ZeeK

Actually they did produce the front part of the vehicle next to the arctic plane in orange - it's set 4652 from 4+ line (the part had prints though). I've seen this set on the shelf once, but at that time i thought it was too expensive, since the parts i was looking for were a couple of big chrome silver fuel tanks in this set... Really love the plane. It's really nice to have mid-size piston-engine cargo plane!!!

What a lovely 4-wide utility vehicle!!! Love it, absolutely love it, even though i see it as sweeping vehicle like this:

At least now I can tell what "third world" means - if your contry is not on LEGO Customer Service list, then it's not as developed as one thinks it is... Sad joke, btw

Does that mean the new high-speed train will have two cars and a motor car (like HE does)?

My country is alo one of those that have been thrown out of this option. I've checked with retailer and i have received the following instructions - "If a part is missing/damaged the set is to be returned to the place whereit has been bought and the set - the complete set - will be replaced with a new one". I can understand the process if you buy something from the retailer you know, but i'm not sure what will happen if you buy something online or at the shopping center - will they accept the faulty set or just tell you "go and look for the piece at your home"... I can undrstang LEGO's position (if i put LEGO employee/manager hat on) but with my local LEGO buyer hat it's something i can't understand at all.

Got myself a boll box of the series last Saturday. Using the "feel method" opened a full 16-figure range... The thing i like most is the coffe-cup - now it's time to build Starbucks! An interesting fact: i got the full box packed inthe cardborad box with sticker "DO NOT PUT ON SHELF before January 1st, 2014"

Probably one of possible Mr. Gold application is being a copy of Moist von Lupwig of Terry Pratchett's "Going Postal" And, looking at the aftermarket, people are still interested in getting this 161st figure to complete their collections - probably the only reason Mr. Gold exists.

Sorry for "resurrecting" of kind of old topic, but... Probably many of us saw Jason's video at BrickShowTV about a person who managedto collect two "super rare" Mr. Gold figures... However i've never heard of a person acquired three of this kind before, so... ...So, i think i'm the first to manage to find three Mr. Gold figures, only one of them is opened so far.

Being lucky to have the similar opportunity (though i've used "feel method") i can confirm the distribution figures. As for "figures by rows" my box had completely different order. I think this is due to the fact local LEGO subsidiary is putting its own sticker on each individual package with some info in Russian. I think this is made manually and workers put the packages in ith box changing the initial order...

This is my MOD of the truck from this set:

Being the resident of the country where roads are pretty much as they were in XIX century, i'm familiar with off-road tuning in general, as far as so-called "lifting" (installing bigger wheels and tires, modification of the axles and suspension etc.). However i still think that 30*14 tires are much too large even for "lifted" truck. The 24*12 tires i've used is better, imo. However, since "minifig-scale" is very doubtful question, i can agree that it's possible that some people like using moster trucks in their regular (criminal? :)) life.

Thank you for the review! This set was one of the presents i gave to my son on the New Year (yeah, local tradition). When the set was built, may worst expectations came true - the truck's wheels are way too large. I know that F-150 or Tundra are big, but the one from the set is absolutely out of scale, compared with other City vehicles. The next thing i was not happy with was the back of the truck - imo its too short. So i had to rebuilt the truck with the following modifications: 1) I've added 1 1*1 plates under the steering wheel - now one can see the wheel clearly. 2) I've moved both steering wheel and the driver's seat i stud to the left (one stud right - to match the UK/Australia style) 3) I've used "new" part and wheel holders 4) I've extended the rear of the truck by 1 stud, slightly modified the trunk cover and increased the height of the sides by 1 plate. I can't say i'm happy with the result, but it looks more "real" now and i do not understand the reason LEGO has not done the same with the model: using 30*14 tires in this case is the juniorization i can't support.

Many thanks, Klaus-Dieter, for sharing the review! 100% agree on the fact the truck is way too large. When image of the sets appeared i've built the truck from #4208 for myself and i've instantly realized LEGO has started to make vehicles even larger than before. These 30*14 wheels are definitely wrong. And, as far as i can see from 2012 City range, this off-scale is quite common. Moreover, the front of the boxes are designed to hide this fact - the figs are shown bigger (or the vehicles smaller). Local russian LEGO prices have risen overcoming real overcome real inflation rate, which is approx 15% in Russia: the $20 sets were priced 729-799 RUB in 2011, now the $20 sets are 999 RUB (it's 25-30% increase), so i have to admit that almost every set is overpriced... The tires used in #4441 are bigger than the ones used before - i do not understand why - even the older ones used in the vans/trucks are quite big as compared to the height of the minifig. Using the standard tires for smaller cars is not the good practice, IMO. The old small tires/wheels were fine and the cars looked like those one can see in the street. In 4440 LEGO has used the new big tires for quad bike - it's not even funny to have the quad bike with man-height wheels...

Because it's US, of course. And I think the rest of the world will pay much more for the sets when they will be availabla in late Dec/Jan 2012. Also it looks like LEGO has decided to start holiday season VERY EARLY this year... probably to show better sales figures... I wonder why not selling "2012" things in e.g. September...

IMO, it's possible to perform this redesign by yourself, simply by making the "neck" place larger. I've already suggested to exchange these ones :) The offer is still valid, btw.And now back to the MOC! I really like the vessel, though i think it's possible to make the schooner larger to match the minifigure scale. Thank you for the inspiration - now i have some ideas on building my own fishing fleet.