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Eilif

Seaside village

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Some of you may remember the recent thread where I was introduced to the fact that there are many definitions of Modular besides "Market street modular". I was looking for inspiration for adding a "downtown" to my seaside module for my part of the Northern Illinios Train Club display at Brickworld 2008. I got some great ideas from that thread and your suggestions, and here are the results. My original module ( http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=309896 ) was 40"x40", so this addition doubled the size of my layout section.

img_5003.jpg

closeup

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You can see a bit of it during setup from the rear here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nannanz/25940...pool-brickworld

Unfortunately there aren't many other pictures available at this time, I didn't take any myself, so I have had to rely on the other's pictures. I will take much better pictures and in process pictures at our show at the end of the month and add them then.

Some information about the Layout:

Almost all that you see here is Modular to Market street specs. Each floor is separate, each roof removes, even the "Double-Shark Bar" is modular. There are 18 movable and removable modular sections. only the docks, supports for the Bar, and the ground floor levels of the two rear buildings are non-removable.

Additionally, many of the buildings have sides that are different from the fronts, so that the buildings can be turned sideways to reveal whole new facades. For example, the Italian restaurant can be turned to make a more simple greek styled apartment building, and the surf shop has 3 sides of picture windows so it can be placed at either corner or midstreet.

I made every effort to ensure that anything that sticks out further than the 16x16 base is easily removable should that side need to be turned and placed next to another building. Thus, nearly every sign, awning, even the decorative SNOT tiles on the sides of the building, are mounted on headlight mounting bricks and can be removed to leave a wall with no protrusions. Some of the roofs, and the base level of the Chineese restaurant are exceptions to this.

Future improvements will be the addition of a few third floors, and the possible lenghthening of the street section by 16 or 32 studs. I may also build a couple of buldings with at least one side that mirrors the facade of another so they can be combined into a 32 stud long building. A more detailed marina with better boats is also planned.

I'd welcome comments and critiques. Also, if there are any suggestions for what kind of shops or buildings to add.

Edited by Eilif

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Nice i like the buildings! But you might want to add some railing to those cat walks [Or whatever they are called] so people dont fall over the edge. A small or modular postoffice would look good in there as well, like holodoc's modular post office is a good example but it doesnt have to be that big.

Below is a link to his topic

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17784&st=0&start=0

pict0040.jpg

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Thanks,

I had completely forgotten about a post office. Maybe another municipal building also, like a police station.

As for fencing, there originally was a fence, but I decided to go for the more open boarwalk look instead. It does pose a potential danger to the citizens however...

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Yea i modular police station would look good maybe like the 7744 Police Station or something like a cafe corner style police station. I just noticed when taking a closer look at the pics is that a Ice Cream truck? or some bus or something? can you post more pics of that? im thinking of making a ice-cream truck :thumbup:

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I just noticed when taking a closer look at the pics is that a Ice Cream truck? or some bus or something? can you post more pics of that? im thinking of making a ice-cream truck :thumbup:

The truck with the blue windows is an Arkham asylum ambulance chassis with new windows and a few other tweaks, the module is disassembled and packed, but I think the vehicles are accessible. I'll see about getting a pic or two. The truck coming out of the brown double doors is a wood paneled delivery truck built on the chassis of the jeep from the indiana jones set. I'm not very good at building effective vehicle chassis so many of my vehicles are modified, albeit often heavily modified, TLG designs.

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The truck with the blue windows is an Arkham asylum ambulance chassis with new windows and a few other tweaks, the module is disassembled and packed, but I think the vehicles are accessible. I'll see about getting a pic or two. The truck coming out of the brown double doors is a wood paneled delivery truck built on the chassis of the jeep from the indiana jones set. I'm not very good at building effective vehicle chassis so many of my vehicles are modified, albeit often heavily modified, TLG designs.

Yea i have the IJ Set with the jeep and truck.

Yea it looks pretty much like a ambulance modified.

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Hi Eilif. I really like the seafront look but appreciate what was said about the balustrade... you don't want to be liable for any Lego tombstoning!!

As for further shops, how about one of those seaside 'gift' shops - with the postcards on a stand outside and inflatable things tied up outside. You could use sharks and croc's as li-lo's along with dingy's and paddles etc. Fill it full of dissapointing, shell-based gifts and you're away!!!

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Hmm, a gift shop. I think that would be a prime candidate for a half size (8 wide) structure. I'll have to give that some thought.

I'm going to leave the pier's pretty much as-is, but do you folks think that the boarwalk along the street would beneift from being rised a plate or two and made wider. Say perhaps 4 or 6 studs wide. I have more than enough 1x4 brown tiles to do it.

I'm pretty set on not having railings, but maybe raising and widening would make it look less like a public hazard.

Edited by Eilif

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Mind if i give albri...err, foggyville a pier street in a (very*) similar vein?

*it will be a similar pier with modular buildings.

Edited by maiq the liar

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This is awesome! :thumbup:

I really like the details on this - the two-shark sign, the roof of the grey corner building, the pier walkways, the building awnings and most of all the way you've managed to capture the hustle and bustle of a seaside street! Well done!

I think a tacky gift shop is the way forward if you're thinking of expanding! I've never been to the seaside without one! :tongue:

If I could give you some feedback, I think the join with the sand and water looks a little odd because the sand isn't raised. Some tan plates here could be used to give some elevation and also break-up the abruptness of the transition from water-to-sand (i.e. make it more irregular). Although I suspect this may cause a problem if all the baseplates need to be able to be re-positioned for a layout.

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Maiq

I'd be honored if I inspired a section of foggyville, I would ask that you keep children and frosting off and sections that I may have had a part (however small) in. :tongue:

Basiliscus

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. I think you're right about the beach. It's a bit abrupt and strait. I did something like you suggest to break up the shoreline at other points on the layout, but I hadn't done anything for the beach. A sculpted transition with lot's of layers would be a bit much for setup and transport of the module sections, but a few well placed plates could make it seem much more natural.

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touristtrapstreet.png

Here's what i did (i wanted it to be similar, but not 100% the same.) it's divided into 4 separate sets:

The left side

the right side

the middle

base for Cafe Corner and other modular buildings (build CC, MS, or GG on the new base rather then the baseplates provided with those sets so the building are automatically elevated to be inline with the piers, etc.)

Edited by maiq the liar

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Looks great, I can't wait to see it. If you want to use the bases that come with the various buildings, you can simply drop the section where the bases will go by one stud. That might help in dissasembly.

To elaborate: two plates (NOT a plate and a tile) with a baseplate laying on top come to the exact height of 3 plates or a single brick. Wierd but true.

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Sorry it took me so long, here are the pics of the cars.

truck.jpg_thumb.jpg

van.jpg_thumb.jpg

The other two cars not pictured are 7731 mail van modified into a Scion XB-like vehicle, and a ME models volkswagen bug convertible pulling a camper trailer.

I have a few more adjustments planned for the pictured vehicles, mostly color changes and minor mods. As I mentioned, I'm not very good at designing vehicles, so most of my cars are modded TLG designs. Right now I am strongly considering modding the petrol truck from Town Plan into a delivery truck and adding it to my module as well.

Edited by Eilif

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We have another show coming up in a couple of weeks, so I am going to be updating my seaside village. I got it out last night and took pics of the individual modules, and the basic layout. When I finish the updates, I'll start a new thread. In the meantime, here are the components that comprise the downtown seciton of the seaside village

Here's the layout under the buildings. Everything you see here is fixed.

base_closeup.jpg_thumb.jpg

all the modules

modules.jpg_thumb.jpg

sharkbar interior

sharkbar_int.jpg_thumb.jpg

sharkbar rooftop closeup

sharkbar_top.jpg_thumb.jpg

office interior (rear right building)

office_int.jpg_thumb.jpg

surfshop interiors

surfshop_2flint.jpg_thumb.jpg

surfshop_2ndflint.jpg_thumb.jpg

surfshop exterior showing awning attachment points

surfshop_2ndflex.jpg_thumb.jpg

italian restaurant with alternate facade on the side

italy_1stflex.jpg_thumb.jpg

an historic greystone with art deco roof. my favorite so far

greystone_ext.jpg_thumb.jpg

Chineese restaurant. my 2nd favorite building. I finally found a good use for those odd dark red pieces as roof tiles.

chineese_ext.jpg_thumb.jpg

More pictures here http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=329059 after moderation.

Suggestions for improvement welcome. I'm already vorking on version 2.0, and alot of the recomendations you all made are being incorporated.

Edited by Eilif

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Awesome work on the village, is that whole setup yours (in the Flickr link), or did you and bunch of others put together a setup using everyone's setups? I would love to see version 2 soon!

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Thanks for the kind words,

The layout as a whole is the product of the Northern Illinois LEGO Train Club. We have no real requirements for members' modules asside from the height and location of the "mainline" tracks, so in pics of our layout you will see Modules representing Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Downtown Chicago (visible in the background of some of my pics), suburbia, country, military, seaside, etc.

My portion of the layout is the 40"x80"section of water front (4 baseplates deep by 8 baseplates accross) encompasing the 40" of modular "downtown" waterfront, and 40" containing 4 seaside cottages (may or may not be visible depending on what pictures you are viewing. The last 40" of seaside which lies next to the track curve and has a submarine, two pirate ships, and a small factory is not mine.

Version two will have 50" of down town, with new buildings and additional floors for some existing buildings. I will unfortunately loose 10" of cottage space, which will result in one fewer cottage. I'm feverishly working on this for our show this weekend at the Barrington, Illinois public library. I should have pics on Sunday or Monday.

Long term plans (next year sometime?) for a version 3 include expanding to a full 40"x 120" of waterfront, with more cottages, and a proper marina, but given the price of blue baseplates and my recent financial situation, it may be a while.

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The man in the suit on the second floor of the Chinese Resturant looks Asian to me alittle. Also, nice job!

Edited by Bob the Construction Man

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These all look really great. Sorry I had to remove the pics. They are way too large and you posted a ton of them. Our members with slower connections would've had a hell of a time trying to view this thread. I hope you can resize them or post the thumbnails from your brickshelf folder. Resize them to 800x600 please. Thanks. And excellent work. :classic:

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Sorry about that, the page seemed to auto-shrink them, and they were up for a while, so I didn't realize it was necessary. I'll resize them sometime soon. Thanks for the kudos though.

I've got to get back to building though, so in the meantime, anyone who wants to see the pics can access them here

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=309896

Edited by Eilif

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OK, I was going to resize all the pics and repost, but I haven't had the time at home, and I can't do any resizing at work. Therefore, I've given in and just posted brickshelf thumbnails. They aren't huge, but they get the point across.

I took some better, lower resolution pictures of the updated new layout from this weekend's show, and I'll post them in their own thread this week, but will not be updating the pictures in this thread any further. As always, the pics can all be viewed full size at the link in my previous posting.

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Very nice work, the buildings are nicely sized and the detail in everything is great! :thumbup:

It could benefit from some more boats i think, always love a couple a masts in front of a harbour :sweet:

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Very nice work, the buildings are nicely sized and the detail in everything is great! :thumbup:

It could benefit from some more boats i think, always love a couple a masts in front of a harbour :sweet:

Funny that you should mention that, the next planned expansion is a proper marina with a yacht club. I am looking forward to trying my hand at a few sailboats.

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