ibecks

Love this idea. Updated with WH Smith Manchester Arndale and Toys R Us Manchester Ancoats

You might find this really useful: BrickBuildr PAB. It's a community-updated listing of what's in the PAB walls of various stores so you can get an idea of what other stores might have in their walls. Obviously because it's up to fans to update it, the information may be outdated or incorrect, but it's better than nothing.

I try not to spoil the 'surprise' of how certain elements of the building process are done. For example, I'm currently Bricklinking Cafe Corner and I've had to make some decisions on colour swaps for rarer pieces. I've gone through the PDF instructions to see whether it matters what colour the brick is, always trying not to look at it in too much detail, so it'll be a fresh experience when I finally do get to build it. But I do always build from the instructions.... although I'll make a mental note if I think there's another way to build a particular part and maybe rebuild it later.

Awesome! I love the chocolate fountain, pigeons and chocolate frogs!

That's a great little building - I particularly like the way you've used the light brick for the oven. :)

Colours looking really similar. Then right at the end of the build you discover you used the wrong colour earlier.

I'm really torn on the Winter Village Toy Shop. On the one hand, it's very good value right now and it's another awesome Jamie Berard design (what's not to love about those?!) but on the other I'm Bricklinking Cafe Corner and all my Lego money should really be going on that. Plus if I bought one I'd feel I should buy two - one for building, one as an investment. Someone please tell me to just get a grip and buy it already! ;) <edited to add that my main interest is modular buildings - Grand Emporium is on its way to me and I can see the toys from the Winter Village having a year-round home in GE>

That's amazing. Perfect, in fact!

Thanks for your response. :) I hope this is the case as the idea of paying almost £1 per roof brick is making my eyes water! I'll find out on payday.

I'm getting the same thing - it keeps highlighting the 'about me' box in red but doesn't tell me what it wants me to do with it.

I had a look at the book yesterday and, unless I'm missing something there are no instructions, just photos of the furniture. It's a shame really. I know it's an ideas book and I understand it would be impossible to print all the instructions in one book, but they could link it in with a website or something and provide a unique code in the book for access to the website.

I've got the Green Grocers and I'm sourcing the parts for Cafe Corner, so I've been looking for the same thing. These photos might help. The sets down the right hand side show loads of different bits of furniture, some of it commissioned for the DK Lego Ideas Book. I'll be checking the book out today.

This is very good news. I went to one of the public days last year and loved seeing everyone's creations - especially Westminster Abbey, the collectable minifig vignettes (which will be about triple the size if the creator's there again this year!) and the modular MOCs. Not sure I'll have anything to display as I'm just coming out of my dark ages and catching up on the official sets before I get to building MOCs, but I'll be there at some point during the show. :)

I'm just starting the process of building Cafe Corner from bricks sourced through Bricklink/PAB and I've had some great advice about sourcing bricks from members of this forum previously. I know some people said they'd called Lego and order their bricks over the phone as opposed to ordering through the website. Does anyone know if the phone line has access to inventory not on the (UK) website? A good example would be the dark red 1x2x3 slopes for the roof. I know these were out of circulation for a while but now they're back in the Pet Shop (albeit in small quantities), so they should be easier to get, but they're not on PAB online. Any help gratefully received! Becks

That's really beautiful. I used to live in a house like that and you've got all the details spot on.

This seems to have been fixed in the version released on October 26th. The new version of the skull uses 6 1x1 white bricks.

There are some issues with the roof construction in the sense that it's not the most stable design in places. The main example of this is at the very front of the roof where front two curved bricks are only supported by a 2x3 at one end and a 1x3 at the other. While the middle 2x3 is reinforced, the 1x3 on the outside isn't, so it's a bit unstable. Having said that, if you lift it off the model by the sides, it's usually fine so it doesn't cause much of an issue.

This is a very good point - I'll look into that. Thank you. :)

Joopsta: Thanks for that information, it's really useful to hear about your experience. I think I can live with switching a blueish grey door for a grey one and a dark blue arch for a grey one if it's going to save me around £40 on two pieces (yikes!). I tell you what, doing it this way really makes you appreciate the original pricing of the set, doesn't it?! L@go: Thanks for the link. Fortunately I think the red roof brick issue has been solved as they made a return in the Pet Shop, although they're still pretty expensive.

I spotted Cafe Corner in the Bluewater Lego shop soon after it was released, thought 'Wow. That's amazing - look at the way they've used those pieces.' then thought 'I'm too old for Lego'. I saw the light a year or two later and just missed being able to get Cafe Corner. I did manage to get the Green Grocer, which is also brilliant, and I have plans to get Grand Emporium and the Pet Shop (not too bothered about the Fire Station or Market Street). Needless to say, I still really want Cafe Corner but there's no way I can afford the £350-£400 price tag of the full set (at least not in one go). Therefore I've been looking at getting all the parts separately. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice on this. I've got my wanted list sorted out and I will be doing a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. I'm particularly interested to know which parts of it are the most difficult to get hold of and whether you had to do colour replacements for anything. Also, if any of you have done it before, how much did it end up costing you? Thanks Becks (off to build the camper van now - excited!)

One of the alternate builds on the box for 710 features a coffee machine.

Yes! That would make total sense. I remember the cover of the 260 idea book and it's totally possible I made the little hospital out of it as I had a couple of doctors car sets. Mystery solved, I think! Thanks for your help.

Hmm... Weird. Those are the stickers but mine are black windows, I don't have any red ones and I definitely didn't have that set. I wonder if the stickers could have come with something else and I maybe used them for a MOC. Thanks for the suggestion. Anyone else got any ideas at all?

I'm just sorting through my childhood Lego (with a plan to rebuild it all for the first time in 20 odd years) and I've found some windows with red crosses on them. I can't remember which set they may have come from but whichever one it was, it's one of the few I don't still have the instructions for. The window is a 1 x 4 x 5 black frame with a sticker at the bottom with five white stripes (as in 6386 and 6392) but with a red cross in the middle of the stripes. Any ideas which set they might have come from? It's most likely to have been between about 1982-90.

I saw these at LEGOshow in Manchester earlier on today and they're even more awesome in real life. Very cool little vignettes. Was the modular night club next to them also yours? If not, do you know who it belongs to?