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[Shadows]

Many months ago, our very own Hinckley hosted a fun contest that I intended to build a Chinese restaurant for. I'd already done it in MLCAD, but ultimately couldn't get enough dark red to build that exact model in time. Instead, I made a smaller version, that I never got to enter because of a dead camera.

Well, I have a new camera, but the same old photographic skills, so here it is, just overlook the poor pictures please. I'm working on improving, it's just taking time.

It's a fairly straightforward design, in a mix of dark red and standard.

The main entrance in the front where we see the owner, Mr. Wong, and a customer.

A Chinese gate entrance on the side leads to the garden with decorative lanterns, birds, a lucky cat, and a fish fountain with coins. There you see another customer and her daughter at the fountain, while the hostess prepares to welcome them in through the side entrance. The delivery boy has parked his bike next to the building. I completely forgot to put him back when I took these pics. :-$

On the roof are a variety of health code violations that we'll just ignore, and a nice tower with dragon top. The tower windows are all vintage 60's parts I picked up cheap on eBay, and wish LEGO would have reintroduced instead of the new ones. Oh well.

The roof is actually removable and takes the tower with it, but is unfinished inside.

The final shot shows my idea of a good distribution of minifigs for a set of this type, 2 men, 2 women, and a child (daughter in this case).

All pics are thumbnails, click away.



Be kind, it's been a long time since I really built anything. This could literally be my first adult town MOC.

[Faramir]

Nice job! Love the whole outdoor/terrace kinda part, especially the fountain. Great color scheme, details and figs! (Gotta love that Asian ;-) ) And the health code violations are... fitting...

Are you planning on finishing the inside? Can't wait to see if you do.

[Hinckley]

Yes! Finally! **applause** It's about damn time! X-D

It's a beautiful MOC and I'm glad to see you building, finally. So let me get my one criticism out of the way...the air conditioner. I love the idea and I love when they are included in buildings, it's such a great detail. however, I've never seen an air conditioner configured this way, so it looks like a plane dropped an engine on the roof. If the fan were facing up in a more square base with some exhaust vents, I think it would fit in better. I guess I have one more criticism, I'd like to see other options besides the train windows.

Okay, now that's out of the way. Hooray you're not just a smartass, you're a builder too. I really like this! *sweet* The facade is very cool with the 1 x 1 x 6 round columns. It fits well with any Asian facade, but it's also a nice throwback to the Adventurer's Dragon Fortress (one of my favorite sets! *sweet* ) Excellent use of Snitches as lanterns. :-D *y* That's a really nice touch. I think you did a great job of not overusing the flags, they're at a good placement where you have them. I love the fountain, I wish it were a little more rounded, and perhaps lower, right now it's at minifig nipple height. :-D I really love the curved (cornice maybe??) edge up by the roof. :-$ Don't know what it's called architecturally, but you've done a great job creating a cool detail with a simple technique.

I see the sidewalk is built to fit right in with Cafe Corner, etc. Will we be seeing more of these soon? I hope so. Great job! :-)

[Shadows]

Faramir, on Mar 7 2008, 09:59 PM, said:

Nice job! Love the whole outdoor/terrace kinda part, especially the fountain. Great color scheme, details and figs! (Gotta love that Asian ;-) ) And the health code violations are... fitting...

Are you planning on finishing the inside? Can't wait to see if you do.

Thanks! The health code violations were a crime of opportunity, things I had handy and couldn't resist. :-D

I'm not sure about the interior, I kind of burned out on this project and only kept it together so I could eventually take these pics. Now that I look at it, I remember some of what I liked and didn't like and might put some more effort into it eventually, so it could happen.

Hinckley, on Mar 7 2008, 11:06 PM, said:

...the air conditioner ... it looks like a plane dropped an engine on the roof...

Since it is a plane engine, that's probably a fair criticism. ;-) It really was a last minute detail, so I didn't put a lot of thought into it and it shows. :-$

Hinckley, on Mar 7 2008, 11:06 PM, said:

I guess I have one more criticism, I'd like to see other options besides the train windows.

My defense of the train windows is that I had a lot of them and since I don't build trains, they ended up here. Not a great defense, really. :-/ I need to explore window possibilities these days.

Hinckley, on Mar 7 2008, 11:06 PM, said:

Okay, now that's out of the way. Hooray you're not just a smartass, you're a builder too.

I'll always be a smartass, first and foremost. >:-)

Hinckley, on Mar 7 2008, 11:06 PM, said:

I really like this! *sweet* The facade is very cool with the 1 x 1 x 6 round columns. It fits well with any Asian facade, but it's also a nice throwback to the Adventurer's Dragon Fortress (one of my favorite sets! *sweet* )

I own a total of two of the Orient Adventurers sets, one of them is a red gate. It was demolished so that this project could live and was definitely part of my inspiration. I wish I had that whole line. I really regret missing them. :'-(

Hinckley, on Mar 7 2008, 11:06 PM, said:

I love the fountain, I wish it were a little more rounded, and perhaps lower, right now it's at minifig nipple height. :-D

Another last minute detail that didn't end up planned out well. Initially I wanted to put a garden out there with a small pagoda or some form of statue. When I decided on a fountain, those facets were all I had in white. It would definitely look a lot better with proper curved bricks, and if I keep it assembled, it will definitely get that improvement.

Hinckley, on Mar 7 2008, 11:06 PM, said:

I really love the curved (cornice maybe??) edge up by the roof. :-$ Don't know what it's called architecturally, but you've done a great job creating a cool detail with a simple technique.

It felt Chinese and I had it available in dark red. I have no idea if it's authentic, but I've seen something similar in real life, so I went with it. I'm thrilled that it worked! *sweet*

Hinckley, on Mar 7 2008, 11:06 PM, said:

I see the sidewalk is built to fit right in with Cafe Corner, etc. Will we be seeing more of these soon? I hope so. Great job! :-)

Definitely a possibility. ;-) I've been considering either an antique store, a music store, or an Italian restaurant. Whatever it is, it'll have a detective agency on the second floor and not have quite as large of a footprint as this one did (or if so, it'll be in a much easier colour |-/).

Thanks for all the kind words, both of you! *y*

[Siegfried]

I love seeing MOCs from people you don't do many! *sweet* I love this; and I'll be referring to it soonish as I plan on making a Chinese Restaurant myself. (Don't hold your breath though... :-$ ) You don't see enough Chinatown MOCs either. I'm not sure if I class this as an old style building, or a Cafe Corner style one, but I think it would work next to either. The fountain is a nice touch... but I don't like the AC plant either. ;-)

Great work!

[Lt. Col. Thok]

Very nice, I like your use of a blend of Adventurers and Town.

[kaboom4]

Fantastic work! I like how you used the Orient Exodition Chinese Arch for the entrance!

[Erdbeereis]

This is great! I really like the red and the patio area. I really like the arch too. I don't think I have ever seen a restaurant MOC before. Great work!

[Asuka]

A very charming work in a great color scheme with a beautiful facade and some very fine details like the fountain and these sweet lanterns. :'-)
Perhaps one ore two tables with seats would be a nice addition to the garden, and maybe a small tree or another kind of plant....