My city layout: Dark Brick City

[x105Black]

I love this city (and the Dark City references).  Seeing it take shape and grow is very cool.  Looking forward to more updates!

[Agent 86]

I like your Lego Hospital MOD.

 

Was the original version, without the extra floor, built from two sets? Or one set and a lot of your own bricks?

[antp]

I only bought one set.

The part with the large blue windows was mostly built with the original set, I didn't have to add so many parts.

I used my own brick for the added part on the side and the more elaborate roof.

For the extra roof I bought four windows on Bricklink and completed the rest with my bricks.

Edited November 23, 2018 by antp

[antp]

As planned since long time, I recently modified the set 3661 to use it as a small corner building (approx. 16x32 corner modular), keeping space for a real full-size modular between that small building and the Corner Café that I moved since the last posted pictures;

To finish it I'll have to add this part to the bottom of the corner, via a future BL or B&P order.

The inside is similar to the original set:

Edited January 4, 2019 by antp

[tmctiger]

Hi @antp,

a very nice city you have built here. And with 12V - what a joy! I wish I had a 12V train back in the days, but I had "only" the 4,5V train (my most favourite set I own is 7720). BUt back to your city: you also built some really nice MOCs with blend great into the city. I also like the Ninjago district with its rock shore and brigde over the lake.

Very funny: I have also the set 21110 and coverted it into a museum: but  I didn't built a MOC for it, my city museum is placed in the upper stories of the Green Grocer. The astronomer however can get a great night sky view from the Grand Emporium in my city.

Sop keep up the great work and I am now curious how your city grow ...

BR,

Guenther

[antp]

Thanks :)

[AntiZombie]

Nice city progress. I especially like your ninjago district - looks great how you combined the sets with each other. :)

[antp]

Update two years later... in 2019 it did not evolve a lot, as I had less time for it.

In 2020 with the purchase of a new house and moving to it, all the Lego had to be put in boxes.

In the summer, the new Lego Room + Office looked like this:

(wooden walls are less pretty than the previous blue walls, but we did not had time for repainting these before moving, so that would be for much later...)

First I had to set up all the parts storage

Then putting the surface for the city layout, re-using most of the parts used previously, moving the boxes at each step:

Starting to unbox :

Beach corner + Ninjago (that will be finished later, when I'll decide how to include the new building just released). At table was moved temporarily for easier access

Two months ago:

One month ago:

And the current state:

Train track does not yet make a full circle. I wanted to re-use one of the bridges from the previous layout, but they don't fit, I'll have to make another one.

There is some space in the background against the wall because some kind of hill above the track is planned for there (as it was for the previous layout, but never done in the end)

[antp]

As I was usually working on the house (real or Lego ) the city did not advance much this year.

There is a photo I forgot to post here, how I decorated a hole between the few tables at the bottom of the crane:

Recently I've added a shelf on the wall to put there the Ninjago sets, allowing to move the beach to the corner and free the access to the window.

It was a bad idea to block the access to that window, for problems with the roof it must be possible to pass there...

It is not a big deal to have to make these changes, but it is frustrating: if I had planned that originally, I would have organized the tables differently (with the "hole" more in the middle of the layout)

Some day I'll probably rearrange all that, in a distant future, when I'll be fed up with that city and/or when I won't have space for the new modulars that will arrive.

So here is the moved beach area:

I still have to rearrange the area with the Ghostbusters headquarters and the Octan gas station, to create a path to the beach.

The Ninjago buildings on the shelf:

These last few days I was busy with the link between the sand-green building from the temple set and the new Ninjago Gardens.

As it is not easy to work on that shelf, and it is also complicated to move the sets that are on it, I made a replica of the back of the sand-green building and the border of the temple:

For that I used the stall from the small set Ninjago City Chase.

Once all put together:

Next step for that shelf: make a 16x48 or 24x48 area on the far left or far right, with the building coming from the middle of the Ninjago Docks (left and right parts of that set being at the sides of the City set). That building was in the background of the old layout, as I didn't know what to do with it: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/156427-my-city-layout-dark-brick-city/&do=findComment&comment=3009103

 

 

[antp]

In the end, I keep the continuation of the Ninjago shelve for later.

For now, finally a bridge for the train:

As seen on that picture, there is a missing 32x32 plate there, that will be replaced by something else later.

For now that baseplate was used for re-arranging the area of the Ghostbusters headquarters and the Octan station

The interest of using that road plate there is that its road edge matches the one of the Octan station (unlike other road plates). I also could put the Ghostbusters hq in a space that would normally be too small, by reducing the width of the road passing in front of it. The few studs in the middle of the plate allow to attach the sidewalk.

I now have to rebuild the annex made to the Octan station with the set 60132.

With an arrival of dark red bricks I could make the back of the Ghostbusters hq a little prettier:

If I need these parts for something else I can still easily get them from there, in the meantime it is a good storage method.

To keep the opening system of the building I also put hinges on that additional wall, shifted to the left:

Edited November 1, 2021 by antp

[antp]

Some other updates from last month, I eventually linked the remote controls for railroad crossing and added tiles between rails.

Then I filled the empty space at one of the sides of the track between these two crossing, and also filled one of the curves empty space.

For the tag on the wall I used stickers from set 79104

 

On the 3rd photo the "Hotel" sign felt down but I noticed that only when publishing the picture

Edited December 14, 2021 by antp

[antp]

I integrated the surf shop 31118 to the beach area:

I only kept the top floor, otherwise it would be too big compared to the fishing store.
As the front was on the shoreline I added a door at the back:

I recently freed space for the new Hotel modular:

I did so by moving the Bank to another place, reducing the space used by the fairground:

Then I integrated the new modular Hotel:

On the right the book store was fine, but I was not happy on how it looks with a building directly on its left (here one of the two market street buildings).

At the end, no building goes well on its left... except the one that is as low as the art gallery: the other building from the market street, at the other end of the buildings block (and that I want to keep there).

So I switched the two hotels (and the two buildings at the side of the new hotel, as the 3-level market street building needs a lower one at its side, but the lateral terrace).

Here is the Corner Café replacing the new hotel:

And the new hotel at its new place:

Edited March 12, 2022 by antp

[noahtheb]

Looks great! I love your city.

[antp]

I recently finished the reorganization of the Octan station after the move of the Ghostbusters HQ.

 

Like in my previous layout, the old station 6397 was expanded using parts of the set 60132

[antp]

Adding a corner restaurant by modifying a Friends set:

 

[Mestari]

So much work and so much space needed... But it looks really good. My dream would be to also have a city, but all with my MOCs. Impossible due to lack of space. I envy you ;)

Keep the updates coming!

[antp]

Thanks :) Indeed I'm lucky to have such space... but I'd like more, it is never enough

I've the opposite problem as you: with my city I can't really do large MOCs due to lack of space. Within a few years I'll probably dismantle the city (or part of it) to have space for larger (temporary) MOCs.

Edited June 11, 2022 by antp

[antp]

Recently I improved the edge of the beach, along the train track.

I started a sand dune to improve the edge:

But then I thought hat that border would be better with rocks than sand:

I continued like that until the end of the bridge, where I made a parking lot (which will be linked to a road coming from the back)

General view of the beach area:

[noahtheb]

The sand dune is a great idea! Great work on the beach section.

[antp]

On 6/6/2022 at 6:53 PM, antp said:

Adding a corner restaurant by modifying a Friends set:

 

That other thread ended by "I still have to find how to fill the space between the Corner Garage and the train track...":

So here is the continuation of that part, the kitchen garden + area beside the garage are now completed:

Meanwhile, Hina is keeping the space for the new modular building:

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by antp

[antp]

Long time since last update (even if I don't know if many people follow this thread), here are a few changes done since then.

First, the 2023 modular replaced the cat:

A last view of the city before big changes of 2023:

I decided to remove the train, as it was taking a lot of space and I was not making it run often enough. That allows me to add a few more modulars...

The disappearance of the rails in the back allowed be to push everything by 16 studs:

... and bring the service station area by 16 studs closed to the front, as well as replacing the two T crossings by a X road crossing: (not yet in place on the photo)

The Dinner and the police station were shifted by 32 studs, and the Parisian restaurant by only 16 to insert the book store between these, that's a building that I already moved a few times in the city:

The only rail track that I kept is the one that was between the alley and the vegetable garden:

I kept the 12V crossing signals but re-made gates with Technic parts.

At the other end of the track, a tram station:

Behind the Palace Cinema, there is some free space to put a future building I should make some day.

The fairground was moved to provide free space for the new 2024 modular. At its side, I've put the MOD of the bank set 3661 that I still hadn't integrated in the city since I moved from my previous apartment.

At the other side of the city, the beach was slightly moved (adding a narrow wood board to make the area a little bigger), leaving enough space for the fairground. I rmoved the wood board on which the train was passing along the wall, so I could re-use the red & grey bridge that was in my previous town layout (see first posts of the thread).

I made a base for the Ferris wheel:

Behind the scene:

(2nd photo is the block on the left that I had to make bigger, as I forgot that the baseplates were not aligned, one of the reason why I made that base).

Global view of the current city:

Some time ago I also added to the Ninjago Diorama (see in posts at the beginning of the page) a new part with the remaining building from the Docks, that I still hadn't integrated since:

[SpacePolice89]

On 11/17/2024 at 5:15 PM, antp said:

Long time since last update (even if I don't know if many people follow this thread), here are a few changes done since then.

First, the 2023 modular replaced the cat:

 

You have a very nice Lego city. The old light gray and green road plates are the best ones when building cities. I like to use them myself when building cities and street dioramas.