Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Giving my wheel opinion

 Lego has made some improvements to their wheel choices over the years.  Recently I referenced sets 383 and 115 and the hubcaps are so much fancier and more realistic in the 383 set (I don't know much about earlier wheels)

Koop
Above wheels vs set 115 wheels below

Although the wheels above were not developed, they were better than the huge wheels in this set...


The wheel below was never practical except for a train creation i saw on the internet...it does look perfect for a locomotive wheel..not much else in my opinion!

Another initial piece when I was little...


My skills of building my own creation came from placing 4 of these together on a 2x8 plate...I tried to fashion the car after my favorite book at the time...Go Dog Go!




Then lego made another leap forward in wheel history, TREAD


Then the next revolution in wheels...flat plates!
Then these came with more treads
Then the tread tires got bigger as below; I didn't know at the time that these bigger tread tire existed til ebay in 2004!
Then I thought the wheels below came and I never liked them, I thought they looked dumb (and still think so!)



Finally, this wheel came back for the mobile rocket transport...it had been in one of the older universal sets!




From that point on, 1984ish I lost track of all the different types of wheels!!!
All this writing has tired me out.

The lego garage! The perfect end to finding the toy garage every kid wants!

 I have to chuckle about the lego garage sets, both an older version and the one from a few years ago.  

I don't know what is fascinating to kids about toy parking garages, except that it gives a place to park all those toy cars.  Here's how I think the lego garage came to be (via some non lego toys).

First garage toy I had!  Teaches you to not drive off the second floor! 
Also not good for teaching staying in your lane on the ramp when one car covered both lanes!


This playschool garage was only available to me at the nursery at church, I was there every Sunday!!!!  The only good thing about being separated from parents while in the nursery (fighting with other children for this toy).


As I got older, this garage you could design the way you wanted it, you could move the ramps etc...and matchbox cars fit in it!  It was sponsored by BP fuel

The height of this garage made it so desired by kids and the elevator was battery operated..it didn't get any cooler than that!  The ability to park 10 cars was mind blowing 

Now came the cumulative sum of all the features of the above childhood into the earlier lego parking garage set

This set has all features of the above non lego garages...cars, rails, elevators to multiple levels, people, motorcycles...what more could a kid want???  All the pieces could be made into any configuration as seen by the alternate builds on the back of the box.  This set also highlights Shell corporations sponsorship.

Then, a few years ago lego made a second version.  


Interestingly, there is reference to Octan fuel company (a fictitious company) vs.  A real company (Shell) The cars are rounded out and the elevator goes all the way to the top.  I don't know which of the lego parking garages is bettter??, but the concept of toy parking garages has sure come a long way!!!




The formula for success

I posted in the past my favorite 80s video game ...POLE POSITION!!...

I have loved the look of indy cars,  I think lego has made some of the best formula 1 cars...I put my favorite lego cars below:












As if these pictures aren't neat enough, this person on brick Brothers made the best overhead starting gate idea

 From Steven Asbury on Flickr and the brothers brick

The thrill of lego combined with race cars, that's 1 Formula for success!

Monday, August 30, 2021

This 1982 lego creation was all "mine"

 This was my first moc i did on my own...it was for a 6th grade project on coal ...I used an aquarium with a shoebox, Styrofoam peanuts, and Legos.  (The red clips on the one machine..whatever it was supposed to be, were from the 383 set.)  I had plans to make better coal mining equipment, but I put off the deadline too long!

The red clips in set 383 above

My equipment looked like alligator jaws.  I have to admit my moc wasn't the best quality!!!  But i was the founder of lego and STEM!  But Mindstorms and robots by lego did surpass me.

The sets that got away

 So many times there were sets that I had or wanted but realized financially I couldn't or shouldn't buy!  The top sets I can think of are below; believe me I am thrilled with what I have, but these sets were just so neat.  Pure greed on my part!!!

1) town hall

The town hall was just too
Expensive but it was sure neat!  Beautiful architecture 

2) The black creator car


I wanted this car but it was $70.  I went to a garage sale but took a wrong turn.  After getting my bearings, I parked and went up the long driveway and a kid was walking away with this for $5.  I truly daydreamed i knocked the box away from him(just kidding!!), ran and got into my car but I thought better of it. That kid had better have enjoyed it!  If I hadn't missed that one darn curve!

3) the lego apocalypseburg from the lego set...I love the outstretched green arm with the ladder...honestly even if I could have afforded it, the complexity would have been over my head


4) multiples of the star wars midi scale set on sale for $12

Every year at the end of the holidays, walmart tortures me by putting left over legos on clearance in the garden center for sale.  The smell of miracle grow fertilizer nearly overwhelms me due to no ventilation and the temperature is about 30 degrees, but I power on to find those legos between thousands of Christmas bulbs..  I didn't have the gull to buy these on 12-30-2008 (date?) at Walmart because I had just come off a great Christmas with legos, couldn't justify more at that time.  In retrospect there weren't many complex and diverse pieces.  I was so determined to get a deal the next year all I could find was 10x$1 for the set below so I have 10 pigs i have no idea what to do with

4) space cruiser

I didn't know that sets 918, 924  existed until I was older,  I knew there was the galaxy explorer but not the 2 smaller versions.  I would have been too young to buy!

5) lego chasses, both versions --too young!!!  Still would take 8860 in a minute!!


6) multiples of original lego millenium falcon. $75 clearance Walmart...no one wanted them.  I took 3/5 left

7) lego motor

As a kid in the 70s, I was going to build the ultimate car or train, but had to have the motor first!!  Loved seeing this in the catalog back then, not even remote control operation but that wire control was so technologically advanced as a kid

8) lego technic tipper and Volvo truck

Again even if I could purchase these. They would be too complex for me to build.  Loved the color schemes of these sets, especially the gray curved on the tipper truck!


9) at st

Only wanted for the gray pieces. But they were mostly plates...but I could have had 3 for 1/2 price.. I think $40


10) the detective office 

Who wouldn't love this set with a story line and hidden features.  And the cool little cookies.  The creation of a flush toilet, a pool table, a 2x1 letter tile and the first lego scissors...I blew it on this one, I could have bought this for $100 but the window decals were put on crooked...I was stupid!


11) the blue car...$12 * 8 sets available...I wanted them for the clear windshield but the other pieces weren't quite worth the cost.  Fortunately lego did make transparent yellow windshields for the lego movie 2.


12) lego Ferrari
I just didn't realize how neat this set was at the time until it was retired 
Don't know what i was thinking, although it never went on sale

All of these sets were awesome but so pricey...plus even if I had these i would still want more...I need to be thankful for the great sets I have been able to have!!! Pure greed on my part as I have been so blessed with what I have.

Sentimental set just from the pictures

Sentimental lego set...the bookshop..  

I didn't want to spend $178 on this set, but the bookshop set I've seen brings back college memories (from years ago!)

This is a picture of the set that I like from lego.com

Sentimental bookshop, expert, creator
I'm a nerd, but I liked to study in college and there was a library with 4 floors and a window on the 4th floor like this building .  The 4th floor was only study carels but it had comfy chairs below the window so you couldn't see out, but there was good light from the window...

Library like bookstore





Above pic from Mapio website 

I don't know what it was about that building but I could take any hard subject and learn it there because it was so quiet and peaceful...
Fast forwarding to grad school,  there wasn't a building I could find that was quiet enough to study in, so when stuff got too hard to learn, I'd escape after classes to Borders bookshop in the city that was blocks away.  It was 3 stories and I'd just look at books that were more relaxing than textbooks..  it had trees in front..the only pic left on internet that I could find was here...



So, this set is one I'm hoping to find used..it takes me back to memories of youth and the sense of being able to learn anything in those books.  So different from now where everything is digital and having to stare at a computer to learn!!  Long live bookshops! (And libraries!)

Lego creator expert,  sentimental bookshop