You mean like this?
That is still too big! My wife would kill me if I started building all this stuff. The cost gets prohibitive too unfortunately. I guess the picture art can at least be hung up. I am thinking of doing custom art of my Grandkids so we can hang them up. I think that would work if I can figure out how to make some of our pics work in the software. But the custom kits arent cheap either.
That is cool but I’ve hit the wall on this type of expensive kit, at least those available so far.
A set like this has to hit me in the gut. This is the price of a tank of heating oil in the winter. It has to hit me emotionally either from nostalgia or just cool factor. I have to want to build it, look at it, monkey with it and have it occupy a ridiculous amount of space. That obviously depends on the person and I give LEGO credit for throwing a lot of stuff up against the wall in these types of sets. Heck, I bought the Titanic, Falcon and new lighthouse so those did stick to me. But I have no interest in this, the Coliseum kit, the loop coaster, or the various big football stadiums (one of which has been 40% or so off for a while). The jury’s still out on the new Technic helicopter.
Have you ever heard of/seen Lego microscale?
I do wish Lego would do something with Lego microscale builds. Even just to release a set that gives a good introduction to it as a Lego ideas to springboard off from there. I was really impressed when I came across microscale the first time.
and this one can still be supported!
Do you mean knockoff Lego sets in smaller scales, like the Japanese sets you can find online? Or actual official Lego sets in smaller scales? There are lots of Lego skylines for different cities, and one of the Master Builder Academy sets was all about microscale builds.
Less skylines and more generalised ‘Creative’ set which I’ve been picking up as a way to just tinker with things. Just get an idea of what people do with microscale, techniques and ideas because it is a niche part of Lego. A good place to really get started.
I did build the Berlin skyline a number of years ago. It looked good (before I gave it away), but it was more of a single set piece, and not something that could be easily matched with other sets.
Responding to my own post.
As @Andy_Bates said, it’s a rarity. I built it but modified it with bits I had on hand. I lifted up the alleys so that the gutters have depth. The alleys were too short so I added 10 studs of length to make them more realistic, and expanded the building as a result. I added several studs to lock in pins, bowling balls and minifigs . The inside:
Since it is paid for why not enjoy building it……my two cents.
Spent this evening with the Great Wave. This one was a ton of fun. Less depth than the Starry Night but still a lot of fun details to dig into.
Hey guys, as a family we watched several seasons of Lego Masters USA, Australia, Uk. My 6yr old son is really interested in the motors and light stuff, and I’d love to encourage it… we have several play sets of the Lego City variety, but he’s not so much into creating real world things as much as he is into making bizarre block contraptions and supplementing with cardboard, string, pulleys made with pencils etc… baffling to me, who mostly used my legos as a kid to make all the toys I wasn’t ever going to get, or reproduce cool sci-fi stuff I saw on tv.
I’m looking through the motorised kits and I’m not really seeing a basic machines kit, where you’d get a motor or two, gears, basic bricks to make your spinning rotor, pulley, rocking assembly etc. They did seem to use to make them in the late 90s and early 2000s. Now it seems you can buy the motors separately from Lego, at what seems to be a huge markup… or else invest in a £150+ set that has all the parts you want and seems more cost effective, but is overly complex, with an aggressive color scheme tailored to the rally car or what have you. I also really don’t want the app stuff, he sees enough screens as it is.
I think he’d just want to make something spin, or have a little conveyor or rocking thingie, like they do on Lego masters. What’s the best way to get all the relevant parts to making simple machines? Suck it up, buy a crazy ass helicopter, throw away the box and manual, and just hope we can figure little things out from the bottom up? Or what?
Crazyass helicopter definitely is the way to go. It will also show some ingenious building techniques. Rally car is good for that too.
I am hugely disappointed in the Bluetooth sets as the app only seems to allow the one single model. I want to use it to build and program a fook’n robot tank drink despenser.
The Lego official store has individual motors and stuff, but it’s pricey. I haven’t seen any collections of parts type sets beyond the basic bricks though. Maybe getting a couple of the cheaper car kits and cannibalizing the mobility stuff?
The “basic machines” sets are LEGO Education. Maybe something like
or one of the crazy-ass Technic sets, maybe. Not 100% how compatible that is with a 6-year-old. Powered Up is the “standard” line system for motors and whatnot these days. (They did away with controllers and its a smartphone app now. For some reason they also felt they needed to redesign all the Power Functions motors and actuators to make them more Mindstorms-like. Which system they’ve now discontinued. Sigh.)
Wow, those BricQ sets are cool, even for adults. Pricey, though, like all the Lego stuff. Not that it isn’t worth it, it is, I think, just it’s still expensive.
If you don’t mind using LEGO clones, you can get motors, battery boxes, servos, etc here :
I have bought several kits from here and they were all fine. From here you’d need to buy the pieces separately. Some of their sets come with several motor parts.
The excavator came with about 5 motors, a battery box and remote control, and the whole kit was about $110… And I like that they are the old-timey RC versions and don’t rely on an app.
The parts fit just fine with real LEGO.
Edit: here’s the excavator:
I have a fair bit of Power Functions parts and I can at least say the stuff on that site looks just like the real thing.
Alright thanks guys. I think I’m more likely to pick up a real Technic set than buy off brand bricks… we had picked up a set once and they were ever so slightly janky, it bothered both my wife and I so much we wound up combing all the pieces out and dropping them off at a charity shop. Mega Construx are compatible as well but there’s just a funny, intangible, less than perfect feel.
Crazy price on that educational kit though… guess you’re paying for the lessons as much as the bricks… you get barely a third of what’s in a technic set, without the motors etc.
I broke apart a Star Wars set that had been hanging around… it was a gift, but it was that weird Rogue One Imperial pickup truck that I won’t miss. Fair amount of technic bits in there, axles, rods, wheels, we had a good time making some scissor lifts and extending arms, etc. I think a technic set is how I’ll go.
If you can stretch that far, go full Mindstorms. Expensive upfront but you’ll be able to build tons of different things.
You may want to see if there is an equivalent to Bricks and Minifigures in England. Around me this is a place to buy used Lego pieces or sera. You can buy bulk pieces for flat rates, and I got a bin full of gears for <$10.