My ambitious project - Brickage City

[Wodanis]

Hi all,

This is the first time I have posted a topic for the forum. I love seeing all the various creations and imagery. I wanted to add my own contribution: http://Brickagecity.blogspot.ca

Currently I have been working on creating a Octan Gas Station which was inspired by Danthaman11's Modular Gas station. (I seriously wanted to speak to Danthaman11 about his creation as I would like to see my version made into a set through Cuusoo as I need his permission) I thought it was a brilliant MOC but I wanted to make it more in line with a Lego playable set without watering it down from the intent. In any case I am quite pleased with the result. I only have some minor parts to exchange colours with and add a few more pieces.

I have to update my blog a bit from the other week as I have started a process of building by sourcing the parts for the Cafe Corner and Green Grocer. As well as still designing 'the Wharf Shop'. I am almost done with my spreadsheets in excel for the Green Grocer. I have made one already for the Cafe Corner. I will post them up once complete for others to use. It is extremely helpful for dealing with bricklink orders!

I will add some photos on this thread when I take some better ones. Still having technical issues having it lit properly. :o

Tell me what you think about my creations so far? I only ask that the community to be kind. :P

Edited June 30, 2013 by Wodanis

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

Welcome to the forum! I also went the excel spreadsheet route when I am bricklinking the Green Grocer, Cafe Corner and Market Street. A helpful hint, I found it to be useful to have one large spreadsheet with all the modulars, it helps with ordering the same parts for both sets. It make take a bit longer, but it will save in the long run.

[Wodanis]

Thank you Jersey Brick Guy. A useful suggestion. I will have to maybe redo them in the future but for now these two are complete. I wanted to post them for others to use but it won't...grrr.

[lightningtiger]

Good luck in creating a city layout using modulars 'Wodanis', oh...yeah Cuusoo now might not accept your gas station since someone else came up with it in the first and even if the original designer nods.....I doubt Cuusoo would a approve.

Keep going and Brick On 'Wodanis' !

[timmyc1983]

Good luck Wodanis!! I have done the same with Cafe Corner and Green Grocer, my Cafe Corner is complete (with a MOC interior as you are suggesting, check out my flickr page if you're interested, link's in my sig) and I received the final pieces for my Green Grocer just today, so I will be building it tonight And fyi, they did come out much cheaper although I had to make a couple of brick substitutions to keep costs down (and I was lucky to find a dark blue arch with play wear for only $10 )

Best of luck and happy building!!!

Edited July 1, 2013 by timmyc1983

[Wodanis]

Hey thanks guys! I was checking out your reengineered bank timmyc. I thought the rotunda was pretty cool. I was thinking of what to add in the cafe corner interior and your bar set up has given me some ideas. What did you do about the 1x8 sand green bricks for the green grocer? Bricklink has them for about $3 a pop! :( Paid quite a bit for the red slopes on the cafe but there really wasn't a way around that.

[timmyc1983]

Thanks glad you got some ideas from my CC interior too

Yeah, there was no way I was going to pay that much for 50 1 x 8 bricks! So I ended up replacing them with 100 1 x 4 bricks at a fraction of the price! I've started building the first floor and it's sometimes a little dodgy in terms of the layers of bricks and keeping the build as strong as possible but you can work around it, and why wouldn't you for the saving (unless you're a purist and must have the 1 x 8s).

And yeah, I bit the bullet for the red slopes too, I think in a way they 'make' that building so they're a bit of a must for the Cafe Corner.

Keep us posted with your project, I look forward to seeing how it unfolds

Happy building

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

I am in the same predicament right now with the Sand Green 1 x 8 bricks. I have already spent a nice sum with the project (it's not cheap if anyone hasn't told you yet) and I have have been on the fence if I want to spend $150.00 on 50 bricks or $31.00 on 100 bricks. I honestly have come to the realization where I can not justify spending the additional $120.00 on the bricks for something that will ultimately look almost identical.

As far as the Reddish Brown slopes go, I wound up paying .96 cents per one, brand new from a seller in Europe. I was able to get a better price on everything as I was doing a bulk purchase on pieces for all 3 modulars.

[timmyc1983]

Just to spur you on that little bit more :) I finished my Green Grocer the other night, so I thought I'd post my two completed Bricklinked modulars. The only thing I'm missing is the hard-to-get light blue torso for one of the figs in the Cafe Corner. Anyway, here they are, hope it provides some inspiration for you!

Don't lose sight of your dream :)

(Now all I need is Market Street ;) )

Happy building

[Wodanis]

Hey guys! That is very helpful! Timmyc congratulations! Those look awesome! To give you two an update. I've now sent out about a dozen orders off Bricklink for what parts I thought were unique and could try to make savings with. Hoping they all make it to me in one piece! I have some definite wins part wise but the shipping has chipped into what savings I was making...seriously how do some people charge in the US $6-8 shipping for $4-6 in parts...annoyed with that.

Anyhow, I've been using my excel sheets extensively to keep track of all of it. The only real unique parts I have not gotten yet are of course the 1x8s in sand green ($3), Earth blue 1x8 arch ($10-15), Bright blue 1x3x2 bow ($2-3 each) and the cat. The other parts I will order through lego unless I can find a cheaper deal. I've really been consumed this week trying to find deals cheaper than Lego S@H. I've been seriously considering going the route of buying 1x4 bricks rather than the 1x8.

I will have to post some photos once I start building. Come to think of it I better update my blog lol

Edited July 6, 2013 by Wodanis

[timmyc1983]

Sounds like you're steaming along nicely!

I've been seriously considering going the route of buying 1x4 bricks rather than the 1x8.

Yeah, the pictured GG has the substitution and I love it just the same! You really can't tell the difference...

Bright blue 1x3x2 bow ($2-3 each)

I figured with these there are only 4, so the average price per piece isn't damaged too much by getting these. Might have been a different story if you needed 20 instead of 4...

Anyway, I look forward to seeing the progress and seeing them all get built

Good luck

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

Sounds like you're steaming along nicely!

Yeah, the pictured GG has the substitution and I love it just the same! You really can't tell the difference...

I figured with these there are only 4, so the average price per piece isn't damaged too much by getting these. Might have been a different story if you needed 20 instead of 4...

Anyway, I look forward to seeing the progress and seeing them all get built

Good luck

Would you mind posting a picture of the back of the green grocer with the Sand Green 1 x 4's?

I wound up paying 3.334 Euros per Bright Blue Brick, Arch 1 x 3 x 2. I agree that if I needed more than 4, I would of been more angry with the price. One short cut I wound up doing with the cafe corner, was getting the 1 x 2 x3 panels with side supports as opposed to not having them. Again the price difference alone makes up for it.

Wodanis, I feel for you with the high shipping for the smaller orders. Now that I have just 41 pieces left, it's a lot of odds and ends really. What I have started doing is looking for items that I will use to fill out the modulars. It's a bit more cost wise, but it's helping with the shipping per item! Keep on getting the pieces!

[Wodanis]

It will be interesting to see all of our sets completed. Now the gruelling part, the waiting for orders to arrive. I'm still waiting on Lego to get some of the parts I need in stock but that cost is looking at about 100 dollars. I was looking to see if Bricklink had some parts cheaper of course but I may just pay the extra just to avoid all the shipping costs as its $4.50 to ship from them. If I do that order all that would remain are some of the parts I mentioned and basic ones from S@H. I keep trying in my head to not think my calculations are correct. The Green Grocer was about $550 and CC $400 in parts at S@H prices (not including discontinued parts). I haven't included any shipping costs in my spreadsheets (shutter to think about it) but I did calculate how much savings I am making between S@H and Bricklink. So far I've saved on parts by $73 on GG and $32 on CC. Not bad. I figure the savings were eaten away by shipping. :( It's too bad there isn't a Lego store in my city. I would love to see what their PaB walls have. Could make a savings if I found the Dark Stone Grey 2x2 tiles. If they still had 1x8 bricks in Sand Green they would be 30 cents each (based on other 1x8 costs at S@H, hehe. ($15 total!!)

Edited July 7, 2013 by Wodanis

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

$950 for the 2 of them isn't to bad considering how much they are going for. Just be prepared for some real expensive pieces.

[timmyc1983]

Would you mind posting a picture of the back of the green grocer with the Sand Green 1 x 4's?

I wound up paying 3.334 Euros per Bright Blue Brick, Arch 1 x 3 x 2. I agree that if I needed more than 4, I would of been more angry with the price. One short cut I wound up doing with the cafe corner, was getting the 1 x 2 x3 panels with side supports as opposed to not having them. Again the price difference alone makes up for it.

Here's some photos, (sorry, my phone was the only thing handy, hope you can see it ok) You can see where things haven't lined up sometimes, but you can nearly always fix it on the next row of bricks. I was more concerned about the front looking good, so having mismatched rows doesn't bother me too much, at least not $3.00 x 50 anyway

And yeah I also swapped those panels on my Cafe Corner, only an AFOL would notice and like you say the price is crazy!

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

First, thank you for posting those images!

Second, it looks fine to me. More like brickwork than anything else really.

[Wodanis]

Looks great to me timmyc! Thanks for sharing. If things go my way should have everything completed by the end of August or so. Just got my hairpiece for the green grocer lady today. :)

[timmyc1983]

No worries peeps, I look forward to seeing your's come together... Now I focus on Market Street

[Wodanis]

Side topic, how do I post images? I keep getting error messages.

Edited July 10, 2013 by Wodanis

[Alasdair Ryan]

Side topic, how do I post images? I keep getting error messages.

You need to use a online photo hosting site and then link them into your reply.

[Wodanis]

Thanks for info Alasdair, I will have to try that. I have a Flickr account. That should work :)

[Wodanis]

Hi guys, major setback with my Green Grocer. It's looking like I won't be able to get the sand green groove bricks from Lego at a reasonable price. Also my side door I ordered for the Cafe Corner is complete crap. Bought it used and the guy claimed it was minor surface scratches but the thing is junk, totally scratched beyond viewing through the glass and discoloured too. I can't use it at all. Normally I do not buy used items and after this incident I refuse to.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Wodanis

[Kristel]

Hi guys, major setback with my Green Grocer. It's looking like I won't be able to get the sand green groove bricks from Lego at a reasonable price. Also my side door I ordered for the Cafe Corner is complete crap. Bought it used and the guy claimed it was minor surface scratches but the thing is junk, totally scratched beyond viewing through the glass and discoloured too. I can't use it at all. Normally I do not buy used items and after this incident I refuse to.

That sucks! I don't tend to buy many used parts from BrickLink, but there is definitely a lot of variability, from looks like new to somewhat grotty. Fortunately, nothing like this yet. Hope you can get your money back.

[Wodanis]

Thanks Kristel, I am in the process of seeing about a refund. By the way I think your Lion hotel was a pretty slick creation. Very well done. :)

I think Bricklink would serve from using a collectors quality assurance guideline.

i.e.

Mint = Factory new and any scratches are limited from inside the packaging.

Good Condition = Near mint quality, minor scratches if any

Used = Obvious scratching, play wear and tear

Poor condition = discoloured, cracks and bite marks etc

Letting people decide isn't doing buyers any justice. :/

[Kristel]

Thanks Kristel, I am in the process of seeing about a refund. By the way I think your Lion hotel was a pretty slick creation. Very well done. :)

I think Bricklink would serve from using a collectors quality assurance guideline.

i.e.

Mint = Factory new and any scratches are limited from inside the packaging.

Good Condition = Near mint quality, minor scratches if any

Used = Obvious scratching, play wear and tear

Poor condition = discoloured, cracks and bite marks etc

Letting people decide isn't doing buyers any justice. :/

Thanks, Wodanis.

I agree, Bricklink could use a few more categories given the variability in quality of what fits within the "used" category.