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8479, 8480 and 8880. There are a few sets equally challenging, but these three were more fun to build.

Here are instructions of one. I've searched for the original one by Tim Gould, but didn't found instructions or a MPD file.

You guys have only one right? What I'm wondering is if you can do this.

I voted for 'not much new to add' or whatever it was called. If I have a specific detail spotted, that was designed cleverly, I will say something about it. But if a builder don't use new techniques, or something special that hasn't been mentioned, it's not very useful to add another 'praise'-comment. Another reason why I don't reply that much is the large number of new MOCs that are posted every day. I don't visit Eurobricks daily, and I consider my interests lie in many themes. To look back several pages to what I missed after a few days, sometimes after a week, and do that for every theme... I'm sure there are beautiful MOCs that I simply missed.

As long as there are enough classic studded bricks used, I'll be happy. @Erik Leppen: A ship sounds great. The 8839 set is unique, and almost 20 years old. Time for a successor, I would say. I agree with you about the PF as well. It looks like they want to put it in every single big TECHNIC set, nowadays. The tow truck of 2006 was the last flagship set I remember which didn't include any motorized functions.

How did you manage to keep all those 1 x 2 grille tiles in place?

A while ago I searched for something else, and then I saw this leaflet. When you started this topic, I remembered the picture of a 6387 box. It was still in my internet history. The 6553 was just a Google find (searched "lego 6553").

-European 6553 box -And in this leaflet of a Dutch toy shop you can see the European box of 6387. I can't find pictures of a non-US 6444 box though. I'm quite sure I once saw this set in a Dutch shop, if not in Belgium or Germany. Most likely it was boxed in an European box version.

I would see the benefit of a new Small motor. I hope if they ever release one, some stud holes (like the M motor) will be added, otherwise it's still not that small for a studded builder like me. @timr: Personally I don't see that as small. Looks like it measures 4 x 6 studs, being larger than the M-motor, measuring 3 x 6 studs.

I've heard the new coupler is already stronger. So even without placing tiles you should have an advantage.

But he already built a Renault. Nice work so far Lasse. The coupling mechanism reminds me of the coupling in 8872, although this looks (and from the pics I think it works) different.

The older sets in every case. I agree with the fact that more detail is better. However, if it's about finishing touches, the current sets need big improvements. And I think the old sets have the details and the finishing touches, while the new one mostly lacks them. -Trains: the brown car of 3677 is one of the worst car designs ever. I prefer 9V, the rails do look better. And with this train, there were seperate available freight wagons for sale. -Floating boats: to me it looks like the designer putted more efford in the old design. However, the new one is not that bad. -Launch bases: the older one is one single base, instead of seperate baseplates. Better design of the tower, the crawler and the rocket/shuttle itself in the older one. The new rocket looks like it has an egg on top of it. -Marinas: I'm not sure if you can compare these two. In any case, I find the new one a really poor design, but if compared to 6543, which has two speedboats, a plane, little boat and drydock, it really is rubbish. If I only look to the buildings, still the 6543 building is the better one. -Harbours: 6541. The same as the new marina, the new harbour is a poor design as well. It looks really like a Duplo set that turned into a City set days before release. I think the designer should be ashamed. While the older set has a rigid dock, the newer one shows a dock that looks like it hardly can withstand the docking ship. The ship itself looks better in the old version again. The same story as with the floating boats, altough 4642 was actually quite good, but not as good as 4011. Here it's a different story. The hull of the new ship has not even to be built. Even the pier for the fisherman looks better in the old one, with much more efford to make something nice. The beautiful crane speaks for itself. The only good point of the new harbour is the truck, which looks quite good. There was only one harbour ever that was better than 6541, and that was it's bigger sister 6542, which was released the same year. -Floating police boats: again it looks to me the old set is of a much better design. The new one has an ugly hull and a poor design of the cabin. What is that white-red thing supposed to be!? -Police command trucks: the old one is better. It could have used a 6-wide truck, since the pieces already existed, but with the 5-wide sleeper, it looks okay. The new design: 8-wide? Are you kiddin me? What are those bars for? Is this a prisoner transport or a command truck? With such a huge trailer, it could use a third axle. The police bike looks about the same size as the red sportscar. That car looks quite good. -Police stations: The old one has a nicer baseplate, walkway and vehicles. The only downside is that the tip of the main rotor of the heli comes very close to the building. Still, there's only one police station that can compete with 6398 and that's 6598 from 1996. Just my 2 cents.

The Netherlands had blue engines as well. -The diesel engine NS 2400 was blue in the early 50s; -The electric engines 1000, 1100, 1200 and 1300 were dark blue in the late 50s till the 70s, the 1000 never changed the colours and some 1100s were still dark blue in the early 80s I'm not sure why LEGO don't use the colour blue more often. Many times they look for real prototypes, and maybe they never watched at blue ones?

This looks really nice. Clever solution for the front mudguard, nicely done with the looks. One thing I wouldn't have done are the tiles at the rear swingarm. They give a clean look, but in this case I personally would prefer the look of a bare studless beam (and that for a stud-lover ). Just my 2 cents.

I had the same problem in my 10159 Airport, the re-release of 6597. The Octan fuel car lost his brand name... Another problem: the black rubber belts with the square cross-section. I have noticed with these belts, they loose elasticy over time and become fragile. Since they are used or under stress, it's impossible to use them at all without breaking them, no matter how careful I am. I've seen this with belts used by mail as well, but still I don't get why the square ones were used in for example 6668, when the round ones were already released. I don't think the round ones have this problem. Edit: I have found some round ones have the same issue. I've checked my 8868 (1994 copy), and I'm afraid the belts won't be working for too long. I haven't seen damage on the belts of 8480 and 8485 yet.

6394 was a beautiful set, but no small part for the parking itself. If I look to just the service station part, it's still good, but 6378 and 6397 are better. I voted for the latter. Not because it's Octan. Shell would do as well. But it had everything. A shop, beautiful roof, tow truck, random family car, and even a car wash.

Han Crielaard has some superb builds on his site. I think his Dump Truck has a chance to become a real set, while his Lowloader and Snow Groomer have a lot of parts and will be expensive. Another possible set would be this: http://www.designer-han.nl/lego/sneakpreview.htm

And besides of that, in 1992 LEGO proved a ship set could be made with functionality with set 8839.

I already saw this on Flickr, but now I searched for a picture of the real car. It looks a lot like the real thing. Nice you put some effort in making a realistic engine. Wouldn't grille tiles be better for the front, or is there not enough space to place them? Oh, and has this car working steering? If not, than it should be counted as Creator.

To me, this coupling looks better than the ones on your Renault and Scania trucks. And it is even functional. Great work, I'll keep your Model Team standard in mind if I some day build a Model Team truck.

Thanks for this great review! I think this is a great set. Grey engine parts would look better than clear though. What is the overall quality of the stickers? Do they tend to peel off? You are wrong. It is not well-known as it might be in the USA, but there still is a European competition. In fact, the same video you posted at the begin of your review contains many, if not all, European pullers. The fourth, for example (1:55 in the video) is a Dutch puller.

^I don't like the switch to studless. First the panels, then the replacement of the studded beams, making everyting what has to do with the classic LEGO brick undone. As an addition to studded parts, yes, but not as a replacement. I like it when studs are visible in models. As I said, studs is what LEGO makes what it is. A combination can be good as well, but a studless creation, especially when no studded parts are used (modern TECHNIC)... possibly I will never like them as much if they had studs.

The monorails I really like, are Hidaka's ones. He has some Youtube vids as well. He uses even RCX controlled switches, so the train will never derail. I plan on building a monorail myself. The train will be based on Masao Hidaka's ones, but maybe with different looks. The switches will not be RCX controlled, but maybe remote controlled.

How about Han Crielaard's MOC's? http://www.designer-han.nl/lego/ While the Prinoth Leitwolf might be too expensive, I think the trucks, most of all the dump truck, could be possible as an official set.

Your first version was already great, this is even better. However, I have at least one, and maybe two ways found to improve your MOC: -Use round buffers. For what I know, the real one has round buffers too, and lacks a plough; -well, wouldn't a 6-axle version be better? I'm not sure how much interior space you have, but there is a 3-axle bogie/truck design (with instructions) on the site of Railbricks already. All you have to do is find space for the motor, battery box and receiver. Edit: I now see you didn't motorize it at all. May I ask you why you made it a 4-axle version?