AirborneAFOL Posted September 5, 2014 Posted September 5, 2014 (edited) Okay, so a couple cavaets as I start a thread to archive my city... 1. I just "rediscovered" Lego this past winter, upon the birth of my first child. Having not really touched them in 20 years, my goodness, the building techniques and sets nowadays were a steep learning curve. 2. I have no clue how to upload photos well, so I've had to size the picture down and I think the result is fairly blurry. I'd be open to any suggestions, particularly if it doesn't require creating an account like flickr. 3. Just a mere panoramic below, so some distortion. 4. General layout is two 6x2.5 foot tables, shaped into an L. The far left is an "industrial district", then advances into a town center (waterfall/park/town hall/etc). Then the tables swing to the right and basically a conglomeration of mostly custom builds. My primary custom builds to date include an Irish Pub, bottling plant, Florist, Tool & Gun shop, police station, schoolhouse, church, cemetary, and construction site. If anyone is curious in any of those particulars, I could certainly try to get some good close-up pics. image by airborneafol, on Flickr Edited September 5, 2014 by AirborneAFOL Quote
bjorn77 Posted September 5, 2014 Posted September 5, 2014 Can you post a picture with higher resoluton? It's almost impossible to see anything from that one... Quote
jimmynick Posted September 5, 2014 Posted September 5, 2014 Hi, AirborneAFOL, and I like the look of your city! I'd like to see it in higher resolution (and in detail). I recommend you get an account with Flickr or Brickshelf (or both) so you can post larger and more photos (Eurobricks doesn't have much space for uploading files). Quote
AirborneAFOL Posted September 5, 2014 Author Posted September 5, 2014 Okay, I've set up a flickr. How do I post those pictures here? Just copy/paste the link? Quote
TWO2SEVEN Posted September 5, 2014 Posted September 5, 2014 Okay, so a couple cavaets as I start a thread to archive my city... 1. I just "rediscovered" Lego this past winter, upon the birth of my first child. Having not really touched them in 20 years, my goodness, the building techniques and sets nowadays were a steep learning curve. We have a similar story, my son was born in February and inspired me to get back in to Lego. The layout looks great! Quote
AirborneAFOL Posted September 5, 2014 Author Posted September 5, 2014 (edited) Got it! Sorry for the rookie struggles... image by airborneafol, on Flickr image by airborneafol, on Flickr image by airborneafol, on Flickr image by airborneafol, on Flickr Edited September 5, 2014 by AirborneAFOL Quote
Rick Posted September 5, 2014 Posted September 5, 2014 Okay, I've set up a flickr. How do I post those pictures here? Just copy/paste the link? Please refer to our flickr tutorial. Instead of making a new post, it's also possible to Edit (click the button towards the bottom right of the post) your opening post. Quote
Only Sinner Posted September 5, 2014 Posted September 5, 2014 Wow, Ryan. I really like all your custom buildings, and would really like to see more of that nice pub! Quote
AirborneAFOL Posted September 5, 2014 Author Posted September 5, 2014 (edited) "The Kelt" - Irish Pub. My first MOC. Left some of the poor design elements a bit raw, just so I can feel better about my more recent MOC's :) Exteroir image by airborneafol, on Flickr First floor - bar and piano image by airborneafol, on Flickr Second floor - game room, darts and billiards image by airborneafol, on Flickr And the third floor. Live band. And behind a hidden door, a poker room / IRA-nefarious-plotting-hideout... image by airborneafol, on Flickr Police Station MOC - my most recent. 9-5-14 Police Station MOC by airborneafol, on Flickr 9-5-14 Police Station MOC by airborneafol, on Flickr First floor, facing rear, a little reception/booking desk... 9-5-14 Police Station MOC by airborneafol, on Flickr First floor facing front... Tried to rig up a little metal detector by the door... 9-5-14 Police Station MOC by airborneafol, on Flickr Second floor, fairly barren as yet. Just a bunk-bed cell w/toilet-sink, and then a few supplies for the cops. Not sure what to do with the extra space yet... 9-5-14 Police Station MOC by airborneafol, on Flickr And a helipad on the roof. About 6-stud clearance underneath it, may install a shooting range down the road here... 9-5-14 Police Station MOC by airborneafol, on Flickr Edited September 5, 2014 by AirborneAFOL Quote
jimmynick Posted September 6, 2014 Posted September 6, 2014 Very nice! The factory(?) in the industrial district looks nice, and your police station is super. Thanks for the pictures Quote
CityBuilder Posted September 6, 2014 Posted September 6, 2014 Cool little town you have, pretty big considering you just got back into lego this past winter! The IRA room in the Irish pub though.. Quote
cgarison Posted September 7, 2014 Posted September 7, 2014 The Pub is a winner. That is definitely something that we need in our city. Brilliant. Quote
ER0L Posted September 8, 2014 Posted September 8, 2014 There's a lot of great stuff in there, especially the MOCs. On the other hand the city looks a bit crowded and too colourful for my taste, perhaps a little more room between the buildings would help. On the corner between PC and your (very nice) police station there's a large gap (you can hardly see the fire station), some tall buildings are required there. But well, you have enough stuff to build a city twice as large, it won't take too much effort to change some details. Looking forward to the further development of your town! Quote
TWO2SEVEN Posted September 8, 2014 Posted September 8, 2014 (edited) "The Kelt" - Irish Pub. My first MOC. Left some of the poor design elements a bit raw, just so I can feel better about my more recent MOC's :) I really like this station. The sign on the front is really cool. Good work! Edited September 8, 2014 by Rick Please don't quote large blocks of text or images unnecessarily. Quote
AirborneAFOL Posted September 8, 2014 Author Posted September 8, 2014 Many thanks on the critiques thus far. Very helpful insights for future development. Some better pics of the schoolhouse MOC... Schoolhouse by airborneafol, on Flickr Schoolhouse by airborneafol, on Flickr First floor office and classroom...albiet one of the teachers seems to have died of boredom for lack of students... Schoolhouse by airborneafol, on Flickr Schoolhouse by airborneafol, on Flickr Second floor library and science lab... image by airborneafol, on Flickr image by airborneafol, on Flickr Third floor classroom and cafeteria... image by airborneafol, on Flickr image by airborneafol, on Flickr Quote
BricksMcgee Posted September 9, 2014 Posted September 9, 2014 Nice city! I really like he placement of the museum: did you build a back for it or leave it open like the original? Quote
Kayaderosseras Posted September 9, 2014 Posted September 9, 2014 Great interior details in the school building, especially the science lab Quote
haddock Posted September 11, 2014 Posted September 11, 2014 Looks really good , its good to see you re discovered a great hobby and what a great start Quote
AirborneAFOL Posted September 12, 2014 Author Posted September 12, 2014 (edited) Fire Station MOD completed. Basically added fully enclosed walls, and then tried a technique of only making half the floors (50% of each level) removable to get inside... Leaving a "shaft" for firepole to run internally as well. Nothing special - especially compared to some of the remarkable work others routinely do - but I'd at least consider it an upgrade over the existing set. You'd think with the endless string of fire and police stations Lego makes, they'd at be a bit better at enclosing them and doing interiors! Firehouse MOD by airborneafol, on Flickr Firehouse MOD by airborneafol, on Flickr Firehouse MOD by airborneafol, on Flickr Firehouse MOD by airborneafol, on Flickr Firehouse MOD by airborneafol, on Flickr Firehouse MOD by airborneafol, on Flickr Firehouse MOD by airborneafol, on Flickr Just realized I didn't get any good pics of the ground floor or backside... Will post those later this weekend. Also took a few (not great quality) pics of the Factory as well... Factory - exterior front by airborneafol, on Flickr Pipe cutting across the middle of it obscures the shot of the "assembly line" a bit. And not a great view of it, but a catwalk overlooking the operation as well... Factory - Interior far left by airborneafol, on Flickr Factory - Interior middle by airborneafol, on Flickr Control panel and... Um... Furnace? Boiler? Forge? Not sure what exactly it is - or what the factory even makes for that matter - but alas, I'm a white collar guy... Factory - interior backside by airborneafol, on Flickr Edited September 12, 2014 by AirborneAFOL Quote
lightningtiger Posted September 12, 2014 Posted September 12, 2014 Excellent designing on those structures 'AirborneAFOL'......the fire station looks great, plus that Irish pub.....you only the the characters from Mrs Brown's Boys in it ? Brick On 'AirborneAFOL' ! Quote
AirborneAFOL Posted September 12, 2014 Author Posted September 12, 2014 ... that Irish pub.....you only the the characters from Mrs Brown's Boys in it ? Brick On 'AirborneAFOL' ! Not much in the way of BBC programs available here in the States, unfortunately. But I tend imagine the pub being filled with Frank McCourt types, wallowing away about Malachy and Oliver and Eugene ;) Quote
dutchlegofan50 Posted September 13, 2014 Posted September 13, 2014 Amazing! And you puchased/built all of this in only 9 months? Quote
LAKAbricks Posted September 14, 2014 Posted September 14, 2014 Interesting layout, AirborneAFOL. Quite different and personal. And very compact, but I don't consider it negative. I am amazed by your collection and building techniques, as you just got back into LEGO last winter. One thing I would like to see is some shots along the streets behind. There are more details to be discovered there. Quote
Steph 104th Posted September 14, 2014 Posted September 14, 2014 This is a great layout with some fantastic buildings, I like the way you incorperated many of the City sets. Quote
AirborneAFOL Posted September 15, 2014 Author Posted September 15, 2014 I really like he placement of the museum: did you build a back for it or leave it open like the original? I have not yet built a back for the museum yet - it's on my laundry list of "future projects", but I'm also considering basically "attaching" the museum to a larger art gallery/library type structure, on which case I may want the rear exposed to 'merge' the buildings. Amazing! And you puchased/built all of this in only 9 months? Indeed. Between a small pile of disposal income, a fair bit of time in the house with a sporadically-sleeping newborn through a cold Minnesota winter, and an obsessive "all or nothing" personality - it's 100% acquired since December 2013. Roughly an equal amount of bricks in various tubs of bricks underneath the display tables as well. Aside from a handful of purchased sets, most of the MOC and other various bricks have been acquired from large Ebay lots (i.e., 100+ elements at a time, negotiating with sellers to buy a $200 purchase for what would have otherwise been $350 based on the individual listing prices). Interesting layout, AirborneAFOL. Quite different and personal. And very compact, but I don't consider it negative. I am amazed by your collection and building techniques, as you just got back into LEGO last winter. One thing I would like to see is some shots along the streets behind. There are more details to be discovered there. The "compact" element - critiqued elsewhere - is something I struggle with. On one hand, I've deliberately limited myself to this two tables - lest I would ultimately end up with a 10-table display consuming my entire basement, and my wife just wouldn't tolerate that. And as critiqued earlier, I do want more "space" between buildings / open areas / etc, but unfortunately it requires sacrificing MOC's or sets, and it's very tough deciding what should go. I've recently started pruning it down a bit: MOD'ing the firehouse to make a smaller footprint, selling the International Jetport to free up space the runway consumed, etc. Over the comimg months and years, I assume I'll continue pruning, and hopefully end up with about 25% fewer buildings - but each of the remaining being MOC's I'm truly proud of or sets that are really impressive. Good point about more backsides of streets and angles - I'm hoping to continue to develop my very crude photography skills to increasingly post more and better pics of alot of those angles/features/etc that you suggest. Given the level of detail (you can get a sense from some of the interiors shown), I could easily do 1000+ pics just to capture it all, so hopefully I'll ultimately have a flickr with all the backsides and whatnot but it'll be a marathon of a process :) This is a great layout with some fantastic buildings, I like the way you incorperated many of the City sets. Back in January-March, it was almost entirely a city of purchased sets. But given the finite options available retail - combined with a couple vintage ones reacquired via EBay, I ended up getting a couple off the Friends line - Bakery and Heartlake High didn't seem to have non-Friends comparables. The Creator line remains the "Holy Grail" and longterm 'look' I'm going for. Over time I'll either acquire new sets within the Creator line, or continue to MOC/MOD in thay direction. Part of the reason I wanted to start this thread is so I can have an archive to "look back" at the early development of it, long before it eventually blossoms into a display that actually compares to some of the truly impressive builds/displays others have posted here (of which too many to properly cite have been my inspiration in many regards). My fantasy is that as my son grows into ages 5-13, it'll be a collaborative effort - he can play with the dozen bins of bricks off the table, but integrating things into the "display" will hold the same quality standards. Of course, given that I've probably spent $4000 making this fantasy a viable reality - and countless hours so he can grow up with the kind of "Legoland" I always dreamed of as a kid - he'll probably find Lego disinteresting and be a fan of video games ;) Anyhow, I appreciate the encouragement, and certainly welcome continued critiques! Honestly, many of the "have you considered doing X?" or "The way you did Y really doesn't suit my tastes" are very, very helpful for the ongoing refinement! Quote
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