brickzone

Ever since getting Market Street, Café Corner, Green Grocer and Town Plan I have intended to modify them/kit them out. Although I doubt I will ever use any of them for parts, I have no qualms about adjusting them to my own liking - making structural modifications/expansions as well as added content. I intend to modify all of them and add at least one building of my own (most likely tan-coloured due to having Model Town House). I finally started the first of my projects to do this, Market Street, to ease me into modifying the modular buildings. Photo of my street scene so far (not even minifigs bedecking other buildings yet - and no streetscape yet). Unfortunately I have little display space!: Front of Market Street: By itself showing modification at roof level (to suit interior... you'll see): Ground floor is now a hat shop (I had more parts for that than for a pâtisserie): Hmmm... can't see into that so well can we? Solution, hinging the wall, wheee! (OK so it wouldn't work with a building on that side). Inside we can see the hat-meister and a customer. Door to basement and a door for the hair salon upstairs. Shelves of hats and hatboxes, some cupboards below. Small but busy hair salon upstairs (the sinks are a bit tight :) Spiral staircase up to the attic. View of the salon from the other side. Yes Mr. Lockheart the hairdresser is a bit unnerving. Customer is unfazed though. View of the attic café area. Possibly a perk for customers of that hair salon? Customer with freshly styled hair enjoying the coffee. Close-up on the kitchen area: Hope you like it, comments welcome. Next job, Café Corner and Hotel... a more serious proposition. I'm beginning by "unindenting" the back wall corner.

Also you could have houses with various birds, bats, snakes and spiders/giant ants - it's pretty doable without any further molds than what there are and the new ones we've seen. However, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Well, although to some extent it depends on the set design, it looks like these will be great play value for kids. I'm pretty impressed with how well the Toy Story figures are captured, and while not a huge fan of the larger heads and new minifig parts (long arms/legs) it's hard to see what else they could have done. I love the green army men - nice and simple but so effective. Pretty nifty having all those parts in green! The PoP minifigs seem to have some great parts such as the headgear and hair pieces, and the Camel and Ostrich seem to fit in well enough with Lego animals such as the recent cows. I hope the sets don't cost too much because really I'd like to pick up all these - but of course I'd be loathe to do so if the prices are particularly high as other ordinary sets would then come first.

Interesting timing - I'm just finishing off my modification/kitting out of Market Street atm (photos soon). I'm intending to kit out CC and GG too and add one custom building (it will have to be mostly tan and I need windows). Market Street is perhaps not as impressive as the non-Factory modular buildings, but it is/was very good value, has quite a nice design and fits in a streetscape with the others, and is nice colours too.

Here's a comparison of prices between main toy chain in Ireland (Smyth's Toys) and S@H (Shipping is €15 for orders of €70 or more): Set: Smyths/S@H Bold = Crazy Venator Class Attack ship: €125/€130 Republic Attack Gunship: €100/€120 Battle of Endor: €95/€110 City Garage: €80/€90 City Construction Site: €80/€90 Anakin's Y-wing: €65/€75 City Farm: €65/€75 Brickbeard's Bounty: €65/€80 Republic Attack Shuttle: €65/€75 Coast Guard Boat/Tower: €60/€75 Police Headquarters: €60/€75 City Corner: €52/€60 (€42 in Art & Hobby stores) Duplo Fire Station: €50/€60 Duplo Thomas Starter Set: €50/€60 Magnaguard Starfighter: €50/€60 Fire Station: €50/€60 Power Miners Crystal Sweeper: €50/€60 Armored Assault Tank: €50/€60 Venice Canal Chase: €38/€45 Agents Speedboat: €37/€45 Drawbridge Defense: €33/€40 Duplo James Celebrates: €30/€37 Shipwreck Hideout: €30/€40 (crazy crazy) I could go on through the rest - suffice to say that for *MOST* sets, S@H is stupidly more expensive. Unfortunately they are a must for exclusives (which are also priced higher for Ireland to match their imaginary "Irish prices" for non-exclusive sets that aren't actually charged in shops here)

I love how the flowers are done and how their design captures a fantastical look quite in keeping with past visual interpretations of the book. I would agree though that Alice looks a bit odd.

I've had extra stickers once or twice - e.g. the transparent stickers in the Agents truck (haven't used them yet though - mainly cause I doubt I need a second forcefield panel).

Superliver - my first attempt at it was back around Christmas :) It's been my main project since April! Now I've not worked on it solidly and I've had other Lego diversions, but it was tricky enough to bring together. Thanks for the compliments! I'm happy it doesn't look too over-engineered, I keep having to redo and streamline things when building MoCs as I tend to focus too much on one particular area rather than try and keep consistency across the whole model. Sometimes my MoCs are delayed as I reach one area that "stumps" me, although really I should just not worry about it when that happens and put something simple in and continue on. I don't like to do that though if e.g. I'm adding another floor above the one I'm stuck on. I guess planning things beforehand would have its advantages!

Sometimes people have revived old threads just to make some mundane or throwaway comment, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of call for that. Other times people have revived old threads to follow-up on the original topic, which is often genuinely useful and interesting (common on other forums I've been on too). An example I would give was dredging up the 2008 thread on new Agents ideas, after we had the current wave released - so one could compare the suggestions with the reality.

I was lucky enough to get a spare bag of 1x2 dark red and dark grey jumpers with Town Plan.

A Tracy Island style Agents base as a contrast to the Volcano base? I think a lot of the Agents options for vehicles have been done, which would worry me that this year is the final Agents run. Maybe another Agents sportscar (although it might look pathetic compared to the Turbocar) - something slimmer and navy - along the lines of the Speed Racer models but with weapons. EDIT: Peppermint_M's suggestion of an Agents mecha isn't a bad idea. More than mechas, I'd like to see Lego do something transformer-like, vehicle that becomes a mecha. I've played around with the knuckle/ratchet joints but haven't had success - nevertheless surely some such model could be done?

Actually quite clever relying on the optical illusion/shadow recognition in the original to allow you to create an "inverted" model that looks like the shadows your eye tries to see in the original! It works better actually in the thumbnail image in your sig!

I have 1 & 2 and based on what I can see on the exterior of no. 3, I would consider no.2 the best structure. I don't know about minifigs/accessories - I guess no. 3 is maybe better? But if that is your main concern you might be better getting them separately on bricklink. Whatever about any shortcomings of the second one - it feels to me like a structure that could be expanded - and the clock mechanism is really cool. The first one you can stack together with other sets from the first wave and second wave of HP - if that's of any interest - e.g. put the chamber of secrets below!

Very impressive! I love all the angles you've managed to incorporate and out-of-alignment pieces, it so wonderfully carries off the ruined look! For a plain green SNOT surface, it nevertheless looks pretty "swampy". The amount of detail on the temple/ruins looks superb. I like the look of the tiger too. It looks like a construction that took some time to arrange!

I mostly eventually disassemble my sets after having displayed them for a bit (many smaller sets, even some slimmer medium ones, just on the edge of bookshelf in front of books). Some sets get disassembled quick enough if unremarkable or I need the parts. I have thus far kept intact the major sets (and probably will continue to do so) - like Medieval Marketplace, Green Grocer, Café Corner, Town Plan, Market Street, Holiday Train (well, I modded it to be RC electric to go round the Christmas Tree), Emerald Night, etc. I intend using all these in custom scenes and modding them too. I've kept some other sets in a disassembled form, for using for modding later (i.e. start with the set and then expand/redesign) - e.g. Volcano Base, Indy Temple and Corridor. A few old sets I've kept bagged up for sentimental or later display if I ever get a Lego room (Guarded Inn, Black Knight's Castle, Black Monarch's Castle, King's Mountain Fortress, Hogwarts Prisoner of Azkhaban version). I keep any decent vehicles intact - so lots of post '05 City and Agents.

I wouldn't like to see any drastic change to the distribution of parts, I haven't found it particularly unbalanced and while I'm sure it can be improved, I would worry about any wholesale skewing of proportions of different types of part. E.g. while more minifig parts may sound attractive, I'm not sure I would want many more as it would simply mean less of other parts.

Troll and Dwarf Warrior battlepacks showing up on S@H: US$14.99 / €12.99 (de) Not available yet everywhere (showing as "Not Available" for Ireland for example). Dwarf Warrior Battlepack Orc Warrior Battlepack

I too got them in City Corner to begin with, and then I put them in my second most recent PaB order too - bought 8 or so to basically use instead of the old caps. As far as I'm concerned these new ones are pretty much superior (main attraction is no hidden eyebrows/hair, but also the curve is nice). I look forward to these being available in other colours - they presumably will be replacing the old cap design entirely in the future. As regards the flags, any recent sets I've got have the mirror version - I can only presume that for whatever reason this is a permanent change and not a limited error. City Corner here in Ireland is €60 on S@H and in Argos, €52 in Smyths Toys and €42 in Art and Hobby.

Sprouted potatoes. Those translucent purplish tendrils are a bit unnerving especially when they fill the bag having grown out of just a few spuds at the bottom of it. It's a pretty weird fear. I don't particularly have any others.

Not only that, but some of the older lego has all kinds of pre-fab parts that are more single-purpose and less versatile than today. A lot of "odd" parts today have various dimensions specifically chosen, technic or pin attachments as well as studs, and generally a lot of consideration given to the design. There are some rubbish parts too of course, and Lego did in my opinion go through a bad patch in late 90s/early 00s of not a good mix of bricks/plates/large/small special parts in sets. I think a lot of sets now are very well considered. Nice to see these ads - there is something more simple and innocent about them than today's that have to compete with the hyperactivity mania of today's kid-orientated material. I liked the TV ads Lego used to have where things would build/unbuild.

Well, I did at one stage buy a lot from ebay - but there is a simple solution to that - not to search listings! I don't do much impulse buying in shops, but that is helped by a lack of city centre or shopping mall Lego retailers (at least with decent prices) and I don't get to the retail parks much (Smyth's Toys - the main Lego seller here). S@H shipping is high enough for Ireland (€15 for orders over €70) to discourage random buying from there. I have however found a lot of recent themes very attractive (I have the full original Agents line-up, much of Indy, and almost all of Castle) and I do tend to put in a couple of "bumper" orders during the year, and buy a few sets online from UK retailers or deliberately from shops. The main thing now is that money is tighter and the future more uncertain, so I've simply had to deliberate beforehand as to what to buy. I am still hoping to buy one or two more large sets this year. Hopefully some of the smaller ones might arrive as birthday/Christmas presents! Space Police 3 is a casualty of my smaller pockets - I've bought the smaller sets and with more cash I'd buy the rest in a shot, but as it is I just can't put them ahead of Orc's fortress, Temple of Doom (holding out for getting that one cheaper though) and possibly the Endor SW set (probably not though but it seems a nice idea). Some of the City sets I'd love too if I could splash out - the Highway repair sets, Wind turbine transport, etc. All will remain down the wishlist. I've given up on some older City sets I'd kind of like such as the petrol station and fire station.

Thanks for the praise! I actually have some dark blue spare still! I also was worried when I started, but the truck parts go a fair way, and the Castle line actually had a fair bit of dark blue too (and I got a mixed lot with a second King's Castle Siege minus minifigs/dragon), and there was some from Orient Expedition as well. Also I got some small pieces from bricklink to keep supply topped up (1x2 plates/jumpers/tiles and 1x1 bricks). I was limited to some extent by parts - I would have liked to have more of the double-barred windows for the recreation room - and indeed the glass on the sides is just clear, not smoke (and indeed the smoke glass on the windows above the "silo" has been swiped from my brand new City Corner - I felt a bit guilty about that). Glass/windows are pricy, so bricklink wasn't really an option. One of the angled cockpit windows on the gadget room has an exoforce sticker. Some of the parts I decided to use were due to my collection too (all those grey headlamp bricks from the model town house). Also you can't really see it, but I used black rather than navy for two panels beside the silo, just beside the elevator. The heavy use of black inside was also a bit of artistic licence as for large floor panels (thick baseplates) black is what I had (e.g. giant baseplates from Chamber of Secrets). I guess for Agents all that black should be dark grey. My collection isn't too raided by this so I may be keeping it for a while and expand later - I am a bit short on bley plates/tiles now though (bricks and pillars/arches still plentiful thanks to Castle line) and larger thick black baseplates and obviously dark blue stock is low.

The new pearl ones shouldn't ever wear out, but the new metallic (but not chrome) parts actually wear off from rubbing in your hands actually faster than the chrome in my experience - just from the box and rebuilding once my Agents turbocar has some wear on the corners of bricks. Chrome parts you can build with carefully and they won't flake - although clipping in/out of minifig hands is guaranteed to scratch.

I created a thread for a closer look at the pool table and arcade machine. The pool table sides are SNOT, so it is just black tiles with green plates attached, then attached to the table. I am pleased with how the cushions turned out - I had originally planned just black sides and was concerned just with getting them to be slightly higher than the tabletop, but once I had the SNOT arrangement worked out, I naturally switched black plates for green to have proper cushions.

Actually I just found another Agent after I dug out some of the sets I had put away. I thought I had got all the Agents from the sets, but I found an Agent Chase stuck in the back of the submarine! Poor guy! I'll make a baddie base at some stage (extending/modifying Volcano base) but not that soon - I want to visit other themes. After my Soldier's fort, medieval marketplace buildings, and now this, I feel it is time for City and I might do something with Café Corner, Green Grocer, Market Street. Of course Space is an option - haven't done any AFOL space building yet! I'd like to do something small though before my next main project, a large project can seem a bit endless sometimes (the medieval marketplace was great in its modularity - but I think I've done enough on that for now).