L@go

Thanks for bringing us along (in a safe way). It's easy to see you put a lot of effort into these images, they're beautiful! Well done :)

I've done exactly the same you did, but with a difference: I know for a fact it is a LEGO sticker - because I'm the one who peeled it off the original sticker sheet and put it on that piece (which makes it even more embarrassing that I couldn't remember which sticker sheet it was). But I've found it! I decided to meticulously go through the whole BL catalogue on sticker sheets, and finally, there it was - I thought it was a Racers set, but I was wrong: It comes from set 8236 Bike Burner, a small Technic set. And the reason I couldn't find anything when searching for "vents" or "intakes" or similar words, is that these are supposed to be the tread plates...

I tend to see myself on the solving side of most of these puzzles, but I'm currently stumped - I've tried every search term I can think of on BrickLink and nothing comes up. I'm trying to figure out which set this sticker comes from. It's probably not applied to this particular piece in that set, but I'm after which set it's originally from. Anybody recognise it? Edit: Changed image host. Brickshelf sucks.

It's just that if you're reviewing sets, in my opinion, you need to take extra care not to miss any steps or put bricks in the wrong place. And I can't understand how it's possible to look at that picture of the Ferrari without seeing the big gap - but that might just be me. The camera is the black 1x2 jumper plate that's supposed to be on top of the car, right behind the driver's head.

I'm glad you have a good time reviewing these sets, but if you'd put a little more effort into actually putting them together properly, I'm sure the reviews would be so much better. How can you not notice that there's a 1x2 plate missing on the front end of that Ferrari F1 - with the big drop and exposed studs between the two curved slopes - and that in all your pictures, there's a wedge piece missing right in front of the cockpit of the McLaren F1? And where's the Ferrari's camera, the 1x2 black jumper plate? If people are going to consider buying sets based on your reviews, they need to see what they actually look like.

I can confirm that they do indeed fit perfectly underneath the newer mudguards - even without being lifted.

I've seen the WIP shots you've uploaded to Flickr and it certainly is an impressive project. Looking forward to actually being able to see it 'in the brick' in Chicago!

It's also quite ridiculous just how cute it is :)

I enjoyed it a lot last year, not least because of all the great people, and I'll certainly be going back. Hopefully I'll be allowed to display my stuff there, but if not I'll probably go for AFOLCon alone and just be a visitor. I like the changes they're doing for this year - they seem to be to the benefit of the exhibitors/participants.

I don't think it is. If you try the same test with any element with hollow studs, just put them stud to stud and then try to wedge a plate in between, you'll see that the height of two studs is still bigger than one plate is thick.

Yes, it is. But be aware that the space between the two opposite-facing bricks will be bigger than one plate - the height of two studs combined is bigger than one plate, so it's not a solution that's "in system". You'll see that if you put two plates on top of each other with the studs facing towards the middle, and try to wedge a plate in between. This also means that the whole height of both studs won't go into the ring - there'll be a gap between the ring and the surface of the plate on one or both sides of the ring. Did that make sense?

Well done on recreating that rear spoiler - it's a very recognisable feature. All in all, you've managed to get the look so very right, I could tell it was a GT-One immediately :)

Haha! Before I saw your reference picture I thought 'Gary Larson'. Brilliantly done.

No. LEGO's baseplates, unlike their regular plates, have always been like that. They're thinner and not meant for anything else than being... baseplates.

As you already know, I think it's gorgeous, and well worth your time :) It was an honour to be allowed to take some 'official' photos. Looking forward to your next project already!

In the case of a lot of the earlier sets, chances are you'll never be able to find out. Once the people that designed the sets leave the company because of retirement or other reasons, the knowledge of who designed the specific sets seem to be lost, in many cases. It just doesn't matter (or didn't, anyway) to the company who designed the sets - it was never interesting until the AFOL community started asking questions about it. I happen to have met, several times, the designer of the original, legendary Yellow Castle - who also worked on loads of the Classic Town sets I adored and cherished in my childhood - and he still can't understand why people would think it's nice to meet him and talk to him about 'work' (that's all it was to him) he did all those years ago. Friends of mine who work within the company, as designers, have also tried to track down who designed the fabulous Statue of Liberty that is sitting proudly on its pedestal in my livingroom. But nobody within the company seem to know anymore - there's just no record of it anywhere. It's hard to believe, I know, but that's the way it is...

I think you've pretty much listed all the hotels there are in or near Billund, actually... You could always try the LEGOLAND Holiday Village next to Lalandia - the cottages there are, as far as I've heard, both relatively reasonable and quite decent.

There's also an interesting difference between elements that are made for the CMF series and other elements. As the collectible minifigures are produced exclusively elsewhere than Billund, the elements for those aren't part of the parts bin that is available in Billund. That is, as far as I understood, why LEGO can't give you replacement parts - these exclusive elements don't exist in LEGO's regular database, and customer service quite simply doesn't have access to them. But more and more, these elements are now meandering into regular sets - which leads them to be added to that regular database, and makes them much easier for the Billund employees to cope with. If that makes any sense...

It's a gorgeous yacht, and particularly the shaping of the hull is very cleverly done, with a beautiful result. Very, very impressive!

Looking forward to sampling this fabled pizza that I've heard so much about...! Just thought I'd share the knowledge with you that or fellow forum member Ecclesiastes is currently trying to figure out whether to go to BW or not. He has a very good reason not to go - I'll let him elaborate on that if he wants to - but after we talked a bit about the subject at LEGO World in Copenhagen last weekend he seems to be reconsidering. So if we all just tell him here how much we'll miss him if he stays at home, then maybe he'll realise how important it is that he does indeed take the trip ;) No peer pressure or anything! Just a friendly hint about how sad we'll be if he doesn't come...

I talked to a LEGO employee about this exact thing on Saturday - some coincidence, hm? - and he explained to me the difference between an inactive element and a retired element. The goat hasn't been retired, it's an inactive element. The way I understood it, LEGO only has a limited number of their moulds active for use at any given time. If they see that they're not likely to use a certain muold for a year or two, they put it into temporary storage, to free up space for other molds that they have more use for at the time. Given the amount of work and money they put into designing a new mold - and especially one that isn't for a licensed set or a mass-produced collectible minifigure - it's extremely unlikely that the goat won't reappear in a set at some point.

As far as I can tell, it's the stickers from this sticker sheet applied to the blue skateboard. The combination comes from set 3537.

The city square.

That's pretty much it, I think - apart from the female worker and the welder equipment. There's also a play feature at the base of the crane for unloading gravel (next to the sign in one of the pictures from today).

Yes, lightningtiger - the train set comes with a) a female worker with Gail's hairpiece/hard hat from the LEGO Movie CMFs - and b) a full welder kit (helmet/torch).