Hrw-Amen

Really nice, we used to have signal boxes similar in the south as well, some were wooden and some were brick. They have a certain character, not like the modern brick squares we have had recently, although I see even that one we had near our station has been demolished over the last few years. I expect it is all run from some cosy office now with a flat screen monitor or something. Yes, i have also noticed the variation in the reddish brown, some look almost the same as the old brown and they go right through to being almost the same as the dark red and hard to tell apart, but as you say on some structures especially wooden ones that can make them look better.

I have to say the Batmotive train looks rather evil and dark. Sure to scare any train robbers away or at least make them think twice if they see it coming up behind any coaches they are trying to steal from. I think one of the better cross themed trains I have seen!

Well in my area South of UK (Dorset.) the stores seem to be either out of series 8 or selling them off rather cheap. Annoyingly the only one that seems to have loads (Probably as they have not reduced the price.) is the one I frequent the most. Still it means I am still able to add to my squad of female aliens and evil robots, not to mention the odd Santa for the snow corner. But yes bring on Series 9 I say. I have not seen any around yet though.

Looks pretty good especially the way you captured the arches around the courtyard.

For myself and my wife we have the Helms Deep set which I have been paying off a £5.00 a week on our local toy store's Christmas club. I picked it up a couple of weeks back after finally paying the last instalment. I have also splashed out on the Unexpected gathering which I admit I bought on my credit card so have to pay off. On top of that i have one more item on the Christmas Club which is the CITY Forest Police Station. I plan to finish paying for that one this weekend. I've got the wife a couple of the smaller Friends sets as well but she does not know that yet. I asked her to get me the Werewolf set from Monster Fighters if she wanted to buy me something nice. It is the sort of set I'd like to have because of the cool minifig and also I like LEGO trees as there are never enough of them. Whilst I'd like it I would probably never buy it myself as I am just not collecting that theme.

These are all really great models, I am awe struck by the detail and not only in the models, but also by the detailed knowledge some of us seem to have about how real railways are run and operated. I have seen machines like these in depots when passing by on my way to London a few times but other than knowing they are to somehow service the track I have had no idea what they actually did.

Can people really pay that much for LEGO in a plastic box? Are they crazy?

I guess that bird is going to be a add on to the hair bit for Tonto. Maybe it will also get released as a white bird which could be a seagull? I seam to recall a while back we were being asked what animals we would like released and a seagull was quite high up on peoples wish list. Well a white crow is pretty much that from a LEGO standpoint I guess.

I hope it is a much more realistic version than the Toy Story one and one that can be converted to Power Functions if it does not already come with them.

What is that orange structure hiding to the left behind the tunnel, Is that on a different table? It looks about the right height so could it be an extension to allow more space or is it something else entirely?

I have a lot of classic space sets that are kept apart simply on the grounds that they are made up and are likely to remain so. They are stored in boxes. I have a lot of older bricks, that were bought just as boxes of bricks back when you could go and get a box of black, blue or whatever colour. These are not kept apart and get used in building whatever I am building at that moment. I do have new sets, but to be honest unless they are multiples that I bought to get some special part, most of my new stuff is intended to stay made up as well once it is made. I get lots of bricks from Bricklink and if I go anywhere near a LEGO store, (Which I will be in the new year.) I load up on PAB cups. These all get mixed with my older just bricks until such time as they are used up in a MOC of some sort or another.

I think a classical style would be good for a theme. You could include Roman / Greek types but would not have to be either of them. Just set it back in time a bit further around the era of the Trojan war. You could then have generic 'Greek' style soldiers and other figures without them actually needing to actually be Greek. They could if you like be the good guys if you want, then you could have creatures such as the Minotaur that we already have a mini-fig for, the Genie and the upcoming Cyclops forming the other faction, or even factions of there own. They would still be in keeping with the overall theme of the age but not actually relate to any existing countries today. You have sets based around islands, caves, mazes, temples, oar propelled galleys to mention but a few possibilities. You could go back even further if you like and have a theme based around the formation of the first small towns. You have farmers versus nomads, Neither side would have to be good or bad it could be up to the person playing which side they choose to be which. The sets could centre around the beginnings of small settlements, houses, out buildings farm animal, perhaps a temple of chiefs house, or both. Then the nomads could have tents, caravans with camels etc. each side could have a few warriors, a few civilians, they could interact peacefully over market environments or un-peacefully with the nomads driving their animals across the farmers fields, or the nomads having had a bad year trading / hunting and gathering attacking to steal food from the greedy farmers who want it all to themselves. It could go either way. You would have the conficts but again no clear identifiable countries from today's world.

These funny little locos are great. As you have said they are kind of retro. I think some ghosts and or skeletons would make it more horror orientated. Yes it does look better with the longer boiler, I agree.

So how does this actually work? You have made a wonderful model with lots of details on it which looks fantastic, but have called it a cable car? I always think of cable cars as things that transfer people up and down mountains which this is obviously not. I am wondering, near where I live we have some ferry boats that run on chains. These chains span the whole distance of where they run and the boats somehow pull themselves along on them. I am guessing your cable car does something similar but I cannot see where the cables come in and go out? As I said it is a good model and very detailed, but I would like to know how they work in the real world?

This is quite a nice locomotive and a very good model that you have built. It does reflect the original very well. A pity it is not powered, but then as you say that can always be done later if you wish to do so. Does the original one that you based it on run at all or is it a stationary exhibit?

Very interesting to see those colours, I have loads in red and white but I don't think I have any of those colours and can say that I have never seen them before.

It does look very retro there next to the other engine. I can imagine that they may have been made around the same time.

I do like to get my stickers all nice and lined up properly, if one of them sticks itself down too quickly it is a great fuss to get it off without crinkling it I find. Sometimes I have to just live with it as it is better than having crinkled corners, but I don't like it. It makes me cringe when I see sets made up by children and the stickers are all over the place. As for bricks, well it does annoy me that 1X1 plates and bricks tend to get out of alignment I have to confess. I try to get them all in line. Do i go so far as to line up all the studs logo? Well no i don't, but I probably would if I did not cover almost everything in tiles to make it look smooth and real'ish!!

I like the way that the engine looks used and old in the first photograph, it seems to be a typical old workhorse, put through miles and miles of hard work up and down, without much attention paid to its paintwork and keeping up a good image that some of the mainline engines have. It has replicated that look well. Of course I also think it is a good idea with the XL Motor, I was trying to figure out what it was until I read your post I was thinking deodorant bottle top. I have to admit I have no idea where you are coming from with the decoupler, I've read it a few times and watched the video. Glad it all works but seems way to technical for my mind to ponder. I expect if I could see it in action in person it would all make perfect sense but just reading it and watching a video I am afraid you have lost me. Never mind, a great build nonetheless!

Already posted this a few days back. http://www.eurobrick...ic=34724&st=225 It was on More or Less Radio 4.

Seems that the orange team will be getting so extra support from the CMF season 9 Mech/Robot thingy.

This is a nice little hut, but as others say, the first thing I thought when I looked at was that signal is too close to the track. But it is a really great little building and I cannot fault it in anyway. I hope that the rest of your layout is just as good as this set! Make sure to keep us up to date with photos please!

I have been using 'Really Useful Boxes' as like the name says they are really useful and stack easily. They also come in a variety of colours which makes sorting and then finding bits really easy. For example I use the stack of little 4X3 for tiny bits like 1X1 round bricks, cheeses, jumper plates, stuff that I use all the time. I use trans purple 0.75L for all my 1 thickness plates and modified plates, all split into seperate colours and stacked. Then the bigger ones in trans clear for plates of larger sizes. Different colours for brackets, mini-fig parts, Tiles, round bits and so on. They are as they say really useful!

Thanks everyone, I am going to with every four or five straight lengths when I set it up and see how that looks, on the bends I'll do whatever means the wires would not overhang off the track so I will try this by trial and error. As I said down in the south west of the UK we do not seem to have any of these overhead power lines for me to look at so I am replying on photos. We tend to have a third rail running alongside the normal ones and the trains pick up power from those as they go along.

Yes that happens a lot and it happened yesterday. I was trying to decide which Hobbit sets to get. I picked up the Warg Attack and wanted that, but for less money I could get Riddles for the ring and the Mirkwood Spioders. I really wanted the Warg Attck set but decided with the run up to Christmas I could get the other two and still have money over for a gist for someone else other than me. I guess the Hobbit sets are going to be around for a while as they only just got released so i can get it January or February when the budget allows.