MCNwakeboard

A little early, but I wanted to share a small project that I worked on. Happy Fourth of July, Ameribricks!

I agree, a 3 in 1 set would be awesome, even if it cost 150 or so. I think Microsoft would be willing to license the rights since they killed off ensemble studios.

After you build this up to a couple sets you should put it on Cuusoo, AOE still has a pretty large fan base. By the way, I like it, simple but very distinct.

Happy to pay an extra $10 for printed pieces. Looks nice.

Very nice job and the interior shots looks great.

Great job, the wall looks very fluid and natural. Just keeps improving. Thanks for sharing.

Yes that is an option similar to the one that msx80 suggested with a triangular support. Most of the stability issues are related to the track connections that don't have a wall support as those are only used every two tracks. Using the reverse slopes is an option but would require quite a few pieces. A diagonal technic cross arm would be a good option, just not something I had in the initial planning and but probably something I could test out to see how much it helps.

Wow! this looks great. I thought the first picture had been through photo shop to get that first picture.

Thanks for the comments. It has been up a week and I haven't noticed any flexing plates, but it is very possible over time. From the screws that I have tested, they seem to be hold up well. I usually stop the train in the corners since there a bit more support there with the Lego plates. I did consider using long plates to support the straight tracks but since the wall supports are 10 inches apart (two tracks) it would be fairly expensive to purchase long plates. Clearing the corners was challenging for the Emerald Night, specifically for the blinders in the front as you might have noticed it was changed in the film. I have to switch the battery on and run it for the most part, mostly be design since he is 10 months old.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I created a shorter movie with the Maersk Train that shows the track from a bit further out.

Yes, there is some movement for sure since they are held up by 2x8 plates with only one side anchored in. I've had the large wheels come off a bit with the Emerald Night but haven't had problems with the Maersk Train. The corners were by far the hardest but I just built a base with plates and it seems to hold up well.

I finished building a suspended rail in the kid's room and thought I would share.

Looks great! Love the design and the idea to add stairs. Hope it fits well.

Wow! Very nicely done, I always have a hard time getting the buildings to blend into the large baseplates, but you did an excellent job. Keep it up.

I picked up some of these at Brickfair this weekend and I really like them.

I like the design of the house and a lot of the details. Maybe it takes a little while to get used to the color scheme. The light blue, dark green and gold don't go well together in my opinion. I'll have to see how it looks with the rest of the winter sets. It's too bad the upstairs window doesn't go through to the bedroom.

If you want a single piece, the 6x6 dish might work for the scale you are looking for. Link

I used a similar technic when I did a Hobbit Hole but I switched it to this (similar to TLG Bag End set)

I don't plan on getting this as I am not much of an army builder but it seems to be a good seller so I wonder if most army builders are ok with the lower quality since they can get them cheaper than through normal sets. Do you know if the figures are made in China with no neck mark and the stamp on the arms?

Its an official hair piece from the Fitness Instructor in series 5. I actually haven't found much of a use for it but I thought it was the best fit for Rosie's hair. I think an official one would be great and since there is a lack of females in the movies, it might be one that gets officially made (doubtful though)

Here is my version of Rosie: Sorry to be off topic. I don't see the Orc Forge as an army builder set, but since it is the only source of the white hand armour, I will probably buy more than one.

Nice layout, I think you did very well on the landscaping. It might be good if the water was a consistent tiles/plates for the moat and river. The bridge looks very nicely done, I'm guessing you followed Derfel's guide. Keep up the good work.

Sure...have the Lego group sponsor a vote for the top figure, then they'll skew the results so we get frodo fishing and mummified orc. From an AFOL's perspective an army builder poly bag would be the best (orc, goblin, Uruk-hai, rohan or gondor soldier, etc) For the target demographic (7-12??) they are less interested in army building and probably outnumber the AFOLs such that it makes more sense for TLG to put a well known figure in a bag, even if it is pretty common. This reminds me of all the Harry Potter polybags... I'm guessing that there will be army builder sets in the future, and for the most part I think those are more economical than polybags and usually don't have the common figures. Since this is a multi-year theme, I'm sure we will have plenty of chance to build large armies of Frodo, Bilbo, and Gandalf.

^^I'm not sure what kind of fake Lego store you are looking for in Mexico. I found this place in Cancun when I was down there last summer. Prices were about 2x US RRP but they had a number of discontinued sets on display (Eiffel Tower and Taj Mahal)which I probably should have tried to buy. They also had a number of Playmobile sets for sale and lacked the Lego Set display Ribbon that is standard in official Lego store. Sorry for getting off topic.

I've created black and red. There are a couple sand green pieces that are missing but I think that would look great, even with some substitutions.