Rufus

Thanks everyone for your early replies and optimism! I hope it's not misplaced. Thanks Foog! It's in bad shape indeed. I'll get to the smaller sets before too long, if all goes well with 928. Perhaps I should have started small? Battle damage indeed! If I get chance I'll show some of the worst atrocities my teeth inflicted on these poor innocent bricks. Dig it out! There may be some treasures in there (and some valuable parts in 6970 ) Thanks! I'm going to try to replace the gold printed bricks where possible; I considered using decals for the slopes, but it won't be quite the same. I need them to be authentic! Absolutely! My sets were left on 'display' in the attic for a long time, so the grime is particularly intense. Then there's the problem of extremes of temperature up there. For some parts, it's quite easy to tell - I'll post some comparison pictures at some point. Coming soon - A closer look at the parts

'Boomy, do you mean Orc D? B is already dead.' Christian lunges at Orc C from the front row. Meanwhile, Rufindel whips out his Malfunctioning Staff, which fizzles and crackles unnervingly, and smashes Orc A from the front row.

OOC: Scuba, as we are protected from harm this round, if I use the Malfunctioning Staff and it goes wrong, does that mean I don't take any damage?

Day 6 came at the worst time for me - I had a lot of real life stuff to do, so I wasn't able to put as much into pursuing Shadows as I might have liked. Still, we had a bit of fun accusing each other of being scum. Byt the way, for all of the Mafiawiki acronym lovers: Shadows's defence was a perfect example of OMGUS. It didn't help that I was convinced iamded was town. Everyone was voting for him; I can be forgiven for assuming he'd show up town (I hope). Zepher thought he was the SK, because he'd blocked him when there was no SK kill; I agreed that was possible which was one reason I didn't try too hard to overturn the lynch. The main reason I didn't come out with an analysis of Shadows's behaviour was because there wasn't much to analyse: as I've said already, he did two things which clued me into him being scum, but there was nothing that he couldn't easily explain away. Once it became clear that iamded was going to be lynched, I went into damage control mode and spent what time I had trying to work out how to use the Motivator action to try to turn things around for town in the night phase. I considered motivating Fangy, but I wasn't absolutely sure he was the vig, and if he was, I had no guarantee that he wouldn't unwittingly finish off the town if I motivated him. So I chose Zepher. Had I known iamded was scum, I might just have commuted (I had a one-shot commuter action from a night puzzle - TinyPies), but then I'd have been the prime candidate for a lynch on day 7. Well, I didn't know I was the Miller until after the game was over. If I'd been investigated as scum, I'd have assumed I was framed. But I'd most likely have been lynched if I had been investigated (I'd have lynched me ).

Introduction A cut my LEGO teeth on Classic Space. Unfortunately, that has caused irrevocable damage to many of the bricks. One of the very first sets I owned was the timeless classic 497/928 Galaxy Explorer, widely held to be one of the best LEGO sets of all time, and it propelled me into a love affair with Classic Space that far outlasted the shelf-life of the range. As I got older, I started to take more care of my LEGO, and many of my later Space sets are still in pretty good condition. You can see examples of two of the sets in my reviews: 6930 Mission Control Centre (Space Supply Station) and 6928 Mercury Crawler (Uranium Search Vehicle). However, the earlier sets didn't fare so well, and now - thirty years later - it's time to see if I can rejuvenate them. I've already had some success with my 375 Yellow Castle; I hope I can achieve a similar result here, but these sets were played with a great deal more and also spent a long time built and exposed to attic dust. Overview Here's a small selection of my Classic Space collection, rescued from the attic in roughly the state you see here. From this angle, things don't look too bad, apart from the muck, but it doesn't bear up so well to closer inspection. I had in mind that I'd start with 928. Let's take a closer look: The ship itself looks complete, and both baseplates are present, including three of the four spacemen. The little base that comes with the set has long since gone. The printed parts are all there, but the Classic Space logo has lost some of its gold. As you can see, the exposed parts are filthy, and some are discoloured, including what looks like rust on the 2x2 cone. Many of the parts are chewed and battered. There's more filth on the front, and the modified plate with prongs is chewed. Unfortunately, the printed slope is quite badly scratched, and the detail on the lovely planet logo has long since gone (it should look like the logo on the banner above). You can also see here how some of the wedge plates are more discoloured than others. Neither is the ship truly complete: Round on the left side, the grey door is missing, and has been replaced with a blue one. Examples of battered and ill-fitting parts abound here. Some parts are broken: The centre grey tail here has snapped; I had clearly tried to disguise the fact. The other side has the same problem. The underside doesn't look too bad, but the nearside landing bad is bent. Also, the long 6x24 plate in the centre should actually be two 2x12 plates. The two dudes I found inside the cruiser don't look too bad at all: I doubt these are the original figures! The gold logo is a little faded on each, which looks a lot worse on the white dude because it isn't hidden by the white background to the print. It's hard to get hold of pristine space figures; these may have to do. The third guy isn't looking so good: he's quite badly discoloured, with a broken helmet. It's a shame, as his logo is in quite good condition; however, whilst I can get the white looking much better, I can't do that without further damaging the logo. Goals What I aim to do here is get the sets looking as good as possible, within certain constraints. I will accept a small loss of quality in some of the prints; I'll try to replace badly faded prints but it is tricky to get hold of some of these printed parts in mint condition. I will try to use 80s bricks where possible. It isn't always easy to tell; for the old grey colour, you know that the parts are at least 8 years old; some later plates can be distinguished by a difference in the mold. Where I still have the box, I'll give it a good clean and try to spruce it up; where I don't have the box - for the larger sets - I'll try to get hold of one. For parts where there were mold differences back then, I will try to use the original mold designs. For example, in the case of the part 'Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip Light', I will use the original 'thin ring' parts rather than the later 'thick ring'; however, where mold differences occurred in different releases of the set, I won't be so fussy (for example, I'll accept any form of the modified plate with handles (Bricklink ID 3839, so long as the colour is right). I reserve the right to modify my own conditions if it proves too difficult otherwise! Wish me luck! I'll be updating this thread periodically as I (hopefully) make progress. Rufus Contents Chapter One: 928 Galaxy Explorer Before Parts after cleaning The Box The Results Chapter Two: 924 Space Cruiser/Transporter Before After Interlude: D000dz Chapter Three: 918 One Man Space Ship Before The Box After

'At last!' Encouraged by his miracle, Rufindel turns his healing skills to Atramor. 'Christian, I suggest you take on Slaver A. Since we are immune to damage this round, stand in the front row.'

Thank you for the amazing game, Hinck! Beautiful, funny, poignant, annoying, frustrating, climactic, nail-biting... everything a mafia game should be! I loved it; I hated it, but only because I loved it so much. Make sense? It was fantastic playing in a little mini-masons with Pandora. I was so upset when Gibson died. Accordian-playing FabuGoats are now my new favourite. The combo worked really well, but I guess it can't be done again. We were a little surprised that more people didn't trust me after Pandy was revealed as Village - do you really think I could get away with being scum with Pandy sat right next to me? I think the active town played as well as possible given the circumstances. It always takes a good four days to get a town block together (unless Hinck is playing town ), so with the early loss of the investigator and no established town leader, I didn't have much hope for the town getting things together as there was no way to confirm anyone. I actually didn't think there was an investigator at all. We did correctly identify all the scum (except iamded, who I was convinced was town ), but it was too late for me. I have to thank Fangy for killing me. If I'd been left alive night 6 I'd have been lynched for sure, and that would have been to much of a humiliation for Cameron to endure. Shame my confirmation as a Villager didn't turn things around. Finally, Shadows. You played an amazing scum game, and the ending presented me with a new emotion: I actually felt bad for you. In the day threads, you did only two things which hinted at your scumminess: one was repeatedly accusing Eskallon, who was so megablocking obviously town (though only Pandy, Scuba and I seemed to see it); the other ... let me just say it was something that was so thoroughly out of character for you that it made it rather obvious. That's why Pandy tried to track you night three, and I tracked you night 5. Once we had worked out the scum kill method (all credit to Scuba there), I realised that the Motivator action which I inherited from Pandy could do more harm than good (it could give the scum two kills), so I decided to use the tracker to catch a scum rather than identifying someone to motivate. We caught you, but you sacrificed iamded instead. Awesome. :thumbup: Zeph... I said it on the deadboard, but I'll say it again: I gave you the shield to show you you could trust me. Then I motivated you so that you could protect two people and block two people. But you blocked me! BAWK!!

I presume this is a Monster Fighters set. I'll move to Action.

'Take that, you foul Slaver!' yells Rufindel as he inflicts a slight graze on the Orc's arm. 'Skrall, I'll work on healing you this time.' He remains firmly in the back row. Christian grins. 'Let's mix it up a bit,' he smirks, as he turns to slice Orc C from the front row.

Happy Birthday ISC! Have a great day pal.

'Ow!' Rufindel aims a kick at the squeeking rat; but, as usual, misses. He turns his attention to the Slavers. 'Christian, you take on Orc A from the front row, and I'll take a swipe at D from the back.'

'Curse my evil luck,' Rufindel grimaces. 'It even seems to affect my allies.' Christian squares up to Orc D from the front row, whilst Rufindel picks on someone his own size, and prepares to strike the Rat from the back row.

I still do! I actually think (a) works better in this context. Both are correct, but (a) is more immediate. (d) doesn't really work; © is okay but sounds a little clumsy. Wow. You've really got down to the subtle nuances of the English language. I think all of these are correct, or at least acceptable; which one you choose really depends on the context and what you mean to imply by the statement. Looking at the first part, both options are correct; you could also say, 'While I am waiting for the letter, I will keep myself occupied.' If you chose option (a), I would suggest omitting the first 'I am'. Whilst it is correct, (b) sounds a little odd to me, but could be used to emphasise the word 'keep' as in 'While I am waiting for the [dreaded] letter, I keep myself occupied [despite my anxiety].' For the second part, the juxtaposition of present and present continuous tenses adds a nuance to the respective actions; for example, I am lazy for watching TV whilst she is industrious and responsible for doing the laundry. Of course, this is subjective and dependent on context.

Oooh - a lovely MOC, and done beautifully in the Architecture style! I will have to ask you to resize you pictures, I'm afraid - the Site Guidelines specify a maximum 800 x 600 pixels. I've left them visible for now, but I'll have to remove the image tags if you don't do this, so please resize them! Thanks for understanding.

RA Anniversary Coordinator makes graphics with Elephants - Elephants are just the best for graphics.

Thanks for letting me play, Hinck! Go town! Do the right thing now!

Rufindel praises the gods for the miracle. 'Woo-hoo! That used to happen all the time, back in the first quest.' Rufindel once again prepares to lightly scratch Blister from the Back Row. Meanwhile, Christian cries 'Ennoc!' as he swings his cutlass at Orc Slaver A from the Front Row. 'Um...' says Rufindel, finding himself alone in the back row. He quickly steps forward into the front row and prepares to give Blister a ... moderately-sized blister.

My friends, I have stated my case plainly. You must trust me. I am 100% certain that Shawna is scum - there is no other explanation for the night action results. Please think very carefully. Our best hope is to lynch a scum today. We have a confirmed Cultist in our midst, and we can get rid of her today. If you not sure whether to trust me, remember that I successfully led the case against Casey, the scummy cat. What has Shawna done? Persistently accused Pennie and Gordon, both townies, and influenced the vigilante to kill both of them. I'm sure it is Shawna who has the vig's ear, and the vig has made a pig's ear of their killing choices since. Please think! We can save the town, if we do the right thing, and the right thing is: Vote: Shawna Sheep (Shadows) *snap*

'Blasted Orcs. They offend my fine Elven nose.' 'Nyx, you leave me with Barnacle, who is heavily armoured. I think we should switch targets; I'll hardly scratch that guy.' Rufindel watches as Christian downs his Soma, and aims his staff at Blister from the back row.

What?! No! *snap* You agree with my analysis, but don't want to lynch Shawna? We have caught a scum. That scum must go. What evidence do we have against Horace? A suspicion. We have concrete evidence against Shawna. This could be life or death for us: we must lynch a scum. We must lynch Shawna Sheep today.

Yes, that is what I was told, just as Pennie was told she unsuccessfully targeted Heidi on night one. Heidi was a commuter/bodyguard. She commuted on night one, so your plan to have Pennie kill her for you failed. Had Heidi not bravely decided to protect me last night, I would have burned myself to death just as Ernie did. This was your doing. Try as you might, you can't twist what we were shown from the night to suit you. The blacked out figure is trying to set itself on fire. Heidi died because she was a bodyguard: she died to save me. You mean Portia? Yes, she told me what her action did: she slept with people, and if they were the serial killer, she would kill them. She was given no other information about what else they may be up to at night. Yes, she slept with you on night one. This clears you of being the serial killer. But we know you're not the serial killer: you're the Cultists' killer. Spare me this sheepshit - the evidence points quite clearly to you being the scum killer. You can lie all you want about having no action: you clearly do. Defence? I'm not the one under fire here: you are the scum who has been accused. Where's your defence? Trying to spin the night pictures to suit you? They are perfectly clear in what they are telling us. And let's get this straight: I have no opinion about Horace. He could be scum, he could be town, he could be the SK. I accused Maurice yesterday because I thought the evidence against her was stronger. And you were only too happy to agree with me: you even supplied some evidence of your own. I will be delighted when you are lynched and revealed to be scum. *snap*

*snap* Maurice, I am sorry I doubted you. Poor, brave Heidi. Thanks to her, we have caught a scum: I know who Heidi died trying to protect: me. Last night, I received an unexpected night action result: I was told I unsuccessfully targeted Cameron Crocodile. What's more, I know who targeted me. Last night, Shawna Sheep was tracked, and was seen targeting Cameron Crocodile. Shawna Sheep is the cowardly scummy Cultist who is getting poor, brave Villagers to do the Cultists' dirty work for them. It's thanks to Heidi that I lived to tell the tale. We must lynch that scummy sheep today. Accept no nonsense from her: she is Culty as hell. *snap*

'I think you may be right, Nyx. Something tells me we're going to have to fight them the old-fashioned way.' Rufindel surreptitiously backs away from Nyx, and makes sure he's not touching anything wet.

Oh wow. That's absolutely superb! I'm amazed the wings don't require external support. The way you manage to recreate the swept wing angles - apparently without compromise - is unbelievable. I follow your stuff on flickr, but I'm delighted you've posted it here. Thanks! It's on the frontpage.

Eurobricks MOC Expert and aircraft genius Ralph_S never ceases to amaze me with his superbly realistic military aircraft, but he has really raised the bar this time. Check out his largest aircraft model ever: the B-52H Stratofortress! Click the picture for a closer look at this beauty in the Special Themes Forum!