JesseNight

I can't speak for all brands of kits made for Lego, but many (like Light My Bricks) come with a USB plug which you can choose whether you plug it into a battery pack or a power plug for the wall. Just make sure to check how much your LED kit uses so the power brick you buy (they're often not included) is heavy enough for the task. For kits with a lot of LEDs or extra electronics, this can add up.

I love it!

Oh wow, that early 80s fire station sure brings back memories, that was my first big set as a kid (and rebuilt not even so long ago, sadly all stickers have gone lost in time). I'm getting more and more surprised how few pieces old sets had compared to new, but as a child it al feels bigger

Ahhh okay, yeah I focused on 18+ themes only.

In Europe, it differs per country (and each country has their own language on the box too). I know Netherlands and Belgium do have the number of pieces on the box... at least it did on the few sets that I bought from 2020 til now. Unless that's a specific Icons serie thing, haven't paid attention to other boxes.

It was only a wild guess, I'm not a native English speaker. Interesting to hear SNOT dates back that far, I hadn't heard it until recently (but gotta admit I've been out of it some years). I'd guess modders used the technique much longer than TLG?

I have no confirmed answer... nor can I find anything about it. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it just came from common talk. Like someone liking a set and the other saying "It's my own creation." and it being so common, it became a thing?

After a long struggle, my first orders for a fair amount of bricks are out. Fingers crossed that all is going well, already got a mail about 1 part being out of stock which can happen, but sucks if I can't add it to the other orders anymore and have to pay another €10 shipping for a missing €0,30 part. Now I'm looking ahead into new projects and I'm stuck with another question. Rebrickable has this very neat feat where you can hit "Build this MOC" and compare its inventory with parts lists or sets you already own and filter out just the missing pieces. However I am looking at a MOC that doesn't come from Rebrickable and only have a XML parts list that I uploaded to Bricklink as a Wanted List. Does Bricklink have a feat to compare with owned sets hidden somewhere too? Or does Rebrickable perhaps have an option to upload a parts list for comparison? Obviously I cannot upload the MOC because it is not mine to publish. Nor do I have contact info of the owner. And it's a couple thousand pieces so manual comparison is definitely not an option. [Edit] Think I found my answer. Uploading the parts as a custom list on Rebrickable gave me the option to "Build this" and compare parts just like public MOCs.

Oh if it's up somewhere, I'd love to take a peek. I missed the 697, it was just a few years after my childhood Lego phase, when my priorities had shifted towards... other things

Aren't those really old, and hollow from below? I recall seeing something like that once, I wasn't even sure if that was actual Lego at the time. [Edit] Found them, and yeah pretty sure I've seen a 700eX or 700eD at that person, who was a late 60s kid. I had no clue those plates (first model 700e) started as early as 1954!

Yeah that Enterprise E is amazing indeed! All that interior and even a working shuttle on that size! You've got some guts putting it on the edge of the table for that deflector dish picture And totally offtopic, I absolutely love your HMS Redoubtable too!

That's what I'm using too. Since the kits can be expanded with a remote control, I don't mind the wall plug and a manual main power switch so much.

I already remember at least 4 sizes of thin baseplates pre 1990. Aside from the 32x32 (and its different variants), we had the "half plates" of 16x32 that were often used for small Classic Town houses and the front of large castles, and we also had the 16x16 on the back of the 6085 Black Monarch's Castle that would hinge open, and 16x22 on the back of the 6080 King's Castle from 1984. These were all thin baseplates but TLG wasn't consistent at that time either, with most of the smaller castles (6073, 6074) and modular builds using regular plates.

Yeah I got one of those on my BTTF Delorean. They work with an internal tiny battery and a push button on top (that has to be held down). Forcing them on for hours a day will drain the battery in just a couple of days.

That makes sense. Always annoying when a standard changes and the old and new don't work together... Can't the newer builds still be placed on a thin plate for connectivity then? Because regular thick plates can be placed on top of others, unlike these classic baseplates.

If you don't mind me asking... Why does thickness matter, when it's being used as a base?

I can't follow the logic of stores in my area, other than it all coming down to supply and demand. Galaxy Explorer still having excessive stocks here, I don't know if they overstocked or just not selling well but I see this at more than a single store. BttF DeLorean (same year) have been nearly impossible to find except online. Even the 2 years older ECTO-1 can still be found albeit pretty hard. Never seen the Lion Knight's Castle or any big Icons anywhere in a physical store, but I'm guessing the price tag plays a role too. They stock up what they think they can sell and are probably aiming at the average audience who comes shopping. The only expensive sets that seem very popular here are the Technic sets.

They're called "base" plates for a reason... and I'm guessing that's exactly why they're thin and cannot be attached on top of something else. You could always "design" your own base plates from regular plates. Even TLG did this with the modern Eldorado Fortress (10320) remake.

Are we talking about display models, or do they need to keep mobility/playability? I never go with batteries bc I hate having to deal with recharging, or them running empty just on the moment I wanted to show them, so what's wrong with using a wall socket? There's your infinite power I plan on modding a display case to build in some small USB plugs for light kits to plug in so I need only 1 hidden away main power cable going to the wall socket. Probably adding one main power switch on it too. Call it old fashioned if you want, but I like reliability (and infinite power) above all.

Those are awesome mashups between the Star Trek models and a functional Classic Space ship. Can't see the very old Blacktron one, your link just reloads this thread.

I'm mostly aiming at building scale models of either cars (about 1:12 give or take, the scale of the Icons DeLorean and ECTO-1) or space theme creations in the style of the late 1980s up to early 1990s. In case of scale models, I would MOD them to work out some details better and get rid of visible off-color parts. I simply lack the time and amount of parts at this time to make good MOCs fitting here but it's sure on my list of things to be doing. In case of space, I enjoy making small MOCs too. I have limited sets of almost all various space themes from Classic up to M-Tron, but in all honesty I would love to make them all in the same theme or in 2 opposing themes, matching styles. So far harder than it sounds without seriously altering set designs. Mostly canopies, windscreens and other colored windows in very specific colors have proven to be problematic to get all in matching colors.

That's very true, especially on that scale. Even the official big one (Icons 10300), I am still surprised how well they managed and all the techniques they used to accomplish that. We should never stop making it. But we should definitely stop offering it for sale as a unique model at that point because that seems rather pointless and will obviously hurt people who were among the first to work out certain used techniques. But that just happens with commerce. It's always a competition and that's why I don't do it in my hobby. @icm Interesting to read the full X-Wing story, you wouldn't happen to know of any websites having an illustrated version of this story? I'm curious to see how much they've changed through the different plateaus over so many years [edit] Nvm, I found your topic with all the X-Wings here on the forums!

Personally I would break it down and start anew, if you have the time to spare. I guess I don't trust half jobs and wanna make sure with my own hands that the whole thing is right. And enjoy the full building experience of course!

Those Borg cubes are anything but "just a smooth surface". Awesome job on it, would be even more awesome to see it lit up

That's a good way of explaining it. "Achieving a good result" would (and should) have many similarities when a very specific car with very specific details is the target, unlike when we'd just build a random car or even a certain brand.