Dfenz

Typical. I stuffed my case with the 4 new Indie sets that I acquired yesterday in ToysrUs near Frankfurt and the Local toy chain gets them in!!!! David Typical. I stuffed my case with the 4 new Indie sets that I acquired yesterday in ToysrUs near Frankfurt and the Local toy chain gets them in!!!! David

How much is your collection worth? A very interesting question if like me you decide to put it onto the house contents insurance. When I went through my list of sets about 18 months ago and estimated how much it would cost to replace them I was shocked to discover that the estimate came to E25,000. While some sets are obviously expensive to replace, think of any large (especially discontinued) Star Wars set and UCS sets the costs add up if you incorporate shipping and on the very expensive items customs duty. Obviously the same collection in the US is worth less than the same collection in Europe because they can generally be replaced at a much lower cost from US sources than European sources. Without shipping/ customs and using Bricklink/ local shops/ LS@H as a price guide I'd say the value of my collection would be somewhere between 17 and 20k and that's without taking account of parts. Unfortunately I suspect most people don't realise how expensive it would be to replace their sets until its too late. Just think how much it would cost to replace a Lego Star Wars collection never mind any other sets? David

I'll take two if possible. thanks David

I received an email from Lego today indicating that as I'm on their mailing list I am entitled to a 50% discount off a set. When I clicked through to LS@H I found out it was the lego castle chess set (not the €199 version!!). I'm curious if anyone else get one of these emails and if different sets can be purchased using the discount codes provided? David

I'll be in Frankfurt later this month, Billund in May, Fuerteventura in August and San Francisco in December. Should pick up some US goodies in time for Xmas David

Just back from a short 2-day trip to Legoland Germany and my pilgrimage to the Lego Store at Reim Arcaden. Picked up two Troll Battle wheels in the Mall store. Plenty of good discounts on some sets which I already had such as the Batman sets and the Cargo ship (50% approx off). Concentrated on PAB and utilisation of my 3 for 2 annual pass offer in the tent in Legoland. Every time I go I can't resist those blue storage buckets for €2.99 (works out at €2 each with offer) and end up figuring out how to get them into the cases!!! Many of the sets are significantly cheaper in Ireland, especially with the recent Argos sale. As a general rule the Lego store in the mall is cheaper than the park and once the 10% discount expires for annual pass holders the lure of stamps towards discounts will make the Lego store even more attractive. David

Thanks for the heads up. Argos Ireland have the same 25% off. AT-AT is €101. Police station is €41. Liffey Valley store seems to have plenty of availability which is normally the difficulty with Argos Lego sales. David

I'm arriving on Friday lunchtime with my family. I will be departing Sunday lunchtime. As we're staying at the Legoland hotel I've quick access to the park. As regards participation in events I'll need to consider these on an event by event basis as obviously I can't go missing from the rest of the clan for the entire two days !!! David

This set is on sale at LS@H for

I have assembled all the HP sets together with the exception of the new castle which has been acquired but not yet built. I have earmarked a space for it on my Hogsworth table. I have some older pics which don't cover all the layout especially the newer sets which are at the camera end of the table, i.e. the quidditch arena/ dragon, the forest/ Aragorn, and the graveyard. No doubt someone has better pics than these but these are the best I have at the moment. David http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Dfenz/Ha...ut/img_0261.jpg http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Dfenz/Ha...ut/img_0260.jpg http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Dfenz/Ha...ut/img_0265.jpg

I ordered the new Green grocer set on LS@H Europe for a nice

Well spotted. Remember both these sets are sold out at LS@H Europe so it may be an indicator they are on the way out. I'd hate to think what 10030 will fetch once its no longer available on LS@H. Might be the last chance to get these sets at a very reasonable price. Remember the Europeans had to pay 369 euro for these sets!!!! David

Well get those earmuffs out - its Eurovision time again as the countries begin to select their songs. Ireland is sending a real turkey to the competition this year. Let the torture begin David PS - sorry for typo in thread heading

This sounds like a good way of utilising the double cross-over track piece provided the 9V tracks eventually loop back to the controller or two controllers are used for two isolated segments of track. Presumably there is enough power in one motor to push a train over a dead section of track, e.g the double cross-over section? There is no 'neutral' gear on the temporary non-operating motor so it will presumably be resisting movement once the power disengages. Not sure if the resistance would be enough to cause derailment problems. Sounds like an opportunity for someone to experiment. David

I agree entirely. In my view two weeks is a bit quick for a negative feedback. I reserve negatives for orders that don't arrive and would hestiate to even leave a neutral for the sake of a 6 cent order. I wouldn't have bothered with leaving feedback at all. Leaving quick negatives is a fast way to get stoplisted by Bricklink Stores and its quite possible that the seller will get your negative feedback removed as that seems to happen a lot on Bricklink as you will note if you peruse the forums there. My two cent.

I sort primarily by colour with separation for the main colours between plates and bricks. I've begin to store some parts by type also e.g. Windows, doors, wheels and technic. Ice cubes are stored in the fridge and egg cups await their call of duty on the kitchen counter. Unfortunately my storage methods are evolving along the lines predicted in this storage topic post on Lugnet which I quite enjoy. :-D http://news.lugnet.com/storage/?n=707 Apologies if its been posted before but I think its on topic. David

I think this should be in the MOC forum as an excellent recreation of the garbage compactor scene from Star Wars Episode IV. :-D David

How about a Star Wars minifig Chess set with stormtroopers as pawns etc. ;-) Also what could be more festive then a Star Wars advent calendar? :-D David (Obviously the price would be a lot lower than $150)

At least you'd have plenty of cardboard boxes!!! I keep all my boxes in the attic - funny enough my heating bills seem to be reducing slightly each year. It must be the extra insulation that the boxes provide!! David

LSAH Europe has Indy sets now. Also there are a large number of sale items in Sales and Deals section although they are selling fast. There's

For train fans its worth noting that the 9v switching track is $9.98 David

Given that this post refers specifically to Lego in Berlin it might be useful to repost some comments I made in the 'what did you buy today thread' (see below). I don't think you missed much at the Discovery Centre although if you have a 2007 Merlin or Legoland annual pass you might be able to get in for free. There are a few non-Christmas giant lego displays in the Sony centre including a giraffe. Not sure if you managed to get over to the Department Store at Alexanderplatz but there was an excellent castle display there last week when I visited. David "As an aside I also got a small amount of bits and pieces at Legoland Discovery Centre Berlin. But it wouldn't have been worth the entry fee if I had to pay into it. Fortunately I was allowed to use my 2007 annual pass from Gunzburg to get in for free but its pretty lame in my view and unlikely to generate much repeat business except for those with annual passes trying to kill an hour or two with kids. It is badly located within the Potsdamer Platz complex from a retail perspective, mostly underground with no shop open to the general public except through the cinema which wasn't open when we visited meaning that its only customers were coming from the discovery centre itself. Only the exiting elevators from the cinema were operating!! What a lame idea to have a discovery centre that does not have a high profile lego shop readily accessible (FOC) to the public. In any case the shop itself was nothing to write home about - ridiculously expensive with a very limited range especally when compared to the three Department stores, Wertheim, KadeWe and Gallerie (in Alexander Platz) that had extensive selections. By far the best display is in the Gallerie centre adjacent to the Alexander Platz train station where there is an absolutely amazing moving castle display with the skellies storming the King's castle over a ravine - the cliffs, caves, and lava effects in particular are brilliant. I took some pics which I'll try and post when I get a chance." PS there are some additional comments on this in the Eurobricks event thread in the past day or so!