Modulars with open-back?

[LAKAbricks]

A couple of times, I have seen mentioned that some people make their modulars into open-back buildings. Partly to make it open-back, like classic town, partly to save bricks for other buildings. - But I have never seen it done, and have not found any pictures of it.

The reason for my questions is that, I have become the happy owner of two modular buildings, but I still prefer open-back buildings (which also make up most of my buildings), and therefore consider to MOD them. Now I seek some experiences/views on this.

Therefore, if you remove the back-walls of your modulars, do you just remove the wall(-s), or do you even MOD the building, so it becomes less deep to better fit the classic open-back style? Have you any pictures of it?

Thank you in advance!

[TheBear]

I've taken the backs off my pet shop and the house that comes with it. This isn't my photo but I have done the same thing as this

It seems a little bit deep for playing with, but I didn't want to make it any less deep so I could keep all the features of the shop and all the furniture and fittings in the other rooms. It all depends how much interior you want. I prefer the open back style for display as you can show off all the insides without having to take it apart.

[TheLegoDr]

That's really neat. Thanks for sharing the picture, even if it isn't yours. I hadn't thought of this before.

I guess that would open up (pun intended) a lot more pieces and playability. It's weird/neat to see the interior from a different angle like that.

[brickgrrl]

I've definitely thought about it. If you watch a child playing with a modular, the fact that it has to sit in multiple parts on the floor (instead of staying put where it is) is rather odd...

Of course, even better than open back would be hinged back. Know I've seen photos. Haven't done it, tho!

[HomerJSimpson]

I have mixed feelings about the pet shop. The actual pet shop is nice, but the town house is not good looking. No offense to whoever made that, I just think the designers intended for the modulars to be fully closed. The floors are ok, but the way the bathroom and stairs are is kinda ugly. The other modulars may be different. But the town hall CANT be open backed. The elevator would just fall out, and there would be a huge gap due to the mezzanine. If the buildings ( besides the town hall) are gonna be covered by others, then it will be fine. I just think that the designers made them to only be full-wall buildings.

[cja]

When I was building the petshop around new year, I had most of the time my two year old son on my lap. He was really enjoying the toilet in the brown building until I finished the stairs and he couldn't really put minifigs on the toilet any longer. Then I started to think to remove the back wall.

I've reduced the depth to 11-12 bricks for the petshops, moved things around on the inside, open backside, widen the side walk and made a 8 wide street for cars.

I'm very satisfied with the result and I'm definitely doing the same for other modular buildings once I get then.

[LAKAbricks]

I've taken the backs off my pet shop and the house that comes with it. This isn't my photo but I have done the same thing as this http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

Thanks for the link, TheBear. It's nice to see how a modular can look like with an open back.

Of course, even better than open back would be hinged back. Know I've seen photos. Haven't done it, tho!

The hinged backs are also known from the normal Creator houses, brickgrrl. A good idea for play/playability, though it's not the way, I would like to go.

But the town hall CANT be open backed. The elevator would just fall out, and there would be a huge gap due to the mezzanine. If the buildings ( besides the town hall) are gonna be covered by others, then it will be fine. I just think that the designers made them to only be full-wall buildings.

The Town Hall is actually one of the buildings, I have got. I was wondering, if I could remove the backwall and the part of the building where the inside courtyard is - until the mezzanine. The elevator, I would leave untouched.

I agree, HomerJSimpson, that the designers made the modulars to be only full-wall buildings. But it's here, MOD'ing is taking over

Then I started to think to remove the back wall.

I've reduced the depth to 11-12 bricks for the petshops, moved things around on the inside, open backside, widen the side walk and made a 8 wide street for cars.

I'm very satisfied with the result and I'm definitely doing the same for other modular buildings once I get then.

Do you eventually have some pictures of the MOD'ed Pet Shop, cja? I would like to see, how you have done it.

[FreeBee]

I'm also thinking of removing the back of my modulars.

Just haven't found the time to do it.

I've got the following reasons for it:

- Easier to show of the great interior of the buildings.

- Easier to put ledlights in.

- Easier for creating streetscenes.

Thats why i will place the sidewalks on normal streetbaseplates (baseplate+plate+tiles) and

the buildings on 16x16 and 16x32 baseplates (correct height for the sidewalks by tile or plates).

The only difficulty will be serious modding for the corner buildings to fit them on a 16x32 baseplate.

Brick-On

ps the lifted sidewalks will also make it easier to put lights in the the streetlights.

Edited February 17, 2014 by FreeBee

[ER0L]

I've done that with the museum which was a GE before, but not like it is shown in the picture. There are rather large holes in the wall, a frame of bricks is kept to provide stability. Opening the back serves to get more light within the building. If combined with other buildings back to back there's no need to have double walls anyway, so it helps to save bricks, too.

[Paul B Technic]

With my latest MOC I have made this an open back which I think works really well.

[Xyver]

I have removed the back and some side wall of some of my modulars in order to save bricks. Because I have them set up in a city layout, which is often on display, there is no need for full walls as they are never seen.

You do need to worry about stability issues though, and I still have a full roof, so I either use 6x5 panels instead of bricks, or keep 2 rows of bricks at the top and bottom, with long plates underneath the top row for extra strength. This tends to give the building enough strength to stay together even when moving them around.

I had an empty spot on my redesigned layout, so I just made a building facade and use 6x5 panels and X beam pieces at the back to put the roof on, it is a full 32x32 building but in the middle of a layout, you can't tell.

If I were to have them open backed for play purposes, I would most likely MOD them to be 8 deep, so that they would sit on a 16x32 baseplate, and keep the current frontage and modular standard footpath. Otherwise, you could MOD them to be a full 16 deep and build the footpath onto the road plate.

If/when I choose not to do a full City layout, I think I will MOD all of my buildings to be open-backed, 16 deep. You could get the frontal look of the buildings, but without the parts intensive buildings. This would be even better suited to those who like to do interiors (I don't) as the front would be a street seen, and the back would be the interiors of all of the buildings. I'm actually really starting to like this idea.

[elleana]

I never really thought about it, but this sounds brilliant. A little bit of work to take the backs off while still ensuring stability (though the stairs on the back of green grocer would be sad), saving bricks and allowing for more play. What's there not to like!

[SalvoBrick]

My modulars have no interiors, so there is no need to open them

But since many people like internal details, if you want to open them hinged back it's better.

I used to like open-back buildings, but realized that in dioramas the open back makes the building... incomplete.

Unless it's a classic-city diorama

[LAKAbricks]

Thank you all, for your answers, and thanks for the pictures, Paul B. Your building has a size and depth that are similar to the topic discussed here. So it also gives an impression what it could be like.

I like to build classic-city, therefore I consider changing the modulars. And I also would like to make interiors. All of which speaks for open-back buildings. Or eventually hinged back walls. But that wouldn't fit the rest of the city - unless I change all buildings

If I were to have them open backed for play purposes, I would most likely MOD them to be 8 deep, so that they would sit on a 16x32 baseplate, and keep the current frontage and modular standard footpath. Otherwise, you could MOD them to be a full 16 deep and build the footpath onto the road plate.

If/when I choose not to do a full City layout, I think I will MOD all of my buildings to be open-backed, 16 deep. You could get the frontal look of the buildings, but without the parts intensive buildings. This would be even better suited to those who like to do interiors (I don't) as the front would be a street seen, and the back would be the interiors of all of the buildings. I'm actually really starting to like this idea.

My currently only MOC building, the department store, is built 8 deep. I'm planning to make it deeper, probably 12 or 13 studs deep, to allow more interior. So an 8 deep modular will be too small for my needs, I think. It seems that both TH and GE would be around that deep as well, if back wall and parts of the side walls are removed where it seems logical to do so.

[cja]

Some photos of my work-in-progress PetShops without backside. Externally, I need black (and a few white) tiles for the street, and some new smaller plates for the flat roof; otherwise It is quite done. And of course some more action in front of the house

Inside the house, only one floor is starting to get finished. The other is more or less on a planning stadium.

[LAKAbricks]

Thanks for showing, cja. It works very well, I would say.

But you will have to use a smaller size of pictures, at a maximum of 800x600. You can read more about it here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=71241#entry1320172

[cja]

Thanks for tell me laka, I completely forgot. I've now resized the images.

[LAKAbricks]

You're welcome. You are still new here, so you can't remember everything

[Rick]

But you will have to use a smaller size of pictures, at a maximum of 800x600.

It's 1024x768 (or 768x1024 for images with a portrait orientation) currently. I have updated the information in the topic you linked to.

[LAKAbricks]

It's 1024x768 (or 768x1024 for images with a portrait orientation) currently. I have updated the information in the topic you linked to.

Cool! Thanks for the update. It opens up for better views of all the great things Eurobrickers have to show

[HomerJSimpson]

I've said this before, but I'm gonna add to it: this makes absolutely no sense at all.

What's the point in having open backs, when your gonna have to add panels to make it stable? And making them open back kind of makes them not a modular building-because modulars have all 4 walls. The only reason I can think of doing it for would be to get extra bricks but like the building, but there's bricklink.....

[elleana]

I've said this before, but I'm gonna add to it: this makes absolutely no sense at all.

What's the point in having open backs, when your gonna have to add panels to make it stable? And making them open back kind of makes them not a modular building-because modulars have all 4 walls. The only reason I can think of doing it for would be to get extra bricks but like the building, but there's bricklink.....

Well, one point that immediately comes to mind (and has also been mentioned here) can be summarised in one word - play. I do understand that modulars are aimed at a different crowd from your City / Friends sets, which are mainly meant for play and have open backs, but if people want to repurpose the modulars for play purposes by making them open back, who's to say they cant?

[Legodt]

I am not really a fan of displaying open-back modulars, but I do really enjoy the access and play-opportunities that they afford. The Avenue Saint-Jacques MOC from 2013 by Snaillad is a grand design that uses the open back method. I purchased the instructions on eBay and I built a version of this MOC. Check out this review of my experience with completing a rear facade to snap into place on this originally open backed MOC: http://www.ogelsbob.com/modular-instructions-review.html

~Ogelsbob (formerly legodt)

[jimmynick]

I've always thought what alex54 did with the modulars was really cool. Read his topic. He built his modulars in a classic-town style, i.e. 16x16 base with open backs. The effect is really nice since you can fit lots of buildings into a small area.

[Colossus]

Thanks for the idea! I noticed the diiference in playability when my children had the Winter Village Cottage out along with The Pet Shop/Townhome modulars. My kids love the Modulars, but that back wall can be a frustrating obstacle. Looks like I found a weekend project, once I finish The Sea Cow, that is.

Edited February 20, 2014 by Colossus