I've seen some of the stuff you guys (And gals) got one here about city stuff so I have some questions.

1: what are good sets to make a city?

2: what should I display it on?

The sets I will have by the end of next month are:

7998 Heavy Hauler, 7991 Recycle Truck, 8654 Scuderia Ferrari truck, 10173 Holiday train.

That's all of the city related stuff I know I'm getting. Any feedback is appreciated,

thank you,

EB59

Having read your list which City sets you already own, here some hints:

In addition to the Heavy Hauler I'd buy some construction side stuff like e. g. a digger.

In addition to the Recycle Truck I'd buy an apartment house if there is any sold on Ebay/Amazon/... or build an own one. I personally don't like to combine self-built houses with official sets, but some people do.

In addition to the Ferrari Truck I'd buy something like a service station - but in Ferrari questions don't ask me because I'm not very knowing.

In addition to the Holiday Train I'd buy a train station. There are some nice and not very expensive (old and new) City sets available on Ebay. I wouldn't buy the new Train Station. It is indeed not expensive but it looks inside very cheap. I'd buy lots of 9V tracks, too, because they won't be sold until now which is a shame!

Otherwise I'd say there are very nice sets TLC released this year and is going to release next year - so buy which you like and wich you are financially able to buy. I personally would save my money (and i personally exactly do this) for the 10184 Town Plan because it'll be a great set for people who already own a lot of City sets and even for people who are at the beginning of making up a Lego City.

I hope that I could help you.

Klaus-Dieter

I'm mainly trying to get the streets and buildings before I invest alot of $ into lots of vehicles. I hope they sell cheap 9v tracks on Ebay. What did you mean buy alot of 9v tracks?

Are you aware that the Holiday train is trackless? Eitherway, you will need some more houses; the Town House set is a great deal if you want more roof pieces. I also reccomend the Harbour set. But it really depends on what you like as Sinnerton reflects my interests, and what I like may not be what you like. My town is limited by the fact that I insist on having a harbour and a train in a small (about 1x2 meters) layout leaving me with little room for anything else. *wacko* If you are prepeared to leave yours on the floor like many then you can be more flexible. I suggest you browse though Brickshelf and decide what you think works.

Are you aware that the Holiday train is trackless? Eitherway, you will need some more houses; the Town House set is a great deal if you want more roof pieces. I also reccomend the Harbour set. But it really depends on what you like as Sinnerton reflects my interests, and what I like may not be what you like. My town is limited by the fact that I insist on having a harbour and a train in a small (about 1x2 meters) layout leaving me with little room for anything else. *wacko* If you are prepeared to leave yours on the floor like many then you can be more flexible. I suggest you browse though Brickshelf and decide what you think works.

Sadly, I am aware of it :'-( I would mainly like for my town to have a harbor, a train track that goes around the edge of the town, and a little street. I'll probaly want to start off by getting some baseplates.

You should have got the $45 Airport on Blac Friday at Target!

You should have got the $45 Airport on Blac Friday at Target!

If I want my city to be somewhat the size of Sinnerton then I don't think I'll be needing an airport, thanks though!

i am currently building a city and have bought sets like:

a cement mixer truck (7990)

the crane with the toilet/tea room (7905)

the cafe (10182)

various road base plates i prefer the dark grey ones

and various items from bricklink such as trees bushes lamp posts etc for a park

im currently in the process of making a bank with items from harry potter/star wars and older city parts such as the police station/fire station for windows and doors

My layout is 12' x 4'and it's still not big enough for all that I want on there!

Dr. S.

That's an impressive layout you've got there!

Could someone give me a link to Sinnerton?( Sinner's layout? )

That's an impressive layout you've got there!

Indeed. *wub* Tableton is one of the best. Have you seen his cool video? :-P

Could someone give me a link to Sinnerton?( Sinner's layout? )

Surprisingly, I am Sinner on Brickshelf. ;-)

That's from a few months ago, so it has changed a bit. (The Town House is currently a space craft! :-D ) It's quite lame compared to many others. :-$ Hinckley's is pretty cool. *wub*

I don't know about whose is betters, yours or Hinckleys. One thing Hinckley has that you don't is a giant bear filled with money. *wub*

I don't know about whose is betters, yours or Hinckleys.

You're too kind. Mine consists of un-modified sets, a lame cafe-corner ripoff, some customised cars/trucks, a tug boat and a Martian War Machine. Hinckley has at least three quite beautiful custom buildings and is almost as wide as mine is long. Sinner 1, Hinckley 5. :-D

I don't know about whose is betters, yours or Hinckleys. One thing Hinckley has that you don't is a giant bear filled with money. *wub*

I have windmill instead, but it isn't shown in that picture. :-P

First, buy some roadplates.

Then, get some ($) and buy some houses, like the holiday house, and creator house.

Buy a train station, gas station, and any other buildings avaible.

If you want, buy cafe cirner/market street and make some moc extensions for them.

Yeah, its a lot of ($), but thats how to have a large town I guess.

I would like to see a Lego town you make. My attempts left me with a shortage of bricks and 4 crappy buildings on a grey baseplaate. |-/ Hope you do better than me.

The only advice I could give you eb59 about building a city is PLAN FOR THE FUTURE. If you are truly a die-hard fan of "Town/City", then you will want to buy/ask for all the sets necessary. I have been collecting "Town/City" sets for the past 22 years and I don't intend to stop. I have plans to build a layout in the basement of my next house. I began planning out my city layout when I was in middle school. I am not sure what your thoughts are on a layout, but if you want a descent size layout, start planning for it now. That way when the time comes to building your layout, you will have the sets needed. Plus you could use the sets as a base model. For example you could take the Fire Department from this year, and add to it in the future. Another thing to consider is if you buy/ask for the new "City" sets for 2007/2008, this way you will have some great sets just in case the line becomes very :-X in the future. TLC produced some very :-X sets from 1997 to 2000. I did not buy during those times. From 2001 to 2002 they didn't even have the "City" theme going. But in 2003 they finally revived the line under "World City". I finally was able to begin buying again. Since then the sets have been pretty good. But I especially *wub* what TLC has done for "City" from 2006 through 2008. These years are definitly a great time to buy *y* .

As for the "Train" line. I do not have much advice for you. I started buying the 9V system from the time it came out up to now. But with this fading out, I could see the prices of these items go through the roof. I would definitly think about the 9V system, but also see what TLC comes up with in 2009. I have heard they are working on a new design which uses the Power Function System. I can't even wait to see how this new system will work. Good luck on your hunt and I hope my advice has helped.

Model On!!

My advice based on my own experience:

1) Collect Lego City sets for 30 years.

2) Marry an EXTREMELY patient and understanding wife.

3) Buy a house with a big basement.

Beyond that, all you really need is time and money. The beauty of the City theme is that it's a Lego staple, and it's not going away (despite some horrible, horrible years in the late 90's). Pretty much any other theme can serve as parts fodder for custom City sets. And, it's very modular -- as your collection grows, just buy a couple more road plates, and expand your city.

Here's some pictures of my town, Fluxington.

Good luck, and have fun!

Hi exo-builder! good to see you want to build a city! I have build many but because i'm still a kid I haven't been granted a room for my Lego so I have had to re-think my ideas on many occasions.

I finally came up with a sollution not to build a city but a main street on my cupboards and this worked out quite well. Its not as good as tabletown, sinnerton, fluxington or Hinckleton (named that last one myself) But it's ok for the little space I have:

Sorry for the bad quality pics! ;-) Hope you build a great town exo-builder good luck! *y*

edit: just ignore that red and white building it's for a little competition and i'm not quite finished!

Edited November 28, 200717 yr by casewindu

I think I speak for a lot of City/Town lovers that space is going to be your biggest hurdle. Due to the amount of stuff you can attain for a city, it could become quite overwhelming. I know that this is my current problem I just do not have the space to build a city, but I do have a lot of sets and parts to do it with.

Money and time probably come second as you need money to buy sets or parts and time to go out or order these parts, plus time and effort in designing and building. This is not an issue perse, although work does come to mind at least for me.

Finally like others have mentioned, just buy sets and parts that you feel you would like in your city. Make it unique, which happens to be the best thing about LEGO, your imagination would be your limiting factor.

Cheers

DB

For younger builders who don't own a real house, so can't devote an entire room to build a permanent Lego layout, I think CaseWindu's advice is the best so far. Find a small area like the top of a dresser that you can build a small layout on. Small is beautiful! You'll find with careful planning, you can fit quite a lot into a very small space like this layout of mine from a few years back. If fact, I had a large part of this layout permanently built inside a sliding drawer under my bed for many years (which meant I had to leave out taller buildings like the police station here):

Plan view. In this part of the layout alone I have managed to fit 4 houses, a church, garage, bike shop, goods yard, Statue of Liberty, police station, hospital, fire station, snack bar, pizzaria, post office, football pitch, runway and space shuttle launch pad:

Of course it helps that the buildings are all in the classic Lego town style which makes them much smaller than the modern ones:

For older builders JoeBot's plan has worked well for me! *y*

When building a city one needs large amounts of bricks, roofpieces, windows and doors. With those basic ingredients the possibilities are endless.

As a town collector I have been collecting city/town sets all my life and have pretty much every little car, plane, boat from 1985-1996 (the period Lego made some really good townsets).

You can make a city any way you want it, even with few buildings but lots of cars and pedestrians on roadplates you'll have a city feeling. Just make it lively.

Space is always a problem: in my current city I tried to make a real compact looking design, fitting on just 1x2 metres with a train, mainstreet, industrial area, tall buildings and tunnels. It worked out pretty well, so I have to second PaulC in saying that small is beautiful (quite a big city by the way, PaulC very nice!)

My layout is 12' x 4'and it's still not big enough for all that I want on there!

Dr. S.

Is that a Flat Eric teddy I see up top?

Is that a Flat Eric teddy I see up top?

Yes! Got a smaller one on my desk as well.

Dr. S.