Chubbs

What did you pay for it from Amazon?

I just called Lego Tuesday morning and ordered mine from them over the phone. Website said it was sold out but they had some in stock when I called. Ive had great luck doing that - got my Horizon Expresses that way.

Should be up and running early this week as per a Lego customer service lady I spoke with - the BnP website closes every Christmas for some reason but should be back up soon

Love it

Great work. My son is bugging me to do something similar...I know you used 2 sets for the building - any extra pieces for the exterior or were all the extra pieces just for the interior?

My bad...but can still be swapped out with no change to the appearance of the model

Totally normal - I have lots of unopened sets waiting to be built but have no room to build or display until I move. But you can't pass up a deal or you're practically losing money...or at least that's what I tell myself....

I walked that very stretch of road every day I was in Edinburgh a few years ago and I cannot wait to go back. Across the street are some of the best pubs I've been in with just ridiculous history to their names and buildings. But I digress - amazing build....looks incredible, so detailed and causes so much envy that I don't have those skills

Muffluvin...for the out of stock 2x2 brick Earth Green just order 2 more 1x2 brick Earth Green for each 2x2 you need. If memory serves me correctly, those are used on the base and easily substituted out for another size

I'm planning on having my version of Sava's Polar Express Berkshire 1225 running around my tree

Dr Lego - I know its not practical to brinklink these older sets...but sometimes dreaming is fun :) but when the price gets above $500 for a set its no longer practical. My general upper limit is double retail for an older set but I also limit which ones I "go after"

As weird as it is, Earth Green is the darkest green Lego makes. So you are correct...its Earth Green, not Dark Green. However, unless you're an absolute purist and must have the GG in its original form, I think either green would work. Its the bottom layer of bricks, most of which will be covered and never seen. But maybe that's just me. Muffluvin....Side note - how did you get Bob Ross to come help with construction of the GG? I thought he only painted landscapes...

Muffluvin - first off...great use of a mech to help with the build. Secondly, according to Lego's Brick and Pieces weblisting, the base pieces are "Earth Green" which is a really dark green. The actual "Dark Green" colour is much lighter at least according to that site. Very confusing though and probably should be renamed or clarified somehow.

Rams - slightly off topic for this discussion...but if I may...talk to me a bit about bricklinking the winter sets. Was it pretty straight forward? Anything hard to find? Cost?

Hi Dazz, I looked at BL'ing but had issues with several parts - the number of dark green windows is ridiculous and I could only find them in Europe in the quantity that you need. There are a couple of hoses and balls that are pretty difficult to find. I soon gave up and tried to purchase a sealed set from a guy in the US. Long story short, he screwed up the shipping royally despite multiple clarifications and so the order was cancelled. And now I'm left without a GE. I haven't tried TH or CC yet...I probably will soon - or at least pricing things out to see if its worth it. Personally, in order to BL a set as opposed to buy sealed there has to be a fair bit of savings to be had or else its not worth it. That being said, I find the experience of BLing a set a lot of the fun of overall project. For GE specifically, you're looking at minimum approx $300US for the set now....in Canada the cheapest is just under $400 currently (unless its been sold recently)

I just went through the inventory for GG on PaB and BnP, making a few substitions (1x2 sand green brick groove to 1x2 sand green masonary brick, sand green 1x3/1x4/1x8 to LBG were the main ones) and several pieces were unavailable. Without tax it was north of $500 Canadian and there were still several lots not accounted for.

I had that issue of the pieces not showing up in my cart when using Chrome. Switched to Firefox and had no issues. I talked to Lego about it too and they couldn't really give an answer but other than to clear my cache before ordering.

A little hint too - if you place a Pick a Brick order and a Bricks n Pieces order together and its over $75 you'll save the shipping on the Brick n Pieces order. You might spend a lot of time and effort going to multiple BL stores to get the best price on pieces but your shipping costs add up really fast esp from multiple buyers. If you can get almost everything you need from Lego itself, it will be easier and the extra cost of pieces will cancel out your shipping/duty fees I think. At least that's how I do it.

Extremely well done!

My vote goes to 60052. That being said I don't have 60098 but I do have 7939 - so I don't feel the need to go get 60098. 60052 has decent amount of track and rolling stock (cattle car to me is just funny and I like the long horn). The cargo yard is a little awkward on its own but can easily be integrated into a train depot layout. Plus you get a small truck which is always useful. Its not a perfect loco by any means and pales in comparison to the Maersk but that's an unfair comparison in the first place. As my fellow Canadian Dr. Spock mention, 60052 is easy to modify to your liking if you are into that sort of thing. Personally I think 60051's passenger car is too short...I feel it should be a 28 long baseplate instead of 24. And the track is a small oval. I feel you need at least another 2 passenger cars to make it look good and then lots of track to let it go. Just my thoughts.

Well I need to change my pants. Thats just amazing and one of the sexiest things I've ever laid eyes on.

Well that makes sense...I don't do shows- just home in the basement for the kids

I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure you would have no problem reaching 10,000 votes on Ideas. However, Ideas has shown its almost impossible to get an idea made into a set that is from a licence they have rights too already. That being said...this is an absolutely incredible built and I can't wait to see the finished product. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would buy the instructions and parts list from you. Your talent is unreal.

I would love to have this set. Well done!

I run two motors, with a polarity switch, off of one battery and one IR receiver - works really well. Ive always been nervous about having multiple IR in 1 train just incase they receive mixed signals or one doesn't get the signal etc