CP5670

Yeah, I'm really kicking myself for passing it up at Brickfair, especially since they were handed out for free (the type that Copmike posted). They were available at a TLG-staffed booth somewhere on the second day, but I forgot about it that day and the booth had seemingly disappeared by the next (and final) day.

I love your staggered mechanism for hitting the missile switches. Very clever use of the angles on those Bionicle pieces. Operating the launcher switches automatically is something I always wanted to do with my rocket launcher MOC, but I couldn't think of any way to add it in without doing a major revamp of the whole model.

Maybe that's why the box picture and promotional images only show it from the front and obscure the rear. I only saw what the back section looked like when flipping through the instructions on Brickfactory.

It's funny that you mention 5540, since that set was quite sparsely detailed by MT standards and was an oddity among the theme. The 5571 and 5563 sets were somewhat unusual since they were designed at a significantly larger scale than the rest of the theme, which allowed them to incorporate much more detail than usual. More typical examples of MT sets were things like 5580 or 5581. I guess on closer examination though, that 4955 Creator truck does have some issues. It has excellent detail from the front and a nice interior but looks rather bare and unfinished in the back. The one thing that I find lacking in Creator sets in general is that there are no chrome pieces, which were used on 5571 and most of the later MT sets. Even a handful of those add a lot to the appearance of these models.

It's working, at least at the moment.

I saw the same message briefly a few days ago, but it came back up a hour later. Give it a little time.

As Guss said, the larger Creator sets are basically what Model Team used to be. That red truck is a good example. There hasn't been anything of the scale of 5571 yet but the standard sized Model Team sets are very similar to the Creator vehicles. I have most of the Model Team line and the Creator stuff fits perfectly alongside them on a display shelf. I don't mind stickers as long as they only cover one part and are the transparent, clear paper type (which last longer). Some of the later MT sets used multi-part stickers, which was a little annoying.

I think this won first place in the public voting category. Still, getting that far was a lot more than I expected, as there were several models there that I thought were more impressive than mine. The Technic functionality on this one probably set it apart in people's eyes. I was standing around it for hours and messed around with the pneumatics and turret whenever I saw a group of people crowding around it. As for the PCS ships, at least one of them was probably near the top at the 2006 event. I can't remember now though. The space section that year was massive, quite a bit larger than this year, and took up half of the display area on its own. Hopefully we'll get a bigger turnout next year in space. That probably comes from the Blacktron colors to a large extent. I always liked the dynamic, high contrast colors in the old space models more than the "realistic" style that the Star Wars line started and is common today.

It may be a promotional thing that was given at an event at some point. TLG was giving out the same types of plates with a Lego Universe logo at the Brickfair event this year. (I missed out on them though )

Yes, the plate between two studs is fairly standard and has been done in some official sets. In general though, I also avoid some "advanced" techniques I occasionally see people using, because of their low strength. I prefer simple but strong assemblies over anything flimsy even if it is complex and looks nice. That probably comes from being a Technic builder, where strength is a high priority to ensure that models work properly.

Yeah, this set has always been inexplicably cheap on ebay and BL. Not sure why, as it's an excellent model and not one you would expect to have low demand for. I got two of these at heavy discounts ($35 from S@H clearance section and $25 MISB off ebay) and they still seem to be quite common on ebay. There have been some other sets like this over the years. The 8480 Space Shuttle used to be very common on ebay until 2004 and wasn't all that expensive (it's much more so now). I got one when it came out in 1996and got a second one MISB many years later but actually paid less for it, $133 as opposed to $160. The opposite situation can also occur, where a currently available set goes for significantly higher prices on ebay and BL. I remember this happening with the 8455 Backhoe for example, and it's also common with many of the UCS sculpture sets.

I think those wheels are real. They're probably the only part of the model like that though. I love the concept behind these enlarged models. The designer has done a wonderful job of rendering all the small nooks and crannies of individual bricks, especially the Technic pieces.

It sounds like you have the same kind that I'm referring to. These belts do have round cross sections, but the material is different from the modern, colored bands. They are slightly thinner and harder than the newer type and don't stretch quite as well. They also become deformed more easily if you leave them stretched for a long period of time, and can become brittle and break up if left like that for many years. From what you're saying, there were apparently three kinds of bands used in total: the black and square type, the white and round type, and the colored and round type.

Interesting, do you know where he got those wheel hubs? They looked like the 8458/8466 wheels but were chrome plated and shiny.

That dump truck looks pretty neat. Is it using a linear actuator? Also, was there any news on a new super car? Some of the leaked pictures a few months ago showed a large yellow car with chrome plated wheels, which looked like it might be more than just a Ferrari.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. As always though, your newest articles were a pleasure to read. 1990 was a fairly major year for Technic and brought in numerous changes to the line. One minor correction: I'm not sure if the newer rubber belts were released that year. I got copies of 8094 (MISB) and 8868 (display model) a few years ago and they both contained the older, less elastic white belts. On the other hand, the 8082 set from 1993 had the newer, colored bands, which leads me to think that this is when they came out. I also have an 8720 Power Pack that I got at some point in the 90s, which also included the new types of bands, but I don't remember exactly what year it was. That set was in production for a long time and it's quite possible that they had multiple versions of it over the years. The box for it shows some sort of black bands that I don't recognize. Also, the Technic pen in 8094 was sold separately through the Lego Education/Dacta website many years later, even though it didn't appear in any other set. That set also included a small pad of paper (which was actually pretty high quality, thicker and glossier than standard printer paper). The crane is my personal favorite model in that set due to its clever switching system for the crane arm functions.

That's quite a big collection of spare parts. I have roughly 90000 pieces in total but most of my sets are built up and on display, so my loose parts don't take up that much room at any one time. I use five of the Stack-On drawer containers you have (the black ones in your picture) along with the old Technic storage case and a UCS Batmobile box, which holds everything nicely.

Yeah, those PCS ships were quite awesome and were exquisitely detailed. I'm not sure who the builder was though. They weren't there at the 2008 event.

[edit] never mind, just saw Whitefang's post

I did, especially since I build kind of slowly in general. The total time was roughly 16 months, although most of that work was done during the the last two summers.

Here is one from the Brickfair event, where they were set up next to each other. (although the other ship looks smaller in comparison than it actually is, due to the angle the picture was taken at)

I received an item like this once, but the smoke smell seemed to go away on its own after a months. I didn't do anything to get rid of it. It was one of my better ebay purchases otherwise, a 6954 Renegade in display model condition.

The dollar has actually gotten somewhat stronger lately. I'm thinking of entering a few European ebay set auctions while it lasts.

This seller carries quite a few such pieces. Notice the (super expensive) trans-clear ghosts in particular. I have numerous rare pieces (unique to a set, etc.) in my collection but not any of these test molds that never appeared in any official set.

I haven't seen anyone who sells hundreds of copies of a single old set. Some guys do have many different sets, but there are only two or three copies of each one. Chances are that they just bought up the whole stock from one of those small toy stores. The store managers wouldn't know about the value of the sets and are probably very happy that someone is buying them at all, given how long the sets have been sitting there. The molds for many old parts are no longer in service, so it would cost them a lot of money to produce even a few sets. Not to mention all the old catalogs, boxes/packaging and slight changes made to many basic pieces over the years. I would immediately notice if I bought an old MISB set and the style of the pieces was not consistent with things from that era, and many other Lego enthusiasts would too. Granted, I have seen some people with individual parts in rare colors (see Magicbricks on Bricklink, who sells some pieces that never appeared in any set) who probably do have TLG connections. However, such things would be much harder to do at the set level.