soc399

I've got a new 7662 MTT for sale. The box is open, but the parts are all still sealed in their original bags. The box has some mild shelf wear, and the instructions are in excellent condition. The price is $240 (USD), plus shipping. This is a great set, and I wouldn't sell it if I didn't have another copy. EDIT: I'm willing to ship worldwide and accept Paypal.

Awesome! Thanks to all the staff members who helped with the raffle. I had lots of fun deciphering the clues, and winning a fig is just icing on the cake.

Yes, the chrome Vader definitely has bare spots where the arms blocked the chroming. From what I've seen in pictures, the chrome Threepio has them, too. If they chromed the pieces separately, they probably wouldn't fit together.

I agree that the new ones are a little cartoonish, but they can 'eat' a minifig, so I'm going to have to vote for the new ones. I loved the old ones as a kid, but the new ones stole my heart as soon as I saw them with frickin laser beams in that Agents set. A mixture depending on the set would also be a good option.

I got one in 2007 or maybe even 2008. EDIT: Brickset says it was available until Nov 08.

I haven't found any at Target or Walmart in northern Michigan, either.

Nice! I usually don't like to modify my Lego, but this is an idea I might consider. Thanks so much for including all the info and pricing on the non-Lego parts you used.

It sounds like you have one of the sets with misprinted instructions. You can find a detailed discussion of this issue with pictures here.

Thanks for doing these tests, Mark. I've been waiting to hear how well the new motors perform, and your results are very encouraging. I felt like I was driving a slot car when running the old RC motors, since the train goes so fast but doesn't pull much.

No, the hat won't fit a minifigure. It has a pin in the bottom that is slightly larger than the pin in plumes, so you can't even put it on the couple of hair pieces with holes in them. It is also made from a rubbery material.

Thanks for the review, def. I really like this set, but I got it while it was on sale at TRU for 60USD, which is actually a pretty good price. Also, for any of you train heads out there, this set features slightly redesigned buffers with sealed magnets. The part on the bottom where the magnet is screwed in no longer sticks out as far. It's not a big change, but I think I remember that someone who was modding the Emerald Night for 12V tracks had to trim the buffers, and the new ones fix this potential problem. I was thinking the same thing about the lack of interior, especially in the passenger car. It would have been easy to add some chairs, but Woody and Jessie won't fit in them, so maybe that's why. Plus, the set design for the last couple of years has focused mostly on features that can be seen on the front of the box.

For my train and town layout, I built some simple tables out of plywood and 2x4s. You can go to Lowes or Home Depot and ask them to cut the wood to whatever size you want for the table tops and the legs. Then you just have to screw the legs into the table and you're good to go. If you don't plan to move the tables much, this will be a cheaper alternative to buying real furniture. If you don't have much room space to add tables, member Andy Glascott shared some pictures of his awesome layout, which has three different levels. I hope this helps you decide whether to expand horizontally or vertically.

1993 was the last year I got a bunch of Castle sets before my dark ages, and I'm pretty sure all the swords I had as a kid were the rigid ABS. I remember being pretty disappointed with the plastic used in my Fantasy Era swords, since they bend so easily. Sorry I can't shed much light on the original question, but I agree that it was sometime after 1993.

Thanks for the review, Holodoc! How does this engine compare in speed and pulling power to the one from 7898? Is the new motor with attached PF cable different from the old RC motor?

From what I see on Lego's website, the PoP model comes with the September-October issue. You will get that set if you subscribe before or during September and probably October. I don't know when the exact cut off date is.

I also preferred the old practice of making scroll text illegible, but at least the fact that it's in English means this wizard impulse will probably be available in the US. I wasn't able to buy nearly as many of the last ones as I wanted, and this one looks even better.

I haven't seen anything that can couple and uncouple hands-free, but I've seen a number of different techniques on flickr. Check out this one from gambort, for instance.

Thanks for another enlightening interview, Captain Zuloo. I had a lot of fun listening and browsing gambort's photostream. I'm really getting into trains now, but SW brought me back to Lego, too. It's inspiring to learn that one of my favorite builders followed a similar path. Maybe I'll try building in CAD one of these days.

I don't have any experience with a similar problem, since up and down on my remote does indeed make attached motors turn in different directions. Have you tried both the red and blue channels on the IR receiver?

Plus, there are four different faces for Doc Ock. In addition to both sides of the Sheik Amar head and the Bruce Wayne face on Satipo, that gives Alfred Molina seven different Lego minifig faces.

My town is too large for either to be very cost effective. Right now I just put grey fabric over my table. Plus, it's easier to make irregular train layouts without baseplates.

It should come in the later production runs of the 10030 Star Destroyer.

I like it. I've thought about trying to model something from Spirit Tracks, but I haven't gotten much farther than that. One question: how did you build the other end of the oscillating cylinder?

I've been enjoying your cars as you posted them (I built my own tanker similar to yours), and it is great to see them all together. When you build an engine, were you planning on motorizing it? I find hiding the PF components to be the hardest part of making engines, especially small ones.

Yeah. I was totally expecting suggestions for brick-built alternatives to that part.