Marina Fortification

It's time to start switching gears now, close the book on what's happening at the Marina, and look at the Marines' operations, patrolling the waters to protect the people of the Lego city from a naval or amphibious attack.

 Front and rear views of the Marina Fortification

Who am I kidding?  No one is going to try to invade the city.  I just needed a place to park some pirate boats and a Viking boat, put some cannons along the wall, and some military men to work.

 Patrol boats currently docked at the Marina Fortification

Of course, a couple of rowboats aren't hold up against anything with a motor and engine.  But they would be low key enough to go invade someone else.  Like a Navy SEAL-style operation.  Who'd expect such a low-tech fleet to come around.

 Cannons loaded and ready to go!!

Having these guys trying to go into combat with stuff like this is just as ridiculous.  Oh well, it's still a sight to see the military working all colonial-style, instead of modern warfare.  And with everything going on in the world, do we really need more war?  I know I don't.

Extra sea vessels that are not patrol-worthy

Lego Haul - 10/20/17

Mid-October brought along a perfect storm of Lego.  The release of 10259 Winter Village Station, double VIP points on all purchases, free sets for VIP members and meeting a minimum dollar amount, no class for three weeks.  I ABSOLUTELY had to take advantage it.  So I did.

The Lego haul from 10/20/17

I'm going to go from largest to smallest here, so let's start with 10259 Winter Village Station.

I really wanted this set because it fits in with all the other Winter Village sets I have, plus it gives whatever train set I purchase in the future a destination.  Sure, there's the one in the in the city, but there's no point in having just ONE train station.  And it's much safer (and economically feasible) to take a train into the mountains than fly in.  Seriously, I don't want to design and build a SECOND airport.

 Contents of 10259 Winter Village Station

Contents of bags 1 fully assembled

The Winter Village Station gave me a few ideas for additional city development.  Now that I have a Lego designed railroad crossing, I have a format to follow to put my own in.  The train WILL have to cross a road at same point.  It's no longer a concern now, and that's awesome.

10259 Winter Village Station fully assembled

So now I've got the Winter Cottage, the Winter Carnival, the Winter Village Store, and Santa's Workshop, plus whatever else winter related in my collection...  I may be done with getting things for the Winter Village region...  Nah, I'm sure Lego will come out with something else I'll have to get.

Grandmother and grandson heading into the terminal to check go onto the train

Next up, we have the 21024 Louvre.  This is pretty much for decoration around the house, as my wife loves Paris and the rest of France.  I'll have to order a 21036 Arc de Triomphe to finish off the trinity of Parisian landmarks from the Lego Architecture product line.  Then I'll have to find a place to put them all, since space is limited.  I can't have ALL my Lego sets and things out for display.

21024 Louvre contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

As a Lego VIP member, I was able to get the 40178 LEGO Iconic VIP set with my $125 purchase.  Totally worth it, since I got $10 of store credit for future use.  Not sure what I'll go with this.  I'd put in my Lego mall if I had one, but that'd be too much work to design and build.  I could rob some of the items from here and put them into the Toy Store that will go in the town plaza.

40178 LEGO Iconic VIP set contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

Lastly, I got a 30609 LEGO Ninjago Lloyd minifigure free with my purchase as well.  Lego's got all sorts of sets out now to coincide with the Ninjago movie.  I don't plan on getting any of those, except for the minifigures.  Lloyd here will probably remain a civilian, since he's not in combat gear, but he could be a Marine with that sword and his skillset.  I'm sure he'd be a great patrolman, and a few of his Ninjago friends are already serving in the military.  I'm fine with whatever he decides to go with his life.

30609 LEGO Ninjago Lloyd minifigure fully assembled

Lego Haul - 10/19/17

I was in Moline, IL for an all-day meeting at work last week, and since it got out early, I took advantage of the free time to hunt for Lego's in the Quad Cities area.

There aren't as many people down there as the Twin Cities, but the nice thing is that they have two Toys R Us stores.  Sure, the MSP has some too, but they're halfway across the metro area.  I don't want to drive that far and contest with traffic.

The Lego Haul from 10/19/17

I also checked out the two Target's down there too, but I didn't find anything I liked at a price I wanted at any of the stores.  I did find a couple of exclusive Star Wars items from The Force Awakens, a 30497 First Order Heavy Assault Walker and a 30278 Poe's X-Wing Fighter, so I came home with them.

30497 First Order Heavy Assault Walker contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

30278 Poe's X-Wing Fighter contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

Both of these vehicles will join all the other small Star Wars ships at the Research Lab.  I've got way too many of these things, but I just keep buying them.  Four or five bucks every here or there for a model is nothing.

I suppose I could break everything down and just use all the pieces from everything for other purposes.  That seems like a lot of work though.  And I'm sure I'd have more pieces unused than used.

Who would win in a battle?

I don't know...  I'll don't think I'll ever figure it out.  Oh well, it's not the Lego destination, it's the Lego journey.

Lighthouse

With an extensive shoreline like the one in my Lego city, you need something to help people safely navigate the seas at night.  A lighthouse is the perfect solution to help prevent ships from running aground.

The Lego City Lighthouse

Fortunately, I didn't have to design this myself.  Lego took care of it for me with 31051 Lighthouse Point.  It has all the basics you need.  A small shack for the lightkeeper to stay in, a tower to put the light in, an actual light.

Stuff going on outside the lighthouse 

This set came with a couple extra things, like a young girl, some fish, seagulls, a dude with a camera, and an orca.  The dude will be the lightkeeper, and the girl his daughter.  She wants to be a marine biologist when she grows up.  Because why not?

Lighthouse Point with a sand baseplate

I will need to modify this set to rest on a sand baseplate.  I'll swap out some of the non-rectangle blue plates with those that are more squarish.  I'll also add bricks on the backside to close off the shack.  Swap out the camera with binoculars.  Add a shark.

The Lighthouse will sit next to the Marina Launch Ramp to help the ferry and other boats enter and exit the water when the sun is down and the moonlight just isn't strong enough to help an operator see the ramp.

Sets used: 31051

Don't call it a comeback...

Well, I suppose it is a comeback...

At the end of February, I had to hang up my Lego spurs and put this blog on indefinite hiatus while I took care of me.  Life caught up and overwhelmed me.  It was draining.  I had no energy, no desire, no time.

There was too much to do.  My wife wanted to move to a place closer to her place of work, since I can work remotely.  The new place is smaller, so we had to get a larger storage space, closer to the new residence.  Everything had to be packed up, including the Lego's.  I must have went through 20 boxes, and most of them are still awaiting unpacking.

When we weren't planning to move or actually doing so, I had school.  As I've progressed through the University of Minnesota Carlson program, the coursework has gotten tougher.  I've had to put more and more hours in to pass the class and keep my grades up (I want to finish with a GPA around 3.2).

I've also been busy with work.  I'm expected to take more of a project management role in my current position, so I'm constantly working on software rollouts.  I've been putting in extra time to ensure things go smoothly.  And I can't afford Lego fun time if I can't pay the bills with my mad programming skills, defragging my hard drive for thrills (Weird Al Yankovic - "All About the Pentiums").

Whatever free time I've had has been partially spent playing Pokemon Go.  A distraction?  Yeah, but I need to get out of house so I don't go mad.

Speaking of getting out of the house, my wife and I did some travelling this summer, post-move.  Disneyland, Kansas City (to see the solar eclipse), Duluth (her parents were in town a week)...  Can't sit around and write Lego blog posts when you're away from your source material.

So, after all that, am I back?  I hope so.  I don't have class again until late October, so I'll have some nights off to go through some boxes, find elements of my Lego town, and blog about their design, their construction, their purpose.  I never finished the Marina district.  I've got two more posts to write there before the next overarching theme.

I just have to dig everything out and reassemble the buildings.  Shouldn't be too hard.  The big question will be, can I?  Or is there another major obstacle in my path?  We'll see.

Just don't hold your breath quite yet...