MOC: Modular City House

[metalgearsolid]

Continuing my modularisation of official sets, next up was the 8403 City House:

Which became this:

Features from the original set retained includes the roof, the porch (although redesigned to have front door porch as well as back porch), garden… well, pretty much most of the basics. I tweaked the windows on 1st and 2nd floor to become bay windows so the house facade is not so flat, and also built in a little balcony on the rooftop.

I did up some simple interiors as well:

1st floor: Sofa, 52 inch TV, kitchen with sink, stove and a bar counter.

2nd floor: Just a bed and computer table:

3rd floor: Small balcony

Overhead shots:

Back of house has a porch:

If made into 2 storey house:

Street view:

As usual, more pics and descriptions in my blog.

Thanks for looking!

[prateek]

Nice! I like the house a lot, and the interior is nice. I like that you made a balcony for the top floor, and the bottom. It looks very nice next to the pizza place

[Stegoceras]

It looks awesome, and I bet it would look great in a display next to other sets. The modified back really adds another dimension to this sets, truly a great job

[The Yellow Brick]

This looks Amazing I love the interior, Great work Metalgearsolid

[VBBN]

Looks great, far nicer than the orginal.

And man, If I had a pizza shoppe right next my house like that, I'd be set.

[Rufus]

Wow! That's a lovely adaptation. You've managed to keep the overall look of the house whilst giving it a depth that was sadly lacking in the original; the only problem I see is that the stairs take up a lot of room.

I had thought it might be possible to buy two of these sets and put them back to back (with a little modification, of course) - is that what you used to get started?

By the way, you have a nice photo studio set-up there, and those are lovely pictures.

[lightningtiger]

Very nice indeed 'metalgearsolid' - the only thing missing was a bathroom, but anyway great work on the downstairs area and the modular conversion too !

Keep up the good work and I'm a conformist! !

[metalgearsolid]

Thanks for all your kind comments!

the only problem I see is that the stairs take up a lot of room.

the only thing missing was a bathroom

Yeah, the stairs don't leave a lot of space... I thought of leaving out the stair railings but then that's not very child safe... what with 2 young kids in the house So for now the family of 4 all run over to the pizzeria when they have any 'business' to attend to.

I had thought it might be possible to buy two of these sets and put them back to back (with a little modification, of course) - is that what you used to get started?

Based on my experience with these 2 sets, 2 boxes would be enough to give you the key features you need to make a 'beefier' version for a 16x32 baseplate but I also needed to use:

- quite a lot of plain bricks for the walls

- 2x2/3/4 bricks for stairs

- some other parts like tiles (at least to plate the floor connections if not have enough to plate floor even better)

- plates (for ceiling/floor)

- Windows n doors for pizzeria cos I didn't want to use white.

In terms of how much plain bricks to use, roughly one bagful like what you see in this pic plus all those already in the set.

By the way, you have a nice photo studio set-up there, and those are lovely pictures.

Thanks! My studio consists of catching natural light at the right time (I find late morning & early afternoon works best) and a few pieces of cardboard placed on the floor near the windows when I need to take photos.

[sonicstarlight]

This is a great mod, metalgearsolid! I've always been a fan of converting existing sets into modulars, and you certainly seem to be a master of it.

[Canada_7]

I bought one set of the Family House and with the picture comparison between the original and yours...man am I ever jealous and wish I could turn mine into what you've done. You've tempted me into buying a second set so that I could do something similar but since I'm not a MOC kinda guy, I could never build something like that...

Anyways, well done. Looks so much more complete. (y)

[metalgearsolid]

This is a great mod, metalgearsolid! I've always been a fan of converting existing sets into modulars, and you certainly seem to be a master of it.

Thanks!

I bought one set of the Family House and with the picture comparison between the original and yours...man am I ever jealous and wish I could turn mine into what you've done. You've tempted me into buying a second set so that I could do something similar but since I'm not a MOC kinda guy, I could never build something like that...

Anyways, well done. Looks so much more complete. (y)

Hi Canada_7, it's loads of fun to try, so why not?

Just to tempt you a bit more (I hope), here's a comparison of the pizzeria: