Slobey

I hate to say it but i think the middle earth sets will come to an end without a movie driving sales. As the LOTR/hobnit waves have come out they have become less widely available in my local stores with some stocking none or only the smallest set. We love the sets, but im afraid they lose out to chima, superheroes and starwars to the wider Lego buying public. If this is the case, while ill be disapointed some races and locations etc werent covered im very thankful for what we have. If someone had told me 5 years ago Lego would produce a Bag End set, Helms deep and a UCS Orthanc I would have been over the moon....all im saying is it is easy to focus on the negative

I think too many people have jumped on the Lego investment bandwagon. Sets that aren't exclusives are going to take a looong time to make a decent profit on now days. I dabbled in the reselling market a few years ago but the returns now are not worth the effort. You're better off parking your money in blue chip shares that pay a dividend each year.....

I think this set looks good, Positives Smaug looks a good as he would look in moulded plastic Lots of sand green and interesting pieces in pearl gold Figs look great (particularly Dwalin) Lets face it, this set is made as an addition to Smaug I think the speculation over the last couple of months has led people to believe we were going to get a massive brick built Erebor. I think the inclusion of Filli and Killi has a lot to do with them playing an important role in the final movie and the weird coloured weapons might reference the dwarves arming themselves from the treasure hoard, hence ornamental weapons and armour (mithril shirt anyone?)

Excellent moc! The rock work and the stream/ river along with all the trees give it a real natural feel. Great work!

I loitered around, perused and stalked this forum then

Great moc! I love the detail particularly the roof and chimney. You've got an awesome style that runs through all your builds!

First Task: Knights, Archers and regulars Here are some of the fighting men loyal to Ezra Oakheart, ready to drive back the Drow and any others who threaten our fair land: Mounted Knights including Ezra's councilor and close friend Joel Flametree. GoH Cavalry by slobey79, on Flickr Master bowman William and his four sons GoH Archers by slobey79, on Flickr Elysian's heavy pikemen GoH Pikemen by slobey79, on Flickr Elysian Regulars GoH Regulars by slobey79, on Flickr

Thanks for the welcome guys! I've lurked around GoH for a while and have finally started building again after a fairly long hiatus. I have a couple of mocs close to finished, just need a few bricklink orders to arrive.....

Hi Avalonians, Introducing Ezra Oakheart, second son of Edward Oakheart. GoH Ezra Oakheart by slobey79, on Flickr For many years Ezra and his ship "the Harpy" have been employed as a privateer by the Valyrians, hunting down the pirates who prey on the merchant ships and generally doing the dirty work that the Valyrian navy doesn't want to do. Dark tidings have reached him, reporting his father had fallen victim to the plague that swept through the land and that his older brother had also died in mysterious circumstances not two weeks later. With a heavy heart Ezra has set his bearing west to pledge his loyalty and men to the Guild of Avalonia and reclaim his fathers holding of "Elysian" Elysian by slobey79, on Flickr All Hail Avalonia!!

In fairness not a lot new has been offered in this topic for a loooong time. They've also only just joined up, I think we'll all be glad when there's some actual news....

As an "average AFOL" I really have no interest in customisation of existing lego pieces but I do really like what guys like Brickforge, Brick Arms and Brick Warriors do and am interested in any new products they bring out. I agree that while these companies might not be the purists cup of tea they do belong in the same sphere as Lego whereas Megablocks etc do not.

I remember that this was a common packaging mistake with this set. A lot of people reported this at the time.

I've found automotive vinyl paint works well. I used it to change the scabbard colour to red on my avatar figure and it hasn't come off with a bit of inserting and removing the sword.

Hi all, I recently heard a radio interview with George RR Martin (author of Game of Thrones for those who don't know) and he described his writing style as being a 'gardener', i.e. Starting with an idea and letting the story 'grow' rather than an 'architect' who plans everything in advance. My question is when you build are a gardener or architect? In the past I have done a lot of planning and arranged my collection so I know where every piece is but lately when building with my kids and their collection i have had a lot of enjoyment starting with a peice or idea and just going for it, pulling pieces that spark my interest to incorporate into my builds. I'm almost at a point where I'm thinking of throwing all my carefully sorted small bins and containers into several large bins and building this way myself. I know we are all degrees of both style but which way do you lean?

It's made with SNOT cheese slopes. I used a similar technique on the castle I've been building. You can see it here from the inside:

Maybe try this http://www.instructables.com/id/IKEA-LEGO-Minifig-Case/ Another option I want to try is to buy a large cheap picture frame and glue 2x2 bricks at intervals for them to mount on.

I guess it gives us a reference point as to how big the set will be. Judging by their price point on other items it will be comparable to Helms deep.... The Smaug mould might throw that out a bit though....

At the end of the day if you don't like the prices don't buy... As Bobskink says you have plenty of time to buy whatever set you want at market price. If people want to hoard sets to sell later at a profit, then good luck to them. The are the ones taking the risk of storing sets for years at a time. I thnk as AFOLs we have to get out of the mindset that resellers must sell to us at or below market price.

Just listed a couple more sets: 6030- Catapult and 6039- Twin Arm Launcher both sealed in box Click on links in first post.

The only usable solution I could find

Hi all, I'm usually a castle builder who builds in mainly grey (or very, very dark grey). I was building with my kids with their brick collection and threw the following together and was pretty happy with it seeing as I don't usually build in this style and had limited piece selection. image by slobey79, on Flickr image by slobey79, on Flickr image by slobey79, on Flickr image by slobey79, on Flickr

Hi guys, I have a couple more Classic Castle Sets new in box just listed on ebay 27/5: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LEGO-Vintage-Castle-6030-Black-Falcons-Capapult-New-in-Sealed-Box-/181422465730?pt=AU_LEGO&hash=item2a3d9f22c2 http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LEGO-Vintage-Castle-6039-Twin-Arm-Launcher-New-in-Sealed-Box-/181422467314?pt=AU_LEGO&hash=item2a3d9f28f2 Thanks for looking

I have 3 kids (girls aged 7 & 9, boy aged 3) who love Lego. I keep some of my special sets including classic castle on a high shelf but they are welcome to play with any of my sets whenever they want. My philosophy is it can always be rebuilt if broken and if parts go missing they can always be bricklinked. My sons favourite is the Sopwith Camel at the moment so I'm doing running repairs to it at the end of each day, but I don't mind My only set they can't play with is Orthanc which I have in a display case.....

If you're in your 30's like me then you spent many hours playing the pixelated goodness that was the Quest for Glory series of games by Sierra. The games combined role playing and adventure with large doses of humour and bad puns. I hope to recreate some of the characters and settings of the games starting with the fighter character from the first game A fresh graduate from the Hero's School of Correspondence our hero has travelled to the Valley of Speilburg to seek fame and fortune IMG_1543 by slobey79, on Flickr IMG_1550 by slobey79, on Flickr The source material: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/questforglory/questforglory.htm More to come.........