Phil B

Not a Hyena, but a dog: 2233-1 Fangz (2011)

I love this new modular, it has a very "old European downtown" feeling to it - think of a city like Prague or Budapest, or an old German or Italian town center. Here's how I envision this to be set up in my LEGO town: Basically, Create a 64x48 base and turn the pavements into a pedestrian-only zone. The 10243 and 10218 have their fronts face the 10255. Nice cozy little "piazza" flanked by shops, restaurants etc. (the Pet Shop half would be the namesake Pet Shop, not the apartment). And if the PR and the flowershop are too much alike, I'd either switch out the brick color on 10255's flower shop, or replace PR with Brick Bank.

All LEGO trains are compatible with one another when it concerns wheels, track sizes and couplings. The only place where there is incompatibility is the traction system, ranging from 4.5V battery to 12V to 9V transformer and currently Power Functions. And the 9V version requires special metal track (compatible with normal plastic track), as it works just like a model train railroad (HO or N) and gets power from the track. The good news is that you can operate multiple systems together, and often you can change a train from one system to another (though Power Functions requires more space inside the train (receiver, batterypack) than 9V so you might have to employ some clever modifications). If you're getting started, you should use Power Functions (the current system) as it is easy and (relatively) cheap to get. Only if you are already invested in older systems should you continue to expand those - prices keep rising for the old stuff as it is no longer produced (coming close to 10 years since 9V closed down).

And what is the objective of that? Do they get some sort of a reward for commenting?

Yep - I'm getting Bad Gateway for all queries requiring search and filtering. My store page still works, so does the BL homepage.

What I find intriguing is that all those projects have comments and likes from exactly the same folks - even the comments are mostly the same. Are these folks just going around liking every submission?

That is good to know, and shows my noobness :) Not surprisingly though, all drazplaz's posts outside this topic have been in the Bootleg Minifig topic.

I would not honor a first post of such rudeness with a response. Pure trolling. Waste of keystrokes.

Did you try "Update Database" from within the "Extras" menu? Warning: it closes all your open inventories (but prompts to save if you have unsaved changes).

welcome from a fellow lurker

Depends on which country you are in, but if you're in the US, 259 points is double VIP (129 retail price x 2).

19 19 24 10 5 My criteria were: Needs to fit in with the rest of the existing WV line, needs to be appropriate for the theme, needs to have looks as well as playability, needs to expand on the theme, and "I want to have it". Oh, and being a train or train-related is always a plus in my book :)

That house is stunning - lots of clever tricks. Also like the ice skate rack .... wonderful!

The Toy Shop, Santa's Workshop, Gingerbread House and Changing Seasons are all new builds from this year - kids built all of them over the last 2 weekends. The Winter Cottage and the Elf Workshop were sets we had, rebuilt with my son. The Winter Village Market was a CraigsList find - assembled, so no build required. Putting it all together (excluding several trips to LEGO Pick-a-Brick for all the white 4x6 plates and cheese slopes etc. that make up the rest) took maybe 10 hours spread over several days. The sets are basically placed first, and then connected into the greater display. The backdrop was an impromptu idea - we wanted to use the blue baseplates as a "river" first, but it didn't look good. My son actually has a really good eye for patterns and how to make something interesting, and the fact that we had some non-LEGO compatible slightly different color of grey plates helped create additional variety in the backdrop. And yes, this is my first diorama ... glad you like it!

Spent some time with the kids (9yr b/g twins) building our first annual Winter Village display. Sample pictures below and full set of pictures on my Flickr account. Setup consists of a village diorama on a table, plus a kidney-shaped train track around the Christmas tree and a "North Pole" area. My local LEGO store's PaB-wall is now out of white plates :)

No ... Rudolph would not stick his nose out of the window of a running train, that with his nose already being all swollen and irritated ....

That's a nice experience indeed for the esteemed guests on that car :) Will make sure the passenger train sits well in the back (or perhaps the livestock car goes there) once the train starts operating ....

Hello Everybody - My first post here on this forum, and I'd like to share the customized 10173 Holiday Train I've just completed. This consist will be making its rounds around our Christmas tree this year, driving through a scenic winter wonderland populated by Toy Shops, Santa's Workshops, Winter Cottages and Winter Markets ..... to name a few. "Before heading out into the icy cold on Christmas Eve, Santa likes to do his toy & present shopping in a little luxury. For this purpose he recently invested in a special Holiday Train, so he can travel in style. Complete with livestock car for his reindeer, a cargo car for his presents and comfortable passenger arrangements, this train travels the country in search of the best gifts ...." After finally pulling the trigger on BrickLinking my 10173 Holiday Train, I decided to motorize the train in a slightly different way. The livestock car houses 2 PF Medium motors, a rechargeable battery and an IR receiver. The small chimney on the livestock car acts as an ON/OFF switch. The small flatbed car carries Santa's sleigh. The power of the 2 Medium motors is sufficient to move the entire train forward at a nice scale speed without racing too much. I'm utilizing my small powered bogies/trucks for this car. Here are some more pics of my creation - they can also be found on my Flickr Account. Let me know what you think ....