Eilif

Are we moving all the train gobbledygook out of the town forum? Because those train folks were getting on my last nerve!

I like the new arrangement for Tabletown. The simpler track design definitely gives you more space to work with, and I like the fact that the engine shedd is on an angle, as that's something you don't see too often. However, this new layout with few road sections and lots of wood showing seems incomplete. There is plenty of space for a few more buildings, but if you don't have any, a green sheet over the table would help to hide the brown and make the layout seem a bit more cohesive. Will be watching for future updates.

Simply Brililant! I really like your use of curved slopes for the curtians, and the simple repetition of the two clips (snot upward and horzontal outward) is a very nice detail. Also nice to see the stairway leading up to the entrance, allowing us a tiered view of the assembled fans and stars. We seem to be seeing alot more of this, and I think it's a good thing! I also like the idea that the building is so large that it faces a street on the rear and thus the inclusion of the statue.

Locking you out was a bit extreme, but everything else seems to be unremarkable. This might seem a bit harsh, but consider this... You asked someone to hold product for you. They said no, and told you exactly why, both acording to BL rules, and because they didn't want you to tie up their inventory. Sure they could have been a bit nicer about it, but that's life. I don't know anything about you personally, but the wording of your message could leave the buyer thinking that you are a kid waiting for his allowance, and that's not the ideal customer to extend a layaway to. I could be way off on all this, but I don't think it's hard to see both sides of this issue.

I viewed my sig as a reference for the community. My link to Brickington is a bit self promoting, but the link to my article on acquiring used LEGO has proved to be quite popular and usefull to various members, and I hope that the NILTC link has made more Illinoisian AFOL's aware of what is probably the only active Chicagoland LUG, and one of the midwest's largest and most active LEGO Train Clubs.

What can be said Teddy, this is truely fantastic! Your models look good from every angle, and your use of detail at natural edges while still maintaining areas of plain brick is as superb here as on the train station! I'm especially fond of the garden park in the rear, and the detailing is good there as well, but for some reason, the brown corner pillars look a bit tacked on, and don't quite mesh with the rest of the building. Still, that's a small quibble with an absolutely inspiring building.

I wouldn't say that the doors are crap. If anything, I think they look better than the original. It's just the gap that's a bit distracting. Now that the bus is lower, it looks longer (and consequently bigger) to my eye. Very nice job.

Great job, I love the choppy water look. It would look great around a lighthouse, or in the wake of a boat. The riverwalk is great too, I thought it was quite charming before I even noticed the water technique.

Remember if you all will, that LEGO's stated policy was "No War Toys" I don't think that they specificaly banned all violence for a long time. So far they seem to have interpreted "no war toys" as meaning no opposing forces of modern or near modern military. With Indy, they get around the war toys thing by making the germans and russians not fighting a war, but rather, they are the bad guys facing off against Indy and his friends. It also helps that it not in the modern era, but I think the fact that the setting is an archaology adventure and not a war is the most important distinction. As long as LEGO is a family owned company, I do not think we will ever see a line of "War" toys. We might see a notable historic vehicle here or there (like the Sopwith camel) and I certainly belive there will be other licensed themes with military elements. However, those who are hoping for man vs man combat in a modern or near modern setting are in for a long and frustrating wait. LEGO has a status among parents along with Playmobile and other similar brands as being a "safe" toy in both quality and genre. They guard that status jealously, and though they will push the limits a bit here or there, it would be silly to think they would thorw away that reputation to sell war toys, especially when their current lines are -according to Steve Witt- selling very well.

Great Job Dave, the color scheme is nicely understated, and very realistic. Will you be using it to hide any of the auto-track-switches that you had hidden inside trackside shacks? If I could make one suggestion, a 3 wide balcony (one for railing, two for standing) could add a bit of visual interest in the form of a complete railing and perhaps a minifig or two standing up there.

I now keep most of my trains and track stored in the boxes from the UCS death star. Formerly, however, I had them on shelves. The IKEA LACK series shelves are wide enought to comfortably accomadate two layers of trains of almost any size, and are available in alot of wood and laminate colors. Here's a picture of the shelves. I haved four of them, here's a picture of what they look like. There are other bracket options, but I like the brushed end brackets the best. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3440944

I display every set I get... However, for me, "display" is a few shelves where where sets reside until I need the parts or need space for a new set. Some sets have been on display for over a year now, but as soon as I need the parts, they will be no more.

Yep, Market Street is gone. It lasted alot longer than most Factory exclusives, so that's a good thing, but there's no need to freak out about it being discontinued. If you want a cafe corner, I would get one soon, as I seriously doubt that it will make it through the end of the year. As for ordering Market street, through factory, can someone explain this? I don't think you can, because alot of the pieces needed for MStreet are no longer part of the PAB palete.

There is a premium to be paid for buying online, but that is to be expected. Shipping cost is what it is, and that can't be changed. Further, if Shop-at-home prices were less than stores, then TLG would catch hell from the retailers for undercutting their business. It's much more important for TLG to maintain their relationships with retailers than to try and match prices. Also, online prices are nearly always less than TRU. Shop-at-home is a way to service for special items, customers without a nearbly retailer, and those who want an extra degree of convenience, and their is a premium (in the form of shipping costs) to be paid for those services. Why should this be surprising? Lastly, for those who watch shop-at-home carefully, there are often amazing deals to be had in the "Sales and Deals" section that are much better than store sales. They only happen a few times a year, but I've ordered quite a bit from those sales. For those with a LEGO store in their area, go to the store and if they don't have what you want (and it is available on the website) you can order it in the store and they will ship it to your house for free. The only excpetion is that this is not valid for PAB online, and they won't match all online sales.

All right, I'll play. These are all from my school days, and there are lots more, but just a few of my favorites... In 7th grade gym class I jumped up and grabbed the box that holds the winch for lowering and raising the basketball hoop. Stepped up on a ledge and stood there for a minute. When I came down I realized I had sliced my hand open. 12 stitches later... I didn't get in trouble because the gym teacher said "We didn't have any rules about climbing the walls because we didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to try!" Freshman year of high school Tried to climb over the acordian doors that separate some hall ways. ended up with 24 stiches in a one square inch area of my finger. Doctor says I nearly de-gloved my finger. I'll leave the full meaning of that up to your imagination, but the "glove" he was refering to was all the flesh over my finger bones. In trying to climb over the fence I also ripped the seat out of my pants and left my backpack behind. I was suspended for a day when they found a swiss army knife in my bag that I used to keep my nails and cuticles trimmed for playing doublebass in orchestra. Sophomore year of high school. Got excited on the phone, lept out of the chair I was in. Managed to land awkwardly and fracture one of the bones in my foot. The real fail was my brother trying to punch me a few days later while I was sitting down. I lifted up my leg, he punched the cast, and fractured a bone in his hand! The third part of the fail was me needing a new cast because I went rock climbing with the first one on!

Now that the prices have gone so high, and there aren't that many sets that interest me, I usually get Star Wars sets only when they are on sale, or from resale shops. However last year I did buy the Y-Wing #7658. I've always liked that vehicle, and it's lasted longer on my shelf than most sets.

Good Job TLG. IIRC, this is only the third recall in LEGO history. That's pretty impressive. With no injuries, and only a few reports of heating up, it sounds like LEGO is probably recalling an item that isn't terribly dangerous, and that speaks well of them. For those that have them, if they aren't heating up, I'd actually rather wait until the new device is presented before sending mine in for replacement. Otherwise you may be stuck with a train that can't be run.

I really have no way to tell, but I currently estimate my collection to be between 100 and 150 thousand bricks. Eventually I hope to weigh them and estimate that way, but I have no plans to ever count them.

7898 has alot of play value, but I don't care for the RC system, so the track, power, and transmitter are all useless to me. I'll stick with 4512. If 7898 goes on sale, I'll pick one up as a great parts pack, but I definitely won't be buying one at full price.

I wouldn't worry about finding a fill in. Just use the report button, and if the staff sees it as necessary, they will intervene. As was said, the report button goes to multiple staff, not just one.

The LEGO brick is based on the kiddiecraft brick invented by Hillary Page of england. LEGO converted the brick to it's nearest metric dimensions (nearly the same, but not quite), and like the Kiddiecraft bricks, LEGO bricks dimensions are not of equal ratio. What I do not know is whether Kiddiecraft bricks are an exact 5:6 Ratio, but they must be very close, since the dimensions LEGO and Kiddiekraft bricks are so similar. More info here: http://www.hilarypagetoys.com/

It is about marketing, but LEGO should get credit for shrinking box sizes recently, and using simpler (if less fun) boxes to reduce materials. The boxes to tend to be a bit bigger, but the new engineered box designs pack better, and the large sets use much less material-intensive packaging by leaving out the trays and inserts.

Thanks for the observations Colonel. I don't think we've totally addressed the kid friendly nature of Eurobricks. Not that membership is open to all kids, but it is a site that is more kid friendly in terms of layout and feel. It's good to hear that along with that, we are still appealing to AFOL's I don't have the numbers for daily hits at LUGNET, and Eurobricks is probably not yet as influential in the wider AFOL community as LUGNET was at the height of it's popularity. However, in terms of daily posting activity, Eurobricks has far surpassed LUGNET in terms "popularity". Since you haven't been to LUGNET, I suggest you head over there and take a look. This thread is not intended to be a slam on LUGNET, but it was the numbers I refer to that prompted me to create this topic. Eurobricks

Box size is indeed a balance between large enough to catch the attention, but small enough to not be too wastefull. I don't think for a minute that non-AFOL-Adults are much less susceptible than kids to judging a set based on box size. Regarding the simpler boxes, and the new smaller boxes, here's something I posted in the earlier "going green" thread. I got out my copy of "The Brick" (Go to LEGO.com and get your free copy now!) and brought over some more details about LEGO going greener New box sizes -7% smaller -Designed to pack together better -54 sizes of boxes made instead of the 85 that were made last year. -1352 less truck trips needed in europe and 598 less needed in USA Energy reduction -Set goal of 10% reduction over next 3 years so that energy use in 2010 will be 90% of use in 2007 -possible areas include manufacturing, packing and shipping. Thus, the old days of boxes with tray/outer-box/door are probably long gone. Boxes are still big, but they are smaller and less wasteful than ever before

I'll definitely be attending. My section of the NILTC layout will probably be improved with a more extensive marina, and other details. Most importantly, I'd like to lead another discussion on AFOL's and community service. at Brickworld 2009 we had groups present what they were doing, and answer questions. Next year I'd like to have the same groups lead the discussion, but make the focus having the meeting attendees brainstorm about new ways to use LEGO in community service.