Brickington expands

[Eilif]

Layout

My seaside village has undergone some improvments. Here is the former incarnation of the downtown

Below is the new version, from NILTC's Layout at the Barrington Illinois' Public Library)

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Seeking to expand, the residents formally incorporated, choosing the stately name of "Brickington" in the hopes of encouraging more tourism. We'll come back to the downtown, but for now let's start at the southern edge of the village.

Here is Brickington pictured from the south. In the far right is part of the windmill. Built by Pepa Quin, this structure is only temporary, as he has refused to incorporate into Brickington. It has already been "removed" to make way for future expansions of Brickington.

A frontal view of the house:

next door, and up a small hill is the home of a friendly, but somewhat reclusive hunter. His son and fiance have just stopped by, and his father is in the woods hunting.

Next up are the green and yellow houses

From the rear, who is that young man in brown waving to?

of course, it's his neighbor's daughter, the girl next door. Ah, summer romance...

Moving further down. Citing the rising price of rent, the surf shop has purchased space above an industrial building just inland of their former location.

In it's new corner address, Tomaselli's Sicillian is even more successfull than before. The red mansion formerly located at the far south end has been recreated in the downtown area, with a comercial space underneath. Next door is creepy Jimmy's "Gift Island", and a stack of small rentable condo's for the vacationer that likes to be right in middle of the action.

Now incorporated as a town, the citizens have recognized the need for a constabulary, and have erected a fine new police station right next to Lee's Cantonese dining. Also, clearly visble are new curbs, erected after popular outcry in town (and at eurobricks) regarding the possiblity of cars accidentaly driving or rolling into the ocean.

One area that hasn't changed much is the north corner of Brickton, the same stately greystone, industrial/condo building, and the Double-Shark Bar and Seafood restaurant. Visible here is the new wider boardwalk.

Finally we round the corner, and our journey has come to an end.

Almost....

Things are happening behind the scenes...

Some n'er-do-wells congregate around a suitcase in the alley.

At the other end of the alley, public works is slowly disposing of some hardware left behind by lazy members of the the Northern Illinois LEGO Train Club.

Suddenly, realizing that they are being observed by a supervisor, they spring into action!

Lastly, surrounded by sharks, on an island just north west of Brickington, an escaped fellon bides his time...

Thanks for visiting scenic Brickington. The Brickington planning comission has approved plans for an expanded marina downtown, and a separate seaplane facility at the south end, so please come back to visit soon.

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Suggestions for improvement, comments, etc are appreciated.

More pics, available here after moderation. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=332409

Earlier pics, including in progress, detailed shots of "gift Island", and the blue and white condo building. are available here:

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=309896

Construction on the above mentioned expansion slated to begin mid-late august.

Edited January 19, 2012 by Phred

[Basiliscus]

Can I just say that this is a really nice addition to an already excellent layout. I love the roof of the yellow house, despite it's simplicity. I also really like the wall at the first red house. Nice use of the raised baseplate for the log cabin - sometimes this can look unrealistic (the baseplate that is), but not in this case IMO.

The best bit has to be the surf shop - I am glad you gave in to public pressure!

Well done mate, can't wait to see the next improvements!

[Fatespuppet]

This is quite nice. The first couple pics show how busy the place looks, so I'm guessing the tourism changes are working.

The Cafe Corner style modular sets have really inspired me to start creating something like this as well. Unfortunately I'm not as good at adding neat details as can be seen in the Lego sets and MOCs online. Still, seeing layouts like this make me think I might be able to slowly piece a town together that is respectible.

[Eilif]

Thanks,

I'm glad you folks enjoyed it.

Basiliscus,

The yellow house is a Sears "Aladdin" model prefab kit. Back in the day, you could order a house from Sears, and it would come with all the supplies necessary, and lumber precut. All you had to do was assemble your own house. For a previous show in Batavia, each member did an historic house from the town, and the Aladdin was my assignment. The owner was thrilled to see her house in LEGO!

Fatespuppet

Keep at it, your town will come together. I've been building alot lately but one of the neat things about modular building is that you can build as slowly as a floor at a time. My first setup was just the 4 country houses, and the first downtown (pictured at the top) didn't get added until a couple months later. As for detail, alot of my best detail ideas came from pics found online (Eurobricks and Brickshelf especially) and taking pictures of other people's creations.

Also, I'm reluctant to admit it, but having a quarter of the layout covered by tracks and a quarter covered by water makes your layout seem alot bigger that it really is. As far as actual built area, Brickington is only about two baseplates wide by 9 baseplates long!

[Fatespuppet]

Hmm, 2 by 9 eh? That's actually doable I think. I lucked into a huge sale on 32x32 baseplates at Walmart after Xmas last year. 2 dollars each! I bought them out and was planning a huge expansion to Puppet's Cove, but if you looked at my table it would appear a large Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention is taking place on a large grassy field. I'll have to shoo these rabble rousers away so construction can begin.

Are most of your buildings built on 32x32 plates?

[Eilif]

The size of the baseplates varies quite a bit. Most of the cottages are built on 32x32 baseplates. None of the downtown buildings is built attached to a baseplate, but they are all 16x16 or 8x16 modules that rest on a built base (which is of course built on baseplates). You can see what I mean here:

16x16 modules and a previous incarnation of the built up base

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=329059

my most recent 8x16 modules

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=329791

[WhiteHexagon]

some really nice roof top details, I espiecially like the roof on 'Lee's Cantonese dining' something useful for those bricks at last :)

[welcomestranger]

I love that yellow bungalow!

[maiq the liar]

The NILTC, you say?

if you ever do another show at cantigny, I'll see if mom can bring me there.

The city looks a lot bigger now!

[Eilif]

The NILTC, you say?

if you ever do another show at cantigny, I'll see if mom can bring me there.

The city looks a lot bigger now!

Thanks,

Yup, NILTC, and you're in luck, Cantigny is an annual show for us. This year it will be on the 6th and 7th. Come by and say hi. You can keep an eye on our schedule here www.niltc.org.

Edited July 29, 2008 by Eilif

[maiq the liar]

Got it written down. shame i can't join the NILTC, blasted not being 18...

[Eilif]

Got it written down. shame i can't join the NILTC, blasted not being 18...

Great, hope you can make it.

Eurobricks rules/guidelines being what they are, you may want to edit your post regarding your age though...

[maiq the liar]

While, i didn't directly state my age...

And besides, i joined a short while before that rule was put into place. Grandfathering FTW!

[jifel]

WHOA!thats awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

love all those details.

"well hello, beautiful."

jifel

[Eilif]

I just wanted to let you know that the name change to "Brickington" (intended to encourage residency and commercial investment) has been very successfull. The town's tax base has grown enough to support an expansion to Brickington, and it is almost finished.

It will be displayed this weekend with the rest of the Northern Illinois LEGO train club. September 13th and 14th, at the Arlington Heights, IL, Memorial Library. The show is free and will be from 9am to 5:00 pm on Saturday and Noon-4pm on Sunday. I'll only be in attendance on Sunday, but the layout will be in place all weekend. A great way to see a sample of some of the best building in the midwest for free!

I'll post a new thread with pics next week. Til then, a few hints: The residents of Brickington now have access to commercial aviation, and fresh produce, and there is much less danger of boats running aground.

Edited September 8, 2008 by Eilif

[Guss]

amazing city , wonderful! entirely done by you?

Edited September 8, 2008 by Guss

[Eilif]

amazing city , wonderful! entirely done by you?

Thanks Guss,

The background buildings (on green baseplates) in the first picture and the windmill belong to other members of NILTC, and some of my vehicles are M.E. Models kits and modified TLG desgins, but but everything else is MOC'd by me.

Edited September 8, 2008 by Eilif

[Manta]

This was a great improvemennt, a little question though. Do you have it on display at a library, or is that the name of a building you built?

[Eilif]

This was a great improvemennt, a little question though. Do you have it on display at a library, or is that the name of a building you built?

Sorry about that, I think my fictional narrative about the layout bled over into the real details regarding it's display at the Northern Illinois LEGO Train Club (NILTC) show.

To clarify, it is not on display anywhere now, but the layout you see in the pictures, as well as the new unpictured expansion, will be on display this weekend at the Arlington Heights Library.

[Guss]

wow it's a little too far away for me ( switzerland ) ,

you must have spent a lot of time building all of this , I'm impressed : clap! clap !

[Bob]

I like how you have the building on a hill type of piece, (from forestmen?) I based my house like that off yours. Although its on the Soldiers Fortress one.

[Eilif]

I like how you have the building on a hill type of piece, (from forestmen?) I based my house like that off yours. Although its on the Soldiers Fortress one.

Thanks Bob,

Alot of folks don't like these raised plates, but I think that when used appropriately, they can be a great way to vary the elevations on a layout. I've just used some of the hills in my collection, but even some of the more expensive (on bricklink) ones are a pretty good deal when you consider how many bricks you might use to build a similar hill.

As for this one, it's a base from Kings Mountain Fortress or Black Knights (Dungeon Master's) Castle. It's identical to the base you have, but with a different color/print. If you like this use of a raised baseplate, you'll love what I did with the baseplate from Hospital (7892).

But you'll have to wait until next week for the next batch of pictures...

Edited September 8, 2008 by Eilif

[Marko]

My type of town. Good work. I was last night thinking about incorporating Indy sets in my future town and now I see that they fit very well.

[Eilif]

Thanks Marko,

With some modifications, the Indy vehicles can definitely be a nice addition to a LEGO town. I'm not very good at building cars, so they make a great starting point for me. I actually just purchased as second of the Race for Treasure set that I'll be modding into a delivery truck and civilian type car.

If you'd like to see the more recent additions to the town.

Airport, marina, and boathouse:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?...;hl=brickington

Mountain, Christmas Tree Farm and Ferry:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?...;hl=Brickington

Enjoy!

Edited January 21, 2009 by Eilif

[Marko]

Hello,

I really like the idea of ferry with cars. For me as an person who has taken 100s of times ferry to the island where my grand folks lived it seems to be a bit too high for the length or did you have some exact ferry in mind?

Once again I really like seaside creations and yours is very nice. The town I liked to live in.

With all the good,

Marko