Alright who let MegaBlock in here!!

So many awesome part and jet such a disapointing set.

It isn't all bad...

I mean, there are white and black parts in it.

I don't actually hate this set for a Town Jr set, it's pretty good. The buildings are ok. The vehicles are trash. Colour scheme is octan, so can't go wrong there, Though I realize the Octan colour scheme is heavily reliant on the green Baseplates. That's sus.

@iwybs:
So build your own. I do. In 6-wide, I’ve managed to represent driveshafts, functional rumble seats, adjustable headrests, side-by-side seating (bucket seats, front and rear bench seats), at least three styles of tailpipes, non-repeating license plates, and none of my cars have octagonal fenders.

@TheOtherMike:
That’s the anchor, weighing it down.

It’s funny, I was thrilled to add this to my Lego town at the time when I got this for Christmas, but of course looking back now it’s the usual Town Jr fare.

Saying that, it’s nice to have the store building, and the pump is decent enough.

@PurpleDave said:
" @iwybs:
So build your own."

Noted!

Wow.. cringeworthy

I still think this was a marketing error. Lego shouldn't have mixed regular desings with these simplified designs. There are lots of great "regular" themes produced in late 90's like Divers, Res-Q, Racers and some independent town sets. Not to mention the Western and Adventurers sets. For me space sets were hit harder. Despite UFO and Insectoids are loved by some, I've never liked them. And 1999 with the arrival of Star Wars all is gone.

Nearly $0.20 a part. Horrible.

@GSR_MataNui said:
"Man Octan's such a great company, don't you love how they make all history books? "

First, I can’t believe I’m the first person to mention this comment.

Second, Duh! I mean they’re the best company in the whole entire world! And their president? He’s such a great guy! I always want to hear more of what he has to……………………………….[snoring]

@PurpleDave said:
" @iwybs:
So build your own. I do. In 6-wide, I’ve managed to represent driveshafts, functional rumble seats, adjustable headrests, side-by-side seating (bucket seats, front and rear bench seats), at least three styles of tailpipes, non-repeating license plates, and none of my cars have octagonal fenders.

@TheOtherMike:
That’s the anchor, weighing it down."

It’s pretty difficult to build your own if you grew up in a time when these were the models for cars, no seats, no doors etc

I wonder, is the oil used for plastic bricks from Octan? I mean in that case Lego is creating Lego

@Lego_lord: Star Wars didn't completely kill off in-house Space themes. Life on Mars, Alien invasion, and Galaxy squad all came out since it debuted. And not really a theme, but they've done multiple real-world space sets in City and Creator 3-in-1.

@Brickodillo said:
"I wonder, is the oil used for plastic bricks from Octan? I mean in that case Lego is creating Lego "
It’s technically possible to re-use ABS. So in theory, you could make LEGO from LEGO. In practice though, I suspect the cost is too high and it introduces uncertainties about quality; it’s cheaper and more consistent to use virgin ABS.

Surprisingly, it may be less environmentally damaging to use new ABS because the recycling process might itself be ecologically detrimental - I don’t know that for a fact, just conjecture.

In the juniorized era, if they weren't selling the gas they'd be huffing it

The only good thing I can say about it is that it makes one appreciate modern sets more, both in style and in price.

@PurpleDave said:
" @iwybs:
So build your own. I do. In 6-wide, I’ve managed to represent driveshafts, functional rumble seats, adjustable headrests, side-by-side seating (bucket seats, front and rear bench seats), at least three styles of tailpipes, non-repeating license plates, and none of my cars have octagonal fenders."

Do you use a photo sharing site like Flickr? I would love to see the Shellraiser and some of your other MOCs.

@Kynareth:
Have you been banned from Bricklink, Brickowl, LEGO.com, Amazon, eBay, and every retail store in driving distance? I owned at least two sets before they came out with minifigs, and it didn’t stop me.

https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3468346

That’s the oldest MOC car in my collection, dating back to late 2006/early 2007. It has side-by-side bucket seats and a working rumble seat, SNOT grille, driveshaft, nice round fenders (with no awkward gaps), an angled tailpipe, a unique license plate, headlights, taillights, driver’s side mirror, pedals, a shifter, and one of those little hatches for the gas cap. And it’s embarrassingly simple compared to what I can build today.

https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=5076065

Best Earthcraft, Brickworld 2011. Driveshaft, SNOT grille, headlights, taillights, straight tailpipe, side-by-side seating, pedals, shifter, sideview mirrors on both sides, inverted angle on the bottom edge behind the rear wheels, nice round fenders (still without any awkward gaps, but using more complex techniques), Buzz with the pizzas up front, Woody in back with the toolbox. And still simple compared to what I build now.

https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=74057

The thing is, when I started building cars, I had to share the streets with this guy at several shows, so it pushed me to develop. We have another member who joined at least ten years ago, after retiring, and between my cars and the 6-wide Speed Champions (and the fact that I can’t cover every show), he started building his own fleet of cars 2-3 years ago. While minifig seating is always a priority for me, he focuses more on accurate body styling (many of mine aren’t even based on real vehicles), and there’s a few in his collection that I could probably learn from.

Point is, if you go in determined to fail, in that alone will you succeed. Try something new, don’t expect to knock it out of the park on your first attempt, keep looking for ways to improve over previous designs, and spend some time looking up pics of other peoples’ MOCs to see what they’ve done if you’re having trouble getting started.

@Zander:
There may be safety issues with using post-consumer recycled ABS, but injection molding actually works better with a certain percentage range of regrind mixed in, because ABS never actually turns to liquid. It gets the consistency of scalding hot chewing gum, so regrinding the plastic shortens the polymer chains, and that makes the gummy plastic flow through the mold more easily. I used to do short-run, thick-gauge vacuforming, and our optimal target was lower (I think it was around 10%, but it’s been almost 20 years since I didn’t really need to know that fact, but learned it anyways), but you had less risk of webbing on a male mold if you had some regrind mixed in. However, we did offer FDA White, for use on food-processing machinery, and by law that had to be 100% virgin, with minimal texture (so it wouldn’t trap dirt). Since we always produced scrap, we just started recycling the leftover white ABS into black ABS.

No wonder LEGO went almost broke in the early 2000s.

@ForestMenOfEndor:
I’ve got a Brickshelf account, but don’t have more than a handful of things posted there (my photographer has let a serious backlog build up). Most of my Bionicle stuff can still probably still be found at MaskofDestiny.com, but I’ve probably got enough stuff built to pack 8-10 banquet tables (I usually run with six when I do Brickworld expos), and the amount of stuff I have online wouldn’t even fill one.

I’ve mentioned before that some of our members post videos and slideshows on YouTube. If you search for MichLUG, there’s bound to be some that have the Shellraiser running. It’s the most reliable train in the club, able to run 12 hours straight, using a single 9v motor, on folding tables set up on a crowned road with a 5° grade, on a humid day, in 90° heat. It does occasionally roll off the tracks when cornering, and tends to knock things out of its way if it doesn’t have a full 14 studs clearance. Actually, at our last show, another member put a train on one of the sidings and left the caboose partly on the angled track next to the switch, and the Shellraiser clipped it, ripped a fence and ladder off it, and derailed the whole train.