Ferris Wheel (10247) - It's Starting To Look Like a Ferris Wheel!

We finished the 4 legs of the support frame for the wheel last night and it is REALLY starting to look like a ferris wheel now! Check this out!

Something that my mom and I noticed was that the color match between the instruction manual and the physical pieces took a turn for the worse at this point of the build. In Chapter 1, the color matching was pretty good and with proper light, it was not too difficult to distinguish between some of the more similar colors like light gray, dark gray, brown and black.

However, in chapter 2, the pieces in the instruction manual were all colored in a DARK gray while the pieces were a LIGHT gray. Luckily, we only had light gray pieces to work with in the chapter 2 bags so it wasn't a huge deal. However, this means that when we disassemble it, we are going to have to sort all the pieces back into their original chapters so we don't accidentally mix up pieces from different chapters when we build this again in the future.

Not sure why Lego did this but we will have to keep an eye out on the coloring in the other chapters.

Super Star Destroyer (10221) - Round 2 of Buying Complete & Part Sub!

After many hours of searching through Brick Link to try and find the best possible pricing combinations on items, I have completed my second round of parts purchases. I have now purchased approximately 2,100 parts with another 1,000 or so to go. Unfortunately, a lot of the 1,000 remaining are the harder to find pieces :(

I've had to make another substitution on parts, this time for the light bluish gray cylinders that form the engines on the SSD. The original part that is called for is code 30360 but these were not only difficult to find but very expensive (in excess of $15 per piece). After some research, I found that piece 93168 was a good candidate for substitution. The differences between the two are strictly internalized to the connection interfaces. Thus, from the outside, you would see no difference. The 93168 were still, by no means, easy to find. They are still rare and I ended up paying about $12 per piece after shipping but that's an easier pill to swallow than $15 for the piece and ANOTHER $12 for shipping.

I've got 6 purchased so far and am hoping I can find a 7th to complete the set. You can see there are minimal differences between the two pieces below.

Ferris Wheel (10247) - The Two-Faced Man!!

So building our ferris wheel last night led to a flashback to Harry Potter and when Professor Quirrel had Lord Voldemort living off the back of his head.

I was rooting through my box of pieces, putting together the rest of my minifigs when I came across THIS!

It's a TWO-FACED man! In the bottom picture, you can see the freckles and one eyeball from each of the 2 faces on opposite sides of the head.

In one, he is smiling radiantly and in the other, he looks decidedly morose. Personally I think it's because in one, he has had ice cream and in the other he hasn't. That's how I would look, at any rate ....

Not sure if this is an error on Lego's part or not. On the one hand, once I put the hair on, the other face is completely covered so this could be a clever way that Lego allows for users to easily change the mood on minifigs. On the other hand, I have never see Lego do this before. Either way, I kind of like it!

Super Star Destroyer (10221) - First Batch of Parts Purchased

So, as the title states, I have placed an order for the first batch of parts for this.

I was able to find a local seller so I'll be doing a pick-up and saving a few bucks on shipping. Of the 3,152 pieces I need, I was able to buy 1,327 on this first run. Not too bad, until you consider I still have another 1,800 ish pieces to go!

I just about went cross-eyed with my tracking spreadsheet over the weekend. For some reason, I was having some serious issues corroborating my list of purchased pieces against my master and my "to buy" lists. I was making simple subtraction errors, skipping over lines that I had ordered. It was a nightmare. Finally, after trying it for the THIRD time, I finally came up with a correct list of parts I still needed. How did I know it was finally correct? Because the sum of the outstanding parts finally equaled 3,152-1,327 =  1,825.

I must have expended all my detail orientation ability on building the ferris wheel because I sure was doing dim-witted things when updating my spreadsheet. Anyway, enough time spent being angry at myself. I need to start sourcing the next batch of parts!!

Ferris Wheel (10247) - ICE CREAM STAND!!

Alright ... so Chapter 2 has started off WAAAAAY more interesting than Chapter 1 already. We've only just begin the first few steps but there is already a lot more color and some play value. Including an ice cream stand. As a rather large fan of food, this was quite exciting to me (don't judge).

The first few steps involved putting some finishing touches on the base to make it look like a professional theme park attraction - hand rails on the inclined walkways, "concrete" pillars and barriers to direct traffic to the attraction's entrance, etc.

Then there came the operator's booth, a park bench for visitors to sit and relax and an ice cream stand! Because no theme park attraction is complete without an ice cream stand. We couldn't help ourselves - we had to start posing the minifigs.

We've got our ice cream stand. Looks like the ice-cream-lady is doing some swift business. She's got a big spender waving a fat $100 bill around. Either she really likes ice cream and is planning on buying it for 20 people or this theme park charges even more exorbitant prices than Disneyland!

Someone's already gotten their ice cream and is enjoying it on the park bench. And the girl with the huge-ass lollipop has a massive grin on her face. I guess I would be pretty happy too if I had a lollipop that's bigger than my head.

And here is our ride operator - at this point, just familiarizing himself with the controls and how things work since there is no ferris wheel to run yet. He looks like he is having fun.

And a few more shots from various angles:

The next step is to start building the support structure for the ferris wheel itself. My mom is super excited to start on this!!

Ferris Wheel (10247) - Chapter 1 Done!

Chapter 1 (AKA the boring stuff) is now done! Chapter 1 was mostly the base and foundation for the ferris wheel. Very necessary but not really the most interesting stuff to build in terms of play value.

I did, however, have a fun little time doing some troubleshooting as the mechanism that operates the "floorboards" and causes them to raise and lower wasn't working. It turns out that we had used the wrong size of gear on one of the internal connections. We used one that was too small and was not reaching and meshing with the tooth plate underneath.

As my mom likes to point out, it was completely my fault as I was the one picking the pieces for her and she was doing the actual building. Nonetheless, it wasn't too bad of a fix. I took apart a few things so I could access the gear and had everything slapped back together (AND working!!) in less than 10 minutes.

The amount of mechanical function on this set is pretty amazing - there are multiple gear connections that we have built already. I can only imagine there will be more to come to make the wheel actually move .... CAN'T WAIT!

Here are a few shots from various angles of how the set looks like Chapter 1 complete.

Super Star Destroyer (10221) - Sourcing the Parts

Now that I have my spreadsheet set up with (hopefully) all the parts I will need, I have to research where I can get them and how much I am going to have to spend to get everything.

I started with Lego's Pick-A-Brick. Unfortunately, they don't stock all the pieces - only the newer and more popular ones. Of the 3,152 pieces required for the set, I was only able to find 1,839 on Pick-A-Brick. Even then, those priced in at $380. Assuming equal pricing on the remaining parts, that puts the total at roughly $655 (not including shipping). Not a cheap build.

I decided to look at other options, like going through a 3rd party site like Brick Link. Not only are the prices a little more reasonable but there is also more variety available via 3rd party sites as Lego tends to stock only newer and more popular pieces.

I am only partway through my list right now. I am going through and making notes on each part so I can get a ballpark feel for how much going this route may cost and whether it's even possible to find all the pieces. Given that I am planning on displaying this and not necessarily playing with it, I've pretty well decided not to bother with getting any of the mini figurines.

Additionally, I've already found 1 set of pieces that I will be substituting with a different color as the exact ones called for in the kit are prohibitively expensive due to their rarity. The kit calls for 6 of the Right Angle 5x5 Yellow Technic Bricks.

Unfortunately, Pick-A-Brick does not carry these and Brick Link has them selling at almost $12 PER PIECE not including shipping. The thought of spending more than $70 on 6 pieces of Lego makes me want to puke so these will be swapped with the same piece but in black (which I can get for a mere $1.15 each). While still considered pretty expensive for a Lego piece, it is at least palatable.

Of course, before deciding whether to do a substitution, one must consider where the piece will be in the final product. These yellow pieces are internal to the SSD and not visible from the outside so I am not too concerned about the departure from standard.

As luck would have it, I found a dealer who lives in the same city as I do so I am hoping to pick up as many pieces from him as I can and saving on the shipping costs.

Super Star Destroyer (10221) - The Planning Begins

I figured if I was going to even contemplate trying a "do-it-yourself" kit, I should start with the smallest one .... if you can call something that has a final build size of over 4 feet and build weight of over 8 pounds small.

If I can pull it off, this will definitely make a very impressive display piece. This is what the finished product SHOULD look like. Alas, I think I am many months away from getting to that point.

Finished product SHOULD look like this!

The first thing I did was to put together a parts list. I was able to find a copy of the instruction manual online. Near the end of the manual is a full parts list (at least I hope it's full) of what is required to complete the build. I took the parts list and entered the data into a spreadsheet to keep track of everything.

Here is where I ran into my first uh-oh moment. The official kit says that there are 3,152 pieces in the kit. Well, that's all fine and good EXCEPT that when I transcribed the parts list into my spreadsheet, I only had a total of 3,151 pieces!!! I triple checked my spreadsheet and could not find that ONE missing piece. Guess I'll just have to wait and see if it's something that comes back to haunt me later ...

STAR WARS!!

So I have always been a pretty big Star Wars fan - watched Episodes 4, 5 and 6 many, many times as I was growing up. Over the years, I have even acquired full suits of movie-accurate, custom-fit Imperial stormtrooper and biker scout armor.

Shockingly, I have never owned or had the chance to build any of the Star Wars Lego sets. Always being a huge fan of the Imperial Navy, I was dismayed to find that the coolest sets (Ultimate Collector Series editions of the Super Star Destroyer, Imperial Star Destroyer, and Death Star) were all retired.

Buying one of those sets now costs more than all 4 of my limbs are worth .... combined! And that's for a used set that is incomplete. I've seen new, sealed sets going on Amazon for upwards of $3,000. That's just crazy.

And so I thought, what if I were to acquire the pieces separately? Surely that would be a cheaper route to go than auctioning my arms off on e-bay to afford one of these sets? Besides which, if I did auction my arms off, I would have to build the set with my feet and I am just not that flexible.

Ferris Wheel (10247) - Week 1 Progress

The biggest challenge with the build so far has been finding time when both my mom and I are free to work on this together. We would be able to make a lot more progress if we worked on it separately but that takes the fun out of the project.

Getting back into Lego mode has been a fun journey so far. It has definitely sharpened our attention to detail - making sure we are placing blocks in the right place so we don't have to backtrack later on to find out why something doesn't fit.

After a week of toil, stealing a half hour here and there to work on it, we've gotten most of the foundation and base for the Ferris Wheel done. This set has a lot more gears and moving parts than I am used to in previous sets and required deft fingers to line all the small pieces together.

Week 1 progress - most of the base done

The footprint of the set is not too large (14" x 21") but it should make a pretty imposing presence on the table once it's finished as the set should stand roughly 2 feet tall. As you can see, with the current progress, we are barely 2 inches off the table surface at the moment!!

Close up ground level shot

HANDY TIP!!!

If you hate having to shuffle through a whole pile of pieces just to find the bricks you need, we feel your pain! Yes, Lego has made it far less painful by dividing the builds up into chapters and then labeling the parts bags with the chapters numbers but you can make life for yourself a little easier by keeping a bunch of shallow boxes and using them to hold your pieces.

We use about half a dozen boxes to hold our open pieces so that we can spread them out in a single layer. This makes it far easier to spot the pieces you need - especially the smaller ones that tend to get lost in the shuffle if they are mixed in with a large pile.

Lots of empty boxes for parts

As you use up pieces, you can amalgamate into fewer boxes - just don't overcrowd the boxes.

Ferris Wheel (10247) - Initial Impressions

I thought it would be a lot of fun for me and my mom to build this together. She had very little experience building Lego and this would be my first set in more than 20 years, so we were a little apprehensive with the thought of jumping back into the Lego world with this set. Not only does it have almost 2,500 pieces but is classified by Lego as an "Expert" set required advance building techniques. But never ones to shy away from a challenge, we said what the heck and dove on in!


The Brick Separator

There were a few differences that I noticed right away between this set and those of my old Lego days. The first was this odd looking orange piece:

Brick Separator

It's Lego's new "Brick Separator". I was initially very pleased that they came up with this and included one in the set but as I used it a few more times, I didn't find it to be too helpful as I had hoped. The leading edge is still not thin enough to get between pieces unless you had already created a gap (with your fingernail, pocket knife, or any other thin instrument).

Once a gap was formed, it seems to work OK but really, if I've already created a gap, I could easily pry the pieces apart using whatever tool I was already working with. I guess using the plastic separator reduces the chances of scratching or gouging the pieces vs. a metal knife or screwdriver.


Numbered Bags

One of the things that drove me nuts about Lego in the past was how long I spent shuffling through the entire set looking for pieces. Lego has since tried to minimize that pain by breaking down the build process into smaller "chapters" and organizing the pieces for each chapter into numbered bags. So instead of searching through all 2,500 pieces of this set for a dinky little 1x1 green plate, I only have to search through 600 or so. It makes a big difference!

Bags numbered for Chapters 2, 3, and 4

Instructions broken into 4 chapters

Minifig Detailing

Yet another improvement in the Lego set is the detail on the minifigures. Check out the fancy hairstyle on this lady. Back in my day, all the hair pieces were identical and looked like the characters were wearing molded pieces of clay around on their heads.

Highlighted Instructions

I was pleased to see that Lego has increased the clarity of their instructions by highlighting the new pieces added in each build step. I remember having to scour the instructions as a kid, looking to see where each new piece had to be placed. Now, new pieces have a yellow border surrounding them and are far easier to pick out.

New pieces are highlighted with a yellow border

Flimsy Instruction Manual

Unfortunately, one of the things that still hasn't changed is the limp-spine instruction manual that comes with the Lego sets. With smaller, less complex sets, the manuals would likely be less of a problem as they would be much thinner.

However, with the number of steps (and thus pages) involved in this build, the floppy manual proved to be an annoyance very quickly. Particularly as both my mom and I were working on this together, it needed to be propped up so that we could both reference it at the same time. Trying to prop it up with it fully open resulted in pages sagging and obscuring half the diagram. Curling one side of the book behind the other led to the curled pages unfurling and the book sagging. LEGO - PLEASE ISSUE YOUR MANUALS WITH A COILED SPINE!!! That would have made it far less aggravating.

In the end, we came up with a workable solution. We used a clothespin to prevent the pages from unfurling when curled back on themselves. And then, borrowing a picture frame holder from a family photo, we made a stand which worked decently.

Our clothes-pinned manual sitting on a picture frame holder

It's been more than 20 years since I last built a Lego set. I'd forgotten just how much I used to enjoy putting the sets together and then playing with them ... until I received a very pleasant reminder under the Christmas tree this year.

My family and I had done a trip to New York City in the summer and had visited a Lego Store while we were there. I remember being amazed at how far the sets had come since I was a child - they were far bigger and more complex, with a lot more moving parts and so much more variety in what you could build.

My childhood sets were pretty plain in comparison - the ubiquitous castle set or the generic race car. The sets of today, however, almost transport you into new universes and dimensions. There are sets themed after Star Wars, The Avengers, Batman, city scapes, landmarks and a whole host of other highly relate-able scenes.

One of the sets that really caught my eye at the store was the Ferris Wheel (10247). It was vibrant, colorful and had a hypnotic effect as I stood and watching the wheel move, with the passenger pods rocking gently back and forth as the wheel rotated. I remember both my mom and I pointing and (as my sister's fiance later said "drooling") over the set. However, after a few minutes of ogling, we had moved on and our visit to the Lego store was promptly forgotten amid the other delights of NYC.

Luckily for my mom and me, my sister and her fiance have far better memories, as neither of them forgot. And so, December 25, I tore open the rather large box that had arrived from Amazon for me and found THIS staring back at me ...