mjenk430

I also had the same issue with the flex cable when building Ben's BR23. I was appalled at the prices for flex cable on bricklink and a little overwhelmed with the sizes available that were so close together. I decided to take the non-purist approach **gasp** and use copper wire. I had some 14ga romex wire scraps that I stripped the insulation off of and cut in small grooves at each end and the worked perfecttly with the flex-cable connectors. There was some trial and error though with the length in order to get the train to roll smoothly. I would imagine that the publishing of the instructions to Ben's BR23 may have contributed to the scarcity (and consequently the high prices) of flex-cable on bricklink.

USA shop at home indicates quantities limited call before ordering. My guess is it is done. Get one now before they are $500 on eBay.

If anyone is interested, I was able to pick two of these sets up today at my local LEGO store (I think they put them on the shelves before they were supposed to). I have put one of them up for sale on ebay. Here's the link: LEGO 10214 Tower Bridge **BRAND NEW IN SEALED BOX** For those of you outside of the US, I will ship this internationally.

Definitely some interesting ideas. Once again I fail to bring up a "new" topic. But it is crazy to think that he is still going strong almost a full year later. Surely, if he was doing something that wasn't on the up and up someone would have caught on by now. I haven't noticed that the pieces had any damage. Maybe I should start examining closer. I would hate to think that I have damaged or unauthentic lego parts sorted into my collection. Identifying and removing them all will be nearly impossible. For that matter, with the volume he has sold over the last year, I would hate to think that "bad" bricks were being mixed into collections all over the world, imagine the ramifications on bricklink. I think the scenario that fits best is the returned/damaged lego from big stores like TRU. But wait, that wouldn't explain how you received parts that hadn't been released yet. Unless the boxes were damaged in the warehouse before the official release. But that would have been a quick turn around (new sets shipped to TRU, box damaged, ebayer buys damaged lot from TRU, you buy on ebay, he ships to you, you receive and notice unreleased parts) all months before the official release date. I guess the mystery continues.

Yeah, there are definitely pieces included that I will probably never use. But I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. :) I had the same fear regarding clone bricks. But I think the variety of parts included is too great to duplicate, and they all seem to be authentic lego. Yeah, I think they are too new looking to be thrift store buys. And there were no bricks of the older colors included. If they were from thrift stores, I would assume there would at least be a few older bricks included. And yes 3 lbs is not much lego, but 2000 lbs in 8 months is a hell of a lot of lego. I doubt there is that much lego sitting in thrift stores across the country at any one time, lord knows I've looked for it and without much success.

There is a seller (ebuyazonline) on ebay I have bought several bulk lego lots from over the last few months. He has consistently listed 20+ listings of between 3lb and 6lb lots per day, at least since January. (Probably much longer, but that is when I first discovered him.) That's around 100 lbs a day for at least 8 months, or almost 2000lbs!!!! What is his angle? Where is he getting all these bricks? Any ideas? I have bought multiple lots a week or more apart and have noticed that they will both have an unusual amount of a few parts that you wouldn't expect to come from parted sets, like engine blades or girder supports. Whatever this guy is doing I wish I had his connection.

Does anyone else feel that they should have made the base of the tower the same color as the tower? I guess they had to stop the tangasm somewhere!

Green Grocer SOLD OUT on S@H!!!! US

Well I went back today to get 2 more grand emporium where my father in law got them yesterday, but they pulled them from the shelves. I wish I hadn't put the second one up for auction so I could build it. Guess I'll have to wait like everyone else to build it.

I am taking your advice. I sold the first one with buy it now within 30 minutes, but I am going to try a 3-day auction for the second one, with a high Buy It Now. Lego-10211-Grand-Emporium-BRAND-NEW-SET My father-in-law picked these two up for me. I will tell everyone tomorrow where I got them after I go back and get one for myself to keep. :)

I was just able to pick up two of these sets up at my local Lego Store. I am keeping one of them for my personal collection, but I just put the other one up on ebay. If anyone is interested in purchasing this set before its official release date, do a search on ebay. It is the only one currently listed.