Marko

Today I opened 8374 Williams that I got from BL for my birthday with the money of my mother-in-law. I have already Ferrari 8144 Räikkönen edition as main players of my (sons) coastal town and needed some other brands to show my son that there are not only Ferraris out there (OK actually he knows also Lamborghini and BMW from real life). Anyway now to the review. Box front Set Info Set Name: 8374 Williams F1 Team Racer 1:27 Theme: Racers Subtheme: Williams F1 Released: 2003 Pieces: 88 Price: increasing Minifigs: 1 In the box Racers leaflet is nice color and good change to color red. Random page I dislike the idea of pull back motor plus the fact that it is a huge piece. But if you have at home somebody three years old or a dog then the pull back motor is the must to make the set winner. Chassis building Wings added Printed parts added That is not only one faulty piece but many with not even printing. That is a shame for product that should be ambassador of the real item represented Back view Verdict Pros: Happy to have an alternative F1 car to Ferraris. Car with technic axles and pull back motor is superior to conventional cars in drive qualities. Cons: Faulty printed pieces (maybe only I had them but I doubt it). Size 1:27 is too big even to very liberal (accepting 6 wide vehicles) town person. Overall: This is a must have set for anybody looking for diversity to their F1 racers or to Williams BMW fans. Also it is a good set for families with younger children.

I can not help you but cool that you are making Taxi movie based MOC

I started building town two months ago this Christmas and have spent around $1100 at BL and $350 locally. I know that the value has to be much lower as they are not new anymore and I bought only new. Anyway cool topic and people who have time/wish to count all their sets value from Peeron.

Good topic. I personally want my LEGO to be untouched before I use them, like I would like to have my car out of dealership and girlfriend to be a virgin. In real life I ended up buying my BMW 4 months old and my future wife .... I tried to buy only NEW Lego off from bricklink but anyway these sellers ended up sending me used parts (OK after the order they told that sorry the part is used - I ll give you discount etc). As I had already made other orders and the things I needed were not anymore available new I ended up having these used parts. I did wash the cigarette smoking things with Fairy for a long time and now am happy to have them but still would have preferred new ones for the four times price. Now to the MISB sets. I believe that opening a box is one important part of the LEGO experience. My son is very determined to be the person to open the box and pour it out and leaves the building thing for me as lesser interesting part. I recently purchased 30 years old road plates that got a bit damaged (tiny corner was chipped off) in transit, still opening the cellophane and touching factory sealed plastic with knowledge that I am the first one to do it is comparable to the time I did have a chance to do it with a ... GO OPEN UP these MISB sets and FEEL GOOD!!! I plan to buy soon more old (20+) MISB sets for my birthday and open them just up, build and leave for my children to salvage.

Thanks for the comparison. I needed it as I am in the process of equipping my town with different planes. I have Duplo 7843 modified as Shell/Ferrari corporate jet for Räikkönen and Massa and 10159 . From this Century Skyway plane is at best used as air taxi for town movers and shakers. I am for the bigger cars and planes though for buildings I like the old classic style much more and you can mix these as anyway it is not about exact proportions.

This is something really special. I have been browsing the site for some time already, but your ice skating MOC beats all of what I have seen here. Its is clever, simple and small. Plus the photography is very good example for the most of posters here - how the photos should look like. Why is this thread in Other Themes not in Town & Trains? Other Themes at least I look only when feeling like some WWII mood. Once again thank you for inspiring MOC!

Thanks. I only now understood that it has a lots of pieces and careful craftmanship like the real one. Good job!

I know it is quite late but anyway I felt like sharing you. Today my wife bought it for our son after dentist though I always planned not to buy "the one piece" helicopter. The one piece tail is not so bad at all. It can accommodate a lot of stuff in it if you use your helicopter for something else than saving mechanics. For example if you use it for transporting troops and equipment - like the real world model CH53 is doing.

I am very sorry not to remember which website provided this ruler. Hopefully soon someone will give them the rightful credit. Legonian_Ruler.pdf

Good. My town Octan Hotel owner would like to get one. How would it be possible? Do you have LDD file as well?

I vote for entry nr 2 - large, detailed and authentic. Specially I liked the interiors and facades.

Very nice indeed. I am in a process of building as well a church - foundation done, rest is waiting for bricks. I had exactly the same color black, light gray and dark gray in mind. Now I know that the combination looks very good for a church of age. And of course the windows you have made make your creation special. Thanks. I like your seating, could you please make a closer pic of them - I am looking for a good sturdy design for park benches.

Nice. Not too detailed or too large. I am planning to add air force for my town, where would you suggest I could find some instructions (sort of) for your creation type of fighters, helicopters.

Again good article. I agree in most of the part with Klaus-Dieter and WhiteFang. Just to add some own thoughts. 1. Price and 2. Value : Price is always relative and reflects the value it adds or actually the value id subtracts from the to be creation if it would be there. So I buy things if I like them regardless of the price. 3. Playability: I have small children and they brought me back to LEGO. I have to appreciate their needs in my town creation. So the playability is important for me. 4. Design and 5. Integration : It is important that the sets would fit creations that I have already. And as I like to have sets from 1978, so the CC though being nice and all does not fit my town. 6. Theme: Pairing themes is a very good thing for sense of playability and diversity. I have Kimi Räikkonen and Felipe Massa there in my town, I plan to add Harrison Ford (not Indiana), etc. Probably even Bruce Wayne will see a possibility to join but not the Batmobil or other comics creations. 7. Visual Quality: Aestehics are again very individual issue. 8. Minifigs: Very important. They are the people for whom I create the town besides me and my kids.

I like your tone. Specially such articles are needed for the people who need to fight daily with their children wishes for more police sets (ATV, surveillance truck and prison) to the local town. I have a small island town with prisoner transport only. Another police is from airport. My force operates in the principle that all the harm doers will be initially kept in cage and in an need flown away to the prisons on mainland (of course we do not have any judges). Most of the time prisoner transport (without modifications) is used for transporting Ferrari team members from hotel to the pub in harbor. Maybe the new police surveillance truck would be in use when Formula 1 race or football match would be taking place. But again in now days world you do not want to spend tax money keeping up something that is needed only twice a year or so. We will see how long ...

Thank you for a good clear concise article. First seeing all the classic town sets that I carve for in a neat display is pure pleasure. I read your article in stage when I have done most of the planning and executed some of the purchases. I would like to share my experience of starting the town. I started with advice from Lions Gate Models and I printed road plates from their site to create my town road plan layout on carton. Using real touchable plan has worked out for me very good. I have been changing there a lot. Then I used Bricklink and Brickset for making list of the sets I would like eventually have. Latter was good for the initial reviews. Later I switched to LDD and started designing there my buildings block by block that I did not find as sets or which were too expensive. Next back to BL for shopping list. And now I am in a stage that is controlled by my wife - executing the purchases. Probably it will take me couple of years.

Hello, I really like the idea of ferry with cars. For me as an person who has taken 100s of times ferry to the island where my grand folks lived it seems to be a bit too high for the length or did you have some exact ferry in mind? Once again I really like seaside creations and yours is very nice. The town I liked to live in. With all the good, Marko

My type of town. Good work. I was last night thinking about incorporating Indy sets in my future town and now I see that they fit very well.

I loved your story, specially giving the evolution path . My favorite was 2006 layout. Unfortunately I do not like so much your new CC era creations as they anyway tend to move away from original 80s spirit though you have tried to avoid it. Thank you for the good work and your 2006 style will have some influences in my future creations. I am planning to play with colors (light yellow, bright pink, etc) to create something Med style atmosphere but still to stick to the playability and open architecture.

I love the realism! That's how things do happen. Many Lego towns need the serious attitude that you have Reading your story was highlight of my whole week, you see I had to return to work after one month winter holidays.