CP5670

And it's nice that someone had the guts to say this. I didn't want to start an argument here, but I might as well bring up a few thoughts on this issue now. Well, this is exactly the problem. I can't speak for others, but I am a fan of the products, not the company. TLG the company, like any other corporate entity, essentially exists to make money for themselves, so why exactly should I respect a purely corporate, marketing decision that has no benefit to me as a consumer? I don't own shares of TLG or have any other stake in the company's financial performance. This is a private forum and they certainly have no legal authority to tell us what we can or cannot talk about here, so this is obviously a decision by the EB administration. If the images weren't supposed to publicly accessible, TLG's beef is with whoever leaked them in the first place despite signing a non-disclosure agreement, not random internet sites. You might as well block all Brickshelf and Google links too by taking this logic further. I go to a few other, computer hardware and gaming oriented forums and it's very common to see leaked information and images of upcoming products, so it's especially odd to see this behavior with not just EB, but practically all of the major Lego community sites. Actually, if it was only limited to this particular situation and just to "keep the surprise" I wouldn't mind so much, since it looks like TLG has an official splash planned very soon, but there have been similar actions made here before many times. All that being said, it's not hard to find the images on your own. It only took me a few minutes on Brickshelf.

You're the first person I have seen who doesn't like them at all. I think they look great, especially for hangar bays or landing pads, and they can also be used as a generic "caution" sign around engines, opening doors, etc. I've used them on Technic models as well.

I just noticed that the wanted posters contain the classic printed arrow tiles in the background art. I wonder if it's just random decoration or if there is a chance of seeing those in the sets. They haven't been produced for several years but are very useful for MOCs.

The PAB orders I've made in the past have all come out right, but none of them were particularly large. I haven't bought anything from there recently. I have had some issues with the customer service/parts replacement though. They won't always send you exactly what you are supposed to get. Are the PAB orders actually picked by hand or by a machine? I always assumed it was done by a machine, which would explain why the parts selection is much more limited than what sets contain (and what you can get through parts replacement).

This sounds very interesting. What kinds of pieces will the cars use? If you're using more than just basic bricks and plates, I think one of the main challenges would be finding a way to reliably pick up and position pieces of different shapes with the same claw arm. I've seen those other "factory" machines on Youtube and although they're extremely cool, as you said they seem too large and bulky considering what they do.

Same here. Flickr is like a typical image hosting site, where you either pay them or you put up with various restrictions on the size and quantity of images. I don't like their interface either; the default sizes of both pictures and thumbnails are too small. Brickshelf's lack of limits is rare these days and the main reason I like it. If I need to make images available quickly, I have a bunch of ISP webspace and some on my university site as well. Things on Brickshelf will get a lot more exposure though.

The 8455 Backhoe comes to mind. I got one, but I should have gotten at least two. The original $100 price was remarkably low considering how much the set came with. There have also been various MISB sets on ebay where I forgot about the auction until after it ended and never bid on it, missing out on some great deals. This wasn't that expensive on ebay, at least when I checked about a year ago. It was going for like $150-180 new, which isn't too bad as the original price was $120.

I thought that part of it was very clever actually. It locks into place and you use the "keys" to open it. There were in fact 4 gold tiles and the 7033 printed slope on top was unique to the set. It even included a matching left side door for MOCs, even though the set itself doesn't use it.

Pretty much any of the larger sets from the police line, for example. The train sets like this crossing or the big shed were also good. It depends on whether you like the classic 90s town sets, since the WC sets were styled after those to a large extent, more so than the current city lineup. The vehicles had normal doors, lights, mirrors, etc. and very little in the way of huge, specialized pieces, in stark contrast to Town Junior. And there was an attention to brick quality that we no longer see today, with many more printed parts used.

Nice review. I like all the printed pieces, especially that big junction control panel that only appeared in one other set. You would never see that happening today, as they would cheap out and make it a sticker. World City actually had numerous good sets and came after that bad period. The crappy sets were all from the Town Junior/City Center line before it.

Thanks for the explanation. I see how that gives the swashplate the full six degrees of freedom. I have found myself wanting a half-width 8-long beam numerous times, both for the thin profile as well as the even length. The closest thing we have to that is the 8-long gear rack, which TLG actually used like a normal beam in several sets around 2000.

That sucks. At least you have plenty of pictures of the model though. The only thing I have dropped was this off a table several years ago, but it's fairly well built and hardly anything came off. I think only "pure" Technic models can be made strong enough to withstand falls like that though.

This is actually my favorite set of the year so far. It's cheap, includes nice pieces, and both models have good functionality for their size. The main model displays great next to the bigger 8275. I got three of them a while ago. The only thing is that three instruction manuals were unnecessary for something of this size. It's harder to store all these little ones instead of a single, larger one.

Very nice rotor design. It might be possible to make it more compact though, especially using the various newer connectors that are available these days. This is actually a MOC project I have had in mind for a while, to build a helicopter with a realistic pitch control and mount it on a stand that gives it various rotational movements, similar to the 8485 helicopter. I got the extra rotor pieces off Bricklink a while ago but haven't gotten around to using them yet.

Wow, great find. This is one set that has gone up heavily in price on ebay and BL since it was discontinued, and it's easy to see why. I only wish I had gotten a second one when they were still available. That bag was a thing of beauty back then. We were used to seeing 2-3 pneumatic pistons per set and the 8868 with its 5 pistons was thought to have a load of pneumatics. 10 pistons and 7 switches would have been unthinkable in an official set before this one. It was one of the few instances of TLG really going all out with a Technic set and adding in every function they could think of. You can mitigate this by moving the pneumatic switch carefully so that it's only partially open and lets out the air gradually. You probably accidentally used the 6s instead of 4s somewhere earlier. That happens to me occasionally too.

The structure would be quite open even with a roof, especially since there is no front wall. I don't see any issue with playability there.

Well, both 8275 and 8421 look a lot more studded than they actually are in the pictures, since the studded elements are all used on the exterior and are just decorative in some cases. The chassis and internal sections containing the mechanics are entirely studless. I would actually like to see it the other way around. The good thing is that studded Technic beams are very common in other themes these days, so they have remained easy to come by on Bricklink for MOCs. Exactly.

I do like the vehicles a lot (particularly the tow truck, which looks like the best minifig tow truck TLG has made), but they aren't worth $100 by themselves. The garage itself is lacking, especially considering the price.

There was an interview posted here at some point with a guy who designed many of the late 80s Space sets. Apparently he only had a high school diploma. If you want to design sets, I don't think you need much in the way of an engineering background, except maybe for Technic models. Artistic skill would be more important.

It's $100? I thought it would be more like $60-70. I certainly won't be buying it for $100.

I just finished making a Futuron base module for my space monorail layout, which I've been building on and off over the last month. Next up, I'm planning to make a Technic monster truck based on this old design. I would like to have all wheels driven and steered, pendular suspension and PF remote control while keeping the size fairly modest, not much larger than 8858.

I have mixed thoughts about this set. On one hand, the tow truck is an excellent design, and the smaller truck is nice too. The garage itself looks very bare and unfinished though. The lack of a roof on the middle section is especially glaring. Whether I get this or not will depend a lot on the price.

It's clear that they are putting the best City vehicles within larger sets to entice buyers to get those sets. They have done the same thing with the big tow truck in the garage set.

Yes, I would say it started in 1998 (not so much with 8462, but with 8428 and other sets), but became much more pronounced over the next two years. By 2003, the sets had become 100% studless. I'm not a fan of that construction style and would like TLG to go back to the balanced studded/studless combination they had in 1998 and some 1999 sets. They originally moved towards studless construction to make stronger and more lightweight models, and the original semi-studless sets were in fact very well built, but the completely studless sets are a step backwards from that. One example I noticed recently is the 8275 Bulldozer's frame, which slightly sags under its own weight. Good choice. It's a surprisingly large model and the ebay prices have always been pretty reasonable given its age.

That depends on what exactly you are trying to build, a realistic train layout or something more futuristic or Space oriented (or maybe an elevated light rail setup). I'm just saying that the monorail system allowed you to do this easily and let you create very nice and intricate 3D layouts (this is a simple but neat example), and that these flexible tracks should let you do the same thing. Actually, the 9V/RC tracks don't "officially" support elevation changes at all, and any MOC implementations of ramps with them rely on the slack between the connections. I believe the old 12V tracks had small notches on them that were meant to let you create ramps over long distances.