drdavewatford

A couple of answers : Do all UCS sets come with a certificate ? No. To my knowledge, only the initial run of UCS Falcon sets did. I got my Falcon a year ago, and there's no certificate in the newer sets. Apart from the colour difference in 10030 UCS ISD, are all UCS sets the same ? As far as I know, yes. I have all the Star Wars UCS sets now, and there's no mixing of colours that I'm aware of. If you buy a used UCS set on eBay, however, then who knows ?! I've bought hundreds of used sets from eBay and sellers often don't realise that they're substituting missing pieces with the wrong colour.... Very frustrating. I never heard about a blue-grey (i.e. MdStone) 10030 ISD before ! So I learned something today ! Mine is definitely old gray, however, and no mixing of parts. Dr. D.

I'm trying to be delicate, but shouldn't the bra be a little less....flat ? :-) Fantastic effort, by the way, and I love the family photo ! Dr. D.

Nice ! The new Base Star looks perhaps one plate too tall for my liking, but otherwise the models are spot on - I particularly love your mini colonial viper and both old and new Cylon raiders ! Given that you've pretty much nailed Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, which other sci-fi themes have you worked on or do you have planned ? I'd love to see Thunderbirds, Space 1999 and Star Trek ! Dr. D.

The sound and feel of new Lego bricks in your hands makes your heart beat faster............... :-)

Have to say I haven't managed to take close up pics of my minifigs WITHOUT using a macro - they always come out badly blurred otherwise. Dr. D.

Ha ! I've been tracking that auction ! Already up to £50, even without minifigs.... I can see an opportunity for potential entrepreneurs here ! Dr. D.

This is just fantastic ! I'm currently about two-thirds of the way through building my UCS Millenium Falcon - the superstructure is built, as is the 'skin' underneath and over the mandibles, but the inner structure is still open on the topside. Now I look at your MOC and wish that the official version had such a superb interior....! The LEDs are also an excellent addition - great job ! The 'official' UCS MF us shaping up to be magnificent, but you have taken it to the next level. Dr. D.

10188 Death Star - magnificent. Dr. D.

A few sets I have on permanent display at the back of my desk - Green Grocer, Cafe Corner, Market Street, Fire Brigade, with some railway track running in front of them upon which Emerald Night sits. A few other big sets I build, display in varous locations in the house for perhaps 6 months, then break up, put back neatly in the boxes, and store away to make space for other sets. At the moment I have the old UCS Tantive IV Rebel Blockade Runner, UCS Millenium Falcon, UCS Yoda and a MOC UCS TIE Fighter on display, although soon Tantive IV will be disassembled to make space for something else, and the others will eventually follow one by one. I also have a few smaller sets built, generally for a few weeks at a time, before breaking them up to make space for something different. Most recently I've had the Santa Fe Super Chief locomotive and observation car, MINI Republic Gunship and Wookie Attack bukt and on display, although they've all now been broken up to make space for some new sets. Once I've built the sets I take a ton of photos of them plus their boxes so I have a nice photographic record. Eventually I hope I'll have built and photographed all my sets, although since I seem to be buying sets more quickly than I'm assembling them and then taking them apart, I may never catch up......! So in answer to your original question, I build a few, display them for a while, photograph them, and then break them up and carefully store the pieces in their original boxes afterwards to make space for other sets. Dr. D.

Superb review, Rufus - thanks ! I also got my copy from eBay. It's not that hard to find them on sale there, but boxed sets in as good condition as yours are rarer. A small set, but the 3 excellent figures (including Han in carbonite) makes it well worthwhile. Dr. D.

I also vote for the UCS Falcon, but only because there are so many pieces that even after sorting them it can be hard to find the right one (I'm in the middle of building it at present). 10030 UCS Imperial Star Destroyer posed similar problems with regards to finding the right pieces. It's also quite fragile, and installing the 4 huge sections which make up the top surface and underside using just magnets can be tricky. Finally, I managed to build Emerald Night without too many problems BUT it then got dropped on the floor and badly damaged. It was a real challenge to repair without breaking it up and almost going back to the beginning, although I fixed it eventually. Dr. D.

Love it ! Superb effort, and I'm impressed that you have so many orange bricks ! The detailing on the torso is excellent, and you have captured the face and overall proportions perfectly. I'm looking forward to your next creation. I agree that Vader would be cool, but your artistry and all the detail would probably be lost amongst all those black bricks. Dr. D.

Nice review ! This is however the kind of set that gives LEGO a bad name, I'm afraid - the huge custom pieces making up the plane make me shudder. For me this is heading down the same road that put LEGO in trouble a few years back. Most people want to actually build the models, not just click together a few large pieces. Even the CEO of LEGO acknowledged this recently. Dr. D.

God yes ! At around $60 a coach via Bricklink (not to mention the hassle of probably needing to order parts from multiple sellers) it'd be a steal. Dr. D.

After a Lego-tastic childhood I moved on to other things (e.g. video games, music), and I hadn't even looked at a Lego set for around 10 years until my wife bought me 10188 Death Star as a Christmas present. Since then I have become totally obsessed again - Star Wars, Indiana Jones, modular buildings, trains, Harry Potter, Batman, classic space - and I genuinely don't dare to admit how much I've spent on Lego in the last 14 months (mainly from lego S@H and eBay)...... Dr. D.

Superb ! Looks very authentic - both the content and the artwork. Great job ! Regarding the future of the Indy theme, there may not have been an official announcement, but the lack of sets (new or indeed old) surely speaks volumes. It's a pity - I like the theme a lot and have all the retail sets to date, but so be it. It's at least easier for me to bear thanks to the upcoming PoP sets, which look pretty good. Dr. D.

Sure - eBay UK for £52 + postage. Came with a box (good condition) & instructions, but not new. Too expensive by far, but there you go. You can pick them up for less if you're willing to forego the box +/- the instructions. I'm having the same problem with Santa Fe coaches - man, those puppies are expensive. Got one, but would love a whole train. Looks like I need to get saving..... Dr. D.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I've seen the Intermodal come up on eBay a few times - not cheap at all. It's been said that LEGO didn't make much money out of these sets at the time, but on the basis of the eBay prices there is certainly demand out there..... Cheers, Dr. D.

I have recently bought a BNSF loco (Lego rather than the real thing, of course) I adore the Santa Fe loco and compatible coaches, and therefore wondered whether LEGO have ever made coaches specially designed for the BNSF loco also ? The picture at the top of the Train Tech page offers some ideas - 2 green cars and a white and blue hopper, but do Eurobrickers have any other ideas ? Thanks ! Dr. D.

For what's it's worth, I too would love to be able to buy 2 or 3 more coaches for my Emerald Night, but I accept that LEGO can only make so many sets each year and that extra coaches unfortunately didn't make the cut. I was however interested to read that at least one person on this discussion thread has bought the pieces from bricklink to build what I assume are identical extra coaches themselves. While prices obviously vary depending on which Bricklink store you buy from, I'd be fascinated to know how much the the parts for the extra coach cost. Any estimates ? Dr. D.

Cheese slope for me. Now we need an INVERTED cheese slope ! I also like the Light Saber Blade and the 1 x 2 Tile with Grille. Dr. D.

Really nice review, def - great job ! I particularly like the way you also constructed the alternate design. Most people don't usually bother with this, and I had never seen it before. Cool speeder ! The Lego Star Wars Technc sets range from ugly (stormtrooper) to pretty cool (Vader) with this cute one somewhere in the middle. It's an elegant design - stable, readily unidentifyable and it actually works - and that's really not the case for some of the other Star Wars Technic sets. I bought up these sets from eBay last year but have to admit I've not got around to building them yet...... it took me long enough to completely take them apart so I could check that all the pieces were there ! Which they weren't, of course (apart from the 2 sealed sets !) Cheers, Dr. D.

I have most of the sets on the list, and indeed I'm looking at Green Grocer, Cafe Corner and Emerald Night as I type this message - they are on display on my desk ! Green Grocer is probably my favourite - it's an absoute beauty, and it was my introduction to Lego modular buildings after more than a decade in the 'dark ages' away from building Lego. Green Grocer was so good it inspired me to buy Cafe Corner, then Market Street and then Fire Brigade. I'm eagerly awaiting the Grand Emporium, and any more modular buildings that appear - keep them coming. So thanks Jamie for some superb designs, and thanks to LEGO for having the courage to produce a line of sets mainly for the older, wealthier adult market. It must have been a commercial risk to do this, and they have given me and others great pleasure. I just hope that it's sufficiently profitable that LEGO continues to produce more sets for us..... Cheers, Dr. D.

Thanks, Kim - appreciate the review, and the pics came out well ! As a collector, I'd certainly like to add this set to my collection. Judging more objectively, however, I have all the figures in other sets, and since there's nothing else of interest in the box (e.g. a small structure or vehicle perhaps) I gotta say I'm a bit underwhelmed overall. Just glueing 3 (already available) minifigs to a baseplate and selling the set as a "special edition" seems pretty lazy to me. Easy money, but not very exciting. Dr. D.

I've no idea regarding printing stickers, but if it's stickers for 'official' Lego UCS kits you're after, have you considered buying them off Bricklink ? They're often available there, and for less money than I would expect. Dr. D.