Ralph_S

The shop is past the entrance. However, when the park is open you can get a shopper's pass, as in LEGOLand California, which allows you in for an hour (or at least there used to be). When the park is closed, as it will be in November, the shopping area near the entrance and the big shop are open. They close gates between the shops and the actual park, but open the main entrance. At least, that was the case two years ago, when I went there for a bit of Christmas shopping. Cheers, Ralph

The miniland section of the theme park is definitely worthwhile, but you can definitely get into the shop without entering the park itself. In fact, I'm pretty sure that this time of year the park itself is actually closed, but the shop will still be open to get some of the Christmas sales. It's still a fair drive from the M3 to the park BTW. You have to go all through Windsor Town. Cheers, Ralph

Thank you. As you know (and like you) I like to have some functionality in my models. It also means it takes up less space on my shelves Thank you. The main challenge when building this, IMO, was not so much the shape but getting the details to look right. In particular getting the sliding door to work was hard. I'd like to build a proper Blackhawk someday, but I tend to build US Army helicopters in old dark grey. Some bits of this design were already somewhat tricky to 'translate' from black to light (blueish) grey. Building this design in old dark grey would involve a pretty substantial redesign. For instance, the lower parts of the engines are built using brick, modified, 1 x 4 x 1 1/3 No Studs, Curved Top and this part simply doesn't seem to exist in old dark grey. They're not in sets and none have ever been sold on bricklink. The closest that I can come to building a BlackHawk is building one of the USAF MH-60Gs. Their colour is much closer to blueish grey. Cheers, Ralph

Several years ago, back at a time when I wasn't really active on EB, I built a US Navy SH-60F Sea Hawk helicopter. At the time I didn't have the parts to build it in the grey colour scheme that is normal for the SH-60, so instead I built it in the somewhat unusual markings of the Navy Strike Air Warface Centre (NSAWC), which flew on of their SH-60Fs in an overall black scheme. I was reasonably happy with the end result, but I continued to want one in grey. Last week I finally got around to building it, and here is the end result. It's an SH-60F assigned to US Navy anti submarine helicopter squadron 3 'Tridents', in the markings it wore back in 2001 when the unit was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. SH-60F Sea Hawk (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr On many pictures of the real helicopters they carry external tanks, so I built those for mine as well. The starboard hardpoint interferes with the sliding door, but like on the real helicopter, I solved this by having a gap in the door. When the door is closed, the gap is covered by a separate hatch. This arrangement was almost directly copied from the old model, with minimal changes. SH-60F Sea Hawk (9) by Mad physicist, on Flickr Many US Navy helicopters have a slightly darker shade of grey on top than on the bottom, and I replicated this on my model by using old light grey for most of the top and new blueish grey for the bottom. I didn't make many changes to the design when I rebuilt it in grey, apart from a few changes needed because the parts that I used in black aren't available in the right colour grey. SH-60F Sea Hawk (3) by Mad physicist, on Flickr One more change that I made for the rebuild was replacing the non-LEGO windows on the original with brick-built versions. They might not be as transparent as the old ones, but I do prefer a 'purist' solution if I can. For compact storage aboard ships, the rotor blades and the tail can be folded. SH-60F Sea Hawk (6) by Mad physicist, on Flickr It can be fun to revisit an older model and give it a fresh new look. I hope you agree that the end result turned out well. Cheers, Ralph

Because you haven't given them the opportunity to fix it. I've had dozens of orders from Amazon. I've bought, books, CDs and electronics from them, as well as lots of LEGO. I've also used them to send presents to friends overseas. They're generally cheap, quick and in my experience deal well with complaints. I have never had any significant problems with them. I once got sent a misprinted CD, which I returned (misprinted in that the music that was in the description printed on the CD wasn't actually the music that was on it) and for which I got my money back and I once bought a USB/ parallel port adapter that turned out not to work with my computer, which they replaced free of charge for a more expensive model that did work. Cheers, Ralph

Just for the record, the overreaction I referred to is not in complaining to amazon -if I was buying sets that I wanted to resell and they would arrive in this state, I'd complain too. The overreaction is in the title: "I'm never ordering from Amazon again!" Let them deal with the complaint, then decide. Cheers, Ralph

I think you are overreacting. Amazon;s boxes generally are pretty sturdy. This looks as though it was mishandled by the shipping company amazon use, which can differ from country to country. Send amazon customer service these pictures and ask for a solution. My experience with the way amazon (at least their UK branch) handle complaints is very good. By the way, I probably wouldn't even bother complaining about this as long as the parts inside the boxes were undamaged, but I suppose that all depends on what you want with them. Cheers, Ralph

Some of the cars do look , which is one of the drawbacks of wanting to have minifig cars that seat two figures side-by side. They look alright on their own, but as part of a town with pedestrians and other vehicles, they look far too big IMO. Smaller cars would be a better option. However, it's a nice looking mix of sets and MOCs and overall very well integrated. Cheers, RAlph

Thanks guys. I too think that these are very cool in real life. They may have started out as work-horses, but have become something of a cult classic. I just couldn't take it apart. Cheers, Ralph

I've had a Lego model of a VW Samba van for at least six years. The oldest phot I have of one dates from May 2005, which is when I bought my first digital camera. I may have built it prior to that. Back then, many parts that we have nowadays (cheese slopes, for instance) weren't available or weren't available in green. By now my model was beginning to look a bit antiquated compared to some of my more recent ones and for the last two years lingered in a box of models that I am likely to take apart. However, I couldn't quite bring myself to get rid of it, and decided to give it a make-over instead. I've also seen LEGO's camper van at the Great Western LEGO Show last weekend, which may have played a role. It may look more or less the same as the old model, but it was extensively rebuilt. I decided to replace the non-LEGO windows on the old one with brick-built windows. I also decided to add the 'chrome' strip that forms the demarcation line between the two colours of the paint-job. I made the front wheel-wells nicer, lowered the ride height and made the small upper windows larger using cheese slopes. VW Samba van (2) by Mad physicist, on Flickr More changes were made to the back, adding bricks with a rounded top to the corners of the car body and using green grille tiles to represent the vents for the van's air-cooled engine instead of profile bricks. I also decided to show the model with the sun roof in the opened position. VW Samba van (3) by Mad physicist, on Flickr As usual on my larger scale models the doors can be opened. VW Samba van (4) by Mad physicist, on Flickr Finally, here is a combined picture of the model as it used to look and the new version. VW Samba van make-over by Mad physicist, on Flickr Revisiting one of old models was fun. I think the old one wasn't too shabby, but with newer parts and perhaps a litte more skill, I think I managed to make a big improvement. I hope you agree. Cheers, Ralph

Dank je (Thanks). The Kettenkrad is a weird little thing, but was fun to build. Driving it around is fun too. It works surprisingly well on carpet. Cheers, Ralph

I wasn't sure whether the gap was caused by a technic half pin (and whether that even fits properly into the bottom of the brick) or whether it was just the little groove around the bottom of the cheese slope. Cheers, Ralph

Let me be the first to compliment you on your legal solution for the handlebars. The minifig hands are definitely not a legal connection and because of them, the 1x1 plate that serves as the headlight (they often had a cover over them, btw, which is why I chose to make mine the same colour as the rest of the vehicle) is only just held on. You came up with a very nice compromise. Cheers, Ralph

Thanks for your very nice comments, Christopher. the main reason for the 2x2 round plates is that I wanted the wheel hubs to be dark grey as well. As far as I know, LEGO have never made the standard wheel for these tyres in old dark grey, only spoked ones. This meant I had to improvise. Using minifig seats for mudguards isn't something I invented, but I have used it on other trucks as well and it seemed a suitable solution for the mudguards on the matador as well. Standard LEGO ladders are too bulky to go on the tank, which is why I went for the solution with tiles. It's probably not a 'legal' connection, though. I am glad you like the look. Thank you. I know that Brickarms are high-quality products. I won a contest a few years ago and received a Brickarms pack as the prize. However, they're not really for me. I might use custom stickers, but I prefer purist solutions. I've got plenty of LEGO pistols and rifles, but the groundcrews usually weren't actually armed, which is why mine aren't either. They may have had personal weapons, but normally wouldn't drag them around when servicing airplanes. I'm probably going to buy some LEGO black army helmets (they are in some ninjago sets) for the 'Germans'. They'll have to do. Thank you. I had a little look on brickshelf, mocpages and flickr to see what other builders had done and there are some nice examples of the Kettenkraftrad around, but they were all a bit big for my tastes. My airplanes are roughly 1/43 and I'd like to keep my vehicles as close to that scale as I can, making the Kettenkraftrad only about nine studs long. Cheers, Ralph

to die at a young age due to some bacterial infection that they couldn't cure yet because penicilline hadn't been invented yet... The early 1900s sucked. I'm really enjoying reading this thread. I'm not British, but lived there for more than three years. I'm glad I moved back to the Netherlands, but there is a lot about Britain that I miss. You guys manage to confirm all the cliches Cheers, Ralph

No offense, but what?

It's nice to see it in the brick and I'm curious to see how it will look with just one rear axle. I still don't really like the dual rear axles on the trailer, but there are tiller trucks that have those. Cheers, Ralph

That's a pretty amazing amount of detail for something this small. I think that is generally pretty hard to build a car that is small enough not to completely dwarf a figure next to it and make it look like a particular model. You did a very good job with the Porsche you posted a while ago and with this one too. Cheers, Ralph

So how did you attach those cheese slopes?

Thank you. It's the little details that makes these fun, IMO. I'm glad you like them. Cheers, Ralph

I agree. The shape is neat -kind of like a classic British roadster- but the colourscheme is a bit of a mess. It should be possible to build it in black, or red perhaps. I'm also very curious how the cheese slopes on the front are held on. Unless they are 1x2 cheese slopes, I can't figure out how they're attached. Cheers, Ralph

Thanks for the replies guys. I don't remember a Kettenkraftrad being in Saving Private Ryan, but it's not unlikely. Lightningtiger, thank you for the suggestion. I'm not going to be building any buildings for the show -my suitcase will be quite full/heavy already and there are only a few days left before I fly out, but I'll definitely look into adding some buildings if I do use elements of this for WW2 diorama. Cheers, Ralph

I'll be attending the Great Western LEGO show in Swindon next weekend, and decided to display some of my minifig scale aircraft models. Just having a few aircraft models on a table might be fun, but I figured it will be more interesting if I'd add some vehicles and ground crew too, so in the last weeks I've building a few new vehicles. The first is the last I built: an RAF Matador Refueling truck. This will accompany my Mosquito bomber. RAF Matador Refueler (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr Number two and three are a US Army Air Force GMC tanker truck and my own version of the ubiquitous Jeep, seen here with the ground crew. I've had the Jeep for a while, but never made a few changes recently. The truck is a rebuild of a model I built more than two years ago, but took apart, with a few minor improvements. Both vehicles are old dark grey. USAAF vehicles and ground crew by Mad physicist, on Flickr Here they are with my P-61B Black Widow, which I completed a few weeks ago. P-61 Black Widow with air- and ground crew by Mad physicist, on Flickr The fourth vehicle is probably the most unusual. It's a German Kettenkraftrad. It was originally developed as an air-transportable artillery tractor, but was actually used for all kinds of other roles. For instance, it was used for towing aircraft. I built it for my Heinkel He-219. Kettenkraftrad (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr I haven't made a picture of the whole lot together yet. I'll also be bringing US Navy aircraft (examples I built for Ed Diment's USS intrepid), but you're going to have to come to Swindon to see those! Cheers, Ralph

I've seen both pop up in the LEGO train MOCs group on flickr and took a brief look at them there. I didn't realise they belong together until reading this thread. I'm not familiar with the real trains, being from Europe, so the reference picture helps. I also didn't realise that it had Power Functions. The whole package is very impressive and I am looking forward to seeing the full rake. Cheers, Ralph

I never had any of the adaptors, so I can't answer that question. You can identify the motor through the little window in the top. You can read the label on the actual electric motor inside it. It will read either 4.5V or 12V. If you can't read it, you can take off the top by undoing the two screws and read the label then. Cheers, Ralph