MetroiD

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT Teddy!!! And that's the first and the last time I'll write such a sentence, mark my words. Best feature: the platforms. Absolutely stunning. This MOC reminds me of a beautiful station in a Bulgarian seaside town... hope you won't mind if I copy a bit of your design solutions once we get around to building a central station for our town... because this one is hands down the best one I've ever seen made out of LEGO. And I know you'd already built one railway station which did already look stunning, but this one is really on a whole new level. Cheers mate, you're really a top-notch builder! I can only imagine what you'd come up with for you 1000th post... bring it on!

But if I do, you'll miss on so many reasons to call me impatient! Good job tho... ah, who am I fooling. Btw (or rather, P.S.:), shouldn't you be packing and designing? (off-topic here, I know, I know.)

Those panoramic front windows... (bow). Left me speechless! And that's saying something, considering the ranting rog I ram.

I'd be grateful if our Flower Shop, Horse Racing Stadium and the Full Throttle bike could also be added to their respective categories... thanks in advance! P.S.: Perhaps it might be a good idea to add the EBCTC entries into a separate subcategory?

Anytime, Mr. Favourite Whacker Guess you've already started packing... Here's hoping you settle in nicely in CA! A bit distant for my liking (we were planning on visiting Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, etc., but I guess car rental can take us all the way to California as well :) ), but at least you should be able to find new(er) inspiration down by the West Coast :] Cheers!

We've bought a Green Grocer and a Market Street within the last month. As far as the Green Grocer goes, I believe they're not planning on cancelling it just yet - it was, after all, the last addition to the Modular Sets line and with the fire station coming out later this year, I don't think TLG would only want to have 1 modular set on the shelves in 2010. That said, I'm pretty sure Market Street is nearing the end of production, especially bearing in mind the amount of times it's been "sold out" in recent months. It's currently back in stock @ shop@home in Europe, but not available for the USA and I'd expect it to be sold once again over there for a few months before it's officially over with. Mind you, there have been a few recent pics of the Modular Sets line which don't include the Market Street. But at the end of the day, it has had its lengthy run having come out back in 2007 (unlike, for example, the 10183 Hobby Trains, which was only available for a year or so). I hope they're not getting the Cafe Corner off the shelves anytime soon, because we still need to save up in order to get that one (vacation comes first though :) ). One other set I'm curious about is the 10184 Town Plan - do you guys think it will be available much longer? Mirandir, do you have any info on that set? Thanks in advance!

Congratulations Hincks!!! You thoroughly deserve it mate :)

Thanks for the replies guys. If these tracks weren't REALLY dirty, I wouldn't have bothered posting a new thread for this... but they most definitely are. I will post a few before/after pics once I'm done with the cleaning and let you all know what I used.

Well I finally received my latest eBay bargain, with the package containing 11 straight and 39 curved pieces, as well as every bit of electrical hardware you need to get those babies running and a couple of switches (yeah, of course I'm bragging, you have no idea how long I'd waited for this moment! :P ). That's all neat, but I'm still waiting for my BNSF train to arrive, along with my first (and only) 9V engine sometime next month. In the meantime, I thought I'd take out the tracks and have a good look at them and boy, was I in for a surprise... Since those babies are second hand, some of them are in a downright dirrrrty condition - the switches especially seem to have been fully garnished with dust & stuff. Seeing as I really don't have any experience with those pieces and they're electric, I don't want to spoil anything while cleaning them or render them useless in some way. So before I get started, I'd be extremely grateful if you guys could give me any basic guidelines regarding the cleaning of 9V tracks - what to do and what not to. I guess a damp cloth, some kind of cleaning solution for the really dirty spots and a lot of drying out after the cleaning process would suffice, but I'd still rather ask before ruining 50+ pieces :) Thanks in advance!

And don't we all know which one that is... (not asking for a few extra life points here... haven't logged in for a week, so I'm off to see if Scruffy IS actually still alive :D )

What a lovely tram! A great MOC, I absolutely adore seeing nicely executed trams... Planning on building one myself later on, this one is a great reference :)

Well, here's another one with a grievance. Guys, don't you think you should at least try and limit your spamming in the MOTEE thread?! You can talk all you want in this here thread, why not post everything that you'd like to say but is not directly related to our quest here?! It's not that I don't appreciate all the johnson rod jokes (actually, even that is starting to get overused) & the likes, it's just that when someone logs in after a few days and wants to catch up, they get the feeling that there's just a whole lot of blabbing going on but nothing really HAPPENING. The story is only moving because Brickster keeps pushing it along and, even though we are all limited to a certain extent as to what we can and cannot do, I find that some of you prefer to just randomly post anything that comes to mind instead of actually following the storyline and trying to help us all progress. I'm not pointing fingers here and I know that we all get caught up sometimes. Playing MOTEE is loads of fun, especially when one's able to follow it closely. However, I really believe that we'd be doing ourselves AND Brickster a huge favour by trying to cut down on all the irrelevant talk in the "official" storyline threads. Thanks.

Sandy, aren't you taking this whole Murder Mystery thing a bit too seriously? Give it a break, we're all just having a bubble here. I myself have also been irritated at times, but what's the use in that anyway?! Play along and have fun, I say... Now then, WHO decided that I was impatient? I did let you ramble on about stuff without coming to a plausible solution for one entire chapter without r-guing about anything :) Plus Hincks, I'll have you know that Scruffy is a proud Great Dane, not just some mutt!

Favourite snacks? Mmm, lemme think... Those Indian chips are awesome! Papad, I think they were called... That and a bottle of Stella. What follows inevitably is "Can I please have some more of those", then "Another Stella, please" and so on... + = bliss. Until the main course arrives, at which point naturally the attention gets shifted to actual FOOD! (guess you can tell that I've found a great Indian restaurant just nearby)

Hate em, but you have to admit: Brawn are immense. Button drives as if he has four championship titles behind his back and Brawn look like they've been around longer than Ferrari. Every single thing they do to their cars brings them closer to perfection, I don't know what these guys are doing, but they're definitely doing it right. Lewis has obviously decided to let go and start enjoying his racing instead - which is a great frame of mind. Given his terrible car and the gloomy prospects of it getting much better, I think that's the right thing to do. As long as he keeps fighting for the best position in every race, he'll just be proving that he is indeed a top driver. I do hope to see him make it to the podium at least once this season though. Great Britain all set to welcome back its long-lost prodigal son next week then, eh? Button being in the limelight instead of Lewis - now THAT will be weird ;]

*Ruff... Rahem... What I rind ROST curious is the ract that ol' Jeb had kept that randcar of his ridden for so rany years, and yet the rinstant you city rellas showed up, he was reager to show off ris rawesome rechanical rachievement. Ris it just me, or rid he ronly mention there were no reaks on rat ride of ris RAFTER we were ractually strapped to that rocket!? Resides, are you rositive there was rothing else in his rarden shed!? Rere must have been a runch of tools at reast - rafter all, how relse rould he have ronstructed a randcar!? Perhaps you still right find something ruseful - which he ridn't want you to find in the rirst place! I'm rot rointing ringers here, it's just rat Jeb has refinitely reen acting weird since you ruys rot here and I romehow get the reeling that your rissing clue lies somewhere rin or raround that farm of his. If rere's anyone of you willing to go rall the way rack to the rarm, I'm rore than rilling to lead ya ruys!

* It's at times like these that Scruffy wishes he'd never started talking to people in the first place. Roof, row rid we ranage to stop so quickly ranyway?!

A very tough choice indeed... /rant starts here/ LuxorV's entry would look great in any town, regardless whether it's a 70s classic town or a "modern" tabletown - and that's what I really like about it. Besides, all the details such as the kiosk, the fountain and the lights at the crossroad are simple yet marvellous. The thing which fails to impress me is the scale of the building, especially its second floor, which is a bit "pre-minifig" in terms of size and does not look very appropriate when compared to the regular minifig on the balcony. TheBrickster started it all with his as-classic-as-can-get entry. A plethora of other MOCs were built afterwards, pretty much in the same style and with an identical concept, however it was his which really came first and hence attracted my attention. I'm not really a fan of the "old-classic" boxy cars, but I thought it was a good idea, especially alongside the taxi stop. That and the London-style phone booth both look awesome here, even though they're just small details. The buildings and all the activity around them also look lovely, but I was hoping there would be some furniture on the inside - which is what I really loved about classic LEGO buildings. And, last but not oldest least, I turn my attention to Hinckley. Ah, Hinckley. Where do I begin. Terrible choice of colours, outrageous concept - don't you know we're in the middle of an economic crisis, it's BLASPHEMY to speak of the good ol' times and depict (potential) oil tycoons sucking US finances from those banks! Besides, what's with the red steak that chef there is serving? Get with the program - vegetarianism is in, meat is out! That's for throwing Scruffy's kettle at that switchpoint. Now that's dealt with, I have to say... I love this entry to bits. The classic yet studless design is a marvel and really works for me here! Seeing as I don't enjoy anything "too" classic, I find this concept simply brilliant. Same applies to the oil tycoon's convertible (white rims are an epic win here). Of course, there IS that bus stop with the weird seating concept... but the buildings in the background and their furnishing more than make up for that. /rant over/ All in all, I found this harder to call than the "regular members" voting - even though there are less entries to choose from. If I could, I'd split points between Hincks and Brickster. But with this system I'll just go ahead and vote for the Brickster - because his "classic town" design was the first (and one of the best) of many entries which followed in his footsteps. And because I love the buildings. AND because Herman owes me one (besides, Hinckley seems to be winning anyway... a bit of competition never hurt anyone :) )

Phew! Rood thing we rurvived that one! Rad thing I rost my rettle though Row then, anyone else ranna ry and convince me rat rettle was useless!?! * Starts sniffing around... Ruh, weird... This ranker reems to be full of romething... Romething that refinitely roesn't smell like ruel! * Heads off in the direction of the tanker in order to investigate.

Rut ro... rood thing I've still rot my relmet on! NOW you see wry you ralways need a rettle, Rerman! If we're on the rack which reads up the rountain, we should be rine... However, reading into rown at this speed rouldn't be a rood thing ro do... * Considers jumping off the handcar while there's still time... decides not to abandon ship yet. Or re could think of a ray of slowing this ring rown refore it's roo rate? Rettle-rimprov-braking perhaps..?

You know I ron't rike raving runs around, Jeb! Resides, you're a bit too rigger-happy for my riking... I'll give it some thought, rut I might as rell have ronveniently forgotten where I put away rat Rinchester of yours.

Tell me about it... At least you haven't bet all your money on that Perhaps it's time I took that horsetrack MOC apart... The bookie is starting to look intimidating. P.S.: WhiteFang, bring on the three EB Staff entries and let's get to voting

* Takes off improvised helmet. Hmmmm, sniffing round a reen rield, you say... Not quite as rilling as a rain ride, but I'm in revertheless! Ron't forget rat you may rot be able to see quite as rood after rightfall, but I can rill sniff out ranything within a rile, just in rase you recide to go on that rain ride after rusk. And I rink rat if anybody rants to shoot you, rey'd have to come to within a rile, so you're retty safe with me. Well, rot's gonna re then?

Hah, Scruffeeeeeeeyyyy!!! (My Murder Mystery character has become namesake to a coal waggon, how cool is that ) Mark, thanks for posting pictures of the waggons' wheelbase & sides... Very creative, me likey! And the working features just add the topping to this. If you don't mind me asking, which loc are you coupling these great wagons with?

I don't mean to come across as being rude or anything, but what's the use in clogging up the thread when you're obviously unable to offer a real solution or even a far-fetched idea...!? Threads such as this one are extremely useful for MOCers like yours trule here who for one reason or another are unable to start experimenting on these ideas straight away. You can imagine that it's a bit of a bother when you decide to check out that old thread three months later and you notice that you'd have to make your way through 3 pages of random clutter. Anyway, back to the topic at hand: I remembered that while browsing MOCpages I'd come across a few creations which implement this unorthodox way of building a realistic articulated connection. Not one for the purists though. If you want it to all to remain LEGO-built, I guess using (and cutting) tubes would generally be a good idea. I've been thinking of building an articulated trolley bus for our town sometime during the summer. If I get to that, I'll make sure I post any futures findings & results.