Ranion

I just got this for my birthday (Sept. 19th for those who forgot to send me something...) and I love it!

Just got... 1. Maersk Triple-E 2. Trevi Fountain I think I'm going to buy a 3rd party sticker set for the container boxes on the ship. They have different companies brand names for the shipping containers so the model looks a bit more realistic. It also has stickers for the ends of the containers (where the doors would be). Has anyone else done this?

1. Maersk Triple-E 2. Trevi Fountain 3. Companion book to the Architecture series

I think I'm going to grab a "GE" before it retires and if I decided against going with modulars I'll be able to flip-it easily. My choices so far... 1. Grand Emporium 2. Maersk Triple-E 3. Sopwith Camel (once I read about how the string actually manipulates the flying surfaces on the wings, I was hooked) 4. Maersk Train 5. Maybe go into "Maersk" as my next "theme"?

When I first got back into LEGO, I promised myself I'd stick to the Architecture series (the theme that got me back into LEGO) and a smattering of whatever I found interesting in Creator Expert and Lego CUUSOO/Ideas themes. But...I've run out of stuff to build! I'm thinking I need to "up it a notch" and start building UCS/Modulars to get my fix. I need projects that don't take one afternoon or even a whole day to build. I need a build that requires me to go to sleep before I awake to *possibly* finish it that day...Or the next. So far I have the following: 1. The whole Architecture series minus Trevi Fountain that my parents have "hinted" not so subtley to "not buy it...wait for prices to come down" or some nonsense which translates to "your birthday is in a month, we already bought it for you". I have acquire the coveted Marina Bay Sands and I'm in the process of acquiring set 4000010 "LEGO House" which isn't even officially an Architecture set but it's close enough. So I'm set here. 2. From the Creator Expert line I Have the T1 VW Camper Van and the Mini Cooper. Both were extremely fun to build and I love displaying them. I'll be buying whatever they throw at us from this line/group of LEGO sets. 3. My CUUSOO/Ideas holdings include The Ghostbusters Car, The Delorean Time-Machine and the Exo-Suit. I will hopefully be acquiring a Hayabusa soon as well as a Mars Rover but the Shinkai just might be out of reach for me. I won't be buying the Minecraft based sets as I just don't like them...At all. If you can't already tell, I'm a "completionist" type of person and when I start a new Theme or "Theme" (a specific line or group of sets within a larger Theme) I really think hard about it before any commitment is to be made. Another factor in my LEGO preferences are that I prefer sets more catered to adults; specifically, they usually lack minifigures. I have nothing against minifigures, in fact I love putting them together. But, the majority of sets I find myself attracted to are minifigure free. So...Going Modulars would bring me into the world of minifigures and everything that entails. Again, this isn't a bad thing. The problem is the price of said modulars. At $150+ a pop it's relatively expensive. It also requires lots of space to display that at this very moment I don't have much of. I would also have to consider not trying to acquire the really expensive modular who's name has escaped me at this moment. My second group of LEGO I was considering was trains. I wouldn't be trying to get them all, it would be a "theme" type of thing. I would focus only on locomotives/train-cars based on "real-life" examples. Like the Sante-Fe or Maersk. the obvious hangup here is that it's more expensive than the modulars, but there are less of them to acquire. But acquiring a Sante-Fe Locomotive and mail-car and passenger car (the same set with two different builds) would cost me quite a bit, something like 4-5 modulars I would think. Same with the BNSF line. I don't think I would be setting up a running track, just enough track to display them. I would consider adding the Horizon Express to this "theme" since it has "advanced building techniques" involved and resembles real trains well enough. I would forgo the City line trains that make use of large non-brick build parts and is more for running as a moving train. Third option is going deeper into the Creator series. Specifically: Maersk Triple-E, Taj-Mahal, Eiffel Tower, Sydney Opera House and the Tower Bridge (which I may acquire regardless of what direction I go). These are also expensive, but you seem to get a lot more pieces for your money. These sets more fit in with my Architecture interest. To sum it up... 1. Modulars because of building difficulty and they'll keep me building/occupied. 2. Trains because I think they're so well crafted and true to their real-life likeness and my dad likes trains which has rubbed off on me a bit. 3. Creator Expert to sort of continue in the Architecture direction I've been heading in. Although to be honest it would be nice for a change... Sorry for the god-awful wall of text... Thoughts? -Robert

Hi, some of you may have read my thread where I meet Adam Reed Tucker at a lego convention and get several autographs from him on a Robie House instruction booklet, a 1st edition sealed John Hancock Center set and a T-shirt. Recently I also acquired an Exo-Suit set signed by the great Peter Reid himself! Right now, I have the sets and instruction booklet stored inside heavy duty freezer bags and kept out of sunlight and humidity. but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to store them better, and maybe have them be more displayable? I know The Container Store has clear plastic polycarbonate boxes they make for footballs, baseballs and other sports mementos but I haven't been there in a while and do not know if they have anything that an Exo-Suit or Architecture set would fit snugly into. One other thing I'm worried about is preserving the signature. Two of the signatures are in that "silver-ink" pen, which seems sort of flaky. I'm worried it will crumble off in time. Any ideas on how to preserve them? I'd hate to have to cover the signature with a clear packing tape to preserve it. I'm never going to sell them, so any permanent changes are probably ok. Ideas?

...For the Creator Expert series? If they're going to stick with European cars, perhaps a classic Jaguar? Land-Rover? I'd personally love to see them do a rendition of a BMW, or even a Mercedes. But...I'd also love to see some American muscle car prowess as well! A Shelby Mustang GT500 perhaps? I'd love to see a Dodge Challenger even. Anyone have any predictions or wants?

Just finished building my Mini (both the "large" one and the "mini" one) and am thoroughly please with both! This might sound like blasphemy to some of you but I had more fun building this than the T1 VW Camper Van and enjoy the finished model more than the T1 as well. The Mini feels more "solid" to me and is more conducive of "vroom vrooming" around the house... Strangely, one of my favorite parts is the non-solid tires. I like that air-gap they have in there; it feels more "real" if there is such a thing.

Music to my ears!

Just bought a signed copy of the Exo-Suit off EBay for a very reasonable (IMHO) price of 50 pounds.

I have access to the forum, but it says "you cannot start a new thread".

I know this isn't really the forum to post this but I don't have access to the trade forum.... I was wondering if anyone going to the Bluewater lego store unveiling of the Exo-Suit in the UK could get a signed Peter Reid Exo-Suit set and trade it to me? PM me or my E-Mail is RoninRanion@gmail.com Thanks. Sorry mods if this isn't kosher...I just really want one!

I just got mine in the mail after getting snagged in customs. I'm not even going to say how much it ended up costing after shipping...

I wonder if they will include the giant blaster-cannons the Exo-Suits had in "The Space Book" that Peter Reid wrote?

My T1 Camper Van Shipped...

AHHHHH...The anticipation is killing me!

Bought T1 Camper Van off Lego.Com...Too bad it's out of stock until the 24th of July! I knew this was going to happen, I waited too long, AGAIN. Oh well, at least I get some lame-ass Ninja-Turtles minifig. The British VIP promo is amazing btw....

I too saw this at Brickworld (Schaumburg) and it was indeed epic. My main draw was that Adam Reed Tucker had built the "Hades Ship". The Architecture sets are what got me back into Lego, so I can blame Tucker for my addiction. In fact, I got to blame him in person. I wrote a thread about meeting him in the general forum somewhere.

My set was missing 4-5 black round 1x1's...But had extra grey/metallic round 1x1's so I just substituted. I was a little upset because one part of the roof "greeble" area is a bit "off" but, whatever.

I am the same way. Have you built the Architecture set "Farnsworth House 21009" yet? If you haven't, and you plan on it, I suggest you steel yourself for several hours of OCD goodness.

D-D-D-Deadpooooooool! Star Wars: Shadow Trooper (gonna make me an army of these bad boys methinks) Chrome Stormtrooper Boba Fett (newest version with cape and helmet antenna) Dengar (2nd version from UCS SSD) Admiral Piett (also from UCS SSD) Collectible Minifigures: An army of Galaxy Patrollers -vs- An army of Alien Avengers OR -vs- Evil Black Robots from series 8 (their names escape me at the moment) And of course, the entire Simpsons set, including those from the house set.

Villa Amanzi is...AMAZI'ng! But seriously, I really love it. If I had the cash I'd pay to have one made for me. The builder (I was there on saturday) told me it cost around $2,000 in bricks to build; not including lighting. Also, I don't remember seeing some of the stuff that's in the video, did they tape this after the convention was over, and things had been added perhaps? It seems to me they filmed it BEFORE the public was allowed in.

I'm not sure I can swing buying a T1 at the moment...Marina Bay Sands is above it on my list and I JUST got sniped on EBay and lost an auction for one so I'm still hunting around for it. I should have bought one when they were about $175-ish on Bricklink but they've all gone above $200 and don't close for less than about $210 on EBay now. Since the whole reason I got back into Lego was to collect the Architecture series (at least that) Marina Bay Sands 21021 is really important to me. Plus I just love the model.

$2,200 eh? Maybe...

I love polybags! The polybags I love most are "capital" class starships from Star-Wars because you can get a bunch free/cheap and build a huge fleet of ships and make huge space battle-scenes with dozens of ships. Lots of fun! I bought 3 polybag Republic Cruiser (30053) and 2 Star Destroyers (30056) at Brickworld yesterday and they are currently fighting for supremacy on my desktop! Personally I hope the Star Destroyers win; I've always been an Imperial Navy lackey at heart.