74 brick long Ghostbusters Firehouse and new Ecto 1

[cehnot]

Hello, this is my first post, but longtime follower.

I have a few questions near the end of this post that I would love to have input, comments and hopefully solutions while developing my model.

Intro

I have been working on and off a proportional Ghostbusters firehouse that makes the LA interior fit the NY exterior. Working with blueprints from both places, reference images from Ghostbusters 1 & 2, reference from the interior set from gbfans.com and talking to various people in the Ghostbuster community, I have been trying to make my own version of the firehouse in LDD.

I have a lot of respect for Sergio's beautiful design and Orion Pax's ultimate headquarters. I also like what Brent Waller did on his LDD file. I took Sergio's file with interior and began my journey. At first I used his width proportions and made the baseplate floor plan 60 bricks long, then worked on a 62 brick version. As I began reconstructing the interior to fit the 4 fire poles, 2 sets of 3 door storage lockers, the mechanic closet near the front garage door, the stairs, the bathroom in the front next to the other garage door and the opposite maintenance closet midway down the hallway I realized the size was too small. I tried to make it work with Venkman's office, struggling to make it fit with a storage in the back, so I shrunk his office quite a bit, but could not fit his chair, desk and client seats without hindering the details on the back wall.

After several months of tinkering in my free time, I realized that by making the width of the front 24 bricks wide for the main building, with the slope adding 2 bricks, making it 26 total bricks wide, the front would actually fit the same number of bricks the actual Hook and Ladder 8 fits across. The name plates on both side under the lights would fit perfectly centered in a 6 brick wide wall. The appropriate length, based on floor plans, and google maps, meant that if the door is 4 bricks wide, then the walls needed to be 72 bricks long. I used a blueprint and overplayed in photoshop my ldd file to see where it would match up on the plate. Technically 71 bricks would make it work, but i needed an even number for windows and doors to match up perfectly. This also allowed me to get the appropriate height I need for my new customer LEGO Ideas echo 1. I will get to that later.

The first thing I noticed was that Orion Pax had his spot on in terms of appropriate length, fitting the following layout I used off of gbfans.com as my official guide to the layout of the firehouse since they merged the interior of the real location into the shorter Hook and Ladder 8 "box". The movie made use of the office windows in the second floor lab my making it appear to be the firehouse exterior windows of the back alleyway, we never see in the film. The actual alley between the long side of the firehouse and the next building, has a small extended wall with a gate that encloses off the area. The google maps images were perfect in showing the second and third floor windows in relationship to the building. They justified my reasons to placing windows on the back wall for the lab I will create. The video game made a few years ago had a great firehouse walkthrough, i used to help figure out the layout. They used the size and shape of the actual interior of the LA location to make it and felt huge. The second floor had too much space as they stretched out the rooms to fit what was shown on screen. They made the bathrooms, bedroom and living room ridiculously large. With this said, I included the layout of the gbfans layout.

Orion Pax created a huge replica, surprisingly, his is 30 bricks wide by 78 bricks long. My replica will be 26 bricks wide by 74 long. What does that mean, besides less brick count? I only need to raise the total height of Sergio's model by 1 to 2 bricks. I will however need to alter the grey bricks surrounding the windows in order to make them screen accurate. Orion did this quite well and only needed to use the regular height of the LEGO bricks to achieve this. When I tried laying out his dimensions, I realized that he used 3 2brick wide window panels for the center set of windows and he actually could have used the normal 4 brick wide windows to make it screen accurate. Although I assume he did this in order to make the window air conditioner smaller because I will tell you it looks huge in a normal window (see images below).

After lots of thought, I did my best to recreate the floor plan without making my model any larger. The nice part about making it a bit smaller it feels more appropriate to LEGO minifies. I still think its huge. This is why I tried so hard to get it to stay the same width as Sergio's model and try to keep it at 60-64 bricks long. I really wish I didn't accidentally save over that version because I used Orion Pax's middle window idea and it worked out quite well.

Questions/Concerns

So is it closer to scale? almost. lol. Without going as large as Orion Pax did, I lose space to fit everything in the garage. He had enough space on his layout to include a bathroom on the left side of the garage door. He showed space for an elevator shaft where I am placing the mechanic closet and water heater. He had plenty of space between the fire poles and echo 1.

1. Garage bathroom
   

• ​As you will see in my layouts, I have a window, and a closed off room that can accommodate a 2x3 brick lol.
  
• DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANY SOLUTIONS OR SUGGESTIONS THAT CAN HELP SOLVE THIS ISSUE?
  
• I wish that I could come up with a better solution for the garage door so I didn't need to lose that extra brick width and I could fit a toilet in the bathroom and maybe a sink by making the room 2x4.
  
• I thought about using 1x2x3 panels in the bathroom area to open up the space a bit more.
  
• I wish LEGO made doors 3 wide and 5 or 6 bricks tall. That would answer this issue and question 2
  

1. The 2 sets of storage lockers
   

• As you can see, I added extra images of the contraction of it. I heavily modified Sergio's idea, basically grouping the lockers together and making them enclosed. I am not a huge fan of the exposed hinge, but I did the doors revered because it felt like the embezzling on the wood in the movie. I know I need to fix the top to have the decoration peaks and curves which I will use the 1x1 slope to make this work like the LEGO official set did.
  
• IF YOU GUYS HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR ALTERING OR IMPROVING THE DESIGN OF THE STORAGE LOCKERS THAT WOULD BE A BLESSING.
  
• biggest gripe
  In order to hold them in place I had to use snot techniques and the right side of the far left set of lockers had to use flat bricks running up the green wall. This didn't allow for the nice white, green, white pattern to work. I would prefer to make it fit somehow with the wall as is and not have a weird gap or bricks turned sideways. As you will see, the reason why that 2x8 plate is attached to the brown lockers is holding the door hinges up. And overall, it overhangs the brick width just a tad. If I could figure out a simpler solution and one that doesn't use so many rare bricks I would be super excited.
  
• The actual number of lockers near the front are 4, space between and another 3. Unless I do them in 2 to 2.5 bricks wide, i won't be able to get 4.
  
• The new Official LEGO set uses 2x4 door panels. My space allows for 9 bricks wide, gap, wall structure pole, then another storage locker about 9 bricks wide again.
  
• - Solution would easiest be solved if LEGO had a 3 wide door at 5 to 6 bricks tall lol.
  

1. Sacrificing space in Venkman's office
   

• As you will see in the photos, I made Venkman's office with a large storage area behind it just like the movie. Orion Pax didn't include a storage space, but he definitely had the width to fit the movie accuracy shape.
  
• 
  
• SHOULD I EXPAND VENKMANS OFFICE BY 1 BRICK AND REMOVE THE DOOR ON THE RIGHT SIDE?
  
• In the movie and photos provided by GBfans.com there is clearly a door on the right side, you see it when Venkman jumps the door when Dana arrives.
  
• *** Solution would easiest be solved if LEGO had a 3 wide door at 5 to 6 bricks tall lol.
  
• If I expand the office, I can offset the desk and chairs 1/2 a brick to recenter it.
  
• I could move Janine's desk 1 brick down, and it would allow the gliding doors 5 bricks wide between them instead of 4. It would allow me to fake filing cabinets using 2x2 bricks instead of their 3wide cabinets.
  
• This would realign all 4 the green pillars like the movie and layout from gbfans. ONLY ISSUE: not sure if it will fit the echo-1 between them since its 8-9bricks wide.
  

1. If we can figure out the locker issue, that would solve this next question. Otherwise:
   

• SHOULD I ADD THE SAME STYLE LOCKERS TO THE OPPOSITE SIDE NEAR JANINE'S DESK?
  
• As you can see in the layout, there are a set of 3 more lockers (9 bricks wide) that would need to be placed near her desk. Whatever I do with Question 2, obviously affects this issue.
  

1. WHAT DO I DO WITH THE GROSS DARK ORANGE WALL BEHIND THE LOCKERS?
   

• In the movie, as well as the actual Hook and Ladder 8 location, the stairwell wall does not fit within the box much like it's LA interior location. TARDIS ISSUE!!!!! Seriously, after visiting the area, I went in the alley way and noticed they have a side door. My only guess is it is an emergency exit for the stairwell. I am sure they have storage inside the area as well, but its basically just a set of stairs. I don't know what to do with this shape. The official set, Sergio and Pax all omitted it. Sergio and LEGO made matching windows to the other street side view. LEGO made a nice set of stairs scaffolding and doors most NY buildings have. The video game breaks all rules and used the interior of the LA location to place the windows on the back wall on the second and 3rd floor. I may be fine with that since the movie shows the kitchen and lab area with windows that don't exist on the exterior location since there is a stairwell wall there.
  
• Currently, I placed a door inside the area where it leads to the basement under the stairs. I thought it was a good idea since we never saw the top of the stairs before.
  

1. Future issues
   

• Stairs for 2nd and 3rd floor.
  Current layout shows stairs don't exist.
  Reason?
  Well in the real location the stairs continue up to the 3rd floor from the same set of stairs that started on the first floor. Just 1 long star case. In the movie, they blocked it off with a fake wall to make people think that was the back of the building. They never showed any other rooms from the 3rd floor so various layouts justified that the 3rd floor must be an extra set of beds, kitchen, and laboratory as well as their dark room from GB 2 scene. It would make sense since they used one of the rooms on the second floor that was located behind the blocked off area I believe.
  

Photo reference: Found by a ghostbuster fan, who posted this on deviant art.com

Edited April 15, 2016 by cehnot

[MilkPls69]

This thread looks amazingly promising and I can't wait to see how it goes!

[gotoAndLego]

Similar to the Jabba's Palace/Rancor dungeon sets, you need to design it so it can rest on a separate basement level with the containment facility. Extra points if you can make a roof with the explosion/ghosts escaping.

[cehnot]

Echo 1

Much of my love and admiration for hopping on this project was when I saw this post June 2014, http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=96868

Though I still need to buy a few different 2x1 decorated title bricks, white minifig telescope, a new way to place my technic flex cables 7 stud long, new parts from brick arms (monocles u clips to finish the ladder), I am almost happy with my new build.

I wish LEGO made bar ladders that were 2 studs wide, along with their 3 stud wide ladders. It would be of great use for this project. I saw a guy on brick link selling these, but they make theirs using 3d printing and won't be smooth like LEGO http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=80779

I think I will buy a their shortest and longest ladders to see how they look since I broke the office LEGO parts mod with the brick arms.

Happy to say, all but so far 2 pieces were LEGO. Brick Arms makes a great set of clips and double clips. I used 1 of each to do the closer to scale and accurate post holding the white and red Marine Radome (yes it has a name lol)

To connect the 7 stud tall ladder with clip ends without using their 3 stud wide bars like the set I decided to use the Brick Arms U clip http://www.brickarms.com/U-clip.php

to connect the two. In order to clip to the current bar I have on the top rack, I need to use a 3 stud wide bar, the ladder, and 4 u-clips from Brick arms. I tested the length I need to hand the ladder off the side perfectly against Ecto-1 without hindering it. If I go with the custom made 2 stud wide ladders, I need a 7 stud long ladder, and have him manufacture a custom 2x2 square ladder. Or use Brick Arms 4 Brick Arms monocles clipped to each other to make a square. Either way I see it, I need to somehow help the 2 stud width and make it work.

Exterior

My reference for this is the Hotwheels Elite series Ecto-1.

http://www.hotwheels...hostbusters.php

• You will notice I used the new racing champions wheels and it feels like a white wheel and rim. Unless I figure out another way to make it work without using those silver/metallic dumbbells I am happy with that.
  
• Rear fin is composed of a 4x2 wedge instead of that 3x2. Not sure how happy i am with how far back they rest, but that back slope works better and looks more film accurate.
  
• Blue Hose connections. You will see on the roof details below how they slide into the roof. As for connecting it, never was a fan of those technic pieces. I have to think about that. They will be held together with official lego 2 stud rubber bands. 3, like I seen other people do.
  

Wheel Well placement

The front wheel area: Using Hotwheels elite, as my go to guide for the car, I noticed that LEGO made the wheel well too far back. I fixed that issue, but came up with a new dilemma: Keep the 6 stud length, with that curve making it 7 studs, go back and use their basic shape, or figure out a new way to cover the lights and 1 round bricks. Currently the 1 x1 round metallic bricks hand out too far. I tried a solution where they almost touch the wheel, as you can see. It isn't as durable, but does the job. The majority of the photos you will see the first version of the front headlight area leading to the wheel well.

Wheel Well and Headlight Options:

1.

Bottom 1x1 round studs stick out too far. But this version is quite durable.

2

Less durable, but 1x1 round bricks don't stick out too far. If not one issue, it is another.

Roof Rack

I didn't even try to make the official set or any other version work. It is quite hard to make a lego version of it, but I believe using my elite model it paid off. The rack surrounds the gadgets in the middle of it, holds all the right components in their location.

Side Ladder Options:

Coming soon:

1. Using Brickarm's clips and more mono clips, I will connect the provided 7 stud ladder with a 3 stud bar.
   
2. Use the custom 3d printed ladders I bought from the guy featured on this article: http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=80779. For this to make it closer to movie accuracy, I will either need him to commission/manufacture a custom 2x2 stud square ladder, use his 7 stud long 2 stud ladder and use 4 Brickarms u-clips to piece them all off the side to make it look like the echo-1 movie ladder. I wish he didn't 3d print them and i wish somebody would make a smoothed molded piece.
   
3. Dare I say it, buy a few extra ladders, cut them down the middle, size them to 2 studs, smooth them out and glue them back together. Maybe eventually figure out a moving process and make them myself.
   

Bottom of the Car

Nothing special here, just showing you how many studs it is.

Engine/Hood

Completely redesigned the hood to accommodate the engine which comes out really easy.

Interior

I would have to say 70% goes to Flailx http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=96868

I first built his version using LDD. His model was quite helpful. I used reverse engineering on it at that point to get everything in there I wanted in the real vehicle. The actual Cadillac has a sloping front seat. I used the 2x2 black curve slopes with a 2x4 black plate, and black angular plate to achieve this.

I also needed the back floor to fit 4 brick forge proton packs and wands, 2 containment units and places for goggles or a radio.

I want to get some sort of thin hose to connect the proton pack and wand. Looking for that online, not lego. Medical equipment and plastic hoses.

Coming soon, new tiles. I need to replace some of the tiles with computer buttons tiles, like Flailx used. If I could cover the top of the front seat with white greebles I could simulate the electrical boxes they have between the front and back seat. Not any real space to do it, so I may just use a 1x3 plate.

Photo with newest and less durable side wall, front headlight area.

Roof rack with Brick Arms U Clip and Monoclip holding up the black bar. Makes the whole top roof rack very durable.

Edited April 4, 2016 by cehnot

[Forresto]

So much promise, I will be definitely watching this thread! Good work so far!

[MilkPls69]

I love your mods to the ECTO itself and wish I had thought of a lot of those things.

[cehnot]

Thanks guys. I will create a LDD file for the roof rack and my Ecto-1 model when I get the chance.

As for the firehouse: Before I begin the second floor I will figure out the lockers. The second and third floors should be pretty easy. The layout will go quickly and I plan on using some of Serio's techniques for the kitchen and lab. I think having more room will allow me to get the movie accurate details in the lab area. Much more in tune with Alex did on his huge firehouse display I mentioned earlier.

[MilkPls69]

Well here are the lockers from lego dimensions and looking at them you have defiantly got the right idea so far.

[cehnot]

My fiancee bought the demensions game for her son's birthday in July. I bought the ghostbusters sets, but have no access to the game yet. Could you do a few screen grabs up close or of the sides and such of the storage lockers? Those look perfect to the size I am looking for. Do they open?

Well here are the lockers from lego dimensions and looking at them you have defiantly got the right idea so far.

[cehnot]

Did a bit of research and watched a walkthrough. Took tons of screenshots. Great lockers. They work quite well. I will modify them a bit, but their size is closer to what I wanted. 3 bricks wide.

[cehnot]

I took a break trying to solve the lockers.

I completely gutted my firehouse after a fellow ghostbuster enthusiast sent me old set design pictures.

Venkman's office was not accurate at all according to the set design pictures. What we don't ever see in the photos or movie is the top, how it fits in the space provided and what is behind it.

I am reiterating that I am doing a Hook & Ladder 8 recreation on the outside from Tribeca NYC. In order to do this I got blueprints and specs I printed out to reference while doing the new firehouse. I was right in doing 26 by 74 bricks because the actual size of the place is 27 x 75 feet.

The major issue we have with LEGO bricks will hinder the exact height for the car to fit through the door.

My Ecto-1 can fit inside a door height of 10 bricks tall. If you stick the little red and white antenna up all the way my car clears a 10 brick and 1 plate height door.

Using the blueprints and specs, I found that the proportion with lego bricks needed to be 9 bricks and 2 plates in order it to accurately look like the real location.

I cannot do this for the sake of Ecto-1 wouldn't fit through the door.

What you will see is I did what no other version has shown, doors swinging out but kept inside the firehouse.

I had a lot of time thinking that the other version, minus Venkman's office, looked more proportional to the movie, but what I didn't account for was the support beams in the correct location.

Support beams, instead of 2x1 bricks like you see my old version has, I only did 6. Firehouse Engine 23 actually has 12. I used a half slot idea to get a 1x1 brick look like it was cut in half. and keeping proportions accurate.

Details: Venkmans office is done. The "storage" area was based on fans ideas not set pics.

Venkmans office on the one side is wider and goes against the far wall. It includes a desk and 2 seat couch. The other side had a 4 ft table and a lamp on it.

The following video shows Venkman talking to Walter Peck and Peck walks around Venkman's office. This is the only time we see it next to the far wall through the glass. Earlier scenes they used fronted glass and hid it.

I gave up the idea of doing storage in the back because of the deleted scenes a fan provided.

In ghostbusters 2,

https://vk.com/video-1220580_170526979?list=33241e141140a92c86

You see Louis prating with a proton pack. This is the only time we actually see that there are brick pillars next to the stairs, the complete layout of Venkman's office, and Janine walking to the storage area.

Based on set design pics, the storage makes an "L" shape around he firehouse office, but no reference to exit door.

With tons of pictures from my trip to NYCC I went to the firehouse last october and took outsold photos of the alley way and side we hardly ever get to see.

The lego version makes all the sides look the same. The original Hook and Ladder 8 had 2 bay doors and cut in half back during the 1920s. The original specs did have both sides match, which LEGO did, but only on the original 2 bay version. When they cut the place they used interior brick walls and covered them on the left alley way.

Photo 1: New layout. Dark red bricks for back wall, not sure what to do with the stair well. Maybe I will make it an emergency stairwell? Only no door entrance to ground garage? This would solve the lack of fire escapes. Which LEGO made up as a nice touch, but the actual firehouse doesn't have that. This could be a nice second stairwell.

New city street. Accurate to actual street, proportionally. Wider than modular sets, but Tribeca has huge sidewalks!

New and improved front, Lower profile, 2 plate bricks taller than actual location. Need to fit echo-1 through doors!

New huge lamppost: Tribeca 1 way street is 5 lanes wide. So, needed a proportional and to scale lamp post that matches it.

Bay doors on the inside?????????????Yep, they swing open inside the firehouse and there is enough room to fit Ecto-1 (26 studs long), and a few speed champion size cars lol, or my custom Speed Racer Mach 5, which I will post another day.

I always had an issue with the new decoration that comes with my LEGO Ghostbusters set. In Ghostbusters 1, it was Black, but I think I will continue to follow suit with LEGO making it a GB2 firehouse.

The NINGA headpiece they used for the gold mantle above the door was perfect. I flipped it because the real one is bottom heavy. And it fits better.

Since LEGO Digital Designer doesn't allow us to separate those antennas, you will see a random black one on Venkmans desk. I am attaching to bases to 1 rod to make a small lamp. I saw it somewhere searching "LEGO furniture" and it would ft there instead what LEGO gave us, which I placed for reference later on the desk.

The back isn't glorious and I am trying to solve the revolving door issue.

Somehow I need to take out or cut a 16x8 brick plate base down. I want the front to swing open like the official LEGO set, very dollhouse effect. I love that they did this, I just want to make sure there are walls and doors for a bathroom and darkroom.

Pesky Lockers: Currently as placeholders you see 2x2 brown bricks representing the proportional lockers. Cannot figure out what to do, LEGO Dimensions gave me ideas. I made a few in the program, just very large right now. My older ones, have been modified and look nicer.

My 1/2 slot issue. You can see i blew up area where i cannot figure out how to fill it. I used a white brick to show you the area i need to fix.

Questions/ Concerns:

1. Still those tricky lockers, trying tog et them to fit my new layout, harsh.
   
2. The garage bathroom area. Right now I used 2 2x1 window pieces. The area now has room in the back to fit toilets and such, But the door would only work if I can solve it with 3 bricks wide.
   
3. Maintenance closet is huge now lol. Mostly due to the fact I now have sliding doors inside the place.
   
4. Wall decoration using door rail pieces. All other people used those 2x1 plate door rails to run around the whole area. I know they closely resemble wide of half stud. I replaced them on the front so we have corners, which LEGO didn't do. Sergio fought with this area and I now know why.
   
5. INFAMOUS 1/2 brick dilemma. There is a small gap I cannot figure out what to do where the 2x2 plate with 1 center studs are used for corners, They go against the 1x2 and 1x8 plate door rails nicely, but i don't know techniques enough to fix this 1x2 stud gap.
   
6. Dollhouse style opening. I may nee to cut down plate bases to fit them. I need 2 8x8 baseplates so I can swing open the whole thing without scratching tiles. THE LEGO version slid on the tiles, but the sheer weight cause it to scratch tiles. I wanted to resolve this by creating a pure dollhouse effect.
   

[MilkPls69]

Absolutely love some of the fixes you have done to make this more accurate especially the work around you made for the ecto to fit in the doors. Now with the whole dollhouse effect what side will it be opening from because if I recall the actual firehosue has a little fenced off area to the left of the building. Which if it opens the way lego's does may hinder the movement a bit more.

[cehnot]

Similar to the official set I am going to have it open the same way. Having the baseplates move with it will help out. The fenced off area didn't have a fence during the film. I left it open so it could be placed next to other sets. The opening will occur from alley way. Trying to solve it. Basically the stairs fir on left opening side and lockers open on right.

[cehnot]

So I figured out how to make the lockers as small as possible with a hinged door!

So I wanted to get them down to 2 bricks wide, never going to happen. I tried the LEGO Dimensions style lockers, and found out that it would take 12 bricks wide to do 4 lockers, it would take 9-10 bricks to do the 3 lockers. That was wider than my older design.

As you can see I am including my various explorations to get to the final design.

Ideally I would do a 3 wide locker design like I figured out. If I was going to continue doing my first layout, those would work quite well, but honestly, these new lockers are much better in terms of size.

The newest lockers were placed into my design.

4 lockers came out exactly 10 bricks wide

3 lockers came out to being 8 bricks wide.

In other words, i had to enlarge them by 2 bricks to fit a hinged door.

Onto the photos:

1. Group shot of my best locker designs. On the left you will see the LEGO Dimension style fronts, with a gold bottom added. These were way too wide. Each locker was 4 bricks wide and frankly, the LEGO set came with doors that looked much cooler in terms of color and style. 3rd and 4th lockers are a modification on my older design. This works perfectly in my older layout, but since I decided to make my garage door open on the inside, they became too large for the space.

2. Details on LEGO Dimension style lockers. I didn't finish the tops because they were too large. But the nice part was you could "hang" the outfits on the doors since that is where they exist in the movie, not a close hanger. These designs would fit both ways, why you see my test on the close rack option here.

3. My perfect door! Well, only for the older garage layout. They swivel, plenty of space to fit equipment and hang your clothes If you take off the minifies hands you can actually hang the outfits on the door and have it swing open, like the movie. Since the program doesn't allow this to occur, you cannot see it. But given the length of the arms, it will fit perfectly on the door as you swing it open. These would look great inside the newer model, but tight. I may keep them and order parts to see how I like it in reality later.

4. The new and improved final lockers. Perfectly sized to my current model and i wouldn't be opposed to using them on my older layout either. Doors open, i still have a top shelf like in the movie, and just barely enough space to fit the outfits.

5. Details of the final design.

6. The space I wanted to fill. Ideal size would be in this current shape.

7. When I placed the lockers inside the location, I had to mask the back alley with random colored bricks because the reddish brown block was quite noticeable. Now, you don't get distracted by the back of the enclosed lockers because there are other browns and dark browns spread throughout. I may replace some of the 1x4 and 1x6 with 1x2 bricks so it will look better.

8.Lockers in place, plenty of connecting points so they fit snug in their location. Doors open perfectly, and all is well in the world.

Now the garage is finished. Now I need to add a quick stairwell in the dark red area and move onto the ceiling. The great part is this was my most difficult part.

Next time:

1. The correct rafters, never seen in any other lego version will be next. The white ceiling has some neat grid work I can do with lots of 1x1, 1x2, 1x3, 1x4 etc plates.

2. Correct ceiling lights

Then I will be finished with the ground level.

Later on: The correct layout for the second floor based on blue prints, set design photos and movie stills. Orion Pax had a great setup and is fairly true to the layout.

[cehnot]

New struggles trying to develop the ground level.

I realized that my staircase was too long for the new layout so I raised it back to the correct "lego 1 brick" standard for stairs. This allowed for the ceiling rafters to fit correctly in place based on my new dimensions. I used some roof tops to wedge a better fit in the white to black connecting points and also used inverted slopes to make the black rail going all the way up to the second floor.

I also decided to share with you how the dollhouse opens. I found that having the baseplates attached to the walls made for an interesting complication, i need to resolve. There is a gap in the alley way I cannot fix, yet.

1. The stairs will eventually use a a flex cable i think as a hand rail. I wish I could make their area under the stairs in white better. The slopes don't come to a point and a 1x1 cheese wedge slope doesn't work either. I need to solve this. Ether I will use the regular slopes and deal with how they connect to the black with plates, or solve something like I am showing with less mess.

2. Rafters and dollhouse effect. Ignore the bright red staircase on the left. Trying to solve how to get a second stairwell in the "hidden" wall.

3. Another angle of the dollhouse effect. You can see the fire extinguisher on the right between the two lockers. I had to do this to hide the wall problem. I had to hide the door's 2 studs. I cannot think of another solution considering that vertical wall is only 1x1. Sorta a support beam.

4. The problem area. When open this fits flush. The ramp, when closed, has a 1 brick wide gap. I want to extend the tiles from the front out, but the swing won't work. It also prevents the red wall from working right. I am trying to resolve it. I know if I used a 8x8 plate base (doesn't exist, must be cut down from a 8x16) I can get the stability of them and make it work.

5. Stairwell. Based on the real Hook and Ladder building this area has stairs going in the same direction as inside the building. Front Front to back. Well, for access in the dollhouse this would make it quite difficult for a hand to get down into that area from the door. I thought of flipping the door and stairs to hide the brown lockers, but feels weird since there are windows on the second and third floor outside the top of the stairs.

Sorta need to figure out how to resolve this, or I will just give up and do the accurate thing and make the stairs not easy to get to lol.

[cehnot]

With only cutting a 8x8 baseplate from a 8x16 I will be able to do the dollhouse effect. I know people cringe upon hearing the idea of cutting any lego part, but LEGo doesn't make baseplates that small. Since I will be cutting that baseplate, I may go ahead and add a 2x8 cut piece right where you see the 2x4 dark grey tiles overhanging. Mostly just for structure and durability. It isn't necessary.

1. What I could do with an official 8x8 baseplate.

2. I am okay with this area not having tiles underneath the door. I think I will make the door and wall next to the lockers part of the main structure. this way you can access the whole room and have a door to play with.

3. Looks weird with just a door and wall there. Time to get rid of it.

4. Much better!

Edited April 20, 2016 by cehnot

[MilkPls69]

The dollhouse effect looks like it is going to work really well and smoothly now. Using the flexible tubing for the stairs should look great as well as I did that for my Black pearl on the edges and it looks amazing.

[cehnot]

Thanks. I think the next challenge is getting the bathroom and bedroom to be accessible. I want to have walls separating them. The darkroom may not be located in the same place as it was in the official set since the real location existed on the second floor in the room behind the lab. The firehouse hid the hallway behind the stairs because there is a long corridor with rooms back there that obviously would never fit inside the hook and ladder locarion. They did use the room directly on the other side of the lab wall to stage the dark room scene. I think that the 3rd floor still will host the room, but in another area with 2 windows. I may consider using the back wall (same as where Venkman office and create the darkroom on the 3rd floor. The NYC location has double windows and triple windows on the second and third floor that may result in an awesome location.

[cehnot]

The last main part I am struggling with on the garage is the large closet/fire hose room which would be located undwr the 2 main cebter wibdows. The room is clearly seen in the movies as a closet, and large enough to not include. It is directly across the 3 lockers in the film and I placed it in my older design. Right now I have been trying to solve where to place it without being too inaccurate. In my first layout I placed them to the right of the main windows and fit perfectly in the layout, but now with the new front doors I would need it located in the center. That would be broken or cut off at the windows, which does not exist above that area in the LA firehouse.

The fun part will be trying to do the exposed pipes and interior set design pieces.

I may add another office desk and couch in the garage as you see in Ghostbusters 2. Not sure yet. I may do them as separate elements you can swap out. Venkmans office in Ghostbusters 2 has 4 filing cabinets in the back instead of the desks and couch.

The closets and garage feels empty, but most the elements, boxes or mechanical car repair equipment may be added before I move onto the second floor.

[cehnot]

What a tremendous ride.

First floor:

Finished first floor, added all the main elements from GB1 and GB2. Tully has a desk next to Janine, Green and brown couch he stumbles on when Slimer is in the garage, the coffee desk next to lockers seen in GB1, with piping. Correct number of round light bulbs hanging from ceiling.

Second Floor:

Bedroom:

Complete. First time doing the correct location for the bathroom door between two beds caused a hurdle. The desk and lamp seen in GB1 between the bathroom door and bed would not fit. The bedroom is actually almost 1/3 times larger in real life. I also added a hinged wall to open from the bathroom to access the bedroom without a modular approach. It works quite well.

Bathroom:

There are no photos of the actual bathroom. The video game shows a firehouse too large for real life. Weird how they decided to make the whole place 2 times bigger than actual size. Orion Pax had some great features, making sure there is 1 toilet, one shower and a sink. I figured having the door in the middle of the bathroom, would offset the sink next to the windows. I also used the Official LEGO set idea that the bathroom stalls are on the hinged wall, not the wall next to the bedroom. '

Living Room:

The most challenging part I am working on. Ghostbusters 1 and 2 used the same room for Egon's lab. The first movie had the round table and chairs where the pool table is located in the sequel. The whole room looks different in the sequel. They remodeled it and relocated the kitchen to the back where all the equipment is in the first movie, seen when they are testing Dana. In the sequel that same area is where they pour the slime on the toaster then walk down to the pool table.

I think this justifies the 3rd floor to mimic the second floor in design making the pool table, refitted Egon's lab and another bedroom (where the actual Captain Quarters is located). The only hiccup is that both movies show Egon's lab with fire poles in the background and I don't really want to have 3 floors with them.

Dark Photography Room:

This will be tricky. In the real location, its located behind Egon's Lab. They used the actual windows seen in the film, on the back wall. The actual NYC location has 1 window, then 3 windows next to each other. Trying to resolve where to put it.

Option 1:

I think of placing it on the 3rd floor, using the 2 window middle section, create sub rooms so you basically have an open area on the left, with a wall about 1/3 way in, 2 doors, one for the dark room and the other to the Lab. This would not match the movie.

Option 2:

Keep the dark room behind Egon's lab, not use the 3 window wide setup, instead do a set of 2 2 wide windows so I can place a wall there. This would allow for a dark room on the second floor like in the film, correct location for where you enter in the hallway for the stairs, and keep it true to the LA firehouse layout.

Photos:

Photo 1&2:

The new front. Doesn't look like much, but it has the correct height to the NYC location, based on overlay photos. The firehouse now also has the correct number of stacking bricks tall, nine 2x1 tile bricks. The official set and Sergio used the newer 1x1 with knob bricks for these. I may use them, not sure. I like how I used the indented know that allows the for bricks to not stick out so much like the set. The windows on the official set were close to the actual NYC firehouse. The proportions vertically were close, but basically off by 1 to 2 bricks. They tightened up some areas and exaggerated others to fit the set into their modular design. I raised the windows a bit, added the 9th 1x2 brick, enlarged the grey area between floor 2 and 3. I used Brent Waller's design idea to make sure the middle grey was square and rectangular correctly proportioned to the actual location. This actually made the rest of the front taller, enough to properly locate that 9th brick I needed and keep the firehouse correctly proportional to the location. I basically stole ideas from Sergio, LEGO, and Brent to solve this complicated issue.

Also you can see my way of placing the flagpole. The actual placement of the bar on the firehouse should be underneath the horizontal siding that sticks out. In order to use the sticker for the lego set, on the 1x8 brick, I wanted to make sure it wasn't cut into. So this ball knob hung just the right height, and doesn't destroy the sticker.

Photo 3, 4, & 5:

The bedroom was fun. I used some tables and lamps from both Serio and the official set. I also saw somebody posed a series of photos of lamps and lego versions of those lamps based on the different ones throughout the movie scenes. I have other lamps i designed on the side to place them in the various places. The beds are a modified version of Sergio. I made them longer. The official set used 4 stud wide beds and had huge headboards. The movie scene where Ray has a dream clearly shows twin bed frames without headboards.

The Hinged wall. This is why I made the bathroom the way I did.

The Bathroom uses much of the official set's ideas and pieces for the toilet and such. I wanted to incorporate elements from the set throughout my design where I didn't have photo reference.

Photo 6, & 7:

The living room dilemma. The fire poles cut into the hinge and I think this was my best solution. They open and close just fine. Looks a bit clumsy, from the side, but what else can I do when I placed the hinge where I did?

Arcade games are based on another LEGO enthusiast's LDD file. I modified them to fit my location and I also included the LEGO official arcade that came from the set.

As you can see, I mapped out how I think I can fit the darkroom and Egon's lab inside the living room area. Based on photos from the first film, you can see how the double wide window causes issues. In the garage I hid one for the fireman's pole closet. That could work out well because the vent in the window acts as a dryer. I want to close off one of these windows but there isn't a real purpose for it. I placed the fireplace from the set (which actually exists in the first movie) next to the fridge. The kitchen should be right next to it like the film. If the windows were placed higher up, like 1 full stud, I could like the kitchen up underneath the window without an issue. Not sure what I will do, maybe just do it anyways, who knows.

Egon's lab is also mapped out, correct 6wide shelves ending at the end and located in front of the LA firehouse window. I was surprised they did this, but looking at the LA firehouse photos they just decided to hide a window. I think I will do the same. It allows me enough space to place a row of tables on the back wall, underneath the office window. The office, which is used for the darkroom may work in this location, I would need to get ride of the 3 wide windows and 1 window like the NYC location and do 2 sets of 2wide window panes. This would be the best location because in the real NYC location there isn't a single window on the 3rd floor in the corner. This would justify my artistic license to make this my dark room like the LA office.

Photo 8:

My solution to the second stairwell. You never see past the set of file cabinets in Ghostbusters 1 as they slide down the pole for the first time. The LA firehouse is so long they place it down the end of the hallway and have the stairs leading up to the 3rd floor in an a door. I didn't see the need for a door, but I thought it would be a great place to put the door to the outer wall stairwell here since it would be convenient in case of a fire. I played the Ghostbuster video game years ago and watched videos of the walkthrough for this and they use a vertical ladder at the back of Egon's lab to reach the 3rd floor. That seams pointless since you need to lift boxes, tables, chairs and every other equipment on your back up a ladder. Anyways, I think this was a great solution to many of the film's proportion issue.

Winston saves the day. I think having the set of 2 windows inside the dark room and the 3rd window in front of the stairs will match the video game having a window at the top of the stairs. I will also include a window from the living room to the darkroom, like the film tries to hide with using blinds. This would work well for Ghostbusters 1 in the lab, but when they make that room into a dark room in the sequel I would assume they cover the large glass window with blackout tape. I will do this by just using black panels with a brown edge indicating a window.

I will also figure out a hinged wall solution for the darkroom so you can access it without removing the floor.

Photo 9:

My oh my, look at all those nice round lamps. Added some boxes, Louis Tully's desk, the couches, etc. You can see the firehose closet. 1 window. I added this since it exists in the movie. I know it seems impractical to have 1 window covered, but in the LA location there is a shaft running up the building for this and vents leading out to the side of the building for proper drying. I thought they would probably use a window and a vent to do this if they needed to modify a firehouse. It works. If I had not gone with the properly opening garage doors this room would be to the right of the double windows. Space says, make it up.

Photo 10:

Piping and Janine's coffee desk seen when Walter Peck storms in to shut down the containment unit.

Photo 11:

Currently, with proper window placement. I will be getting rid of the 3 sets of windows for floor 2 and 3 like you see in the NYC location and make it 2 on the left and 1 on the right. This will allow the darkroom to exist. And nobody sees this area in the movies so I figured my idea will work for the film. Even if it isn't completely NYC location accurate.

The does it for now.

Edited April 25, 2016 by cehnot

[MilkPls69]

Oh gosh I can't wait to see the finished project this is turning out amazing! I really love the way you are using bits and pieces from the origional set and a lot of your plans for the dark room and such sound like a rather solid idea. I do think you should go with the way you suggested on doing the kitchen as well because if you look at Orion pax's interior he made the kitchen next to the bedroom and it took up a lot of the second floor. Keep going by the way this work is amazing!

[cehnot]

Once I am satisfied with the LDD file I will share it like Sergio.

The kitchen is suppose to be a long the wall with the windows. I cannot find a reference photo of what it looked like in the sequel. It's too out of focus during the toaster sequence. The wall Pax used for the kitchen was bare in Ghostbusters 1 and I will check the video game one more time to see what they did.

[MilkPls69]

From what I saw with a quick google of the game and skipping around the actual movie it looks like the game has a rather spot on version of the kicthen but it would be a bit too big to put into the firehouse of this scale so maybe doing it the way Lego did it would be a good idea.

[cehnot]

The video game created a building larger than the already large LA firehouse. A lot of ghostbuster fans were quite annoyed that they did that for the game instead of making a duplicate interior to the actual firehouse.

[cehnot]

Second Floor:

New Bedroom:

In the pursuit of accuracy. Many people, like I assumed that there were 4 beds in the bedroom. According to the Southern California Ghostbusters group and Denver video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAP7E9R5hcY

there is actually a huge fireplace on the left side unseen in the film. According to the gbfans.com forum they discussed how Venkman would not necessarily stay there. He would sleep at his apartment. Egon used to sleep in the firehouse next to Ray, but apparently he begun to sleep in his lab, hence why you see 2 unmade bed in Ghostbusters 2, where he and Ray are testing the slime. The video shows a really small bedroom, I would assume they would never place 3 or 4 beds in that room. Awesome part, this video shows how their bathroom is setup. Very similar to how I did it, only part missing is a closet to the immediate left once you walk in. I cannot justify trying to squeeze a closet in there for linens. They can get their towels from under the sink.

A firepole in the bedroom? YEPPERS. The video shows that the captain's quarters above has a fire pole that goes into this room. Makes sense. Otherwise how would you quickly get to the second floor? You do not see it in the film even though its super close to the door, camera angles at their finest.

Living Area:

I used the scenes from Ghostbuster 1 to recreate their living room space. I did use some of the same LEGO designed elements such as their table, chairs, fireplace, coffee pot, and a few other elements. For the most part, I recreated the same layout seen in the film, eve though the huge window isn't in the correct place.

NOTE: THERE ISNT A SINK IN THE KITCHEN AREA. Based on set pictures and freeze frames from the movie, they just had tables there. My guess they get their water from the bathroom. There is a huge pile of dirty plates on the table, but no sink. Unless my eyes are wrong, I may go ahead and add one in because it looks weird without it.

Egon's lab #1: Ghostbusters 1 uses this space for Egon to test Louis. I had a ton of reference from the scenes Venkman and Dana are in there at the beginning of the film, and then a closer angle of Egon testing Louis. The stuff on the shelves are accurate to film, in Lego form.

NOTE: The room I originally thought was the darkroom from Ghostbusters 2, turns out was Ray's or Egon's office. You can sorta see a glimpse into the room from the scene where Venkman is testing Dana at the beginning of Ghostbusters 1. The room is well lit, with what looks like photos and probably certificates, awards and diplomas.

I used a hinge to access the room like I did for the bedroom.

Not much to say, added a few minor things.

That wraps up the second floor. Now onto constructing the third floor.

Coming Soon to the Third Floor:

Kitchen, pool table room:

Thanks to GB2 filming in the living room for the kitchen and pool table toaster scene, I have to figure out how to get that into the 3rd floor with Egon's gadget lab and dark room. The problem with this teaser scene is that the room is the same size, but thankfully they shoot it with a different camera angle to make it feel smaller. Somehow I need to get the kitchen (in the film located on the wall where the stairs are). Basically I am going to place it next to the door for the emergency escape stairwell. The movie shows light coming from a window there, I can justify that the door is located there. We could assume the door is open and the light is coming from the outer window located in the NYC location, at the top of the stairs on each floor (perfect placement).

Egon's Developing Lab:

This will be above the bedroom and the darkroom will be sorta where the second floor bathroom is (I think). The tricky part is the huge windows. Egon's Lab in GB2 doesn't have windows at all. In fact, I assume the room they used on the firehouse 3rd floor in LA was the back room where you go up the flight of stairs and enter the hallway seen in the above video. I think that was Egon's lab. Either way, What I may do, is flip it to the same place as the captain's quarters. Not sure yet. May need to do a floor plan with bricks to see how much space I need. then see how it fits in the current setup.

WHAT MAY WORK:

Place the darkroom where the fire poles are on the second floor. Since we do not see the actual window, since its covered in black tape, we could assume that was one of the areas that was remodeled from the exterior of the building, hence why there isn't a door on the outside of the NYC location. The frame on the inside could be there, not the outside?

About 47 minutes into GB2, you see Ray and Egon in his workshop where he creates all the gadgets. Originally I thought this was the same room as the toaster area, but apparently they filmed this on the 3rd floor in Firehouse 23.

Dark Room:

The following dark room will be placed into the 3rd floor somewhere. About 47 minutes into GB2, you see Ray and Egon in his workshop where he creates all the gadgets. This also swings around the camera to reveal that the dark room is actually a bathroom. You can see the toilet in the background. When you watch the darkroom scene in GB2 later on when Winston saves them you see a toilet and toilet paper roll mounted on the wall to the right of the photo copy machine. You also get to see their sink in there on the left.

I went ahead and created the shape of the darkroom so I know how much space I needed for it to feel accurate. As you can see, I added the toilet, sink and toilet paper roll dispenser.

I wish the dog bowls LEGO created were in grey, silver or something like that. They work great as aluminum pans.

Like all photo labs, you need a developing enlarger. That black thing is basically a projector for film to enlarge to expose onto paper.