MetroiD

Thanks aawsum, I'm aware of the Holiday Train's contents and I know very well that it's a wonderful set :) If it were available, I would have picked it up by now, but unfortunately it's long been cancelled. I don't see a point in purchasing motorised (i.e. most official city-line) sets since they are way overpriced and I prefer picking up my 9V motors over eBay or BrickLink; besides most of those are too kids-oriented.

Hey there! First off, welcome to Eurobricks and congratulations on entering the contest with this great MOC :) Its fun value is really up there with the best entries so far, and so is the idea. I really like how the ship's hull is built and the work you've done on setting up the gun around one of the pirates' waist. Your dismembering skills (pun intended :P) are really awesome and well used here - both the jumping minifig and the one in the water really come to life thanks to those simple (but none too easy, I must say) touches! While the idea itself is very cool and refreshing (literally), there are some things that I failed to understand. Perhaps I need to get my thinking cap on, but nevertheless I thought I'd ask. First, what's that minifig (or rather, its legs) doing in the gunport? If that trans-clear piece had been put in front of him, I'd have thought he was taking a piss, but the way he's positioned right now doesn't really make much sense to me!? And talking about that trans-clear piece... While I totally understand the idea behind it (representing the fall), I can't quite get what's happened there... If the barrel has fallen (or has been kicked) and is spilling over upon impact with the water... why's that? Why has it fallen or who has kicked it and what's the idea in that, or was that just a wanton random act of kicking? :) One more thing - those teeth down in the water - are they supposed to represent splashes? If so, I suggest combining those with blue / trans-clear cheese slopes to really recreate the effect.

Just a bit of an off-topic - but it's really all down to us. The more AFOLs buy Exclusives and sets which are aimed specifically at them, the more of those TLG will produce officially. Having so many unbelievably great exclusives lined up for 2010 is the greatest proof of that. That considered, I'm more than certain that TLG have the manpower to supply enough original ideas for such sets and marketing/selling those is the only issue. With the slow but steady uprise of AFOL-oriented Train sets, a structure to go along with the Train Engine Shed might be on the cards soon...

Thank you for the info cagri! Good to know TLG haven't forgotten about those pdf's altogether, even if we already have our sources of getting them (thanks to everyone who's been so kind to upload them!)

Thanks ever so much Cwetqo, that's wonderful help indeed! Think I'll be going for the Hobby Trains set after all...

Long time no see, Senor Cuahchic!!! Good to see you post another MOC after such a lengthy absence, and what an awesome MOC this is... Loving the photography & lighting techniques, that must have taken some serious thought - but the final product is really brill! Are you finally coming back to the MOCcing scene then?

I wouldn't say everyone's cars were matched up during the mid-season, nor that Jenson is necessarily such a bad pilot. Surely I rate him much, much higher than Felipe Massa - and the Brazilian has been tipped as the next world champion on a number of occasions so far! I also think that during these last few years there's been a lot of drivers who have indeed had a good car in their hands and have not been able to make the most of it - just look at Kovalainen's last season for an obvious example. It's drivers like Kubica, Vettel or Button who've been consistently scoring points for their teams, regardless of the chassis they're provided with, who are the real fighters. After this season, I'd also add Lewis to that line-up, especially having seen what he managed to squeeze out of the crappy MP4-24. So, even though everyone's in a hurry to write off Jenson's success this year as something he owes purely to Brawn's top-notch engineering advancements, I don't think that's the case - it takes a combination of good car and great pilot to win the championship and when things are the other way around, achievements would most often fall short of the expectations.

Drinking rum sounds like a wonderful back-story to me! Oh, and on this occasion I'd have to disagree with Rick, I think this one fits the bill perfectly, even though there's no pirates shaking hands with soldiers and drinking rum together going on here. Having a couple of pirates locked up is perhaps a tad bit unpeaceful, but then again that's the way of the world, I guess. Kris, are you going for a second consecutive EB Contest win here? It sure looks that way to me! Best of luck in the contest, this one is one of the top 3 entries in all divisions so far. Your MOCs are pretty much like Derfel Cardam's - giving you tips on what to change and how to improve seems a little unnecessary. How do you give tips to someone who's used four thousand bricks to recreate an original Pirates set anyway?! That said, I really would have loved to see a boat or two. There, I said it :P. Not actual ships, just custom-made boats, since I think you could do a great job with those and they'd liven up the surroundings of the Fortress even more. But I guess you can still build a boat and enter it in the Medium Division (how's that for an idea ) My favourite small detail in this one would probably be... the jugs. Yes, I know, there's nothing so special about them, but I don't think I've seen that four-piece design ever before and now it just looks so obvious and natural! The way the prison and the warehouse are situated, it looks the foundation rock has indeed been carved up to fit those... absolutely brilliant! I was wondering whether you could provide us with a few more indoor shots of the tower & the offloading bay... Yes, I just can't enough of this, I admit it...

The new floor looks absolutely great and very realistic - it's an absolute winner! Having fewer instruments also looks nice there - it's good that you've still kept the most crucial "torturing devices" though :) I personally did find the sword hilarious, but holding the patient down with a hook looks even better - kind yet sinister Removing the columns has also helped enhance the visibility a lot there, and hiding the barrel in the roof section was also a great idea. That way you can still see all the details without having them clutter up the view! All in all, I enjoyed your initial entry, but those updates you've made have definitely made it look much better. As it is now, I think this one has become a very strong contender in the Small division - well done jansued!

As an answer to your question, segambit, I too would recommend the current Cargo Train. It looks like a wonderful set and seeing as its R/C should be easy for a kid to handle. Besides, it would be a great thing to start with, whereas a Harry Potter set would require searching for the set itself on eBay and then potentially motorising it - and I don't think your son would enjoy a train which can't actually "run". Now, I was planning on starting a new thread for this, but I might as well use this one for my question, I hope you won't mind it, segambit... I own the BNSF and the Santa Fe and I'm also planning on purchasing the Emerald Night soon(ish). I've also got a nice 9V track which I'm planning on expanding - that said, I will slowly start incorporating PF elements into it. What has really got me thinking lately is the following question: Which one do you guys think is the better Train set, 10173 Holiday Train or 10183 Factory Hobby Trains I personally can't seem to be able to make up my mind. First off, I'm put off by the price of the Holiday Train on Bricklink, where it costs more than the Hobby Trains, even though it has less bricks and doesn't seem to be so "usable" in AFOLs terms. Its design is more child-like and I probably won't be keeping it in its original form. That said, I do however want to use some train for my Christmas layout - we're going to try and "modularize" our Toy Store a little bit, add a few more buildings and a train - but the BNSF and the Santa Fe just look too big for that kind of scale. I think the Holiday Train would fit in perfectly there, but I still don't think it's worth in excess of $140. On the other hand, the Factory Hobby Train has a very limited colour selection and that's the only thing that really bothers me. I was planning on using this set to create a tram for our city, but I'm not too keen on having a black-and-red tram. I am however far from being a train pro and the MOCs I'd build out of the Hobby Trains set would be my first ever train MOCs, so that could be a very useful set to actually start off with... I'm not too sure if I can come up with a plausible Holiday Train out of that though, seeing as it lacks appropriately coloured elements. The good news is that the Hobby Trains set costs a bit less on Bricklink and commands a price which I find justifiable. So what do you guys think - which of these two sets is more worth it? Oh, and if anyone has a 10173 or 10183 for sale, let me know ;)

Thanks for the pic Brickster :) That layour of yours sure looks cool!

Ducati's Hypermotard is actually one of the motards out there, Big Cam, I gotta give em that... Btw, I'm cooking up a lil surprise for you biker boys around here :) All this motorcycle talk has got me inspired once again, hope I'll post the result by the end of the week

Thanks for the heads up mate! I'll be ordering the Recycling Truck and the Cement Mixer by the end of this weeks then... I've always loved those sets, it's just that I've kept myself busy chasing Exclusives lately... wouldn't miss out on those two for the world though!

Wow! From what I can recall of your previous version, this is indeed a total rebuild! I'm off to check out all the details!!! P.S.: I've gotta say I love how much this model has obviously progressed... Kudos to you Tony!

I'm totally in love with your great architectural solutions! Most of all, I enjoy the colour scheme - you've managed to make dark tan and brown actually look lively, which is a feat by itself! I love your revolving door too, I was planning on using that approach in some of our future modulars and it's good to know it works so nicely :) Overall, this is one of the most impressive Modular MOCs I've seen. Only nit-pick? I'm sort of missing a staircase... That aside, everything is brilliant and it would be absolutely lovely if the official Emporium lives up to this :) Nice challenge by the way!

Tilted pillars for the win! What a lovely job you've done there - well done Tony! I suppose it can hold the weight of a regular train without any problems, but I could still almost imagine turning down the speed once the train starts approaching the bridge. Nice idea and brilliant execution!

Of course, but stickers are not modding per se, and it doesn't even come close to shaving bricks and so on Besides, stickers are hard to come by when you can't personally print them, which is my two VWs have been taking so long... Enough about that though - Piotr, could we perhaps see a few shots of the Type 2 with the band on it? That would be pretty awesome :)

Yeah, Alguersuari and Fisichella both had absolutely _appaling_ days! In Fisi's defence, this season's Ferrari was quite obviously an awful car, I think even Schumi would have struggled in it. But Jamie Alguersuari just looks like another Bourdais - simply not good enough.

The perfect conclusion to this year's Halloween theme. Great job on setting the atmosphere right, Brickster - and on building this eery station! I was really hoping for a photograph of all your MOCs together... Could you please provide us with a shot of your haunted train pulling all ghostly & ghouly freights while entering this here station? That would really be appreciated!

Unforunately, filip, that's nothing new, production of the Cafe Corner was discontinued quite some time ago and now quantities are almost 100% depleted. So as Legoliner says, if you want it, you'd better hurry up and check if your local stores still have left-over copies of that set. Otherwise you'll be faced with skyrocketing prices for the Cafe Corner on Bricklink or eBay in time for Chrismas... Luckily enough, I ordered ours through fellow EB member emilec just in time (~two/three weeks ago) and it has safely arrived a few days ago. In fact, us Otters kept ourselves busy building it last night What a wonderful set that is!

Listening to Sting's new album right now. Severely disappointed, unfortunately. I wasn't expecting him to keep churning out madrigal-themed melodies... Really wish he'd remember he was a rock musician once...

"Free the pandas" is all I can say in my defence!

Was sad to see Hamilton having to go out of the race so early on... I was hoping he'd come in first, followed closely by Button in second :( Well done to the Red Bull guys though - and to Kobayashi too, what an impressive young lad! We're in for an exciting off-season now. You reckon Brawn are indeed going to splash out on Jenson & his wage demands?

OK, now I'm back and I've been staring at this for the last 15 minutes. You know what, Sebastian... I'm speechless. :X Guide me master

Unfortunately, there's no other way to get the typical "splittie" screen of the VW Type 2 T1 right... Trust me, I know from personal experience! I'll be uploading my take of the T1 and T2 these days, however unlike most of you guys, I've gone for 4-wide scale! Piotr, lovely MOC! I love how you've also included a spare tire at the front - I also did that for my T2 and it sure adds so much more fun to the model! :]