Israel Hands

"Not now aunt May. i'm kinda busy"

Exactly the same thing happened to me, this was a kitchen fire. (I still the have photos of the aftermath). I had my ships (Imperial Flagship and the Queens Ann's Revenge) on display in the next room. When I moved them to clean them up, there was a lovely silhouette of both of them on the wall. To clean them I disassembled both and used a diluted solution of sugar soap. I scrubbed the bricks with a toothbrush. Since its designed to work on surfaces affected by greasy or tarry deposits, it should be ideal. While it should work on printed bricks I have no idea what would happen to stickered ones.

LEGO: The Toy That Never Gets Old I bought the last of the Daily Mail free Lego give away newspapers today. All told I think that means that to collect all eight poly bags it cost me £6.30. :) Bargin I'm intending to give them to the grandson as an extra Christmas present. It occurred to me that I still had the old Lego carry case around somewhere (part no 2746). It must be over 20 years old by now. Originally it was used to store the kids Lego, but for a long while now I've been using it as a general storage box. So I tracked it down, gave it a good scrub and I'm going to fill it with the polybags for him,

It's a very nice set. My only complaint, and it's an issue with all recent Lego sets, is that they no longer include the "alternative build" photographs in the box art or instructions. I liked those and it encouraged/reminded you what you can do with Lego. It's especially annoying in this set since it's entirely possible to make a very passable TIE Interceptor just using the pieces in the kit.

Very nice. I like this a lot. I'm not very good at MOC so I think I'd like to try and copy this for one myself.

I couldn't see the sets in the prelim link, but I have found this alternative site with images http://needlessessentialsonline.com/new-lego-2015-pirates-chima-ninjago-and-ultra-agents-first-images/

Sorry Phred, no. We do have the Tall Ships festival where you can go on board the ships, but this time I think every one was too busy with filming to allow civilians around. However I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Earl of Pembroke was back/still there this weekend, and yes I did have a good walk round. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me that time. :(

Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass Film stars come to Gloucester. Last week the docks at Gloucester (UK) were closed for a week while film crews shot scenes for "Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass". The film stars Anne Hathaway, Johnny Depp, Michael Sheen, Sacha Baron Cohen and John Sessions. Tim Burton, who directed the previous Alice film, is producer. http://www.bbc.co.uk...rshire-28844711 http://www.westernda...ictures.html#18 When the local newspaper announced the plans earlier in the year, the words "Johnny Depp", "tall ships" and "filming" in the same story meant that many mistakenly believed that the next Pirates of the Caribbean film was being shot right here on our doorsteps. Unfortunately this was not to to be since it turned out that Johnny Depp was reprising his role as The Mad hatter, and not Jack Sparrow. However we did have a nice collection of tall ships making berth at the local docks for a week, which was good enough for me. Set Dressing To give the impression of a thriving London dock side, the quay was decorated with crates, barrels and old wooden carts. In addition, cargo was loaded on the old cranes. It's a shame that they took these away when filing was complete as they provided some lovely ambiance. The ships on display were: The Earl of Pembroke: Wooden barque http://en.wikipedia....roke_(tall_ship) This wooden barque seems to be the main ship. Most of the set dressing was arranged on the side of the quay where this ship was docked. It's 145 ft long and it has a certain Black Pearl vibe to it. During filming the ship was renamed as The Wonder Kathleen & May: three masted top sail schooner http://en.wikipedia....athleen_and_May The 114-year-old Kathleen & May is the last remaining British built wooden hull three-masted topsail schooner and tall ship. Irene: Klatch Lady of Avenel: 102ft Brigantine http://www.sailingdr... of Avenel.html Excelsior LT472 (Not very good pictures I'm afraid)

Done with mirrors, yes? Still, even the main section is very nicely done

"And I would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for those pesky kids!"

There's also BrickLink http://www.bricklink.com/ Not affiliated with Lego, more of a Lego marketplace oh, and great job on the Batmobile :) p.s the link doesn't work as it is. I had to edit it to get it to work for me

Thanks for the help, Roger. It tuns out that I have enough parts to make a passable 6956 Stellar Recon Voyager, or a 6923 Particle Ionizer or 6877 Vector Detector, just not all at the same time I am missing quite a few parts but I still managed to put together a reasonable facsimile of each. Since taking this picture I've replaced as many red bricks as I could with blue ones and have managed to convince my grandchild that the Recon Voyager is Benny's Spaceship-Spaceship-Spaceship. So he's happy :) I still have quite a few red bricks left, so I'm guessing they had quite a nice space collection going on there. There's only a handful of parts from the airport (two windows, part of palm tree, and a tail wedge plate), so nothing I can recreate. I'm going to take a look at the technic parts next, see what I can put together. Thanks for the suggestions so far

Well of course they are, though to be honest, I've never had to separate out my studs before I've worked out that the red slopes with the "M" on them are from the Mtron set. I've never collected any space items before so I've never seen them before. I wonder which set it is?

Bought on a Whim from a Charity Shop Local charity shop has had a bag of random Lego bits on sale for a while for £30. I wasn't interested then, but when calling in today I saw they had been reduced down to £10. Too good to resist, even if I just end up with bricks and plates. Took a while to sort out. It looks like someone's mum got fed up with their kids mess and just emptied out the toy box. The bag had all-sorts mixed in, batteries, other bits of toys etc, pieces of paper, Now the last time I bought a random pile I ended up with an almost complete Black Seas Barracuda and Lego fort lift truck 850. This time I'm not so sure. There's some nice pieces there, and I'm pretty sure that for £10 I've done very well, but can anyone see anything build-worthy in there? Also, any thoughts on how much this lot is worth, how much of a bargain have I snagged today? The battery box (bottom picture), may be a waste though. The batteries inside had perished and burst and had to be pried out with a screwdriver Nice horse piece and some sort of funky, retro looking motorcyclist Also, What Are These? What are these bits? I don't believe they are Lego. They look like some sort of connectors. They are very small, about 5mm wide. Apologies about the blur, as I said they are small.

Is there any significance with the serial number across the chest piece? The promotional images has the serial number as SM-XXXXXXXXXXX, yours is very different. Is it an unlock code for the LEGO game?

er no, UK based. I did wonder if my offer would come back to bite me in the bum. :) As for your larger sail, it's going to be expensive, but if you could find the canvas in A3 you could cut it down so that it's A4 width, but longer. Then set the printer to custom paper size.

Great looking ship so far. The price is a little bit to sleep for my purse though A thought about the sails. (Just to be pedantic BTW, the process is to treat the calico with gesso and then print, not the other way round like you posted earlier. Also minor nit, but if you check it out, the sails that you posted are not symmetrical.) Printing Sails I was inspired by Struddles' technique for sails making but I ran into a couple of issues. First, calico is a bugger to work with; it wrinkles at the drop of a hat and required heavy washing and ironing to start to get it to a workable state. In addition, the painting process takes a while to complete. Paint one side, hang to dry, paint the other, dry. Repeat. Someone here suggested using pretreated artist canvas. Apparently you can buy them in artists shops in books of A4. I haven't found any, but canvas paper specifically designed for injets worked well for me. Your nearest major stationary store may have some. I bought mine from Cartridge World. The first set I bought was True Canvas (100% cotton canvas) 226gsm (170gm2), 5 sheets for £5.95. The texture was very good but it felt thicker then the material used by Lego. Thicker then calico but very much similar in appearance and colour. It worked well for sails but I think it would be too thick for smaller items, like capes Using the True Canvas set I made replacement BSB sails and I'm happy enough with them Close-up, you might be able to make out the weave The other set I tried was again from Cartridge World. Canvas, 220gsm, 20 sheets for £6.99. Less impressed with these. Very bright white, lighter then True Canvas, and has a plastic feel to it. Here is a quick test print I made of your sails on the lighter canvas. And again, here is a close up. The darker canvas at the top of the picture is a scrap of the heavier True canvas Making Holes I originally used a standard paper hole punch for, well, making the holes, but they were too big. However my Eyelet plier kit (Wilkinsons) made holes that were the perfect size. I am happy to send you a couple of pieces of off-cut canvas for you to take a look at if you want.

They are crazy, but it's not too costly to make your own.

Cammo, you asked for comparison pictures so here they are. Hope you don't mind too much Pcvando. It's of similar length but the stern is much higher. As for playability, compare the cabins of the Sea Cow with the Imperial Warship. The Imperial gives you about 9 x 14 bricks to play with, while the Sea Cow is only 6 x 10 (with the actual floor is only 6x6). The lower desk is even smaller. I doubt a child could easily get their hand in there Lower Deck It's a nice set but it's not one of my favorites by a long shot, and I am suffering a bit from buyers remorse. Guess I'm not buying the stumpy proportions and the busyness of the steam punk look. It also lacks playability. The cabins are far too small to get your hand in to place figures, and I'm not sure that a kid could easily either. I'd say it's a piece for collecting and owning but not for playing. That said, there are aspects that I like. Additions: There's a good collection of extra models; the micro managers, the couch, Metalbeard Sails: I actually like the sails. It wouldn't work for a pirate galleon, but for a ship that has a lot of small sails, like a full rigged or brig, it would work. The only problem is that they don't move much. There is slight pose-ability but I wish you could swing them out more Design: While I think it's too busy, there are aspects and colour combinations that I would use elsewhere; for example the chandler design. In particular I like the steamboat funnel and firebox. I'd like to see a more realistic boat built around that design. The question is though, why do you need convincing to buy this model? If you like it, get it. But if you're sitting on the fence and think that you need convincing, then I don't think this one is for you.

Very nice ship. Loving the colours and playability. I would buy this set in a heartbeat. If Lego were re-launching the pirate theme this would be a great Caribbean Clipper type replacement.

Nice. I'm liking the movie posters

This is my copy of the special promo kit that was sent out to press. The origional (in tin) is going for sale on the secondary markets for ridiculous prices. £1,400 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lego-movie-promo-theater-tin-/221389234925?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item338bd3a2ed Since I don't care for Mint in Box items anyway, I'm more then happy to make my own First, here here the images of the origional item.... And now, here is my copy.... It was pretty easy to work out the exact parts used from the pictures above. The only thing I had to make by hand was the backdrop, It's also not an exact copy of the minifigs used, but thanks to the series 12 minifigs that are out now, you can put together a pretty good collection for a reasonable price. I could have ordered Wonder Woman minifig for £7 from Bricklink, but I'm not too bothered. Also, it's one of those sets where you can easily swap out the figures for any other one that it's in the movie (and that's a huge cast to choose form)

Great work. I've been replicating some of the models from the movie as well, and yes, you do get caught out as to how flimsy they are. Looking forward to seeing this one completed

Finished off Abraham Lincoln, I used part 981000 (truncated cone) as well. And thanks for the heads up about the two different flame types. I wanted him in the flying pose so after a few attempts I produced this. It's not eaxctly a replica of the Master Builder meeting hall, but I think it captures it's essence. For example, I think the hall is made of plain white bricks but the stained glass windows lights the interior a pastal hue. I replicated this using some tan tiles. Also, until this morning I hadn't intended to include another figure, but after watching the trailer again I realised that the scene looked a little bare. The tiles under Shakespear's feet are temporary as I intend to replace with a 1x2 tan tile and a 1x2 tan plate. Here's a top view of the base. Due to their unusual placing, the seats are held on using 1x2 and 2x2 tiles with center studs. So, thanks all for your advice and tips

"That I literally the dumbest thing I have ever heard"