Hobbes

Not with the bricks, that's the quality I was referring to. And it's definitely not as good as it could be. Not to mention that I had a run of 7(!) bigger Technic sets with pieces (once even an entire poly bag) missing. Seems they fired their entire QM department. Saves some costs, too, and adds to the satisfaction since there's no one there anymore who annoys the higher-ups with complaints about bad product quality and production re-runs and so on...

Not necessarily, I haven't asked yet, though. Not at the B&B.

The set design mostly has become better, true. Quality hasn't really, though. And the prices have increased. Less production cost, higher turnover, of course they're satisfied...

*** N E W S F L A S H *** I've got an offer from legolandtours.de. Unfortunately their hotel is 30 min by car from LEGOLAND. That is too far. Since I've been looking for other options anyway I found a B&B-like "hotel". It's 3 km from LEGOLAND and offers a walkway for the fit people where you don't have to cross or walk along any roads (you can drive there, too, of course). They currently have plenty of rooms left and also offer accomodation for more than 2 (legolandtours only offered 2 adults per room). Price range is from 55-75 Euro per night. Tickets are not included, neither is parking at LEGOLAND. You can buy 1-day tickets for the same price as at LEGOLAND. So, what about the not-sure attendees (Mr Tiber, captaintau, Alex)? Any of you come? As I said, currently there's enough rooms available, but the longer we wait the chances we won't get enough rooms might increase. Please check if you can come as soon as possible! Here's the homepage of the B&B: G

If the winner is from the US (or has a US postal address) you could have it shipped to them directly, though. Edit: Nevermind, I just saw the opening post ;-)

That was the price listed on amazon.de from the beginning. Guess the lower price was an unannounced promotion or something...

As far as I understood we would only pay our tickets when we reach 55 and Jamie would order only after that. There's no money flowing anywhere before that. If we reach 55 before March 31 we would get the bonus of free shipping within the US, if not the winner would have to pay for shipping or order themselves if they're not in the US. Right? Edit: I forgot - I'll add myself with 2 tickets ;-)

Here's an old thread with a link to the website where you can download it. Oh, yes, it's a software to design LEGO models (a similar but "simpler" software is the LEGO factory's LEGO Digital Designer). Moved to the right forum.

Says the guy from the (medieval) Dark Ages... :-P ;-)

While this wouldn't be a problem for me cos I have a shipping address in the US I think for most Europeans it would be a problem. Then again, why not announce me winner from the start? X-D

How will the winner be chosen? Who will do the drawing? Who will watch the drawing?

You cannot become like me. And yes, I was a Tiger from birth...

Well, the models you mentioned are great models. They came out at a time when there was only 9V around. Yet the locomotives didn't contain a motor - and that sucked, too. I'm not saying the entire set sucks, I like a few models that are shown on the box. I'm just disappointed that no motor is included despite the box clearly showing models with a motor. That's irritating. I'm curious, which ones are yours? X-D

That sucks... big time...

News like this are always good for a new topic ;-)

That's one of the best pics I've seen of this model. Usually you see it from the side or in a curve and I never really liked it. Somehow that single axle on the front and back sections looked... wrong, out of place. My favorite is a train set, too, of course ;-) Actually it's two between which I never could decide which one I liked better: At the moment it's the 7760 (cos I recently got the 7740) *wub*

That's a model from the LEGO Factory Hobby Trains (it says on the slide), the "train section" of the LEGO factory. Already online for some time... So, no, you still have to wait for the secret set to be revealed ;-) That's what I gather, too. But you should have enough bricks left to at least moc something with your own stash... Those are fan designed, among them some "big names in the business". And it's marked 16+, so I don't think the models are average or that train fans wouldn't build them. Of course, but there's still hope for the secret set ;-)

That's steep :-/ The crane has always been EUR 69.99 here, but I noticed an increase here in Austria for the 10027 Train Engine Shed from EUR 84.99 to EUR 103.99. Not in Germany, though, which had comparable prices so far. This is not the first I'm hearing or seeing, though. Looks like a random thing. Maybe they're really rolling the dice on the prices now >:-(

Brickjournal #6, page 15, shows a picture of the new Ultimate Train Builder set coming out this March! Thanks to sam89 for finding it! Join the discussion here.

Cool, thanks for pointing it out *y*

Yeah, that's what I meant. I didn't mean to imply that the Ambassadors designed it or initiated it. I read into the comments that they had something to do with the overall project. Thx for your info *y* :-)

Would you mind elaborating a bit? So far I've always read Ambassador comments about fan designed sets or sets designed after fan input, so I thought it was an (indirect) result of their interaction and communication. There's barely info on what they really do, though...

No. It isn't. The Ambassadors are supposed to be the link between TLC and AFOLs. With results I meant the results of the communication between TLC and AFOLs through the Ambassadors. Go ahead ;-)

Well, the modular house set, for example. Apply, and hope to get chosen. Application deadline for the next cycle has ended on February 11th, though.