Modified Modulars

[Xyver]

I've recently bought two sets of the Grand Emporium and Pet Shop modular buildings and wanted to increase the size of each.

I started with the Grand Emporium and thought it would look great as a 48x48, and I think it does:

The original plan was to have the roof so that the standard GE levels can be added to the top to build up for display purposes, but that didn't work because of the dual escalators. I will have to work on it though.

I then moved onto the Pet Shop brown building. I wanted an inside corner building to fit in with the layout I'm working on. I couldn't quite get it to work with an eight stud footpath on either side, so I just moved the baseplate off centre and created a walkway between the buildings:

The right hand side is only changed at the front door and the doorway to the left hand side. The top level hasn't been change at all, so for displays I will be able to add in extra 2nd levels to make that side much taller.

I was very happy with how the front door turned out, it is just a stanard 6x4 doorway on a turntable, with 45 slopes snotted onto the walls so as to leave no gap. It is actually a perfect fit and the door still opens.

Here's a photo of the modulars set up, I haven't decided what to do with the shop building yet, probably just add extra levels and leave it as standard 16x32.

[lightningtiger]

Great modifying there 'Xyver'......now you must fill those rooms and of course that department store....suggestion might be use some accessories from the Friend's range (cafe/beauty shop) to be merchandise in the store.

Brick On !

[Vindicare]

That 10211 GE looks fantastic(and more fitting) with the 48 layout. It looks more like a mall. 10218 looks odd, but I like the entryway you built for it. Is that 10228 I spy back there, too? I'd like to see an overall picture of your layout, these teaser shots are great!

[Kristel]

This extension really suits the GE and looks a bit more realistic actually. I also agree with Legocrazy81, though, that the townhouse doesn't look quite right.

[tomdobs55]

I like the townhouse, that door is fantastic! Hope you do some interiors, would really tie everything together. Love it!! Would love to see the full layout.

Edited December 8, 2012 by tomdobs55

[TheBricktator]

Love these mods! I've always wanted to try and build an inside corner building, great architecture there. Great work

[streifen]

Your modified inside-corner house (from Pet Shop) is great! I like the side alley you have created!

[Darthluke824]

Great work on the Apartment, I looks nice and roomy, and the Emporium looks really good! I noticed a 8x16 gap between the two of them, you could make this (Or something like it) to fill it: http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=55343 or just make a dark alley where all sorts of things go on...

Carry on with the good work!

Edited December 8, 2012 by Darthluke824

[Vincent Kessels]

That inner corner is a brilliant modification of the Pet Shop house!

I might have done some colors differently, like black tiles at the triangle roof above the door, and made the big white bars next the front door optically smaller by replacing some of the white with redisch brown plates.

The 8-wide alley is a good solution. I have already several 8-wide modules among which is a house and gravel path with gates.

[Redhead1982]

My favourite is the corner brown Pet shop house. It looks great and as inverted corner buildings are pretty rare, this one is special in a way. The tiny roof over the angled doors looks great. It would be great to see a furnished interior as well. Anyway you did a great job with the building.

[Xyver]

I'm glad you all like the mods.

I don't do interiors, which is why all of my buildings are bare. I agree they'd look better with something inside, but they don't get seen on a layout so I normally don't bother. Plus I'm no good at the fiddly decorations, I'll leave that to the more artistic people amongst us. My daughter turned the top floor of the GE into a bedroom department with beds she made herself, maybe I can encourage her to put more inside next time she's playing.

I'm in the middle of re-arranging my layout for our next show, so it is very much a work in progress at the moment, so I'm sorry to dissappoint all those wanting to see an overview, I promise to post pictures as sections are completed though in my Naiaville thread. The GE will not end up next to the town house, I only put that there for the photos, the blue building will most likely end up next to it with an 8-wide alleyway in between to get the baseplates back into the right spots.

Yes Legocrazy81, that is the Haunted House poking up in the background, but that's going in a different part of my layout.

[Wedge09]

Really nice modular in particulraly the brown angular modular :thumbup:

Edited December 8, 2012 by Wedge09

[scottwb2010]

Nice MOD of the Grand Emporium. I personally dont think the original sizeof the GE, 32 wide, does it justice so your 48 x 48 versions shows it in true "Grand" size which it needs to be IMO. Great double escalator.

Do you cut your road plates in half to make 16 wide versions?

[Vincent Kessels]

Do you cut your road plates in half to make 16 wide versions?

Why? You just put two 16 wide buildings next to each other.

[TheLegoDr]

Thanks for sharing. These are some great modifications! The GE does look grander at this scale. I considered doing something similar, only different, but I didn't want to spend money on a 2nd GE with all of these other great sets to get. But I like what you did with it. If I had more space, I would probably do something similar to all of my Modulars.

But the breadwinner here is the corner apartment building. I love the angled front doorway and the steps leading up to it. But I mostly love how it isn't scaled that much larger, but still allows ample interior living space. If you did make interiors, that'd be an ideal place to start. Maybe your daughter will want to add to that one instead of the GE. She could make it a perfect little living space.

Either way, thanks for sharing. Great work. I can't wait to see more.

[SwissBrick]

Dear Xyver, you've done an excellent job, I really like the "inside" corner you did!!! It's been a long time that I was looking for such a technique, very well done!

Question: Did you only use parts of 2 pet shop sets or did use additional ones?

Anyhow, thanks a lot for sharing, it's very inspiring!

PS: To all of you experienced MOCers, with the other blue building, if you had two of them, would you make one big building or two? If two, what would you do with the snot signs? And if one..?

Any examples I might have missed?

Thanks to all and let's get our hands on some bricks!

[Brick Contagion]

Liking the layout!

[scottwb2010]

Why? You just put two 16 wide buildings next to each other.

Hi Vincent. What I was meaning was, that there is a 16 wide road plate. It is clearly visible in the second picture. 1 x full 32 wide road, 1 x 16 wide makinfg up the 48 wide size of the GE mod.

Edited December 14, 2012 by scottwb2010

[tedbeard]

Do you cut your road plates in half to make 16 wide versions?

I did a set. I took a 32x32 straight road plate and made two "half" road plates. My buddy who is a definite trainhead showed my hpw he had done it to make some more flexibility in his layouts. They have come in quite handy.

[scottwb2010]

I did a set. I took a 32x32 straight road plate and made two "half" road plates. My buddy who is a definite trainhead showed my hpw he had done it to make some more flexibility in his layouts. They have come in quite handy.

Maybe TLG show follow suit. Sounds like a good idea as road plates don't always line up like you want them to depending on your layout

[Vindicare]

Maybe TLG show follow suit. Sounds like a good idea as road plates don't always line up like you want them to depending on your layout

That would be awesome. I know I could use them.

[Xyver]

Dear Xyver, you've done an excellent job, I really like the "inside" corner you did!!! It's been a long time that I was looking for such a technique, very well done!

Question: Did you only use parts of 2 pet shop sets or did use additional ones?

SwissBrick, I did actually use more than was in the sets. Because the left section is bigger I had to use some of my own brown bricks to complete it all. I had plenty since I pulled apart my 2 Log Cabins. The front steps also come from spare parts as did some of the windows and a couple plates for the floors - there wasn't enough.

Vincent, I have a couple of 48x48 buildings and sometimes the best way to fit them in is a 16 wide road plate, so I cut one in half. Sometimes a layout just works better with a half plate, especially when using buildings larger than 32x32 and requiring driveways.

I'm left with a 32x16 corner with my layout as it stands now, so will have to work out the best way to utilise my two blue buildings for that section, probably a wider building, I will post photos once its finished.

[F0NIX]

As I have said before, the GE looks a lot better when it gets larger. And this one looks nice. An idea for the escalators can be to move them a bit apart, so when you put a normal GE floor on top of this, one escalator hit the inside of the wall and the other on the outside (or you can have just one on that floor).

But my favorite of the two buildings is the modified brown pet shop building with that marvelous inside corner! Just the idea is great! And I think you have done it fantastic too. I like it when people go of the "normal" straight lines and a little off the standards too, but still do fit to the standards. Just look at my "diagonal road" here.

[Martin_B]

Inspiring indeed. The way you've extended the GE looks really natural, and the inside corner with diagonal door on the other building is fantastic. Thanks for sharing! Any other plans for modded modulars in the pipeline?

[Jargo]

Cities are always full of odd shaped buildings filling odd shaped lots. I actually like the town house better as an inverse corner than as a square mid row building. I like the alleyway next to it. The only thing I think looks odd is having the fire brigade directly next to the town house. Grand Emporium looks very grand expanded. Only thing i would change is the green canopies. Rather than having two per window I'd fill in between the two end 3x3 curved bricks with these to make longer canopies that are better for shading the whole window. It still works as you have it but I would do them differently.