censtar

Hi Beeba, nice to see someone else coming out of his dark ages ;-) I have all of the models you were asking about, sadly the the 8070 is taken apart right now so I can't include it in my pictures. Judging by the seats, which are built in almost the same way in 8258 and 8043 (both have this part as the base: http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?itemID=923&colorID=7 ), I would say the are almost the same scale. I did take some pictures for you: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/casehase/comparison/img_0136.jpg http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/casehase/comparison/img_0135.jpg If you are deciding wether to get the 8070 or the 8043, I would recommend getting the 8043, but if you have enough money to get them both, this would be the right time now, since Toys'r'Us and amazon in Germany have 20% of Lego products till tomorrow. I wouldnt pay the normal 109,99 € for the 8070, but 90 € is definitly ok. Being someone who got the 8880 as a kid, I was kind of dissapointed with the 8070 (no working steering wheel, gearbox used for the power functions instead of being a real gearbox...), but it still is a nice set anyways. I do have more pictures, including close ups of the seats and comparison between 8258 and 8110 in my brickshelf folder: Brickshelf

I ordered my Unimog on July 7th on buch.de (German online bookstore that sells toys as well) because they had 20 % discount on all toys, and now I just received the shipping notification. So I get my 8110 for 139 € (they normally sell it for 173,99) tomorrow :-) I could've bought it back in June in the Lego Store coz I live in Frankfurt and the Lego Store here had some of them when I was there back then, but the 190 € price tag was simply too much...

As I already pointed out, get the 8258 as long as it's not sold out - it offers more "bang for the buck" than the 8043 and you'll have another year 'til it leaves the shelves. The Unimog on the other hand is a must-buy for me, but it will be around for two years. So if you got the money now, get the 8258 while you can ;-)

I would start with the 8258. It's a great model, really nice build, a lot of gears inside. And it's the first one to be discontinued. The 8043 will stick around for another year, so you have plenty of time to think about buying this one too ;-) I don't like the smaller builds that much, I normally buy them when they are on sale.

If you already have problems to determine the colours, wait for the Pet Shop - in the instructions Sand Blue looks exactly like Light Bluish Grey...

@smith_sam88 Look it up at this page: http://service.lego.com/en-US/Contactus/Phone.aspx There you can select your location and get the correct number. The new part number is 4623597.

They were even more expensive. Since I am currently building my Cafe Corner and still needed the roof tiles, I called Lego on Wednesday, when first pictures of the inventory were listed here and ordered the new dark red roof tiles, 0,46 € each. Still expensive, but better then paying 4 € per piece and not even getting close to 36 ;-) I don't like the pet shop that much, it's too small for a modular building, but I'm gonna get it anyways...