[MOC][IDEAS 5k] Zoo

[kodlovag]

Zoo on Ideas     If you like it, please support

I always wanted to build a zoo to my modular city, but I could not find a good model to follow. I wanted a compact build, but single baseplate mocs looked more like animal storage containers, than an actual zoo. On the other hand, good zoos had a huge floor area. After several attempts to draw a good floorplans I ended up with the result, that the zoo must be multi level. And therefor it will consume many bricks, and will be expensive, and the animals are also expensive. So I delayed the project.

Then at the 2017 XMas raffle I was so lucky to win on Christmas day, and the extra prize were animals: tiger, leopard, black panther, pink pig. I already had some birds and an aligator, so it was clear that the zoo must be built, now or never.

I ended up with a design, were the animals have a large free area at the base level, and the visitors can walk over the area on hillside and hanging pathways. The most similar idea was the Ewok village. I found, that it could fit on two baseplates, and could be the base of a nice jungle scene. With two other baseplates I managed to add a forest and an arctic scene divided by a hill. Inside the hill there is a cave with bats and a snake in terrarium, and there is also a room for the animal caretakers with access to each areas. And this is the result.

It is still easy to divide the zoo into single baseplates.

The jungle scene is the most complex. The four support trees are the exact copies of the Ewok village, while the treetops are modified to fit into the zoo. The left tree is the feeding tree. Kids can feed the pig, but the original escape feature of the tree is still there and works fine, and the pig could be dropped down to feed the felines.

The middle tree is the monkey tree, chimps live there. The third one is the bird tree with the bird cage. Home of a colorful tropical parrots and a white owl. I also wanted to add an eagle, but the flying eagle is simply too big, cannot fit well, and it would simply be animal torture to keep one captured in such a small bird cage. In front of the bird cage the visitors can use the cat caller drums. There are three drums, one for each feline, which calls them into the stone circle, and the visitors can watch them through the glass floor lookout. The right tree is for pet caress. The hamsters and the bunny all love the kids, and especially some carrot.

Next scene is the forest with a black bear and a skunk, and there is also a gray owl in the tree. The scene features a waterfall, and the water flowing around the scenes, to the arctic, then to the jungle, and then pumped back up to fall down again. There is a pathway going up to the top of the hill.

Last scene is the arctic. This one includes the zoo entrance, compatible to the modular street. Polar bear and pinguins live there. There is the access to the caretaker area at the bottom, and the entrance to the cave. Also the pathway continues to the top of the hill.

I completed this zoo in 2018. Since that many new animals has been released, some of them like the reindeer or the brand new tucan or the rare flamingo could be immediatly added. But it would also be easy to expand the zoo with new area for the elephants and lions from the last years City Wildlife rescue sets.

There are some extra images at my flickr page, also higher resolution ones.

This is definitely one of my favourite build. Comments are welcome.

Edited January 14, 2022 by kodlovag
Ideas link added

[STHLM]

Cool! I've been thinking about doing something similar.

[Maple]

Oh wow this is nice. When I clicked on it I was thinking something more open. But I love how full and compact it is.

[Kallego]

Beautiful build. I really love how you designed everything on the limited space.

[Yoggington]

I am very impressed with this. I have been thinking for a while now how to fit a big zoo in a small space, and I think this is the way forward!

 

Thanks for posting.

[Legochaek]

That’s awesome! Love the bird cage especially. 

[monopunks]

This is a very unique take on a zoo, incredible job!

[Pop Bumper Pete]

the town where I live had a zoo about that size back in the 1950s

[LegoDW]

Not sure how close you are to 4000 pieces, if not over suggest you list on Lego Ideas.  Feel this would get a lot of support and typically TLG does not offer zoo's so good chance they would select this set.

[kodlovag]

Thank you for all the comments.

11 hours ago, LegoDW said:

Not sure how close you are to 4000 pieces, if not over suggest you list on Lego Ideas.  Feel this would get a lot of support and typically TLG does not offer zoo's so good chance they would select this set.

As far as I know the piece count allowed by IDEAS is 3000 only. This Zoo has about 4700 pieces, but in ideal case it would require extra bricks to furnish the room of the caretakers. So it's a bit too large. Another problem could be, that it contains a modified part of the Ewok village set. Also contains a rock from one of the Hobbit sets. Both designed by someone else, and even worse, part of a licensed set.

I'm prettey much sure it would be refused. But who knows... It's better to try than just speculating.

[Kristel]

This is an incredible build!  I love how the different sections are all integrated, flowing seamlessly from one animal exhibit to the next.  Well done!

[kodlovag]

I submitted it on Ideas. Let's see what happens...

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Wow, what a beautiful work!

The section with the water falls and the black bear is very impressive!

[kodlovag]

Well, the Zoo has been approved, and now it is gathering supporters. And within less, than one day it already reached 100 supporters. Wow! I did not expected that. Now I'm quite excited.

Here is the link to the Zoo on Ideas

If you like it, please support.

[Zork]

WOW, great work!! Would very well fit into my city.

You've got my support on Ideas 

Thank you for sharing

[kodlovag]

Thank you for all the supports! The zoo already have 2000+ supporters, and keeps collecting.

[kodlovag]

On 1/12/2022 at 7:54 AM, LegoDW said:

Not sure how close you are to 4000 pieces, if not over suggest you list on Lego Ideas.  Feel this would get a lot of support and typically TLG does not offer zoo's so good chance they would select this set.

Thank you for suggesting to submit the zoo on Lego Ideas. It just recently reached 5000 supporters, and hopefully will not stop until 10k!

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/7d8cf441-1cf2-4517-ba35-07fec8b137b2

[LegoDW]

On 3/12/2022 at 11:02 AM, kodlovag said:

Thank you for suggesting to submit the zoo on Lego Ideas. It just recently reached 5000 supporters, and hopefully will not stop until 10k!

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/7d8cf441-1cf2-4517-ba35-07fec8b137b2

Very happy your moc is going so well.  Glad others can see all the work you put into this.  Clearing a space out now in my city as sure you'll hit 10K in no time and will be selected!