MOC: London Underground Station

[AJW]

Maybe this should go in the Train Tech forum. Although this is more Townish than Trainish isn't it?

Anyway, I'm building a replica of a London Underground station as designed by Leslie Green and opened around 1907.

But I need your help! See those cheese slopes above the windows (I think they might be called decorative keystones)? I can't figure out a way to make them sit flush with the top of the arch. I bet somebody around here knows how to do it!

And an extra 10 points if you can tell me where the idea for the windows came from?

The Flickr set

[Darth Legolas]

No pictures of the inside, hmm? I'm assuming the slopes are attached to the 3 long technic axles with a stud on the end, going through a brown brick with an axle hole. That should keep them standing up, just ugly on the inside. Picture:

EDIT: Odd though, judging by the picture, the slopes are right up against the wall. They'd be slightly elevated with the studded axles. There is another way of doing it, though. My second best guess would probably be using the average technic pin with stud and brick with pin hole, and then they used rods and beams in the back to keep the pins from freely spinning. That would be very simple as well. Extremely easy to do.

My third guess would be glue, and my last bet would be simple balance.

If you want to know more on the second technique, I've used it before, it works well with bricks with a protruding technic pin, and you could use the extended rods to hang light fixtures.

Edited February 24, 2010 by Darth Legolas

[AJW]

No pictures of the inside, hmm? I'm assuming the slopes are attached to the 3 long technic axles with a stud on the end, going through a brown brick with an axle hole. That should keep them standing up, just ugly on the inside. Picture:

The inside is horribly ugly and I wouldn't want to expose anybody to it yet.

But you are pretty close, at the moment I am using these parts to hold the cheese slopes:

and

Hmm, glue does sound quite tempting. Am I a bad person for thinking that?

Edited February 24, 2010 by AJW

[prateek]

Hmm, glue does sound quite tempting. Am I a bad person for thinking that?

No, but that does sound a bit foolish. I think Legolas's solution would work the best.

[Darth Legolas]

Now I get it... I thought this was someone else's MOC and you were trying to figure out how it worked!

I wouldn't really recommend glueing, especially not into the bottoms of pieces. I see you didn't quote me on the idea for the light and placeholder technique, but if you just didn't pass it, I'd say you need:

3X:Harry potter wand/lightsaber bar

3X: Brick with technic pin

3X: Technic beam, 2 wholes, one axle, one pin

3X: Technic pin with one stud

3X: Brick with technic pin hole

3X: Cheese slope

If you are still interested, I can provide pictures. After putting that together, you can suspend the lights down with other pieces, but too many to list if you don't want to.

EDIT: The first solution will hold them up in one position, if you want to try it.

Edited February 24, 2010 by Darth Legolas

[AJW]

Now I get it... I thought this was someone else's MOC and you were trying to figure out how it worked!

I wouldn't really recommend glueing, especially not into the bottoms of pieces. I see you didn't quote me on the idea for the light and placeholder technique, but if you just didn't pass it, I'd say you need:

3X:Harry potter wand/lightsaber bar

3X: Brick with technic pin

3X: Technic beam, 2 wholes, one axle, one pin

3X: Technic pin with one stud

3X: Brick with technic pin hole

3X: Cheese slope

If you are still interested, I can provide pictures. After putting that together, you can suspend the lights down with other pieces, but too many to list if you don't want to.

EDIT: The first solution will hold them up in one position, if you want to try it.

Sounds very interesting, although my brain isn't powerful enough to construct an image of it.

Please can you post a picture?

And to clear up any uncertainty, this is My Own Creation

[Rufus]

Lookin' good so far, AJW! I don't have an answer to your cheese slope conundrum, but you could do worse than using a larger piece, like one of these, or these. The latter come in brown (8038 Endor Battle).

Or, the MOC would look great in dark red:

Anyhoo, I hope you find a solution that works; I'd like to see the finished article!

[Darth Legolas]

Sounds very interesting, although my brain isn't powerful enough to construct an image of it.

Please can you post a picture?

And to clear up any uncertainty, this is My Own Creation

Okay, so, if you don't want the slopes sticking out using the first method described, you take exactly what you have right now, and add these:

Disregard. It's impossible to work out. If you look at my attatched image, the measurements must be exact, and it wouldn't work because yours is 1/3 of a brick lower than everything else around it.

But really, this would still work out fine:

Edited February 25, 2010 by Darth Legolas

[Matt Dawson]

Perhaps you could use a 1x2 plate with single stud and a bracket placed ontop?

Hmm, glue does sound quite tempting. Am I a bad person for thinking that?

Blutack's easier - though it wouldn't be as strong as glue.

Edited February 25, 2010 by Matt Dawson

[CommanderFox]

Looking good so far AJW!

I think I'll leave Legolas to figure out a solution, he seems to have plenty in his head!

Will there be updates?

Great job so far!

CommanderFox

[Matt Dawson]

*thread bump*

Now that it's finished, we can do comparisons!

[drdavewatford]

And an extra 10 points if you can tell me where the idea for the windows came from?

Fire Brigade, perhaps ? The windows look the same as the window above the front Fire Brigade vehicle entrance.

Dr. D.

[AJW]

Fire Brigade, perhaps ? The windows look the same as the window above the front Fire Brigade vehicle entrance.

Dr. D.

You absolutely correct!

I was the Fire Brigade set 10197 that inspired me.

[FelixTheCat]

The only solution I can think of would require the Moc to be slightly longer than a baseplate.

Move the half arch pieces apart by 1 stud, allowing you to have a 1x1 brick with hole sitting between them and flush with the bottom of the arches. Then the cheese slope attaches to that the same way you have now. Of course, with this method you could then use an inverted 1x2 slope if it looked better.

I'd also reccomend these

If you could buy enough for the windows.

[Teddy]

Hi AJW,

Looking at the photo of the real deal I notice there is a "stack" of arches.

You could recreate an additional layer of detail on the arches via the use of tubes.

They could start at the middle of the pillars and end up at the slope/cheese bricks.

Here is a link to brown colored tubes on Bricklink:

Link to Bricklink

You could clam them in plates with clips.

You might have to offset the pillars a bit or add 2x1 plates with doorrails underneath the tubes at the pillars.

Well this is my two cents.

Kind regards,

Teddy

[blueandwhite]

I think Teddy's right. As I see things, the problem isn't the keystone itself; it's the lack of a second ring meeting up with the keystone. The colour is nice, and you certainly have the 'general feel' of the station however there's a noticeable lack of texture which makes the keystone look out of place. Soft brown hoses are very hard to come across (and thus, quite expensive), but they are a good idea.

If anything, I would be focusing on adding a bit more relief to other areas of the station. This will probably make the keystones look less out-of-place.

[AJW]

Thanks for all your suggestions guys. It's funny but I already have some brown tubing which I might try to use.

I have now built an interior for the station, you can see the progress in this thread.