fred67

I also haven't seen this technique before, so another thanks for posting. I would imagine you can avoid the wedges being pushed into the brick by simply putting them on the plate first, then securing the plate to the brick. It also seems to me that, especially if this is in the middle of something, you could do plate to plate and avoid the problem entirely.

Very nice... I have some ME track, and have been disappointed they haven't (last I checked) replenished their supplies. What bothers me about this is that it doesn't conform to LEGO track, so he needs to have switches and stuff or it won't match.

Thanks Gary, how are you doing these days? My post was not to bash TLG, of course - they took a great idea and ran with it, and we're all glad they did. I guess my reason for posting was that I see a lot of clone bashing; I pretty much buy LEGO exclusively, but I'm glad when they lose patent and trademark cases against other companies - competition makes things better, and the companies that are ripping LEGO off now may actually make some greater contribution in the future, like LEGO did with tubes, or do sets that TLG won't do, like MB does with Halo and BestLock does with military themes. All the while, we all still pay the premium prices for LEGO to get the best product. When TLG was on the brink a decade ago, it was partly the realization that they are a better, premium product that helped save the company. If they stay that way in the midst of the competition, even the rip-offs, then I'll be happy.

NICE!!!!

http://goo.gl/oF3fi So, I know it's not something most of us weren't aware of, but it's a reiteration of why I don't join in bashing the LEGO rip-off companies. Make no mistake... The LEGO Company (now The LEGO Group) took the concept and ran with it, eventually adding the tubes and an enormous variety of bricks and colors, so nothing keeps me from loving my LEGO, but it's always good to keep things in perspective.

+1 Gooker1 for another great trade.

Yeah... I essentially agree with the others that putting it up high like that wouldn't really make me very happy. Hard to see the train, harder still to have it work with other models in the layout - and you wouldn't be able to see those well, either. Waist high or near the floor doesn't really work in any of my rooms, either. If I had a good sized room that was open to a balcony or something above it, and my wife would let me, I might consider something that you could watch and see well from above.... but I doubt it.

Well, two things: First, I recall this was a collaboration, so it's not just one guy. Second, I doubt they went out and bought all that LEGO at once. After about a decade of collecting, I have way more pieces than that, although I don't have the exact pieces (or patience, space, or skill) it would take to make that magnificent MOC. I've just found that, over time, I've collected quite a lot of LEGO, and I'm not exactly rich... the occasional trip to the LEGO store to buy a pick-a-brick cup or two (and whole boxes on occasion) will do it. It's possible these collaborators were part of a LUG and were able to get bulk pieces from LEGO, but I don't think it's necessary. I mean, they may be really wealthy and able to afford it, and that'd be great, but I don't think it's necessary.

+1 Fighter of Frizzies

+1 Sir_Basil_Ashton, thanks!

Well, last year they invited selected VIPs (apparently the top "x" number of spenders and a guest in each store's area... I think it was 25) for a "Black Friday" event for one hour before the store opened for regular customers on the Saturday before Black Friday. Perhaps they'll extend that offer to all VIP members, although that would make the store awfully crowded. Or perhaps they are just going to hype the usual BF stuff... everyone gets a scratch off for up to 50% off. Only, while I've heard of people getting the infamous 50% off, nobody I've ever seen got more than 10%.

Must be blood.... must be FRESH!

Cool! FEED ME, SEYMOUR!

I bring you this gem from a couple of years ago: IOW, I think it's a glitch.

+1 Gooker1, thanks for a great trade!

My Post has been updated. Added several series 8 figures and polybags to trade; updated my wants.

Oops... can some mod delete this please; did reply instead of edit.

Yeah, I mentioned that... I don't necessarily look at the lowest selling price, but the lowest selling price for a complete set - I haven't found a way to find out if it's complete without clicking the link from the price guide. I am usually only wary of the sales stats if it differs significantly from the available set prices... like why someone paid $300 for a set that is available from many sellers for $200 or less... I think some might do it to screw up the price guide; same thing on the low end... if the lowest price is $200, but it says one sold for $75 last month, I get suspicious. In other words, and it's only a ballpark starting figure, I look at the lowest price in my region, but I check the links to make sure it's complete and not damaged box or anything.

I can't help but think of how stupid this process is... The sets are worth what people will pay for it. You can ask $12k for a set; if no one is willing to pay that much, then it's not worth that much, no matter what some appraisers say. Even then, just because some sucker buys it doesn't mean it was actually worth it - I routinely see sets selling on Ebay that people could have gotten cheaper at bricklink, they just don't know about bricklink or their other avenues for buying old sets. When I try to decide what to ask for sets I am selling, I go on bricklink and look at the LOWEST price in my region (not the average, but the LOWEST) for the new COMPLETE set (often the price guide is foobarred by people selling "New" sets, but without minifigures or something). That's what it's currently worth, IMO... looking at the sales stats helps, but often you don't get the whole picture (often times when you see an outrageously high or low price, there was something else that was part of the deal that you don't see, often some other trade).

Those are really nice... I'd have preferred to pay more (like $0.25 or so, by bricklink prices) to have black arms included, even if I have to supply the hands. But congratulations on a really great job... I just placed me order.

As a computer professional who has worked on Cray and Convex supercomputers while employed at a supercomputing center at a university, I agree that calling this a supercomputer is an exaggeration. It's really cool, and just because it's a cluster doesn't mean it's not, but... it's just not. It's a really cool idea, though.

I'm pretty cheap. I have a decent non-SLR camera (Fuji FinePix S1800); and I have several of these lights I got at Home Depot. They can go up to 150 watts, but you don't have to use that, of course. They conveniently clamp on just about anywhere, but I have a couple of old speaker stands from an old surround sound system that I use. I can loosely tape a sheet of paper over it (billowing out, so that it's not touching the bulb) to diffuse the light... I suppose I could use any number of colors, if I wanted to. Still, I'm as amateurish as they come despite trying auto and incandescent for white balance, I still get pink pictures that I have to correct in software. Lately I've been sticking with Aperture Priority mode, but the pictures aren't as bright as I'd like them. For background, I have tri-fold boards in some cases; sometimes I just use a piece of poster board on one of my shelves - but clamping it to the shelf, it creates a cyc so that there's no hard edges in the background. I have some light blue paper that I sometimes substitute to create more of a sky look. I'd like a light box, but I barely have room for what I have now. Latest picture here.

Holy CARP! I hope I don't the movie. I can't afford it.

It's not crazy - I did the same thing (with the shelves) and started (and abandoned) making an inside corner. I didn't have enough of the parts I needed to do what I wanted (a really brick looking exterior), but it makes sense for such a display. How to approach it? I don't really understand... you have a 32x32 base, take out a corner for the sidewalk and that's what you have left. I think I'll just do a facade while it's on the shelf, but I probably won't use it at all (someday) when I make a full city/train layout. If I were, I might make it a much smaller building with a yard.

Nice... I love midi scale; I know it was not very popular (otherwise we'd have seen more, no doubt) - you get so much more detail than mini/micro without the enormous space requirements of minifigure illusion scale. Since I like displaying, not playing, midi scale is perfect, and you did a great job capturing the look of the ship.