Topsy Cret

Well, it's about time!

Most impressive! The Battlecruiser has always been a favorite of mine. Great work! "Battlecruiser operational!"

Ah, well thank you for clearing that up for me, Cpl. Your next MOC seems even more promising. It seems to be either a warehouse or some sort of office building dedicated to train... Stuff. Good luck with it!

That's quite a neat building, good sir! However, I fear I must correct your stating that only US Marines may "guard" US embassies. The United States Embassy located in Copenhagen is not and definitely has NEVER been patrolled by certified United States Marine Corps. personnel. I can vouch for that personally. The embassy located in Stockholm I can't remember anything about - with the exception that the building looks like an over-modernized wealthy man's home. Still though, it's a neat MOC. The scene around it reminds me a bit of the embassy scene in The Bourne Identity.

Thanks a lot for such a great and brilliant (and early). The new shade of green seems to be integrating itself into sets quite fast. The Winter Toy Shop also has a weird shade of green bricks - somewhere between the regular green and dark green. I really do like the simplicity of this, too.

The new red passenger train looks a bit like the Copenhagen DSB metros... Guess we'll see. I can't imagine this costing 2000 SEK, though... I don't think any LEGO train has ever cost that much (eBay and Bricklink not included). I sure hope that TLG releases two versions of each train set; one with the PF, and one without. I'd really rather not pay twice as much for a train just because they have a few extra pieces.

Thanks for the review, KimT. Although this looks almost exactly like the previous design - both in look and construction. Thanks again!

That truly is an impressive feat of yours, good sir. Although I think the minifigures ruin it a bit. After all, it is a capital ship. Great work on the detail. "Battlecruiser Operational!"

Me and my family aren't religious, but we do celebrate the modern-day traditional gift-giving and family reunions that often take place during Christmas. Our gifts are always something special; we never get anything such as clothes for each other as we believe that's just an excuse to save money. Our gifts aren't necessarily grand either, just a little nicety. However, this year I received an early Christmas present all the way back in November; the Emerald Night. Though my parents paid for a little more than half of it, it already went over their regular Christmas budget for me. Two days ago, a friend of mine back in the 'states sent me a Winter Toy Shop. With both of those out of the way (and built, naturally), as well as several other 2009 exclusives and standard sets, There's hardly any LEGO that I want (amazingly). It was a while since I felt that feeling. Being the snoop that I am, I looked (and shook) the Christmas present from my parents that lies under the tree. Definitely not LEGO. In all likelihood, some type of candy or puzzle. There is still hope, though; my birthday is on the 26th of December, and my family believes that both dates should in no way carry any influence on each other (including financial). Although I wished for a few Rubik's puzzles, so I'll probably get that. One can never tell though; my parents carry impeccable taste and momentum. Guess I'll just have to wait. In the meantime I shall sit here, reading forum topics, occasionally grabbing a mini Reese's Cup, and enjoying the foreground view of my Winter Toy Shop. Merry Christmas, and to all a good night!

Thanks a lot for the review! It seems like a cute little car, and the minifigure is nice. Other than that, not to interesting of a set.

Great train, my fellow train-lover! Especially for your first train MOC. The gearing in the wheels is truly a great addition. The train really does look like the provided picture, all-in-all.

Last I checked, I own roughly 68,000 pieces (those numbers are music to my ears!). Luckily, here in Sweden we our currency is so freaking low that 1 piece=1 SEK, roughly. So I'd say 68,000 SEK, including bulk and rare bricks. I'm to lazy to actually convert the amount into a more well-known currency, but I'd say the old collection is worth around 6000 GBP. Not too bad for a 13-year old kid, not bad at all. Boy, do I love showing off... Speaking of which, how many of you have actually built a working Rubik's Cube out of LEGO?

Neat ideas, guys! I'm sure that there's some kind of element/compound that reacts easily through the form of a gas, but won't damage LEGO bricks. Perhaps our bright Brickster has a suggestion or two?

Have any of you included actual steam (or some other slightly visible gas) in your steam trains? I've been pondering over the idea for a while now, and I'm positive it can work. Note: I will be using the Emerald Night as the example in all the suggestions below. Real steam might be rather difficult to pull off. You'd probably have to install some sort of heater in the Emerald Night (possibly powered by the Power Functions or the wheel movements?). Even if one was able to pull that off, next you'd need to install a water supply. You could either use the limited space below the funnel, empty out all the gears, or attach tubes from the heater to the water supply which would be in the tender. The great thing about it running on Power Functions is that you wouldn't unnecessarily waste all the water overnight... Literally. My other suggestion is dry ice/hot ice. Dry ice, when mixed with water, carries the wonderful ability of evaporation. So, if you put a small package of dry ice with water underneath the funnel, it may give off a nice illusion. From what I'm aware, you can purchase small, "directors", so that the dry ice doesn't get all over the place in any local hardware store. Although it shouldn't be much of a problem, since the Emerald will most likely be moving. My third, final and slightly unrealistic suggestion is actual smoke. I'm not entirely sure how this one would work, but hey-why not? So, what are your thoughts/ideas on this subject? Bad idea or good idea? Why? Do you have any other suggestions/solutions? I'd love to hear them.

The Emerald Night is an incredibly beautiful train and works as a great display piece. I purchased her a few weeks ago and she now lies on my library table. Getting back to your motor queries, motorizing the Emerald Night is extremely expensive. I have attempted to motorize her using just the regular battery box and an M-sized motor. The battery box in the tender really sticks out. You will either have to customize the tender or purchase the 700kr rechargeable battery box. However, in order to charge it, one must pay an additional 270kr for the transformer. And to fully motorize her, another 100kr for the lights and a couple more hundred for the IR receiver and the remote control. The Emerald Night does look good going around track, but with only one car she can seem a bit plain. I would recommend adding other cars or purchasing the pieces to construct additional Emerald Night cars. Track-wise, I would recommend 9V. With 9V and the proper accessories, you can pretty much motorize anything. But costs do add up. Also, from what I've understood, the 9V track seems to be a bit more stable and stronger than the new ones. Naturally, the new track does have its advantages; it's cheaper, more easily accessible, and I would assume more child friendly. The fact of the matter is, glamorous though it may be, the Emerald Night is a train that should be displayed and maybe run around track during Christmas time. And to make the train fully motorized, you will need a lot of moolah and patience with the mail man. If you do purchase the Power Functions, at least get them off Bricklink. A more starter-friendly train pack would be... The new trains or the old Express as I mentioned earlier. Good luck and have fun!

Neat little house! Unfortunately, I am unable to open the file as I own a Mac, hence I do not have the appropriate file to see the instructions. If anyone could somehow change the format, I would be most grateful seeing as how I am really liking the look of this one. Thanks.

You'd be surprised at what holding up a big black bag outside of LEGO's factory windows will do to your collection... Seriously though, LEGO does most likely have the parts. I've often wondered how large quantities of pieces can escape the packaging areas. Perhaps it would be in LEGO's best interest to invest in scales so that if a package doesn't fit the required weight for that set, they'd know about it. Just a thought...

Now THIS is neat. I very much like the idea of no chipping. I think I might get the blade pack just to replace LEGO's daggers.

Oh yes, this thing. I recall seeing this on their website a week ago. Neat little thing. It would prove very useful when the need to place paper between bricks arises. Nice review.

I guess it's because LEGO was going for a modular feeling in KCS. Granted, most other combinations of the modules look terrible, but it's a neat playability idea. Besides, even if you put a baseplate underneath-then what? For one, LEGO would either have to invest in a new baseplate, or limit KCS's size. Well, here's hopin' for a good, human vs. human 2010!

Fantastic review, Svelte! Truly spectacular. I was hoping for an early review, but even this early exceeded my expectations. Although I have yet to purchase the Winter Toy Shop, so we'll have to see about a purchase...

I can say I've always been a fan of history. There is one thing that's been on my mind lately. Does anyone know what the operation name/title of the Nazi invasion of Norway was called? I really cannot remember. I know there was Case Yellow, Case White, Operation Sea Lion, Operation Barbarossa, etc. It's just that Norway just plain slipped my mind. Anyone?

OH MY GOD! Did I just spot what I think I did? 1x3 TILES?! Oh man, I gotta find a Bricklink dealer! Hehe, great review!

Though I'm mainly a sci-fi builder, the Trains of LEGO will always have a special place inside of me. My older brother had one of the 90s cargo train sets, but he'd disassembled it. For Christmas, I got my very own train: That blue express train. Great starter pack, I think. Then I got a few of the My Own Train sets. Then I moved away from Trains for a bit. In the 21st Century, I bought the Holiday Train set, and this year, the Emerald Night.

I think I may be able to give you some good advice (I live in the same county as you and I enjoy trains). 4551 - I never owned this one, but it doesn't seem to have very much playability. From what I've been able to understand this set is more of a display piece - the front and back are too light to played with vigorously. Plus it's only one, that one being an engine. 10022 - Again, I wouldn't recommend this one. You can only build one car, and-hey-it's only one car. Although the multiple building choices seems to be quite a bright idea. 10205 - Definitely recommend it! It's a cute, little detailed engine. The tender is also very nice. Just pile in minifigures like coal and take her for a spin! Also, it acts as a nice starter kit for train enthusiasts. 4560 - This is a truly wonderful set. You get a fine assortment of train cars and accessories. I can tell you from personal experience that it is great fun loading in and taking out the cars from the train and pushing it around. Like I just mentioned, included are cars as well as containers; a great source of entertainment when one is temporarily bored with the train. 4511 - This one I can't much comment on. Though it seems to have great swooshability, it is very small and (from my standpoint) is pretty... Well, plain. There's not much detailing, not many figs etc. Personally, out of all of these, I would choose 4560. Simply put, it's a joy to build and play with. I hope this helped in some way.