Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[scottwb2010]

Hello, I a quick question for anyone who has or has bricklinked Market Street. I have about 25% of the bricks ordered and won't be completing it until the dark blue arches come down in price (hopefully when the Winter Village Market is released) but I was wondering about the white hoses for the balconies. What have you used to avoid buying the expensive hoses on bricklink, or do you have to bite the bullet with this piece and think about your average price per piece...??

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Hi timmyc1983. I used the black hoses instead of the expensive white ones. Still looks ok. Hopefully one day TLG will release a new set with white hoses to make them more widely available and bring their price down like what they are doing with the dark blue arches. Speaking of the arches, i used the dark bluish gray but will change them when i get dark blue ones.

[kermit]

I have used the black hose and the sets looks great with it.

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

The black ones would look good on it, being the completionist that I am, I had to go with the White ones. I got my four for $40.00 shipped from Europe. A bit pricy, but at that point, there was no debate to just finish it.

[timmyc1983]

Hmm interesting, I would not have thought about using the black ones, thanks for the suggestion!

The black ones would look good on it, being the completionist that I am, I had to go with the White ones. I got my four for $40.00 shipped from Europe. A bit pricy, but at that point, there was no debate to just finish it.

I found some in a store for around AU$8 each which is relatively cheap I guess... I'll have a bit more of a think about it before I decide...

Thanks again for the ideas

[kermit]

The black ones would look good on it, being the completionist that I am, I had to go with the White ones. I got my four for $40.00 shipped from Europe. A bit pricy, but at that point, there was no debate to just finish it.

Wow that is a lot for those four pieces. I would hate to see you try and build the ultimate MF if you willing to spend that much cash.

[Archer]

I just bought the Pet Shop, and when I put it together and 1x8 light grey plate with a door rail, and I was missing a light grey 1x8 with the more extended door rail, the pieces that cap the front of the first floor of the Pet Shop. I used one from my Hogwarts castle, and will be asking for a replacement, but out of curiosity did this glitch happen to anybody else?

[antp]

What have you used to avoid buying the expensive hoses on bricklink,

The older 73590c01a seems cheaper than 73590c02a, I guess it would work the same way in this case?

edit: well, not that much cheaper though, it was only in a few more sets

Edited October 3, 2013 by antp

[jaysapathy]

Had to chime in here -- the wife and I are now card carrying modular building members. We finished the Fire Station last weekend, and bought the Grand Emporium last eve. We're already through the first floor. Finishing it up this weekend.

Some of the stuff I've seen in this thread is inspiring me to alter the already creative designs. Darn the lot of you for sparking my creativity. :D

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

Wow that is a lot for those four pieces. I would hate to see you try and build the ultimate MF if you willing to spend that much cash.

Whats the ultimate MF? You have me curious now.

Had to chime in here -- the wife and I are now card carrying modular building members. We finished the Fire Station last weekend, and bought the Grand Emporium last eve. We're already through the first floor. Finishing it up this weekend.

Some of the stuff I've seen in this thread is inspiring me to alter the already creative designs. Darn the lot of you for sparking my creativity. :D

The Modular group is very welcoming and helpful with ideas if you run into any issues. Welcome!

[TheLegoDr]

Ultimate Collector's Series Millenium Falcon from Star Wars that came out years ago. It is ridiculous. I guess it was on clearance for $250 for a long time because it was hard to sell. But now it goes for at least $2,500.

Edited October 3, 2013 by TheLegoDr

[timmyc1983]

Hi all, just thought I would share my latest edition to my modular buildings. I bricklinked a Market Street 10190. The main reason I decided to do so was because the price of the dark blue arches has dramatically reduced with the release of the Winter Village Market(?). I also found some cheaper ways to deal with the more expensive pieces which end up making it almost the same price as it retailed for!!

I replaced the expensive windows with the white window 1 x 2 x 3 flat front...

And I also replaced the expensive white hose with light grey hose which looks pretty good, despite my not using grey arms, which I think would look even better...

As you can see above I also replaced the expensive door on the ground floor with a standard white 1 x 4 x 6 with stud handle.

And finally I replaced the light grey doors (left and right) with a white and black one which are a fraction of the price...

Admittedly, I think the white looks better, but they are more expensive (this one was spare in my collection), maybe if they were both black it might be better.

So anyway, if you're not a purist and just want some sort of copy of 10190 for your layout (like me :D ), then I hope these ideas help you to keep the cost down

Happy building

[TheLegoDr]

Nicely done. I'm surprised those Windows were one of the expensive parts since I never liked them anyway. I always thought market street looked like it was built by a child with all those Windows on the front. Like someone just threw it together pretty quickly. So that was one of the first things I was going to modify. I figured I would add some sill on the front and use the 1x2x2 Windows to add a paned look.

Keep up the good work.

[Wodanis]

Great work Timmy! Actually I had thought about making Market Street and I put together a spreadsheet to estimate the cost of it if I ordered the parts off Pick a Brick. My estimates minus any exclusive part like the white hoses put it about $250 CDN. I was thinking to outright replace the doors for the newer type of doors. Even though it would be nice to have those doors at $20-30 per piece I think I can do without. Unless I get a bargain somewhere.

[eurotrash]

Congratulations Timmy! I think those alterations to the original design was a prudent decision.

[Heppeng]

I was not thinking of getting Market Street, however it has occurred to me that it would be perfect sat to the right of Parisian Restaurant, as I think the two open sides would compliment each other, and if I was to bricklink it I certainly would not mind changing to a few cheaper parts. I even have a lot of black hose spare which I may even consider painting white... Damn you!!!!!

[timmyc1983]

I was not thinking of getting Market Street, however it has occurred to me that it would be perfect sat to the right of Parisian Restaurant, as I think the two open sides would compliment each other, and if I was to bricklink it I certainly would not mind changing to a few cheaper parts. I even have a lot of black hose spare which I may even consider painting white... Damn you!!!!!

Ahahaha I must admit, I wasn't all that keen on Market Street at first and mainly got it so I had a complete set of modulars. But it's grown on me since it's been sitting in my room for the past week.

I also forgot to mention that I replaced the Dark Blue 1 x 4 bricks with various light bley brick to save on cost as well. This was a huge money saver, we all know how expensive the dark blue bricks are. So only the façade has the dark blue in it, whereas the sides and back are light bley. It's barely noticeable given the sides are mostly covered by other buildings. I have an LXF file with a moc up of what bricks you need. If anyone wants it let me know

[thiot]

So now that we have the Parisian Restaurant, what's the next modular?

A government building of some sort?

If it were to be a government building, I'd love to see a police station using dark blue as a main color.

Or is it something that's more of a store a la Grand Emporium and Pet Shop? What about a scooter/bike repair shop? Would be great to get some more of those scooter pieces and some new colored bikes.

Could we see something that breaks the mold of the traditional modular? What about an flatiron-style building? That would make for a very interesting model, and also provide some office spaces in the city without having to make boring office buildings.

For train collectors and non-train collectors, a station would be lovely in a city layout. Yes, LEGO would need to figure out how a station would work in the modular layout, but it could be neat.

Since we just had a restaurant and theater, what do you think will be next?

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

I don't know if we're going to see a Police Station just yet, to be honest, I much rather see a Bank or Post Office first.

The Modular train station would be ideal also! Hell, a Modular airport terminal would be amazing in it's on right.

But speaking of Police stations, I purchased the plans for The Modular Police Station from Brick City Depot.

And with all the super villains that will be calling my city home, it didn't seem like it was big enough to fight all that crime.

So I have been working on this:

and:

Essentially, what I did was make it a double wide 32 x 32 building, and will be the biggest building in the city once completed. I am thinking about making the 2 offices with the door frames standing in as an office and maybe communications room, with the chief of polices office being across the hall. The frame work behind the desk is going to be an elevator.

Obviously there is much to be done, I have 15 brick link orders currently out and waiting to come in to keep the progress moving forward.

What does everyone think?

[TheLegoDr]

I hope you use more color than Brick City Depot. Theirs looks really drab. I do like the front stairs though. And I like how you are orienting everything. It will be neat to see the final product.

I am currently working on an inverted corner Cafe Corner and then I'm torn between a modified Market Street or just a townhouse, but in dark green.

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

What would some of your suggestions be to make it less drab? With it being a police station, couldn't one argue that there is only so much to be done on the outside? However I have been trying to think of what to do with the sides of the buildings. As of right now, there are no windows or anything along the sides, so I was thinking of doing some sort of outside eatery, but who has their lunch alongside of a police station?

[Wodanis]

Maybe a park next to it? The eatery sounds good as well. I was thinking you could use bars for windows around the spot that will have the jail cells to break the wall up from solely bricks. Are you putting in any skylights? I was thinking the criminals will need a mean of escape. To be less drab why not use either a plate or a brick in a different colour stripe? (Similar to the Town Hall 10224) If it were me I would do grey for the concrete at the base/first floor, then blue and white for the second floor. Did you have it designed in LDD or were you free building?

As for a new modular building. According to the pattern that has been established, it will be a type of a government building. Question is will they do a police station or a post office? Or something we have yet to think of?

Edited November 28, 2013 by Wodanis

[CardinalBricks]

Here's an idea; a Rec Center!

[timmyc1983]

What does everyone think?

I think for a start your police station deserves its own topic It's looking really good so far...

And in terms of your eatery idea, it could be the local cop hang out eatery... The police all need a good place to get their sustenance, after all, LEGO cities have a very high crime rate.....

I'll look forward to more, happy building

Edit: Oh, and I just became a knight!! Hoorah!!!

Edited November 29, 2013 by timmyc1983

[The Executive]

I think a modular school or mall would be awesome. The mall wouldn't have to be gigantic. A single level design with a good amount of detail would suffice. I speculate that Lego might reuse the constable helmet mold in another set since they reused the police officer hat mold in the new police sets. I hope Lego reuses the constable in a 1890's style police department or something similar.

[TheLegoDr]

I agree on creating your own thread to garner some more interest in the topic, even if it is a WIP thread.

As for drab, BCD just has all dark bley it looks like. Everyone automatically assumed dark blue for a police building, but I'd think maybe a dark blue awning or something to break up the color, but the main building would probably be a more natural color. I could picture a tan building with some white accents. The problem is it is hard to build with white on the facade. The new Restaurant has white on the front and it barely works. For some reason that color doesn't lend itself well to most modulars that I've seen.

I think whatever color you choose will be fine, but for some reason I'm seeing tan/dark tan in my head. I'd love to see a more medium nougat color used in something, but those bricks aren't too plentiful.