Evans

From what I've seen on the rare sets I get at the time of their release (mostly GwP), it's that these are produced (packed) something like three monthes in advance. For example, the Dots 30556 polybag I got in March was prooduced on fourth week of 2020 (late January), and Mini gingerbread house was packed on 36th week of 2019, so in September, when I got it in December. I can't tell for bigger sets and normal retail sets because I buy a few and always on sale, so never at the time of their release. Just look at the production code stamped on the box, or on its seals.04S0 means packaged on 4th week of 2020, or 636S9 means packaged on 6th day of 36th week of 2019. This system is there since the 80's, you can look at the seals of bigger sets like 6385 or some 12V trains and see these numbers. This means that there may have been anouncements in dealer catalogs half a year ahead of release date, and sets are not yet produced, so leaks and mockups can exists (like for toy fairs, eg: Ninjago snake train, or 7249 crane that was shown as 8 studs wide rather than 12), but no regular set is already produced. They may (or not) have at least produced some instructions booklets and packagings but these have to be trashed. That's why there were P.D.F. instructions on lego customer service website for the unrealeased Lego game Phileas & Pherb in 2012, even if it have never been released. It was en error, good for us to know more about what we missed. Ten years ago, we had leaks for summer (June) wave in January, now Lego is more strict on what they show, we will see less unrealeased sets that before.

@leafan This is a sticker from the sheets given with the Lego Club UK in the late 80's. There was a lot of different patterns for Space, Town and Castle. You can find them on BL, with the number tlcuk... something IIRC.

In fact, it's not even a modification, because 12V wheels holders and wheels can be disassembled. I've found one sort that can very easily be disassembled, and another one which I haven't been able to disassemble yet. I've not found a way to differenciate them externally neither. It's useful to dismantle them in order to clean the «nail» or axle, to remove dust, hairs and friction dust that makes those wheels even more inefficient.

Hello Davide! These first tests are promising! It will allow so much more possibilities in recreations of accurate models in pure 80's style. Non-German steamers, Swiss locomotives, I already see quite a lot of uses! I hope to see more soon!

Nice modification! Did you use the hairdryer technique in order to separate the red mast and the white base? Or did you cut them? I also have some not working properly, I was wondering if it could be remote-controlled with a string system and a lever, maybe even tied with a (non-Lego) circuit-breaker in order to use them with 12V trains, instead of light signals, to give more diversity on the network. Semaphores were still something in the 80's! I still have to dig this idea.

I understand your choice concerning the windows shape, considering it's a wooden car. 12V being a toy train is the best vision we can have. Most important it to evocate a model, and give some impression with some important details or with a particular paint scheme, rather than overdetailling in order to be accurate. These inaccuracies are what makes 12V system coherent and fantastic.

Here are excellent creations! Use of Green, Dk.Gray and Old Brown gives an authentic look to these trains. It's so rare to see stainless stell cars creations fitting for 12V layouts. I love the way you've put the shield on the Kaiser car. It's just missing some white train windows. Good technique to make such offset doors on these cars.

Very good creation again for a mythical train! The panorama car is really a highlight of the train. A gray era version would indeed be a nice idea!

There is still possibility to put 70's piston rods (like in set n°133), these are yellow, but it's better than nothing. I still need to find a pair for my 7710.

Here it is! This «torque tuned motor» may be of interest for a shunting locomotive which woud pull long and heavy passenger cars. There is no battery problem as long as the 4,5V (or 3V) are delivered by track, the only thing is to avoid accidentally killing the motor with 12V. Really interesting trial!

Black base with black motor, even if it looks dark, it looks less German, as all the other steam 12V locomotives are. But if you really don't want the two same colors, I think that black base with red motor doesn't look bad either. I powered mine with a MOCed 4,5V tender (with set n°107), so it's also possible this way if you want something other (and cheaper) than a 12V motor. Edit: 50th message in 8 years, that's definitely the speed of a 4,5V train!

Excellent creation! Instantly recognisable! It shows the potential there is to make interesting creations with pre-1980 parts. It would have sold like hot cakes back then considering the success it had with toy trains in France. This one is on my to-do list for a Gray Era treatment, maybe in Corail livery.

I was speaking about the blue plates under the base, which will be touched by the wheels when turning. The front wheel holder needs some clearance under the base. There are no plates under the black base in set 182.

Nice MOC, it's so rare to see proper blue era MOCs. You should use the 2x2 macaroni bricks (3063), these were already in production in Lt.Gray in 1979 for a NA only set. Aso, you should up your base by one plate in order for the wheels to turn in curves. You can put one plate high between the motor and the baseplate to do that. Don't forget that as long as a mold is existing, you can use the part in any era-accurate color; Lego designers were introducing existing parts in not already produced colors, so why not you in an alternate reality? I see some well known TEE names, it's nice to have this historic background.

I have issues moving around big layouts in Bluebrick, when these are bigger than 10 baseplates long. There is no other way to move apart of the mouse scroll function. Is there a possibility to move with the right click of the mouse, and the menu would appear only with a static right click. Also, is there a possibility to show the current interruption of the 12V circuit breaker rail? It would be easier to show the different sections of a circuit.

Nice windscreen with these 2x2 slopes. It loooks to be a quite massive locomotive with such a high front.

Very cool locomotive, with such a different shape than usual for 12V locos! Nice group shot too! I hope you will build a nice layout to show them in their natural environment.

There is a NL based shop which states they can recreate any sticker, they don't have yours yet, so you may ask them? It's Brickstickershop. I haven't tried yet, but I will make an order there next summet to get S.N.C.F. stickers for my 12V trains. Too much D.B. in my collection...

I don't know any mean of de-yellowing such paper stickers. The only way to have white stickers (as far as paper stickers -made until 1980- are concerned) is to buy reproductions. Even stickers in MISB sets will show some yellowing because of the glue that goes into the paper. Sun and humidity can worsen the yellowing, I have the same set with worse yellowing on stickers. Your stickers are in excellent condition by the way!

Excellent locomotive, very nice that you have built such a specific motor configuration. Have you led real life trials to see how well it stays on track? I love the roof shape, with the 1xX plates on the sides and the 4xX plates between. It gives a nice curved look. So I believe only the 4 wide part of the roof is removable? Nice to see a whole train with these tank cars, I made a similar design with Total branding. But I used 1x4x1 lattriced fences instead of the plates assemblies for the roof raillings.

Excellent creations! I'm becoming familiar with these trains since I'm studying in Germany. I'm currently working on French trains in 12V style, using only parts availlable at the time too, so this is a really tricky challenge to complete. The V200 is superb, given its tricky nose! It's good to see the dinstinctive pattern brick-built. I would just suggest you to use green at least, and maybe old Dk.Gray to be even closer to the original models. Especially for the Donnerwagen. These parts were availlable at the time, but not for everyone. :) I hope you will continue making 12V trains live with other great models!

Interesting test. To have some non-battery biased results, wouldn't it be more accurate to lead such a test with 9V tracks and motor? So no random power supply that could interfere, and only rolling resistance measurment. Another concern is when the wheels will have been quite used, and will be scratched, as when I buy used trains, or when the wheels will be old and used. The plastic holder and plastic wheels introduced in 1984 (in Town sets) to replace metal-axle wheels have very bad rolling too after some use. It's not important on vehicles wheels, but will have consequences on trains performances with time.

Nice piece of collection. There are many ways for Lego to use such a huge model. It have been used to illustrate this idea book, but such models were also used for professionnal toy fairs in which Lego was presenting their toys, or for mall or big shop exhibitions. There was also models made for Legoland (IIRC there was a space center in the early 70's), or to decorate their offices in the different countries. This one makes me more think it would have been used for a big store display. Glued models varies from small sets just for the small toyshop to show the real product, small decorative pieces that are (or not) seen in idea books, to big models like this, or big statues that are very heavy. And many idea books models have been found as glued display models. This is one more, and it's very beautiful. I don't think a lot of glued models are really unique (so made in only one copy) as it's a lot of work for people to assemble and glue these. What makes them unique is the fact these survived to the trash bin for a long time, as it's taking a lot of space, and may be unattractive when these are in bad condition. So bigger these are, more likely these have not been preserved, even if some toyshop owners sometime gathered a nice collection that is only discovered 40 years after. Also note that Lego's policy nowadays is to take back and destroy the glued models, I don't know how it was back then, but there was surely less controls. Do you have any close-ups of the model?

Lego rarities collector Olaf Blankenfeldt have this one, along with other statues. Check his Flickr gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vintage-lego-toys/

I don't think it's fair to spit on World City as one could do with Town Jr. Town Jr. was an evolution of the town theme, but that was going in the wrong direction. It contained rather nice-looking and innovative minifigure torsos, but the builds were crappy and it was what should have been the future of the Town line before noticing the sales drop, and strategy change. It led to the 2001 and 2002 hiatus of the town line, in order to restart with fresh and good ideas. World City is before all a transitional theme, between Town Jr, and more widely the "old times", made of 4 wide angular vehicles to something new and that would fit in the XXIth century context. World City was a way to set the grounds to City, with very new parts like the 4x4 wedge that is used on most of the 4w city cars, and it introduced new angles to the vehicles building. Of course, a mix of old-school building and new parts may not look right, but it was a matter of time to intruduce the new City system and its parts, like the mudguard part, the specific vehicles bases and so on. So World City was a first step on way less <insert that tiresome argument> sets, and more up-to-date designs. I mean, it was also very futuristic-looking, but it was a try to something new, and it led to nice trains, like 4512, which is a very complete set that would still not look out of place in a 2019 layout. I don't like 4511 train, but it's depicting a japanease-like high-speed train, like Shinkansen. It may not have pleased everyone but it was something new, and a bit less fictionnal than late 90's trains, despite having these odd cargo containers in a passenger carriage. It's just a matter of MODing it. The last big train station was also released in World City theme, it was just a futuristic approach to the well-known 1991 train station, but it was still an impessive set. The coast-guard line was rather appealing and I don't see how one can see this set as a Jack-Stone building, just look at the Jack Stone R.E.S.Q. coast-guard H.Q. and compare. This building is more a mix of mid 90's Town building and modern parts like the quarter-cylinder window (that we will meet again in the 2011 police station and some other City sets), that are sitting on a very cleverly repurposed Belleville baseplate. I ever wonder if this plate was not designed to fit both themes. When we are speaking about World City, don't forget to include (or not) the Spider-Man sets from 2003 and 2004 that were very nice complement to the line, with the same spirit and building methods. Look at the subway set, or at the bridge, that was reusing these crappy Racers parts. There was even a better-looking police car (with a roof!), and if 4030 don't please you, just build it like in Spider-Man first chase set. To conclude, never forget that the World City primary reason of existence is to be a transitional theme, that was acting a bit like 1975-1977 sets for the Classic era with non-moveable minifigs, but forming a sort of "pre-system". World City is just a precursor of the more reasonnably modern-looking Lego City.