bradleybrand

Main Buildings for a Lego Town

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Everybody knows that every town should have a fire station, a police station, houses, shops and maybe a hospital, but I was wondering about other buildings. I do not have a big budget and wish to invest in more Legos, but I need to give it some thought. I decided if I started off with the main needed buildings first, I can add any additional Lego buildings later on. I decided that a Police Station, Fire Station, Hospital, Groceries Store, Restaurant, Homes, would be needed and important. I also have Lego sets such as the Lego Cinema and the Lego Town Hall which are also great buildings to have for my new town. I have many Lego base plates to build on but I do not have the best road collection. I have loads of the old Lego road which was green plates, I have a few of the old Lego grey/silver street road which is excellent for supporting narrower vehicles, but I do not have much of the newest dark grey Lego road. I have many of the old Lego drive way plates which some of the first Lego Police Station sets was built on, I probably have about 6-8 of them.

So what buildings would you recommend? You have to bare in mind I do not have huge budget and want to get the important buildings completed first. Here are some of my ideas: (normal = got, red = not sorted yet)

  • Lego Police Station (old set)
  • Lego Fire Station (old set)
  • Lego Hospital
  • Lego Cinema
  • Lego Town Hall
  • Lego Airport (old set)
  • Lego Town House
  • Lego Garage/Petrol Station
  • Lego Mayors House
  • Lego Pizza Restaurant
  • Lego Grocery Store
  • Lego homes

Please suggest more ideas, thank you.

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Bus and/or train station

Pet store

Castle (old medieval castle now used as a museum, like in the early 80's town plan set)

Park

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In stead of building a lot of shops from the beginning, you can make a department store which covers most of the needs for the inhabitants.

To save bricks, you can make it in a modern architectural style using plain bricks or panels and big windows.

Otherwise I also agree on making some kind of public transport terminal.

As your collection seems to consist of mainly older sets and road plates, you can make your buildings open-back which saves a lot of bricks compared to modular buildings.

Enjoy building, I hope we can see your developing city soon.

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Liking the ideas so far, keep them coming in! The train idea sounds good but I have an old train with the old electric track pieces (which required power). I think as my town gets bigger, I may invest in new track pieces and a new train - I thought about either a passenger train to transport people around the town or thought about having a cargo train which I could also pretend my town was importing and exporting goods, because my town has no factories. The bus system would probably be the best thing for me at the moment. I've seen the bus set and I really like. I could use a bus for a school bus as well, you never know. I could even build my own transport vehicle. The school sounds like a good idea. Sadly I do not live near a Lego Store, I could of bought Pick a Brick Lego at decent price. I can only use the online Lego Store Pick a Brick or Brick Link. I recently ordered a load of tan bricks from Brick Link, I thought that would be a good colour for houses because I bought a Lego house set once before which was also in tan. I thought blue or red or yellow may look bit non town like but however, I have seen so many town mocs with yellow and blue buildings. Anyway, I hope the tan bricks prove to be successful. I have enough windows and doors, I also purchased a windows and doors set once too.

Keep the ideas coming in! :classic:

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I think this would fit better in the Town subforum. So I will be moving it there in a moment.

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How much space do you have to display? If you're religious, you could add a place of worship. How about a coffee shop? LEGO Store?

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A small farm on the outskirts to provide produce. It could go next to the airport runway and provide a visual buffer between this and the town.

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I think this would fit better in the Town subforum. So I will be moving it there in a moment.

Sorry, I'm new to the forum and weren't sure where to post my topic. You are welcome to move/relocate this post.

A place of worship is a great idea! I have never built any good churches before, but worth a shot I guess. Coffee shop excellent idea too. Farming is very important for Lego cities/towns. I could get some animals, put up some fences and have some grass area farms. I could get some farm sets as well. Thank you everyone for your ideas so far. I have a little room (the spare room). It's a small room with a bed in, but I have laid down some Lego road in there. My plan is simply to have one straight road in the middle of the room and have buildings beside the road so that I can access buildings and part of the city easily. I may have a part turn, but still follow the same idea. I wish I had a big attic or basement to build in, that would be awesome.

WP_20150329_18_51_22_Pro.jpg

This image shows how much space I have. I have not put any sets in there just yet (such as the petrol station, airport, cinema, town hall, etc). I recently built a very old police station set and put it in there for fun but that set will probably end up getting destroyed and I will use the land and put a newer police station in the town instead :classic:

Edited by bradleybrand

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I'm getting my thoughts and ideas together for a town layout too.

What era is your town? Before cars and planes? Modern 21st century? Something in between or a combination?

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Sounds like a great project! However, one tends to think much too large in the beginning - not knowing how much time, effort, and money is needed to build a whole "town" (where 10 buildings or so are already meant as a major city). If you want to use some of the modular buildings within your layout you must keep in mind that they don't go well with the usual town buildings made for kids - neither scale-wise nor in terms of style or complexity.

I'd rather try to plan a city center with 3 or maybe 4 buildings (a square or crossroads) just to see which scale you think is the best, how baseplates and roadplates go together (or if you rather omit them and brickbuild your roads which has some advantages etc.). Afterwards you may try to enlarge the layout with as much buildings as you like.

Anyhow good luck with your project! :thumbup:

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I'm getting my thoughts and ideas together for a town layout too.

What era is your town? Before cars and planes? Modern 21st century? Something in between or a combination?

My town will be set in the modern era because I mostly have modern sets and have many past city sets. I do not own much castle or other sets.

Sounds like a great project! However, one tends to think much too large in the beginning - not knowing how much time, effort, and money is needed to build a whole "town" (where 10 buildings or so are already meant as a major city). If you want to use some of the modular buildings within your layout you must keep in mind that they don't go well with the usual town buildings made for kids - neither scale-wise nor in terms of style or complexity.

I'd rather try to plan a city center with 3 or maybe 4 buildings (a square or crossroads) just to see which scale you think is the best, how baseplates and roadplates go together (or if you rather omit them and brickbuild your roads which has some advantages etc.). Afterwards you may try to enlarge the layout with as much buildings as you like.

Anyhow good luck with your project! :thumbup:

Thank you for the words of advice. I have quite a few basic Lego bricks (red, yellow, white, blue, black, etc), but I do not own the extra cool pieces which make modular buildings look so great. I could build a fairly sized town. I would like to get in the most important buildings first and try and save space in the process. When I first started Legos, my buildings were only one story (ground floor). But the thing I love about modular buildings is how I can have different floors and put apartments above stores, which saves space. I bare in mind that I do not want a town with too tall buildings, but a few floors is fine. I am very interested in moduler buildings but know they are very expensive, also in time I would have to upgrade my police station, fire station and hospital into moduler buildings. My police station and hospital are on a raised grey plate (old sets) and my fire station is 64 x 32, it is a old set.

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When I first started Legos, my buildings were only one story (ground floor). But the thing I love about modular buildings is how I can have different floors and put apartments above stores, which saves space. I bare in mind that I do not want a town with too tall buildings, but a few floors is fine.

This is a clever idea for making a town combining shops and flats in the same buildings - which is also the way many towns are built. If you are not going modular (so soon), you can pick up inspiration from e.g. City Corner or Constrution Site. The pizzeria is a good model for town houses with shops on the ground floor and offices/homes on the upper floors. This is a model I will follow myself when I finally am going to build my own town.

This kind of building can easily be expanded to bigger buildings, like my own Department Store (here the early variant). And if you want to pick up more inspiration, take a look at Lightningtiger's constructions, he mainly builds open-back buildings which easily fit classic town/city buildings (well... maybe a little more detailed... :wink: ).

EDIT: Link to Lightningtiger's main street.

And how could I forget greg3's Ballabreek :blush:

Edited by laka

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This is a clever idea for making a town combining shops and flats in the same buildings - which is also the way many towns are built. If you are not going modular (so soon), you can pick up inspiration from e.g. City Corner or Constrution Site. The pizzeria is a good model for town houses with shops on the ground floor and offices/homes on the upper floors. This is a model I will follow myself when I finally am going to build my own town.

This kind of building can easily be expanded to bigger buildings, like my own Department Store (here the early variant). And if you want to pick up more inspiration, take a look at Lightningtiger's constructions, he mainly builds open-back buildings which easily fit classic town/city buildings (well... maybe a little more detailed... :wink: ).

EDIT: Link to Lightningtiger's main street.

And how could I forget greg3's Ballabreek :blush:

Thank you :classic:

Well in the past all my buildings have been basic builds, open topped, but I am starting to like the moduler buildings a lot - only problem is they are more expensive. Seeing moduler buildings have opened up a new door for me. Throughout my childhood, all my buildings have been extremely basic. When I first saw the moduler buildings, it made me realise that details make buildings look so much better. I have experimented a little on Lego Digital Designer and have been pleased with my creations.

My plans are to have a street which will be the main street with shops on the ground floor with apartments above them. Then I'll add in the services buildings such as police, fire, hospital - these will be just regular sets but who knows, may be replaced with moduler in future. That will be the main parts completed. Then I was also thinking about transport such as a bus station or a train station. Would love to have some farming going on and from a past order from Lego Pick a Brick, I have a load of fish and creates which gives me the opportunity of building a fishing port - maybe. Once I have the main buildings, if I continue to bring in more buildings, I would love to build some offices and extra buildings. If I build any Lego industry (factories) I would like to use old existing Legos and not worry too much about their design.

I simply love city life! Personally, I would not want to live in a city - I'm spoilt with lots of open green space in the town I live at. But big buildings impress me! I know I won't be able to build "huge" buildings, I don't intend to. But buildings with few floors would be nice. So the shops on the ground floor and apartments above would give my city a better look. I have noticed that many Lego shop moc buildings never have shop names, unless it is a moc of McDonald's or Starbucks. I have seen the Lego lettered tiles and thought just adding a sign to the shop or a simple logo tile can improve the look of it. I have various Lego printed tiles, with different things on them - I have a blue tile with a artic globe printed on it.

Also, this is not a main want... but I would love to build something like a McDonald's in my town :grin: lol

I am not sure if I will go 100% moduler yet, I have not decided. Open back buildings are also nice :classic:

Edited by bradleybrand

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I easily understand your interest in buildings/architecture. I guess most people in this forum do :wink:

It sounds more or less as you are having a plan for your town. As more people have adviced you, start with a small street/town square and expand from there. If you take a look through different MOCer's, you will see how the towns/cities developed over time. greg3's Ballabreek started on six baseplates, if I remember right.

If you want to go modular, you might consider Salvobrick's way to make modulars. They are approx. half size of the normal modulars. They are detailed, but still they can also go together with many of the more classic, open-back buildings. And if you do not have bricks to make your buildings overly detailed, start with a more simple design. As time goes and your skills and collection develop, change the buildings. That is the beauty of LEGO. It is not static.

Happy building :classic:

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Couple of things that spring to mind:

Bakery

Butcher

Clothing Store

Offices

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You should also decide if your town is by the sea, that opens up a whole other list of beach houses, docks, coastguard station and seaside shops and restaurants

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I easily understand your interest in buildings/architecture. I guess most people in this forum do :wink:

It sounds more or less as you are having a plan for your town. As more people have adviced you, start with a small street/town square and expand from there. If you take a look through different MOCer's, you will see how the towns/cities developed over time. greg3's Ballabreek started on six baseplates, if I remember right.

If you want to go modular, you might consider Salvobrick's way to make modulars. They are approx. half size of the normal modulars. They are detailed, but still they can also go together with many of the more classic, open-back buildings. And if you do not have bricks to make your buildings overly detailed, start with a more simple design. As time goes and your skills and collection develop, change the buildings. That is the beauty of LEGO. It is not static.

Happy building :classic:

Thanks for the advice. Buildings and architecture interest all Lego fans! Big creations catch our eyes, but small creations do as well. Them modulars look good. They are smaller, but they work - this can help save space.

Couple of things that spring to mind:

Bakery

Butcher

Clothing Store

Offices

These are good ideas! I did think about a butcher and grocery but had not thought about a bakery or clothing shop. Some buildings I will be able to make with existing Legos and may only have to purchase a few extra Legos if I wanted to improve the front design. But some other things, such as a clothing store would require me purchasing more Legos. I would not want to dismantle Lego minifigures for their legs and tops, but wouldn't mind purchasing some minifig legs and that for the clothes shop. :classic:

Oh, I forgot to add post office and bank to the list. :blush:

Bank is very important. Every town/city has a bank. A post office is a thing which I will add over time, not too big need - but still a great idea. :classic:

You should also decide if your town is by the sea, that opens up a whole other list of beach houses, docks, coastguard station and seaside shops and restaurants

I had a little thought about location. I know that every town/city in the world was mostly built for a particular purpose. Some places were built because of coal in the area. Places near the sea were built for sea ports and fishing. Some places developed on excellent fertile farming land. Some places were built near a river/canal for water transport of goods. I have tons of Lego fish so I was thinking possibly having a fishing port. But however, I did not want to take up lots of room with blue base plates and big ships. The city interests me more than the water. But I could easily have a small fishing port with small fishing boats then gradually as the city expands, I could maybe expand the fishing port as well :classic:

Being near the sea could bring many benefits. I could pretend it is a tourist destination and build shops/restaurants along the sea front, like you suggested. That does sound a very good idea. I'll have to see how things go. :classic:

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You can combo the businesses into themselves, i.e. post office has a bank agency with ATM on the front of it.

Service station plus grocery store is another example.........oh, an odd combo which does happen time to time is a hardware store plus post office.

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If anyone has anymore ideas, just let me know.

I've added in the Parisian Restaurant and Detectives Office. I have to say, my favourite one out of the two is the restaurant, the Detectives Office was alright but not the best set.

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I wonder why Lego hasn't made a town school (other than the Friends one). Most towns have at least an elementary and a high school, even small towns.

Definitely needs a bar/pub/tavern

Diner

Car dealer

TV/radio station

Maybe a laundromat or flower shop,

But every town certainly needs a dirty book store.

A zoo is a great idea but way bigGer than just a building.

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