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Long-time fans of the LEGO Architecture series are probably familiar with Adam Reed Tucker, since he founded the LEGO Architecture series in 2007 in partnership with The LEGO Group. Adam designed 16 sets in the LEGO Architecture series, and helped write the book LEGO Architecture: The Visual Guide. I recently noticed (on the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's website) that Adam designed three nice looking models based on iconic Frank Lloyd Wright buildings which have not been included in the LEGO Architecture series yet... Martin House (1904, Buffalo, NY), 1961 pieces. Taliesin West (1937, Scottsdale, AZ), 1763 pieces. Unity Temple (1908, Oak Park, IL), 912 pieces. All three models are designed using common LEGO Elements, so you can try to re-create them from the photos if you like. I particularly like the model of Taliesin West, with it's angular roof-line of alternating white and dark red stripes. In full disclosure: All three models are available for sale through his new company The Atom Brick, but the kits do not include LEGO Bricks. Instead, they come with parts supplied by LOZ, which are 3/4 the size of LEGO bricks, but have the same shapes and proportions. Because I love seeing beautiful Architecture models, I reached out to Adam to learn a lot more about the models, his passion for Architecture, and his decision to create a new company in order to create these sets. I interviewed Adam and wrote an article about these models on my website—It's an interesting read for anyone who loves the LEGO Architecture series like I do! Sincerely, —Tom Alphin LINK TO ARTICLE: brickarchitect.com/2020/adam-reed-tucker-the-atom-brick/ P.S. I definitely have mixed feelings that these nice looking models aren't available with LEGO Bricks. What do you think of the models?

I think he was talking about the architecture set, not the BHz one

here's the explanation

Absolutely.....

Hello BrickPickers and LEGO fans from around the world...Feels like yesterday I was putting the 2019 Brickpicker LEGO raffle together for my son Max's school, St. Paul School in Burlington, NJ. He is ten years old now and we started this way back when he was in kindergarten. The last four raffles... 2016 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE 2017 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE 2018 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE 2019 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE ...have been extremely successful and I am hoping for more generosity and kind souls to take part in this year's version. Over the past four years, we raised over $177,000.00 for the school which goes directly to the school and helps pay teacher salaries, utility bills, etc...Another year has passed and it’s time to raffle off some more dynamic LEGO gifts for charity. The money we raised the last three years literally kept the school open...which is a great thing. It's a special school that once again was voted BEST or ONE of the BEST Private Schools (5 years in a row) in Burlington County, NJ, by The Burlington County Times. Along with the whole school being voted either BEST or One of the Best, St. Paul School and its faculty also won numerous other awards, such as: Best or One of the Best Private Schools Best PreK-Nursery School Best or One of the Best Teacher(s) Best Fundraiser Best or One of the Best Music Instruction Best Tutor Service (Junior National Honor Society) Best SAT/ACT Preparation Service CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE 2020 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE FOR ST. PAUL SCHOOL! As I stated, the last three years, St. Paul School (SPS) and its community are special. My son loves the school, even though he won't admit it. Most days he actually runs into the school. People from all races and religions attend St. Paul School. Besides excelling in educating the children, the school does a tremendous amount of charity for local people in need. From food drives to helping out at local retirement homes, the children of St. Paul School are required to perform “service hours” that are designed to teach generosity, altruism and instill a hard-working, disciplined attitude. Excellence is expected and permeates through St. Paul School and the faculty and student body, so does a sense of goodness and frugalness. We make a little money go a long way. For example: All grade levels (Pre – K through 4) are scheduled for “Specials” each week...such as art, music, library, computers, and physical education St. Paul School is nationally accredited by “AdvancED” (the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement – NCA – CASI.) SPS middle-school students have three periods of Spanish and are testing into Spanish II for High School. SPS provides more periods of physical education each week than is required by the State. SPS provides multiple extracurricular activities such as: LEGO Robotics Club, Science Club, Vocal Choir, Rosary Group, Tonal Chimes, Hand Bell Choir, Crafty Kids Club, Basketball (Boys/Girls), Indoor Soccer, Cheerleading, Yearbook Club, National Junior Honor Society (NJHS), Student Council, MATHCounts, STREAM (Science Technology Religion Engineering Art Math, Activity Tutorial Period (ATP for 5th-8th grades) But all is not wonderful though. As many of you know, many Catholic schools have a hard time making ends meet. Enrollments are down and many families do not have the extra money to spend on a private education. Two neighboring Catholic schools in Willingboro and Maple Shade will close their doors next year. Even superb schools like St. Paul School have a hard time keeping the doors open. While our enrollment has stabilized, we will still be way short of breaking even; thus the need for the 2020 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE. This year’s version of the LEGO raffle will start with TEN awesome prizes. These include: Keep St. Paul Strong BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE 2020 $1000.00 in gift cards of your choice! Choose from retailers such as... Amazon Walmart Target Apple Disney ...and many more! Choose from ShopWith Scrip.com! 76139 1989 Batmobile 40433 Limited Edition 1989 Batmobile promo 76023 The Tumbler 75144 Ultimate Collector Series Snowspeeder 75060 Ultimate Collector Series Slave I 40333 STAR WARS Battle of Hoth 20th Anniversary promo PLUS BONUS STAR WARS SET(S)! 10175 Ultimate Collector Series Vader's TIE Advanced STAR WARS 10th Anniversary "Black Chrome" Darth Vader minifigure 75251 DARTH VADER'S CASTLE PLUS BONUS 40333 STAR WARS Battle of Hoth 20th Anniversary promo! 76042 The SHIELD Helicarrier 76105 The Hulkbuster: Ultron Edition 40334 Avenger's Tower promo 76108 Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown 10253 Creator Expert Big Ben 10247 Creator Expert Ferris Wheel 10243 Creator Expert Parisian Restaurant ST. PAUL SCHOOL MYSTERY "A LOT" This is the best prize! Just sayin'...Collected over the past six months by the St. Paul community...Dozens of LEGO sets that contain thousands and thousands of pieces. All types, themes and sizes. Jeff and I even threw some in for good measure. Guaranteed 15,000 pieces. This prize kicks butt! IT IS ALREADY AT 10,000 PIECES AND THE ST. PAUL COMMUNITY IS STILL COLLECTING THEM UNTIL THE RAFFLE ENDS!!!! Multitude of sets from various LEGO movies! The lot will include: 70840 Welcome to Apocalypseburg 70618 Destiny's Bounty 70903 The Riddler Riddle Racer 70615 Fire Mech 70835 Rex's Rexplorer 70900 The Joker Balloon Escape 70834 MetalBeards's Heavy Metal Motor Trike ...and many, many more! HUGE LOT! Thousands of pieces!!! 71044 Disney Train and Station 71040 The Disney Castle ...and a few other Disney sets!!! BRICKPICKER RESELLER SPECIAL!!! Dozens of sets... GUARANTEED 15,000 PIECES AND THEN SOME!!!! This lot is so huge, it can only be shipped within the contiguous 48 states of the United States! Many retired sets ready to resell. From all major themes from Architecture to Trolls! Great for beginners or pros. There are multiples of some sets. This prize also includes a discount from West End Toys on their toy consignment program which I utilized the past year and a half selling my large inventory of LEGO sets!!! Please contact me for details. This is the most valuable prize we have raffled off in the five years of the BrickPicker LEGO raffle. Go big or go home!!! Once again, this year’s total prize value equals or exceeds the previous three year's total prize value. The last three years, we had 31 raffle prizes and winners from around the world. From Vancouver, Canada to Reno, Nevada to Miami Beach, Florida to the Isle of Man, United Kingdom and everywhere in between, generous raffle participants were rewarded with awesome LEGO prizes. I wish we had some winners in New Jersey so I can hand deliver the sets...maybe this year! We even had repeat winners! The 2020 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE can be found here on the secure Rally.up.com site: CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE 2020 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE FOR ST. PAUL SCHOOL! Like the last three years, we will ship most of the prizes to anywhere across the globe. Two of the large lot prizes (SPS Mystery lot and Brickpicker Reseller lot) are so large I can only ship them to United States customers who live in the contiguous 48 states due to shipping costs. If there is an issue with shipping or prizes, a comparable prize and/or shipping method will be arranged with the winner. The last four years, the LEGO BRICKPICKER RAFFLES worked very well. The Rallyup.com site is a first class, secure site that made this all possible. They also issued the school a big fat check(s). All raffle proceeds and donations benefit the school directly by bridging the gap between what tuition covers and actual educational costs. It also raises money to upgrade the school’s technology, keeping St. Paul School ahead of the academic curve with a dynamic curriculum. The prizes have been donated by Jeff and I, the St. Paul School PTA and by some very generous BrickPicker members. I am hoping, like last year, that more people will donate sets after the raffle begins. It was fun adding to the prizes last year. You never know what can pop up as a prize! I AM ALWAYS ADDING NEW SETS!!! On a personal note, once again, I would like to thank every person who donated sets/money and/or bought tickets to last three year’s LEGO BRICKPICKER RAFFLES. It helped save a wonderful school and kept dozens of people employed and 165 kids with their friends and teachers. I don’t like asking but will anyway...please help out again this year. Even buying one ticket can help, and it gives you a chance to win some great prizes. Watching the raffle ticket total rise every day was an intense rush and extremely gratifying experience. It made me so proud to have started this site with my brother Jeff and made me realize there is still good in this world. I know some people do not approve of donating to faith- based schools or charities. I respect that, but also please respect my beliefs. This is not about religion. This is about helping a great school remain open and kids in their school and teachers in their jobs. Please keep negative comments to yourself. Thank you... The structure is slightly different this year. Unlike in the past three years when, for example, $10.00 would buy a single chance, this year $10.00 will buy 10 chances or raffle tickets in some of the raffles. This is done for several reasons. For one, the Rallyup.com site has come up with a way to help put more money into the charity’s bank account. They will ask if a person who buys chances will “donate” money to support the raffle. In years past, St. Paul School would have to pay a percentage back to the Rallyup.com site to run it. This year, people can donate a few dollars to help out, and they will GET MORE CHANCES FOR PRIZES if they do so. Donors will visit the campaign page and choose how many raffle entries they want to purchase. During checkout, they’ll be asked if they want to add a small "tip" to help fund the campaign costs. In exchange, they’ll receive a limited number of “bonus” entries into the drawing. Tipping is entirely optional. This is a win-win for the school and for donors! The contest will end on May 15, 2020 at 11:59 PM. Winners will be notified by Rallyup.com early on the 18th of March. If you are a winner, please contact me on the site so we can confirm the prizes and shipping addresses. The Rallyup.com site works very well and is secure, so please feel confident in donating to the school and purchasing raffle tickets. All the money goes to St. Paul School, which is a 501(c)(3), and to Rallyup.com for running the raffle. I will make every effort to supply the winners with the appropriate prizes. If there are shipping issues, inventory issues or potential problems beyond my control, I will make sure the winners are awarded LEGO sets/gift cards comparable to the original prizes. Any questions, ideas or concerns, please reply below or PM Jeff or me… TICKETS AVAILABLE UNTIL: May 15, 2020 at 11:59 PM EST DRAWING DATE: May 16, 2020 at 12:00 AM EST Thanks again! Ed Mack <<<<NEW TEXT OPTION>>>> DIAL 855-202-2100 AND TEXT “LEGORAFFLE” TO GET INSTANT ACCESS TO THE RAFFLE! View full blog article

Server issues. Jeff posted about it yesterday. Everything is safe. He has to move everything over to a new server.

I love to support fellow Catholics. Count me in! Will try donating at the last minute/hour this year.

hehe no worries.

Sets I part out and bulk lot purchases I count as a materials & supplies expense. Because my finished product is whatever combination and quantity of loose pieces comprise the customer's order. Plus, with the bulk lot purchases, some of the pieces might have been used to complete a used set I sell on eBay, and other pieces go into a drawer for sale on Bricklink. Easier than trying to come up with a scheme to keep track of all the different directions a piece might go.

My local Lego store sold out of the chocolate boxes on Saturday. That was fast.

Hi guys, I cannot find the site where I always could get access to my collection. I find only the forum but not the portal page. Can someone give me the link, please? Thanks, Michael

If your set had zero stickers, I would call customer service. From the Brickset review: “Opening the box reveals seven bags that are numbered between one and six. Moreover, five stickers are included which is slightly unusual for LEGO Ideas sets, although they are easy to apply and some new printed pieces are provided.”

I simply report all my purchases in a given year as my cost of doing business, and all my sales for that year as revenue. First few years I ran a loss, now I am reporting profits which get taxed. My accountant sanctioned this method and it is super simple. I did develop a complex database system that parted sets out and assigned a buy-in value based on weight of the piece vs weight of the total set, but I abandonded that pretty quickly as it was just too cumbersome to use when the above method is equally usable.

I went through a nightmare a few years back, due to a mistake made by a professional tax preparer (missed a “0”) turning a 5 figure gross income into a 4 figure sum. Accountants don’t seem to comprehend this type of business, however the one that guided me through the mess did, and converted my inventory into what they call “FIFO” (first in first out) basically all your stock purchases are subtracted from your gross sales each year. It is the easiest method by far, as you don’t have to assign a cost to each piece (and minifigure). Paypal will issue a 1099 for receipts totaling $20,000 or more AND more than 200 transactions. They don’t send it to you, you have to go find it and print it. Now bare in mind you are considered a business if you buy a good or goods with the intention of selling for a profit. Regardless of how much you make. I would strongly advise against “it’s only a hobby” and ignore your $12,000 unreported income. It’ll bite you sooner or later. Register your business with the state, you can then make tax exempt purchases from some sources, such as Amazon and Walmart. Means you have to charge in-state sales tax, but the benefits far outweigh the extra work reporting. You may find free tax prep in your area, it’s called VITA (volunteer income tax assistance) we use this. It’s basically graduating accountants supervised by a senior accountant, who where we go used to work for the IRS and he knows every single creative deduction. This is based on the assumption you are in the USA

I watched it with my two kids age 4 and 6. They loved the builds, but kept asking "Why is that man wearing a dress" and "why does he have a bow in his hair." Frankly, I'm not ready for these kind of conversations...

Did you check eBay for sold listings in your area like you said unlikely but worth a shot. You could make a Wanted listing on Craigslist perhaps just for some of the old HP sets and another for general buying bulk Lego and see if you get any responses and setup a buy. PM sent with another option.

St. Paul school is celebrating its 150th birthday this year. Bob Kelly from the local Philadelphia FOX 29 news team came out and did a wonderful job helping us celebrate! Please don't laugh at me! https://www.fox29.com/video/651224

Those are molded like that. The detectives office has a lot of them.