Set 7937 Train Station and a Very Old MOC

Well, the sorting is coming along. I've gotten through the yellow brick sorting and have moved on to white. After white I will still have blue, the rest of the black, the greys, and a bunch of random colors I don't  have a lot of. I recently decided to go public with my humble little amateur blog on some Facebook LEGO groups and within minutes of doing so, I found out that Lego does not like people using the word Lego in their domain names, which had a domain that pointed to the blog. LifeLibertyLego.com. At first I didn't think they were serious but then was directed to to LEGO's fair use play policy and saw it. Well, being that I love Lego and am loyal to the point of not even wanting to buy LEGO wannabe brands and some encouragement from other AFOLs, it seemed like the right thing to do was to change my web address and blog name whether I got caught or not. It's not as cool of a name but it will do. I hope to get a new domain name soon but to get the one I want is going to be a little more expensive than getting my old domain was.

This most recent set that I am showcasing, Set 7937 Train Station, I actually bought in February not long after my birthday, I found a good price for it at Toys R Us.com and knew it was being retired soon so I wanted to snatch it up.

Throughout the course of me showcasing sets and things, you will find that I have certain obsessions with certain types of sets and a couple of these obsessions were part of the draw for this particular set for me, but probably the biggest draw for me was the staircase bridge of this particular set.

Awesome staircase and bridge over the tracks!

Outside of train related LEGO sets being obsession that I have not indulged in a lot, I have a huge obsession with LEGO taxi cabs and as far as I know, there haven't been a lot of them, except a couple I've seen in a few idea books from the 80s. So, as soon as I saw this set had a taxi, it was a must have for me. 

The set features a wonderful cast of minifigures to accompany the set. Admittedly this one particular minifigure stuck out to me. I think it was the glasses. That particular glasses face is one of my favorite face designs.

Conductor, Taxi Driver, and Travelers

And of course many other great features necessary for a good train station.

Need a ticket to ride!

Catch up on some news while you wait

A snack for the trip?

In other news, I actually found my only photographed MOC that I built 10 years ago back in the days when 3 megapixel cameras were like $300. I bought one for that price and for the purpose of photography Lego sets. But I didn't do much with it except this. It's a cute little Cafe / Coffee Shop that I definitely will rebuild as soon as I can. Pretty basic but I really like it. I have a fondness for the more basic and simpler times of Lego though I still enjoy a good amount of what is available today. 

Lastly, I have my latest acquisitions from Bricklink and Amazon recently. I think they'll add a lot and be useful. The idea book is actually one that my brother has but I really wanted my own so I could use the stickers included with it and I actually found it with its stickers intact for only $10. Along with that order I got a cute looking cowboy minifigure. The others are pretty obvious. Two newer vehicles and then a retired Hot Dog stand mini set, will be showcased in the future. Anyway, Happy Building!!!!

And the Red Bricks Are Sorted!!!!!

I guess I took an almost 2 month hiatus from Lego, which isn't uncommon for me because I tend to phase through hobbies. The last stretch was a combination reading and video games venture. Still doing the reading, but the gaming has gone down quite a bit. But that's great because now I'm back in to Lego again full steam ahead.

Today, I spent almost the entire day sorting my pieces. I have altered things from my last sorting blog. I did end up getting the sorting cabinet I think I mentioned but I haven't bought any more of them because I wanted a better idea of what items I'd actually need cabinets for. That can only be known after I've built all my sets. So, it was back to sorting. Today, I can proudly say that I have sorted all of my red bricks. The red is probably the 3rd largest color I have with black and white tying for first place. I do have other colors sorted in to them but I finally got to the end of the red bin. I felt quite accomplished.

My cats cry every time I'm in the Lego room and today that actually found their way in as the door to the room is a sliding door and can be easily pushed inward allowed for space. I started to freak out a bit but this time I just let them come inside. Surprisingly, they actually weren't all that interested in the bricks. They seemed to mostly just want to be there with me.

Trying to help me sort.

She started to attack a pile of ladders so I had to move them and give her something to distract her

A lot of excitement is coming this summer in the world of Lego. I am particularly excited about The Fairground Mixer. I totally want to do a theme park and this would be a great addition. The other one is the Lego Creator Bike Shop & Cafe. This one I am definitely buying 3 of so I can do the main build and the two alternate builds. I won't be able to get them all at once probably but eventually I will. So excited!

I did build a set a while back that I took pictures of but I didn't like the pictures and my little pictures area kind of got maimed by my cats, they tore down the cloudy paper. So, I'm working on that. Hopefully I'll have something of interest up soon. Other than that I have 3 other sets still to build that are newer to showcase, one I just bought a couple days ago because I had some extra money and there was a sale on Amazon.com.

I am starting to make big plans though for usage of space for my set up. I live in a small mobile home (a single-wide) and I know my back room is going to be too small to hold everything I want to do. My landlord had converted the outdoor porch into an enclosed garage area and I'm trying to figure out ways I can utilize that space and protect it against the elements because it's a lot of space and I'd hate to see it go to waste. I was also at work on Friday and thinking about how I wanted to use the expanse under my tables for part of the set up but it would be really dark  under there and then I got an idea. I could get plug in under cabinet lighting to install underneath the table and lo and behold, my job I work for Build.com has some plug in under cabinet lighting. So, I'm super stoked about getting everything going.

Anyway, I guess that's it. Happy Building!

Just wants to hang out

Sorting Strategies

I haven't updated in a while, I got kind of busy about mid February and I kind of hit a wall with my building. I have still have a massive amount of parts that seem particularly impossible to sort through to build my sets. Thankfully, after seeing The Lego Movie and from a post on The Brick Blogger posting about the movie in the comments section, I was put it in the right direction. In the movie toward the end in the Dad's basement, I saw all these wonderful storage bins with drawers commonly used for tools that I thought would be perfect. In fact the size as pace of the whole set up would be magical to have, but more realistically, I needed those shelves. I've seen other kinds of shelves and they are made of a hard plastic and are rather expensive. I voiced these thoughts on that linked entry and the admin said that the shelving was quite easy to find at any department store. So, I did a search at Walmart and found the Stack On 60 Drawer Cabinet. I got paid and was getting ready to order one when they were out of stock online. So I googled it and found the manufacterer's website listing and there actually was a review from a Lego collector, so I knew it was perfect. Then I found a listing at Kmart.com for it and saw that I could actually order it and pick it up that day and it was $6 cheaper than Walmart's price. Unfortunately, my store only had one and I have since then been unlucky at getting more from Kmart at their current even cheaper price because they cancelled my order when I tried due to lack of stock. But they can be found all over the internet at varying prices and in varying different drawer counts. So, the way has been made to get this sorting done! Part of me is almost betting that as soon as I get all this ready, I'll have to move, which actually wouldn't be too terrible if I got to move where I want to move, which is back to this great apartment complex that had very spacious two-bedroom units that would be perfect for my set and my room and provide ample living room space and space for my cats. But they are $250 per month than I'm paying for rent now so I'll have to wait a while before I can handle that. Hopefully I"ll qualify for a raise in August that could contribute to that situation becoming a reality.

To help with my sorting project, I'm also making stickers for the drawers so I know what's in them. I've been finding the part listings at Bricklink.com and getting the thumbnail image to print on sticker paper.

And then these stickers can be stuck to the front of the different drawers in the unit. I was going to complete all 60 drawers today but as hinted by the paw in this picture, my cats kind of got in the way. They were crying to come in or for me to come out of the Lego room. Also hinted in this picture is the next set I'm going to post on the blog which I would do with this entry but I think I like separating the sets, I wish I had done that in my previous entry but as you can tell I'm a noob at Lego and a noob at Lego blogging, so there will be some trial and error. Anyway, I hope I've helped someone with storage and sorting ideas and look forward to showing you one of my newer sets that I got for a really good deal recently.

Happy Building ^_^

Set 6380 Emergency Treatment Center - 1987

I finally got one of my classic Lego sets from my childhood put together and it was one of my favorites: Set 6380 Emergency Treatment Center from 1987. It's a great little set and provides ample medical support to your classic Lego set up and story.

Classic smiling minifigures included that provide a perfect array of support. Doctor, Father, Daughter, Ambulance Driver, and Nurse.

Patient in the back of the ambulance.

Hurry! Get him inside to the doctor!

Dealing with the insurance..hope this is covered!

Water while you wait?

Time to operate!!!!!

Visiting hours!

Happy Building!!!!!

Happy Birthday, it's the Lego Store!!!!!!

So, last entry I let you all know that I would be visiting my nearest Lego Store, which is almost 100 miles away last Saturday for my birthday. I do not have pictures of the store because it was a very open an crowded store and I feel awkward not being able to take discreet photos. I suppose I should get a Google Glass...NOT! Anyway, it was pretty cool. There were several of the more expensive sets on display, such as Set 71006: The Simpsons House,  Set 10243 Parisian Restaurant, and Set 10232: Palace Cinema. It was cool because I got a better idea of the size of each set, more so the Parisian Restaurant and the Palace Cinema because those are both sets I'd like to get and it was nice having a point of reference for their size. The Simpsons House is cool but I'm not in to The Simpsons enough to justify the price point, also because I wouldn't know how to incorporate it into my main set up. I do plan on collecting the minifigures, which are reported to be the next collectible series after The Movie Minifigures. I'm not a big fan of these two series in place of the main minifigure line and will be happy to return to the normal figures when the new Lego MMO comes out that uses the figures.

Other features of the store included a pretty decent pick a brick wall and a wonderful station to part together 3 minifigures for $9.99. It seemed a little expensive because I'm pretty sure I can part together figures with more options for less than that using pick a brick at Lego.com and Bricklink.com but I partook for the novelty and came up with 3 solid figures. So, now more details on the loot! I didn't have a lot of money to spend this trip but I came away with some good stuff.

The Loot!!!!!!

So, the first set is a first purchase from the Lego Cuusoo line. I really want to support this effort because I think it's awesome, so I plan on purchasing anything that I think I will even remotely enjoy, even if it's just for the minifigures, which is what attracted me to 21103 The Delorean Time Machine. I'm impressed with the packaging for this set. The box (which I should have taken more pictures of, is different than your regular lego box and felt way more collectible than a normal box (I don't save my boxes, I don't intend to ever sell my Legos so there is no real reason to junk up my house with boxes) so I will actually be saving it.

Back of the box shows you can choose to build one of the three different designs from each of the movies

High Quality Instruction booklet

Movie info with English and French text

The set was pretty easy to build and I went with the design from the first movie as it was the one I was more familiar with and because I liked the moving doors option. I had read some reviews that there were some issues about the doors or some of the pieces falling off easily but I found that if I handled it delicately things stayed in place. Some parts did fall off during the building process but they seem to be doing fine now.

I finally have a brick separator!!!!!

This set came with some great specially printed pieces. All the must-haves of the DeLorean. Thankfully no stickers, unlike the next set.

California OUTATIME License plate!

Flux Capacitor!!!!!!

And of cousrse the dashboard that let you know "when" you were and "when" you were going.

I love, love, love the minifgures. They are the first flesh colored minifgures I've ever had. The Star Wars sets that I won don't actually have the flush color yet, that's how old they are. Fun fact: according to the book Lego Minifigure Year by Year: A Visual History, minifigures were given the yellow skin color so that they could represent any race. Anyway, they really made the set for me, particularly because apparently this model was not built to accommodate them sitting inside the vehicle, which for someone that does not intend to use Legos just to "display" it's a little disappointing. I am considering doing a mod on it to allow for the minifigures to sit inside so it can go roaring through Legoland but that will be later in the future.

Next up is the custom minifigures that I parted together from their bin. The didn't have any wonderful accessories so I ended p with 2 red mugs and 1 pot but I was able to sift through and find some pretty cool pieces to part together.

The above figure is actually my favorite of the three. He almost ended up with brown pants and a different hairstyle but the cool jeans I randomly found off in a corner and the hair I reached in and happened to pluck out of the probably thousand head pieces that were there. I kind of have him pegged as a gamer and maybe do a local video game shop or arcade build for him. I think he's pretty cute too. Maybe he'll have to be my date on Valentines Day. XD

The above would probably be my least favorite of the two. Her pants are actually a navy blue though they look black in the picture. I see her as a teacher, particularly a French teacher in a possible school or high school build.

I see mob boss or casino owner for this guy. I love his torso and would love to use it in another planned secret build, so hopefully I can find it at Bricklink.com.

The last item today is Set 60057 Camper Van. I wanted this so badly when I saw it in the December catalog and it was a must have for me. It reminded me of Set 6351 - Surf N' Sail Camper, which I actually have from my childhood. I kind of see a "friendly" rivalry between the two men of each set. One with a clearly bigger "rig" than the other. Trying to outshine each other and whatnot. =)

I'm probably a newbie to this concept but I was surprised when I opened the box and found that there were two instruction booklets. One for the interior of the camper and one for the exterior. I think it helps to do this because it keeps the correct parts organized and you're not hunting as much for things.

Unfortunately, this set comes with my Lego kryptonite, stickers!!! I am terrible at apply stickers without them being crooked and off-center. Usually takes me a few tries and even then they aren't "perfect." I wish more pieces were pre-printed but I imagine it costs more money to do that. My sticker application was decent this time around, so it wasn't that bad. I have gotten a bit better over the years.

Big canoe piece, wondering if this is anything like the canoes in the Native American Western Sets

Interesting use of pieces. This window piece.........

Back to back with the same window piece.....

Creates awesome legs for a table. I'd love to use this with a 4 x 4 studded plate piece

Base is finished!!!!

Love this HDTV sticker! I'd love to make some of these myself if I can improve my drawing skills.

I love these! They are circular flat topped pieces. I would love to get them in different colors to use as poker chips for a casino build. Perhaps make a sticker to put on them for monetary value.

Hinged side an removable roof for easy cabin access.

Plenty of rooftop storage for the gear!

A change in life jacket design. Although the new one (left) looks more realistic, I'd feel safer in the older one (righ^_^t).

The happy couple is ready to go on their camping trip. Now I just need to build them a mountain and a lake.

All in all I'd say I got a pretty good haul from The Lego Store. It was fun seeing what it was like and taking part of the different novelties. I could see myself making a trip down there for some of the sets that have been sold out and retired online that people that are just in it for collection and selling charge outrageous prices for, but it being about 100 miles away, I think I will still do most of my ordering online.

Happy Building! ^_^