Ideas for making a Lego Government building

[Legoboy22]

Hello everyone,

I have decided that my Lego city needs a government building and I want to build either the Capitol building or the House of parliament. Do you have any tips o ideas on how to do this? Thank you in advance.

-legoboy22

[Wookiee]

get a picture of the building you want to replicate.

 

decide scale and base plate size

Decide colour.

Start building in LDD or similar or if you are like me and prefer bricks, get yourself a heap of bricks in the colour and type you like and start building. Get the main structure in place and then i will normally order more bricks for the finer details as i have better idea of what i need.

[SollX]

I would also start with some research. find pictures (google) of government buildings.
Then try to replicate the look of the ones you like in LDD.

then start ordering the parts you do not have yourself (bricklink or lego pick a brick)

[Legoboy22]

Thank you, but I would like to ask if brick link is as reliable as pick a brick. Normally I buy from Pick a brick but seeing the prices on bricklink it almost seems to good to be true such as a 1 by 6 tan brick for only 1 cent. I would like to know if it is safe and reliable.

Thank you in advance

Legoboy22

[BlockLogo]

Bricklink is great, and absolutely safe and reliable, but addictive, and you wanna make sure you consider shipping costs.  There might be several stores that have tan 1x6 bricks for 1 cent, but chances are they only have a couple of them, and you'll need dozens if not hundreds for a big government building.  So you'll wanna find a single store that has a good quantity at a reasonable price so you only pay once for shipping.

[BricksMcgee]

4 hours ago, Legoboy22 said:

Thank you, but I would like to ask if brick link is as reliable as pick a brick. Normally I buy from Pick a brick but seeing the prices on bricklink it almost seems to good to be true such as a 1 by 6 tan brick for only 1 cent. I would like to know if it is safe and reliable.

Thank you in advance

Legoboy22

Bricklink is reliable, depending on the seller. Look at their ratings before ordering. And, as Blocklogo said, don't forget to include delivery/insurance costs. 

[AFOLguy1970]

The two most limiting issues you will run into with online Pick-a-brick are cost and selection.  The smallest parts are 10 cents per piece and they go up from there.  You might be surprised how limited the selection of parts is as well.  They will have the basic colors and elements for the most part.

[Venunder]

If price is a factor you probably have to limit the scale of the building.

If there is no budget problem you could combine about 6 http://brickset.com/sets/10253-1/Big-Ben Big Ben sets to try and build the Palace of Westminster.

Or you could build a neo-classical building like the old Nottingham Council building (the first picture). If you want a more brutal modernistic building you could probably build something like London University Senate House (the second picture).

 

Could use 8 or more of the Performance School as the basis of the last one? 

http://brickset.com/sets/41134-1/Heartlake-Performance-School

Edited October 12, 2016 by Venunder
extra info

[Legoboy22]

Thank you for your feedback and i have just made a bricklink account and will use it soon. 

[gotoAndLego]

What I do is

1. Build in LDD

2. Export the parts list

3. Cross off what I have in my collection

4. Order the rest; you can import the parts list into Bricklink.

[Legoboy22]

I have started working on a small replica of the us capitol building in LDD that has an interior not to scale with the exterior. It has 2 chambers each with 9 seats each and a podium with flags. I am currently working on the roof with the dome.

A pic will come soon