grum64

Thank you. The 9396 is one I've been wanting to build for a long while but other sets kept getting in the way. Amongst others I've got the 42042 & 42043 which I've been itching to build but, wanting to build something different, I chose the helicopter. I'm glad I did. Thank you Jeroen. Your memory does indeed serve you well. Today did involve some tricky building with the 3x3x0.5 liftarms being particularly so.

Thank you DrJB for you kind comments. I took a look through the instructions before starting the build and when I got to the rotor head took a sharp intake of breath. It is, as you say, full of small parts & intricate connections. Fun, Fun, Fun.

I've had numerous requests asking that I include my journey into LEGO here so here it is. In 1983 at the age of 19 I had a motorcycle accident which left me a C4/5 Tetraplegic. I was paralysed from the chest down with no use of or feeling in my hands and very impaired movement of my arms. After over 9 months in hospital I went home. From then on most of my days were spent with friends & Family or listening to music, reading & 'tinkering' about on my computer. Anything to pass the time. I was happy but, looking back, I wasn't content. I was doing nothing productive with my life In 2008 I had another accident when the anti-tip device on my electric wheelchair failed while I was going up a step and my wheelchair went over backwards. The impact of my head on the concrete paving damaged my hearing such that I was no longer able to enjoy music. Also, I was left with severe tinnitus. My moods changed completely and was later diagnosed with clinical depression. One day my Grandson Jake, who was 4 at the time, was playing with a little LEGO Police car but he dropped it on the floor and of course it broke into lots of pieces. He was really upset & asked me to put it back together for him. I told him I couldn't do it. Time and time again he asked & each time I told him the same. He kept saying you can do it Grum, you can do it, I know you can. He really did believe that I could fix it for him. Not wanting to disappoint I told him I'd try. He gathered up the pieces, sorted them out into groups on the table in front of me. After half an hour or so spent staring at the pile of pieces wondering how on earth I was going to do this, I leant forward, took a piece of the Lego in my mouth and after much trial and an awful lot of error I managed fit it onto another piece. Jake was so excited. I can gear him even now, 'I knew you could do it, I knew you could do it.' After almost a week I'd put the 20 or so pieces of the car together. Jake was over the moon and to be honest, so was I. I was really proud of myself. As an added bonus, I found that the concentration really helped my tinnitus. Over the next few months Jake bought me several more of his broken LEGO models to fix, each bigger than the last & in time fix them I did. Little did I know he was deliberately breaking them! Somehow he knew that I needed this, that it'd help me. How right he was. From those sets I went on to build him other sets, usually Police and Star Wars themed. With these 'under my belt' I thought I'd give myself a challenge and try something a bit bigger to build. This is when I came across Technic and decided to give it a go. I had a look on Amazon and saw 8258 Crane Truck. I'd not seen anything like it, was it really LEGO? I thought it was such a great looking set and one I thought would give me the challenge I was looking for so I bought it. Boy was I was right. It took 22 weeks, building for roughly 4 to 6 hours a day for 5 or 6 days a week but I did it. 1800+ parts all done by mouth. The satisfaction and pride I felt upon completing it was undescribable. The stickers were the only things I didn't do. Since then I've built: 8110 UniMog (full PF RC) 42009 Mobile Crane (Ultimate) 9398 Crawler 9396 Rescue Helicopter 8725 Bulldozer 8043 Excavator (Ultimate) 8053 Mobile Crane 8421 Mobile Crane 8461 Williams F1 8674 Ferrari F1 8458 Silver Champion 8285 Tow Truck 8466 4 x 4 8274 Combine Harvester 8416 Fork Lift 8048 Buggy (Full PF) 8262 Quad Bike 42007 Dirt Bike 42048 Race Kart 42040 Fire Plane 10220 VW Camper 10242 Mini Cooper 10252 VW Beetle 21307 Caterham 8880 Supercar 42054 Claas Xerion 5000 Trac Vc 7662 Star Wars MTT 42030 Front Loader 42056 Porsche GT3 RS (Pimped) 42082 Rough Terrain Crane (Ultimate) All the Racers 1:17 cars 42083 Bugatti Chiron (Pimped) 42042 Crawler Crane 42043 Mercedes Benz Arocs 42070 6x6 All Terrain Tow Truck 42069 Extreme Adventure (Full RacingBrick RC) Jake, his young brother George and little sister Penny, still bring me broken sets to rebuild. They just don't take so long now. I relish the challenge building LEGO, especially Technic, provides. I get a massive sense of accomplishment with each and every set I build and can honestly say that LEGO has completely changed my life. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- If you're still awake here I am with my WIP Topic. I will collect all my WIP's in this topic. Let's start with the 9396 Helicopter. This set has been in storage for around 2 years and on the racking in my shed for the last few months so I thought it well overdue to be built. As with my previous WIP, the Ultimate 42009, this won't be a deeply technical review type thread, I'll leave that to those far more qualified than I to do so (you know who you are ). This'll just be a few words here and there to describe any problems or thoughts on the build. I'll keep a tally of how long I build each day, the total build time and at the end of each day's building take some photos (apologies in advance for the quality of my photos). Today was the first day of building & here's photos of progress. Build Day 1 - Days build time 4hrs / Total build time 4hrs As always, all comments and constructive criticism is welcome Thank you for viewing.

It's not a question of not having sets, I still have 45+ left, it's not having any other than those mentioned built and on the shelves. I've recently had a stay in hospital and spent the few weeks afterwards building my Racers 1/17's and 8654 Scueria Ferrari Truck. They were on the shelves so it looked better in there but I've now sold most of the 1/17's and the truck's next then a few more Technics to sell. All proceeds will go towards the 42055 Bucket Wheel Excavator and a 42054 Claas Xerion 5000 when they come out. As for the pictures, I'll get some taken soon. Please don't expect anything like some of the beautifully decorated and planned out rooms on these pages, it's a shed after all and a very utilitarian one at that, but as I've said before, it suits my needs and now Jake & George's, our beautiful Grandsons. They've 'moved in' & now have their own table to build/play on and some shelves for their builds. Gilly has a shelf for her Modulars also. I think it's now the best sort of LEGO shed. A family one.

I too would like to post some pictures but it'll be a little while yet. I've nothing built other than my 8674, 8461 and a couple of Racers 1/17's. Empty shelves isn't, I think, a good look so I'd like a few more builds on them. With that in mind I have todday started my 9396 Helicopter. Get that done and a couple more and I'll get the pictures taken.

It's fine, in fact you've just reminded me to get some pics taken. I didn't bother getting it insulated as we've had such a mild Winter. It gets nice & warm with the heater on for an hour before I go in.

Andy D. That looks like a really great place to while away the hours building.

I agree. This is a great little set. I added PF to mine so Jake could have some fun with it.

Looks great with not a speck of the dusty stuff in sight :laugh:

I'll be watching whilst in my LEGO shed so the coffee pot will be on, a plate of homemade Biscoti at my side. That's the catering taken care of. Looking forward to Zblj providing the entertainment. See you then.

I'll be there. Will refreshments be served?

Bought a 42042 Crawler Crane & 42043 Actros at the weekend, both BNISB for a total of £120! Bought them from the Father of an ungrateful 16yr old who'd had them bought for his birthday but, upon unwrapping them, angrily declared that he didn't want kids toys but money instead to buy a PS4. Even though he lost money on the purchases and I offered him more, the Father sold them cheap to teach his Son a lesson. And yes, harsh or not, I do have a HUGE smile on my face

As many of you know I'm a bit of a bargain hunter as regards LEGO and over the years have had some real bargains. One of my recent purchases, an 8475, started thinking about it's history. Things like: When bought new was it as a present and if so what was the occasion? Was it bought for a child or an adult? How many owners has it had, who were they, what did they do? Why did they buy it? Was to be part of a collection or just to build then sell? Did all its previous owners build the set and if not, why not? How long did each owner keep the set before parting with it and how much did he/she get for it? Over the years, how many parts were lost and replaced? What's the total accumulative amount paid over the years for the set? These questions and many more keep running round in my head which makes me wonder. Do any of you find yourselves thinking the same?

I've got parts cracking on my 8674, mainly around tbe suspension. I've just noticed that my 8461 has got the same problem. I know the parts are under a certain amount of stress from the springs and the weight of the models but it doesn't make it any less annoying. As I now have somewhere to display future builds it makes me wonder how they'll fare once they've also been sat on the shelf for a while.

Simply phenomenal!

Congratulations to the winners. Very well done to everyone who entered. You've made some great models and have made this the best competion yet.

I'll second that. The Ultimate's a really enjoyable build.

Stunning!

Great MOC with so much detail. I love the book shop.

Two really great builds. I especially like the Routemaster.

Really nice build. The front reminds me of the old Volvo F88/F89.

16 : 10 17 : 6 3 : 4 14 : 3 5 : 2 7 : 1 Thank you for makiing this a great competion guys. It's been really intersting watching your builds evolve. Good luck to you all.

Yes, from adversity comes triumph.

Just came across this on the BBC News app. Just proves what I/we already know. LEGO changes lives. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35549905 Edit. If the moderator feels this is better posted in a different forum please can you move it there. Thank you.

And now it's in the papers... http://dailym.ai/1Qtjc0a