Recommended City sets...?

[DJ Force]

Finally. I am starting a city layout.

Until now I have some population, the Custom Garage and - tadaa - the Green Grocer. I am going to get myself some road baseplates and (much later) the Cafe Corner and Market Street.

But! After having those 3 buildings and the stuff mentioned, what comes next?

What sets would you recommend? I am really into the Custom Garage cars and I already ordered the parts to build the ´57 Corvette in my sig. What else would be cool for a nice city layout that would blend in with the sets?

Please don´t recommend classic city sets if there´s not a really good reason for it

Things I already have:

8401 for some basic population

10200 Custom Garage (with a 64x64 baseplate for a nice backlot)

10185 Green Grocer

5620 Street Cleaner Impulse

7622 Indy Race for the Stolen Treasuer (Take away the weapons and you´ve got a nice old car and Delivery Service for GG)

Things on the way:

7992 Container Stacker

Custom Corvette (see signature)

5611 Public Works

Things I am NOT planning to add to my layout:

Anything Airport (too big)

5-12 police headquarter, fire department or hospital (they just don´t blend in with CC, MS and GG)

Building site (Some vehicles are nice, but just too many big and static sets imo)

4-stud wide cars

Things I might add to my layout:

Harbor and/or seaside - might even add some of my wife´s Paradisa

7635

8396

So, that´s it. I am planning to build some nice MOC buildings and more cars, but I am very open for suggestions as to what to buy

[5150 Lego]

I know you state you don't want any new construction sites, but i ask that you reconsider. I got the new 7633 Construction site for Christmass and its great! The vehicles reallyaren't that big. The truck is only 6 wide, the loader and crane are 8 wide, but the loader still looks great in a city layout because of its realitive small size, and the crane also looks perfect next to cafe' corner. Espeacailly when you consider that many of your mocvehicles are 6 wide. The scale would be perfect!

I'd also recomend 7733. 6 wide transport truck with matching trailer. also comes with a great forklift that can be used for just about anything from construction, to harbors, to loading docks. It would even look good unloading food to the green grocer.

I'd also recomend 7738. The new Coast gard hellocopter. I bit big, but scale wise fits in nicley, and doesn't need a whole lot of room.

Oh ya, and i'd highly recomend 7635. The new 4WD and horse trailer. A little pricey, but nice detail and somthing different than the standard police,fire and construction vehicles.

Edited December 31, 2008 by 5150 Lego

[Dennimator]

I absolutely recommend the 10184 Town Plan. It´s a really great set and a must-buy for all tabletowns!

Also the 4954 big Creator house, maybe modded (I´ll post a topic about my modifications of it within a few days).

And, of course, lots and lots of pretty MOCs.

[Jeff S]

The 7743 Police Truck is a good set. Acts as both a vehicle and then a station to some extent. The 7243 Construction one even though you said no to construction, IMO is the best of the consturction sets. Its the crane,the dump truck and the gravel seperater/converyor belt thing. With a brown dirt road base plate its great. We have about all of the Coast Guard sets, including the platform. The one I DO NOT reccomend is the Truck and Boat one. The smaller jetski one is ok, the larger one just lacks a lot for the price. As it was already mentioned, the cargo truck is a great deal and a good set. Goes great with the stacker. The only other thing you may want to consider, is the new Market via the Castle series.

Best of luck, get some pics when you can!

Jeff

Edited January 1, 2009 by Jeff S

[Grimer]

I suggest the 4954. If built as two smaller houses it looks very good, provides some place to live and is space efficient. Only drawback is that if you build it like that, you get quite a lot of left over pieces.

[DJ Force]

Thanks a lot for the input thus far!

(and a happy new year, for that matter )

I´ll put 7733 on my wishlist. Really a good set, I must admit.

I´m still not sure about the construction sets, but I actually might consider getting one or two smaller sets. I´d rather not break the excellent and detailed looks of GG, CC and MS with a plain building as in 7633.

If I get the 7994 on sale, my layout will feature water and then I´ll get some coast guard sets. But I think I´ll pass on the helicopter set, as I don´t want to have flying vehicles in my layout if I can avoid it

Now for a more difficult task. In order to build some nice building MOCs, I need parts. My parts bin however consists of pretty basic bricks in pretty basic colors and some parts from old space sets or random Exo-Force leftovers. I honestly don´t think I could build a house from those parts.

Which sets are excellent and cheap parts packs for starting MOC buildings in the style of CC, MS and GG? I´d rather not spend my monthly sallary for Bricklink orders

And finally... Who´s interested in trading about a dozen Space crater baseplates for road baseplates? My city will need some streets after all

[Ricecracker]

well, thats what you can have construction sets for. i know you said maybe to construction, but if you think about it like this, you could have a potentially nice scene. have a few half built houses with construction vehicles around them. like a neighbourhood that is getting built.

[Derek]

I think that you already have some great ideas here.

-I would suggest getting any of the creator houses, as they all are great. The 4996 Beach House is fantastic, and an amazing value, so I highly recomend it. The tan town house seems great, I don't have it, but I think it would fit in with the CC style buildings.

-You say you don't want any 5-12 City sets, but the 7945 Fire Station doesn't seem too unrealsitic. Same goes for the newer Police station.

-I would look into the Farm sets when they are all released.

-Yesterday I got the new Indiana Jones Shanghai Chase, its great. I see you like cars, and this set comes with two great ones.

-7624 Indiana Jones Jungle Duel is one of my favorite sets of all time, and would be good for a town, maybe a campsite? It has great food accesorries, a backpack, crate, table, bench, tent, map, and the Mutt torso would be good for a punk figure

-7620 Motorcycle Chase from the Indy line is a great set too, with 2 motorcycles, crates, a flag, and a toll gate that could be used in your layout.

-I would recomend all the Coast Guard sets, except for the giant, unrealistic 4x4 and boat.

-The 4936 Doctor and Patient impulse on S@H is quite cheap, and great if you want some more female population.

-Pretty Much anything under the "Town Essentials" City sub-section on S@H seems to be a safe bet, especially the gas/service station.

-8632 Agents Swamp Raid is a great set, and would be perfect for a Swamp/bayou section. Indiana Jones 7625 River Chase would be perfect for a swamp area too. It has a great amphibious vehicle, a raft, crocodile, and a nice outpost (could even be a hunter's treestand)

-Either of the Spongebob Krusty Krab sets would be nice as a fast food joint. (I would reccomend the original one if you could still find it, it has better features including the baseplate, sign, and dumpster)

Perhaps I went a little too far with ideas Hope they are helpful!

-darthperson

Edited January 1, 2009 by darthperson

[Trexxen]

-As darthperson said, go for the Motorcycle Chase - two motorcycles for your civilians is never a bad thing!

-UNLIKE Darthperson, though, I reccommend the 4x4 and Boat set from the coast guard - it makes sense to go along with your 8-wide Garage-styled vehicles, does it not? =P

-The 4WD with Horse Trailer is an amazing set, and one of my favorites now of all time - it has a unique build, and probably the only official lego build I've seen outside of the UCS or modular town sets that utilizes the 5:2 ratio for SNOT. It's amazing, and adds variety - a must have.

-Finally, for just parts, I'm going to say get the Medieval Market Village. Yes, it's castle, but I'm recommending it as a parts pack - tons of nice colors for houses, and in normal bricks - plus cows and other good stuff. All else aside, it could even make for a nice "old" house if you wish =P

~Trexxen

[VBBN]

Okay, let me help:

When It comes to buildings, I would recommend the creator houses, or brick buckets for little kids. They may be young builders, but they are wondeful parts packs. The Agents mobile command center is great as well for it. Also, you will find that the Bionicle Playsets from 2005/2006 are amazing parts packs.

And make sure you pick up at least two of these:

Now everyone needs an SUV, so I would recommend this:

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/kin/By-K...e/2009/7635.jpg

The trailer can be used as parts for buildings.

Here is a great set:

And for figures, this set that is on Lego shop at home is wondeful:

And lots of things form here.

Hope that helps!

And not sure if you are getting it or not, but the Lego Harbor as well.

[Monki]

As far as vehicles go, you simply must get:

7991

7990

7733

All three are incredible value for money and look superb in a city.

Also as some have already mentioned the creator beach house is also a must have

4996

Great value for money and looks beautiful

[DJ Force]

Great! Thanks again for all those wonderful recommendations!

My wife just reminded me that my budget is quite limited, so I´ll check if I can get any of these recommendations on sale, for trade or on ebay.

I saw Dump Truck, Cargo transport and cement truck along with the small street sweeper vehicle in a savings-pack for $50. I´ll see if I can still get that one and then find me some parts packs