dutchboy

Long-time lurker, but just have to comment on this project. There are no adjectives to describe how cool this is. I've been following this thread from the start and just read through most of it again, just because . I love the references you make to existing sets. I have no idea how you find the time to do all of this, but keep those awesome pictures coming!!

My story is probably similar to many. Loved LEGO as a kid, was completely hooked on Town, Trains, Classic Space, and Castle. Did many chores to be able to buy 7740 (Intercity) and 375 (Yellow Castle), and was smart enough to hold on to them, along with the rest of my childhood collection. The 1980s were great for me until I hit my dark ages. My kids got me back into LEGO in the early 2000s and I haven't looked back since. Moving half-way across the world hasn't stopped me, so I don't think anything else will.

Not meaning to revive an old thread, but I just "finished" my Grand Emporium and had a grand total of 84 bricks missing from book 3 (third floor, roof, roof sign, and window washer scaffold). I'm guessing I'm missing one, maybe two, bags. Has this happened to anyone else? Seems like a lot of missing pieces for a set like this to pass quality control...

9. antp – 1 vote 10. 6kyubi6 – 1 vote 11. jaredchan – 1 vote 22. Emma – 1 vote 26. Cara – 1 vote

Wow, that's a lot of great entries to pick from!! My votes go to: 15) Traffic Cop Entry (Build by Profound Whatever) Simple but elegant design 22) Vampire Entry (Build by lisqr) Nicely done, love the moon and stars, very effective! 23) Vampire Entry (Build by Darkblane) Great!!

One point each for: Designer: SolidBrick EntryID: 104 Name: Farm House Designer: SalvoBrick EntryID: 133 Name: Esso Service Station Designer: Bojan Pavsic EntryID: 146 Name: Circus Arena

One point each for Designer: Igorlando EntryID: 220 Name: Anastasia Astoria International Hotel Designer: captaintuddle EntryID: 219 Name: Modular Bank Designer: Johnnhiszippy3 EntryID: 217 Name: Diner Lots of great entries!!

Please add me in the raffle too! Thanks, Mark

Hi all, I'm sure most of you know that the Lego Factory contest ended on Monday and the winners have been announced. My son's design (car dealer) was in the running and it looked as if he was going to be one of the winners until early Monday morning. We had been tracking his totals and it looked like he would end up with about 360-370 votes, which would have been enough. To our dismay we noticed that when the winners were announced he wasn't one of them. My assumption is that he got disqualified, but I don't know why. All I know is that between Monday at around 9 am EST and the end of the contest he ended up with another 130 or so votes and we have no idea where they came from. Needless to say my son was very disappointed because he knows that all of his votes (the 360 or so we thought he would get) are legit. I can't say the same for the other 130 and the only thing that I can think of is that maybe somebody went in and posted a bunch of votes to get him disqualified (along with about 5 others in the junior category). Of course I can't prove this but it is a concern, because there are no safeguards for something like this to happen. At this point I don't know what to tell my son or what message the course of events is sending him. All he knows is that he competed and went by the rules, and got taken out for no apparent reason. If have repeatedly called and emailed the Lego Company, but haven't gotten a response (so Jake, if you're reading this.....). All I'd like to get is an explanation from Lego as to why my son's entry got taken out. Obviously the results won't be changed and my son knows that. He'd just like to know what happened and with as much time as he and I spent on this contest and as much $ as we spent on the plastic brick I think the company owes us at least an explanation (and the others who got disqualified as well). All in all, I think the contest was a lot of fun, and I spent way too much time on it, as my brickshelf folder will tell (http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=107738). However, as several people have pointed out on various forums, there is definitely room for improvement, especially in the online voting process, as the final round seems to indicate, as well as the fact that one person ended up winning four of eight prizes in the junior category (nothing against the builder, but I think Lego should have dealt with this in the rules, e.g. only one winning entry per builder to give more kids a chance to win), and that some of the designs that ended up winning are really kind of boring and don't have much play value. I for one won

Hi, I'm Mark, live in the States but am Dutch (yes, I bleed orange). I was a Lego fanatic as a child, then entered the dreaded "dark ages". A visit home about 5 years ago (and kids) was enough to get me started again. I have since amassed a frightening amount of sets and pieces (and built them all at one point or another, well almost...). My favorite themes are castle, town/trains, classic space, Ferrari and Star Wars, but I've probably dabbled in most themes by now. I like to check this site because it's almost always one of the first to have news :) . Plus it's interesting to see the differences between Europe and the States, having lived in both for quite some time. I recently spent way too much time competing in the Lego Factory contest and for some of my creations you can go here (http://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=107738). So... nice to meet all of you and let me know what you think about my creations (more to come). Mark Lugnet member #485

At the US S@H it's now listed as coming on March 24. Gotta have it!!