Thursday 20 June 2013

Octan Gas Station - Update

February 9th, 2014

In my bid to finish up my project for building a Cafe Corner and Green Grocer from scratch. I was finally able to order the remaining parts I needed to finish off my Octan Gas Station. I also took the liberty of taking some new photos of the project. Most of these images you can find on my Flickr account or on the EuroBrick Forums.












Update July 7, 2013

So the Octan Gas Station is just about complete. I lack about 6 parts in various quantities. I was going to make a small purchase through Lego S@H but have been completely sidetracked by trying to build from scratch a Green Grocer and Cafe Corner. I've used alternative colours just to build it for the moment. Then I can FINALLY take some really nice photos to post up. I made a few alterations to the overall look of it. Added a street light, redid the tree and took away the weeds and put in a simple bush. It looks quite good! I can't wait to have it nestled in with my other buildings. I ordered a few extra mini-figures and realised I had an extra Octan oil attendant. So there is a win!

Thrusday, June 20th, 2013

So after receiving 4 of my shipments this week I have put together my project for the most part. I realized when I was constructing it I had tried to swap a part out for another one during my orders but when I went to put it together found that the roofing pieces would not work correctly. Can you see the yellow bricks on the structure? I had tried to be quite careful with my orders by ordering the exact amount of parts. However once I put it together I find I still require more.





Mainly what I need now is astonishingly white standard 2x4 bricks! Talk about basic parts! I also need my dark bluish grey tiles, a few more plates, white 1x1 and 1x2 bricks, and some tree branches for weeds.

The angled plates I used on the base of the gas pump roof also met with one problematic issue. The gas truck fits but has a hard time getting past the focal point where they meet. I am impressed with the overall look though. It will be quite nice to see it nestled in with my other buildings when I rebuild them.




I improved from my design for the green plates around the structure too. It just became more practical to use some green 1x4 tiles, I had from a Pick a Brick trip, outside the windows and side door as well as on either side of the entrance pavement tiles.


All in all my design has come along nicely. I realized though I will have to strengthen the design better next time I go to use shelves on a back wall. The way I did it made it more complicated than it needed to be. I was thinking perhaps I should have used another 1x6 wall instead of bricks but maybe not as I can place a movie poster sticker on the wall which will enhance the look.

I am having an issue with the lighting and trying to photograph my creation. I was trying to place it on a white background but because the model has an awkward shape it was hard to photograph. I know Huw from Brickset.com has a tutorial on what he uses to make photos. He uses a wooden box with white paper on all sides with one to two stuido lights which I would like to do in the future. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my photos but for the moment until I have a better set up I will have to make do.

Once I have this project completed I will post some more photos. I am now thinking I would like to create from scratch the Cafe Corner set. It looks promising but I have no idea about the cost...


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