Tuesday 3 June 2014

Modular Police Station

June 3rd, 2014

Progress update:

I don't know why I am not more prolific with writing for this blog? If I don't update it who will read it?

I completed my two modular projects earlier this year and have been designing various things since then. In my last post I created a modular police station to go with my existing modular buildings. It turned out quite nicely in LDD. Creating it in brick has proven thorny with a few parts. Normally I check out beforehand when I use certain parts to make sure that I can acquire them from Lego. Last year I did a lot of Bricklink orders. I have discovered that the postage cost and other fees makes using them unrealistic for my needs. A few major parts in my design I had to renegotiate with myself for a slightly different look.



I removed the black tripartite window frames for regular ones. Black is a discontinued part from 2005-07. The white arches I have also had to amend (brick w.bow 1x4x5) as TLG isn't producing those either. The trans blue windows in 1x2x3 also were discontinued as they appeared in only one set from 2010. They used only one window in the polybag set! With these thoughts in mind I adjusted the design. My hope is that when I do finish this project it will look just as grand as my original design.






As you can see from the images how I have altered things. I had to re-tile the main lobby as well since 2x2 do not come in dark orange and the 1x2s that do are pricey. My redesigned floor costs less but retains the look I wanted. 

To date I have done three orders for this project. This project is expensive as I do not have a Lego shop near my city. Ordering 1x1 tiles at 10 cents a piece really adds up the costs. In any case, I'm committed to this project. 

Feb 10, 2015 - Update: I completed my project a few months ago and have since then posted photos on my flickr account and even submitted it onto Lego Ideas. Still need many supporters to make it to 10,000 so by all means please support it.

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/90855
https://www.flickr.com/photos/94341490@N02/

Other projects

The other thing I have also started to invest in was to build from scratch the Combine Harvester 7636 from 2009. I really liked the set when I saw it on Brickset and had planned on finding a copy but building it will be much more enjoyable. Of course this is in addition to keeping pace with newer sets being released. I would love to get as much as I can but I am limited right now.  

I started to revisit my design for an art nouveau house but decided to scrap the initial design and start over. I am also thinking about making my own bank and having thoughts on making a rail deport for the new cargo train sets. The latter idea is what I will work on I think. I have to stay focused on the tasks at hand and one project at a time. Otherwise I will start several and not complete any!

One final note, I stopped collecting Star Wars sets last year but having bought a few now and then. I realized just how much fun it is to own and build them. :) Sigh, more to collect...