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Update: http://www.hothbricks.com/2016/06/lego-creator-expert-10252-volkswagen-beetle-premiers-visuels/ I like it. Let's see what happens to the order version now...

Posted a couple months back, this was my first real MOC I put together and ordered from scratch. Total cost came to around $500 CAD. But it's one of a kind and I'm very happy with that! Borrowed a friend's DLSR to take some proper "artistic" shots.

Yes, one of the more famous (for it's still-standing huge scale) in southern France called the Pont du Gard. I visited at a younger age and the monument has always stuck with me as defining the words impressive and awesome. This photo is from the perspective of my fourth photo. I have the model on the shelf displayed the other way round, such that the river is on the right. If you examine some other real-life photos, and then the model, you'll note some detailed accuracy (as much allowed for the scale anyway). Expensive due to my stubborn desire to have certain bricks in the right colours.... some of them turned out incredibly rare, I think I dropped $50 for 11 pieces somewhere along the line there.... Not sure what you mean by how long, so I'll answer in every way I can perceive the question... It took me about 1.5 months to gather the bricks from roughly 12 or 14 different orders. The total brick count sits at almost exactly 2100 pieces (I'm not sure the exact final count as a couple of unforeseen tweaks had to be made along the way... you can't test structural integrity in LDD unfortunately!). It took me approximately 3 6-hour sessions... I didn't have instructions, so hiding and revealing layers in the digital file ate some time despite all the bricks being pre-sorted (as orders came in). The build in dimensions is 67cm x 10cm x 22cm, or alternatively 84 studs x 12 studs x 24 bricks.

Painful to follow up those beautiful shots with these horrible iPhone ones... I'll post this up in the BP MOCs thread when it's completed, but I spent most of Friday sorting bricks I'd already ordered, disassembling (and sorting) a Brick Bounty, and cracking open and parting out a second Brick Bounty. My total build is still missing about 90 parts I need to order, but I had enough bulk to get started. My goal is to have a customized Pirate operated ship to pair with my Imperial Flagship. Many weeks spent in LDD fine tuning the model, with lots of inspiration drawn from the original Flagship, but many of the parts borrowed from the Brick Bounty. Many more were purchased. Total count of 1968 pieces. Here was the first portion of my progress yesterday! (It won't let me add more pics so I'll have to add the rest later on.)

Are Nuts deep OK?

Elken Watchtower

The way things are going; the new AT-AT will be out a month after A Minor Disagreement on Hoth is retired.

street of 16 wide modulars

Not sure when this went live... but the Streetview Collection is available again on select sets: http://www.toysrus.ca/family/index.jsp?categoryId=85305826&ab=TRU_CP_RR_T6_LEGO_61316

Pays to reach out to OBOs! Had a little 6237 Pirate's Plunder listed for a while at $15.50. Got an offer in at $14 today. Had spent last night building up 6249 Pirate's Ambush and 6278 Enchanted Island for photos and listing today. Mentioned them to the buyer. Interest was generated and a deal hatched. Fired off some quick photos for her, made a couple quick listings and netted some cash! 6237 - $14 6249 - $72.25 6278 -$135.25 $255 shipped. Buy in of $88.60. Even after you calculate in shipping and fees... Classic Pirates for the win!!

The other two shots.

Look at what my 3 year old son did this morning early when he woke up:

What a tragic day in Orlando. Thoughts and prayers to all the families and people affected by this monsters actions...

... and ugly as hell.

Instructions available from here.

Ain't that how it works? Sold a Haunted House today, bought a Batcave. Thanks! I plan on getting a 2nd loose w/o minifigs when my EBay bucks are ready.

For me it was 6270 Forbidden Island. Fond memories of this one and all my childhood LEGO. I remember all the subsequent pirate sets i got had the "redcoat" imperials so the one "bluecoat" imperial always held a position of command because he was the only one I had. Last year when I was home I retrieved all my childhood LEGO (Just a mass of bulk pieces and manuals). Threw them all in a case and brought them home. Airport security raised there eyebrows at the hard shell pelican case with 60 pounds of LEGO in it :P. Been sorting through them when I can. So eventually this set and all my other childhood sets will be reassembled and and enjoyed again. Can't wait....just the amount of time it will take is daunting.

I purchased three Spider-man Daily Bugle sets without minifigs and used the pieces (plus other pieces in our bulk bin) to build this little modular hospital. I also order a set of doctor office stickers from Brick Builders Pro. If you noticed in the pictures, apparently my son seems to think that all our doctors are also the patients...haha.

Finally started venturing into MOC'ing. Started by using our extra Pet Shop (not a fan of it as a double) and our small collection of spare parts. It's pretty hollow but it kept the Bricklink costs to a minimum. We call it "Cloud High Rise".

I'll finally have a surf board to put my constraction figures on.

Well, that dude appears to be too short for a stormtrooper.

I never expected the AT-TE to jump like it has, because of the poor minifig selection. I had a few for resale, but I would have liked to had a bunch more. AT $50 for near it's whole life on the market, it was a steal.

I would not go balls deep on this set. Already alot of sellers, with plenty more to come, and you will be waiting well over 1 year for a decent return. I don't think it is a bad choice to stock a few but I would not bet the farm on it. If you can wait out your competition then you will get the lions share of the profits (4+ years). There is also no guarantee whatsoever it retires this year so that is also something to consider.

God, I've no self control today, just bought another Super Heroes set. Although I think I'm ok picking up Ant-Man Final Battle at RRP.

My daughter was up early and built Friends Jungle Falls Rescue 41033 this morning. Now she wants to build the Jungle Tree Sanctuary and Jungle Bridge Rescue to round out her Friends Jungle set collection.

That's a great analogy, even if Homer had it right about Baseball.

Sold the Nick Fury/Venom/Spider-man set for $50 CDN (twice what I paid for it), plus the Mr Freeze polybag for $30 (free giveaway) and the X-men set for $60 (paid $40), all on Craigslist. $75 profit off $65 expense in under a year, and the last 2 only took 4 months. As in baseball, you need singles and doubles to go with your grand slams to win this game. Love me my superheroes. They're....super.

I expect this set to do well. I doubt we will get another Ghost Rider or Hobgoblin fig anytime soon.

When will I ever learn. Got pulled into buying two Spider-man Ghost Rider Team Ups because they were 40% off. I hate Super Hero sets, why am I buying them

Nice... I've been workin' the math on (2) 60052 Cargo Train + 41114 Friends Party Styling (just to get a 3rd set): $154.26 + $154.26 + $5.31 - $50 promo = $263.83 = 2 Cargo Trains for $132 each... no sales tax (almost 40% off if you usually pay sales tax like me).... oh... and a little kitty cat set you can give away. Tempting... but not the deal I'm looking for today.

20% off select LEGO at YoYo.com and Diapers.com, use code LOVELEGO. Max discount $50. Some decent deals out there. http://yoyo.7eer.net/c/65738/83305/2056?u=http://www.yoyo.com/b/lego Jokerland for $77 Mystery Mansion for $64 24 Hours Race Car - $85 Well, you need to work with the math a bit.

My section of our current LUG display...

It looks a little like a Citroen with that flat windshield even thought the vw had a flat windshield as well. I'll let my wife judge this new VW bug design since she grew up in a VW family and drove a '68 super beetle as her first car. Over all a nice design though.

These sell for $35 now.

One of these five http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=20310&in=S

I urge caution with the streetview collection. I have sold a grand total of ONE set from the >10 I have.

Found a Ghost at a B&N. Paid full retail, but I'll do alright on it. I found a Phantom at a Walmart last weekend (half off) but I already have a buyer lined up for it. He's going to be in my town this week, so I'm going to try to get about $15 over what I paid for the Ghost after tax, for a quick, no-ship profit of $40 on both. If not, I'll hold out for closer to $50 profit later on the Ghost alone.

That's why I was relieved when the Time Warner/Comcast merger got cancelled (I have TW at home). Unfortunately, last week I got a letter that they are now merging with Charter, and I'm fearing another "we are making things better for you" strategy in which they will raise my prices or install caps or whatever. I'm a cord-cutter, so no TV bundles in my house, which is what they continuously try to sell me. Lucky enough I have an alternative offering (compared to the many US residents who only have 1 possible provider) to whom I can switch over at a moment's notice.

Until recently, ebay fees (in Germany) had to be paid for both sales price and shipping. For some reason they changed their practice recently and fees do not need to be paid on shipping anymore.

Food poisoning

Built yesterday. Pretty nice movement with the bin raising/dumping out/lowering, the bed goes up and down as well and the door to unload also opens/closes. Not bad for a decent price last week (and my big guy loves it, hasn't put it down since it was completed)

For those still in need of Stack-On drawers: Sears has a Father's Day deal running where you get ~$39 back in points when you buy 6 39-drawer cabinets at $13.99 each. Does involve a $15 back in points on $75 coupon, but that's a generic coupon I believe. So spend $84 before tax, get $39 back in points towards Free LEGO.

Star Wars microfighter clone turbo tank for $24.98 on amazon FBM. $5 buyin. less than $3 to ship - i'm lovin' it. Town Hall $570 amazon FBM. mother-in-law was visiting when it sold - the mother in law who likes to compare LEGO to beanie babies. silly old lady.

I owned some smaller space sets before 6928, but the Uranium Search Vehicle was my favorite. There are some pretty sweet MOCs out there of beefier, modernized versions (see below). I rebuilt this not long ago and was really disappointed with the build. Lego has come a looooong way since the early '80s.

I can only imagine how that would be.. but I think you're stomping on the wrong person here. LEGO (and any other toy maker) is in a no-win situation these days with the products that go to market. If we look carefully at this set... - 8 female minifigs, 5 male minifigs (assuming climber is male) - no even stevens? - 3 females in traditional male roles (business suit, painter, gardener) - some men still do those jobs, just ask exciter who cuts the grass! - young man in wheelchair - why not a young woman? Maybe this was a nice middle ground for LEGO. - grandma, grandpa (in old people clothing) - no park is complete without them - baby clearly has no gender specified with white outfit - white/yellow/green typically considered gender neutral colors for babies - man in lumberjack attire setting out the picnic - come on, he should have a chainsaw! - 4 kids - 2 and 2 but clearly gendered (see below) - climber seems genderless - nice safe move - hot dog stand man with mustache - hah, such a traditional chef - some figs with glasses, some without - nice balance don't you think? - boys wearing baseball cap and tshirts/hoodie, girls in pink tank tops and star necklaces - girls wear caps and boys wear pink too! It attempts to meet or break many typical stereotypes so I would say it's an attempt on LEGO's part to be very politically correct (whatever that really means). So I'll reiterate .. I can't imagine the hardships your family endures, and I express sincere gratitude to all parents who look after kids with disabilities. But I too see this set as very politically correct - and a great place to finally introduce a wheelchair into the LEGO world. For kids who have never been exposed to what life is like in a wheelchair, any kind of exposure is good exposure. That's how we as a society can raise socially responsible kids - by normalizing things that have traditionally been not normal. /end soapbox From an investor angle, this set could be a long term winner if LEGO doesn't produce another set like it. It will appeal to the mass politically correct or not. But I have a sneaky suspicion that it's early popularity means it'll get on someone's radar and be something that gets revisited with a twist such as a slide or climber instead of the spinner. 1x1 tan rounds for the sandbox win!

Went and tried out that Blue Render app. Very cool stuff. I ran into a problem with my MOC; the 1x4x5 arches only come in light tan, and the 1x2 masrony bricks only in dark tan. I wanted the masonry brick effect, but I didn't like the blocky chunks of different colours. Went in and did some plate bricking, I think the effect is much nicer, but still not sure I'm satisfied with it. The renderer really makes it look pretty though! Projected cost via BrickOwl: $550 CAD for 1843 pieces. And back around the time I joined up, I was working on reverse engineering a MOC I'd seen online. Tried getting in touch with the creator to no luck, so went into LDD and built my own. Pics were posted before this thread existed, but I fired off a render of it today for fun; probably lots of new users who never saw this. As more work gets done to BluePrint for Mac, I'd be happy to generate instructions for this little guy when it's ready if anyone was interested. Happy to share my .lxf as well. Comes in at 298 pieces, and is quite a fun micro build with some neat techniques.

On the topic of buying HH even now at 2x or more MSRP: Phase 1: My son got interested in Lego 7 months ago. I hadn't so much as looked at a Lego in 20 years. All I knew was he desperately wanted new Lego passenger train. We bought and built it together, along with station. Phase 2: I thought "wow this is so cool! These sets are WAY better than they were in my day!" Phase 3: I go online and start looking at what else Lego makes. I stumble onto Haunted House on Lego SAH (it was still up with a SO tag). Jaw drops. Heart rate increases. Phase 4 (also known as the self-denial phase): I do my research, see it is seeing on eBay for almost $400, and show my wife the set, but promise I would never spend $400 on a Lego set (because THAT would be crazy). Phase 5 (also known as "emersion from dark ages" syndrome. Also known as the angry wife phase): I buy a brand new HH for $350 shipped. It arrives in beautiful shape. Wife finds out. (Domestic episode deleted from post). The point of this whole diatribe was that the HH was the one and only retired set I just could never live without. I can pass on all the old Star Wars stuff, pirate ships, TH, FB, whatever. But this was a "biological imperative" - there was no way my heart/head combo was ever going to let me live a life that didn't contain the Lego 10228. I would have paid $500. Today I would pay $600 if I had to (and didn't own it). There is something magical about this set and I feel very strongly that there are THOUSANDS of people out about to have their ownHH moment in the next several years. This set will hit $500 two months, eclipse the Town Hall by October 2016, and leave TH in the dust in 2017. Just watch and mark my words. (Phase 6: new guy thinks he's smart enough to lay down epic predictions at 4:00am cuz he can't sleep)