I'm hoping someone can provide a little more guidance on the Mirror. (Pics or video would be better). I'm just starting the #2 bags and when I look at the mirror piece, it looks like a cardboard rectangle with paper on both sides. I imagine the mirror is behind one of the pieces of paper. Is there adhesive behind the other paper to make it stick to the wall? I don't want to start trying to peel away parts when I'm not supposed to. Thanks.

^you peel the protective coating off, it is very similar on both sides, but if you pick at it, you will see which side peels off. It just slides loose into the grooves created by the brick pieces around it, as a frame.

Just wanted to say a big "thank you" to Talos. Making those changes as soon as my DO is finished. It's already one of my favorites but the bar is essential.

I finally made some mods to my DO, please let me know what you think - I'm pretty excited:

Quick background: I have all the recent modulars and have never felt the need to mod one. I really like the DO too but, weeks after building it, the Al's building still felt too narrow and blue for my street and I kept thinking about how good an earlier poster's photoshop of a wider and recolored Al's looked. I didnt have the room to go larger than 32x32 though and I didnt want to buy a 2nd set. So, with about $20 of Bricklink orders I came up with this. The biggest change (other than color and width) vs original is that I turned the alley into a lobby for the apartment building above Al's (so Al's door moved to the street side). Havent changed the interiors yet but the extra ~6x7 studs on each upper floor look like they'll provide plenty of room to do a proper apartment or two.

I like the modifications so far 'PastVPresent'......I wonder what anyone else will come with.

PVP, what mods did you make to the inside of Al's? That building MOD looks great! Yet another mod to this set that makes the build look like it could be two separate buildings like the Pet Shop set.

Thanks LT and Poisso3 - no mods inside yet but I'm continuing to mess with it, just threw on a fire escape:

Now that's some realism 'PastVPresent'......keep going with those modifications and Brick On !

PastVPresent. Without the fire escape, it's the best DO mod that I've seen. I think the fire escape detracts from the design. Gilding the lily.

Edited January 23, 201510 yr by Off the wall

just threw on a fire escape:

Very nice MOD, I do like the fire escape on the building.

I just started with building the DO and only went through bags 1 until now.

I must say I like the building techniques and the design of 'The Highlander' pool room.

Compared to the GE there is a lot of variation to the building techniques.

So so far no complaints with the DO... Well maybe one and that's where I should put it, I need to redesign the room to add this modular as my shelf is full.....

Thanks LT and Poisso3 - no mods inside yet but I'm continuing to mess with it, just threw on a fire escape:

Excellent Fire Escape Mod but i think if you made it at back would be more realistic ;)

Very, very cool mod, but I also prefer the version without the fire escape.

Did you only change the color of the front facade?

Very, very cool mod, but I also prefer the version without the fire escape.

Did you only change the color of the front facade?

Agree...fires escapes are fine. As long as they are on the back or side of a building.

Thanks for all the comments Off the wall, Dennan, VintageEraLego, and RogerSmith! Glad you like it but clearly I need to think about the fire escape a bit more. For what its worth, this is why I added it here:

- I wanted this to feel realistic and all the old NYC buildings that this modular represents in my mind have front fire escapes, examples here

- I also thought it had the secondary benefits of helping provide more of a visual break between the two buildings and it helped tie the mod back to the original design a bit

Regarding the facade color, yes the back is still blue (didnt have enough brown bricks to change) - not really a problem for my display but maybe another thing to mod one day...

Edited January 23, 201510 yr by PastVPresent

Thanks for all the comments Off the wall, Dennan, VintageEraLego, and RogerSmith! Glad you like it but clearly I need to think about the fire escape a bit more. For what its worth, this is why I added it here:

- I wanted this to feel realistic and all the old NYC buildings that this modular represents in mind have front fire escapes, examples here

- I also thought it had the secondary benefits of helping provide more of a visual break between the two buildings and it helped tie the mod back to the original design a bit

Regarding the facade color, yes the back is still blue (didnt have enough brown bricks to change) - not really a problem for my display but maybe another thing to mod one day...

While I can appreciate your respect for the original design and think you created an outstanding MOD of the original, aesthetically the fire escape takes away from the looks of both the original and the MOC. I wonder if the buildings in NYC were designed with the fire escape on the front or if changes in the alley way behind the buildings required them to be relocated or if a new code came along after the buildings were originally constructed and when later updates were made to the building the owners were forced into a code upgrade.

I like the fire escape on the front.

Thanks PastVPresent for the MOC. I had in mind building something like this https://images.42floors.com/a7c7c6b339bb776903e14702c9b2097d9c7e80dc.jpg and now I have an interesting way of doing it.

That is excellent PastVPresent, thank you for sharing. Would you mind posting any pictures of the interior? Much appreciated!

OTW, really interesting question - just did a little internet research and it sounds like a lot of these fire escapes were in fact add-ons (fire code-required retrofits to provide 2nd means of egress)

El Garfio, thanks and great pic, thats the kind of building & neighborhood I was thinking of too

seba123, thank you! The interiors still need work so I feel bad taking the thread too far off topic with them but I put a pic on my brickshelf (link: here) in case you just want to see the size of the mod floor area

PastVPresent

Thanks for the info. If that's the look you were aiming for, you nailed it! Again, nice work.

The added door, the street number and the fire escape. Yep, that's it! All it needs is a bodega down the street.

Edited January 23, 201510 yr by Off the wall

I just opened my copy of DA, and I've got to get something off my chest.

I am seriously p*ssed off by the fact that, out of nowhere, Lego decided to put the complete instructions in one book.

Firstly, it now has a real "back", like a book, which makes it annoying to put flat on the table.

Secondly, I always build modulars together with my wife. So the books being separated by floor (until now) made it very easy to sit at our large table and build away, one floor each.

Next time we build it, we switch floors, so it's double the fun.

I don't want to have to sit at a computer looking at a pdf.

I am now seriously contemplating surfing to "missing pieces" on lego.com, claiming the manual is missing...

Edited January 24, 201510 yr by Withacee

I've got a six pack of Bell's Two-Hearted Ale and the second floor of the DO waiting on me for later today.

Going to be a good weekend, friends.

I just opened my copy of DA, and I've got to get something off my chest.

I am seriously p*ssed off by the fact that, out of nowhere, Lego decided to put the complete instructions in one book.

Firstly, it now has a real "back", like a book, which makes it annoying to put flat on the table.

Secondly, I always build modulars together with my wife. So the books being separated by floor (until now) made it very easy to sit at our large table and build away, one floor each.

Next time we build it, we switch floors, so it's double the fun.

I don't want to have to sit at a computer looking at a pdf.

I am now seriously contemplating surfing to "missing pieces" on lego.com, claiming the manual is missing...

Haha, I know what you mean. I read in the set review here on Eurobricks that the instructions were all in one book, and I was worried. Would it be a stiff book like the Ghostbusters set and crack apart when opened up flat!? Arghh. Well at least its not that bad. It is obvious if you flip through the instructions, and come to what would of been the end of a sub booklet, there is an advertisement page, and then the next page goes into the next part of the build. It must of been a last minute change, probably to save a few pennies. Save a few staple's costs..haha. It wasn't worth it to Lego to reformat the book. I bet its going to be the norm from here on, with the larger sets.

I've got a six pack of Bell's Two-Hearted Ale and the second floor of the DO waiting on me for later today.

Going to be a good weekend, friends.

Haha, me too, I usually build in the afternoon, and go get a beer to drink while building. ;-)

We build tomorrow; I shall stick to a single malt whisky

To all of your good healths, gentle people!

Cheers!

I am now seriously contemplating surfing to "missing pieces" on lego.com, claiming the manual is missing...

Well that is dishonest.