drdavewatford

Ooops - I got this PM as well and stupidly clicked on the link thinking it was related to Eurobricks. Wasn't thinking straight. Got connected to a load of Russian text.

Looks like you're building the 10030 Imperial Star Destroyer, which starts out with the construction of 2 huge 'A' frames back to back. Interested to see how your ship turns out. 10030 is notoriously fragile, so hopefully you can avoid this problem without making the whole thing weigh about 10 tons ! Dr. D.

Twilight is now showing as "Not available in the UK", so I guess it's sold out. Dr. D.

This is a work of utter genius ! Huge respect. Dr. D.

THUNDERBIRDS !

Compared with UK high street prices, Lego S & H is pretty good value - both The Entertainer and Toys R Us seem to mark up their prices by around 25% where I live just outside London, and other stores generally have a very limited selection to choose from. In fact, is it just me, or is toy retailing in the UK rubbish these days ? It's hard to find ANY stores with a good selection of Lego products, so much so that I make the effort to travel more than 50 miles to the Lego store in Milton Keynes these days when I want to buy a few items. I recently got some SW Lego at good prices from John Lewis and Argos, but overall nobody has a good selection at competitive prices. Dr. D.

Probably my favourite set ever, and given my age and the size of my Lego collection, that's a big compliment ! Dr. D.

"I don't see how you need 2 of them though? If I need any extra leverage I just stick a large 2x4 brick underneath the offending piece to extra support." Agreed - for the really hard plate separation jobs, e.g. two 2 x 2 plates stuck one on top of another, attach the bottom plate to a standard 2 x 4 or 2 x 8 brick; for some reason it makes them easier to separate. Laws of physics or something ! Dr. D.

"I wonder, they must be cheapy cheap to pick up on bricklink though?" They are - I got one for pennies recently, although in dark bley rather than bley unfortunately. Dr. D.

Having been builing Lego for more than 30 years, I'd always thought that there was no need for a brick separator. I was recently in a Lego store, however, and bought one for £1 more out of curiosity that anything. I REALLY wish I'd bought it sooner - it's become my number 1 essential item for removing stacked plates in particular (if you've ever tried disassembling the UCS Imperial Star Destroyer, Death Star etc. you'll know what I mean). Be careful when using it to remove big plates, otherwise its a total no-brainer for £1 as a previous poster already said. Dr. D.

Hi Mariann, How can we get your book outside the U.S. ? Dr. D.

Thanks, Eilif, for providing some fascinating background info - much appreciated. Dr. D.

Patents only last a certain number of years; when they expire, anyone can legally manufacture the product. What they can't do is use the trademark. As an example, think of companies that make theirown cola drinks to complete wth Coke and Pepsi - they can't call their product Coke or Pepsi, but everyone knows what the product is modelled on..... Dr. D.

Personal question, Jvvv - do you have a wife ? If you do, she must be REALLY tolerant ! Awesome collection, and it's interesting to read the comments on this thread. Non-AFOLs don't seem to understand that sorting Lego can be enjoyable, but it can be one of the best aspects of collecting. Keep going ! Dr. D.

I think that if I could *guarantee* that a set described as "100% complete in box" was indeed 100% complete I would probably buy these every time - they are generally cheaper than the MISB sets AND I don't have to agonise about breaking the seal ! In reality, however, life is not that simple. I have bought a number of boxed sets from eBay, all of which were described by sellers with 100% positive feedback as being complete, but less than half of them have in fact contained all the pieces. These sets have ranged from big sets such as the UCS-like snowspeeder and Y-wing which have around 1500 pieces each, to smaller sets such as the X-wing on Dagobah and B-wing at Rebel control. I am willing to give the sellers the benefit of the doubt - they probably believed themselves that the sets were complete - but it was still irritating. It's got to the point where I now check off the pieces against the Peeron inventory before building, as there's nothing worse than searching for ages for a piece when you're halfway through construction, only to eventually realise that it was never supplied and have to put the build on hold until it's possible to source the part, and then find another part missing etc. etc.. I buy the missing parts from Bricklink (thankfully all the sellers I've used there have been outstanding). You can of course buy complete sets from Bricklink, and I'd have more faith that complete sets on Bricklink are truly complete,, BUT the prices are generally ridiculously high and I won't pay what I consider to be over the odds on principle. So to return to my original post, the one which started this thread, once I've built the other sets I have I will probably break the seals on my valuable 7191 X-wing and build it. After all - you can't take it with you when you die, so you might as well enjoy it while you can ! Best wishes to all, Dr. D.

Thorough job as ever, Kim. According to Lego S&H, Grievous is a UCS, as is the Motorized AT-AT, so box art unfortunately doesn't provide the answer. Earlier in this thread I accused TLC of making it up as they go along, and I stand by that. Still, they can keep making it up for as long as they like, providing they keep providing us with such awesome sets ! Dr. D.

Never forget - the cake is a lie ! :-)

This is perhaps my favourite ever thread on Eurobricks..... I must confess that I have been on a huge and shameful Lego buying spree since December 2008, and I am currently surrounded by large boxes with nowhere to put them except in piles on my study floor. Everyone I know thinks I am completely crazy. Being on this forum and reading this thread is therefore fantastic therapy for me because I now know that I am not alone, and that an addiction to buying many more sets than I have space for is a shared problem. Dr. D.

Thanks - some excellent responses already ! I think I will probably build my X-wing, just like I recently bought a MISB Imperial Star Destroyer off eBay, unsealed it and built it. Opening the ISD caused me less pain because it's a newer and less rare set. Incidentally, is MMV "Medieval Market Villiage" ? That's a great set, but I just started to build "Green Grocer", and then it's "Cafe Corner" next..... Maybe MMV later in the year. Cheers, Dr. D.

I also vote for Legoman's definition of what a UCS set is - he's got it right I reckon. Dr. D.

I have a sealed 7191 UCS X-wing set. I bought it almost 10 years ago in a sale, put it away, forgot I had it, and recently rediscovered it at the top of a wardrobe. Thing is, while I'd now like to build it, I'm sweating at the thought of breaking the seals on a mint "antique" set ! My wife says I should keep it sealed as a collectors item and go buy another (unboxed) set on eBay and build that instead, but this seems a bit extreme...... Am I alone in feeling pain at the prospect of opening a sealed old set ? :-) Dr. D.

Thanks, Knightsword. Given that the new X-Wing is so similar to 4502, I guess I'll know how obsessional I am if I decide to go buy it anyway...... Dr. D.

Superb review, Dunamis ! Respect. So, what's next ? :-) I just finished building 10030 Imperial Star Destroyer, and wish I had the time and patience to capture photgraphs of every stage like you did with the MF. I certainly share your issues regarding where to display it, however - it's absolutely huge (almost 1 metre long !) I'm really looking forward to your next review. Dr. D.

I saw the Solar Sailer in the Milton Keynes Lego Store on Sunday. You can probably find it in the Brighton and Bluewater stores as well. Otherwise buy online at S@H or ebay. Spoiled for choice !! Dr. D.

Can anyone briefly summarise the differences between this X-Wing and the X-Wing found in set 4502 (Dagobah set) ? I have 4502, and also the older X-Wing (7140), just wondering if it's worth picking this one up as well... Thanks ! Dr. D.