AndyC

I seriously doubt that including a few figs makes any noticable difference on the price point or piece count of a set this size in the way it might on a small scale set like 6212. In terms of the overall cost, they're going to be pretty negligable and large UCS sets like this carry something of a 'prestige' markup anyway. More likely they were included to (attempt to) satisfy AFOLs asking for a set based on the bounty hunters on the executor bridge scene, which isn't really 'action oriented' enough to realistically market as a set to kids.

Wasn't there some sort of issue with shipping small magnets in childrens toys? I'm sure it was some sort of legal issue that lead to them redesigning the buffers of train sets to use a fully enclosed and permanently attached magnet part. Granted you might argue the UCS sets aren't child's toys, but I'd have thought TLG would apply such a ruling universally and use some other method instead. I'm rather hoping they do too, since the magnets on 10030 are a pain for falling apart if anyone breathes a little too close to it.

Hurrah! I've been wanting a UCS Executor since I first got back into Lego after my dark ages. I thought the UCS shuttle was going to be the best thing ever, but it appears it may now have a rival. Now I just need to figure out where I can possibly fit it....

1) Design the engine so that the channel can be changed easily, either directly or indirectly (much as the new trains allow you to turn the battery on/off) 2) Use an M/XL motor and provide a manual switch to disengage the gearing, so it can be pulled easily. 3) Use an M/XL motor and build a gearbox that engages/disengages dependent on direction, trading "reverse" for the ability to pull the locomotive backwards without friction 4) Design a new coupling such that motor power is fed along the train through the couplings then feed the wheels a combination of the motor power and coupling power through differentials, which should average things out and provide constant speed. 5) Do something far cleverer than the few ideas I've thought up in about 5 minutes, show it on Eurobricks and win the respect of millions!

I ordered one from S@H UK on the 6th and despite the site saying it wouldn't ship till 1st May, I got an email yesterday saying mine was in the post, so I should get it in the next couple of days. The S@H site always seems to be rather conservative in it's estimate of when back-ordered sets will ship.

It's obviously a response to the success of the CMFs, which I guess was inevitable to some extent. It speaks volumes for the iconic status of the LEGO minifig though, since TLG can sellthem with entirely generic characters wheras Megablocks have had to go down the licensed route as they'd never sell with things like 'skater dude' or 'fisherman.'

It's a hidden folder, you can either spend ages mucking around with Explorer settings to show hidden folders or you can just type %appdata% into the Explorer address bar (or Start menu search box) which will automagically open the right place.

It's very easy to remove a password from a PDF file. It's a reasonable deterrent but by no means a cast-iron guaranteed way that someone won't share it. To some extent if you're going into a business like that you just need to rely on trust, but accept that some degree of piracy is inevitable. Effort is better spent keeping a careful eye on ebay auctions selling on copies than on trying to devise some sort of technical protection.

Interesting, need to have a proper play with it to see what has really changed. I did notice the newer pirate ship parts are included though. I like the improvements to the colour palette layout, although I really do wish the LDD team would learn to put scrollbars on things when they don't fit on screen. It's a tight squeeze on my little tablet pc and the larger dialog only just fits on-screen, wheras some of the minifig head decorations are completely inaccessible. (Fortunately I use my big laptop for LDD mostly, so it's less of an issue - I just did the update on this one in case it went horribly wrong!)

The Emperor. I always wanted the Empire to win.

I require all MOCs to be exactly 85.42% accurate. No more, no less. Keep to that and nobody needs to be fed to the rancor.

Thank heavens! For ages I've been wondering into toy stores and having to buy something called LEGO because I'm too shy to get the Hello Kitty stuff I've longed for. At last I can proudly announce that I too am an AFOHK.

Quite a few of those have come under heavy criticism when the target audience is predominantly children though, because it's all to easy to end up spending a fortune when you aren't really aware of the real cost behind things. Parents have been understandably upset by the idea that their child playing what seemed like an 'innocent' game have ended up running up huge debts.

Try using %appdata%\LEGO Company\LEGO Digital Designer\preferences.ini instead. That should locate the right file and is a lot less dependent upon things like operating system version, username, drive letters etc.

Wheras I'd see it as paying for something that is going to look good, if i wanted something that looked exactly like a studio model I wouldn't be looking to Lego for it. Not that 'accuracy' really has much meaning when discussing something that doesn't really exist at all. Even the various studio models used in filming don't always entirely agree.

I'm inclined to agree with Dazmundo, if you can't tell why get worried over it? And I'm reasonably sure that even some of the people who think they can tell the difference will have some basic pieces made in China that they couldn't tell apart. The Maersk ship, for example, has pieces made in China but it doesn't have anything particularly special in it and I've never seen a single review pointed out any flawed pieces in it. I think a lot of it stems from the cheaper production used on things like magnets and some historical quality issues when TLG first starting outsourcing to China. These days I think the difference is more perceived than actual.

Whilst there is a small possibility there, I don't think it's very likely. Most people who are cheating are looking for a minimal way of doing things, which is born out by the fact that all the examples so far have just submitted a photo taken straight off the web. The effort (and cost) of obtaining all the relevant parts is probably sufficient to dissuade people in the most part. There's very little advantage in over-complicating the process for such an unlikely occurance.

Yeah, I just got the £7.49 offer leaflet too, so it's either a regional thing or you need to be a much bigger spender.

Well there are always those Bricklink stores that do custom chroming....

I like the way you've done the old wheels Giovanne, never realised the tyres would 'connect' to studs like that! However if you could resize your images to fit the topics guidelines (Maximum size allowed is 512x512 pixels. Use 256x256px size or lower for small sets.) it'd be most appreciated.

I suspect that might cause them a bunch of legal issues that they'd rather avoid (requesting photos of kids is fraught with problems). Requiring that model submissions include a "TECHNIC Challenge March 2011" or whatever sign would be a lot less hassle and equally effective at blocking out cheaters.

Ooh, now you've got me thinking. The sail barge could almost topple my vote for the UCS Shuttle. It is, without doubt, the best non-UCS set I own. Thankfully I'm glad in real life that I don't have to choose between them, the only set mentioned in this thread that I don't own and never took to was the Death Star playset, I actually much prefer the epic Death Star II model.

I'm not sure how much a 'pretty powerful computer' will actually help. I'm running LDD on a Quad Core i7 with 16GB of RAM and whilst it barely puts any pressure on the machine, LDD itself struggles to cope with your model. A better graphics card might help a little, but I think you're just pushing the limits of how LDD was written.

Limited Edition is one of the things TLG stick on the boxes of sets that are exclusive to Lego and certain other stores, in the case of 8041 that was Toys 'R' Us, at least in the UK.

7740 Inter-city Passenger Train - Theme: Trains LXF File Electric light parts, train weights, train wheels, 12V Motor, small windows substituted 12V train tracks omitted, since there's no decent substitute. 7822 Railway Station - Theme: Trains LXF File Overhead lights built using custom alternates as key parts were missing 2x8 plates used instead of old railway sleepers 4532 Level Crossing - Theme: Trains LXF File Newer straight road baseplate used as substitute 6444 Outback Airstrip - Theme: Town LXF File 1253 Shell Race Car Transporter - Theme: Town LXF File Parts 30350 Plate 2x3 W.Holder won't attach to part 30263 Platform 6x12x1 1.3 W.Fork 1254 Shell Convenience Store - Theme: Town [DUPLICATE] LXF File 6359 Horse Trailer - Theme: Town LXF File Wheels and hinged pieces (including horse hitch) replaced. 6379 Riding Stable - Theme: Town LXF File 3x grey Excavator Bucket 2x3 replaced by 2x3 inverted slopes Hinged pieces substituted 6513 Glade Runner - Theme: Town LXF File