harmacy

Just received my BL order - A UCS imperial shuttle and Petshop. Built the shuttle this afternoon, and oh my god! What an amazing build! The sheer amount of bricks is awesome (when I say bricks, I mean good old fashioned 1x2, 1x3, 1x4, 2x4 bricks etc etc) The build reminded me a lot of the old UCS Rebel Blockade Runner - lots of really useful bricks. If you get the chance to buy this set, dont hesitate - its brilliant!!! (even if you need to layby it for 6 months:)) Will build the Petshop in the weekend, and will post pics of my townscape in the town forum...

Hi All - Like so many others, Ive put my Official modular buildings together to form a street scene. 'Yawn', I hear you say. Updated / completed 31 July! This collection is a little bit different - I really focused on the footpath and the landscape that brings the buildings together..... Features include..... Wider/ raised footpath, Diagonal paving, Bollards and chain link fencing, Lifelites, Steps down to the road, Modified versions of all the modular Buildings (Width / length alterations) Complete at last! by deftones1007, on Flickr Bike! by deftones1007, on Flickr Awwww - Family by deftones1007, on Flickr Corner detail by deftones1007, on Flickr More photos on my Flickr account:) Hope you all enjoy it - Ill be working on the interiors in a few months!

Boo! Got the dreaded customs letter in the mail this morning I bought the Imperial shuttle and Pet shop from the same BL seller in the states for $440US inc postage (at the time = $530NZD), and now have to pay an extra $102 to get it released. It still works out significantly cheaper than buying retail (when they get here that is), or buying direct from Lego.com, BUT - its still a pain.

As a relative newcomer to the UCS game, I too am resorting to the BL part by part method to get this set. At the moment, Im after the Falcon, the ISD, the DS2, and Darth Mauls bust. Yep - thats right, 4 UCS sets concurrently. You should see the excel spreadsheet Ive created to do this! When I first started this mammoth task I knew that it wouldnt be a 2 week mission, but Im planning this to take at least 18 months to order all the parts - and thats fine. At current prices, it will cost me just over $1200 NZD to get all the parts I need for all 4 sets. A few things though -I did a inventory of all of my spare / existing parts, and discovered that I already had 37% of all of the parts required already. Thats a great start! Ive also been studying the online manuals, so am making a few colour substitutions for those parts that are structural and unseen. This too helps immensely. Im not intending on buying manuals (why bother when Its going to be a once built display piece?, and I can take or leave the UCS plaques (I can always make custom versions). I figure that this way, I can order a whole bunch of pieces every few weeks, take advantage of various BL sales (one seller here in NZ had 40% off parts, so I picked up several hundred that I need there), and just take my time. There are several pieces that are quite rare and hard to find, but thats OK too. I just want to make it clear though, Im not intending on selling these sets on at a later date, but simply want them cos they look cool, and I didnt really want to spend approx $3500 NZD to get these sets, especially when I have a quarter of the parts already. The NZD is at a 26 year high against the greenback, so its a great time to be Brick-linking:) I just need to be patient.

Thats a really good idea there Brickdoctor! This would allow for fan preferences, and length / weight units to be regionally specific (eg - Here in NZ, we are largely metric, while in the US its imperial (hehehe - Imperial.....) And you are right, you dont need Photoshop or anything fancy, even MS paint / powerpoint / something freeware will do the trick. I guess the key thing is to get some good quality background image templates developed, and we all take them from there. And yes, the instances of 'Hyberdrives', 'Turoblasers' should be reduced:) - just as long as people dont put '3096 Legos'. As far as legality goes, Ive known people who use the BL images for sticker sheets, and simply print these out for free, so there hopefully shouldnt be any legal issues with some fan designed ones - as long as they're not for profit i guess. Is there anyone here legally inclined who can confirm that for us?? This is quite exciting - Who knows, It could extend to non-UCS sets (4483 springs to mind here....)

Hey all - as an avid collector of all things UCS, Ive been wondering lately about the plaques that adorn these models, and have been thinking about the idea of redesigning these so instead of having the 'real life' statistics on there, creating new stickers that have information about the Lego model itself? for example, the 10030 ISD plaque has information about the 'real life' ship length, manufacturer, capacity etc etc. What if the plaque had info such as piece count, year released, model length, weight, scale, and some facts about the model itself - eg - 'In production as TLG were going through a colour palette revision, so there were 2 different colour variations available'. The reason why Im thinking about this, is I've had multiple visitors check out my models, and they are more curious about the actual model, rather than its movie based reference piece. I always get the inevitable 'How many bits in that one?' question.... Ive seen various MOC UCS sets out there that people have done their own plaques for, and being quite proficient at photoshop etc, it shouldn't be too difficult to redesign current TLG plaques effectively. What do you guys think?

Indeed.... Not far at all:)

This is such a fascinating thread!! I sincerely hope the winners have these things locked away in safe deposit boxes! It would be tragic to say the least if they were damaged or mistaken As a lesser item by a non-fan. My 2 cents though, keep it for as long as possible before selling. If the Brits are installing vending machines that dispense gold, that can only say good things about future value. Good luck!!!

Hey all, just got back from a wander, and saw a few decent bargains. Farmers - Hoth Battle Packs $11.98, Wampa Cave $49.99 ( both mentioned previously ) Warehouse - 7632 Crawler Crane $69.99, 8079 Slave 1 $99.99 Didnt pick up anything, but still worthwhile mentioning :)

I concur - thats a let down really..... Was in Kmart Bayfair today and they had boxes and boxes of unpacked Lego waiting to be unleashed - hopefully they do better deals than The Warehouse. Good to see Diagon Alley in NZ shops though.

Ive bought heaps off Bricklink from US sellers, but havent gone down the B&N path. Having a look though, Im very keen on getting a Fallingwater set this way - The 'to door' price works out at just over $120NZD, which is quite good. I have heard of other NZ EB members using B&N, and they've reported no issues. Could be a good way to go for smaller purchases. Shame they dont do the 10xxx sets, but that would defeat the purpose of 'Exclusives'. If you specifically want a Wampa cave, Ive seen them on Clearance at Kmart for $49 though.... I guess its like anything - shop around for the best deals (and them share them here!!!!)

Thanks everyone for your help and advice. I tried to contact the seller directly, but eBay isn't playing nice and refusing to let me. Couple that with the feedback, and red lights start flashing.... I might just leave it. Once again, thanks for all the offers and advice. Follows closely, I'll PM you:)

Hi all - Theres a UCS Y-wing on eBay that Im quite keen on, but the seller does not ship outside of the States. (Im in New Zealand) Is anyone here able to act as a middle man? I'd pay the seller directly to ship it to you, then you can on send it down here. eBay listing is HERE Any help would be greatly appreciated! PM me if you can help

But dont all these sets / designs go through Lucasfilm to get approved? - Surely the creators of these vehicles know their own products right?? right??

Congrats to the winner of the nationwide TW Lego comp.... LINKY Legoland California is a blast! - Wish I was going again

Eeep! $1021! Thats a fair bit more than others have gone for in the past. Mind you, MISB does command more.....

Man, when is it going to end for you guys? Hope everyone is safe.

Has anyone got one of these?? Im working on a moc at the moment that needs around 20 of them, but Im hoping someone here has just ONE that I can borrow for a few days - I really want to make sure that this part will do the job before I head off to BL and order them. Colour is not important, I just want to make sure it fits:) PM me if you do - Ill pay for postage both directions, plus a chocolatey bonus! Thanks.

The regulator has been incorporated into a brick built hill and is about 50 cm away from the closest piece of track, hence the 9V extension cable. Ive just looked on BL, and found these LINK - Has anyone tested these with regulators? I think these were originally intended for the Technic Control centre....

Hi All, Im playing around with a few layout designs, and have come up with a setup that requires my 9V speed regulator being a fair distance from the track. My question is - Is there a 9V extension cable to connect my regulator (2868b) and the train contacts? (5306c01). Looking at the PF extension cables (8886 & 8871) on Lego.com and BL, they only go from 9V to PF, or PF to PF, but not 9V to 9V. Any ideas or hints? Cheers.

Hey all - does anyone have a 9V speed regulator they don't want anymore? Sadly theres none on BL in NZ .... Cheers.

Hi guys, Im just going through some stuff I have for sale, and rather than listing it on TM, am offering them here first. 8404 City Public Transport - BNIB. Some one has one on TM for $350 - Yikes!. I only want $200 for mine. PM me if interested:)

Hahaha - I know what you mean - The fact they were calling them 'Lego's' and 'Blocks' made me want to throw something at the telly! As far as the building itself goes, its not that difficult to build a 2 or 3 metre tall multicoloured cathedral with a certain degree of accuracy - you dont need a bunch of Architecture students to do that. What would really be cool, is to see a smaller model done with more innovative use of parts. I guess we fans are just used to seeing some amazing pieces of work that dont need to use 6000 bricks to look convincing! Theres a post on TBB at the moment which is quite apt - LINK, which is what Id imagine the cathedral to look like if it wasnt touched, and nature was allowed to grow over the ruins. And Legoman - Cant wait to see your rendition - make sure you post it online for us all to drool over!

Mwa hahahahahaaaaaaaaa. Seriously - Im flabbergasted that it went so high....... Oh well - More money for my Imperial Shuttle fund!

Try TW in Coastlands, Wellington. They have one of the better selections of Lego around. Last time I was in there, they had both 2010 trains, plus they also had multiple packs of 7499 Straight and Flexi track packs. I know they also do Credit card over phone and arrange delivery.