Eilif

Good suggestion. As well as double stamp days, ask for a lego club official membership card. It doesn't do much, but every so often, you get something cool. I rarely check the calendar but I always ask when I go in. Last year there was a day that everyone who showed the card got a tic-tac-toe set (read: 5 cop and 5 convict minifigs!) for free with purchase. It just so happened that I was visiting two stores that day to find certain items, so I ended up with two of them!

Adam tucker was on public radio this morning. They were very positive about him and what his business represents for LEGO, but even the commentator mentioned the price as a downside to the product. According to the report the Space needle and the empire state building are next and will be out later this year. I have to say that I am now leaning toward purchasing the current offerings, even if only to support a fellow AFOL and show a little Chicago pride.

LOVE the Loyalty card! I also fall prey to the "spend a bit more" to get the stamp. I've filled several of them over the last few years, and I can honestly say that the loyalty card, the PAB wall, and grab bags are the reasons that I when I buy LEGO at retail, I do so at the LEGO stores. Led, As long as you're buying at a LEGO store, ask for the card when you checkout, as you can't go back and get the stamps afterwards if you forget. Enjoy your LEGO trip...er.. I mean Vacation. Joebot, I probably won't be there when you are, but if you're there around 8:40 tonight, I'll be there installing my stuff in the community window.

Clearing out the gaming backlog to get some more LEGO. I'm happy to take pics of anything here, just ask. Here's what I have up for trade. -40 old 2nd edition plastic orks from the box set. and a whole messload of 3rd/4th edition heads, arms (shoota, choppa, etc) and accessories with which to customize them. -40 or 80 (I'll have to check) 2nd edition plastic gretchin. -12 plastic space marines, have had paint stripped, but still need some cleanup. Mostly disassembled most have torso and legs still attached about 10 of them have torso separate from legs. will ship with whatever accessories that you request (within reason and availability) 8 space marines assembled and lightly primed in white. 6 bolter, one flamer, one Missile launcher -10 Mcraage marines lightly primed in light grey (sgt primed white). -Bag o' SM bikers bag of stripped (one primed white) marine bike parts. Includes enough parts to make 4.5 bikes, with riders. -3 metal scout snipers -Bag o metal scouts. 10 scouts: 2 sgt, 1 h-bolter, 3 shotgun, 4 bolters. 3 scouts have heads removed, and 1 sgt has had chainsword removed. -2nd edition Space Marine Vindicator. Stripped of paint and partially diassembled. This is the one with lots of metal bitz. -2nd edition arbites, two bolter, one shotgun, one grenadier -Lots of SM, IG, chaos and basic Ork bitz. -Grendel brand resin APC. (very similar to apc from the movie Aliens) quite rare, I believe. It pains me to let this one go, but it was destined for the arbites, and now it is without a purpose -Kryomek game rulebook with transparencies. Lots of great fluff and old school artwork in here. -oop Grenaider brand blister pack of 3 native americans from the "shadowlands" game - void 1.1 gamebox: complete except that it is missing 4 of the 20 marines, and 6 of the 30 junkers. -I also have a very large collection of "found-item" terrain supplies for building in the "necromundicon" style. Let me know what kind of stuff you are interested in (or, if you're in the chicagoland area just come by and have a look). I will trade this stuff very much in your favor. What I want: LEGO: any color, any theme, any age, new, used, etc. Sets, or just boxes of pieces that you don't need. I'm really interested in everything. No megablocks please. PM me what you have, and what you want. I am happy to provide pictures of whatever you may be interested in. I'm open to trading in person if you're in the Chicagoland area.

Yep, those are definately LEGO gears on both guitars. This guy does great stuff, but for some reason, he neglects to properly age the big copper pipes on both of his guitars, so you have this great "aged" guitar with copper tubing whose only sign of use is small burns where it was soldered together.

Thank so much for posting these pics! I've been looking for ways to improve my seaside village, and especially for good designs for sailboats, and there's some great stuff in there. Very much appreciated.

You're close, the cylnder is the parking ramp. it spirals up about 5 stories, and then enters the Hancock building with all actuall parking inside the Hancock. I'm not sure on the exact floors, but IIRC floors 5-10 are parking, with shopping below, and everything else above. When you look at the building from the ground you can tell the parking floors by the different color light coming from the windows.

I like to build and display sets, but only for a while. I have 5 shelves that I can display on, and when space runs out, or when I want some pieces from a set, it comes down and get's sorted out into my collection. Unless you are a serious collector, don't fret too much about sorting out your sets. As long as you have a good method for sorting and storage, you should always be able to bring out the instructions and put back together any sets that you want.

Great review, I am as excited about the cargo plane as I am about the ferry. Even though I don't need alot of white and blue brick, this set is still very high on my want-it list. It looks like a very satisfying brick-based-build, with alot of potential for subtle improvments to make it minifig-compatible.

I hope I can be forgiven for not reading all 14 pages. I think that LEGO was meant to be played with. I agree with the folks who said that they would exchange for a couple of non MISB sets. However, if it's going to be a hassle, or it's not going to fetch considerably more than the unboxed version, I'm probaly going to break it open and build it, just for the fun of getting it "new". Then I'm going to improve on the design with my own pieces, and after a few weeks of having it sit on my mantle... ... I'm going to take the pieces and sort them into my collection, to be forever mixed amongst their like shaped/colored siblings. Oh, the horror!!! However, I might throw the collectors a bone and sell the box on bricklink!

I'm working on the following books. Cheaper by the Dozen: It's as good as I remember from elementary school. Street Signs, By Ray Bakke: thoughts on ministry and education in a rapidly urbanizing world.

Even though this is getting a bit off topic, I wanted to add that I'm right there with you. Yes, prices have seemed to go up a bit (PAB cups in LEGO stores went from 13-15$ this year) but when prices and piece counts are compared and adjusted for inflation, the resuts are quite startling. We are getting sets with more pieces, and paying less cash than almost any time in LEGO history. As for the suggestion that folks have made that LEGO is all about the money, they certainly are concerned with making a profit, but considering the fact that they are only recently out of a major financial crisis, I sincerely hope they are giving appropriate attention to their bottom line.

Funny that you should mention that, the next planned expansion is a proper marina with a yacht club. I am looking forward to trying my hand at a few sailboats.

OK, I was going to resize all the pics and repost, but I haven't had the time at home, and I can't do any resizing at work. Therefore, I've given in and just posted brickshelf thumbnails. They aren't huge, but they get the point across. I took some better, lower resolution pictures of the updated new layout from this weekend's show, and I'll post them in their own thread this week, but will not be updating the pictures in this thread any further. As always, the pics can all be viewed full size at the link in my previous posting.

I can't tell you how long I've waited for a good pictorial review of the Oxford brand. I have been an admirer of their designs for a long time, and have always respected how they consistently introduce such cool proprietery pieces, and don't steal the designs (though they do "borrow" alot of ideas) of LEGO and other companies. They must be doing something right, because "sluban" appears to be ripping off all their designs in China. Thier ancient Korean, and adventurer-like lines are brilliant, and they have a few really cool town-esque sets. One question though, how do the colors compare to LEGO?

Well done. I'm not a big fan of the "fire" subtheme, but I particularly like your fire station. It combines some of the classic 70's and early 80's stylings, with a scale that is more in line with current LEGO offerings. Excelent use of those fabuland-esque windows (house builder kit I assume?). I never could find a good use for them, but they are very effective on your MOC.

That's exactly the kind of thing I'm thinking about. It looks so good when I see it done, that I'm now leaning toward doing more of that kind of thing. I don't have the bricks to build everything in 1x2 bricks, but I may start incorporating it into the sides of buildings that face outward.

Klaus does it again, Another great classic town styled MOC. This one seems to have some relation to the houses in the "BASIC" line of the late 80's. One suggestion though, the tan tops of the "dormer" windows look a bit plain, perhaps some think can be added there?

I just checked out the architecture foundation shop. It's neat to see LEGO in there, but I agree with the folks that said the sets aren't remotely worth the price. I don't rule out purchasing them simply as a reflection of my love for Chicago and LEGO, but I forsee alot of parents seeing them built and saying "I spent 20 bucks on that?". I'll be curious to see if future additions to the line have more interesting pieces, and designs or if they will continue to be based around basic brick. I'm so glad to see LEGO cooperating with independent companies, that I am hesitant to critizize these buildings, but I have to say that after living in it's shadow for 4 years, the Hancock building model does not really capture the essence of that structure. Admittedly the gentle angle of the sides, and the charachteristic diagonal cross beams are hard to capture in a small scale LEGO model, but I'm not entirely convinced that most folks from chicago who were shown that model would say it was the John Hancock building. Even with the round parking ramp on the side and the notable top story windows, I think folks might be as inclined to guess it was the Sears Tower. That said, the Sears Tower lends it'self perfectly to LEGO, and Mr Tucker's instantly recognizable Sears model perfectly captures the essence of that iconic structure.

When building a wall, or any extended section of a MOC in one color, does it matter to you what size bricks you use? Formerly I didn't much care. I figured the section is one color, and no one is going to be able to tell the difference. However, recently, I've noticed alot of mocs that use certain sizes of bricks to get certain effects. For example, making a wall entirely of 1x2 bricks or plates to simulate the effect of real bricks on a town MOC. The wall is one color, and if LEGO was making the building for a set, they would probably just use alot of 1x8 and 1x6 bricks, but -to me at least- taking the size of bricks used into consideration makes alot of sense. I just started noticing this, and I don't use it everywhere, but last night while working on an 8x16 stud floor module I switched out one 1x6 from under a window with three 1x2's, and it made all the difference between a spot of plain color and a realistic looking wall. What do you all think?

I would definately start by clarifying what kind of army you are looking for. However, a good place to start as far as minifigs are concerned would be to see what elements are available on LEGO online Pick-a-brick http://us.factory.lego.com/pab/?warning=fa...id=&shipto= . Such things as "pixie caps" (i.e. winter caps), "mini caps" (police officer caps), minifig legs of various shades (green, black, grey, dark grey, etc) are available, and tend to be cheaper than most anywhere else. Torso's and other accessories may have to be gottne at bricklink, but take a look around and see what you can find.

Hillarious! It was a pretty trippy journey for those two. I don't recall, do they ever make it back home?

Spent way to much time on eurobricks (same thing for the past 1.5 weeks, actually). I've been temporarily reassigned for 3 weeks to cover for a co-worker who is away. I've been excused from my other work, and basically am locked in an office all day, waiting for work that rarely materializes. Not a terrible fate, but it would be much better if work computers had msPaint so I could resize all my misposted pictures. 1.5 weeks down, 1.5 weeks to go.

I can understand folks not knowing about the John Hancock building, but the Sears Tower was the tallest building in the world for a long time, and had the highest inhabited floor for sometime after that. I will be looking forward to hopefully seeing more international buildings in the future, however.

Neat topic, I don't know how I missed it before. Alot of my minifigs are stored with my train club module, but of those that aren't: I put all my town, aquazone adventureres, arcitc, batman, western, and spongebob minifigs on 4 32x32 basplates that are stacked on a frame made of technic bricks Pirate, Castle, space, Ninja and animals are bagged together by type and stored in two plastic shoeboxes. Star wars figs are in a plastic bag which resides in a slightly battered vintage "Return of the Jedi" lunchbox (thrift store $.50) All minifig accessories, headgear and extra body parts are sorted out with similar items into about 25 Akro Mills drawers. OCD completionists would not like my collection. I have some figs that are stock, but generally I mix and match at will, with the object being to have as many unique "everyday" type people for my town layout as possible. Adding to this is the fact that I get alot of my figs and parts used (bricklink, thrift stores, etc) so I just piece them together at will.