Hobbes

Double post because of different subject. I just noticed that Amazon shows a different piece count for the truck than S@H: 8285 @ S@H (choose a European country) says 1877 pieces 8285 @ Amazon.de says 1831 pieces ("LEGO Teile" at the end of the paragraph) Same goes for the Crawler Crane: 8288 @ S@H says 800 pieces 8288 @ Amazon.de says 760 pieces Now, it could be that LEGO lists all the pieces that come in the box and Amazon just lists the pieces the model is made of (without the spare pieces). But why would they (Amazon) do that and where would they have the exact numbers from? Kinda weird... *wacko*

I thought so, too, but it seems tow trucks in the States do look like that: Still looks odd to me... But there's always the Classic Tow Truck ;-)

Genius! That's LEGO as it's supposed to be (used): create something you don't have out of something you have. Small, but great! *y* Then again, you always do that in your vigs ;-)

This one looks good, too! :'-) 8287 Motor Box Oddly enough in the german language version of the site it's listed as "Gro

That's my favorite, not just because of the Starbucks, but the street sign, too - great!

Alright, I voted for Alex. The overall "look & feel" and that he has a train was it for me. Still, I like all of them. I know, that's the standard tacky "excuse", but as a town/train fan there's almost no layout that doesn't look interesting in some way ;-)

Hehe I'm not interested in the entire collection, just parts of it which use a lot less space :-P And yes, she's willing to let me use her address. I've done it in the past, and not just once :-P As for the shipping: Delsey and Samsonite are companies that can help with "family sized containers". And since Mrs Hobbes and I visit at least once a year, my parents-in-law visit at least once a year (this year twice), and sister-in-law visits us at least once a year, that's 3 to 4 trips a year which make logistics a piece of cake :-P So, there :-P ;-)

your link leads to the 40000dollar bid... don't see the second bid... That is the second auction. Your link was his first auction (at $42500/$47500). From what I read in the description he intends to do so if his two all-in-one-auctions fail - which they did. Lucky me has a sister-in-law in the States :'-)

These things tend to generate momentum as we've seen before (Members Titles, and now Brick Miner's reaction in this thread before it even started).

Maybe I'm too old, but I'll never understand why this title/avatar/signature/tag/post count/user group stuff always becomes so important on message boards. If I want to know what a user is interested in I'll check their profile. Problem is that many don't fully fill in their profile. Maybe a few fields should become mandatory to register... To me the "user info box" in the forums is pretty "cramped" with info and pics anyways and I'm pretty much on ignore mode when it comes to "reading" it. So, another tag will just go by me unnoticed. A message board to me is a place where I can discuss my hobby with "soul mates". I stop by there now and then, but I don't live there. "Classification systems" require time, not just of the admins but the users, too. And I'm just the casual visitor who tries to contribute now and then. Anything that "requires" more just keeps me away. Best example is Phes' Pirate Forum which has totally lost its appeal to me, there's just too much going on that I can't follow anymore. So I don't. Then again, that's just me...

Hm, no one bought his second auction, either. And he even reduced his asking price by $2500... ;-)

Boy, that is difficult... I'll refrain from my vote for a bit and ponder until I can decide. To start a discussion, I'll explain what I like/dislike about the five contestants' entries. Brickster's city, of course, sums up all the memories I have of growing up with LEGO as a kid. I like all the sets that are used and how they're set up. I especially like the town center with the yellow castle. The only thing missing is a train, but then there's a harbor, another sub-theme I like. The blue carpet adds to the harbor town feeling. A real classic beauty. Alex' town is a bit more "modern", and it has a train. What I like about it is the town center (within the track circle). It shows how you can set up something like it with just 4 road plates and a few houses. Well done. Compared to Bricker's town this one lives through the use of the green/dark gray road plates. It would be interesting to see how Bricker's town would look with them but the light gray plates add to the "classic charme". Jayb Fpmq's entry has that "city" feeling, compared to a "town" feeling of the previous two entries. Again it shows how you can use limited space and still make a great looking layout. The two highrises and the elevated train give it kind of a metropolitan look. Great bridge in the background with the "elevated highway". I'd consider this entry the only "city". Kotua's town at first looks kinda unfinished. But the airport in the background gives it an "island town/village" kinda look, it just lacks a few palm trees. Again the green road plates help it. It reminds me of the airport at Plaisance, Mauritius, the only "island airport" I know. Also, this layout uses the classic "scale" of LEGO towns (4wide cars), which I still favor. Salvo Brick shows us not an entire city or town but a part of it. I especially like the Esso gas station since it's something different for a change. Houses, and cars, too, are nice MOCs. Although the bank building and the blue one next to it look american it must be a european town since "Esso" is the european name for "Exxon" and "Media World" must be what "Media Markt" is in Austria/Germany (it's the same logo). I've never been too fond of the green/dark gray road plates so far, but the more I look at layouts using them, the more I get to like 'em... All that said, I still don't know which I like best... :-/

Not just you. This usually ends up in someone sitting at the top of the corporation in front of an excel sheet, wondering why the numbers in the last line don't look too good, and why the heck there's no cutting anything anywhere (costs, people, anything) since cutting in general helps (everybody does it, don't they)?! Happens all the time... Then again, maybe we're just "overreacting"... That is too funny ;-)

I know what you mean. I like it because my brother got the castle when we were kids (and he still has it) and it was the only one we grew up with. But with additional sets (like the blacksmith and the like) you could make quite a decent castle. As a stand-alone set it was kinda weird, that's true...

I'm pretty neutral. The only problem I see is finding people to be in charge of it. Someone has to keep track and actually "do" something with it. If there's no "incentive" then it'd be just another "title".

I'm surprised it's "just" $49.99. Thought it'd be more. Well, just the better for my Christmas trip to the States :-)

I agree - with you, that is ;-) Although I think it might look better on a unraised baseplates. I personally like the three castles that IMHO defined Classic Castle: 6080, 6074, and 6073 (in this order). But then, that's just me... About the price: no comment... :-|

Your post to me reads like this: <Intro> <Chinese> <Picture of a nice looking car> <lots of Chinese> <you'll be taking more pictures> ;-) I'm not a car fan but I like yours. I wouldn't have recognized it as a Passat, then again I don't know nothing about cars, let alone modifications. Living in Europe a Passat is nothing special to me (except yours would turn a few heads here, too). If you asked me I'd say I like US cars: a Chevy Caprice Classic (the 80s version and the 90s version with the "normal" rear mudguard (i.e. not the 91 version)), or a Chevy Trailblazer (or similar of other make, don't care, just has to be huge). Yeah, I know, boring cars, don't hit me ;-) Other than that - a car has four wheels, a motor, and you need to step on the gas in order to go places. I can open the hood (and look under it with a fake knowledgeable expression on my face), refill the gas tank and change wheels. Hats off to anyone who knows that much about cars to actually modify it without breaking it. Good work :-)

Same here, on a notebook (and yes, my speakers are on, I can hear everything else that makes noise). So, I guess my hearing maxes out at 0... Edit: Works. It uses the speaker, which was muted on my system. A quick test gives me about 14950 (with TV on and Mrs. Hobbes rummaging in the kitchen)...

I had those kinda-transparent wheel pieces with the Heavy Loader, too (see here), and with the big Dump Truck the fences around the cabin were a darker yellow than the rest of the pieces.

I read a preview of 4896 on 1000steine.com a few weeks ago. The conclusion was: Design: A+ Quality: Terrible - not bad, but terrible... I wouldn't go that far, but I've noticed a "difference" in brick quality with the last three sets I bought (the crane, the Heavy Loader and even the Dump Truck). The bricks still stick together very well, but they look more and more like MB. I just hope it's not a trend...

And no one told me... it's corrected now :-$

Directed by: Michael Bay *wacko*

I understand what you mean. In this case, though, the fun is in going thru the pile and find out what exactly you got for your second (or third) mortgage - and explain it to the best wife of all ;-)

Those are for a special project I won't reveal until I started it ;-)