Karto

I moved last summer to a new house. As you probably know, that's a lot of work but I took the chance sort my Lego stuff. There was a spare room just waiting to hold all of it. Note: I'm more into collecting / restoring sets than building MOCs. Here's the result: The shelves: Uniboxes with unboxed sets: Some of he sorted parts: Note2: My provider seems kinda slow today. Pics should show up faster soon...

I drop damaged pieces in a standard Curver Unibox. I'm now at the fourth box, so I guess I must have around 30kg of trash. I'm more into set collecting, so I've no use for heavily used parts. I'll probably get rid of them when the fourth box will be filled.

The numbers are impressive but the pictures are bad. The guy should display the castle walls next to each other to make it more attractive and acurate.

More seriously, I would probably try to make some more interesting town sets. Not the 49th Police Headquarters or Fire Station. I guess a supermarket, office buildings, etc.

Well I'm an engineer and I already suggested my boss to use one... because he seemed a little frustrated at the time. I didn't get fired though Sorry if I offended some people, this was not my intention

Edit by Hinckley: Potentially offensive comment. Please read at your innocence's own risk.

I finally got that stupid mail this weekend... The only thing I could consider (but not agreeing with), is that a brand doesn't want to see its products sold by eBay retailers (I mean NEW). Just like Apple is doing for the iPhone. I guess, for example, that Apple and AT&T don't like to see unlocked Australian iPhones going by dozens on eBay.com at crazy 'Buy it Now' prizes (between 1000 and 1500$ each!). Just like in Australia, our iPhones are not SIM-locked here in Belgium, as that kind of practices are forbidden by commercial laws... until recent court decisions made at European level. The 'SIM-lock' in this case is a way to tell who might sell the product and who doesn't. If an iPhone is officially not SIM-locked, that means you can chose any operator and still can access all Apple services (including updates, iTunes, etc.). If this is legally possible, I guess other brands might have the idea to find a legal way to chose their dealers... Now, they probably would be quite angry at eBay if some very expensive items could no longer be sold - new - on their platform. I have the strange feeling that they are 'using' us to prevent it by arguing that this matter could also affect the 'second hand market' which is... highly improbable. Anyway, this is probably only about a few brands with very agressive marketing practices (with Apple as being the worst of all). I really doubt TLC has even consider anything like that...

I have another good one: Star Wars battleship SC (Supreme Collection) for only 250 Euro (under 'Buy it Now'). He has also a smaller one for only 200 Euro. Hurry or you'll miss this bargain!

To be honest, I have never seen an oxidated 9V track. Washing with water shouldn't be an issue.

Don't worry about the cleaning. We are already considered as being crazy just by collecting LEGO I just went today to my bank to request a special insurance policy extention for my 'collection'. You should have seen the face of the woman...

Some very small issues I had back in time (late 70s, early 80s): - The 4085a 1x1 plate with clip: The first version, made in 1980 was not made in classic ABS but in the same translucent material as the first airtanks or glowy hands. You could see this on the 'light gray' version of Classic Space, which was is fact 'Dark Gray'. It looked odd to have all gray sets with only those clips being darker. The next year, they were mixed up with ABS versions which had the right color... - Helmets (193au) and Headlights (4070), both first generation, broke easily at the bottom clip level. If you have some older headlights, look at how many have a notch at the bottom. - Bricks and Plates had more grip, probably because of the material but also because of the tight structure. Translucent 1x1 plates showed quickly lots of internal notches. I guess plain bricks and plates had the same issues but not visible. - Up to 1985, some 1x1 and 1x2 bricks (and formerly 1x1 and 1x2 plates) had mold marks on the side instead of on top of a stud (I think red and yellow were the last remaining). These marks became rapidly dirty and looked not too nice. - Road Signs were very nice but extremely fragile... too fragile for a child in fact. Also the printings tend to change (slightly) from year to year. - It seems also that there were some slight differences in parts used for the American market and the European one (I guess it is on that level). For example: I had 3 times the 928 Galaxy Explorer (number 497 in the US). The first one I got was from 1978, the very first edition. Torso's were not printed, I got stickers BUT, the red 1x1 cylinders were all with open studs (I never had a trans-red cylinder with closed stud). It seems that the 497 version was with printed torso's but with older closed cylinders. Now this is nothing compared to actual issues... The worst I have seen is that monstruous gap you get with the Train Front of the 7897 RC Passenger Train. A disaster.

There's, indeed, no legal way at all to do something like that in Europe. The last couple of years, the European Union has even enforced the customer's rights regarding the resell of used goods. A few examples: - A company cannot cancel any warranty when someone sells a 'used' product. In other words: if you buy an Ipod on eBay which has 18 months, Apple MUST accept the 6 remaining months of warranty (note: any electronic device must have a warranty of atleast 2 years, this includes LEGO Mindstorms and Trains). - Any person can sell used products as long as it is not meant for profit (buy and resell). In this case, you have several additional rights like not to have to accept returns of goods (see eBay.de where a lot of people mention this law article in their auctions) and no warranty. etc. Bricklink, that's another story. European law (= created on EU level and acknowledged on National level by its members) says that you may resell used goods as long as it is not meant for profit and not on a regular base. It can seem quite vague, but it's up to a court to decide whether a commercial act applies or not. I think we can consider Bricklink shops as trading places, meant for profit and reselling on a regular base. Any reseller should then be, in theory, a registered trading company and pay taxes. In the worst case scenario, a court could request the information of all the members (of the related country) and control whether they are registered or not. Under no circumstances, TLC could require to 'shut down' the website. Finally, I doubt TLC would do anything as they know that Bricklink and eBay are important for their adult customers. I'm quite sure that the adult community is considered as the backbone of the company. A lot of more complex products (CC, Ultimate SW, NXT, Factory, etc.) and several programs (Ambassadors, Factory Builders, Conventions, LUGs sponsoring, Collector's Guide, etc.) over the last years have proven this. Don't worry . Note: I don't have had that email and I don't see anything about it on the forums of eBay.be. Edit: Seems that this is related to ebay.co.uk. The guy got probably hit by the Stone of Scone...

I have sold lots of sets through eBay, sometimes way more than the average price on Bricklink. How? There are several things to keep in mind when you sell on eBay: • Take good pictures (90% are bad: too small, only one or even none at all, not original, not with all the parts, unbuilt sets, standard catalog pictures, etc.) • Put an auction for maximum 7 days that will end at an interesting hour: 20h00 on sunday for example. • Give a good description of your set: the condition, quantity of remaining stickers, presence of original instructions and box, etc. • Accept international buyers and PayPal (for verified users only). • Check if the items you wan't to sell have any value (through Bricklink and eBay search engines). • Having a good feedback is also important. If you start with a new acount, this can lead to lower prices. • Mention shipping charges, preferably the postage rates and not twice the price... • Start an individual auction for each larger set. Try to sell related items the same day to make it possible for one buyer to have interest in several of your items (ex: if you sell a train, come up with an auction for the trainstation that will end 5 minutes later). Offer lower shipping charges for combined purchases. etc. In other words: Avoid to start a 10 days auction on monday 5AM with one standard catalog picture taken from Bricklink with as description 'legos' for a 6505 Fire Chief's Car with shipping charges of 20 Euro. This sounds 'obvious' but when you look at most of the auctions, it seems not that obviuos for a lot of people...

- For (rare) parts which have yellowed or faded, the best way to 'clean' them is to use bleach. To have a good result, you'll need the industrial type of bleach: a 100 Volume Hydrogen Peroxyde (H2O2 - with a concentration of app. 35% of Oxygen). This concentration is obtained by a complex organic process so it is probably only available at a pharmacy / drugstore. You put this liquid in a strong closed box (Tupperware is good enough, but don't use it for anything else afterwards). If you have the 100 Volume concentration, the bricks will be cleaned within 24 to 48 hours, without any damage to the shape. Printed parts can easily be cleaned with this method without any risks for the printings (I've cleaned lots of yellowed flags this way). The results are very impressive: a strong yellowed printed part will be shiny 'as new' afterwards (as long as the shape itself is not altered). Note: This product can be dangereous as Hydrogen Peroxyde is per definition an unstable molecule. Use it carefully with gloves and avoid inhalation or long exposure. But most important of all: never mix it with other 'cleaning' products. - For dusty parts, I've tried a lot of different ways and the best solution here, is the hardest one: clean them one by one by hand with soap and warm water. I sometimes use a washing machine but the parts will scratch each other, even if you put the bag with other cloths. If you're washing used bricks, this method is fair enough. But if you want to wash mint parts (coming for example, from a set that was only used for display) avoid the washing machine!

I guess it would be easier to count the countries which don't have these colors Happy 4th of july to all Amerbricks members btw.

Nice train. Definitly better than the '70 version. There's one problem though: Something important is missing... the conducting rails

I think you should contact LEGO by mail and explain your issue. Mention the price difference you paid to get it on Bricklink and the date and time you called their service desk. Maybe they'll do something to apologize for the wrong info they shared.

And then they say they never produced (contemporary) military sets because of their 'anti-violence policy'... Scala is probably the only range not meant for violence, or... it can be used for psychological warfare against the boys.

Something that could be an issue over the years for the PF system, is the battery lifetime. Picking up a 25 years old 12V motor or a 15 years old 9V from a cold and humid ceiling won't be an issue to make them run again (as well as the their tracks and speed regulators). My '75 725 train engine also runs perfectly after being inactive for 30 years. I doubt that this will be the case for the very expensive PF battery. I'm looking forward to it, if I'm still alife by then

That's what is written in the wiki... 5 minutes of googling learns that there 'was' a packaging plant in Icheon, South Korea but this has been closed a few years ago along with other sites during TLC's large restructuration. You can read HERE the official statement of TLC. This plant has been moved to cheap China, which is why we can see a lot of pre-production or promo boxes for sale on eBay, like the 4999 Vestas wind turbine which is sold in large quantities by Chinese sellers (see ebay.co.uk, ebay.com.hk, eachnet.com). The official statement says also: "The LEGO Korea Sales Department in Seoul, which employs 20 people, will not be affected by the plant closure." Which means clearly that LEGO is distributed in South Korea.

LEGO.com is available in Korean but without a S@H (select 'change region' on the home page). TLC has also a packaging plant in South-Korea as you can read on Brickipedia So, I guess you'll find anything at local toy stores. Something else I just saw on Brickipedia: an add that may interest you: The Korean Dating Site

Lego released the articulated minifigure back in 1978. This was an important turn in Lego's history and parts from that period can be quite expensive: - A lot of prints were stickers, applied on one or several parts. Most of them are considered rare and expensive. Especially from the 375 Yellow Castle and the early town promotionals 1592, 1589 and 1620. - Printed parts from that period can also be expensive, like the Classic Space bricks 928, 924, etc. - Knight visors from the early castle sets are also quite rare (were fragile and no longer used in later sets). - Color can also be a reason for rareness: Classic Castle (once again) had a lot of light gray tools which were produced during a short period of time. Maersk blue parts (light blue) are extremely rare but belongs to promotional sets. - Original boxes are also valued. - Most of specific parts from the 12V train theme (red train motor, gray windows from 7740, blue windows from 7760, big red wheels from 7750,...) etc. Note: Complete sets are usually worth more. Note2: If you have a sealed box of the 107 Unicef Van, you'll be able to buy a nice MacBook Pro 17".

There's a nice Pirates collection for sale on eBay.de with 115 sets and spare figs & parts. There are also 11 MISB including a 6270 Forbidden Island and a total of 500+ figs. HERE

I guess the better solution for a recent set would be to buy a spare sheet, as told earlier (usually very cheap for new sets). Now if the set is meant for display, I doubt there's any way to avoid peeling regarding the lack of quality of stickers over the last decade. Using clear scotch tape makes it even uglier than not applying the stickers at all. Adding glue underneath won't change the fact that the colored surface itself will discolor and peel. The best way to preserve applied (original) stickers is to keep the set in its box (most of the time), avoiding direct and indirect UV light as well as humidity.

Seems I no longer have a PM box, I don't see it anymore. I'm thinking about selling the 12V stuff for some time now, but if I do, I'll probably put it myself on eBay each set at once. On the other side, I thought about finding someone who would like to buy my entire collection at once (all MISB sets but also my mint sets). I'm spending too much time and money in this... The collection holds more than 1000 complete sets, the total weight is over 500kg, more than 400 are boxed (all in mint condition and almost 300 are still MISB). Atleast 1 version of every single official town and train set between 1978 and 1997 normally in mint, unused condition with all stickers and instructions. A lot of specialty sets from that same period (exclusives, promotionals, limited) such as 1525, 1589, 1592, 1472, 1484, 1490, 6377, 6383, 6390, 6393, etc. There are also a lot of recent town sets (CC, GG, Maersk Sealand 2004+2005, common town sets). I have also a few trains with more than 100 train cars and locomotives, 24 train motors and around 700 rails (12V, 4.5V, 9V, City-Monorail). About 40 Curver Uniboxes and 24 storage trays. The average value on Bricklink for the sets alone (where some aren't available at all) is around 40,000$. If I can get half of this for the entire collection (including bulk, promotional items, catalogs, uniboxes, trays, etc.). I would be happy ;-) . But shipping is impossible. The only way would be to rent something like a 10' moving truck. *EDIT* My PM box seems to be back since I've posted the last message. I just got a 'new message' which is 3 months old. That's strange... It was quite a while since I had posted, maybe that's the reason...