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Really nice designs, here. :)

It looked real when I first saw it - awesome job! :)

Hey Rufus, any advice on bleaching white pieces? I know you mentioned this but I'm a little concerned about water/bleach ratios and how long they should soak (got a Galaxy Commander, yes!!!).

Yeah, it's definitely "playing the game" a bit, I suppose. Not really something you'll see on a recruiting poster. :) Barring RMC, a lot of the better officers I've worked with were enlisted before they commissioned. Another way of getting in might be just enlisting right off the bat, getting qualified as a Leading Seaman or Corporal, then going officer and getting paid to finish your degree in the process. He wouldn't be at Lt(N) pay but he'd still be looking at something like 60,000 a year while going to university for free, or thereabouts. I'd have to check the pay rates (it's all up there on the Internet - just google "CF pay rates". Well, I guess it's "CAF" now, but it should still work).

Wow, I love it! Love the official ships docked at its sides, and I'm very curious as to what it looks like inside. :)

Yeah, bit far, that! But maybe when I'm around that area. I'll definitely check out Play Value. Turns out that store I was thinking of is in Quebec City! For some reason they listed an ad in Kijiji with a Gatineau postal code, though. Too bad, looks really nice...

Love the boat hull bottom - definitely stealing that idea. ;)

That's a beaut. Love the bridge, especially.

Good idea. I didn't go to RMC - I joined after finishing my degree. Honestly, RMC is not required to be a good officer (and sometimes graduate pick up some weird habits, to be quite honest... I'll just leave it at that!), BUT I'm at the point in my career now where I'm really starting to notice the benefits these guys had in terms of leadership training and experience at a very young age, networking, etc. Plus, you know, I'm still paying back student loans, so there's that. :) Another option is to go the ROTP - essentially the same as going to RMC in terms of getting university paid for, summer employment, and four years seniority/experience. Might come out a bit more well-rounded as an individual that way. ;) Still another good option is to join a reserve unit as an officer cadet - I THINK you already have to be enrolled in university, though... You wouldn't get your whole school paid for but you can get an extra $2000 a year for four years to put toward that, plus you get a well-paying part-time job and guaranteed full-time employment in the summer, too. Some guys even take a break from school to finish their training, become qualified so they can make more, get some full-time work to pay for school, etc... or even transfer to the Reg Force after where not only do they get the rest of their school paid for, BUT they're also making a salary as a Captain (or Lieutenant in the RCN) - imagine making between 74,000/year (and that's just the base pay) just to go to university for 3-4 years? Yeah, some guys do it. Makes me think I should have gone about this a bit smarter, but I guess I can't complain. ;) You know I might be going crazy or something... I swear I saw an ad on kijiji, or maybe it was somewhere else? I'll keep looking but now I'm at a loss as to where I might have seen it... looked like more of a hobby type store, know what I mean? I keep meaning to check this place out... I always see the big Lego Millennium Falcon picture outside the store, but it's always when we're right about to get on the 417!

Oh yeah? Didn't end up joining? :) Well, you probably know that you get a lot of extra money to spend on Lego (among other things) when you deploy, so that helps. :) My salary more than doubled (and we actually make good money to start with in the Canadian military) when I did a ten-month stint in Afghanistan. But now that I have kids, I'm not looking to do that anytime soon again. Luckily, I'm in a position where that doesn't seem likely, either. I've heard of this - I actually met one of the members at the "Ottawa Geek Market" last year. Their group had a pretty impressive display, though I was also hosting a table so I didn't have much time to ogle. I will probably end up joining eventually, although I don't have a whole lot of free time right now... Hopefully I can trade some of my extra GI Joes and Transformers for some older sets. Things are a bit busy with young/unborn kids right now, and my wife finishing up a master's... Ah, I do sometimes miss the free time, but kids are totally worth it. :) I think that's probably why I'm in more of a "collector mode" right now with the old sets. I've got some great ideas for some MOCs, but these will probably be very long-term projects.

Yikes! Well, I might not have done it had I read this first, but I put a bunch of Lego through the Oxyclean wash and didn't seem to have any ill effects. Maybe it's the ratio? I don't put a whole lot of it in the water... Mind you, I didn't keep it in over 24 hours, either... And yeah, I wasn't expecting any discolouration to go away. In fact, they weren't even all that dirty (except the baseplates), but after watching the amount of Lego that goes into my nephews' mouths when they play... yeah. :) I just gave the printed pieces a quick dip and rinsed them off. The only time I've ever had paint or printed parts come off with Oxyclean was an old junker Cobra Commander figure I had - I left him in for several days just to see what might happen, and some of the paint did eventually come off. Never had a problem with anything else, though. Good to know about the bleach for white pieces... Do you think that's more of a "cleaning" solution, or are you just covering up the discolouration? Not that it matters to most, I suppose... I'm just curious. I'm not familiar with the actual chemical process that occurs with bleach and I guess my OC collecting habits have forced a distinction between cleaning and retouching in my mind. :)

I love this... What a great mix of sci-fi/space, forest, City elements and train! It's like a Lego all-in-one! I particularly love the building... it's got a very "restrained" but still futuristic look that I think is a lot more realistic than some of the other, more out there type of designs. Looks great. :)

Actually, I think I saw somewhere that there's some kind of Lego shop in Gatineau? Haven't checked it out yet - what do you think? This is true. :) Heard about this - might have to check it out...

Thanks! Currently residing in Ottawa, and I think we might stay here for a while. I spent some time on the "right" coast recently, after a stint in Victoria, BC as well. Heh, Navy guy, if you haven't guessed. :) Most of us think of "real" bacon as, well, regular bacon, I think. I certainly do... Though I wouldn't call Canadian bacon quite ham... definitely something a bit different! Thanks very much! Looking forward to the discussions...

As a newcomer here who just picked up a 918 (and a few other Classic Space sets, it seems!), I am LOVING this thread. Mine is pretty clean but I still plan on giving it an Oxyclean bath... Anyone here use that to clean old Lego? It's something I picked up from years of collecting vintage GI Joe figures... They come out really fresh looking and clean... though my recent attempts with some REALLY dirty Lego still necessitates the use of an old toothbrush, to scrub a bit between the studs. I'm a bit hesitant to leave printed pieces in there too long, though.

Hi all, I've recently gotten back into Lego and decided to join up. I recently bought a large lot of Lego off kijiji so that my daughters (19 months and another soon to join us in August!) would have some growing up... I ended up getting a few nice Classic Space sets out of it (my favourite theme as a kid growing up in the '80s) and it's rekindled my own interest as well! I collect toys in general. Mainly "core '80s stuff" like vintage Kenner SW figure, GI Joe, Transformers - hence my screen name, which I also use on various forums like Yojoe.com, Hisstank.com, TFW2005.com, and the new Masters of the Universe Collection line. To be quite honest (and I know the Lego purists out there will probably hate this), the new GI Joe and Transformers Kre-os probably rekindled my interest in Lego as well. :) Part of this, I think, is that I don't expect my daughters to be into all that (though it'd be cool if they did, and I'm certainly not goint to attempt to "girlify" them!), but Lego is a hobby I will be able to enjoy with them. My oldest daughter is still a bit young for Lego, but she's already playing with Duplo. Can't wait to play with them as they get older. In the meantime, though, I'm having fun with the old sets I used to have as a kid, and have decided to trade some of my extra action figures for some others, too. Anyway, this looks like a nice place to hang out and get ideas. Hope to get to know some of you soon! D