grymg

After a whole day of debating I just said eff it and ordered the Republic Gunship with my $20 VIP credit even though the US discount was only 10% off. I'll display it next to my Falcon and Quinjet when I get around to opening it. Revan's selling on ebay for $26-$30 right now. It will take a while before it comes down below $20, and it's a risk anyway. I wanted that poster too. If the exclusive was red TC-4, I wouldn't have done it. A Sith for an exclusive fig is pretty badass.

Well using the latest Martian Manhunter as a comparable, it went consistently for around $14 shipped during the promotion period and slowly rose after it was sold out. Am expecting the same for this fig. I'm not getting the Sandcrawler, At-At, Mos Eisley, nor any other SW sets this year so I will likely go the ebay route to get this one.

Regarding the rails, can you describe the underside? How grippy are they on they sleeper plates, how do they stay properly aligned and spaced on the plates? Last thing I want would be the sleeper plates to easily fall off/slide.

What I've found using BL for several months now, I end up paying almost 20 cents a piece when I figure in multiple sellers shipping and the higher cost of some bricks, minifigs, and stickers (sometimes really expensive) So, if you can still buy the set for 20cents/piece, then skip BL and just buy the whole set. Plus, you get the original instructions and box and only have to wait for one package. And it really sucks when one BL seller is delayed and you're just waiting on that package to complete the set.

I couldn't open the site (it's blocked), how much are they selling the HE for (including shipping)?

Well bricklink is addicting, you better stop while you have the chance (coming from a current addict!) I recently won an auction for a cheap used Knight Bus, it came missing the middle deck. At first I wanted to bricklink the missing deck but the window costs were too high. Well long story short I ended up making a train wagon out of the bus! That said, it looks great with two decks. Well good luck to your project, maybe if you stick with a more neutral color (gray, black, white), the pieces will be more affordable to complete your model.

Wasn't this one straight forward? two train motors on the front loco, one with the polarity switch, and rebuild the technic axles in the rear loco with the regular train axles? I haven't opened my sets yet but that would be my first pass at it.

I did do a parts list just for the EN loco and tender, if I get around to cleaning up my excel spreadsheet I'll upload it sometime. Then using the "part out" function on bricklink, just choose the leftover parts you need. Substitute colors as necessary (especially the hidden ones) to overlap parts even more. But a word of warning, after I built my "fake" EN, I wanted to match 100% with the real thing so I ended up spending just as much if you were to buy set used on ebay. So I really recommend buying it whole, not bricklinking it. Another downside, you will end up with an incomplete Lone Ranger loco which is a very nice train by itself.

Most: Ironman Mark 42. It grew on me. The gold really puts this one over the top. Least: Gokart Mandarin or Chitauri foot soldier.

Oh yeah my bad, I forgot the Maersk extends both ends of the base even more with a 4x6 plate, whereas this blue one builds right off the base. I love the BNSF design, it's a light, agile train with the standard train axles so very friction free and can haul lots of freight. Same with this blue loco.

I keep on thinking the blue cargo loco is short but I see it's already built on a 6x28 train base. Maybe it's just an optical illusion. At most it's only 4 studs shorter than the Maersk. I hope someone posts comparison pics.

I grabbed one from Target during the BOGO sale, ended up being around $18. I was looking for a cheap way to get a box car for my cargo train, and seeing that this comes with a train base already, this is what I came up with adding only the black wheel aseemblies.

The use of R2 legs, genious! Makes me want to buy a Town Hall modular and convert it into a train station.

I ended up extending the jail car with a 6x24 train base and put everything in there to keep the weight on the train motor. Put some PF lights via brown headlight bricks in the back because I had a spare set lying around.

Those boutique style passenger and cargo train sets also aren't remade often. It's like a real car. . . new model only comes out every 4 years or so.

I did a similar mod with the Maersk Train because I preferred to push it with a PF box car from the back. I ended up changing out the Maersk bogies with the regular train axles. It's not an exact copy of the instructions on the HE because the exposed stud on the axle holder ends up hitting the end of the Maersk train base (preventing it from turning), so I had to increase the height by one stud. Otherwise works frictionless and great. It's a shame the train axles holders, wheels, and rods are so expensive, I need a lot of them now!

I found the shellraiser set new no minifigs for cheap, so I converted it for better use to haul the Turtles around New York City. Unfortunately I got the v2 version without the train base, but I added it back. Other than adding the bogies and 6x24 train base, no other parts needed.

Say if these trains release June 1st, then will Lego start discounting the current 7938 and 7939 sets? I'd like to grab another Passenger Train for the middle coaches. But only if the set was like 30-50% off.

I knew about the newer sloped fenders, but nice suggestion regarding the slopes for the smoke deflectors (actually, I run without the deflectors anyway). I am wondering why they didn't use more 1x2 cheese slopes instead of the 1x1 cheese slopes. It's less parts count and the slopes tend to be used in even numbers anyway. I also replaced the receiver area with two more green slopes and preferred to push the loco from the back using a PF box car. Going back on topic. .. . Does anyone have pics of a successful valve gear setup for the EN?

Instead of rebuilding the bogie, would it be ok to just replace the 6L technic axles with frictionless adapter pins? Or is there little friction removed? http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=3749 Seems like a quick fix money wise instead of having to buy more train holder, wheels, black minifig head, plates, etc.. I'm planning on doing the same with the Maersk Train bogies.

Nice! I was reading a King of the Railway Thomas and Friends book with my son the other day and the engine in that book is this one. . . to top it all off his name is Stephen and it has "Rocket" on his nameplate, LOL. PF bits in the tender? Looks like all of it including a train motor could potentially fit.

TRU exclusive Excavator Transporter 4203 has an intermodal transport train base.

I find it interesting how more train bases are used in the City vehicle line. I got the 60025 Grand Prix Truck for cheap, it has a 6x24 train base as the trailer. I easily converted it into a box car by adding bogies and nothing else.

I got HO scale track for around $2/ea used. Sadly Lego straight track is similar in price. I don't think Lego would ever do 8 straights for $10.

If you love the 9L technic liftarm mod you must do the steam rod mod on railbricks. You can use a 5L technic thin liftarm as the 2nd rod. http://railbricks.com/instructions/steam-locomotives/ I did it, made me giggle with joy when I finally saw my Constitution with moving rods.