For the past few months I’ve been working on a LEGO modular Daily Planet in my spare time, and I wanted to share it with everyone here. This is also my first "real" post (I only recently joined) so it's highly probable I'm gonna screw this up because, well, I'm an idiot. Please be gentle, and if this is the wrong place I do apologize. I host the images on my own site because I'm given to understand that Eurobricks doesn't host images, so I hope I've done that correctly as well. 

Anyway, on to the model. It has 4 floors plus an accessible roof, and currently consists of 5,894 LEGO pieces. At the outset I started tracking my time and it also represents about 325 hours of work all done in Bricklink Studio. When I got the idea, I formulated a list of some things I wanted it to have:

Large globe on top
The “stairstep” look from the comics
The lobby globe like was shown in the 1978 movie
Face-to-face desks in the “bullpen” for Lois and Clark. Lois’ desk would be a big ol’ mess with a hairbrush, food, and crumpled papers next to the waste basket, while Clark’s desk is neat as a pin.
Because we’re big Smallville fans and so many fun moments took place there, the model also features roof access where Lois can go to smoke or take a ride with Big Blue, and includes the roof access structure where Clark (finally) took flight in the finale of Smallville.
A copy machine/room
Break room
Janitor closet for Clark to change in
Perry White’s office
Desk for Jimmy
Office details like water coolers
A store room with boxes of papers

You can probably see that I've iterated the outside colors, and very significantly changed the uppermost floor to no longer have windows but rather a large clock. The reason was two-fold; first I thought it looked kind of cool that way, and I wanted to motorize the large globe on top to turn (and have a Superman minifigure flying around it. And just for fun, I couldn't resist photoshopping Superman into one of the renders.

So there you have it. I make updates to the model fairly frequently and will make updates here if there's interest. Here's a few more images:

 

Very nice job @legominiguy! I love the contrasting style to the official '60's styled Daily Bugle set: It's 1930's Art Deco VS 1960's Brutalism and this art deco masterpiece wins every time in my book. (especially in such a cool paint scheme!) As a side note: I wonder if the comics used the Chrysler (and maybe the Empire State as well) buildings as inspiration... the pointed spire up top, and the stepped format seem to be a bit of both.

Keep up the good work!

 

Edited March 29, 20222 yr by Murdoch17

Thank you so much @Murdoch17 I really appreciate the kind words or encouragement!

it looks very good. I'm curious what it looks like. When you are done with this moc. I just don't know what I think about the globe. It looks good but a bit to many lego studs visible? I dont know..

 

Wow I quite like it

@legodudez Thanks for the feedback. I also kicked over the idea of a smoother globe on top, but with LEGO parts there are few options especially if you want a specific size. Also complicating things is the fact that I really wanted/hoped to have the lettering. I thought about it and looked around for about 6 months while I tried variations of the rest of the building for things like having back panels that open for playability and having an elevator rather than stairs because the tapering building structure made the stairs much more complex (an idea I eventually abandoned because I worked the stair problem out). In the end I went with a modified Lowell sphere to accommodate the lettering and because I could make other similar structures in different sizes. After I'd built it out in Stud.io and looked at it without the lettering I started to warm up to it and eventually quite like it. Recently when i revisited it to work out the lettering I realized I actually loved it, and now with the lettering even more. I do realize that it's not to everyone's taste but in the end I felt that it was more important to evoke the globe at the top rather than replicate it in real world fidelity. No matter what, I do want to say thank you for taking the time to comment on the model, I value all of the opinions very much! 

@rome00150 Thank you very much!

On 3/29/2022 at 6:29 AM, Murdoch17 said:

Very nice job @legominiguy! I love the contrasting style to the official '60's styled Daily Bugle set: It's 1930's Art Deco VS 1960's Brutalism and this art deco masterpiece wins every time in my book. (especially in such a cool paint scheme!) As a side note: I wonder if the comics used the Chrysler (and maybe the Empire State as well) buildings as inspiration... the pointed spire up top, and the stepped format seem to be a bit of both.

Keep up the good work!

 

@Murdoch17 I've been thinking a lot about your comment and how interesting it is from an architectural point of view as you pointed out. The art deco elements in the comics were (are) super beautiful and I'm thinking of doing a write up on the architectural inspiration for the comic and my version to go along with the instructions. I just wanted to drop you a note back to say thank you again for the observations and  the inspiration.

:) Thanks again...

This looks awesome. I've been toying with the idea for a long time to do a Daily Planet since LEGO keeps releasing Daily Bugles and DC needs some love sometimes too.

I really like how you captured the stepped approach and the roof spires with the dark green. The globe on top looks really neat. That is how I would do it also. Nice work on the interior too. It's always fun to see the innards of these builds. I've found myself even though I like making detailed interiors, since I never look at them I just omit them altogether these days. Most of my newer builds you can't even take apart in sections to keep the flow on the front better.

I will have to look back at this for inspiration if I ever get around to building my own (I have too many tan buildings as it is, currently working on a Wayne Manor in tan).

4 hours ago, TheLegoDr said:

This looks awesome. I've been toying with the idea for a long time to do a Daily Planet since LEGO keeps releasing Daily Bugles and DC needs some love sometimes too.

I really like how you captured the stepped approach and the roof spires with the dark green. The globe on top looks really neat. That is how I would do it also. Nice work on the interior too. It's always fun to see the innards of these builds. I've found myself even though I like making detailed interiors, since I never look at them I just omit them altogether these days. Most of my newer builds you can't even take apart in sections to keep the flow on the front better.

I will have to look back at this for inspiration if I ever get around to building my own (I have too many tan buildings as it is, currently working on a Wayne Manor in tan).

@TheLegoDr thank you very much! I did take a bit to look at your Flickr stream and your MOCs are great. Is that a telescope on the winter chalet by chance? And is the red building an MOC you designed? It looks fantastic! I love the details in your work. I hope you'll post your Wayne Manor as you work - I'd love to see it, and with your apparent eye for detail I can imagine it's going to be fantastic. One thing that really appeals to me about all of the Gotham, and Batman building in particular is the potential for tons of easter eggs and surprises inside.

Thanks again for taking the time to comment on my model, the kind word of everyone here is super inspiring and heartwarming.

Actually that flickr is my old account (I think it was under my wife's account actually). I have a separate account. I just haven't taken the time to figure out how to link to it instead of that one. Plus since she doesn't use that account, I'm afraid once I unlink it it will be lost forever. I should try to save those photos from flickr to put on my new account so I don't lose them.

Anyway, what I am getting at. I have loads more Modular style buildings on the new account. I'll post a link if I ever am able to. Flickr is blocked on my work computer and I rarely get on the computer at the house.

Once again, great work!

Hi again, 

I've done some more work on the Daily Planet model and I'm here to socialize them to see what folks think. There have been some cleanup changes that aren't interesting to talk about here, but visually I started moving from a "sketch" as I call it, to more of a finished look and continued to lean into the buildings art deco roots. In particular, I swapped out the corner bricks for masonry profile bricks (in the same color), reworked the globe mount on top of the dome so that I can motorize it to turn, and replaced the placeholder art deco front sign with the final version. I'm sure that Superman nerds like me will get the small easter egg reference in the model, but for those folks who don't, I'll add it below the images. In the course of doing some of the (small number) of custom printed tiles I intend to use in the model, I also experienced an issue with PartDesigner that I tried to resolve using the magical oracle named Google to no avail involving Stud.io not respecting the available colors for the tiles I did custom decorations on to have printed. Eventually, after fumbling around with with it I managed to figure it out, and maybe nobody but me is so dumb, but if anyone has an issue like this I posted a detailed solution on my blog (URL in my profile). Speaking of custom print work for bricks, I'm currently talking to a few companies, but if any of you have used and were happy with any company, please take a moment to post the name for me :). Anyway, here's the images:

 

 

I'm sure many folks on here, and almost all of you who geek out about all things DC, will recognize the tagline on the front of the building from the introduction that the child reads at the beginning of Superman: The Movie (1978):

"In the decade of the 1930s, even the great city of Metropolis was not spared the ravages of the world-wide depression. In the times of fear and confusion, the job of informing the public was the responsibility of the Daily Planet, a great metropolitan newspaper, whose reputation for clarity and truth had become a symbol of hope for the city of Metropolis."

I already have a few more nods to the movie including the large globe in the lobby that Lois and Clark walk past on his first day at the planet, and I plan to keep adding more hoping to bring other Superman nerds like me a small laugh when they find them.

Do let me know what you think... I love all feedback, even when it's just to say, "It's really not my cup of tea," or even, "Wow, this sucks!"

:)

-Matt

 

 

 

Edited April 12, 20222 yr by legominiguy

Wow, this tea sucks. I had to spit it out when I saw how awesome this LEGO creation was. hehe

I like the subtle changes. I think they work well. I am not a Superman nerd, but I am at least aware of a lot of the Easter Eggs involving him since he is so notable.

 

On 4/12/2022 at 1:31 PM, TheLegoDr said:

Wow, this tea sucks. I had to spit it out when I saw how awesome this LEGO creation was. hehe

I like the subtle changes. I think they work well. I am not a Superman nerd, but I am at least aware of a lot of the Easter Eggs involving him since he is so notable.

 

@TheLEGODr I LOL'd at your comment, and thank you so much for the compliment! :)