Legos, anyone?

[Dobber]

What is the quality of those COBI kits? I’ve been tempted by a few of their ships too. The Big E looks great in that pic!

Chris

[Sanity is Optional]

7 hours ago, Dobber said:

What is the quality of those COBI kits? I’ve been tempted by a few of their ships too. The Big E looks great in that pic!

Chris

Well, it was missing a single 1x4 short brick. Easy enough to grab a spare from somewhere else and paint gray to match.

As to the brick quality, you can tell it's not LEGO if you pay attention. There's occasionally some flash or nub marks where they came off the runner, some of the larger pieces like to go on more one direction than the other. They do have a lot of more custom pieces (lots of turrets), and lots of details printed on parts. They also use a lot of odd lengths (5, 7)

The kit build is very sturdy, I actually dropped the E while I was holding it upsidown to attach the stand, it didn't care much. Only the thin end of the flight desk lost a couple bits, easily repaired.

My friend is quite happy with his tanks (which prompted me to get the carrier), though he curses at the track assembly bits. No missing parts on his end.

On the whole? If you want a military LEGOish kit, COBI seems to be a good way to go.

Edited March 24, 2021 by Sanity is Optional

[Dobber]

Nice, good to know. Thanks

Chris

[renegadeleader1]

On 3/24/2021 at 12:17 PM, Sanity is Optional said:

My friend is quite happy with his tanks (which prompted me to get the carrier), though he curses at the track assembly bits. No missing parts on his end.

I can confirm this. I've built the M26 Pershing, M5 Stuart, M4 Sherman, and M3 Lee. No missing parts, but tracks can be a pain as unlike the megablox Call of Duty battletank sets that use rubber tracks these are all individual links you have to connect to assemble and can be a pain.

 

That being said once assembled they do make a nice clickety clatter sound like a real tank when you roll them, and I haven't had an issue where the tracks randomly snap and break just sitting on shelf like the CoD tank's rubber ones.

 

Edit: As far as brick quality goes you can definately tell they're not quite up to lego quality, but definately much better than megablox's brittle and prone to stress marking if not outright breaking quality.

Edited April 2, 2021 by renegadeleader1

[Sanity is Optional]

2 hours ago, renegadeleader1 said:

Edit: As far as brick quality goes you can definately tell they're not quite up to lego quality, but definately much better than megablox's brittle and prone to stress marking if not outright breaking quality.

Yeah, not up to LEGO's brick quality, but worlds above Megablox. On a 1-10 Megablox to Lego scale, I'd put them around a 7-8?

[renegadeleader1]

1 hour ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Yeah, not up to LEGO's brick quality, but worlds above Megablox. On a 1-10 Megablox to Lego scale, I'd put them around a 7-8?

Definately a high 8. The nub marks are bad, but the fit is tight and from a distance you likely couldn't tell it wasn't lego. You could do a hell of a lot worse.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

I got nothing against COBI.  I have several of their kits waiting for rainy days, but so far I have built one of their King Tiger panzers.  Like renegadeleader1 mentioned, the treads are bothersome to assemble, but they seem to hold up just fine.  The latest kit COBI kit I built was their Huey.  It uses curved pieces in dimensions that LEGO hasn't even made yet, so that was cool.  I built it with my boys cuz they wanted a Huey for their own after seeing me build mine. Overall, it could use some sprucing up since it's kinda chintzy in a few areas, like the main rotor and landing skids.  Y'know, I take it back, there is one thing about COBI I do not like in general and that is the sculpting of their minifigs.  I just do not find them charming at all, it's something about their head shape.

 

The next build for me:

This from Jonah Padberg's F-14 design, I'm just making some edits and tinkering around with it for now.  Once I'm done, I'll try to give it a corporeal form.

[Dobber]

Oh wow! Please share when you start!

This is my progress on the UCS Star Destroyer. Can for scale

[M'Kyuun]

Those big ships have a lot of presence. I don't have it, but I do have the original, and after watching the Designer video, it was a huge upgrade over the original. I just don't have room for these monstrosities. My v2 UCS Millennium Falcon is still sitting untouched in its box years after I bought it b/c I have no where to put it. Eventually, my wife and I'd like to move to a bigger place (b/c I have way too much much stuff for the current house), and then I'll be able to build and display it properly.

That said, I'm totally down for the new Shuttle Discovery set. That and the associated VIP set will be mine on the first.

[Chronocidal]

This looks really fun.  

Edit:  Okay, I was not aware of the giant sloped panels they used on top of the wings to cover the gear.  That is going to need some modding to fix, because that's just incredibly dumb looking.  Why on earth couldn't they just cover that with a couple of tiles?  I think I'd seriously just remove the gear before doing that.  It looks like you can literally just cover that stupid hole with plates, and all it would do is push down the tires slightly. 

Double edit:  After looking at some photos of the shuttle, I know why they did it that way.  Those plates do fairly well replicate the profile curve of the wing airfoil where it joins the fuselage, because it's a big thick delta monstrosity.  It really is that thick at the base.  What looks so wrong about it is that it should taper smoothly toward the tip, not sink a full brick's thickness in the space of three studs horizontally.

There might be a better way to taper it down, but they will probably all involve sacrificing the nice printed marking tiles on the upper surface.  We'll see.  Even with those in place, I think it would look better to taper gradually with several layers of plates, rather than one giant clunky sloped element.  They really seem to love using those as shortcuts, and the results are not always good (looking at you, UCS Slave I ).

Edited March 27, 2021 by Chronocidal

[Convectuoso]

This project is looking good so far:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CM3h9M8p8nx/?igshid=121efegmigls5

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

14 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

This project is looking good so far:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CM3h9M8p8nx/?igshid=121efegmigls5

Nice-if Arcadia or Bandai won't make a TV SDF-1, make your own!

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

On 3/25/2021 at 3:50 AM, Dobber said:

Oh wow! Please share when you start!

This is my progress on the UCS Star Destroyer. Can for scale

Will do, good luck on the Star Destroyer, it's quite a beast.

[Dobber]

On 3/22/2021 at 5:59 PM, technoblue said:

 

You're welcome! 

Speaking of VIP points. There is word that LEGO is running a VIP promotion (1800 points) for another satellite to go along with this Shuttle set. As usual, it'll be a limited run only. I haven't had any luck getting these promotional sets, but I figured I would share in case anyone else wants to try.

https://jaysbrickblog.com/news/lego-nasa-discovery-space-shuttle-and-hubble-telescope-official-details/

Been watching for that VIP probe set too and apparently it has been delayed with no ETA given. Update was posted on the site you linked. Bummer.

Chris

[technoblue]

3 hours ago, Dobber said:

Been watching for that VIP probe set too and apparently it has been delayed with no ETA given. Update was posted on the site you linked. Bummer.

Chris

It is a bummer. This is the second logistics SNAFU with a LEGO set since the new year. The first was the Creator Expert Porsche 911. The US missed out on the limited bonus add-ins for that set, even though other regions were able to get them. I hope this doesn't turn out to be the same type of shenanigans.

Edit: The site was getting hammered for a good half hour there. I think I was able to get my order in. At least, I see it listed in my recent history. I've yet to receive an email confirmation for it but sometimes that comes later when there's lots of traffic.

Edited April 1, 2021 by technoblue

[M'Kyuun]

Well, I managed to score a copy of the Shuttle Discovery set, and two freebies. The site is slow, and it took a number of refreshes to finally get it.

And, yeah, whatever tie-in set they have planned for VIP isn't showing up yet. I hope they do eventually get it, and that it's not another extremely limited set like the Batpod. LEGO's not dumb, although I think they like to play dumb when they say they underestimate the popularity of certain sets on launch day. Any sort of space homage is going to sell well especially larger scale sets like this that commemorate historical events, and certainly so for the Shuttle, which leaves behind an extraordinary legacy in man's journey to explore, study, and utilize space. All space tech is cool, but there's a beauty and romanticism about the Shuttle that resonates and captures the imagination beyond the appeal of rockets and capsules, at least to me.

[Chronocidal]

Didn't see any freebies, but I think I grabbed the Shuttle at least.  Sad I didn't have enough points for more of a discount, but I did manage to get $10 off or so.  

[Dobber]

Just ordered the Discovery, no freebies were offered though so that kind of sucks. They’ve been offering a free Easter set for weeks now too but a new set comes out and they stop suddenly...oookaay. Glad I got the Orbiter though, that’s what really mattered. Was able to use 2 vouchers for a total of $70 off. I’m not sure how I did it, though, as it was difficult to get the second code in because whenever I tried to put the second code in the voucher field kept saying codes are only 12 characters long. I’m honestly not sure what I did but the second code finally was accepted.

Chris

edit: I have a payment receipt from PayPal but still no email confirmation from LEGO either, but it is in my order history as in progress.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Dobber

[technoblue]

It took a while for me to get my order confirmation last night too @Dobber. It showed up in my history first and then some minutes later the email hit my inbox. Sadly, my luck with scoring any GWP on these popular LEGO sets remains unchanged. I had the gifts in my original order but when it finally went through they were gone.

Curiously, the site did add me to a queue at one point last night and I noticed over 1000 other people were waiting for the page to load. I’m going to assume that we’ll be seeing plenty of the bonus GWP sets popping up on ebay and the like.

[Dobber]

Got my confirmation emails too. Looking forward to seeing the inevitable MOC’s of the stack. Honestly, LEGO could make a killing releasing a new set that was just the Tank and boosters to compliment this model. That way it would keep costs down for anyone that only wanted the orbiter, as they could just buy this set. If someone wants the full stack they can buy both or space out the purchases and buy them at different times etc.

Chris

Edited April 1, 2021 by Dobber

[Chronocidal]

Only problem with producing an after-the-fact stack is that you'll probably need to substantially re-engineer the orbiter to mount solidly.  I didn't watch the build-up video all the way through, but I didn't see any big structural reinforcements where those mounting points would need to go.

It still pains me that this didn't happen, though.

On the other hand.. it does exist here now, in a slightly revised format that fixes a few issues.  Much better wing construction, and it doesn't use the big molded nose shape (which I'm not sure I like, but it does solve the problem of a really complicated sticker shape).  Would like to see it with some of the newer cones and proper white barrels for the booster exhausts though.  Maybe someday. 
https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-46228/KingsKnight/space-shuttle-1110-scale/#details

Edit:  Apparently the rebuilt tank in the newer design was made partly to reduce the cost of getting the parts together.  The orange parts in the original were part of one of the older Shuttle sets, and really expensive to acquire.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Chronocidal

[M'Kyuun]

12 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

Didn't see any freebies, but I think I grabbed the Shuttle at least.  Sad I didn't have enough points for more of a discount, but I did manage to get $10 off or so.  

The freebies in question were the Easter Bunny's Carrot House 

and the Space Rocket Ride 

I wasn't even aware of the latter set, but I'll gladly take it. It appears to have a kinetic action feature, so that's cool.

Where in the world do you guys get vouchers for LEGO? I've been collecting for over forty years, have bought untold thousands of dollars of LEGO, have been part of the VIP program from inception, and I can't recall having ever had a coupon, voucher, or otherwise.  I'm curious how you come about them.

Oh, and congrats to those among us who managed to get the set. Honestly, I'd rather get my set early for the freebies, as the set itself will become more widely available in a month or so after the initial fervor dies down. I wish said freebies had more to do with the main set, like the smaller '89 Batmobile that came with the large set, but free is free, and I'll happily take what they offer. It's disappointing that the rumored tie-in VIP set didn't materialize- they'll end up putting it for a brief period at like 3 AM and naught but the scalpers will get it.

[Chronocidal]

I think the vouchers used to just be a discount you could get by applying VIP points to your purchases.  That was changed a while back into an option to exchange VIP points for vouchers of various amounts.

While it's more annoying to redeem for online purchases that way, they also let you redeem them for in-store discounts, or other bonuses on the site, rather than purely a discount on of your online orders.  (And of course, it means you can't really ever use ALL of your points that way. )

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

I think the vouchers used to just be a discount you could get by applying VIP points to your purchases.  That was changed a while back into an option to exchange VIP points for vouchers of various amounts.

While it's more annoying to redeem for online purchases that way, they also let you redeem them for in-store discounts, or other bonuses on the site, rather than purely a discount on of your online orders.  (And of course, it means you can't really ever use ALL of your points that way. )

Ah, ok. I thought perhaps you guys were getting them from some external source that I wasn't aware of, like from a LEGO Store. I've seen those vouchers on the VIP site, but I have yet to use them. I have a ton of VIP points, as I rarely ever use them, but keep building them up. I guess I'm waiting for that one potential humongous set that's upwards of a grand that I can't do without (A UCS AT-AT, perchance). Lacking room in a seemingly ever shrinking house, I've been slowing way down on large LEGO purchases. The last big one I bought was the new Ninjago City, as I wanted a companion for the Ninjago Movie  Ninjago City, each of which is one of the most brilliant and fun sets I've ever built, and they look absolutely amazing. I wish they'd do a Space themed set like that, with assorted modules, repair bays, landing strips, mecha suits, little ships....oh what potential bliss it could be!

[Sanity is Optional]

Finally got in the Saturn V I ordered a little while ago, plus the freebie carrot house kit.

Guess I know what I'll be doing tonight.

[Dobber]

45 minutes ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Finally got in the Saturn V I ordered a little while ago, plus the freebie carrot house kit.

Guess I know what I'll be doing tonight.

Cool have fun! I decided to take a break from the Star Destroyer and built this today. It was nice to start and finish a build in 1 day for a change. 
 

[Sanity is Optional]

About 1.5 hours in and 1/3rd done with the Saturn V. Time to take a break and go play with the cats though.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Woo hoo, got my order in for the new shuttle.  I might get that moc shuttle that Chronocidal linked to as well just to have one that is more in scale with the Saturn rocket.

[David Hingtgen]

I ordered the Paris set last week, to build up enough VIP points ahead of time for the extra shuttle satellite---and of course the satellite's not available.  :P

Started building Paris, and it's missing a 1x3 arch.  I think that's the largest missing piece in my experience----little 1x1 plates (and technic pins, etc) weigh so little I'm not surprised they can be missed occasionally, and they usually have a spare anyways.   But a 1x3 brick?  New to me.   

Ordered shuttle, so I'll have plenty of VIP points for when the satellite does arrive.  Will probably use remaining points to help fund the 60's Batmobile.  (Officially out on April 26 I think)

[Chronocidal]

2 hours ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

Woo hoo, got my order in for the new shuttle.  I might get that moc shuttle that Chronocidal linked to as well just to have one that is more in scale with the Saturn rocket.

I'm definitely going to grab a set of the instructions, but the parts I'll have to pick up give me pause.  I know I have a substantial chunk of them, probably enough to build the orbiter, but the tank and boosters might come out to more than the new Discovery kit.  

Right after that Ideas design got rejected officially, I actually went and picked up a bunch of smaller kits to help me build it myself.  The bay doors I got from a pair of little space-themed sets will definitely be required, but turns out I won't need that float plane set I got for the nose section after all. 

Edited April 2, 2021 by Chronocidal

[Sanity is Optional]

~4-5hours to build the Saturn V.

Impressive kit, huge, sturdy, looks good.

[Chronocidal]

So, that was unexpectedly fast.  The new shuttle set just landed on my doorstep after lunch today.  

[technoblue]

29 minutes ago, Chronocidal said:

So, that was unexpectedly fast.  The new shuttle set just landed on my doorstep after lunch today.  

Nice. Mine just shipped from their warehouse today, so it should be a few more days for me at least.

[M'Kyuun]

Mine's due to arrive on Thursday. Looking forward to it.

[Dobber]

Woohoo! My shuttle also just arrived today. Just have 2 more bag sets left on the Star Destroyer, then I’ll start on the orbiter. 

Chris