Hobbes

Your lack of and/or misuse of punctuation deprived your sentence of its sense...

That's what the British call their apartments...

You're not really making sense... *wacko* It's ok if you sympathize with him. You can express that, too. But this goes a bit too far. He's not dying, you know...

You need more people? ;-) I could help, but I dunno if shipping prices from Austria are cheaper than from Germany. A package to Cyprus would be EUR 12.20 "base fee" plus 1 Euro for each kg for standard delivery or 2 Euro for each kg for priority delivery, respectively. Thus a 1kg package would cost 13.20 standard delivery or 14.20 priority delivery. Standard delivery can last up to 3-4 weeks and priority 1-2 weeks IIRC, depending on destination (usually it's faster anyway). I could send it as "letter" which would be cheaper, but the Cafe Corner weighs too much, even if I opened the box and just sent the bags. There wouldn't be that much difference. On top of that packages are insured whereas letters aren't. If these prices are OK for you, I'll gladly help :-)

Man, you're acting like someone got seriously ill or something. He got grounded, and that probably just for few weeks or something... get a grip... *wacko*

And you think that would be news to that someone?

Yep, I remember, it was me ;-) Up to my bid ;-)

Happy birthday!

Just horror stories, it'll never work (like that)...

No, I bought two :-$ The one on the right came from the same seller as the locomotive.

MOC? You ignorant! X-D There is, but I found out when I had taken all the pics already. Didn't want to do it again...

Yeah, but I'm watching an ebay auction with the original gray rubber tires in sealed bags. Black ones would do, too, but gray just has more charm :-)

I know, that's why I'm so happy I got it. I still have that ebay auction burnt into my brain where a MISB(!) set got away for 806(!) Euro shortly before last christmas... *wacko*

I didn't get it for free but didn't pay as much as brickshelf sellers ask, either. As to why it is so expensive, I think it's mostly because of the rare parts and it being a 12V model and 27 years old by now. You can get one without box or instructions and missing stickers for less than 100 Euros on ebay, though. 12V trains are considered by many train fans superior to 9V and later. Not so much for the quite simple models but IMHO more because with exactly simple models like that TLC managed to bring forward some very nice looking trains. And this locomotive is one of the best looking among them. My 2 cents...

I have talked about it often and now I finally have it. In this topic I'll try to show you why I like this little engine so much. All thumbs are clickable. The set I got off ebay. And I consider myself lucky because it is in absolute pristine condition. I got it from a seller who had his sets in a display case for more than 20 years. I also got a 7823 Cargo Crane from him, also in superb condition. Anyway, lets start with the box. Back then they showed pictures of the real model on the box, not "CGI" like today. Note the door, more on that later. The back side shows pics of the alternate model and some "play action". The box itself shows some minor shelf wear but is in pretty good and sturdy condition. The box is a flip top box like with the bigger sets today with the difference that you got to the contents, no "cover only lid". The inside of the lid again shows some more pics of the alternate model and some of the building process. My box even has the plastic tray inserts. The instructions, like everything else, is in A+ condition, so are the rest of the stickers which were never used. Now for the model itself. Mine fortunately came with all the stickers. Then again, I probably wouldn't have bought it if some were missing ;-) IMHO the most important stickers are the technical info on the back and the yellow-black warning stickers. Without them it just doesn't look complete. There's lots of pics on brickshelf that show it without them. Also very important are the piston rods. They add a lot of charm to the model. The motor can easily be replaced with a 9V motor but it just doesn't look right, either. The gray "rubber tires" and the piston rods are an integral part of the overall look. That's why I've decided to stock up my 12V tracks again X-D What makes this model so wanted are some special pieces you only find in this set: The blue 2x3 windows and the blue weight bricks are found only in this set. The doors and the 2x2 windows are rare but can be found in other sets. The doors were even on sale at S@H for a while. Now for what I mentioned earlier - the doors. As you can see on the box picture the doors open "backwards". When you look at the cabin this makes sense since the second weight brick reaches inside the cabin by one stud (left most image). By using the door backward the hinges hide that one stud (middle image). Oddly enough the instructions show the doors used "forward" (right most image). Anyway, the model is a quick build, nothing spectacular. Once you're finished and after a quick overhaul after the long break it's off to duty. Well, there's not much more to add except that IMHO it looks brilliant "in action" X-D There's a few more pics in the whole blue gallery[1]. Hope I could show you why I like it so much *wub* [1] Thanks Athos X-D

Well, if you weren't after the Intel I wouldn't see anything except the gfx (and not even that) that needs any upgrading except maybe a bigger hard disk (Hitachi's 1TB SATA disk will be out in July ;-))... I prefer 4:3 screens but for a gamer wide screen is an option I guess...

Time to upgrade, hm? The 8800 is waiting somewhere out there X-D There's some good LCDs out there meanwhile... I can't really recommend anything, though, cos I don't play games. I just know I prefer LCDs ;-)

I have. She's my wife now *wub*

Yes, I am :-)

Yeah, looks like I mixed them up cos the Quadro product line is called Quadro FX, and the Quadro FX5500 is quite a good and expensive card... :-$

Yeah, g33k alert X-D DELL Inspiron 500m Laptop Pentium M 1.4 GHz (Centrino Technology 1st generation) 1 GB RAM 160 GB hard disk 64 MB shared Intel Extreme Graphics 2 for mobile 14" screen @ 1400x1050 (SXGA+) Intel 2915ABG Wireless NIC (which is in "violation" with the Centrino generation 1 standard but who cares about such small technicalities) NEC 6650A DVD-burner Currently hooked up to AC power. If not I use a standard and slim battery, the latter trading places with the DVD burner. Depending on what I do together they last 6-8 hours. Desktop

What, that's it?

Nice piece of hardware *y* And to think the FX cards are the highend cards, especially made for CAD programs *wacko*