brickzone

mania3: Very nice setup you have there, it looks like a very efficient use of space. Indeed it does seem you have a similar sized collection to my own (maybe 3/4s the size - still pretty similar), and I would consider that quite a large amount of Lego even if not perhaps as much as some AFOLs. I'd love to have a whole room for Lego, but in the meantime I don't consider my Lego inaccessible or wasted. I merely have to put up with some inconvenience and restriction in my building/display efforts.

I think you can cram a *lot* of lego in a small area and with some organisation, you can have a number of sets out, and construction. I have a roughly foot-wide stack of sorting bins and some large containers - these are stacked to bookcase height. I have one ground-level shelf that I can stack 1 litre containers on, 6x7=42. Finally I have storage drawers (roughly a foot wide) from ground to bookcase height. This takes care of all my sorted Lego, and when I want to build, I simply take out the bins and set them on the floor or windowsill and in front of the bookcases (I can stack them 2 tall). This is but the work of a moment. Then I take out the 1 litre tubs I need (not all of them - e.g. maybe not vegetation which is about 4 tubs, maybe not windows/doors/hatches/people-stuff (cannons,ladders, etc.), or black/grey/bley/dark bley bricks/slopes/mod-bricks which together take about 15 tubs). I have a computer desk which only has a flat panel monitor on it, so I have space for building one MoC. I take out the storage drawers as necessary. The room gets frightful in just a half hour or so, but it is about 5 mins work to clear up and pack it all away to the corners of the room. Maximum use of space. I am short on display space, but I can put small models in front of books on bookcases (temporary - I usually use just to display new sets for a couple of weeks). I have one floor level shelf that I can just fit 2x 32x32 and 1x 16x32 (used for CC/GG/MS with Town plan crammed in in front). I have space for maybe 2-3 more models that size elsewhere (currently My Craghold Castle MoC, MMV, and expanded Soldiers Fort). Finally I have my set boxes in the attic, and built/stored sets are in Lego shipping boxes stacked under the stairs (I'm gradually sorting these or disassembling and packing them in individual bags/shoeboxes for later use in displays/MODs/MOCs). My collection is a reasonable size being 226 sets according to brickset (although I have multiples and some mixed Lego from ebay).

It's used as the picture for the Train theme under the "by theme" list on S@H for Ireland also. There is "NEW" on the image suggesting new products in the train category, but none are there yet.

Absolutely wonderful MOC. I really like both the actual aesthetics of the temple and detailing, as well as the creativity and inventiveness that has gone into choosing the design and such an array of elements to create the stonework. The streetscene and landscaping finishes it off by providing a convincing setting for the temple. I do like the look of the chariot and minifigs also.

I wouldn't want them to dispense with baseplates entirely, but I think we have a good mix now and that most sets are better off with more bricks/lower price rather than baseplate, or even better, large plates. I'm looking forward to the 8x16 plates in the City Corner set - unusual enough and useful in combination with road plates. I agree that Spongebob example is lame compared to the old one - but it's an extreme example (it does seem especially stingy to use narrow plates under the walls rather than large plates to provide an interior floor).

Ah, yes, AgentRick57 it does look like that is the piece. I searched for it myself, but having only found the 8-wide airplane hull (the curve looked wrong on it) I had changed my mind in favour of SNOT and the curved panels. However, that piece you've linked to does look like a possibility - especially if the train is six wide.

If you look at where the boiler meets the cab, you can see that it isn't just a photoshop lighting effect (or sticker). However, I suspect the vertical stripes are stickers - presumably the boiler is SNOT with 4x4 curved panels (assuming front dish is 8x8 and the train is wider to fit on "flexible" track)? EDIT, actually if you look at the carriage, it too appears to be 8 wide, notwithstanding the fact that it seems to have a proper train base (8 wide too?!) If this is real, it may be pretty monumental.

Smyth's are great value on Pirates '09 compared to S@H for Ireland. Just €30 for the Shipwreck Hideout (S@H €40) and €65 for Brickbeard's Bounty (S@H €90!). Also Cannon Battle for €5. Just as well with the cheap UK prices.

I find that one fairly OK because it can be reasonably suitably used as a generic head for footsoldiers (Castle). The Rascus head (as posted by The Cobra above) on the other hand is too much of a distinctive design and so one ends up with far too many. It does suit may of the instances it's been used in (e.g. most recently the pirates) but should be only used in one or two sets of a line.

I like the new mudguards. The old ones have pretty much had their day in my opinion, as they only suit four-wide vehicles built in classic style. The most recent flat 1x6 ones work very well as arches as well. They also look quite well for the size of wheels in the Lego Agents Turbochase car (Nice car). The clunky ones used lots in City '05+, give a new look to the vehicles. I agree they are OTT on the 4-wide cars, but even then I kind of like it. It's like overemphasising an element the way you do in a cartoon - Lego isn't about photo-realistic models, at least at set scale. With the mudguards, a 4 wide vehicle may still have few enough bricks/elements composing it, but it's a bit less plain I think. On 6 wide or 8 wide vehicles they work very nicely. Most importantly, they suit the bigger wheels - the old mudguards weren't really any good for anything but the smallest wheels. I like how they are used in Café Corner.

Reim Arcaden is simple to get to on the U-Bahn as well. There are two exits to the station, and if you leave by the correct one, the giant sign above the Shopping Centre is directly facing you, so no question of getting lost! (Google Maps link - station MesseStadt West and you can even see the shadow cast over the Plaza by the sign). The Lego shop was quite wonderful - I'd never been to a pick a brick wall before that when I went there before Christmas. I filled two large containers (€16) and between the two I had pretty much a full tub of 1x1, 1x2 and 1x4 medium blue bricks. I picked up loads of blue train doors but unfortunately didn't realise they were all left-hand ones! Ooops. I didn't pack the tubs insanely - just alternated small and large parts, together with occasional shaking. I got about 450 pieces in each tub. I didn't buy any sets except for Duplo sets that I couldn't find back in Ireland and didn't see cheaper in Munich - the €5/€10 ones (I still have a couple stockpiled to give to my nephew on future occasions). There were one or two sets I could have saved on if I hadn't bought them earlier in the year. The minifig bin was not particularly cheap compared to ebay (I'll often pay €1 per fig there, these were €2) but they had some interesting parts - some not that recent (e.g. paradisa torso, alpha team heads) and you do get two accessories with each minifig. I did buy five minifigs and these helped towards stocking fillers for family members (each Lego builder got a custom minifig from me, partly using some of these bits). I'd like to have more to spend when next there - I had to curtail Lego spending in Nov/Dec due to buying for others and knowing I'd be spending in January on Pirates.

It's highly variable - I've had below par new bricks, and perfectly good ones (with the advantage of being easily separable for example). I wouldn't hesitate to contact Lego about matters like this - at the very least it is presumably useful for them to have feedback that provides as much details as possible on situations where there are problems.

Just the occasional stray part - a technic pin not removed from a brick, a small plate or modified plate escaping on a brick, the odd small part spilt from one drawer to the one below. However, my sorted collection is only about 1.5 years old.

I don't usually do any "bulk buying" in retail stores, so I guess mostly it would be assumed I'm purchasing for someone else; brother, nephew, son, etc. (Indeed I have purchased Duplo for my nephew on occasion now). Sometimes it's probably obvious I'm buying for myself by the amounts of time I spent perusing the sets on the shelves, or if I make a couple visits in a couple of weeks. I don't think it's something to worry about, but then, I guess it's considered reasonably acceptable by my peers. I'd imagine it's more awkward for teenagers in particular.

Well, you can always change the colours/design of the old sets and keep the idea of them: Modified Imperial Trading Post combined with Soldier's Fort

I did notice some slightly yellow hued white bricks in my soldier's fort - rather a surprise certainly. The softer plastic is usual across the board now, and has its advantages and drawbacks.I do appreciate being able to pull plates apart just by holding the two pieces by their sides in my fingers, but the uniformity of bricks is not as good (a wall is not so smooth on the sides, and the bricks don't necessarily stack absolutely without any separation). On the other hand we've never had such an extensive colour and parts palette, such detail and mechanisms in sets, and overall the cost of Lego is less than ever!

Well, we don't have Woolworths in Ireland (they closed all the stores in the early 80s recession), except for Northern Ireland which is part of the UK. I don't know how well Mars Mission did or didn't sell here in Ireland - Smyth's and Tescos both moved a fair amount of it but on the other hand some sets remain on the shelves even now, and Art and Hobby possibly did too (although it is hard to know with them - I think they rotate stock between stores, or between shelf and storage). Argos also had Mars Mission. I would be tempted to ask Smyth's Toys what their take is on Space Police III, but they were clueless back in '07 when I asked about Castle (which turned out to be an Argos exclusive that year - albeit they only stocked three sets - stinkers). They are definitely the largest stockist of Lego here in Ireland though - they do have the vast majority of all Lego sets and at S@H prices or less (although obviously some places don't have large stores and get a poor deal that way - the full size retail park warehouses have just about everything though).

Well, the reason for the UK not getting new sets could be the low value of £stg and the fact that Lego have to either sell too cheaply for it to be worthwhile, or sell at a price too expensive for the UK consumer, which is not worth their while either. And as I said, if that is a reason for the UK not getting them, then Ireland probably isn't just because it's lumped together with UK for distribution (if true, that would be the most miserable reason ever for no SPIII here).

I sincerely hope IR is not Ireland? Why on earth would we be affected by the UK when Ireland is in the Eurozone and Shop @ Home ships from Germany to here? If it's to do with distribution chains for retail, that's just another example of the bum deal we get here in Ireland due to European companies pretending we are part of the UK because they can't be bothered to ship here directly (lots of the expensive retail prices in Ireland are due to this roundabout supply route - and the UK distributors know they have a captive market and fleece us readily). At least Shop @ Home ships directly from Germany to Ireland, but one does pay for the privilege and you have to wait too. Maybe SPIII will be on Shop @ Home for Ireland? There's *NO* excuse for it not to be if the sets are available in the rest of the Eurozone. I'll be rather annoyed if this is not the case. At least even if companies ignore Ireland being in the Eurozone, the ECB rationality has stopped Ireland actually having the same fate as Iceland - no thanks to our native politicians (unsurprisingly, most people in Ireland now like the idea of the Lisbon Treaty). A lack of SPIII is a small matter of course, but if true it's yet another symptom of some fundamental problems.

Woohoo! Finally got snow here - only about an inch, but enough to cover everything and lie on the trees/branches. First time since 2001! Dark sky this morning - hope it's more snow and not sleet or rain waiting to melt everything.

Thank you all for your comments! Some more details - this MoC is 76 cm tall (or two and a half feet). One can open all sections at once, but I would be worried about leaving it in that situation for long. Indeed when I added the battlements, and opened the two sides at once, they fell off (but I re-enforced the middle section of cliff). I do have a reasonably extensive Lego collection, but needless to say, this creation used up significant quantities of certain bricks. I have few old grey and black bricks remaining, indeed I ran out of black 1x2 bricks (hence the log bricks and cylinders used on the battlements). I didn't really use bley bricks - I used some of those recently for my small chapel, and hopefully I've enough left for my Agents base I'm working on. I also have no grey castle walls left, and indeed few bley ones (had to use bley panels at the end). You can see that the gatehouse tower uses the kings castle siege corners at the top, and even that islanders decorated corner at the base. From the beginning I intended to use castle wall panels - I can understand some people being less keen on these, but it was the only way I could create such a large scale model. I also realised that it would be too monotonous if I joined them with grey, so I went for the traditional approach of using black 1x2 bricks (they are wooden floor supports or something). If I had just a bit more Lego to hand, I would probably have used headlamp bricks to create some short projections instead at some of the locations. This was my first AFOL MoC when I started it. I've learnt more techniques as time went on, and indeed the castle varies greatly in the complexity of the build. I'm not a fan of studless surfaces used all over. If I did have more small tiles though, I would indeed use them for smooth cut-stone crenellations (here the black doubles up as very dark stone as well as serving as wood elsewhere). I would retain studs on the battlements themselves and the rock surfaces though, as I think studs provide a reasonable texture as well as their functionality. I avoided adding much colour to the exterior, as I would have had to greatly increase the amount of detail and building. With the wall panels used, I stuck mainly to black and grey for the building, and dark grey/bley to match the BURPs. The BURPs gave the support necessary as well as saving on bricks. As for the lack of blueprints... that was the reason for occasional rebuilds of certain sections (especially the early ones) and breaks of even months as I was stymied at certain steps. Figuring out how to retain enough functional space, yet fit in a stairs, was tough. Allowing the main hall to overhang, although not too realistic, was a breakthrough, and nicely broke up the monotony of the keep as well. I enjoyed putting in those pillars and arches too - it's actually a tiny room, but I think I managed to provide a stylised look reminiscent of a larger hall. Sandy - I can understand what you mean about the decoration - e.g. in the first floor where the guard is. It was pointed out to me that I should have put extra headlamp bricks etc. into the walls in places for such features. However, there was only so much I could easily do when I went back to do the interiors after building the structure, even with the opening walls. I didn't do each level's interiors as I went along, because I wasn't sure how permanent each level was until I'd built the next (sometimes I had to go back and rebuilt to ensure stairs worked or doors, or so on). Norro - funny you should mention about the princess... you're kind of on the ball there :) pellevin - thanks for the very accurate (in my opinion) summary of the build. I'm picking up more techniques (and becoming handier with my own "kludges") but I think my building style will remain kind of this way. I really like Lego's actual sets, especially recent ones (I think they are some of the most playable, as well as having so many cool bricks and even using new techniques and detail) and most of my collection is from collecting sets.

Still waiting for possible snow here in Western Ireland - it may not arrive. The east coast, Dublin etc., has some. I hope we get it here, because it's 8 years since there was last a decent snowfall here (enough to build a snowman, etc.). It's rather cold already though - ice outside all day.

Very nice. I love the office chair, it is entirely convincing. The bandana is a nice simple touch too!

Hello all, I'm finally presenting an MoC I've been working on, stop/start, from late 2007 until this week. Craghold Castle is an a keep style creation on the 3D sea baseplate. It includes a dungeon and basic living arrangements for those taking refuge, including a main hall. I merely had the vague idea in my head as I started, and it took form fairly randomly as I went along. First, views of all sides. There is a main keep, battlements atop the cliff-face, and a gatehouse tower. Front: Left side and rear: Right side: The entrance and gatehouse tower: A view of the castle entrance (the idea is that the drawbridge lowers onto a rock promontary or even a bridge, as yet unbuilt by me): There is a small sentry room beside the entrance. The entire gatehouse tower hinges open, except for the small sentry room at the base. The gatehouse mechanisms are reached by climbing down the tower from the upper floors of the main keep. The tower itself is also used for storage. A simple technic peg, when pulled out, will drop the portcullis, and it can be winched up again too. The battlement at the front of the gatehouse is also reached only from the tower, and the battlements atop the tower and keep are also reached via the top part of the tower. The battlement on the left of the castle hinges open: Behind that is the dormitory, which also hinges open. Just a couple of beds, a trunk and fireplace (without a fire atm): Moving along, the entire cliff-face on the right side of the castle hinges open, battlements atop it and all. Inside is the dungeon, used for storage - of a prisoner or two as well if necessary: Stockpiled up at the back of the dungeon: What's this - some loot stashed away for safekeeping too?! It's snugly kept below the stairs (there's another door at the back of the dungeon to get into it, almost visible in the previous photo): A view down the stairs from the keep to the dungeon. Needless to say I had a hard time fitting these stairs in, but they are complete (there's a 2x2 section at the turn in the stairs that's attached to the hinging open section) The doors above are the entrance to the keep - reached from stairs outside beneath the front battlement. Inside the keep: The first floor has a door down to the dungeon, and stairs up to the kitchen and main hall. There's a small table and chairs for any guards (there's even a small fireplace behind that guard). Halfway up the main staircase (not visible here except the start of it downstairs) there is a small kitchen. Here we can see the resident Orc chef getting ready to prepare a bird. There are various ingredients and tools, as well as some meat on a spit. Here you can also see the exterior stairs up to the keep, and below the first floor, a small yard and the door to the dormitory: The main hall is rather small, but fits a fair few people in (they can probably sleep there too if necessary). There are four columns helping support the height of the hall and the rest of the keep. Torches attached to those light up the room. You can see the molding atop one of the pillars - this is the same for all four. Just entering the hall, having come downstairs, is the princess, and sitting down at the back, obscured by a goblet, the king. We also have a dwarf king and a maiden visiting. A view showing the fireplace in the hall, complete with trophies. The princess is a bit upset about the lack of food... You can also get a better look at the fireplace - that wall also folds out (i.e. two walls fold open, with a joint in between them - allowing just the one or both to open). The double doors are the entrance from the stairs up from below. Close-up of our belligerent princess and the guests: Why was the king on his own you ask? Just look one floor up, the queen is just taking a moment or two to herself up in the bedroom. Just above that bedroom, is the mage's study, accessed from the battlements. He likes to be left alone: Close-up of the mage and his study. There are scrolls up by the roof, various potions, an owl and bat (alive or dead?) and a quite full bookcase. All comments appreciated - hope you enjoyed the tour.

Smyth's Toys here in Ireland have at least some of the new Pirate sets. Haven't seen all the prices, but Smyth's as usual have some prices cheaper than S@H, e.g Cannon Battle at just €5!. The Art and Hobby Shops (handy to visit - shopping mall or town main street) have them all except impulse sets - the cheaper ones have a mark-up (e.g. €7.50 for Cannon Battle), but the bigger ones seem to be close to RRP. They even have Shipwreck Hideout. Also don't forget Art n Hobby have a 20% off scheme (I think it's something like if you spend €100, you get voucher for €20?). Of course it's more attractive to order from the UK if possible. If you can't get there in person, there is Amazon.co.uk and toysdirect.co.uk. I hope to get to Smyth's here though and pick up one or two more Cannon Battles at that great price!