brickie

Great build. I started that but after I got the central cores finished, the reality of how many slopes were needed hit me. Congratulations on your perserverence. I am green with envy.

Especially when I picked up 2 for train parts when they were on clearance at 70% OFF. The face looks great to me. I can't wait to get hold of one and modify it.

On the back of the 2012 Lego catalogue it says on the minifig 6 page, "Limited Quantity". I believe that small retailers have been told by Lego Aust that they are out of stock. 3 boxes per shop is certainly 'limited'.

12 months ago, I saw a fire boat set from Korea that had 2 lots of foam type pieces to make storage trays. The outside of these pieces were yellow with large Lego logos. The pieces linked together and were held together by 'sticky' pieces for the floor. Maybe it is a requirement of the South Korean govt for building toys to be sold with a container for storage?

It is great to have Brickshelf back.

J.P. Manalo And your point is ? Please explain to us mere mortals.

Hechristensen A very accurate summary of Lego trains. PF trains leave me cold because the entire loco is filled with battery, RC unit and power cords. Changing batteries is a major operation as it is hard to get the case back inside with all the cords stuffed in there. I certainly miss the old days when you could open up a door and see the 'motor' of the loco.

spacefan6901 Thanks for that ; it is reassuring to know that I didn't cause the problem with brickshelf when I tried to upload a 'Maersk' photo on the weekend.

jhc2nmfn That is a familiar problem for all of us who have bought second hand Lego. Perhaps you could post a small photograph of the elements in this thread? If you are familiar with Bricklink, and you have a spare hour, you could try to identify the elements there. You go to 'catalog' in the menu bar at top and then choose 'parts'. Now comes the fun part as you try to guess its type e.g. panel, cone, rock, etc. Whatever you do, have fun. It is very rewarding to finally find the part after a long search. Then it is easy on Bricklink to find the sets in which the part appears. Happy searching.

Brilliant build; the details are fantastic. I love the mouth; it is soooo realistic. The 3 'cars' go together like fish and chips.

I realise that this is off topic, but I thought a quick reply would close it down. I have tried both 'Hop shop go' [ which is tied in with Paypal ] and ShopUSA. Hop Shop Go charge by the volumetric size and if your goods are packed in more than one box, it can be very costly for postage. ShopUsa charge a shipping fee based on your invoiced cost in US dollars. If you spend US $200, they will charge you $57 which is about 28% of your purchase price. If you buy US $800, the postage will be $177 which is about 22%. If the shipment comes in multiple cartons, then they will ship for that price. The latter is now my preferred method.

Great competition; great entries! BUT you will have to miss out on my winning photo as Brickshelf is down. I thought of madness and I thought about how to enter as I don't have a Maersk train. When the light finally turned on I came up with a miniature train [ those really small train wheels and some blue and grey bricks ] coming out of a train wash. "Honey! I shrunk the Maersk"

DwarfSleepy , markz68 and others. It is great to read your comments and hear about your journey into the world of lego trains. Most of us with grey hair have been through the dark ages. I think that some of the 12V trains are the best that Lego has produced; once you put them on a 9V motor. Anyhow, welcome and I hope to see some photos of your trains and layouts.

Similar debates go on with the arty-farty types who argue the importance of rembrandt compared to Piscaso. Years later there is no agreement. When I had ho trains, I didn't do much modelling. i just bought the engine or carriage and placed them on a track. It is a bit like someone buying a yellow cargo Lego train and placing it on a table. Either way, there is not much skill. BUT, there is the pleasure factor that that individual gets from running the train and having fun. Toys are toys; whether they are a $200 lego train or a $700 ho engine complete with all the bells and whistles. Those of us who get pleasure and satisfaction from building a train from scratch out of lego are modellers just as much as the ho bloke who cuts, pastes and paints an engine. Both are replicas of a real thing. The one really great thing about modelling with lego is that you can move into the realm of fantasy. I have seen some very ordinary displays from ho and n people who claim to be true model train enthusiasts. When you analyse their layout, each 'piece' has come from a shop; all they have done is lay it on a table. Some even buy a layout base complete; just add track and trees. I can make the same criticism of some Lego fans. But both groups are having fun and sharing their hobby with others. I see no difference between the majority of ho and n people who exhibit items out of a box and Lego people who do the same; both are showing off their toys. I also see a comparison between the ho bloke who cuts and paints foam to build mountains and the lego bloke who builds hills and valleys using Duplo and lego before covering with green plates and trees. The majority of ho rolling stock that you see at shows is straight out of the box. The outside of the engines and carriages are all moulded plastic in intricate detail. The displayer had no way of changing his toy; the same as a lego fan who displays an Emerald night straight from the box. Both are great creations and both bring enjoyment to the owner. The level of detail in all scales is dependent upon the thickness of your wallet. I guess that the success of a model train show depends upon the reaction from the audience as to how they perceive your display. This is similar to a display of realistic and modern art in a gallery; the beauty is all in the eye of the beholder.

Gareth Pictures and inventory can be found at http://www.toysperiod.com/lego-set-reference/educational-dacta/boat/lego-1049-boats/ It is a lovely old set and the size fits in well if you have a small harbour on your town layout.

12V trains are always hard to get going, they often falter, they are high maintenance and need lots of encouragement. I guess that I'm my signature train as it is uncomplicated, simple and easy to see through. I am vain enough to add that it also looks good; well it did 30 years ago. As Bill Crosby once said, "I had a beautiful body but it went bad on me."

When I was 8, I was given a Hornby tin wind-up train for my birthday. It went around in a circle but it was my pride and joy. Many years later I was given a HO basic set and it kept me amused but I had nowhere to set it up properly. So it ended up in a box. When my kids were little, Lego had a display in each of the Australian capital cities each year at a major department store. I took my kids each year and we loved the Lego " world shows". We saw the dinosaurs, the space theme, the adventurers and the pirates. They were all great. The display was free to enter BUT there was a shop at the exit; no father could say no to buying something to take home. So I guess that is how I got started with a Lego 12V train and heaps of extras. 30 years later, i am still buying little plastic bricks.

If you are looking for "LEGO', then that is not worth buying. As rocketbilly said, a lot of it is clone.

nicoga3000 A great job with a wonderful result; it is a fantastic sculpture. I'm glad that you persevered and obtained all of the green elements. 5 months ago, I looked at making the dragon but baulked at the cost of buying all the green 2x2 corner bricks and plates. I had a few tan and yellow elements so I set to work to copy the instructions from Lego. I must admit that I modified the colours and the pieces in some parts to adapt to what I had. If you look inside, mine is a 'colourful' dragon with a weird arrangement of bricks to fill up the spaces. 'Dino' has a distinct' look about him but he guards the house well at night. This set was a fantastic build.

That is a very realistic steakhouse griller. I love the flames coming up through the grill. There is only one way to eat a steak; "Take a cow, chop its head off, wipe its bum and throw it on the plate."

For years at model train shows in SE Queensland, Lego trains have always been considered as 'toys' by the ho and n people. I believe a lot of this is jealousy as the crowd around the lego train display is usually 3 deep all day whereas some dusty old n scale set-up might be lucky to have 3 people stop and look in an hour. Some of these 'purist' set-ups are same each year; maybe a new loco. The lego display changes from year to year. When parents complain about paying AU $300 for a Lego train set, I always make 2 points. 1. Go to the trade stands and have a look at how much you will need to pay for a n scale set. 2. If you buy that set, will you let your 5 year old play with it? Sometimes they will come back and ask more questions about Lego trains so their kids can get into trains. A Lego train can turn into something else and then into a tram and then ???????? This is the magic of Lego. A lot of the Lego train sets have been based on real trains and some of them are classics; the Metroliner and Emerald Night stand out. Some of the 12V trains were very good models of real trains and the current models are excellent as they are built from a larger range of elements. At train shows, the kids decide what they like the best; it is usually a race between the Lego and Thomas. We even have a few of the ho scale people come over and chat as their own kids have deserted their display and spent hours watching the real action. Some have even bought Lego trains so that their kids can play trains. One bloke had just purchased a AU $400 HO loco. I asked him if his 8 year old son would be able to play with it. He replied, "Yes! When he is 35." The answer to the question is, "YES !"

Praiter Yed Absolutely brilliant cartoon. A wonderful combination of my favourite movie series and star wars.

I'm not particularly fussed on comments like that though I'm glad that you do acknowledge it is a "sloppy-looking design.." it is noted that you 'praise' the main building of this model but gloss over the obvious flaws in the sails. it is the sails that make this building unique; it is the sails that give you a tingling feeling as you sail past them on Sydney Harbour. Surely a Danish company could put a better effort into a model of a wonderful creation by Danish architect Jørn Utzon. Bricknation, I agree that 'Opera House in Sydney by Matija Grguric' has much more realistic sails; even if they are not perfect.

Thanks for that. I failed 'French' at high school and 50 years later, I have failed with my French again. I will give up on passing myself off as a linguist. That is a brilliant idea for Lego to adopt. It would put "friends" into each Lego Club home.

"Just a flesh wound" Brilliant scene; great use of the 'blood' pieces. Thanks for the video; it was great to see Monty again. Well done.