NathanR

Lego Ideas sets don't have stickers (Big Bang Theory was an exception, but there was a part that needed detailing that Lego have never printed before) I have to agree. The final set has a much smaller bottle than the original, also, since the final set has the bottle sitting level instead of a corner pointing down there is much less space for tall masts, so I can understand them needing to shrink the ship. The problem is, the new ship has a large and blocky hull, and the sails look a little squat - it's probably a well-executed and clever build, but compared to the original it lacks the elegance and finesse.

I can think of a few reasons for multi-coloured bricks in the interior. Sometimes it's done to help highlight which way round the model should go (for example, to show where the almost identical side-panels of BB-8 attach), sometimes it's to highlight the attachment points in complex builds, like when you put the sides on the Super Star Destroyer. Sometimes the random colours are just to make sure that each piece appears in a single colour throughout a given set. This particular case is an odd one. Were all the 1x1 round plates included in a single sealed bag? If so, the colour change might have been done to ensure a more obvious weight change for the bag during the packing process.

Is it just me, or is 4.3.11 hogging more CPU power than 4.3.10 did? The fans on my laptop kick in quite loudly after just half an hour (I used to go all evening without ever hearing them), and I noticed that it runs on one CPU with constant 70% usage. 4.3.10 ran on one core with 5% usage when idle or in the background, typically 25% when placing bricks, and at most 50% when rapidly spinning or zooming the 3D scene. I also feel the new version takes a bit longer to open, and is also slow to open individual models (even with quite low part counts). The 4.3.11 installer is quite a bit larger than the old one, and it can't just be due to the new pieces. Is there any way of knowing what other changes they might have made under the hood? I've actually re-installed 4.3.10 for now, but for some reason it's left me with the newer parts database, which was an unexpected bonus...

Don't worry, LDraw is a library of 3D models of the Lego bricks. LPUB, MLCAD and the rest are programs that use the LDraw library of bricks to create and edit lego models. All you have to do is update LDraw to the latest version (http://www.ldraw.org/parts/latest-parts.html, choose complete.zip and replace your draw folder with the contents of the zip file). The programs will not change, but they should find the new parts.

Hi LegoFun, welcome to eurobricks! This is an odd problem, as 15070 is definitely in the ldraw parts library: http://www.ldraw.org/cgi-bin/ptscan.cgi?q=15070 In your LDraw parts library, do you have a file LDraw/parts/15070.dat? If not, you should update LDraw to the latest version. If yes, then it is possible that the part is appearing but is scaled incorrectly. In LPUB, a brick is added with a line like this: 1 72 -24 0 -40 0 -1 0 0 0 1 -1 0 0 4871.dat where 1 = colour, 72,-24,0 = position, and "0 -1 0 0 0 1 -1 0 0" define what is called a matrix that can rotate, position and scale a brick. If this last set of. numbers is messed up, the brick could appear very small, or very big, or even inside out, which could leave it invisible. Hope this helps!

I couldn't get LDD to update from within the program. The LDD website download link gives you 4.3.10 by default, but if you change to request 4.3.11 you can get the new version, e.g. MAC: https://lc-www-live-s.legocdn.com/downloads/ldd2.0/installer/setupLDD-MAC-4_3_11.zip Windows:https://lc-www-live-s.legocdn.com/downloads/ldd2.0/installer/setupLDD-PC-4_3_11.exe On a side note - I'm on a Mac and I got rid of the old LDD by simply deleting it from the Applications folder. Now I've installed a new one, will I have two copies of the brick library installed somewhere? Edit: @M2m you beat me!

Ok, this is looking like a very nice set but I am kind of on the fence with it. It's clear that you will have to build the bottle around the ship, which I know isn't really a surprise since the whole thing is made out of Lego, but it feels like cheating somehow. I was naively hoping for an optional, more difficult build where you make a ship with collapsable sails and then insert it through the neck of the bottle, the way real ships-in-bottles get made. I will almost certainly get one though...

Yahoo! Unfortunately the patch is failing for me as well... Are the macaroni 4x4 round corner tiles and the 1x3 tile with two studs included?

Sorry, I'm not too good at explaining things. The bit shown in real bricks is a rough build of the base platform, the corner away from the tower and near where the rocket will stand. I don't have many parts to hand, so I built the 1x4x6 door frames as a stack of 1x4 bricks, the 1x6x5 wall elements as a stack of 1x6 bricks. This is an exploded view, with a lot of bricks removed to show what I'm trying to achieve: Around the outside, I have 1x4x6 frames for detailing, and 1x6x5 wall elements. On the inside, I have a 2-stud thick wall around the flame pit. The 16x16 plates are so large, I had to support them in the middle with a 6x6 cross-shaped structure. Originally it was standalone, but I've tried merging it into the flame pit wall, it doesn't make much difference. I've tried adding 2x4 columns to the empty edge of the 16x16 plates for more clutch, and adding extra bricks along the edge where the tan and light grey plates meet. If you hold this assembled unit with the tan part in one hand, and the 16x16 plates in the other hand, and then give the slightest twist or flex, the 16x16 plates pop off. The entire launch platform is a patchwork of plates measuring 46x56 studs, it's sheer size and weight means that the base will twist and distort a little bit whenever it is picked up. I would like to get it a little more robust if I can, I just don't see how. Should I use smaller plates for the top decks, would they have better clutch? Should I fill the interior with criss-crossed 2x8 beams or something?

From the 8 stud diameter main body, and the specifications, I'd say it's about 1:85. Beautiful model, I love the tapering cone sections!

Well, it's been ages since I posted an update but I'm still tinkering away with this. I've done a lot of work on the lower levels of the tower, trying to figure out how to build the triangular framework "in system". There are loads of constructions that are almost right, but put a bit of a strain on technic pins when you try and force them together. I wa surprised how strong the technic framework at the base of the tower actually was, although I've swapped technic beams for a combination of axle pins and connectors because it looks better (I hope this won't weaken the structure). One major problem I'm having is with the launch platform itself (the MLP). It's a giant grey box... and it's far harder to design than I would have ever imagined. The outer walls are a combination of 1x4x6 door frames, and 1x6x5 wall elements, with top and bottom decks made from an assortment of plates. I've tested a 16x16 corner with real bricks, it's strong but the slightest flex or twist causes the top and bottom plates to pop off, and the walls immediately fall apart: I've studied the instructions for various large scale Lego builds like Sydney Opera House, Tower Bridge, the Taj Mahal, even the Maersk container ships, but I don't see where I'm going wrong. How do I make this internal frame more rigid? Do I need thicker walls? Do I need to change how I overlay the plates top and bottom? Would technic bricks inside help lock it together better? I have an LDD file with some sketches here, and also some more photos in the gallery. Any ideas?

Wow! I love the ship, and this model is just too beautiful for words!

Ah, I missed the black triangle tile! So we will already get this in two colours, interesting... Right, I've only seen blurry prelim catalogue pictures for the speed champions so far. I was hoping they might be in the shops already

Many thanks for the information. Over the last few days I've been doing spot-checks on the sets in my collection and most of them actually seem ok. The bricks are generally a little tacky, but it's hard for me to tell if that is just how the Lego has aged, if it's from residual oils off my hands when I packed the bags, or if it's a problem with the bag breaking down. I'm going to go with non airtight I think. Some of my sealed bags are not completely airtight, I've been able to squeeze air out of them without popping open the seal, and in these cases the bricks feel the least sticky of all. I'd guess that the bags I'm using are outgassing or breaking down, but as long as there is an air hole to let the gases escape then they won't linger to affect the bricks. Yeah, I think I've found a place in the UK that sells larger polypropylene bags suitable for museums and archival purposes, they might work for the bigger sets I've got. Unfortunately, I have to wait for them to open again in the new year before I can place an order for some. I'll post how I go on with the new bags, and if they work well I'll migrate the whole collection over to use them.

Wow! Firstly, where did you find this set, are the 2018 speed champions out already?? The dark blue 2x2 triangle on the side certainly looks like a new piece. Odd that Lego would have made a tile that shape when it doesn't match the angles of existing wedge plates. The black 2x2 wedge plate is 26601, it was introduced earlier this year and has so far appeared in 28 sets

Lego 42009 Mobile crane came with five instruction books (I just started building it! ) and I've seen some of the big train sets come with an instruction book for each engine/coach/station element. Can't wait to see photos of these new sets - the earth fox and the wind dragon are my favourites based on the pictures I've seen so far, but I think I'll end up collecting all of them like I had to with the five dragons last year. The only thing I don't like are the spiders, there's something about the new updated piece, I just find them unbearably creepy.

@WvG_853 Personally, I keep my sets as sets, and have a separate box of pieces for MOCs and other models. You could just build the unofficial MOCs you mentioned, and then put your official sets back together by going through the inventories listed in the instruction manuals or on bricklink (which adds the "extra" pieces). True, the official sets will no longer have the exact set of pieces they originally came with, but unless you start noticing severe colour variations or are throwing in a 20+ years old technic set into the micx, I doubt anyone would ever know the difference. @Andy D Interesting... Are yours completely airtight? I've spent this morning googling and I'm getting a mass of conflicting information. Some people have no trouble with freezer bags, others say that the bags contain or release an acid that eats away at plastics stored inside - this is mostly a problem for people collecting action figures, where the acid apparently eats the paint and leaves the figure feeling sticky. I would have thought Lego ABS plastic would be stronger, but clearly not. I've seen some figure collectors suggest using polypropylene or polyethylene bags (is polypropylene the stuff that new Lego comes sealed in, like the polybags?). I'm not sure what type of bags to search for, what sizes, or how to seal them (go for airtight, or leave a hole for the plastics to breathe?). Any advice?

Looking on the UK shop at home site, 75105 is listed as "available now" and "retiring soon" (I imagine it will be discontinued at the end of the year), 75101 is listed as retired, and 10232 Palace Cinema is listed as retiring soon. Unless they show "backordered, will ship by DD/MM/YY", the sets are basically discontinued. If you find somewhere selling them, buy them as soon as possible, I've seen some Lego sets triple in price the moment they get discontinued. You might want to try looking for the sets on bricklink (they are so close to still being currently available that I doubt the prices will have become inflated yet)

I need some advice on resealable bags for storing Lego sets long-term. I've been using bags designed for keeping food in freezers, I figured these would be safe for Lego, but after a few months I'm finding that the bags start to feel a little tacky. More worrying, I just built 10254 Winter Holiday Train after 12 months stored disassembled in one of these bags, and all the bricks felt a little sticky. The stickiness has gone off after 24hrs in the open air, but it wasn't a pleasant building experience... There's nothing to suggest the bags come with a coating for preserving food, and nothing to say what they are actually made of, but I would like to replace them (I must have one or two hundred for all my sets). Does anyone have any advice on what kind of bags I should be using, what materials they should be made of, etc, that won't affect the Lego in this way?

Actually there have been even more re-releases. 7142 X-Wing (2002) was a re-release of 7140 X-Wing (1999), I'm pretty sure there was another X-wing that got re-released with a few extra figures to spice it up (6212 and 9493? I could be wrong on this one). Also, more recently, there was the Winter Village toy shop 10199 from 2009 that got re-released in 2015 as 10249 with a few minor differences. That one really split the fans, some moaning about the waste of a production slot for something new, some complaining about how it destroyed the value of the original, some just glad for a chance to buy the set having missed out on it first time. Lego have been re-releasing sets for years, and I really hope they continue. There are several sets I never managed to get as a child, and I'd welcome a new opportunity to buy them. I think the shock at the moment is simply due to the surprise nature of the Taj Mahal announcement - this really came out of the blue, whereas the new Millennium Falcon (which isn't strictly a rerelease) wasn't just rumoured, but long expected. No, I don't think so. Sellers who bought Lego sets as an investment took a risk on the value going up over time, but there is always the chance the value will fall and they may lose money on it. I can sympathise with sellers who have lost money on their sealed original Taj Mahal models, but personally I just can't understand how anyone could resist ripping open a box of bricks and building the model within. Buyers who want to get a particular vintage set might be hesitant for a time, but Lego only re-release one set every couple of years (I don't count the Death Star re-release in my analysis, because that was an update to bring the minifigures to today's standards and retire some outdated parts). If there's a vintage set you really want to own, just buy it. Lego might rerelease it tomorrow at a much lower price, but they might never rerelease it and you could end up waiting forever on the hope. There are many rumours flying round at the moment, everything from modular building to the UCS Super Star Destroyer. Lego is doing a "classic" range next year to celebrate their 50th anniversary, but the "classic" name is shared with the basic brick boxes so it could be anything.

Ooh, nice! I really like how you've done the head, cones are difficult in Lego. I'd perhaps add in a display stand, I know that the BB-8 model can sit quite well on its own base but it can roll quite easily... a stand gives a nice bit of reassurance that it won't just roll off the shelf...

Everything I've seen online (Sariel's reviews, the lego website) suggests that you need to have a tablet to get the instructions and do the programming, there's no reference anywhere about a laptop/desktop/normal computer setup working. Which is really annoying for me as I'd love to play with this, but I can't because (as with Lego Dimensions) I don't have the right devices to use it.

Ok, that looks a lot better than the original submission... the space shuttle is cute. I'm curious how the Hubble telescopes been built though, is that a trash can piece holding the hinged door to the main body?

Wow! Very impressive demo video. I'm afraid I don't own a tablet so I can't download it, but it looks amazing. Speaking as someone who tried (and hopelessly failed) to make a CAD editor, I can appreciate the time and effort that must have gone into this. Just curious, but would it be possible to create a MacOS version of the app?

Wow, that's impressive! I really like what you've done with the cockpit, and the landing legs look like sheer genius. Hope you already own one... the R2D2 dome, and even the entire poly bag, is becoming quite expensive now.