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...

2014 Lego thoughts

January 11th, 2014

So it is the start of a new year and Lego fever has been gripping me. I've been really eager to learn what the new summer wave of 2014 Lego sets will look like. Right now I have been trying to keep pace with my collecting but without work it makes things awfully difficult. Normally I collect Star Wars, City, CMFs, Creator, Modular buildings and anything else I fancy (the Lego Movie!). Right now though I have had to cut out most of the Star Wars sets. This is difficult as I will miss out on the SW sets I didn't get the first time back in 2007. For now I have been trying to focus on City. I really do love the Great Vehicles line. My ambition is to acquire the Parisian Restaurant soon and to definitely see the Lego Movie.

Over the Christmas holidays I finally got my copy of Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry by David Robertson. Honestly once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. I learned a great deal about the Lego Group from 1990-2012. The book takes one through the successes and failures of the Lego Group and the brush with bankruptcy in 2003 to new heights after 2012 where Lego is now second largest toy company behind Hasbro. After reading the book I now understand how and why certain decisions were made and how these decisions are reflected in the Lego Groups current portfolios. For example Lego tried to digitize bricks with a project called Darwin. The project was a colossal failure but from it birthed Lego Digital Designer. Similarly the failure with Lego Universe MMO resulted in a renewed commitment of breaking into the video game market with a variety of Lego titles. I'm over simplifying but I would recommend reading the book as their are lots of details in the inner workings of the Lego Group and how they addressed their failures (Galidor and Sliders) and successes (Bionicle, Lego 'board' Games, Star Wars, Ninjago and the revamped lines such as City). Question is: will the Lego Group keeps its momentum? I surely hope so. They have been quadrupling their earnings for the past 8 years.


My Cafe Corner and Green Grocer project is almost finished. I have one more order to do for 1x1 tiles and 1x1 plates to complete the two of them. Once that is done I can finally build them! This has been a long wait as I started this project last August.   

To pass the time when not looking for work I busy myself with design projects. For the past month I have been creating a modular police station. It is taking shape and so far so good. I would prefer actual building instead of digital building to make my projects but as I am not rich ce la vie.

This past week I also created an interior for the Cafe Corner. However I think that I will have to wait until other things are purchased first before I can start buying the parts. I look for inspiration and tend to mod things a lot from other designs I see. It is part of my learning process to de-construct what others have done and then improve upon it with my own modifications. It is a Ancient Roman trait. :) 

Lego World Bridge

November 23, 2013

New Project

My recent project that I have been working on (digitally that is) has been a bridge that I saw in photos from the Lego show in Copenhagen earlier this year. I really liked the concept and reverse engineered what I wanted from a few photos while adding to it. I am calling it the Lego World Bridge. I posted a thread on Eurobricks for some feedback but unfortunately only a few people commented. In any case I will go ahead with my plans however at the moment I was trying to assess just how much it would cost. It looks to be around $220-250 depending on whether I can get the parts at a good price. Even though technically Bricklink does have what I would need the shipping costs and fees are really outweighing any savings I could make. I will likely buy the parts from Lego with the exception of the Light Bluish Grey x2x4 slopes. According to Lego they are discontinued...

A close up of the bridge. The colour for the profile 1x2 bricks is not available which fathoms me as in the photos it is the same colour they used. I can only surmise they made a limited run for the show. I really wanted it in this colour. The closest colour (I use that term loosely) is Medium Nougat. 

The door frame window is suppose to have a sticker for train times. There are also two bike rakes for bicycles. 

All in all I can't wait to be able to build this even if its the only section I create. I can always convert the rail tracks to a highway but I am interested in trying to slope rail tracks up to this level and maintaining it as a railway. 

Update - Hermes Sellier, Train station revamp 7997 and more

October 31st, 2013

It's not like me to leave this blog without any updates at all for so many months...so here we go.

Well the gas station is nearly complete. Just need 5 pieces to finish it off properly which I will do once I get some more money to invest in my Cafe Corner and Green Grocer. I have about $200 or less to spend with the parts. I had to make a few compromises to ensure completion. I will discuss those once they are finally put together.

I've had to do a rethink of my grand scheme as I currently lack the space (my own place) and frankly a job to achieve my plans. I am thinking now I should start smaller and work on a scheme that is more achievable and requires less space. Richard Hayes over at Brickfanatics.co.uk has the idea I would like to aspire to. A few buildings and an small area with the potential to grow.

I have been designing these past months with LDD. Mainly my newest design has been a Hermes Sellier store in Paris. Pay no attention to the lamp on the ground... :P

At the moment I am not too keen on the way I've done the interior floors. Certain things I do like are my lion head columns. I was thinking about placing a posh cafe on the top floor with seating on the top. As I've never really designed a modular building I am uncertain as to what I want. I suppose that is the problem. The roof will have a garden.

The other thing I have been attempting recently is rendering my designs.

This is my revamp of set 7997 Train Station. I will have to try more rendered images but I still find the process somewhat clunky switching between two programs. However the results I think are fantastic! If I tried to render my Hermes store it would take all day I think...at 3000 pieces and counting...

I have been analysing some of the Lego commercials too. I would love to recreate the scenes they make. As a kid I always wanted to do that! I've noticed that some of the background buildings at the Copenhagen Lego world show (2013) were the same buildings used from some of the commercials and vice versa. For instance two buildings like the one with the 'bakery' shop windows (red window frames) and also the Wharf Shop building I was inspired by (in Sand Green brick colour). 

Coast Guard Commercial

In the above photo it is one the top left. Below is the same 'bakery' shop. Also the big light blue building and some of the others you will see move around in the shots.

Elite Police Commercial

The Elite Police commercial has base plates that have been cut to form the little curb in the centre! Cheeky but I wish they would make similar base plates.

 This is from the Coast Guard commerical, (bottom photo) and the building has spun around!

Coast Guard Commercial

Cargo Plane Commercial

Wouldn't any serious MOCer want to build an real airport like this? I know I would. :) In this commercial there are about 3 different designs of the 'wharf shop' surrounding the airstrip.

In a behind the scenes of one of the commericals I found out that the 'child's hand' is actually a woman's hand! Just a little factoid for you readers. 

Sets Cafe Corner 10182 and Green Grocer 10185 buildings from scratch!

February 26th, 2014

My final order came in today. I now own the Market Street Mini-figures. 100% authentic and new. My Green Grocer is now complete. I've managed to only make three changes from what the original set would be. The 1x8 Sand Green Bricks, 1x2x3 Train windows and the 1x4 Bright Blue bows. I think that is an excellent achievement.

My Cafe Corner as well has only minor changes. The windows are the new style, new style skis and the lack of a new side door. I was thinking the Cafe does look nice without the door.

Considering that I have had to only make 3 changes to the parts on each set to the original. I am extremely proud of what I achieved. Two years ago I did not think it was possible to ever own these sets. Now I have both! I've completed these sets for far less than the asking price on either ebay or bricklink. All in all I think I spent about $700 CDN or so on the sets combined.

I am still planning on decorating the interior of Cafe Corner. I made the bartender mini-fig for it. Just need to order the parts when I am ready.

February 9th, 2014

Well as of January 30th, I received my final order of parts to build the Care Corner and Green Grocer. I was very eager after waiting 5 months to build them. It took me the whole afternoon and well into the morning to build them. The instructions were downloaded from Lego.com and I found the colours or shapes on them hard to discern at times. Naturally this reduced my pace to build it. I have a few parts to replace on Green Grocer but its pretty much complete. Anyhow, onto the results!

If you'd like to see more photos they can be found on my flickr page. There is a thread on EuroBricksForum that was started by a few of us trying to achieve our own CC and GG. Click on the links below.  

Wodanis's Flickr Page

Bricklinking CC, GG and MS

Update: July 6th, 2013

Well its been a while since I've updated this. After a dozen or so orders off BrickLink my Green Grocer and Cafe Corner are off to a good start. I've been utterly consumed this week with trying to find deals for unique or discontinued parts. It has been a significant challenge with some pitfalls. Seems to me every time I managed to find cheap parts the shipping costs have been overstated by the seller. It really is frustrating at times. Lately sellers in the US have been the ones over charging due to US Postal Service changing their pricing for smaller packages. I can understand this as a factor but it only goes so far. I've checked out the rates myself and it seems to me some people are gouging and finding a convenient excuse. The US dollar is up to which makes buying from there harder. I've noted that Denmark, Netherlands, and Germany to a lesser extent seems to have good offers at reasonable pricing with shipping prices fairly constant. Even here in Canada its up and down. I am leery of ordering anything from Asian markets as I do not know if they have knock off in circulations. Seems too convenient to possess discontinued parts in high quantities...

As for the actual orders, so far so good. I'm awaiting them as I write this and hoping they all reach me intact without issue. I would say about 70% of the discontinued/unique parts are out of the way and it is just some of the more niche parts now. I am still debating about what to do with the x50 1x8 sand green bricks needed for the Green Grocer. At $3 per piece that is a hard pill to swallow and I am on a budget. I really hate to use other colours as I am trying to make an exact set. $15 for a earth blue 1x8 arch is also an issue. I know I will not use an alternative colour so I will have to swallow that cost eventually. Most of the remaining parts I was thinking of purchasing directly from Lego. I surmise its just easier and less costly on shipping to order through them. In meantime I'd best get back to completing some of my designs.

June 30th, 2013

I've decided to start my own sourced Cafe Corner (10182) and Green Grocer (10185 see below). I would love to just buy them outright but I do not have the funds to spend $800 or better on an after market set, let alone two. So I will buy up the parts necessary and build them from scratch. Should be much more satisfying that way (and cheaper).

I've taken some time and put together two excel spreadsheets for a cost analysis. I think other could benefit from using them but I seem to be unable to post just the files the way they are...sigh...

So far I have acquired a far amount of the unique parts for cafe corner including the Red 1x3x2 slopes. Really expensive in my opinion! About a dollar US a piece. Saw some cheaper ones in the EU but with the person's shipping costs and other charges it made it about equal to the US supplier. Go figure. Just one outstanding piece to Cafe Corner remains, the dreaded 1x8 Earth Blue Arch. Really? $15 for just that piece!  What's worse was seeing that Market Street (10190) uses 5 of them!! So I decided I won't be building Market Street in any time in the near future.

I was never quite really happy with the look of this set. So unless I can get it by chance for really cheap, it can wait. The other two look quite nice, admittedly I would have to decorate the interior of Cafe Corner as there is nothing on the inside. That will be fun. :) Once this one side project is complete I will have a decent grocer and cafe. Hurray!

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.

Octan Gas Station

Wodanis's Flickr Page

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...