cake (so it was no lie after all) and everything else! One point for the cake: 5:6:6½. Still a close race. Who will win? We’ll know in 8 days…

Thanks! Let’s continue! Last score was 3:3:5. Day 9: Bread on a cart, a decoration with a burning candle and Anakin’s Jedi Starfighter. The bread isn’t very crispy, so the kids want to roast it a bit. And Ewa got a nice hat stand. Well, I don’t really feel like giving lots of points for this, but a half one for each of the useful items: 3:3½:5½. Day 10: A snow catapult, a collection of kitchen tools and a TIE Fighter: The snow catapult must be intended for the snow trooper, of course, and he’S showing the tie fighter that his false labeling – a tie fighter not wearing a tie!? – isn’t acceptable. One point for the catapult: 4:3½:5½ Day 11: Daddy, a police officer, is home – with megaphone and sheet music. Uh oh, I got a bad feeling… Plus a Friends kitchen stove and a TIE Fighter pilot: Even the toughest star warriors run away from that. In principle, that’s a point for City for the victory, but two minus points for choosing this song: 3:3½:5½. On the 12th day of advent the calendars give us a remote-controlled ducky on wheels, tomato soup(?) – the instructions tell us to put it in day 10’s plates – and Luke’s Landspeeder: It seems that the boy can’t really control the landspeeder. What a mess… one consolation point to Friends: 3:4½:5½. Day 13: Yikes, a thief! And more from the Friends kitchen – including a cheese slope actually used as cheese! That earns half a point! – and Luke Skywalker in person: While the thief steals the cheese, the boy outside hands the landspeeder over to its owner. But will they manage to catch the thief? To be continued… Current score: 3:5:5½.

Sorry for letting you wait... Day 4: Eat and drink, a little fawn with a little tree and a grimly looking Clone Trooper with (separately packaged) Santa hat. Neither the pie nor the cute fawn can make the trooper smile; probably his face was cloned this way already. The cute fawn gets a point anyway: 0:2:2. Day 5: Mum’s here with a delicious croissant, Friends give us a piece of a house, and yesterday’s Trooper gets his helmet and weapons. Well, if he really gets his helmet: “Why you little…! Give me my helmet now!” – but Mum will calm him down for sure. One point for her: 1:2:2. Day 6: A box of fruits, one Ewa in holiday-ish clothes and a Vulture Droid. “Would you iike some cherries, erm, sir?” – “Thanks.” And while the trooper tries to munch the croissant through his helmet, he can give his Santa hat to the young lady. One point for this and for the fruits, that means 2:2:3. Day 7: Another piece of a house, this time in City, a big table and a snowball cannon which can actually shoot: Yes, yet another cannon, and yes, another point for it. If Star Wars will continue with all this war stuff…? 2:2:4. Day 8: Daughter’s here, two seats anda Snowtrooper: After all this fighting, we need a little break – enjoy your meal and drinks, everybody! Points for everyone! Current score: 3:3:5. But there are still 16 days left where a lot can happen…

Day 2 brings us the letterbox – useless to us – with a frog, probably in hibernation, a little sled, and a “Super Battle Droid” which is so ugly and un-Lego-like that it probably wasn’t welcome even at the Mars aliens of 2007/8. That’s one point off. One point to Friends for the fun the sled brings, and since the droid is so nice to pull it – hopping, since his legs are just as connected as the Friends and child minifigures’ legs -, he gets a point added. 0:1:1. Day 3: A mini snowman with a nice hat, a shopping bag with shopped things, and a republic cannon. Which means fun: That’s 0:1:2. To be continued...

Hello everyone, Hope this subforum is a good place for this theme-spanning post... anyway, I got the three advent calendars - City, Friends and Star Wars - and let them "compete" each day. It's (usually) not meant to be about who's got the nicer mini-sets or the best value for money, but I'll just see what stories and "battles" emerge from the contents. I already did this last year, but with German texts only. Note: I won't post images of future days, but depending on your timezone and daily calendar-opening schedule, they may be spoilers to you anyway, so beware... City's first day gives us a boy with a letter - got to be his wish list to Santa -, but not only do we get a spare letter, we also get another hairpiece. The competitors send Mia and an Armored Assault Tank: "Try this hairdo, sure looks good on you too!" – "You're right, I'll keep it, thanks!" But what should the two do with their wish lists? No mailbox in sight. But surely... ...the little blue guy from space can help - he'll take the letters to Santa on time for sure. So the first point goes to Star Wars, the score is now 0:0:1. Let's see how this continues – I only opened one third of the calendars so far, so it's a surprise for me too... I probably won't post daily updates here, rather combine a few days, but when I do, I'll add another post to this thread. (Or you say you don't like it, then I won't. )

My guess is the 7725 is inspired by the 1970's S-Bahn trains of BR 420 - it's just much shorter and reduced to 4 wheels because it had to be a much smaller and cheaper set. Note, by the way, that the bright-red-with-white-doors design now common in German local/regional trains (cf. set 7938) was introduced only in 1996. There were other red trains before, of course, like other older EMUs (sort of precursors to the S-Bahnen), but not all over Germany.

Probably a mix with the BR 112 - which has only one row of grey on the sides, though the 103 has more of an inverted slope in the red part of the front. Altogether, it's a TEE (Trans Europ Express) like this one. Arguably, 7745 is modeled on the TGV, too - just limited to what was possible in the 80s. Never liked the looks of 7745 myself, though. :)

I'm using "option 2a", so to speak: no extension cords, just two motors on one engine. (Just enough space to squeeze the switch inside.) Works quite well, but you might need a 1x2 tile connecting the pulling engine to the first car since the magnets alone aren't strong enough for all situations (engine on a straight downhill, cars in curves...).

Well done! Got to build something like that myself some day... But you misplaced the "s", it's "Donnerbüchse" (plural: -büchsen), not -buschen.

Thanks again! Dear Lego Company, how about giving me a share of the revenues you made from my building making people buy the Simpsons house? ;)