gratefulnat

10198 tantive IV , and now with TLC using DHL it'll only take a few days instead of 1 1/2 weeks to get to me.

Everytime you're vaccuuming your heart does a hop skip and jump when you hear that klink klink sound as something shoots up the tube. When your vaccuumcleaner dust bag is full and you cut it open in the bathtub just to make sure... When you show up at parent teacher evenings wearing a LEGO shirt. When you give yourself more LEGO than your kids at christmas. When you give your kids LEGO at christmas hoping that in a year or two you can sneak pieces into your extras box that you realy need.

I stand corrected , humble apologies

Very true about the craziness, and you know what, in march I did change my private insurance policy to calculate in my LEGO. I did it over the phone, so I can only imagine what the person's face looked like... clean craziness has its costs...

Very fun topic I can live with this: my legoself.

When I got Endor Battle 8038 and had finished builing the AT-ST, I found the walking/moving legs function absolutely ridiculous. While walking it around the living room my son burst into laughter - and BAM, the 'Ministry of Silly Walks' sketch flashed through my mind. Needless to say, we watched it on youtube and had a good laugh together. Certainly one of my favorite Python sketches. @Orion123 "My dad actually walked the ministry of Silly walks being filmed. He said his first thought was: What the f--k are they doing?! default_tong.gif" When I was younger and on vacation with my family we'd (5 of us) sometimes do SillyWalks through some foreign place, and boy did we get a lot of strange looks. That sure was good fun.

I'd have to agree with mild soap and warm water and washing by hand (a brush with too hard bristles will leave scratches) for the best results. Obviously this is a very tedious process, but if you love something it's easier to put a lot of work into it. I tend to take the models pretty much completely apart while washing, then I rinse with hot (but not too hot) water, put the pieces into a large (1m x 1m) cloth made of thin material, and then spin that cloth to get rid of most of the water. Afterwards I let them dry on a towel, giving it two or three shakes in the process, and viola -nice clean shiny LEGO. As the water where I live has a very high calcium(lime?) content, the drying process is important as well, otherwise the LEGO will have milky spots on it after drying, and then you could start from the beginning again. I always thought I was pretty crazy for doing this, as all my aquaintances also believe, so it's been good to read about how other's also care for their LEGO.

100% American (you know, some English, French, Irish, and German blood, and rumors of other blood as well) conceived, born, raised and still living in Switzerland, and most of the time I just consider myself a human-being. My son is Swiss, and much of the time he considers me not to be human... .

As soon as my computer gets turned on, live streaming Grateful Dead :skull: (gdradio.net) fills the empty space, 'cause I got turned on many, many years ago and luckily have never found the off switch. Don't believe I ever will.

I just ordered Pirate Tank 7753 and Home One 7754, with a free gold minifig keychain. Everytime I place an order, I feel like a kid before christmas .

I got the set from s@h back in fall '03, and it's probably been on display for a total of three out of the last six years. It spent about 2 months with afternoon sunshine sizzeling it before I realised the error of my ways. One front 'cockpit' sticker was fried, which I managed to get back together with tweezers and some good liquid glue. Since then when on display all direct sunlight is blocked, although some natural light hits it since I don't have curtains on my windows, but I shut the shutters during the summer days to keep the light out. Temperature and humidity are pretty constant in my apartment (about 20°C in winter/up to 25°C in summer, fluxuation of about 6-7°C over the year, and humidity I try to keep around 60%), and I use no air conditioners or vaporizers/humidifiers. (off topic: Princeton NJ: my brother and his family live in Hopewell, but when visiting I like to browse the second hand music shops in Princeton to get hold of live Grateful Dead :skull: CD's I can't find here in Switzerland.)

This last weekend I built SW 10018 RBR once again (I was trying to calm my excitement of seeing the new 10198, and good thing I did because nothing showed up ), and noticed that on nearly all white plates (4x6 and bigger) there was yellow discoloring around/on the studs where the mold injection is. This came out in 2002, so the plates weren't produced in the '90's. This is the only set (note: I collect only SW sets...yup, one of those SW nerds, that's me) where I've seen that discoloring take place, but I will be building a few other older sets soon just to see if this has happened in any other sets from '99-'03. Considering SW sets, the problem of clutching power reared its ugly head in 2007 - y-wing 7658 anyone?, very frustrating and for me the biggest quality issue I have with LEGO. I also built the UCS MF this weekend, and though I enjoyed the build immensely, I also thought there were many pieces that were too loose, particularily smaller pieces like 1x3 plates. I've gotten all of the first wave of summer SW 2009 sets, and I have to say I believe the clutching power of the bricks is back where it belongs - and that makes me very happy!

Thanks for the review. Particularily like the removable engine block. And of course the figures too! A must have for me.

I've wondered myself, and all that makes sense to me is that it's some kind of gangway between the two ships, or maybe LEGO just added that in to fill the empty space between the two vehicles. I do think it's a great set though.

Thanks everybody, for the welcoming words.

Good thing I didn't make a bet, because I'd be paying dues now (darn tech pins). thanks!

I'm at a loss for words... Can't wait to see it when it's completely done.

Thanks for sharing this cavegod -very impressive. Love to have one sitting on my shelf . Out of pure curiosity - do you know what the piececount is?

Hi there A couple of years after my son was born I started browsing the LEGO shelves at toy stores with the intention of getting him presents that I could also enjoy (sneaky father that I am), and perchance saw the Star Wars UCS X-wing which just looked incredible. As a kid I'd always loved LEGO, could spend days on end building and rebuilding, great stuff, but the interest petered out as a teen. I also saw SW when it came out in '77 for my seventh birthday, which just blew me away (Yes, I am definitely a LEGO SW fan), so somehow these two experiences just exploded into a new hobby and I have been hooked ever since 2003. I'm more of a collector than a MOCer, and with few exceptions only SW sets - but that's just because my wallet's too small or my boss not generous enough, because I find the whole pallet of LEGO just fascinating. My son is now ten and we certainly have fun together with LEGO (if the sun is shining then forget LEGO - a bike or a soccer ball is way more fun for him - thank god I live in Switzerland so we get plenty of rain and snow) and the only time we have a problem concerning LEGO is when I bring a new big load home and it's not even my birthday and he gets jealous. Well, been lurking here for a while, just thought it would be time to throw in my two cents worth every now and again if a topic catches my interest. I also enjoy surfing fbtb and using brickset for inventory. regards gratefulnat