Kivi

What an amazing creation to start with. This one easily beats any Architecture set. I like how accurately you reproduced the dome on such a small scale. Thanks for sharing it with us!

What an amazing MOC! Scaling-up really makes all the details look even more realistic. Without knowing it was made of lego bricks one could easily mistake it for a real one. And the floor rotated by 45 degrees is cherry on top. Well done!

Yes, you will usually get more basic elements on the PAB wall, but then you'll never know what you can get until you check it out. So I suggest that you check both Westfield stores. At least that's what I experienced there last year; I found nothing really useful in London while in Stratford quite a nice selecetion of LBG bricks was available (I never seem to have enough of them ). Legoland is primarily a theme park oriented towards 2-10 years old children, so apart from miniland there is actually nothing really appealing to an AFOL. And LL Windsor is one of the worst places to buy lego bricks I have seen so far. However, if this is your first visit to LL, it would still be worth going there, at least you could see what you can build if you had millions of bricks.

I came across this link on our local LUG website. It looks like the expansion will take place in Vienna, Austria. http://www.brickset.com/news/article/?ID=6286

My dark ages officially lasted from 1998 to 2009 though I never completely lost contact with Lego during this period. I even visited Legoland for the first time in 2004.

The scorched facade is an interesting detail. I hope there are not any explosive things stored where the fire started. However, even without the fire element the building itself is very interesting and the interior is nicely furnished. I like especially the refrigerators on ground floor. Well done!

Very nice model. Perhaps the most realistic feature are the grilles which represent the ornamented facade very well. The only drawback, however, are the clocks, which protrude way too much outwards. The standard printed clock pieces are quite OK in my opinion, it would certainly drive the price even higher had they made custom ones for this set alone. Nevertheless I like this set very much for two reasons. First, it is a London landmark, and second, it was designed by our fellow countryman.

Very nice vignette-sized modular. It's amazing how accurately you managed to scale it down and keep all the recognizable features. It would really be worth to build it in real life.

I always listen to the music when I build MOCs unless when my elder son is 'helping' me as he doesn't particularly like the repertoire yet. And when I build with TV in line of sight it must be turned off, it's just too distracting.

Very nice work. It can easily be seen that you put a lot of effort (and hinges) into it and the result is awesome. Round shapes are always challenging and here you really managed to create a perfect one, considering the size of the creation. I also like the cliff, it somehow reminds me of the cliffs of volcanic origin, but it definitely looks like the coast being constantly destroyed by the sea. The best thing, however, was seeing the lighthouse in action at the exhibition. Together with some incidental visitors on the island.

These two buildings are simply amazing. You created a wonderful 'haunted-house-before-it-became-haunted' MOC and the other villa complements it perfectly. They are so full of details, both outside and inside. As I had a chance to see the creation of the interior of the former one in progress, I can only praise what you put in the rest of the building (and the other one too). All the details are very realistic and cleverly put together. Maybe a slight drawback at the exhibition was that the layout forced them to be turned with their back sides towards the observers, but nevertheless it was still possible to fully admire them.

That's one thing I've been wondering about too for many years now. As they make loads of more or less special vehicles every year, they could have made also something more common, and that's just what the bus is.

Very nice station, both outside and inside. Keep up the good work.

Very nice work Lazarus. I like the bridge and all the green scenery. And the minifigs are certainly enjoying it too. Good luck for the rest of the project.

I have some city vehicles from late 80s assembled and my elder son (almost 4) likes playing with them. One good thing about them is that the bricks stick together very well, having taken up quite some dust in 25 years and never been cleaned, so incidental destruction is not a problem.

I like the way you concealed the battery box and receiver with shutters to make the entire thing look 4 studs wide. Very clever trick.

It is really amazing how many details you managed to squeeze in such small creations. I like especially the exhaust pipes in 1-stud truck.

This is a sticker on glass from 10184 Town Plan, see here. They are perfect to use as advertisements, either stand-alone panels or pasted on the wall. Not really millions, but some 6.000 were used here. If I had millions of them I would probably have built it in miniland scale. Thanks again @all for comments.

Basic info: Set number & name: 6645 Street Sweeper Year released: 1991 Age group: from 6 years Number of pieces: 57 (BrickLink) Theme: Classic Town Price: 5-30 EUR (used), 60-195 EUR (MISB). It actually cost 89 ATS (that would convert into 6,47 EUR) One of my favourite sets from childhood is this little street sweeper, the first of its kind and name in Lego Town. It would actually be followed by two very similar sets, 6649 in 1995 and 7242 in 2005. NB: Some catalogs have set 605 from 1978 also named as Street Sweeper, though this one is more like a wheelbarrow and is hand-operated. Box: Classic design, though without Legoland title which was dropped that year. Contents: Bricks, instructions, mini catalog. Here we can see another classic town feature - alternate models that can be built, shown on the back of the box. Interesting pieces: The old gray bucket and hose and medium blue brushes were already common parts by the time the set was released but here they were first used in a city vehicle in their respective colours. An interesting new part is yellow brush holder with hinge fitting which is - according to BrickLink - unique to this set both in shape and colour and has never reappeared since. Minifigs and accessories: Two workers with fitting utensil Instructions: Fold-out type, showing front page. Catalog: Mini catalog, fold-out type too. The build: All functional parts of the vehicle are neatly positioned within 7 studs in length. It has a loading bucket at the rear (pictured left), suction hose holder that can be raised and lowered (center) and holder for rotating brushes at the front (right). Street sweeper in action. Apart from moving parts mentioned above the doors and the roof open as well. Loading bucket lowered. Conclusion: Design: 10/10 Although pretty basic, it cleverly incorporates all the features of the real vehicle. Minifigs: 9/10 They are identical and the torso is one the most common in city sets, but after all there are 2 of them in such a small set. Parts: 8/10 Fairly basic and common of the era, but then quite a nice selection for 57-piece set. Build: 8/10 Standard and straightforward, it matches the age group perfectly. Playability: 10/10 Now here is where this little set not only sweeps away the dust but many larger sets as well. With all its truthfully re-created functions and moving parts and two minifigs it is truly a masterpiece in terms of playability, considering its size and time when it was released. Overall: 9/10

Hi, From my experience: unless there are at least thousand bricks mixed up, it would probably take you more or less the same time altogether whether you sort them first or find them as you go. If you intend to sort them I would suggest you start with colours and then with shapes though this probably won't be necessary once you have colours in place. Anyway, I'm pretty sure you'll have fun re-building all those sets, no matter how you're going to tackle it.

What an extraordinary engine. Maybe a bit wide when placed alongside 'ordinary' rolling stock, but you compensated this with all those interesting details. Good job!

@all: Thanks! This is - or rather, it was as it already disassembled now - a diorama of its own. Though many fellow AFOLs remarked that it does look as if it had been taken out of a larger display.

Inspired by numerous visits to England in past 10 years and several train journeys made there, one of my first larger builds was a railway station in small English town. To the left is a station building, with an old signalling tower with green roof in the background, the platforms are connected by an overpass. Today is a special day as a local group of train preservation enthusiasts is presenting a recently restored vintage train and the journey is about to start. Aerial view. The vintage train obviously draws a lot of attention. As you may notice the right track is moved away from the platform, the reason being the width of Emerald Night which would bump into the platform wall with its rods had the track been positioned just next to it. Station building, street view Station building, platform view View along the platforms A busy street near the station Overpass connecting the platforms The old signalling tower. It has modern signalling equipment installed... ...yet some signals can still be controlled with more dated technology. Dead-end track. Not in use and signalled appropriately. Underpass Road vehicles. You can read more about the taxi here, while the bus is mirror-image MODed from City Corner bus. More pictures here.

This is my first try at building a 5-stud wide vehicle. As I was working on an English-themed project at the time, I built the black cab. The use of certain standard parts (most notably mudguards) compromised some of the design, so I couldn't quite stick to the proportions everywhere, hence the length of the car. The cab is 17 studs long and 6 bricks tall. Its basic width is 5 studs, with upper parts being 4 studs wide. Among the details are driver seat in the front, passenger seat with some luggage space in the rear, opening doors on both sides (except rear right), rear view mirrors and taxi sign on the roof. Side view. The rear door is fake as the position of the seats left no room to build the opening mechanism. Top view. The roof is removed to reveal the interior. Being an English car, the driver seat is moved to the right side of the vehicle with the gear stick on the left. Luggage can be stored next to the passenger seat and there is some room for smaller items behind the seat. Here you can see how the doors open. The taxi seats two minifigs. However, due to lack of space they feel slightly uncomfortable. Front view. To re-create one the most recognizable features - the engine cover that widens towards the windscreen - I had to combine even and odd width at the same level. This left an opening between the grille and the headlights on both sides that were filled with tiles. Still a narrow slot remained but then it is not very discernible unless viewed directly from above. The entire creation is quite sturdy, considering the combination of even and odd width and massive use of jumpers. Only removing of the roof requires some care, after all this is the easiest way to get the minifigs in and out of the car.

The setting is amazing. It makes me think of summer festivals where performances are sometimes set in such uncommon venues. The 'after' scenes complete the presentation perfectly.