MetroiD

Must... not... look... at... pictures! This review is such a spoiler!!! I'm most definitely getting the Pirates Advent Calendar, but I thought it would be nice to actually have two calendars this year for a change. We did miss out on last year's calendars and the 2007 City Advent Calendar is the first LEGO set that Asya ever received (she was visiting me in Germany in December and I got it for her as a gift), you can say these Calendars have a sentimental meaning to us. So even if this one is the worst calendar ever, I still think it's worth the 20 EUR. Sorry for being pretty much offtopic here WhiteFang mate, but I'm doing my best to actually NOT read your review OR look at the pics...

LOL :laugh: Congratulations Mr. Willems, you've just made me spill half a cup of coffee. That sadistic yet extremely funny (albeit in a very sick way) notion is worthy of being illustrated by one of our LEGO artists around here... @ Svelte: Out of curiousity, did you actually buy the entire set a number of times or could you just obtain the separate floors? And if so, HOW?

You rock Svelte! But you're such a tease at the same time... Don't think I'll be buying 2x GG or FB anytime soon In any case, it's lovely just to see what the thing could/would look like if its modularity actually does come into account. Same as with the GG and CC, I believe this one works best with an added second floor. Another first level for a couple more entrance gates is also a nice addition. And good thing it survived the sandstorm... Must have been quite a "funny" day down under, no?

That's quite an accurate representation of the 1928 Moriris Minor! I love the super-narrow front end, it's absolutely spot on. And good job on finding a way to fit in those door handles! I know that you were trying to give those jumpers a "steel" feel to match the original, but have you tried using jumper plates (at the base of the car) in matching colours - preferrably black? I think that would give it a more flowing & curvy feel... Although if you're going for 1:1 representation, I guess the grey ones are actually spot on. ...I can't even begin to imagine the kind of outfit that Batman would have been donning back in those days Anyway, I was wondering - does an actual minifig (preferably one without Batman's horns) fit inside this car?

"Mentioned", as in...? Yes, it's an OK set from 10 years back. Very nice minifigs and classic car design, but the amount of stickers is a put-off. Does it really need a special thread though?

Well, what can I say... Learning by mistakes is one way to do it In any case, not _all_ bricks I ordered from that store were damaged. Just the ones I needed the most for a specific MOC (Murphy's laws, naturally ). In the future I guess I'll avoid ordering used bricks where I can. Back to the store - the guy himself seems like a really nice fella, because after I let him know I'm far from being happy with the bricks I got, he wrote back and was obviously concerned and ready to help and refund the cost of items I was not happy with. So all in all, it's only MY OWN fault that I didn't check what I actually got. And there's the real tip to all BL users - check what you get, contact the stores; chances are you'll be able to reason with those guys, after all they're also LEGO fans...

Bugger! I've just received my first bricklink order I'm NOT particularly happy with The store is called I LOVE MY BRICK but, aside from loving the annoying use of Caps Locks, the seller doesn't have all that much love for his "brick", apparently. I was searching for white 1x2x2 windows with trans-clear glass and this was the only shop that had the quantity I needed. Unfortunately, the quality was appaling - out of the 3 windows I'd ordered two were heavily scratched and the third one was in a downright appaling condition (quite discoloured, scratched, generally damaged). There were also other scratched bricks as well... And what's worst, I posted positive feedback before I'd actually checked out the bricks' quality... So here's a tip from me - unless you like bricks that reek of cigarettes and are scratched, discoloured and damaged, don't buy from that shop.

P.S.: Zuloo, I can't quite tell due to the motion blur -- is that a bass guitar?

Yeah, the BlueSport ought to be great. Who knows, perhaps by then I might even have saved up enough to order one As to Honda, I'm sure they'll come back. The S2000 was great but it was really starting to age, it's time for an update there.

Cheers from me too! In all honesty, Classic-town.net is one of the things that got me started MOCcing after my dark period. I guess I needed that kind of creative impulse which you can get from seeing some of the more simple (as in, classic) yet wonderful things fellow LEGO fans come up with. Thank you Brickster, WhiteFang, Hincks, ImperialShadows, Dave & Siegfried for supplying me with my daily Town MOC digest And btw, another admission - seeing one's own MOC blogged @ classic-town gives one that tickling sense of LEGO building achievement... A first for me there! Thanks for that too

Please Derfel, do give us some more hi-res pics of this project... it is absolutely stunning, there's not much more I can say! Been dreaming of creating my own Pirate diorama one day and this serves as a huge source of inspiration!

I'm 100% you will, especially with all the noise surrounding the LEGO Pirates line this year! I for one am convinced that I won't be the only EB member who'll be trying their hand at MOCcing Pirates for the very first time... And I expect some top-notch competition for those prizes, but in the end it's the fun of participating that really matters! ...And the fact that, even though I've been considering scaling up my interest in Pirates for quite some time now, this contest has proven to be the perfect incentive for that Cheers for organizing this wonderful contest!

Can't... wait... hands... itchy! Arrrrr ye scurvy scoundrels, ye got this ol' rascal worked up this time! An ol Town lover jumps the bandwagon and joins the Pirate ranks!!! Ahoy maties!

Nice idea mate, I've considered that, but it wouldn't really be a good thing to do for an indoor display since snow melts within a few minutes even if it's in a cold room. I did try making a little hill out of snow in my old city layout back when I was a kid and I must tell you it was a very bad idea. Took some time to clean up the mess... Of course, no harm was caused to the bricks, but I don't know if it's actually worth the hassle... I'd rather use styrofoam if I wanted to create snowy effects - even though it may not be best combined with LEGO structures. On a sidenote - we have created baseplates featuring roads, lakes, riverbeds and hills out of styrofoam, but that's for our Christmas winter town display, which is actually more in the direction of Department 56 featuring lit-up houses and self-made figures, streetlamps, little structures, etc., but no LEGO. Back to LEGO then - speaking of water in non-running conditions, does anyone remember the old 90s catalogues where the Ice Planet guys would constantly cut and carry ice blocks? Well I tried that too... and yes, it was a long time ago, I was still a kid, but that also didn't quite work out as expected

To get back on topic with modular sets, I actually believe that Market Street was the best value for money you could get if you wanted a modular set. For one, I totally agree with Legoliner Pilot here that it does indeed have a really wonderful exterior. Besides, at a price of 90 EUR (a whopping 70 EUR less than the Green Grocer) you got a nicely designed building with great colours, lovely minifigs and accessories. And that's all the foundation you need to let your imagination run free - the amount of bricks included in Market Street is more than enough to build a really nice modular MOC. Now, as to the furniture, yes it does add an extra dimension to the set when building it. But still, I don't see the Green Grocer as being fully furnished either - anyone can experiment and try to fit in additional details so that it really has all the makings of an actual house.

As stated above, with it being a tad bit different, it does not exactly fit the bill as part of the City line, but then again it's most definitely not Modular either, it's simply an Exclusive set. Modular Buildings obviously feature modules, i.e. floors can be taken away from or added to the building - in the instance of Market Street (which was generally the best example of the entire "modular" idea), each floor has the same 16x16 footprint. Btw, this same question has been featured on BrickTown Talk for quite some time and GG is so far winning by a good margin.

Guess it's time I also put down our nickname here as part of the EB Train Fan community. As some of you might know, we're a couple from Bulgaria (Asya & Bobby) and up until a few months ago, we hadn't actually seen a LEGO train live. Ever since I've joined EB, TheBrickster has been convincing everyone around just how great Trains are... and even though I've always believed that, I never knew just how right he'd been. A real shame... but I eBay helped set that straight and now we own a modest 9V collection which we love to bits. I ran our trains for the first time a couple of weeks ago, after we'd set up a small neighbourhood (Green Grocer + Market Street + a few of our MOCced structures & vehicles) and sat there for the whole day with a childish grin on my face. That was, quite simply, a dream come true. Here's a list of our Train sets - currently, all of our sets are from the 9V period and I think that's the primary system we'll be using with our city layout. Anyway, voila, our train sets: 4537 Octan Twin Tanker 4546 Road and Rail Maintenance 10013 Open Freight Wagon 10020 Santa Fe Super Chief Engine 10133 BNSF EMD GP-38 Locomotive Accessories: 4520 Curved Rails x 4 4531 Straight Rails 4548 Transformer and Speed Regulator 10153 9V Train Motor 4837 Mini Trains I've been using Track Designer and BlueBrick to put together some future concepts regarding our future city (most MOCs and structures are just kept in cupboards until we find enough room for an actual city layout). So far, I have not made any Train MOCs - apart from modifying the Santa Fe engine a little bit in order to remove the front magnet and give it a more smooth, streamlined look. MOCcing a tram for the city currently tops my agenda, and for that I'm planning on getting the 10183 Hobby Trains set. That said, the 10194 Emerald Night is also a must, and I definitely love the looks of the 10173 Holiday Train as well. In addition, we must also get a few cars for our Santa Fe train, so we'll be quite busy hunting for good prices on those in the future ;) As to the ongoing EB + Railbricks Train Tech Contest, I would have loved to be able to MOC something that I've had in my mind for a long time now. Unfortunately, I just don't have the right bricks for that right now - or enough time to dedicate to a train project which should take some trial and error seeing as I have never built a LEGO train of my own before. I will however most definitely complete that MOC someday soon, I hope. A final word - THANK YOU to TheBrickster for setting up this forum within the EB community. I hadn't been able to log on for some time, but finding out that train fans now have a dedicated place to hang out right here @ EuroBricks was just a splendid surprise. Great job mate!

Sorry to be a pain mate - I too like the Town Plan and have just ordered it a few weeks ago - but it's most definitely NOT modular. In fact, it's as classic as it can get, but nevertheless I'd put it somewhere in the middle between regular City structures and actual CC-style Modular Houses. Anyway, to get to the point, I love the Green Grocer most of all. That said, I must admit I still haven't got the Cafe Corner or the Fire Station, so it's just between the Market Street and the Green Grocer for me... and that's not a fair comparison, if you ask me. However, in MS's defence, I must admit that I never thought the Factory set would actually be this good. I just ordered Market Street in order to see it finished and then use the bricks for a different MOC, but once ready, I must say I really enjoyed its looks. I think I won't be taking it to pieces anytime soon - instead I'm going to furnish it accordingly and create some other building to put alongside As to the Green Grocer, it is that extra bit of creativity, especially with the furniture, which sets it apart from the rest I guess. Once again - I have not seen the Fire Station in person and I really really like the CC (we definitely must get it within the next few months), but the GG is simply gorgeous. Besides, the Green Grocer has an emotional value to me as well, since I bought that set for my girlfriend as one of her birthday presents this year It's also our very first Modular / Exclusive set (apart from the BNSF and Santa Fe trains), so it's definitely a prized asset in our collection...

Couldn't agree more. Regarding VW - they're planning on producing the BlueSport, which should be a great-lookin roadster and should hit the stores by 2012 or 2013, I guess... I absolutely loved the Scirocco, this one also looks great: As to kit cars - to me, that's a "nay-nay", as John Pinnette would say. Then again, every train has its passengers ;)

Sign me up, matey! Wait... sign US up!!! x2 Bobby & Asya, we're both pissed off that LEGO have decided to cancel the Pirates line... AGAIN. I could almost fire a broadside at TLG for that! Almost.

You're not like an ad at all, you're being a source of invaluable info mate, thanks for that. Problem is, I live in Bulgaria and we don't have Target or Toys-r-us or even official LEGO shops, for that matter. S@H doesn't even ship to Bulgaria , so we're stuck with a distributor that puts 20% on top of almost each set they try to sell and they would never even consider importing 10*** sets. Fortunately, there's a new LEGO-specialized store which imports sets, but they're still a tad bit overpriced and getting a deal is never an option... Anyway, sorry for being off topic. Once again, cheers for the review ;)

That's great news, thanks a lot, Section8! It was going to be distilled water, but I wasn't too sure anyway - thanks for clearing that up for me. evildead, those are some lovely pics, it must have been great fun putting that layout together! I maybe an avid City fan, but the Pirates theme also has a special place in my heart and I do appreciate a good Pirate diorama - such as this one ;)

First of all, nice review, thanks :] I'm not 100% certain if that still holds true for the Exclusive sets. My guess is different pricing policy in Japan (and sometimes in the US, like the times when the Millenium Falcon was reduced). I can't see the Green Grocer or the Cafe Corner being reduced though, or at least definitely not in Europe, and as far as I can remember, the Market Street sold at regular prices before it was sold out... after which point the prices went through the roof. So I'd buy the Town Plan now if I get the chance... which I did (110 EUR seemed like a great price to me). Can't wait for it to finally arrive so that I can get my paws on it!

F1 is now officialy a joke for me Can't believe this whole thing, it's just ridiculous... And sorry I have to say that, KimT, cause I know just how much you love Renault mate, but let's be honest here - they must face the music now. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12433_5574160,00.html I had NOT however expected to see a "suspended" ban. I was expecting a full-blown two-year ban from racing. Still not convinced that they'll be lining up for next year tho...

For a first train MOC, this is very impressive! I really dig the sideview Best of luck in the competition! Sometimes I'm jealous of you guys for having such cool engines running around where you live