Evil Stevie

http://texasbrickrr.com/news.html Texas Brick RR is holding a building contest; prizes; long lead time; virtual submissions accepted. Come play! Rules are at the link.

That would be interesting. I love the EN and still run it at shows, with a string of coaches not much different from the originals. Love to rebuild it all at 8 wide someday.

Narrow buildings FTW. They really help make a street look realistic. That said: I agree with the posters who suggested this generic-looking municipal set could be MODded. Get two, build the main building bigger and give it windows, and expand the little side buildings to be separate 16W structures.

I'm happy with what I see here. I'll definitely be buying extra copies and making a Texas-sized (err, king-sized) version. Thanks to those who posted the photomods! Yes, this design could work as any sort of governent building, department store, generic office building . . . It's a nice classic design. Just needs to be bigger. Thank you, Lego, for continuing to feed my habit.

It is a pure joy to display with this group, and more so because Tony always documents so well. Thank you all for the encouraging comments. Yes, there will be more pix. Joe Herbert has a GoPro and, among other things, he ran it around the entire perimeter line of the two group layouts (they were actually joined thanks to a nice piece of wizardry from Ed Chang). Here's a link to the show report, which will be updated when the pictures are posted. http://www.texasbrickrr.com/past_events.html

ME Models has a LEGO-compatible rail profile but is metal only. Big Ben comes in dark blue-gray ABS but doesn't have a compatible profile. I'm crying. But I still want to get my hands on some Big Ben track and see what it's like. And I will cross my fingers for transition pieces.

Black Pearl! (1) I think it's kind of pretty, a bit more like the classic pirate ships . . . (2) At last it will become easy to find 12-wide center sections in black. Well, not EASY, but possible. My LEGO table has been pretty crowded for the last few months, but I *am* going to do the last few bits on the troll ship and get photos to post.

Thank you for making my late night a little bit happier by showing the cool thing the Lego managers did for their guests! Class act.

Pix soon! Ship is 99% built and came out rather nice. Now I'm looking at all the PotC stuff on the walls at the Lego Store. A pirate's work is never done! - evil stevie -

In the ESPG rules, 'regular' hulls are 12 studs wide and 'wide' are 16 studs wide. Obviously, this designation applies only to the big ships that use the specific hull pieces. I am impressed by the front page Mister Phes built for this forum! Thank'ee! When I get the rebuilt orc ship the way I want it, there WILL be pictures. I got my one missing piece; now I need some free time. Advance warning: for "push-around-the-floor' designs, I go for simple. And I am an enthusiast who also happens to be a game designer, NOT a master builder. So when I post my pix, any of you who say "I can do better" should definitely do so and post YOURS, so I can learn from 'em.

No prob. (Insert your favorite evil pirate grin here.) Actually, I *did* write three of 'em . . .

Lots of very nice things here. ACPin - 1 point Colonel - 1 point dix - 1 point jansued - 1 point lisqr - 1 point

Ahoy, mates. Tarnation, a forum for me game! New fleet addition in progress: Justin LaFleur sent me the big Troll Warship a couple of years ago. After he scavenged the minifigs and some parts he wanted, he donated the hull pieces, masts, sails, and most of the other bits to the fleet. So the other night I rebuilt it. By the rules of the game, since it’s a wide ship with three center sections, it’s a Class 7. (Yes, the set has four center section pieces, but one gets turned into the stern.) So it will get seven cannon. I’ve already taken down the unwieldy missile-launcher it came with. I didn’t get the bits for the little “jail” in the middle, but that’s fine; we need that space for cannon. (If we takes a prisoner, we will just have a pirate sit on him. Yarrr.) It looks like I will have to go to Bricklink for exactly one part: a 1 x 1 with studs on opposite sides. My parts bin has none of those. Yet . . . I will also add “boat plates” to the bottom to make it easier to push around on the floor. The things I liked most about this set are almost contradictory. First, I like the new bow piece. It’s pretty! But I also like the way the stern is built up completely from more or less regular pieces. I’ve always been of two minds about the bow and stern elements. They’re definitely “<insert that tiresome argument>,” but they make the ships much more durable for games. So I won’t give up on them for ESPG, but I sure like seeing designs that don’t require them!