pab cups

Haul #17: LEGO Store Gateshead

Monday, 5th March 2018 By Caz

I drove from Leicester to Newcastle today, by way of a slight detour to visit the LEGO store in the Gateshead Metro Centre for the first time. It’s always good to go to a different store to see what the PAB wall holds, and I was able to pick up a few other bits which have been on my shopping list for a little while.

I stuffed a couple of big pots with PAB stuff, chose the two seasonal Brickheadz models – Easter Bunny and Valetine’s Bee (my first Brickheadz, but probably not my last) and got the freebie Easter Bunny Minifig and Friends Flower thrown in.

Haul17: Gateshead March '18 — Haul17: Gateshead March ’18

The first big pot contained a number of 1×2 blue bricks, 1x2x2 trans clear window panels, some longish plates and a few 1×2 tiles and jumpers. And lots of 1×1 round plates in trans yellow – I have plans for these!

Haul17: Gateshead Big Pot 1 - Contents — Haul17: Gateshead Big Pot 1 – Contents

The other pot was mainly larger plates, some 1×2 baby bows in dark bluish grey, a handful of Bamboo foliage and a load more purple 1×2 tiles. I also threw in some 1×2 black cheese wedges.

Haul17: Gateshead Big Pot 2 - Contents — Haul17: Gateshead Big Pot 2 – Contents

Once the sorting was done, I think it turned out to be a very respectable haul. I will certainly make use of a load of these bits in the near future. Watch this space!

Haul #12: Stratford PAB

Tuesday, 13th February 2018 By Caz

I should remind myself that, at the moment, Stratford doesn’t have many pieces that I am interested in available in the PAB wall. I popped in on the way to the London AFOLs meetup last night. Westfield was heaving – should have realised it was Half Term. I took 4 PAB cups with me and only filled one in the end.

Haul #12 PAB Stratford 12th Feb '18 Pot — Haul #12 PAB Stratford 12th Feb ’18 Pot

This amounted to a load more 1×2 black grille bricks, some 1×2 dark bley plates, and a handful of larger plates in various colours.

Haul #12 PAB Stratford 12th Feb '18 Contents — Haul #12 PAB Stratford 12th Feb ’18 Contents

Haul #11: Watford PAB

Thursday, 8th February 2018 By Caz

A friend of mine from London AFOLs posted a video the other day of what was in the PAB wall at the Watford LEGO store. I was very interested and decided to go for a trip today to pick up some pieces.

Two things which particularly attracted me to visit were the 2×2 bley tiles – always useful in my little city and for any spacey MOCs I might be contemplating. And the 1×2 trans clear bricks – ideal for microscale windows – heaven! I stuffed loads of them into my pots, as you can see. Well, actually I stacked them carefully to maximise the number I could cram in! It’s always fun to see the LEGO shop staff when you’re doing that, they will often strike up a conversation and compliment you on your technique!

Also of use were a load of 1×2 blue bricks – which will definitely come in handy for a project which has been on the electronic drawing board for a couple of months, but which now needs to be built. And also the pale blue 1×1 bricks, 1×2 white bricks and various other white plates.

It was a very productive trip. I just wished I hadn’t had to spend so long in traffic jams getting there and back! Next time I might combine it with a trip to London on the train. We’ll see.

Haul #10: Bluewater PAB

Saturday, 3rd February 2018 By Caz

I visited the LEGO store in the Bluewater shopping centre today, for the first time. I was pleased to see a good variety of smaller elements up for grabs on the PAB wall, and filled one large and two small cups with goodies. Here’s what I got:

Some very useful 4×4 and 4×6 plates in varioius colours; 1×2, 1×3 bricks and 1×1 round bricks all in lime. Red and yellow 2×2 tiles (for a future project I have in the works); some 1×2 red and white plates, and most excitingly 1×2 modified plates with three “teeth” in tan, plus a few 1×1 yellow bricks with stud on the side – great for SNOT applications and Micropolis windows alike.

I can feel another Micropolis build coming on… but first, I have to put together a big set I also bought at the shop. More on that tomorrow!

Haul #8: Shepherd’s Bush PAB & Extras

Tuesday, 9th January 2018 By Caz

Wow, I had a very productive trip to the London AFOLs meetup yesterday! I came home with a huge haul. Before the meeting I went to the LEGO store at Westfield Shepherd’s Bush for the first time, and filled up at the PAB wall.

At the actual meeting I was able to collect a couple of old Star Wars sets I bought off a friend, swap my spare copy of Christmas Build Up 2017 for the 206 version, buy some CMFs I was missing and get three bags of exciting bits from a Bricklink Store owner who is closing down.

Starting off with the free brick box, which I got with purchases made on Boxing Day from S@H, it’s almost a cube, but basically I was able to fill it with whatever I liked for nothing! Sadly, not reusable though.

It was a slightly awkward shape, but I stuffed it as full as I could.

A very decent set of contents – mainly 1×2 and 1×1 bricks in bright colours. I can see some Micropolis builds being very colourful in the near future!

Next up is the small PAB cup…

PAB Shepherd's Bush Jan '18_small — PAB Shepherd’s Bush Jan ’18_small

I have a project designed in LDD that I’m slowly gathering the parts for – and I needed a load of 2×2 round plates in blue, so I was delighted to find a stack of them in Shepherd’s Bush. I grabbed a load of 1×2 black bricks with the grill pattern as well as some miscellaneous plates and tiles.

PAB Shepherd's Bush Small Pot Contents Jan '18 — PAB Shepherd’s Bush Small Pot Contents Jan ’18

And now for the biggie – the lid was barely shut!

PAB Shepherd's Bush Large Pot Jan '18 — PAB Shepherd’s Bush Large Pot Jan ’18

LOTS more of those black 1×2 textured bricks, some rories and 2×6 bricks for Micropolis bases and – randomly – a steering wheel from somewhere! I don’t remember picking that up… Do you like my inserts for the cup lid studs? They jam in perfectly and will give me another twelve 1×2 and eight 1×1 bricks in each.

PAB Shepherd's Bush Large Pot Contents Jan '18 — PAB Shepherd’s Bush Large Pot Contents Jan ’18

Perhaps the most pleasing haul of the evening was this little lot – a guy had turned up at the meeting with a holdall full of loose bricks in ziplock bags. We were encouraged to have a rummage as he “wanted to get rid of all of it”. Apparently he had a Bricklink store which he wanted to close and this was a way of offloading the remaining stock.

Well rummage I did, and came up with these three tasty bags. The first one had loads of smaller elements in it which will be perfect for Micropolis. The largest bag had a large number of 2×2 trans yellow bricks which caught my eye. And the smallest bag was stuffed with round 1×1 and 2×2 tiles in a variety of colours. The price? Six quid for the lot! I think I have done rather well there…

Bricklink Store "Closing Down Sale"! — Bricklink Store “Closing Down Sale”!

Haul #4: Leicester Square December 17

Tuesday, 19th December 2017 By Caz

I was in Central London today for an evening event with some friends from work, and took the opportunity to visit the flagship LEGO store in Leicester Square for the first time. I know it’s been open for a while, but I haven’t been there before as I usually avoid the most touristy parts of the capital, and I’ve only been out of my Dark Ages since last month. Here’s my haul:

Leicester Square Haul Dec '17 — Leicester Square Haul Dec ’17

I treated myself to the Architecture London Skyline (21034) set, the exclusive bowler-hatted Lester Minifig Polybag (40308) and a large and small Pick-A-Brick cup, which took my purchases over the threshold for two freebie sets – the festive Nutcracker (40254) and a second copy of the 24-in-1 Christmas Build Up 2017 (40253). I’m happy to get another one as one of my AFOL friends has a 2016 equivalent which they are happy to swap for my 2017 extra.

I found some useful bits in the Wall, but probably could have crammed my cups with more if I had had the time and patience – visiting the store in the last shopping week before Christmas was bedlam and I wouldn’t recommend it. I was minding my own business filling one cup when someone almost pinched the other one which i had already filled! Savages…

PAB Leicester Square Pots Dec '17 — PAB Leicester Square Pots Dec ’17

Here is the contents of the big cup – some slopes and inverted slopes, yellow 1×6 and 1×4 bricks, a load of 2×2 red bricks, plenty of 1×1 round bricks and tiles in red transparent, lots of pink 1×2 plates and a few in lime green. Plus some other bits and pieces.

PAB Leicester Square Large Cup Dec' 17 — PAB Leicester Square Large Cup Dec’ 17

The small cup contained a load of loose 1×1 trans yellow plates, some other useful 2×8 and 4×4 plates in various colours and a few more 2×2 inverted slopes in blue.

PAB Leicester Square Small Cup Dec '17 — PAB Leicester Square Small Cup Dec ’17

Pretty pleased with these, I’m not sure what I’m going to build with them yet! Watch this space.