deraven

OK... I was mildly annoyed at first, then a little bored (you did warn us), but then enjoyed the highly amusing payoff there at the end. It all leads us back to the classic "necessity is the mother of invention."

Welcome to EB, ThePowder! Plenty of Technic inspiration and discussion here for you, and the photography skills will come in handy as well if you want to share your MOCs with us. Happy building!

OK... this is really great. I'm absolutely firing up Studio when I get home tonight and pulling in some of my old digital models. Thanks for the work on that, and some new inspiration!

? I'm guessing you were trying to post photos of a creation but ran into a technical issue? For sharing photos of MOCs, etc., you'll want to use a 3rd party service and I think most folks here would recommend something like Flickr if not using a Lego-focussed host. Here's a tutorial on linking/embedding Flickr images in your posts: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/97921-flickr-tutorial/ Happy building!

Looks like a nice MOC- nice as sleek as it should be! :) The paperclip/upload option on Eurobricks is only for very small images to be used in your signature line here on the board. You only get 100K total, so even 1 regular image probably pushed you to the limit of available space. For sharing photos of MOCs, etc., you'll want to use a 3rd party service and I think most folks would recommend something like Flickr as mentioned above. Here's a tutorial on linking/embedding Flickr images in your posts: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/97921-flickr-tutorial/ Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, kinda seems like they should be using the private messaging features between themselves, but perhaps it will be interesting to watch. Let's see what you've got, DodgeDude5498 and Tesla Is The Future!

The train is a little too simplified for my taste, but that is my very favorite new micro (nano?) technique for mountains! The snow cap on top is delightful. Well done!

Hello advice - welcome to EB! This is definitely the place to be for a worldwide Lego community. Happy building!

My pleasure. FYI, it can barely be considered a "set" so it might be a little more difficult to find individual pieces. Most of them were 3 or 4 parts total: a bottom with the wheels attached, the middle (that you have here), and then a single piece for the rest of the top of the car. All the decoration was done with stickers.

Wow- such a great build! Nice parts usage and techniques; I'm really impress with how well the front of the engine came out. Great integration of the PF and lighting as well. Thanks also for sharing the additional detail on that above.

Most likely from one of these Racers-themed prizes: https://brickset.com/sets/theme-Gear/subtheme-Fast-food-toys 2 of them had that red chassis.

Welcome to EB, Iwan. Happy building!

I can confirm that I have the stagecoach set sitting not far from me. It is indeed Jesus from set 79108. Great looking traction engine. Supported. I do think you should use your first picture above in this thread as the main photo (maybe with a little more angle on the engine) for Ideas since I think it better shows off the design and all that's going on with the proposed set in general. I had passed it over the first time I glanced at it.

Another option would be to scale it off of the minifig head peg hole since that is universal. Smaller measurement so requires more accuracy to get the scaling right, but it should work even if you didn't have one of the actual capes to compare sizes with. Elementary I know, but also remember to check all of your print settings to ensure the image is printing at 100% with not additional fitting/scaling being done by the printer in the first place. I've also had challenges before when grabbing patterns offline where the one I found wasn't the original source and had been (re)uploaded with improper scaling, so you might do a quick search online and see you can find a different version of the same image. This version of what you posted above appears to be properly scaled:

That's fantastic! The fence, stone pathway, and especially the car are just delightful. Well done!

Absolutely, I would be quite annoyed. I wasn't saying you shouldn't be upset - I said the whole thing stinks, especially the disappointed kids - just that I think it's taking it too far to throw away the bricks you did get because they're "tainted" (unless those aren't genuine Lego but rather Megabloks or something - then I would cross over into being pissed, too!). But you got your money back so no real harm done and potentially a good lesson opportunity for the kids about caveat emptor… not that that's any consolation. Thankfully it's not a hard set to find, so hopefully the next purchase will go off without a hitch!

Yes, too strong a reaction. In the (literally) 20 years I've been on eBay, I think I've had all of 1 purchase that seemed like a scam (right item, but obviously broken and put back in the box and sold as New in Open Box). It's not common, unless maybe all you do is purchase items that seem like the deal is too good to be true - then I assume the risk for fraud is higher. It definitely stinks that there are no larger ramifications for the seller, but if they have a ton of good feedback and told eBay something like, "I got that item marked as new myself and hadn't inspected the contents, so honest error" then it's not unreasonable for them to believe the seller, give you a refund, and move on. Also stinks that your kids are disappointed, but such is life. Why wouldn't you keep and play with those pieces? You're not out any money and basically got free Lego if they're not requesting it be returned, so that doesn't seem so bad to me. And are you really talking about 70701 (Galaxy Squad Swarm Interceptor)? If so and they got a half-galon of parts into that smallish box, then it's almost a deal from that perspective. ;) You can get 70701 on Bricklink for $15-20, which is at or below original retail, so I'd just to that route instead.

That's lovely. I agree about all the subtle but clever parts usage, and just a very nice and eye-pleasing design all-around.

Yes, good point. It could be a program for AFOL Designers, not in collaboration with them. That seems more in keeping with Bricklink's mission, and would be far easier to accomplish than most of the other ideas (from a licensing, branding, and logistics standpoint). BUT... back to the more fanciful ideas on this, it would be interesting if they did something like turning select Ideas projects that get 5000+ votes, or maybe even ones that got 10K votes but weren't approved, into semi-official sets. I think this is unlikely because Lego wouldn't risk their brand by releasing things they think are sub-par as far as build experience and stability and whatnot, but it would be cool. Of course, the need to secure licensing for many of the projects would eliminate them from the start, so I do fall back to thinking it's either basically and enhancement for Bricks & Pieces or a limited run of AFOL MOC sets that perhaps Lego is helping with packaging and part availability for while keeping it very much branded as a Bricklink/AFOL product. I am getting more and more curious to see what happens on the 12th...

You know, they did do just that, and it was a failure: https://www.lego.com/en-us/ldd/designbyme I mean, it was cool, but commercially it was a bust. I think this program by Bricklink will be similar (but I assume without printed boxes and instructions, etc.), but rather than being limited to currently produced bricks it'll take advantage of the whole secondary market. Hopefully they do some wise selection as to what "sets" are made available that way - thinking about availability of parts in general, quality of design, maybe something internal system to ensure parts for a given design are available from individual sellers or somehow leverage their system to streamline the process if parts must be purchased across a variety of stores, etc.. I absolutely agree that there are some MOCs and even whole AFOL-imagined themes that I'd buy in a heartbeat, so I'm looking forward to seeing what this is really about. Should be interesting!

Love it! I've come across some old MOC photos and such recently as well, and I really like that you've digitally recreated your drawing from 2 decades ago. Goes with all the other nostalgic stuff being posted right now with the minifig anniversary, etc.. Thanks for sharing!

I've not seen any problems with stickiness, including the with specific sets you noted. I wonder if it has something to do with environmental factors in your home/area or more specifically the storage bags? I think newer bricks in general have less texture than old ones, and I think that primarily comes from the molds being better maintained and replaced/refurbished much more frequently. Remember when folks used to talk about how expensive the mold were and how that affected the types of parts produced, etc.? Now we get new molds for all kinds of stuff all the time, and from what I've seen behind-the-scenes it appears they're much more liberal with replacing molds/components and/or the technology has advanced to a point where they're simply more durable in general. With smoother surfaces, things like oil from skin might be the much more prominent when handling parts. The only quality issue I've had (besides color consistency as others have noted - and that's MUCH better now) is hairline cracks in new parts. Things like cheese slopes are notorious for it, but plenty of other parts as well. This also seems to have gotten better recently, so I truly wonder if it was simply a matter of them dialing-in the hundredths-of-a-millimeter differences in wall thickness as they optimize plastic usage and cost savings and having made impossibly minute adjustments that help that, or if it's still luck of the draw with parts that are made from sometimes lower-quality plastic sources around the world. Regardless, it's not been bad enough for me to think about it much, and I personally haven't had issues like BrickJagger mentioned. I do notice the slightly lighter feel to the newer parts, especially since my collection also spans many decades - I can tell a 70s brick from a '00s brick with my eyes closed. I do notice that I can flex larger pieces more easily than before with the changes in wall thickness, but other than those increasingly less common tiny cracks I don't have any issues or notice a problem with clutch power. Now, older bricks feel like they have more clutch sometimes, but to me that always seems like the ABS has just become more brittle and less flexible and thus holds harder, until you get a break (like Peppermint_M noted). The worse quality out of Lego I've seen in recent years seems to be with the CMF lines. Seems like those often "feel" cheaper and lighter than they should be (certainly for the high individual cost), and that's where I will see some torso cracking or hands that don't seem to be fully seated into arms, etc..

Nice. The parrot and frog are incorporated so well, I didn't notice them unreally started looking at the technique. Lovely!

Cool. I like the dragon cave and those trees! The rock work is a little too smooth (all studs-up slopes) for my taste, but it does have an interesting look to it. Nice play features and fun details throughout.

Looks pretty solid. NPU on that mic stand!