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I'm not quite sure what my first LEGO set was, but it was probably Duplo. The first system set that I can remember having is <a href="http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=314-1">314 Police Launch</a>. I didn't really get into space building until after the proper blue and grey classic space sets were already no longer available. I collected Futuron, Blacktron and Space Police sets for a while, but even though I liked the sets and played with them, my main reason for wanting them was for the parts.
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I stopped buying LEGO sets when I was a student in university, but I never stopped building. I got back into buying when a chain of toy stores in the Netherlands started selling <a href="http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=3451-1">Sopwith Camels</a> for only €15. I bought four or five of them and was once again hooked. When I bought a digital camera in May 2005 I decided to share my creations with others on the internet, mainly through brickshelf and later MOCpages. I mainly build aircraft and car models, the latter predominantly as a member of the LUGNuts group on flickr nowadays. I probably first appeared on other AFOLs' radar screen when my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/madphysicist/tags/f14d"></a>black F-14D Tomcat model 'Vandy One' was featured in issue 2 of Brickjournal a few years ago.
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After I moved to the UK a few years ago, I joined the Brickish Association. With this my LEGO Hobby moved from something I did on my own or on the internet into a proper group activity. One of the people I got to meet was Ed Diment, who lives about 20 Miles away. We critique each other's MOCs, share ideas, and have a bit of a friendly rivalry at times. We also do collaborative builds now and then and those tend to be a lot of fun. Joining Brickish also got me back into minifig scale and city building and I got involved with a group of enthusiastic classic space builders. I haven't regretted joining for a second.
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Ralph's models can be found on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/madphysicist/">Flickr</a> and <a href="http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=RalphS">Brickshelf</a>.
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