tedbeard

Wow, what can I say but, fantastic! Totally worth the wait. The round corner is really interesting and all the furnishings are wonderful. Thanks for sharing, and Merry Christmas.

Finally got mine done. Not as big and no train but I think it looks good (and fits) in our living room.

I am a member (actually President) of VicLUG which is my local LEGO Users Group, here are a few of the things a LUG can do: Displays: we show off our stuff @ local hobby shows including a train layout for the model railway show here in town and an annual display by a local museum that gives us a section of space for three months between New Years Day and the end of March. Kid Build: we have several bins of mixed LEGO that we provide for use by local events like Beaver Scouts, and Gottacon, a local gaming convention where we also run a "VicWars" table (VicWars is what we call our version of BrickWars). Drafts; We all buy the same set, usually on sale and then combine all the sets together. We then take turns taking one element (ie: all the 1x2 yellow brick, or all the 2x2 dark tan tiles, etc) until the whole bunch has been distributed. Great way to have some fun and get a bunch of pieces. Dirty Brickster: usually at our Xmas party/meeting we do this "dirty" gift exchange with each putting in one LEGO "gift" of app. $20 value. BrickCon: we arrange group travel to our nearest LEGO fan convention which for us is BrickCon every year in Seattle. We share a van and hotel room(s) to make it more reasonable. Summer BBQ: just a social gathering in conjunction with a meeting in the summer. LUGBulk: the super-secret program that allows LUGs to access large amounts of bulk elements for building collaborative displays. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. :) You can see some of what we do in our Flickr Pool which I think you should be able to see.

LOL, I saw the tite and thought you were from Saskatchewan (Saskatchewan Lego Users Group - S.L.U.G.).

I would also like to compliment the overall build and the great details. The boxing glove mittens and the partially-snowed roof are particularly well done.

Just FYI, timber-frame buildings usually have posts/timber in the corners as part of the framework. It looks a little odd to have the "fill" at the corners of the upper floor.

Stunning. So well textured and all in white.

Just a quick correction. BrickTW does not manufacture custom LEGO-compatible accessories. It is a reseller of clone-brand parts from Taiwan. Reasonable quality and lots of interesting accessories IMO but still a clone brand.

I think you have this particular point totally backwards. AFOLs generally complain about the emphasis on vehicles. I know you are new here so you will not have seen the many complaints over the years about the number of useless vehicles in sets - Star Wars sets especially. But even in City themes we get a new fire truck, police car and ambulance virtually every year because TLG thinks that the average consumer wants vehicles. How many carts and wagons have we seen in Castle sets over the years? If you stay in the hobby for very long you will one day realize you have a bin full of wheels you can never use because it feels like every other set you buy has some sort of wheeled vehicle whether it needs one or not. Back to licences: In Star Wars they also have to try to avoid competing with other toy manufacturers who have the licence for "action figures" so LEGO has to sell sets with multiple minifigs and something else to make it not an action figure pack. This would likely be applicable to LOTR as well since the "action figure" licenses are already well established as the Star Wars ones were before LEGO got involved. So, it is not a general wish of AFOLs that potential LOTR sets include "vehicles" it is acknowledging that such an emphasis would likely be a requirement of the line. Most of us would probably rather see Bag End as a set without useless bits but I bet you anything that if it is made it will come with a hand cart or a wagon. Or maybe expressions of "Look we have another LOTR LEGO nutter! Let us mess with his head."

Congratulations. I might ask though that you don't make other dads like me nervous. I see a picture of an infant holding a fig and I immediately get nervous she will swallow something. Trust me, fishing small plastic items out of a used diaper is no fun.

Welcome aboard! I wonder how many of us share a similar change in our tastes? I always preferred castle and pirates and space as a kid. As an adult I got really excited about the first few years of the Star Wars license which coincided with my "return" to the hobby. But now I really just want to build a giant LEGO town. OK, I still plan to have a castle and a pirate ship and a space port/launch facility but you see where I am going. Enjoy!

And for those on this side of the Atlantic the same guy is doing one in Arkansas as well. At both sites I believe you can volunteer to help build the castle.

Welcome to the EB forums from the Left Coast.

You might find this thread helpful: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=59164

Are we expecting an invite to an event based on an American holiday? Oh wait, of course we are.

I would suggest POTC: London Escape.

I think you are taking the "vehicle" idea too literally. How about: Gandalf's Cart Elven canoes Lots of horses (Rohan, Black Riders, etc) War Oliphant Merry & Pippin riding Treebeard Wargs Pirate ship Elven ship Orc siege tower Orc battering ram Gondorian trebuchet And that is just off the top of my head.

I thought I saw some hinges in there. That makes sense. I tend to go with a removable roof and removable floors (Modular Houses style) but occasionally I have had accidents in transport because a floor or roof came off. I can totally see doing it with hinged sections. I don't think it detracts from the model at all, especially in the back. Any chance of a pic with the sections open?

This is, in a word, spectacular. I am dying to know what is on the back of the roof. There are areas that look like vents or skylights or something that I cannot quite make out in the picture.

Anyone else get their "holiday" catalog late? My wife (as the one who buys from the catalog) got hers Oct 31st. Yep, the last day of the free shipping promotion she gets the catalog. Nice.

This house is fantastic and the detailed pics and description are, again, really appreciated. Using the tooth pieces as decoration AND to secure the infill is a great idea. I did wonder what the poles in the last step are supposed to be?

OK. Regarding the "coop" The chicken "coop" is actually a pen as it has no roof. Using 2x bricks for the walls looks awful and creates walls totally out of scale for minifigs. Besides having no roof there is not a door to keep them "cooped up". The notion of attaching a flaming torch to the side of a wooden coop is absurd. No one keeps chickens so close to their water source unless they want to catch nasty illnesses. I think you have already some good suggestions on other aspects of your WIP so I will leave off commenting further.

I like to put on an old favorite movie and half listen to it in the background. It gives me a good excuse to look up and stretch out every once in a while. Otherwise I can stay hunched over so long I get cramps in my neck and shoulder muscles.

Other than garage sales and of course BrickLink I suggest get yourself in on the next LUGbulk order. Best way to buy new roadplates as you can buy what you want rather than the packages of two types.

Not sure I qualify as an "army builder" but I do try to collect some "armies" and I have met some fellow AFOLs who have gigantic armies. Some figs represent characters that belong in units. The Spartans, Royal Guards, Romans all belong in groups just as the Pirate Redcoats or the Castle guys. It seems logical and reasonable to me to want to see an appropriate number massed together for the correct effect. I have assembled units of medieval soldiers, Royal Marines, Roman Legionnaires, WWII "Commonwealth" infantry and soon (I hope) the RCMP Musical Ride (based on the Royal Guards torsos). Not sure I see why someone would want to create "armies" of mimes or even Gladiators but at the same time I am always amused when I see such armies on a BrickWars table or public display. The absurdist humour always wins me over at first. What I don't get is the crazy numbers. I aim for between 20-100 figs in my various "armies". This is primarily a compromise made necessary by a limited budget but going past that number makes me personally feel a little odd and selfish and serves little purpose beyond the impulse to say "look mine is bigger!" Although I admit my first thought was "I need 300 Spartans!" the financial reality allowed me to suppress that particular impulse. But then there are lots of "collectors" in any hobby for whom "completeness" is not the sole measure of their collection. Having the most of something is a collecting impulse as well. Funny thing is I cannot understand the need to have complete sets of the "collectible" minifigs. I get them to create units or add characters to things I have built or plan to build or might build. The idea of buying minifigs simply to have them makes no more sense to me than the impulse to have and display 500 stormtroopers on parade. I do not have a "complete" collection of an CM series and probably never will just as I will never have a full Legion of Romans. Wow, that was probably spectacularly unhelpful but I thought I'd share anyway.