CP5670

Looks like you have the original 1989 version with the yellow top cylinders. :-) I got one too several years ago, although I probably paid too much for it. :-P On a side note, if that pneumatic tubing feels harder and stiffer than the modern type, I highly recommend that you don't use it and buy some of the newer stuff off Bricklink instead. TLC originally used a different material for the tubes and this stuff degrades the nozzles (on pistons, switches and so on) over time. The old tubes also grip the nozzles much more firmly and if you aren't careful when removing them, it's actually possible to rip off the nozzles completely. X-O I had this happen a few years ago, although TLC replaced my broken pistons for free. I got rid of that stuff for good after that, although the pistons on my Power Crane still have slightly discolored nozzles.

Nice pictures. I also sort out the pieces the same way if I'm rebuilding a model. *y* This set packs a lot of functionality into a fairly small size, but was rather expensive for its size ($70) when it was still available, compared to other sets of that time. You can also rig up the Technic flag sticker that it comes with to the main model. I've done that on mine. You may want to reinforce it with tape if you're going to leave the model on display though, as it will break up over time due to UV exposure like many stickers do. I had to do that with mine after it started to crack, although it still looks pretty good.

Thanks for the replies. I want to try to open the motors but can't figure out how to do it. The top has four small holes at the edges with what look like some sort of push pins inside. It seems like you should be able to push paper clips in them to pop them off, although they didn't seem to budge when I tried. I think the problem may be something simple, since the second motor just died abruptly and wasn't exhibiting any slowdown or other strange behavior when I last used it. The electrical connection seems okay, since the motor heats up slightly if I leave it on power for 30 seconds or so. I was actually going to use this thing in a space project as some kind of generator. I could probably get another one off Bricklink, but considering the price of these motors, it doesn't make sense to buy more if they're so prone to breaking. Yeah, it's possible that a particular batch was bad. As I mentioned, the second motor I got ran noticeably faster and with a higher pitched sound than my other micromotors, many of which have gotten far more use but still work fine. The part number on the casing is also different. It may be a case of TLC replacing the internal motor with a different version (crappier in this case) but leaving the casing the same, which they also did with the gray Technic/Mindstorms motor.

The existing trans neon green and orange are fairly good with blacklights. The M:Tron and Blacktron stuff looks really nice if I hold it up to the CCFL in my computer case in a dark room. Although I wouldn't want to do it for extended periods and risk any UV discoloring.

I would love to see Deus Ex done like this, although that game is probably too old now to be popular enough. The game has a lot of comedy bits (sometimes unintended) despite the serious nature of the story. JC Denton could look something like this one I made a while ago. X-D Now that I think of it, the Monkey Island games would also be great. You could use all the existing Lego pirate pieces.

Do any of you know how to fix these things? I found this article on it, but I can't figure out how the open the motors (and have to run the article through a translator). Some old Lugnet posts I found suggested trying to move it manually while on power, but this is practically impossible since the motor is heavily geared down and there is no way to get a sufficiently strong grip using only the stud on the top. (I even used these, which have the strongest stud connections I could find) Basically, the story is that a few years ago, I got a DOA micromotor out of an (unopened) 6483 Coastal Patrol set from ebay. It didn't move or make any sound at all. I used the Lego website replacement form and they sent me a replacement, but didn't ask me to return the broken one. The replacement worked great, but interestingly had some minor scuffs and looked used, and also seemed to run quite a bit faster than any of my existing ones. Last week, I noticed that the replacement had somehow locked up in the same way. :'-( I don't know what happened to it, as it was working fine a month ago and had just been sitting in my spare parts area since then. I went through their replacement form again, but this time I just got a generic email that the item had been discontinued. So I've got two dead motors now and might as well try to do something with them. I've read that these motors are prone to breaking like this, although I have a few others that work fine despite having been used for many more years. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :-)

I ordered a (small) batch of stuff from PAB last week, for the first time, and got it in only three or four days. I placed a somewhat larger order yesterday after that experience and hope to receive it some time next week. As far as I'm concerned, it's a very good thing if they're coming out of Denmark, as that means you're very likely to get high quality bricks instead of the Flextronics produced stuff. Although the package I got just said it was from "DHL Global Forwarding" and had an Illinois address, so it wasn't entirely clear where it had originated from.

I've kept almost all of those little things I got in various sets. They look like valuable minerals or something and are great for putting in cargo compartments. Lego stopped using them for the 1x1s in 1992, although Aquazone used them again for the flippers some years later.

I want to get a camera too and several people on a camera forum recommended the Canon SD series, so I'll probably get something from that line. I used to use my parents' Sony P100, but I've moved since then and don't have regular access to that anymore. It generally did a good job but some colors didn't quite look right with the flash, especially blue, which looked too bright (can be seen in my brickshelf images). I never figured out whether it was an issue with the camera or some color setting I hadn't configured right.

I got mine for $25 in basically display model condition, although it had no instructions or box. It's an unusual set as it uses two distinct color schemes for the vehicle and outpost. It probably has one of the worst names ever though, as it can't even roll over a single plate's height. If you include it in the comics, the name might make a good joke somewhere. :-P

The ATV is surprisingly common on ebay given how old it is, or at least it was a year ago. I got one last year that was in excellent shape. You're right about the Galaxy Explorer though; pretty much anything from the original 1978/79 line is very expensive these days.

Yeah, I'm not that impressed by that snapshot, although I'll reserve judgment until the thing is actually out. I thought it would be something like that Japanese book someone referred to, which I remember seeing on ebay. I couldn't read anything, but it seemed to have different sections for each theme and fairly detailed descriptions of the themes.

Good to see a fellow Technic guy here. :)

I still can, along with all the Technic, Aquazone and Model Team numbers, and most of the City/town ones as well. I'm a fanatic. X-D

I haven't seen this posted anywhere yet, so I figured I would start a thread on it. It looks like TLC has changed the material they use for small tires to something much better. I got a couple of the city sets from S@H yesterday, namely the recycle and cement trucks, and they both have a new wheel material that feels like the normal rubber used on larger Technic wheels, as opposed to the gummy and slightly sticky material they used in the past. The gummy wheels were the reason that many bricks that came packaged with them seemed to have an oily residue out of the box. This seems to have been a relatively recent change, since I got a few things late last year (the ambulance for example) and they still had the gummy wheels. The gummy substance has been an issue since 1997 and it's great to see that they have finally moved away from it. *y* These were actually my first purchases among the 2007 City stuff and I was very impressed by the sets themselves. I used to think the late 80s to mid 90s were the best years for the city/town theme, but I think some of these new sets are better in almost every way and feel like they were designed by fans. Unfortunately, the brick quality is still a problem, probably more so than in the stuff I got a few months ago. As usual, many (but not all) of the white, yellow and red pieces look slightly translucent and faded, while blue, black and both blays all look fine. The red in particular looks like a distinctly different color from all my older red, more like a brownish red. I thought it was in fact a different color, but Peeron says it's supposed to be the normal red. At least to me, it's really obvious which bricks were produced in TLC's Denmark facility and which ones were made by Flextronics, who evidently have no clue what they're doing with certain colors. :-P Another thread here said that TLC is buying Flextronics' Czech plant outright, which is good to see, but it has certainly taken them a long time to do anything about it. I don't know if or when we'll be seeing any positive effects from that move. I was going to hold off buying this stuff until they had these issues sorted out but didn't want to risk having them discontinue anything (and couldn't resist getting the large crane and some other stuff they had on sale; the crane is still a good buy at $50 despite these issues). It's a real pity that there are all these quality problems going around these days. I would be buying many more of the current line of sets if I knew I was getting uniformly high quality bricks, which Lego used to have quite a reputation for. :-( The Technic bulldozer is one set I definitely want to pick up, but I don't want to pay full price on it if it's likely to contain the faded pieces. I also bought a small amount of stuff from PAB and interestingly, those pieces all look great. Maybe that stuff is still coming out of TLC's own facilities.

I think this was posted here before since I read it a few weeks ago. This guy must have influenced an entire generation of kids with his designs. :-) I always found that model kind of underwhelming in its stock form, compared to the brilliant smaller SP1 sets. It was not only too flimsy but was very open and barely had enough room for the second guy inside. The car release mechanism took up most of the space. As a parts pack it's awesome though, and I made a variant of it that's in my sig.

I would definitely get this when it comes out. At 800 pages it must be very comprehensive. *y*

They used to call the dampened shock absorbers "hydraulic" pistons in the 1999 catalog. *wacko* That might have been what you saw. The 8446 crane truck had one and was green and black.

Love that "Blacktron keeps us looking useful" line. :-D

The Airport Shuttle has a lot of special pieces too, like the curved panels, trees, windows and so on, and a lot more minifigs as well. It's not all that different from the space ones in that respect. I think Lugnet may have just guessed on that price, as they even have a question mark there. :-P The Airport Shuttle's total track length is nearly twice as long as the other two, so its price was probably higher at least initially. I vaguely remember seeing one on the top shelf of TRU at one point, but I was like five years old then and didn't get any of the big sets until a few years later.

I posted this on lugnet but didn't get any response, so I figured I would try here too. :-P There seems to be a difference between the voltage outputs of battery boxes and wall powered sources like the train speed regulators. From just listening to the sounds that motors make, a battery box puts out the same voltage as a speed regulator on the second to last setting, but the regulator on maximum speed runs motors a bit faster than anything a battery box can do, even on a fresh new set of (alkaline) batteries. I have one of the newer control centers (with an AC jack) which also runs motors at the faster speed, and similar comments apply to light pieces which look brighter. Do the Lego wall powered sources actually output slightly more than 9V? The Lego AC adapters are labeled as having 12V output, and the control center

I only have one Insectoids set (6905, which isn't very good) but want to get one or two others. The 6919 Planetary Prowler especially looks good to me in the pictures. I wasn't that impressed by the large ground vehicle from just skimming through the instructions, although it does come with a number of rare and useful parts.

Do you know what type of paper the stickers will be printed on? I've found that the ones printed on transparent/clear paper will last indefinitely as long as you apply them right, while the ones on white paper will usually break up after a few years, especially on display models. I don't mind stickers as long as they're the transparent variety. The justice models look excellent though. I can't wait to see the rest of the sets. *y*

I know that the Unitron monorail was a hefty $170 in the US at its initial release (despite the somewhat low piece count). That price is in one of the large S@H catalogs from back then. One of my friends in fifth grade had it and the rest of us were all envious. The Futuron one I got from ebay still had a price tag on the box, which IIRC said $130, although I don't have the box with me and can't check until I visit my parents' place in a few weeks. Strangely, the Airport Shuttle is listed as $140 on Lugnet, even though it was considerably larger than either of the space ones. *wacko*