badbob001

I'm considering collecting the modular sets and thought I could store them on my bookcase, which allows about 13 inches of vertical space. Now I see that many of the current sets are too tall and only the Pet Shop and the Parisian Restaurant would fit. So they do look deceptively small when viewed from photos or video. Maybe if I take off the roofs from some of the buildings... I'm glad the rear of this building has some attention to details and is not so bland. I keep thinking to myself that once I have enough of these modular buildings put together, I can create a lively character-filled central courtyard like in the movie 'Rear Window'.

And when I was done with the catalogs, I would look through the LEGO Idea books, which were like the catalog dioramas in that current sets are displayed, but then they are also expanded greatly. I never had the parts to build most of the stuff in the books but it sure was fun to look through them. But I would imagine that many of the ideas were designed to be possible to be built if one bought ALL the sets or multiple copies of some sets. I know there are similar third-party books these days, but I think it may be even harder to build those ideas since they are not directly tied to existing sets. Of course as adults, we can order parts from multiple places, but that seems more expensive than simply buying current sets. I wish LEGO would produce dioramas in their current catalogs. They have physical ones in some retailers so why not in the catalog? I would think it would make you want to buy multiple sets.

I remember looking looking long and hard at a tiny 1-inch catalog photo of the Main Street set, then drawing a larger version on paper, and taping it up next to my parent's bed. You know, just to put the idea out there. Never got it.

No matter how many times you clone the 2nd floor, you'll realistically still only have two apartments: one apartment on the 2nd floor and all the 3+ floors are for the other apartment. This is because floors 3+ requires one go through the interior to get to the next stairs.

I'm pretty sure this solution is by design. The placement of that false balcony in the back is too obvious to be a coincidence. Given the size of these sets, there is a compromise between realism, aesthetics, and functionality. I think all the modular sets so far support the cloning of the 2nd floor up. People that care about the outside look will appreciate this feature. Also note that the design also takes into account that cloned floors still maintain a way to travel between floors. People that care about the interior design will appreciate this. As for realism, that usually gets the most compromised. Missing bathrooms. No stairs in the Town Hall. A possible solution is to make the stairs crisscross, but they may then look dis-proportionally large. Maybe adhering to this floor-cloning tradition can be a hindrance to the design at times such as the roof-stairs in the Palace Cinema that takes up so much space. Would we trade this cloning feature for attention in other areas, such as more detailed interiors?

Does this set still follow the tradition where the second floor can be cloned and used for the 3+ floor? Having the roof-stairs right over the 1st-floor stairs seems to support this. Has anyone tried this? I've seen mods that move or remove the roof-stairs, which obviously breaks the ability to clone the floors up. Stairs do take up a lot of interior space. Would you trade the floor-cloning design for more detailed interiors?

I agree about the computer. They should have replaced it with a typewriter. Has anyone built a good 2x2 typewriter?

I tried to scan the parts list in the photo but it's too small for me to make out.

I agree that the greater frequency that LEGO releases new sets easily makes any catalog obsolete. There use to be a mom-and-pa toy store near me and you can easily find new and old sets. Of course they didn't carry all the sets so the catalogs were very much needed. These days with big chain stores, old sets are quickly retired and taken off the shelves.

http://www.flickr.co...s/58252782@N06/ Stylistically, they seem quite different. Certain combination of ideas do match: french something (cafe vs restaurant), apartment on 2nd, hinged top floor, and dumpster+rat, but some of those ideas seem rather general and some have even been used in previous official Modulars. The reasoning behind the hinged top seems different between the two builds. At least in your build, we can find the damn seagull.

I suppose the only wrinkle with a four story version is that the only way to get to the fourth floor is to go in one 3rd floor door and out the other 3rd floor door to access the up-going stairs. Not an issue if the fourth floor is used by the same tenant as the 3rd floor.

When I played with LEGO sets in my youth during the 80s, I remember every box coming with a little catalog of the currently available sets and I would spend so much time studying these tiny tiny photos, most likely imagining half of the details. To me, it was like an extra treat included in the box. But sets these days doesn't seem to have the catalog anymore, though I may have seen a tiny duplo-specific catalog in a duplo set a few years back. Just curious, but does anyone know when LEGO stopped including the catalogs (I know you can request a catalog book from LEGO)? I suppose with LEGO being so readily available in retailers and LEGO-branded stores and of course the availability of information from the Internet, catalogs are really not needed. I suspect this is another cost saving decision coupled with there being too many LEGO sets to fit into a little catalog. But I think it's rather nice to browse a catalog, especially when they include a diorama of all related sets together.

Actually, see how there are two doors on the second floor, one of which only leads to an almost-not-even-there balcony? Just remove that tiny balcony and the door behind it will line up with the top of the stairs. Brilliant! I've never owned a modular so can someone explain this expansion concept? Do you mean to duplicate the second floor and use the copy as the third floor?

Is this the narrative that the photos is telling us? Propose to your girlfriend. Give her some alcohol. Get the bed ready...

I can't find any info on the anti-piracy features of this ship other than something about a NATO escort. Perhaps the secret is in plain sight in the LEGO model: the life boat cranes are really guns. Update: I found a different link to the WSJ video that actually worked and it does mention that pirates will need a 20 meter ladder to board the ship. I still think having guns would be safer, even if they are just water guns. Imagine automated water gun torrents that can pressurize water into a laser-like beam.

Some would say that putting exclusive figures into each set is a trick LEGO uses to make you buy all the sets. What if I only want to collect the minifigures and don't care about the sets? I would love to get the main LEGO MOVIE characters without having to buy the Wyld Style Chase set. I'm sure some would prefer not being compelled to buy the Simpson house. Ideally: People wanting only the minifigures can just buy the CMF series. People wanting both the sets and the minifigures but don't want duplicates just need to avoid buying the CMF bags containing characters in the sets. People wanting to collect everything will just buy it all.

When I flip the channel and come across the Simpsons, my kids (4, 7) want to watch it because it is a cartoon. But I don't let them because I know the humor is meant for a much older audience. The packaging for the existing CMF says 5+ but I wonder if they will keep it at 5+ for the Simpsons. I think it will stay at 5+ as the age rating reflects the play-ability of the toy and not the subject matter of the toy. Case in point is that the Prince of Persia sets were for 7-12 while the movie itself is PG-13. Now I'm a little confused by this. LEGO has stated that they only license themes that they think is appropriate for their intended age group. But if the source material is above the intended age group, then how would their age group be even interested in the material to begin with? Or are they relying on parents simply letting their children still watch this material? Do they want to encourage a 5 year old to watch the Simpsons?

Using Harkin's mod, which is brilliant, I was able to apply the Part III touches. Seems a little too grey though. I must have rebuilt the front fender a dozen times in trying to get it look right and add details. Replaced some of the black with dark grey to match the real one and added a black slope to the underside to smooth it out. Only thing I can think of improving is the lack of white wall tires. Has anyone tried something like this? http://www.flickr.co...per/6818258572/ I'm unsure if I can make something similar and still have it compatible with the technic pin.

The second one would work well going down the aisle of a passenger jet (sans the umbrella of course).

I love all the details. Obviously, this is based on the recent movies. Is there a particular reason the helicopter is so chunky? Perhaps there is some hidden function or extra storage in the rear?

I brought my two kids to the LEGO store and we each got to make a figure. You can easily tell which one was mine since it was made of three torsos attached to two set of legs. My kids gave me strange looks but the cashier didn't even blink.

Are you missing the word 'not' in the first sentence? I'm unsure if I will like having Series 13 being Simpson's specific. It has been a very very long time since I ever had any interests in the Simpsons. Granted, Series 12 may be single-theme as well if it's tied to the LEGO-movie, but at least it's not a licensed brand and the minifigures will likely be very diverse. On the other hand, if the Simpson's minifigures use the same yellow skin color, then the series would be useful for CMF-compatible body parts (I suspect the heads will be new molds and thus worthless for non-simpson minifigures).

I just built this set and it looks amazing. I don't collect Star Wars sets so this is my first, and I mainly got it for the cape (I needed a cape that works with long female hair). Right after I finished it and swooshed it around a bit (it's compact but heavy), I instantly thought of little ways to make it better. I liked how the bottom rear wings clicked into place and wanted the same for the top wings. Needed for a barrel roll. This is easy to do and just requires mirroring some parts from the bottom wing. The top wing has door-rail plates to cover the gap between the front and back wing pieces. The bottom wings don't have this and that is yet another easy fix. Yes, bricklink must love me.

I may have solved my hood gap problem with a simple change: I simply shift the two sideway-binoculars pieces up half a stud (so it attaches from the center peg) and that covers the gap. I also replaced the two 1x2 tiles with 1x3 tiles to smooth out the sides of the hood and to re-enforce the hose connector.

I took some great ideas from here and there and made this: The most obvious change is the 6x6 tile for the hood. I thought the use of the big slope in the original cuusoo model made it look too boxy. Still, I don't like the little gaps on the sides of the hood. In order to fit Doc and his hair, I had to raise the cockpit up by one plate height. This of course raised the doors as well so I had to enlarge the doors by the same amount. This also allowed me to change the gray cheese slope by the rear wheel to a normal slope brick, which seems to fit better with the inverted slope on the door. I modded the cockpit floor so I could add jumper plates to offset the seating so both Marty and Doc can sit securely side by side. The seat pattern was also improved. The horizontal black line now runs consistently and fully across the side of the car. I didn't like how the front part was a bit wobbly so I changed how that was attached.