Winter Village: Restaurant

[Kai NRG]

Warm up after a break in the snow at the Winter Village Restaurant!

Help deliver today's supplies and feed customers! Have a nice cup of hot chocolate or build a snowman! Set up the tree or pet the cat with this new addition to the Winter Village! (I believe the piece count is about 680. I may have messed up somewhere in there though!)

Interior features; table, two chairs, smaller set-up (table and bench) with turkey, end table, chimney, stocking on the wall, light brick, plus an upstairs featuring sink and cabinets.

All of the crates/barrels/pizza boxes can be loaded onto the truck.

Accessories include:

• Two crates with one apple each + tops;
  
• Larger crate with three fish packed in ice (trans-clear 1x1 round plates) + top of crate;
  
• Three pizza boxes + one pizza and a 2x3 yellow plate so you can open one pizza box;
  
• One barrel with cherry + barrel top;
  
• One turkey, complete assembly,
  
• One red mug;
  
• One shovel;
  
• Seven minifigures (owner, truck driver, customer - lady, three children, waiter);
  
• Skis and ski poles;
  
• Christmas tree;
  
• Two small presents;
  
• One large present;
  
• Cat;
  
• Snowman;
  
• Stocking;
  
• Light brick (top of building);
  
• Carrot (bottom only).
  

I took the "similar in style... to the previous official TLG releases" as seriously as I could, so here is a list of the similarities:

• Using a wooden door - Winter Village Bakery (as this is a similar type of build, I wanted to make that the same).
  
• Leaving gaps around windows - Winter Village Cottage (admittedly they aren't that big. But I didn't want to balance a piece in there as I'm fairly certain that LEGO wouldn't do that).
  
• As far as I know, TLG has never used SNOT for flooring before. However if they did I'm sure it would be attached to the baseplate, so I made sure to do so myself (all the rows are attached which allows me to attach the various pieces of furniture. Nothing has been left loose - not even the Turkey).
  
• None of the Winter Village sets have stairs, however all of them have half upper stories.
  
• Red and green decorations - each Winter Village has it's own variety of decoration that it uses multiple times. The Toy Shop used round green pieces with a red dot off to the side; the Bakery round green pieces with a red dot in the middle; the Post Office, trans-red and trans-yellow 1x1 pieces; and the Cottage used a red bow design backed by green as possible (and a second variety, a 1x1 green plate with a 1x1 round red plate on top). I used a green corner plate with a 1x1 round red plate where possible, and on the windows an inverted 1x1 green plate with a 1x1 round red plate on the bottom.
  
• Using logs - each Winter Village has used a specific brick multiple times that has not been re-used in the others (or, if it has, in a very different way or color). The Toy Shop used inverted slopes for the windows; the Bakery used arches; the Post Office round windows/foundation; the Cottage profile bricks (it is somewhat of a weak point as I used profile bricks, but in a different color).
  
• Putting a colored stripe (awning) over some area - Winter Village Toy Shop.
  
• Grey foundation - all but the Cottage used grey for their foundation.
  
• Every set has included a bench (except the Cottage) and a light post (but always different).
  
• Using a non-white roof and then adding snow - Winter Village Post Office.
  
• Most of the Winter Village sets have included only two female characters.
  

There are other similarities, but that's probably way more than you wanted to know already!

On the similar in style, weak points are:

• I used lots of CMF pieces for the minifigures.
  
• I was not able to include a row of lights on a string (which has edit: not been done in every Winter Village set so far).
  
• The snowman is almost too similar to the one in the Winter Village Toy Shop.
  

My apologies if I got a little long winded. There's no need to read it all!

Thanks for looking, comments are appreciated!

Edited January 4, 2013 by Kai NRG

[L@go]

This is one of the best builds I've seen from you. I think you've gone a bit overboard on the chimney, but apart from that the house itself is very nice. The SNOT tiling on the floor is a particularly neat detail. Well done!

[soccerkid6]

Very nice work! The truck looks great and I like the tree, lamp post, and bench

The interior looks very fitting for a restaurant

[Gryphon Ink]

Great entry, Kai. Looks different enough, but similar enough, to be part of the theme. Very cool.

On the similar in style, weak points are:

• I was not able to include a row of lights on a string (which has been done in every Winter Village set so far).
  

Don't think you need to worry, the Post Office doesn't have any of them either. A lot of people think that the strings of lights are required in every Winter Village set, but they aren't. Not everybody strings up lights for the holidays!

[Kai NRG]

Thanks to the three of you!

This is one of the best builds I've seen from you. I think you've gone a bit overboard on the chimney, but apart from that the house itself is very nice. The SNOT tiling on the floor is a particularly neat detail. Well done!

Yes, I wasn't quite sure how to do the chimney (I almost forgot it!), I did use an awful lot of plates. Out of curiousity, how much do you follow what I build? I think I've only done three or four builds in the Town forum, and I don't recall seeing you anywhere else.

...Don't think you need to worry, the Post Office doesn't have any of them either. A lot of people think that the strings of lights are required in every Winter Village set, but they aren't. Not everybody strings up lights for the holidays!

Thanks for pointing that out! Good, now I don't feel so bad...

[soundwave_sw]

It looks very detailed. The truck is kind of cute looking. The accessories are a nice touch.

Good luck in the contest!

[L@go]

Out of curiousity, how much do you follow what I build? I think I've only done three or four builds in the Town forum, and I don't recall seeing you anywhere else.

You're right - I had only seen what you've posted in the Town forum. And from those builds, this is the best one. Now I've had a look at some of the MOCs you've built in other themes, and while there's some pretty nice stuff there, too, this is still one of the best builds I've seen from you. That said, I might be biased, because I like Town stuff :)

Edited December 27, 2012 by L@go

[Kristel]

This is a really cute little building. The extras are well done too, particularly the delivery truck. Just one minor thing ... I think you need to drop the height of the chimney by a few bricks.

Good luck in the contest!

PS. Great photographs too. DId you get yourself a lightbox?

[Kai NRG]

You're right - I had only seen what you've posted in the Town forum. And from those builds, this is the best one. Now I've had a look at some of the MOCs you've built in other themes, and while there's some pretty nice stuff there, too, this is still one of the best builds I've seen from you. That said, I might be biased, because I like Town stuff :)

Thanks, I agree, this could well be one of my best (though that may not be saying much)!

This is a really cute little building. The extras are well done too, particularly the delivery truck. Just one minor thing ... I think you need to drop the height of the chimney by a few bricks.

Good luck in the contest!

PS. Great photographs too. DId you get yourself a lightbox?

Thanks! You guys are probably right about the chimney, I just wanted to make it taller than the roof (though not all the Winter Village sets were like that), but I could probably drop a few bricks (it's pretty low down on the roof anyways).

No, I don't have a lightbox (wish I did!) I just took them in the shade. I'm glad you like them so much, I wasn't too impressed myself (except with the first and last ones) though they probably turned out better than it would have in the sun.

[SilentMode]

Very nicely done. I particularly like the technique for the fllor, as well as the truck and the great idea for the Christmas tree.

[Kai NRG]

Very nicely done. I particularly like the technique for the fllor, as well as the truck and the great idea for the Christmas tree.

Thanks! I had some trouble coming up with that for the tree, as I didn't want to copy any of the previous ones and LEGO seems to have done almost everything possible... but I finally managed!

[TheStrategist]

Nice job! i love the truck and SNOT flooring! Did you run out of tiles, or just decide to do that to look cool? Love your Christmas tree design, IMO its better than most of legos!

[Brickington]

Nice floor! Good Work!

[Kai NRG]

Thanks Brickington and TheStrategist!

... Did you run out of tiles, or just decide to do that to look cool? ...

Yes, I pretty much ran out of tiles... I actually didn't even have enough to do half the floor, in almost any color except maybe dark and light bley, alternating... which I didn't find suitable!

But then, I do like SNOT flooring, since it does add an aspect of coolness...

[TheStrategist]

I might have to borrow that technique! Every build nowadays I seem to run out of tiles.

[jimmynick]

Your restaurant looks great, Kai NRG! The floor is nicely done and I also like the partial covering of the roof in snow.

[mephistopheles]

Sweet! Looks like a real set to me!

[Kai NRG]

I might have to borrow that technique! Every build nowadays I seem to run out of tiles.

Yeah, it's a very nice substitute! It is pretty brick-consuming though, more than I had thought at first...

Your restaurant looks great, Kai NRG! The floor is nicely done and I also like the partial covering of the roof in snow.

Thanks!

Sweet! Looks like a real set to me!

Thanks! That's what I was aiming for!