Eilif

Very nice job. Perhaps an opening to the forbidden city could bring the two parts of the MOC together. Regardless, it does have the feeling of a MOC that tells a story. Great job on the cliffowork as well.

I'm very impressed. This has got to be one of the most "Set-like" of the LDD models that I've seen. Usually -as a result of the limited palete- LDD models are lacking some of the polish of set designs, but your model scarcely revealse the limits of LDD. Great Job! Where are the stickers from?

Thanks for all your comments folks. The feedback I've been getting recently has been a great inspiration to keep improving Brickington in the run up to Brickworld. Also I just corrected the last photo. Now you can see what it looks like when disassembled. The timetable's a great Idea. I think I have the sticker from the train station set that shows the train map somewhere. The red is just the plates the roof is based on. I might change that. You're right that the pedestrian walkway is not ideal. I considered a little bridge, but the required height for the club is over 15 bricks high! the walkway would dwarf the train station. Maybe a small walkway next to the road with a mini-gate would be better? Thanks! Thanks for the note on the pics, I'll get the correct picture up right away. You're definitely right about appearances, but I brought it as close as the club regulations would allow. We have alot of 8 wide trains whose greebles sometimes stick out even more! Glad you like the look! Gracias (from Sr. Polomar)! Nice depot you have there. I stocked up on red roof pieces at PAB when I first came out of my dark ages, and I've been finding them to be extremely useful ever since. I agree with you. The building next door will obscure most of the back, but you're definately right that it needs something. I've never built a dumpster before. I guess it's time to start! Thanks for the kinds words. (and the high score ) Great Observations! I think you're right, especially about the wall on the entryway walk. I'll try and work something in there to make it look not so blocky.

B-T-2B One more item knocked off my list of improvements to be made to Brickington before Brickworld. As always, here's the backstory. One of the main municipal improvements to Brickington has been the updating of the train station. Formerly, a simple covered platform dating back some 70 years, it now has received restoration and remodeling to include a ticket booth, and a second platform in between the second rails. All that remains of the original building is the red roof and the arched supports. Residents were quite pleased to see that the new middle platform was built to complement the style of the main platform. The new station has proved quite popular amongst the locals and especially tourists, who appreciate being able to interact with a transit employee and have all their questions answered before purchasing a ticket. It has also proved quite popular amongst the conductors who -as a resut of tickets being purchased before boarding- spend much less time selling tickets and making change, and much more time doing their more favored activities of keeping their coaches clean, and reprimanding rambunctious hooligans. Now for the pictures: Here's the whole station. In my former module, there was a road passing through where the station now is (despite the backstory, this is an entirely new MOC), so I have redirected the road over the tracks so it doesn't stop abruptly. A close up of the front. It's hard to see, but in order to accommodate the 1/2 brick setback from the tracks, the upper platform overlaps the lower step by a half a stud. Rear view of the station South side of the station North side of the station showing the ticketing booth Roof removed from waiting area to show the interior. I tried to build in a way that would allow me to have more studs for mounting minifigs. Also, it's hard to see, but the arches impede the opening of the door, so I mounted the door still facing out, but on the inside of the door frame so that it opens inwards, but still faces outwards. All but 4 of the buildings in Brickington are modular in the style of Market Street. That means that they are all built on a stackable 16x16 or 8x16 stud base. Here you can see the pieces of Brickington station disassembled. Both modules are 8x16, and the base will accept any of my other 8x16 modules. the roofs are larger than 8x16, but they can sit on top of any 8x16 module, and can be slid sideways to overhang whichever way the neighboring buildings may require. There you have it. I'm pretty happy with it, but I think it might be a bit plain, so any suggestions for improvement or enhancement are welcome. I'm also considering rebuilding it as two 16x16 modules, but that would fill the space awfully tight, and this has to fit in my layout right behind the "Shark Bar".

Great plane comparison. Med-Star rescue plane was one of my early sets too, and is a favorite of mine. The rear stretcher loading door is brilliant and seemed quite innovative at the time.

Man, that's the first minifig I've actually considered spending 12 bucks on...

I agree that parents are the most important influence on kids, but environment and society, including the toys kids play with have alot to do with it also. The studies I alluded to vaguely before bear this out. In the study, African American kids were given tests to analyze their associations. They tended to strongly associate "black" negatively, and white positively. A similar study found that when given the choice between a black baby doll and a white baby doll, they chose the white baby doll more often. This study was done in 1956 and 2005 with similar results. I'm not trying to take make this a "racial" thread. The reasons for this phenomenon are many, and the culprits diverse. My point is simply that what we expose our kids too, and what media, toys, and cultural elements we immerse them in does have a huge effect on the attitudes they develop, often times unconsciously.

I just realized you're in Chicago too. PM on the way!

Great MOC. I loved Beatrix Potter as a child, and probably still would if I had any of the books. Where's the rabbit head from?

I have to say I feel a bit dopey. I have dozens of those in various colors (most likely including black) and after building the pickup wheel wells with the sideways "cheeses" I didn't even think of using those pieces you mentioned. That would really make the wheel wells less boxy. Thanks!

Thanks for the comments. I tried to incorporate some of the changes you all mentioned, but between my lack of certain pieces in certin colors, or my attempts at functionality impeding the look of the model, I came back to the orignial design. Still, thanks for the suggetions, I do appreciate the helpfull feedback that you all offer.

Great job. I like these everyday scenes and they definatley reward a closer look. They look simple at first, but each of them has a couple of bulding techniques or object MOC's that are quite invoative.

Definately agree. Often times the "it's just a toy" or "don't get too worked up" are just ways of expressing that folks are uncomfortable discussing a given topic, or would prefer a given topic not be discussed. Such feelings are ok, just don't try to discourage others from discussing. As is often said "You don't have to click on the thread...." Personally, I'm glad that these kind of of things are discussed here, especially since the majority of members have proven themselves more than capable of discussing them in a measured and analytical way. Thought and dialogue are invaluable and not to be squelched.

I didn't buy any of them specifically for the project, but nearly all the 2x2x3 slopes and alot of the brown 1x4 and 1x2 were a fairly recent purchases at the LEGO store PAB. I've gotten the point where if I see a usefull piece at the PAB, I'll buy a half a cup or more, even if I don't have a specific use for it. Inevitably it comes in handy later for a building like this that uses alot of bricks that are not uncommon, but are not found in great numbers in current sets. Between shopping this way, and my resale excursions (see the link in my sig) I've done very little purchasing on bricklink which is a great resource, but often more expensive. Thanks, I'm really glade it's recognizable. Thanks, I'm glad you like it. As for the windows, the reason there is no frame is that I imagined them as being block glass, as is found on alot of industrial buildings. I probably could have made it better with 1x1 trans clear, but I only own 3 of those. I considered also turning the 1x2 sideways, but then it would have not have looked as good from the inside. It probably didn't help that my storyline refers to it as a historic boathouse, which would have definately had real windows instead of block glass.

Yeah, alot of hairs get split, but that's pretty much the case all over the internet. LEGO, LEGOs, Lego bricks, whatever, I don't care but for the acronyms at hand, I think it's best to stick with: TLG: "The LEGO Group" when refering to company that Produces LEGO. It's what LEGO uses, and what the vast majority of AFOL's use also. TLC: "Tender Loving Care" Reffering to a manner of treating a fellow human being. Splitting hairs, probably, but it's worthwhile to standardize acronyms whenever possible so that everyone knows what everyone else is talking about.

Thanks for the info. If you decide to post pictures, that would be great too. Good to hear that a2zever is not out of business for a while they were off ebay. It looks like all the shipping costs have been slashed. It still seems a bit steep for a clone, but the sets are pretty enticing, and they have one of the ancient Korea sets that looks awesome! As for Justkids, it was a Kmart store brand (no longer being sold as far as I know) that sold sets that were identical in every way to the Best Lock sets that were coming over at the time. They had 2 or 3 sets each that were repackaged versions from the Best-Locks military, police and fire themes. For further reading, here's a thread on Lugnet about Best-Kidz http://news.lugnet.com/off-topic/clone-brands/?n=2777 and here's a forum where I visit/post periodically that has the best info on clone brands. http://bloks.hyperboards.com/index.php

An interesting development to be sure. I'm torn between thinking that these are fairly unattractive, and useless, and on the other hand being pleased to see that they are at least System-compatible. It would have been nice if the McDonalds Batman stuff from last year had been made like this. I didn't bother to get any of those because they weren't System-compatible. I'd like to see the actual brick-built, mini-sets that we used to see, but I have a feeling that's a thing of the past. If so, lets hope that future LEGO cross-brand promotions at least adhere to the standard of compatibility that we are seeing in this release. I'll probably pick up one just to see for myself. If only they came in Golden Grahms...

Sorry to drag up an old thread. I had to express how happy I was to see this set reviewed. I tried to get a friend of a friend to get me a copy in Korea, but he wasn't able to. Now that a2zever is out of business, it looks like there's no way to get one now If you have any other oxford sets, I'd love to see them reviewed. As for Oxford sets appearing in the USA, it's a complicated issue. It appears that Oxford is being copied by several brands. Sluban, in China makes copies that even copy some of the box art. Very similar to what Enlighten/Shifty/Brick does to LEGO. Based on their slightly lower quality parts, the The "Just Kidz" (a KMART brand) and Best Lock appear to be clones of Oxford. Based on the sets they produced, it's very likely that Just-Kidz is produced by Best Lock.

Some of you have probably seen these boxes already, but last month a fellow member of my LEGO club (www.NILTC.org) showed me a great lower-cost LEGO storage solution. http://test-www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10073345 It's a brilliant container that separates into 9 compartments. Unlike many other brands of organizer, IKEA actually gives you enough dividers to make all 9 compartments. It's a bit larger than most similar containers, and is about half the price of others like the PLANO brand cases that alot of AFOL's use It might not be ideal for small pieces (craft store thread boxes are perhaps more suitably sized) as it doesn't subidivide as small as some brands, but it's quite sturdy, and has "legs-and-craters" to allow you to stack them on top of one another. I already have an established sorting system for all my loose brick, but I bought ten of these to organize all the bits (people, cars, boats, fences, acessories, etc) for my club train module. Though not completely translucent, an index card taped to the inside of the cover is completely clear and legible. As an idea of size, it is just large enough that my logging truck can be placed right-side-up and the top of the roof/exhaust is just a touch under the level of the closed lid. The inside is divided into 3 permenant compartments that are deep enough to have a 6 wide and 4 wide car lined up next to each other. Each of the 3 permanent compartments can then be subdivided into 3 smaller compartments. Perhaps best of all, since it's an IKEA product, it should be available at a reasonable price in a wide range of Eurobricks members' countries.

A couple of questions for those in the know... 1) Are these actuall Big-Ben Wheels, and/or did BBB have any involvement in their development? 2) Are there any tracks included in this set? I realize that these questions will probably be answered at the March events, but I thought I'd throw them out there in case anyone had any inside information.

Just picked up an opened, but apparently complete older advent calendar 2250 and a bionicle at a local thrift store. I'm not sure what to do with the advent calendar, but I'll be giving the bionicle to a friend's neighbor who loves them.

Nice MOC. Very peacefull and bright. A fine addition to any LEGO town.

Wow! I am super impressed! Great model, Great colors, Great pieces! At first I wasn't sure about the price, then I thought about the price-to-piece ratio of other train sets, and realized it's actually a great deal! $ is tight this year, but this will be a must-buy for sure. Like others, I'm definatley hoping that there will be additional cars available, but I'm not holding my breath. I will definatley be adding additional cars to mine, and even though there is no engine, I can definately work a 9V engine into the tender.

Nice Job. Oddly, this made me quite nostalgic. One of the first LEGO sets I ever received was a "BASIC" set with a very similar windmill. Still, I like yours better.

If you're wanting to do a large scale diorama, you may be out of luck, but if you are into MOC'ing, then there may be hope. A good sorting system can enable you to keep your pieces relatively compact. If you are willing to build a MOC, photograph it, and then disassemble it you'll be ok. Even in my room that is dedicated mostly to LEGO, I have to be pretty choosy about what get's displayed as there isn't as much space as I'd like.