MetroiD

Knowing far too well just how overburdened Academy Teachers can sometimes get with new members eager to post their reviews and receive an assessment on those ASAP, I can only look at this as a brilliant idea indeed. Not to mention the fact that being a proud apple-bearer should instantly alert other members that Teacher's Pets know their stuff when it comes to precise evaluation of situations, hence they should not be messed around with, especially if they are in a pet. Besides, in the future this can easily be considered the Reviewers' Academy very own VIP Program.

No. And for the hundredth time, there's no such word as "foundary"...

Cheers exotrator :) Thoroughly deserved - and make sure you keep em coming!

He means the dry cleaner's. Although I'd hardly recommend dry-cleaning LEGO sails Ditto. I've received some rather old sails as parts of bucket purchases over the years and a simple gentle cleaning up has always worked wonders there.

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26213 Tons of answers to the same question. Anyone asking how they should store their bricks should first think about what they'd be using them for anyway. If you plan on MOCcing, using other people's tips and experience will only help to a limited extent, seeing as at the end of the day it's your personal preferences that dictate the way you go about finding pieces when building MOCs. Since I know you're more into displaying sets in their original state than MOCcing, I'd suggest seriously considering a display case of sorts - what Z06 has shown there is a nice example, but there are bound to be plenty of other options if you check in your local stores.

Personally, I'd go with Cagri and Ralph here and vote for SNOT roads. They create tons of possibilities and are ultimately much more flexible in terms of utilisation than tiled streets. Unfortunately, they're none too cheap, but well there aren't too many things about this hobby that are 'cheap' anyway

Have you considered having the possibily of adding a tram to your display? Yeah, I know I'm a bit too much into trams lately, but I've often thought about how modulars would look when combined with baseplates and the only good solution that comes to mind is putting a railway track on that extra open space. Otherwise it just feels very unnatural to me... That's a particular problem we need to solve with my LUG for our upcoming exhibition - we've got quite a few street baseplates, but nowhere near enough pieces to tile them, so those baseplates would look totally out of place when positioned alongside a modular, for example... Which is why I'm trying to convince my fellow LUGgers to just get rid of the baseplates and think of something else instead. P.S.: Oh, and as to your question: I'd also go for Option 1, but I'd flip the intersection so that all buildings are actually facing the viewer.

Yep, Rick's Amsterdam Tram is truly a beauty, but the problem we were really focusing on here was close-coupling, and his tram only has one car :/ In any case, it's a brilliant and very highly detailed model :) Thanks a mill for providing that link Tim! I also remembered I'd seen that design explained somewhere, but couldn't really find the link.

Thanks Matt, that's one of the ideas I've been toying around with, but I'm not quite sure how it'll end up looking. I'll surely give it a try with real bricks though! Anytime, I really loved your tram :] As to those documents - curiously enough, I'd bookmarked the entire Library and labeled it accordingly, yet for some reason I couldn't find it... Thanks ever so much for posting those links. God bless ILTCO After doing some Brickshelf surfing I've stumbled upon a few fine examples of trams using a close coupling system: Zanzer's Yellow Tram Tim (Gambort)'s GT6N Holger Matthes' Stuttgart Tram Thanks to all of you for sharing your tips on building those connections... They're all very much appreciated

I am planning on building a Duewag GT6 and have been busy surfing the net for photos of the model itself. After stocking up on those, I decided that my lack of experience in tram (and generally train) MOCcing will need some serious boosting so I've been going over tram models built by other MOCcers in order to gain some insight as to how things should be done. Unfortunately, I must admit that sometimes just looking at things doesn't quite do the trick, so I thought it might be useful for other enthusiasts who find themselves in my position to have some place where they could share info and sample other builders' experience. For example, what particularly bugs me about the Duewag I'm going to build is the flexible connection between cars which should remain as "hidden" as possible. I've been looking at duq's brilliant Amsterdam Tram for inspiration, but would be extremely grateful if anyone else could share any ideas regarding that.

Well, just put it on top of the tiles as if you were trying to separate actual plates from the baseplate. Then push down as you normally would (or perhaps a tad bit harder) and you'll notice that the lower lip of the separator pushes the tiles up just about enough for them to come off... It's very fast, especially seeing as most of the times you'll be able to take off two 1x1 tiles in one move :)

Ditto. Very nice & simple solution, well done Mariko! Whenever I build a vehicle MOC, I tend to try out different tyres and rims for at least 15 minutes before I finally settle on an appropriate combination; LEGO's choice of using the same huge wheels for every single vehicle makes things even worse! Good thing one can always mod them as you've done :)

Nice piece of information, but erm... why not simply use the brick separator? Its lower lip is meant precisely for that and through the years I haven't found anything capable of removing tiles easier than that.

Missed the race today, just like I missed yesterday's rout of Aston Villa I guess I'll download both of these some time later next week and check out what all the fuss is about. A friend of mine (huge F1 fan, Ferrari & Massa fan) has been dissing (to say the least!) Lewis all day long, so I'm really curious to see what he's been involved in this time. I hear he's not too happy with the team's tactical decisions though, which I can pretty much understand. Only thing I find very weird is that the Red Bulls keep having trouble finishing. It's the second race out of two in which Vettel should have been the winner, or at least up there on the podium, yet his car ends up blowing it all.

That's a simple yet really ingenious system you've come up with, great work! Any pics of this one coupled with one of your great engines?

Zorbas is right that out of those four, the Police Station is probably overall the best set in terms of: a) parts you get b) playability c) design I would however place The Garage on pretty much the same level as the Police Station, because it is also a great City set - and one I personally would consider buying (if I weren't already chock full of wheels and gears and trucks). I own the previous airport (7894) and even though the airport sets from the early 90s are still my favourites over these latest two, I must say I was pretty happy with it - mostly because of the nice assortment of windows . So 3182 would not be a bad choice either, as long as you don't mind the huge airplane. It's still a bit too simple compared to the above two though. 7633 is a set I'd only buy if it were available at a bargain price (thought I'd snatched one about a month ago, but it turned out it was 70% incomplete, so I passed :/). Or if I enjoyed the construction line - which I'm not really a fan of. I guess you could just say it's not my cup of tea, but there's also the fact that apart from a few (great looking) construction vehicles, you don't get an actual building. The grey "shop" thing looks like an excuse to me - and although I can understand that, especially given the idea of the set, it's also probably the exact reason why 7633 doesn't appeal to me. Hope that helps. At the end of the day though - go for what you like best, it's simple

I'd go with Schmelte almost-famous-Svelte Dita here and vote for Nougat. Nothing wrong with it (unless of course you insist on pronouncing the silent "t"). I didn't think I'd be too interested in the PoP sets, but like Indy, the whole theme is slowly starting to grow on me, I must admit. Can't wait to get my hands on some of those sets. Oh, and I've got something for you Rick:

Whoa, well I guess that's one more reason why Mel Gibson and Richard Branson should refrain from buying any more islands in the future... What a dismal investment! (and by "that" I don't mean a) global warming, b) hunting, c) the Mayan Calendar, d) animal extinction, or any other non-political topic here )

Top-notch work - as usual :)

I've been looking forward to seeing what engine you'll come up with ever since I saw your first car, Cagri! This Cargo Train of yours is definitely going to look great... I was wondering whether you're planning on building double copies of specific cars or are you planning on running a diverse train composition with one wagon per cargo type?

To be perfectly honest, I'd kinda missed the whole voting thing and only realised the MOCs would be pitted against each other after I'd built the 2 entries for the Community Build. So at least for me, the driving force here was the sense of adding to an actual community project - which is also why I couldn't wait to see the picture of all buildings put together side by side. Speaking of which, I must say - great work everyone and congratulations to exotrator, his MOC definitely deserves to win the award here, lovely work I was also chuffed to bits to see so many people voting for my humble Inn - this is a huge honour to me. Thanks to each and every one of you, I'm really glad you enjoyed it :)

Seems to me as though you've already been convicted by your fellow soldiers, Pvt. Gale, so it wouldn't really matter if I vote now or not, would it... However, I would like to make a point here - if you are indeed voted off today and turn out to be honoured, how do we know you were not one of those mad soldiers who just couldn't supply us with the right information because they didn't know it in the first place? There's a certain voice in the sky which seems to be doing some talking inside quite a few of you boys' heads, and then you end up investigating your own selves or voting against yourselves... I honestly can't understand how that's possible?! I guess that given these circumstances, the Regiment is ready to vote you off even just for voting against your own self, which is a definite sign that something's wrong with your head. And I'm not certain whether a soldier who's hardly sane can help us really take out these damn deserters - even though, once again, I must corroborate your story about the moustache killer. Then again, you are wearing a moustache, you had every reason to go out and kill our Lt. after he almost single-handedly sent your brother to the firing squad, and then you started showing definite signs of madness after this grim deed... Too many facts pointing to the same conclusion. I am sorry Pvt. Gale, but given this chain of events, I will have to Vote: Pvt. Wilson Gale / WhiteFang

My vote goes to the Inventor for his Entry #32 - River Trading Post . It's one of the creations that have really managed to keep that certain pirate-y feel and not turn the build into something more befitting of the Castle theme. Which however doesn't mean that I haven't enjoyed all the creations, the Community Build has definitely provided inspiration for some wonderful MOCs, cheers for that me hearties

Hm. I think I'm going to team up with Private Stelly here. Right now, the combination of sausages (yes, there are some left over from Monsieur Shadòn) and crêpes sounds so much better than listening to all these insinuations. Everyone's trying to push the cart their own way and I feel I've seen a bit too much lying going on at this point in time. Only thing I need to do is find out who's lying and the puzzle will be complete. Until then, you can find me happily munching away on my way to weighing 100kgs!

Once again, thanks a lot guys :) While building this, I sampled a lot of different techniques I'd seen used by Pirate MOCcers here on EB and so I can only express my gratitude towards this great community!