CP5670

Thanks for the news. A new space shuttle would be great to see, and the piece counts suggests it will be pretty large. It seems like an odd choice from a marketing point of view though, considering that the real space shuttles are being retired this year. There have been two large-scale Lego space shuttles in the past, the Technic 8480 and the 7470 from the Discovery theme. I'm guessing this new one will be similar to 7470 but with the boosters and fuel tank that the previous shuttles lacked. I can't wait.

This is a pretty unique model. It moves quite smoothly and is faster than I would have thought from the size of the propellors. In the third picture, have you covered up the NXT by something to keep it watertight?

Great article. Jennifer's models had set the gold standard for Technic MOCs back then. They are moderately sized but quite detailed and packed with functions inside, which has certainly influenced my approach towards building too. She's a very friendly and generous person too, and actually gave me a couple of Technic figures for free several years ago. Although I think the interviewer is slightly overstating the point of having more Technic pieces in the last 8 or 9 years. There have been many new pieces introduced during that period, but most were minor structural parts and only a few of them (namely PF motors/receivers and LAs) have truly added new functional possibilities to Technic.

That's a good picture. The opacity/saturation problem is often hard to capture in a photo, but it is obvious in that one. What set did those hubs come in?

Good review. This set is just about perfect. It's full of play features (I especially like the conveyor) and is very large and imposing, comparable to the largest Space bases. Despite the size of the structure, it's still essentially watertight. The sub is also well designed and has a pretty large cargo bay. Yes, many of the Aquazone sets are still surprisingly cheap today. I got an unopened one of these a few years ago for $60. It's certainly an underrated theme, but that's good for us.

I have mixed thoughts on this set too. On one hand, it's very large and is full of great features. I especially like the covered cannon and the idea of a bridge is probably unique among Lego space sets. However, it's pretty flimsy and has an empty feel in many places. The bridge walls are so open that the area looks unfinished. The theme in general seems to have been designed with some inspiration from Star Trek. Check out this set description in this catalog for example.

Looks good, it's instantly recognizable. You might want to make the arms longer though, as they look a little short given the size of the head. Nice to see another Descent fan here as well. D3 is one of my favorite games of all time.

You won't get them in the original bags unless you buy a set that includes them, since the minifig parts are scattered across different bags and mixed with other pieces. Minifigs marked "new" on BL will have been assembled once but should be in perfect condition, or alternatively you can buy the torso/legs/etc. individually. I have bought minifigs marked as new from many sellers and haven't had any issue.

XP works well as long as you configure it properly. I think practically any OS has annoyances if you use it with default settings out of the box. I have been using XP for 6 years now and will move to Windows 7 (which I only want for the 64-bit support) once the prices of SSDs drop a bit, so I can put it on one of those. I'm not a fan of OEM desktop systems in the first place, whether they be Mac or Windows based. They are usually either overpriced or have inferior hardware, particularly the video card. Macs are especially bad with this though as they still require video cards with the special EFI BIOS, which allows Apple to charge absurd markups on those cards even after they have become outdated.

It was always great to get unexpected gifts like that, but I usually knew about the set itself already, having pored over every available picture of it in the catalogs I had. Although there were a few prominent sets in the early 90s, especially Technic ones, that for some reason were never shown in the standard US catalogs, even though the catalogs in other countries did have them. 8094, 8868 and 8082 are some examples. They were sold around here and probably did appear in the larger S@H catalogs (which I only started getting from 1995 onward), but I didn't know about them at all until I saw people talking about them on Lugnet several years later. This was arguably more fun back in the 80s and 90s, since larger boxes had the flaps and featured parts trays. As a kid, those parts trays always held my attention more than anything else when I got a new set.

I updated a few things in the first post. I hadn't gotten around to doing that in a while. The 1x1 bricks and plates do sometimes crack with extended use, although I think it doesn't occur on its own on built models the way it does with the round 1x1 plates. As for the solid and hollow tubes, in the past 80s bricks had solid tubes and bricks after around 1993 had hollow tubes, which followed the general trend of gripping power reduction back then. However, in 2007 the Flextronics-produced bricks had solid tubes again and were generally weaker than previous, hollow tube bricks. I think TLG has gone back to hollow tubes again since then, at least in some of their factories, but I've seen a mix of both types in modern sets and haven't really noticed a connection to their gripping strength. I think you're right about the walkie talkies though. It suggests that the recent problem with minifig accessories is not only caused by the type of plastic used but also the dimensions of the handles being too large.

This is still my favorite set of the entire Aquazone theme. I like how the entire sub is shaped to resemble a shark, and it comes with a shark just to prove it. As you said, it has several interior compartments and contains numerous cool parts that are unique to this set. The front area is large enough to fit a third minifig (under the canopy extender) with a few minor modifications. I made that change to mine. The set's name is kind of misleading though, as the sub is obviously the main attraction and the "cave" isn't much of one at all. The set was apparently called the Sea Wolf in the UK instead. Yes, the colors were easy to distinguish back then, although there were a lot fewer Lego colors used in the first place. They switched to the current color scheme for instructions some time around 2002, seemingly to include all the new colors they were introducing.

Excellent MOC, and it's even more impressive that you built it in just a week. It would take me at least a few months to build something similar. I especially like the conveyor mechanism.

Good to know. It should be possible to build one from Lego with a light sensor. The best thing would be if the old Code Pilot scanner from 8479 worked.

Great review. This set was in many ways the flagship city set of the late 80s and the size of the structure was unparalleled for its time. I always wanted it as a kid and got one off ebay in 2003. As you said, the scale mismatch is a bit of a problem with newer vehicles, more than most classic town sets. I find that the longer 4-wide cars (like those in 6335) still go well with it, but modern 6-wide vehicles are definitely too large for it. The period from about 1987-1993 was the best time for printed parts. Almost everything in those years was printed, and many of the printed tiles in this set never appeared in any other set. I still like them. One MOC concept I've had in mind for a while is to make a larger and more modern version of this set.

I keep them built, at least the major ones. I would take them apart if I needed the parts for something else, but some of my MOCs have been built for several years without that being the case. I just go to Bricklink or disassemble official sets instead, unless the parts I need are very rare and the MOC uses all the ones in my collection.

This is another of my favorite Aquazone sets, and is also quite roomy for its size. I made a few adjustments to mine, moving the compass and computers into the interior. Yes, the Aquazone stuff doesn't seem to get the attention it deserves, even though the sets are very similar to space models. I think the first wave (Aquanauts/Aquasharks) was as good as any of the space themes.

There were a lot of complaints about this in the LU beta signup on another forum I go to. It's still trivial to put in a disguised cuss word if you're actually trying to do that, so this only affects people who want to use normal words.

I've wanted this one for a while but have not found any good deal on it yet. Your copy appears to be in pristine shape, especially the trans-yellow windscreens.

I never had much of that experience myself. I made impulse buys when I was too young to tell that a set was new, but for the most part, when my parents took me to stores to get Lego sets, I had usually seen them in the catalogs for some time in advance and had scrutinized the pictures for countless hours before choosing what I wanted to buy. Today, I also like to know about future releases as much in advance as possible, which lets me plan out my purchases better. Although in a way, I get the impulse buying experience on ebay when I search for vintage sets, and suddely notice a good deal.

I have plenty of unopened sets, but I always open the seals on them and inspect the contents even if I don't plan on building them for a while. The manual and catalogs are sometimes bent or crumpled, especially with post-2000 sets, so I can straighten them out. I do a rough visual check on the bags and make sure everything is present, after once getting a set with missing bags but not noticing it until a year later. If a set contains any electric parts, I also test them and make sure that they are still working. If I need to buy a replacement for an old motor or light, it will be cheaper now than after 3 years. As I said in the other thread, MISB is all about the guaranteed brick quality to me. Opening an MISB set doesn't really reduce its worth to me since I make sure to maintain the parts in that condition, even when using them in MOCs. I can easily notice flaws in most used, "excellent condition" sets, and usually avoid them unless I can inspect them in person before buying.

Check the 9V wire leading to the motor, and try replacing it with another wire. It's relatively common for those micromotors to lock up or be DOA, but I haven't heard of any cases of the fiber optic transmitter having such issues. This set has no sound features, unless you count the distinctive buzzing noise made by that motor.

This is one of my favorite space bases, only just edged out by the Message Intercept Base. The dome opening functionality is great and the interior area is very large. The vehicles are also well designed, especially that mobile laser cannon. I moved the decoder inside the base and put the Nebula Outpost in its place, which goes well with this set. I also built a beefed up version of that vehicle. At least a few years ago, this set was surprisingly cheap on ebay given its age and quality. I got three of them MISB for $30-40 each. This feature is in fact shown on the box flap. The android is actually a special character named Ann Droid, according to the club magazines back then.

I don't buy them as investments at all. But for short term profit, I think the best choices would be the big S@H exclusives, such as the modular buildings, and anything from the licensed themes that are popular with adult collectors (Star Wars, Batman, etc.). Over a longer time period, small sets tend to appreciate in value more than large sets do. If you look at small MISB sets from the 80s, they routinely sell for 10-20 times their original price, while for big sets it's typically more like 3-5 times the price. In this case though, you also have to take inflation into account to find out how much they have really gained in value.

This is the main thing for me. I posted some thoughts on it here. Pretty much what BearHeart said. But if you're only in it for the money, I think there are better investments out there than Lego sets.