mikey

I don't think the theme is set in the 1950's, whilst the aliens are the classic villains of the B-Movies of that era (with the flying saucers and tripods), the human defenders seem to me to have reasonably advanced technology. Say set within the next 50 years or so, I think this looking at the Jet Copter or Earth Defence HQ. The box art does not portray a particularly futuristic city like SP3, but neither does it seem retro enough to be 50 years ago.

jansued - 3 points kost u grlu - 1 point athos - 1 point

Wow! We are getting 50% civilian styled medieval sets in the summer? I am very disappointed Lego did not roll out an unrealistic siege engine with flick fire missiles! Seriously, the summer kingdoms wave looks intense! Of course the design of the mill and barn is not exactly up to scratch (mainly the barn with its unusual roof colours and design, the mill looks quite nice), and the blacksmith set looks kind of sparse (although it does have a water wheel). But I do not really care, because I am interested in the new civilian torso designs. Its a shame they redesigned the pitch fork, I would have preferred the classic one remade in reddish brown. But all in all, July looks like a very good month for Lego Castle.

This new theme seems really interesting, and has certainly put a smile on my face when viewing the set designs. I am not really a Space person, but I am sure to buy a few of these sets purely for the novelty factor (7051 Tripod Invader and 7052 Abduction are must have sets, who could not need those?!). I like the way that if you had collected SP3 then these would blend in nicely. My only reservation is the Light Blue colour scheme for the Human Defenders, I just personally dislike that colour for a human defence force. But I will just swap human defenders with SP3 or Dino Attack torsos. All in all, this looks like a fun packed action space theme that adults can enjoy aswell.

This is a great MOC, full of character and well executed. Hopefully if you provide an audience for the band then people viewing will appreciate that the building contains something worth investigating further. Now I am thinking that the Stud Circle Trio might refer to the way you have made the side fences? As they are comprised of a trio of yellow 1x1 round bricks underneath a 1x4 short fence, with the centre yellow brick inside a 2x2 round plate (the stud circle)?

Far to many to choose from. Each one is best when it suits your purpose, but if I had to select one:

A quick wikipedia search gives the operating temperature of ABS plastic as between −25 and 60 °C (-13 and 140 °F). I am no expert about the properties of plastics, nor do I know what kind of temperatures you are getting in your part of the world, but I would have thought -25°C is quite extreme cold.

I really enjoy reading Hispabrick magazine, it is very professionally produced. I have loved the tree building series, I hope you guys can continue with this type of article over a few issues. It's always a good mix of themes, so everyone can find something of interest. Of course that means some parts (the NXT programming articles) mean nothing to me, but that is to be expected. This issue highlights were the continued tree lessons, the sorting article, and the what exactly is technic? article (which was great to read as I found many things explained to me that I did not understand). Please keep up the great work, and I really hope you carry on in the brilliant way you have established yourselves so far.

I am very impressed with these, I particularly like the Artist and the guy in a Hazard Suit. The Viking Shield looks beautiful, although I hope that they create a unique head for him.

Maybe, as this is a list of resources and links, then it might be suitable for the Advanced Building Techniques Thread? Seems a good place for it, does not hide the thread in either forum, and is always easily accessible?

Brickdoctor has definitely solved the issue with 30359, the cone is protected by the axle holder. As for subtle differences between System/ Technic, this presentation on 'Stressing The Brick', gives reasons why some connections between the two are not considered safe. Slightly off topic, but playing around with the 1x1 Cone and a 1x2 Brick in LDD it seems that an illegal connection is allowed for these pieces (inserting the cone into the bottom of the 1x2 brick, and stressing both elements), so maybe the bug is that these are allowed? Anyway, nice Snowspeeder by the way!

I think this would be considered an illegal technique, and not a bug, because you have the potential to force the cone to far into the technic part (and begin to crush the cone). With a cylinder 1x1 brick, the stud protects the brick from being pushed to far in and getting stressed.

Obviously Lego is a luxury item, but I do not think it is particularly overpriced, especially considering both the generally high quality of the product but also more importantly its play value for kids. I can remember a few years ago my sister getting this Doctor Who Mask for my nephew costing around £30, this was soon forgotten as the fad was over quick, but the Lego pieces brought that Christmas are still been played with today. Anyway this has got me thinking about the inflation of prices, and wondering has Lego got more expensive or cheaper? It was difficult to find original prices, but I did manage to get some from the UK Bricks 'n Pieces Magazine, which has scans here. I had wanted to see how much sets I had as a kid actually cost, but couldn't find prices of many town sets, so have got one 1985 town example and a range from the 1984 castle line. I used a historic inflation calculator, to try to account for inflation. I have tried to get like for like comparisons: Town/ City 6392 Airport 1985 -contains 501 pieces & 8 minifigs -priced @ £30 -after inflation gives £71.10 -and 14p/piece 3182 Airport 2010 -contains 683 pieces & 5 minifigs -priced @ £80 -and 12p/piece Castle 6030 Catapult 1984 -contains 75 pieces & 2 minifigs -priced @ £3.50 -after inflation gives £9.21 -and 12p/piece 7950 Knights Showdown 2010 -contains 51 pieces & 2 minifigs -priced @ £4.99 -and 10p/piece 6080 Lions Castle 1984 -contains 618 + 12 minifigs -priced @ £29 -after inflation gives £73.46 -and 11p/piece 7946 Kings Castle 2010 -contains 890 + 8 minifigs -priced @ £80 -and 8p/piece Anyway apart from proving I have way too much time on my hands at the moment, it seems that Lego in the UK has actually dropped in price since the mid 1980's.

Realistically I think we have seen the last of Farm for a while, hopefully it might be revisited in the future, but I think it will always stay a minor theme for City. I would love to see some of the set's discussed here, but I don't think Lego would consider them as viable sets. As Klaus says the Metal Scale Farm Machinery Toys are a classic line that always seems to sell well, I had these toys as a child and I did love them. You could get various tractors, implements, sheds, packs of animals etc., which were all sold separately. But it seems Lego have a limit on the amount of individual sets they can release (and also retail shops have finite shelf space), so it would be unlikely for them to devote a large proportion of sets to the theme. If they released a few each year then kids would grow out of Lego before they had enough farm Lego. Other ideas are basically packs of animals or landscape ideas and for sure I would kill to buy, say 10 Lego Cows in a box, or a Green 32x32 Baseplate together with loads of foliage pieces and a few hundred tan antennas, but these are not really viable sets for Lego. So, I think that Farm might resurface again, but it is always likely to consist of a few sets which resemble the first wave: a tractor or two, a large set with a barn, maybe a house, and some sort of horse related set.

I think it is simply to give relatives of children who look for gifts a guide on what to buy them. If you do not have kids yourself and buy Christmas/ Birthday gifts for a extended family, you may be in uncharted water in the Toy Store, so the upper age can give you the idea that perhaps the child is to old for this type of Lego or Toy. Removing the upper age limit printed on sets would not affect the wider publics perception of Lego, as everyone knows it is a Toy for Children. Obviously we as Adults still buy and play with Lego, but that is our choice to choose an interesting past time. Lego are fully aware of the AFOL market, and release sets specifically for this niche market (with 16+ guidline, etc.), alongside the core market of the committed KFOL and the gift buyers who give kids Lego. Also I don't think anyone really cares what you buy- the shop owner wants our money and the girl on the checkout is just waiting for her shift to finish. I doubt that much attention is paid to the upper age guideline!

I have mixed feelings about this, on the one hand I am excited to see the new sets and more importantly the elements this will bring, but also slightly disappointed that it is a Licensed Theme with the increased prices and the flesh figs. Obviously the beauty of Lego is that we are free to pick and choose what parts of this theme we wish to incorporate into our own personal building spaces, but still I feel ambivalent, a resentment that the 2009 line also saw just one wave to make room for Jack Sparrow, but also an excitement to see how Lego will firstly render these films into bricks, and also hopeful that we will see some interesting new elements.

Total sympathy from me, 3 months is a long time. I know how you feel, having a hairline fracture and serious tendon damage in my left wrist at the moment, leaving me with one hand operational! This is even more frustrating considering I am off work, and have days of free time at my disposal! Anyway I'm half way through the plaster cast (not plaster anymore but this strange plastic mesh that hardens with water, but same result: no movement!) stage now though, so three weeks today it will be removed, and will start physiotherapy. I am thinking Lego will be a perfect way to get my movements back and exercise my hand! As for Digital Lego Tools, both MLCAD and LDD are both good programs, I had never really bothered with LDD before but I am seeing the usefulness of it, as it displays the true connections. I am planning MOC's out in both of them, using the various advantages of both programs to different parts of the same design.

Sorry, I meant what piece did you use?

This is a great idea for a MOC, the boat has been built perfectly, and is set into a really nice landscaped scene. Excellent creation ! What are the trans green pieces representing the sea weed on the beach?

minion - 2 Morgan19 - 1

I hadn't even considered using other colours, because I was representing stone I thought only the Bley's would fit. But I will definitely give some other colours a try next time (this has now died and is all nicely sorted!), I am thinking about a poor peasant house next and I really want a decayed and ruined feeling to it. cheers!

This is nicely set out, with a good story involved also! The hut has is built well, the control lever sticks as finished arrows is a nice touch. But I also agree that you should have made the roof two sided, as it is a bit steep at the moment. Maybe you could try a Viking Shield as a target? Or a bright coloured 2x2 round plate sat inside a 4x4 round plate (I am sure this has been used in a Kingdoms Promo Pack?).

Thanks again for all the positive comments from everyone! Yeah, the floor does look a bit to clean, I did try mixing in some 1x1 studs but they looked a bit out of place. Maybe I should get some more Dark Bley tiles, and use them randomly to break up the colour of the floor a bit. And of course, no cats were harmed during the making of this MOC!

Thanks for sharing these pictures, they are some nice designs. Yeah me to! That would have made a really sweet set, its got a great 70's style to it.

This looks great, your MOC's are always packed full of details, but in a modern 'classic' style. I particularly like the SNOT dark red buffet dresser, that has a really nice look to it, and is positioned perfectly hanging from the wall. One small question though, the bar area is well designed, the draft taps look great, but maybe instead of using white tap pieces for the optics (dispense spirit measures), would black look better?