fred67

If you set it up right, you don't need a regulator like the 9V train regulator... you can use the remote and receiver to get all the benefits of PF (including variable speeds) without the drawback of batteries. You may need to modify the extension cable, but it's not a severe alteration.

Ahh... my apologies, especially to Lord of Pies.

I would also suggest "Picasa" and "gimp" as multiplatform applications that can help in cropping and resizing images to comply with EB site guidelines. Both of these programs are absolutely free and multi-platform. I have written a tutorial for using Picasa. I will write one for GIMP and edit this post with a link as LuxorV has suggested.

It matters where you are going; there are regional supermarket chains for example, and perhaps you're headed to an area with a LEGO store nearby. The other popular large national retailer that sells LEGO is Target.

Well... what I meant (I didn't say high or low, just humidity... everywhere has humidity). Dry air tends to make plastics brittle, so whether you live in dessert like conditions, or you live in a place that has any cold weather (and therefore you use heat in your home), the air can be very dry and suck the life out of plastics and and rubber. Moreover, it doesn't even really matter where you live if you bought the pieces used... in which case you have no idea what environmental conditions they were stored. So you don't necessarily have had to "do" something to your bricks for environment to be a factor.

I'm going to guess humidity. It doesn't even matter what climate you live in, if you have dry heat in the winter (unless you have a whole house humidifier) it could be enough. Worse if you live in a place like Phoenix or Las Vegas. The temperature could be good, your cleaning method can be good, and the humidity could still effect your bricks. It might affect the little cheeses more than other bricks because it may be true that they are more thin or fragile do to the shape.

Thanks, roamingstudio; as I anxiously await my order all sorts of interesting ideas pop into my head. Although I ordered specifically for my regular trains, I was playing with miniscale (not narrow gauge) and using IJ curves, so this ought to be a nice addition. The more I see of these while I'm waiting, the better, and I'm excited about the various curve radii coming down the pike. I want to be annoyed at TLG for how the mishandle trains for train fans, but I've accepted the fact that train fans aren't their target audience. In the same way I'm happy to buy brickarms and brickforge items, I'll be happy to support ME for those products TLG doesn't feel are worthwhile.

That's really... what's the word? Oh yeah... immature. They are very nice cases. Where's your skier? And what's up with that warped fishing pole the gnome has? That's why I didn't go with a shadow box or one of LEGO's solutions.

He seems to want to say "here's what I have, what's it worth?" As roamingstudio said, Bricklink is a good place to look... you can look up in the catalog sets or individual pieces and see their selling statistics.

And yet another +1 for Prozac.

That's why I never trusted the dots... it just seems like a random sealing machine pattern... consistent for a batch, but that's it.

You know, it's really odd how this happens and some people get dozens or hundreds of cracked bricks, and others get none. There has to be some environmental factor we're overlooking... fluorescent lighting, ozone (perhaps from air purifiers), smog, loud music (?)... I could imagine a bad batch (like willy_poodle's), but the complaints about the cheese slopes come from too many varied sources, and some of us have NO problem. Were these pieces retrobrighted, cleaned in some other fashion? Bought second hand from someone that might have done something? Maybe shipped airmail in a plane's freezing cargo hold? EDIT: What about humidity? I've experienced vastly different effects on plastics (not LEGO - I've only collected as an adult while living in GA, U.S.) between living in Las Vegas (dry desert) and NY and GA... the dry environments tended suck moisture out of rubber and plastic and make them brittle. Even if you don't live in that kind of area, often enough dry heating (often electric heating, but gas and oil, too, unless you have a whole house humidifier - I do) could be enough.

but "pimp" is something that sounds like TLG would release, right? Yeah... not real. Too bad, though.

What's inspired me the most in the past year is collectible minifigures... sometimes I just see a figure and the ideas start flying for what situation that figure would be in. If you haven't already, see if you can find a handful of random series 3 or 4 in the stores and let the ideas make themselves from whatever you get.

Great MOC... I really didn't want to get sucked into loving yet another LEGO theme ($$$), but can't keep away from my love of Tomb Raider/Indiana Jones/The Mummy and fun/mystical archaeology. There's a BL store I was perusuing this morning... a pretty decent sale, although it's in the US, and they had a number of stickered wall pieces like that. Gary's Toys (under "decorated bricks")... I'm not saying it's the greatest deal, I really don't know, but he advertised his sale and I was tempted (that everything is used and has a disclaimer "may have scratches" turned me off, but it's always possible that it's not bad... maybe ask for pictures). Edit: I never bought from that store, the only reason I point it out is because, coincidentally, I ran across those pieces this morning and found them interesting.

How are you looking? They're one of the harder ones to feel out, IMO, because while the bone is a dead giveaway, sometimes bits get stuck under the baseplate or in the "instructions," and the easiest way to figure out the figures is by which extra pieces they come with. Werewolves are common, though... I'm sure you can find one on this thread. I agree... I didn't think I'd want more than one for displaying, but I happened on an extra one and while I was about to add it to my trade list, I thought "you know, I really like this guy - the hat, the paintbrush, the palette..." and decided to keep him. That's another one... I actually had three I was going to trade... and ended up putting only one on my list to keep the extra two. I was defending series 3 against all the people complaining it was the worst, but I guess that was just mostly because of the elf (which I still want more than anything so far), but series 4 is really amazing.

Disagree... for anything people do on Eurobricks, GIMP is more than good enough and most of the tools function identically to photoshop. I'm not saying GIMP can compete with photoshop for high end applications (like if you're a visual designer or designing things for print), but for something like the magic wand it's very nearly identical.

In this case I agree with you - I only got one, but am mulling over the possibility of getting another one, but only because of the cars. The cars are relatively simple, and you could probably use BL and make them substantially cheaper than even buying the set and selling the engine, but in this case you can use the engine, too. This makes buying a second set a lot more worthwhile than the Emerald Night. Now that is one I had a problem with because they don't sell rolling stock separately, and the cars are significantly more complicated and will cost a lot more to buy pieces on BL.

System scale? I dunno... I prefer what people have been calling "minifig illusion" scale. That is, the object seems appropriate for the size of the minifigure, but it's not really to scale.

Updated my Post... New series 4, including a Hazmat guy.

I'm at a loss, really... I'm not saying I doubt the problem (certainly I've had cracked bricks before), but I checked my castle (I disassembled it to the "module" level, but the was segments are still intact), and a hundred white cheese slopes, been attached for about 8 or 9 months (in some cases a year or more) and not a single crack... my stock (loose) ones also don't show any cracks on any colors, and I have several hundred of them.

Remember the "I'm Rich" app for the iPhone? You'll get the same gratification from having a numbered certificate for the Sante Fe Limited edition. Not to belittle collectors or people who bought early enough to get the limited edition, or if you're a collector, that's great; but if you want a great looking train for your layout, then why pay extra? Don't get me wrong... if I could go back in time and get the limited when it was available, I would, but at this point it seems pointless to pay more unless you're a collector.

Hi, Jason, welcome on board from another Dad whose kids had a hand in getting him back into LEGO. LDD is great, but don't order directly from it unless you want or need the fancy box and printed instructions and so forth... a lot cheaper to buy the pieces on your own. Make a wish list on Bricklink, be wary of ordering from too many different stores, and occasionally it makes sense (and can be a lot easier) to order from LEGO PAB online, but not through LDD.

Yes, my castles are white...

Well... I've got hundreds of these, I use them for my micro castle battlements... and have not seen this one single time. Can you tell us about their use? The environment where they're stored? On display in sunlight or high/low temperatures?