deraven

Welcome to EB, and back to Lego, João! I think you and your kids are going to have a lot of fun!

Welcome to EB, Laurent! Nice job on those A-Team Brickheadz.

Another vote for 75881 here. Those GTs are great. Definitely like the newer Porsches as well.

I think those look quite good given what you're working with as a starting point (would be nice if they were thinner than the stud shooter allows)! And as a "play feature," if a Jedi cuts the gun in half with their lightsaber you can have the barrel shoot off.

Welcome to EB, Craigster10! Looking forward to seeing some more neo-Aquazone!

Wow. Very nice, well-done, somber build.

Cool. I also like the way you did the tail. Overall a lot of visual interest in such a small copter without it being too "busy." Nice build!

Good summaries above. I'll just add the obvious: You can convert the old sets and put in PF components (or at least re-build something similar with integrated PF), but regardless all of the track, gauges, etc. are compatible. As with anything else Lego, you'll also find some folks that are still die-hard 9V fans and other folks that have gone the other way... and both have pros and cons. Biggest con for sticking with 9V at this point is simply availability of the track. If you don't care and feel like going the PF route, you can make a pretty penny by selling your 9V track and replacing it with much less expensive plastic track.

That is super fun! Thanks for sharing.

Sure - that's what the boards are for! I started by Dark (or at least Dim) Ages around the middle of high school. When I was in college, I was still tangentially interested in Lego, but bought almost none. I had maybe a shoebox-ish volume of bricks with me that I'd use kind of like a fidget toy and absentmindedly "doodle" out geometric shapes and such just to keep my hands busy while studying - that kind of thing - but didn't really do anything with sets. If you had asked me then, I'd have probably said that Lego is a great toy, and something I really enjoyed as a kid, but I wouldn't have thought of it as something I still used or "played with" at that point. Then, towards the end of my initial college years, I started paying more attention to Lego boards like this (back then it was Lugnet, when that was still a vibrant and diverse community), and while I was enthralled by some of the amazing MOCs and participated in discussions, but still didn't build anything. But I did start paying more attention to the sets that Lego was releasing again. I picked up a couple of Star Wars sets when those came out, and the calming nature of building a set and the joy of building in general came flooding back at that point. I didn't go crazy as my funds were pretty limited, but from there my collection steadily grew again. In the grad school years, as I mentioned in my other reply above, it wasn't really something I pushed out there to people, but not something I hid in any way either. At my desk at work I had a bunch of the Star Wars micro-ships and some of the minifigs, and the Star Wars element was enough to bridge the gap for most people who might have thought it was a little strange otherwise... so that didn't hurt. And then- picture this! A bunch of mid-20-something folks over at my apartment for dinner and games, and we're talking about tabletop role-playing games, and I mention there are a ton of options, even BrikWars because I had plenty of Lego there at home if they wanted to play a Miniature RPG. So then I let folks into the 2nd bedroom of my apartment that had a significant amount of Lego, and maybe 10 minutes later, just like when you were young and got a group of, like 8-year-old kids from the neighborhood to come over to your place to play Lego, there were all these grad students digging around in boxes of bricks and making all kinds of goofy things, purely for the fun of it. Fun is universal. You just need to let it happen, and eventually other folks will get it too.

Hi AllThatJazz - Welcome to EB! I think the simple answer is that you don't need to "combat" the dark ages at all; either you're interested in Lego, or you're not. Sounds like you're a bit in-between, being interested generally but not to the point of breaking out your physical bricks and building something. That's OK too. My best piece of advice is simply this: If you think you're not into Lego anymore, just don't get rid of your collection! Pack it up and stick it in storage, but don't let it go. That seems to be the biggest regret we hear around the boards when people pick up the hobby again later. Now, the not-so-simply bit is this: Who cares what other people think of your hobby? If you feel a lot of peer-pressure... I'm going to sound like a parent here, but... maybe those folks aren't great friends if they tease you about Lego. Plus, Lego is something that has a huge adult following. I bet if you go to the engineering and sciences department at your college you'll find plenty of folks that happily use Lego there! If it's something that brings you happiness and perhaps even has therapeutic qualities, there's really no reason not to enjoy it. You just need to be secure enough about yourself to either let go of people who are unfairly teasing you about it or simply ignore them. I understand that can be hard, and you don't need to go around broadcasting your love of Lego every moment to draw attention to it, but what if that same group of people teased you for not eating some food that you don't like because "you're an adult now and should like XXXX"? Would you eat something you hate every time you see them, or would you just say, "Nah, I just don't like it" and have something else? Do what feels right, and if that means you take a pause on Lego for now, that's fine. Just keep it around so you can indulge later when you inevitably come back to it!

OK, I'll give it a try... but more of a question. Looking at the portico where its roof meets the main roofline of the building, how did you do that part? Is there a bit of a gap there, or did you find a way to close up or connect that space?

That is fantastic, and captures some grandeur even on a 32x32 footprint! I think your dome came out great; the flex axle really pulls that together while still matching the rest of the design/color scheme. I especially like the stonework on the foundation. The bars/ingots work so well for that, and then the little bit of detail with the smattering of masonry bricks higher up adds just the right amount of visual interest to that area without it getting too busy with all the window and column work. Great build!

Lovely. I really did that little building with the tree growing up the side, but everything works together well to support the theme. Great build!

Wow! This looks great, and so well captured at this small scale! Really NPU throughout, but I especially like the 892 as ColletArrow mentioned, and the way you did the fenders. The few Liebherr decals really bring the whole thing together nicely, too.

Very nicely executed! The contrasting styles and colors really do work well. I'd agree that the fire escape/ladder on the back looks a bit scary, but it does add some needed visual interest to the back side of that building. I like the chained-up back gate as well. My only criticism is that the the outdoor display for the candy shop doesn't look quite sweet enough. I think working in some of the printed 1x1 candy/cookie pieces to really drive home the sweet shop vibe would have been good. The tree and planter is also lovely, and I like the scooter parked there. Great little details. This feels like a modern day setup for a Lego movie version of The Shop Around the Corner.

Really great setup in that space! I agree with richpantson that you could probably add just enough clearance with flex track to add the needed clearance on the curves, but it doesn't sound like that really bothers you and it's a great clean and compact look as it is. I like the color coding on your controllers, too. I think you've inspired me to try something similar on our office desk once tax time is over and the stacks of paper disappear for a while.

You know, I guess it's obvious to think about doing this, but seeing yours with the ocean added actually makes me want to go buy this set after all. Totally different feel to it, and very nicely executed!

That is spectacular! So many great details, inside and out! Very nice exterior shaping all-around, and that built-in reel-to-reel is lovely.

Welcome to EB, Gwalothel! You're definitely in good company with plenty of Classic Castle lovers here. Happy building!

Looking good. The hull shaping is really nice, and I love those lanterns! Looking forward to seeing more.

Cool - pretty handy to have those perfect dimensions for a reasonable camera. Thanks for sharing!

Quite nice! Flows nicely with the rest of the ship, and as a first try with limited source material to work with so far, it's great!

Welcome to EB, DubiousDrewski! The first question that only you can answer is, if you're proud of it and have fond memories, will you regret selling it? Be careful and go with your gut. Based on the current going rate for 3 or 4 of the sets I can easily identify from the instruction booklets and assuming they're complete and in good condition, you have around $300-350ish (USD) worth of Technic there. The 8880 Super Car is the most valuable item, easily bringing in the $100-125 range (a good bit more if you have the box). Obviously those prices can swing either way depending on how you're selling them (complete sets vs just (mostly somewhat common) parts), but you can certainly get more than the $100 someone offered you in that imgur comment.

Hi astolfo - welcome to EB! Hmm... They've kinda gone from medieval, past steampunk retro-future, to full neo-medieval future... so bringing it full-circle back to primitive technology is an interesting idea. You might have more attention to the topic if you correct the spelling to Nexo Knights. Happy building!