CP5670

If you just want bricks with your names on them, I think most of the major Lego events give you that as part of the registration package. You will rack them up quickly after a few years of such events. I have more name bricks now than I know what to do with. BrickFest, back when it was still on the east coast, also let you have a second brick on the badge with your LUG's name (or whatever other text you wanted), but that doesn't seem to be as common.

This has always been one of my favorite Aquazone models. It looks sleek and has a ton of interior space for its size. It's a pity the Aquasharks theme only had 3 or 4 sets. I think it was easily the best theme of the Aquazone. It's actually listed as $16 in the S@H catalogs I have. The P/P ratio is still poor by today's standards, but it comes with a lot more special/printed pieces than modern sets do. The black windscreen with the printed patterns was unique and only appeared in this set. [edit] Never mind, I just checked it again and you're right about the price. I was getting it mixed up with the price I paid on ebay.

Very impressive. The proportions are perfect and it looks just like the model in the game.

My favorite one is this . This video has been around for several years now, but it's still impressive to watch.

Amazing model. Like many of your previous MOCs, the pictures are initially deceptive and you only get a sense of the model's true size after looking at them carefully. The design of your actuators is especially interesting. It looks like you built them out of gear racks, but they must be quite powerful if they can move such a big and heavy boom.

I'm noticing this issue on increasingly many minifig accessories too. From the pictures I've seen, a number of the accessories in the collectible minifig packs are also like this. This stuff really feels cheap and waxy. TLG has shifted from ABS to more dull-looking plastics on small pieces in the past, but that was usually because they were more flexible and less prone to taking damage. That obviously isn't the case here.

My hologram screens have stayed on pretty well, but I've definitely noticed what you said about the deltoid hologram stickers. I have several of those stickers coming off slightly at the edges, some of which came from MISB sets and were applied for the first time only 3 or 4 years ago. It probably has something to do with the material they are made of.

The US and most countries in Europe had their own names for sets. The names were not just translations of each other either, and often meant something quite different. The UK names were occasionally better and more appropriate/less generic than the US ones, and sometimes it was the other way around. The catalog you have there looks like a UK/France/Netherlands one. Dark Shark was used as the US name for a smaller ship later on. Another instance of this was the 6986 Mission Commander, which was also called the Galactic Enforcer in the UK, and TLG has now reused that name.

This was an interesting concept and a cheap way to get all the standard Explorien equipment (especially the hologram screen sticker, which seems to be missing in your pictures), but the model feels thrown together and has barely any space for the minifigs inside. As you said, I also recall it being pretty flimsy and easy to break when I was a kid. That being said, it does work pretty well alongside the bigger 6958 set. You can move all the instruments into the main base, and use this model as a secondary, observation tower with a few modifications. The S@H catalogs say that the thing on the top level is a telescope, although there is no room for the minifig to sit behind it and use it.

That might make an interesting mod project for that model. You would have to get the rockets down to a much smaller size and weight for it to work though. Someone had made an even larger version of 6950 at Brickfair last year. I don't think it was functional but it looked magnificent.

Some interesting ideas. The blue version appeared a few years ago in the 7990 cement truck. There is a corkscrew pattern inside, so you can make the cement (round 1x1 plates) come out by spinning it in one direction.

Hey, thanks. I had made a very rough framework model in MLCad, just to visualize the overall shape I was going for, but filled in the details as I went along. I'm not very creative with minifigs and typically just use unmodified ones in my MOCs, but I thought it might be funny to have the captain look more evil than the other, smiling guys. The computer pieces were mostly bought off Bricklink, along with some older ones taken from various space sets. A few of them are actually stickers from Technic sets, such as the 8856 stickers used around the pilot seats. Looking forward to seeing your space MOCs too.

You could apply that logic to any aspect of a Lego model though. Why should a Lego spacecraft have engines, or why should a Lego truck have doors? The point is that fully enclosed cockpits, like these other things, are cool. I don't mind it so much with those small models where it is often not practical to fill the holes. This was one thing I liked about the Raid VPR though. It's probably one of the smallest space models TLG has made with an enclosed cockpit. The only other one that comes to mind is the Saucer Scout, in which the pilot can't sit upright.

Cool video. This is one of my favorite models ever. I remember that. I like how they acknowledged AFOLs this way back then.

I think he's referring to the this 9V box that appeared in many System sets. It accepts a single 9V battery, although it was mainly designed for lights and the built-in switch doesn't let you change the polarity.

I built that model in this thread and found it pretty straightforward. I thought the clock was the hardest model there, which also has more of a collection of hints than full instructions. The pictures don't show all the mechanisms clearly and you have to make guesses on it in a few places.

This is one of my favorite impulse-style space sets. The design is simple but works well. I think that guy is supposed to be the Explorien commander. That torso is always used with that unique head in all the sets it appears in.

I would like to get this set, but it came out 10 years ago. I would be very surprised if TLG actually has them in stock anywhere today. Even the seats for these figures disappeared from Technic sets many years ago. This is probably just a leftover page on the S@H website.

As Scorpion said, the BT2 cockpit pods were arguably more distinctive than anything in SP3. SP2's hallmark was probably the stacked cockpits in the two larger sets. There were definitely some characteristic styles present in most of the old themes, if you were looking for them. Unitron came out a few years after SP2 (in fact, it was the successor to SP2 in the sense of taking up the "good faction" role), so you can't really compare that with SP3 and the SP3 crooks. I think the most unique style was actually that of the Mars Mission aliens, but none of the alien models were all that great in themselves. I didn't like it back then either. Filling holes in cockpits is probably the most common modification I make to official space sets. SP3 has generally been very good with this though.

Yes, I think the concept and backstory of SP3 is actually better and more well developed than any of the old themes. The sets themselves have been very hit-or-miss, ranging from the outstanding Galactic Enforcer to the forgettable Gold Heist, but you could also say that about most of the old themes. Only a few of them had consistently good sets across the whole theme.

I liked the angular construction of the old sets better too. It didn't necessarily make them look more realistic, but the angular pieces are often more versatile and can be used in more different ways than the curved ones. This especially applies to the transparent canopies. The 10x4 canopy you mentioned could be stacked (as seen in the SP2 sets), and the smaller 6x4 canopy could be used with the recessed side facing outwards, as a wall element or ramp (done in 6783 or 6473).

I would expect SP3 to end after this summer's wave. Most of the non-licensed sci-fi/action themes in recent times have had a two year life. This is actually better than it used to be in the 90s, when space themes lasted for only one year (in terms of when new sets were released). Let's just hope SP3 gets replaced by another, equally good space theme.

This is a great design. The wheel bogie assemblies are very clever and would make a great basis for a hybrid Technic/Space creation. I like how your models are moderately sized but are full of interesting and unique functions, and this one is no exception.

That price is exceptional. It's less than what I paid for mine 9 years ago, and is even less than the original price of the set. Note that the stickers in this set are the bad variety that will crack and peel over time. If you want to preserve them (the Technic flag in particular), you will need to tape over it.

Yes, the bad stickers stopped appearing some time around then. See here for more details. The Brickfactory site has sticker scans for some sets. You might be able to print them out yourself from there.