Lego Haul - 12/4/17

I finally broke down and spend some of my Lego store credit on various bricks to continue construction on several of my buildings.  I ended up using $20 to get these pieces, and I'll tell you how they are going to be used now.

 

The Lego haul from 12/4/17

• The blue 2x6 and 2x8 plates will build up the last layers of my hospital's walls.
• The green 1x4 and 1x6 plates will fill in the gaps in the plates surrounding my Trevi Fountaion, which will be the centerpiece of my Plaza.
• Most of the white plates and both of the 2x4 pink bricks are for display fixtures in the Bakery
• All of the brick yellow plates are for the roof to the Pony Farm office
• The two 1x4, two 2x10, and the 1x1x1 corner bricks are finishing the Police Station walls
• The 6x8 dark grey stone plates build up the walkway for the top level of the Watch Tower.  So are the 8 1x1x1 black corner plates, as they will be used to secure the staircases between levels.
• The 1x3 and 1x6 bricks are for the display shower in the Plumber Shop.
• The brown 2x4 brick is for the Cargo Terminal.

I think that covers everything.  I should upload a second picture of this image with labels on everything.  Then change my bulleted list to a numbered one.  I think I will...  When I get a chance to do so.

Lego Haul - 3/11/17

It's Double VIP points time at the Lego store again.  Of course I had to go buy some sets.  Who wouldn't?

The Lego Haul from 3/11/17

 
There's a lot on my want list these days.  I've paid off my wife's engagement ring, and I'm getting a small raise at work, so I've got a bit more disposable income these days.  I debated about what to get, constantly flip flopping between a few different items to purchase.  Fortunately, my wife had a wonderful suggestion.  "Get sets that you don't expect someone else to buy for you".

Or something like that.  It really helped.  For example, I don't expect to ever get Lego Classic sets for any occasion.  They're just totes with loose bricks.  I NEED bricks.  Not necessarily the ones that come in these sets.  But they do have their uses.

Contents of 10698 Lego Large Creative Brick Box

 
The bricks of interest from my 10698 Lego Large Creative Brick Box include some bright purple roof tiles and cool yellow bricks to add onto the 10686 Family House I got for Christmas a few years ago.  The flame yellowish orange bricks will be used as hay at the Pony Farm.  Yeah, hay isn't orange, but so what?  They're my bricks, I can do what I want with them.  The yellow roof tiles will be used for the Pyramid nightclub.  The other yellow pieces I have in the picture below could be used for my School Bus idea.

I also built the camera from the instructions included with this set.  Well, not included.  They are online.  If you wanna check it out, just visit the Lego website.  They are at https://www.lego.com/en-us/classic/activities/booklets/10698-camera-d2d6ba9de3924aefbaa6b5f648a69d9f.

The best bricks from 10698 Lego Large Creative Brick Box

I also thought about the release dates of sets on my wanted list.  I should get the oldest sets first.  So I picked up 76060 Doctor Strange's Sanctum Santorum.

 76060 Doctor Strange's Sanctum Santorum contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

That's one more Marvel superhero marked off the list.  Lego now has a 76078 Hulk vs. Red Hulk, so that'll help me mark another one off.  And Guardians of the Galaxy sets are out now as well, ahead of the Volume 2 movie release in May.  Just need a Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, War Machine, and Vision.  Oh, and Agent "Phil" Coulson.

Lego was also giving away free 30351 Police Helicopter sets.  I wish they'd choose something besides police helicopters.  I have plenty already.

30351 Police Helicopter contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

I need to take all the police helicopters I have an build a bigger one.  One to rival the size of the 60010 Fire Helicopter...  Hmmm...

Lego Haul - 1/16/17

I get Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off from work, so I quickly ran down to the local Lego store to stock up on some bricks to continue construction on my Cargo Terminal and Pony Farm.



The Lego haul from 1/16/17

I filled a small cup with brown and yellow 2x4 bricks to build the walls for the Cargo Terminal.  With what I had already, I nearly completed them.  I was one brown brick short, but at least I've got the outside finished.  I just need a few pieces to complete the construction on the inside.

The contents of my small cup of Lego's

I also needed the Extra Large Grey Baseplate for the flooring in the Cargo Terminal.  I kinda wish they made a larger one.  With my current airport design, there's barely any room to bring the cargo plane up to this building to load and unload goods between flights.  A 15" square baseplate won't cut it.  Of course, my only option is to redesign the airfield to fit everything.  To be determined...

Current construction progress of the Cargo Terminal

I also got a sand baseplate to hold the office for the Pony Farm.  Now I can expand the building to a reasonable size, so the woman running it so she can host clients who may want to ride a horse, or maybe even stable one here.

The office at the Pony Farm

With two buildings nearly complete, it'll be that time again...  To design more buildings!!!

I know, it never ends...

Lego Haul - 1/12/17

My wife and I went down to Walt Disney World again this week.  As we did last time, we had to head over to Disney Springs and shop at the Lego store there.  I had more than $150 in gift cards that I got from my family for Christmas.  They had to go.

The Lego Haul from Disney Springs

I think I spent about $70 getting a small cup of Lego's, 11 The Lego Batman Movie minifigures, and a 40236 Romantic Valentine Picnic, and a free 30524 Mini Batwing for spending $35.  I had to wait until we came home to assemble everything, but I had no issue waiting. for that.

I first put together my 40236 Romantic Valentine Picnic.  I'm torn between two uses for it.  I can add it to my Valentine's Holiday Decorations, but with the nice picnic layout, they'd be great to sit in my Park.  That's still under design, but the more elements I get, the easier it's going to be lay everything out.  If you have too few sets or too much room for a layout, it can be tough to determine where to put everything.

 40236 Romantic Valentine Picnic contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

I filled up the small cup I brought to Florida with various bricks.  The brick yellow 1x4 and 2x4 bricks will go to the Pony Farm.  I've been working on some new building designs, but after I put both the office and the barn on a single 32x32 baseplate, I realized that I couldn't fit both onto it.  I'm considering either putting the office over the band, or getting a second base plate and putting them side by side.

The white wall elements will go into the shower display in my Plumber Shop, and the 4 2x4 brown bricks will go to my Cargo Terminal at the Airport.

Contents of my small cup of Lego's

The 30524 Mini Batwing will be yet another drone that the scientists and engineers in the Research Lab are working on.  I've got so many little aircraft from various sets.  It's ridiculous.

The 30524 Mini Batwing fully assembled

My wife and I stocked up on some Lego Batman Movie minifigures and wound up with 10 new ones.  I got Barbara Gordon, Clan of the Cave Batman, King Tut, Lobster-Lovin' Batman, Nurse Harley Quinn, Orca, The Calculator, The Eraser, The Joker - Arkham Asylum, and Vacation Batman.  As you can see in the image below, I wound up with 2 Lobster-Lovin' Batman.  I thought one of them was Fairy Batman.  The lobster felt like wings.

71017 The Lego Batman Minifigures

I still have 6 more to find.  Maybe next weekend I'll try to find them somewhere.  We haven't seen any in our nearby Target.  The local Lego store does have them, but we're still trying to figure out a time when the Mall of America would be slow enough where we wouldn't have to deal with crowds.  Guess I could do what I did when I first moved down here.  Take time off from work in the middle of the week to head down there.  That always worked well for me.  I highly recommend it, if you can afford to do so...

Lego Haul - 11/27/16

My wife and I just came back from California, so we needed to run to Target to pick up some household supplies.  Every time we go to Target, we have to stroll by the Lego aisle to see what they've got on the shelf.  This time, they had some 30474 Reindeer sets on the end cap.  We though it'd be a great addition to the Santa Claus and Elves' Workshop sets I got earlier this month.

30474 Reindeer purchased at Target

30474 Reindeer contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

After I got the Reindeer assembled, I went downstairs to check the mail.  I found my online Pick-A-Brick order inside the box, so I ran upstairs and double-checked the order to ensure everything was here.  I got all my bricks.

Contents of my online Pick-A-Brick order from Lego's website

I only paid a few bucks for shipping, as I used VIP store credit for the bricks themselves.  These pieces are for completing or progressing with several buildings, as detailed below.

• Grandstand:  Two medium stone grey plate 2x2 angle pieces will hold speakers for pumping out the jams being performed on stage.
• Grocery Store: Three yellow green 1x1 bricks with the orange juice decals will go into the dairy case in the store.  Orange juice should always be refrigerated.
• Marina Office: The dark stone grey 16x16 plate finished off the floor for this building, so it is now complete.
• Winter Village: I don't remember what I was going to do with the white 1x2 plate with a single knob.  The note I had on my list didn't specify WHAT building in the Winter Village this was meant for.  I'll figure it out.
• Hospital: I got a blue 1x6 flat tile and a clear 1x6x5 wall element for the window between the observation and operating rooms.  The two blue 2x4 plates will help me finish up the walls on top.
• Pony Farm: All of the brick yellow pieces pictured above are for building the office at the Pony Farm.  Like the horse barn mentioned in my previous post, I need to make this building a bit larger to fit everyone and everything comfortably.
• Pyramid nightclub: The yellow 1x3 plate allowed me to finish up the inside wall at the Pyramid nightclub, in the area around the DJ booth.
• Watch Tower: Not sure why I ordered six dark stone grey 4x8 plates, as I only needed four to complete the third floor inside the Watch Tower.  It will remain a mystery.

I also got a dark stone grey 1x4 brick for some purpose that I did not document.  I'll also have to track down the cause of this acquisition.  Plenty of bricks to keep me busy until Christmas here.  Should be lots of fun.

Lego Haul - 11/21/16

I'm currently in California for Thanksgiving to visit my in-laws, and to kill some time, my wife and I went to the Lego store at Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento.  It's smaller than the Mall of America store, but why not, it may have the bricks I'm looking for.  And it did.

The Lego Haul from 11/21/16

Unlike the MOA Lego store, this one had the brick yellow 2x4 bricks I need to wrap up construction on the Pony Farm.  I needed 78 of them to assemble the building for housing the horses, and that's how many fit inside a small cup.  It's a match made in heaven.
 

The horse barn at the Pony Farm.

I threw in some other pieces to fill out the cup for some future projects.  What those are, I do not know yet.  It's always nice to have a variety of bricks on hand for anything that might come to mind.  For now, I'll stay focused on the Pony Farm.  After assembling the barn for housing the horses, I'll need a few more bricks to ensure they have enough room in there.

Pony Farm

I'm supposed to have a Pony Farm here, but I got nothing.  I had an idea for a design, but then gave up on it because the building housing the horses was too small and cramped to hold two horses comfortably.  I needed to tear it down and replace it with something a bit larger.

Current state of the Pony Farm: under major renovation

What I've currently have in the picture above is a reconfiguration of the Pony Farm layout, but since I don't have all the pieces to put the buildings together, I think I'll abandon this idea as well.  What I should do is expand the Pony Farm to two baseplates, one for the buildings to stand on, and one for the field to go riding on.

This new layout would allow me to place larger RECTANGULAR buildings on one plate. Yes, I don't have the bricks for it now, but it will give me an idea of what I will need, so I can make a run at the Pick-A-Brick wall.  The second place can be a wide open field, with the yellowish green plates, and obstacles for the horses to jump over them.

Pieces waiting to be utilized at the Pony Farm

I'll probably come back to this building a few times as I build it anew.  In fact, I think I'll get started on it right now...

Sets used: 10764

Lego Haul - 2/7/15

Last month, I finally broke down and decided to use my Lego VIP points to order some bricks.  I had 900 points, which is worth $45 worth of store credit.  I spent $35 on the online Pick A Brick to get pieces I needed to complete various buildings in my city.

Online Pick A Brick elements I purchased

Online Pick A Brick is not cheap.  Larger bricks, like 2x6 and 2x8, can cost 50 cents a piece, while large plates, measuring 6x16 and 8x8 can cost a buck or two.

As you can see, I got a lot of gray and brown bricks.  They never show up on the wall in the MOA Lego Store.  The wall there goes through so many brighter colored bricks that there just isn't any room for the things I want.  If I had been lucky enough to find all these bricks on the wall, I could have fit them all in a Large cup with plenty of room for more bricks.

The bricks I ordered helped me put 13 buildings together: Auto Repair Shop, City Services, Grandstand, the Police Dock at the marina, Research Lab, Restaurant, TV Studio, Barracks, Delivery Services, Greenhouse, Stables, Watch Tower, and Pony Farm.

30312 Demolition Driller bag and assembled contents

I spent $35 on the online Pick A Brick so I could get a 30312 Demolition Driller free with purchase.  It's a great addition to my Construction Site and City Services buildings.  It can drill holes in roads before they can be patched up, or on a construction site for setting up electrical wiring (I don't know, I never worked in construction).

I made the order on February 7th and got the Demolition Driller a week later, on the 14th.  The assortment of bricks didn't come until the 27th, since they were shipped from Poland.  The anticipation of the Pick A Brick portion of my order killed me, but I had so much fun putting all my bricks in place.  Especially the Watch Tower, since I completed a whole floor and started the next one below it.

The variety of the online Pick A Brick was lacking, so once I build up more VIP points, and when Lego expands their selection of pieces, I'll put the trigger on more bricks.  Stay tuned, sports fans.

Lego Haul - 1/19/15

On Martin Luther King Day, I went to the Lego store once again to try to get the rest of the Series 13 minifigures and a Double Decker Couch.

The haul for Monday, January 19th, 2015

Once again, I didn't have the best of luck.  I found 5 of the 6 minifigures I needed (Unicorn Girl, Evil Wizard, Classic King, Disco Diva, and Samurai), but there were no Double Decker Couch sets.  I did peruse the Pick A Brick wall and got a small cup of bricks.

Unicorn Girl, Evil Wizard, Classic King, Samurai, and Disco Diva

All of these minifigures will go to the costume party at the Grandstand, except Samurai.  She will be at the Marine Base.  I though about also making the Evil Wizard and Classic King marines, but their outfits are a bit too elaborate for service.  Additionally, I made my Series 12 Wizard a partygoer, so why not his nemesis?

The contents of my small cup of bricks

I don't bother much with the Pick A Brick wall at the Mall of America Lego Store.  There just isn't enough variety.  The bottom two rows are dedicated to 2x4 bricks, and I don't need any more of those.  There aren't enough gray and brown pieces to make it worth my time.

However, there is a new blue color, so I can buy them for my Plumber's shop.  I grabbed tan bricks for my Pony Farm.  They really helped me with putting together a physical model to start tinkering with.  I also got a small handful of angular black 1x1 bricks, which will be great for building traffic lights.  Finally, I added some light green 2x4 plates and red 1x3 sloped bricks.  Can't complain about that.

I still need a Hot Dog Man minifigure.  And a Double Decker Couch.  Maybe a large cup of those blue bricks pictured above.  I'll probably make my new run on the 31st.  I've still got about $120 in Lego gift certificates to burn, so this isn't over yet.  The way I see it, we've only just begun.

Lego Haul - Christmas 2014

I tend to ask for Lego sets for Christmas as an adult.  I don't need stuff, as I am pretty self-sufficient, but my parents, my in-laws, and other cherished loved ones like to give me gifts because it means something to them.  Thank you to all who have contributed to my collection.

Here is what I got this year: 8804 Hockey Player, 8827 Butcher, 10674 Pony Farm, 60055 Monster Truck. 60057 Camper Van, 70804 Ice Cream Machine, 70811 The Flying Flusher, and 75034 Death Star Troopers.  I got pretty good haul, if I do say so myself.

The 2014 Christmas Haul

Now, blog posts like this are not product reviews.  There are plenty of those floating around the internet.  It's also not an unboxing and assembly (though I am posting pictures of such things).  Plenty of those out there too.  And I'm certainly not here to brag about the cool new swag I got.  I'm certainly not trying to be materialistic.

No, this post will cover what I plan TO DO with these sets and how they'll fit into my grand scheme of a Lego community.  So let's go through this set by set:

• The Hockey Player will go to the Winter Village.  After I got 40107 The Winter Skating Scene, I'm working on an ice rink for that area of town.
• The Butcher will go to the Restaurant for now, but once I get the new Toy & Grocery Store, I'll put him over there.
• The Pony Farm will be a new setup in the Lake Shore area.  I plan to expand on the design in the instructions and go bigger, as to fill up a 32x32 green baseplate.
• The Monster Truck will also go out to the Lake Shore.  For now, it'll just be a personal vehicle (although with another monster truck or two, I could expand the Fairgrounds, which will also be out at the lake).
• The Camper Van will be at the Lake Shore as well.  I'll probably put that couple in the Log Cabin.
• The Ice Cream Machine will cruise town selling ice cream,  Kinda obvious, but I can add more frozen treat type items to its inventory.
• The Flying Flusher will be the Plumber's truck.  That building is in the design stage.  The doctor will go to the hospital, and the portable toilet will go to the grandstand for the concert goers to use.
• The robotic drones from the previous two items may end up in the Marine Training Area.  They'll give my fighting forces a couple extra things to maneuver around/with/against.
• The Death Star Troopers will battle in the Laser Tag Arena.  Their laser gun, however, may also go to the Marine Training Area, though I'm not sure how I'll fit it in yet.

You'll see everything come around again as I get my blog posts written up and published.  But for now, just take a look at what I got here.  Thanks.

8827 Butcher and 8804 Hockey Player

 10674 Pony Farm contents

10674 Pony Farm assembled contents from bags 1, 2, and 3

Extra bricks from Bags 4 and 5 in 10674 Pony Farm

 60055 Monster Truck contents and assembled product

60057 Camper Van contents and assembled product 

Inside the Camper Van and the minifigure couple in the canoe

70804 The Flying Flusher contents and assembled product

70811 Ice Cream Machine contents and assembled product

 75034 Death Star Troopers contents and assembled product