Airports?

[mapimi]

Hello all

Looking quickly through the forum and at lego train clubs, one aspect of towns and cities that seems to be forgotten in the lego world is airports. Fans seem to accept TLG made airport/planes, which often lack detail. I was wondering if anyone knows of custom airports that would match the realism shown by AFOLs in train/city building. I ask this as an aircraft fan, having been building planes for many years, but often lack the parts to build a realistic international hub at minifig scale.

Edit: I'm still getting used to the forum so apologies if this is in the wrong part of the forum

Edited August 13, 2013 by mapimi

[Xyver]

I've been on this forum for a few years and I don't think I've seen one either. I have also done a Google search, but only found a couple.

I think the size requirements to get the scale correct puts a lot of people off attempting it. It's not just the bricks required for the terminal building either, a decent runway is probably out of reach for many, you couldn't use roadplates (too narrow) so you'd have to tile the whole thing. And that's not even considering space requirements for the actual building project.

I have considered building an airport, and have made what I thought was a pretty decent runway, yet it was too short and not wide enough for the scale of the airplanes, being only around 140*30 studs.

Now that my part collection is bigger, I'm considering building another one, getting the scale for the runway more accurate. And I have some ideas for the terminal building as well, but that's a lot of bricks, most of which are currently in use for other projects which I don't intend on pulling apart.

Still, once my modular city centre is complete (8x5 baseplates) and I've finished building my Heartlake City, that is on the drawing boards as my next project.

[Bregir]

It's not entirely airportless in here...

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=85264#entry1658637

I am myself thinking of adding a small airstrip with tower and small terminal. Looking forward to hearing more about your projects!

Bregir out

[Kivi]

Xyver is right, the sheer size of the project is the main reason that prevents people from building it.

We had an airport display at our last LUG event in April with all the relevant infrastructure, i.e. terminal building, hangar, control tower, helipad, airport vehicles, parking lot etc. But some 80 % of the entire display were runways, taxiways, aprons and other surfaces for aircraft movements, and these were just baseplates put together, not even tiled except for some lines on the runway. It was a joint effort and completely put together on site, but to build anything larger than what we did would be simply too expensive and time-consuming, not to even mention the space required to put it together.

[rriggs]

Airports are tricky because of the amount of space they require - Especially with the current size/scale of LEGO aircraft.

I am attempting to circumnavigate this to some degree by converting my fire headquarters into a heliport with a passenger terminal. It's coming on well but is still has a really big footprint even with (at the moment) just two helipads.

I would love to do a proper airport but so much of it would be dead space compared to the amount of room it would actually take up.

Cheers

Rog

[alois]

Runway of an international airport = 4000 m.

Minifig scale = 1:40

Runway in minifig scale = 4000/40 = 100 m = 400 32x32 baseplates in length.

I don't own a hangar.

[Hey Joe]

Lego themselves did a pretty nice mock-up of an airport for a show this year to publicize the new airport stuff in CITY. We saw the pictures here I think, and Brickset had them as well. Was it the big show in New York or the one in Europe, I can't remember. I was really impressed with what they did.

Joe

[jimmynick]

Well, you could always make a classic-town sort of airport. Try using 6 or so straight road plates as a runway, with some baseplates decorated with the runway thresholds. You could always build a small terminal and use little planes, not the rather large ones TLG have been producing in the last few years.

At least that's what I'd do if I built an airport.

[skobabe8]

I love realistic, functional airports. I tried to do the best I could with the space I have to work with, but it's very difficult. The road plates are not wide enough to accomodate the width of the landing gear.

Given the challenges, I tried to base my airport of off the one I use the most, Midway Airport in Chicago, USA. The main terminal is elevated to allow for the monorail to run underneath. Parking garages flank either side of the terminal. The upper level is for dropping off departing passengers and the ground level is for picking up arriving passengers.

http://www.flickr.co...N02/9501575083/

Edited August 13, 2013 by skobabe8

[jonwil]

Our LUG here in Western Australia has had airports on our big annual train layout before. This is the best photo I can find of the airport terminal that we had:

[Wodanis]

It's true that airports has become sidelined since the 2010 sets but in terms of making an airport. Is this not a possibility?

This was an image I took off of the Lego commercial for the new Cargo sets. It looks pretty spacious to me. Incidently I noticed TLG using the same buildings in multiple commercials and the hand that holds the objects is a woman's hand not a kids. It's fun to analyse what they did to achieve it.

[dhc6twinotter]

Here are a couple more:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=68025&hl=%2Blego+%2Bairport

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=49440&hl=+lego%20+airport#entry874211

There was another massive airport that somebody built a long time ago. I ran across it once here on EB, but I can't seem to find the thread. It was impressive and even included a monorail.

I've often thought about building a 1930-1940s era seaplane base similar to the Pan Am seaplane base in Miami, Florida (the building is now the Miami city hall). I would also include a few hangers and an apron, but I wouldn't need a runway since it's a seaplane base. And, of course there would be some old aircraft like the Sikorsky S-38, 42, etc.

Some day I'll get around to it.

[fhomess]

There was another massive airport that somebody built a long time ago. I ran across it once here on EB, but I can't seem to find the thread. It was impressive and even included a monorail.

Perhaps you meant this thread: Bill and Mary Go to the Airport

[dhc6twinotter]

Perhaps you meant this thread: Bill and Mary Go to the Airport

Yup, that's the one! Great story too.

[mapimi]

Those are some very good points about the size, and some very cool creations. Thank you. Look forward to seeing what you guys come up with. Good luck building those, I'll show you guys what I come up with as well

[legoboy3998]

Search "klia" and "klia2" on Brickshelf. I always enjoyed following the galleries. They show the building of the airport complete with LEGO construction crews. The only bummer is I don't think the builder ever finished the airport.

[Bellicose]

Do the runways and paved surfaces have to be entirely constructed of baseplates and tiles? As an aviation enthusiast (and professional), this is something I've wanted to do for a long time - something resembling an accurate airport. I was even buying tons of 1x8 black tile plates at the Pick a Brick boxes whenever I got a chance...thinking working with similar white tile plates, you could make a realistic runway, using the white pieces as the markings and stripes/numbers on the runways. But since so many lines in life aren't square, 90 degree angles everywhere (taxiway markings curve all over the place) and due to the expense of it all, I've been considering making a plywood/painted base area much like an electric train set layout, and then saving the bricks for the buildings, hangars, planes, etc. And yes obviously the road base plates are out as they're far too narrow even for GA runways, plus they're marked wrong.

[mapimi]

That's a good point, I've also considered building the runway/taxiway/ramps out of non lego materials, which would give more realism to the thing, plus as cited in this thread, airports use lots of parts, so let's save most for the terminal building/control tower. Lego itself has done that in legoland, with a paved runway, so I'm guessing the AFOL community could tolerate this.

[hysot]

Hey guys!

I'm an aviation enthusiast (and professional also) and the idea of building an airport sounds great to me. I like the idea of using a plywood board for the base but I'll still keep the grass aera made of green base plate (like between runways/taxiways) for a better look.

[danimarroquin]

the biggest issue that i get with lego its that the planes need more detail and realism . the wings need to have some dihedral and the shape of the nose needs to be more round on the big jets . At least will get the airport truck soon !!!1

[just2good]

How about if we have an Airport building drive? I'd love to see more airport MOCs and displays here!

Mods are you listening?

Edited August 17, 2013 by just2good

[dhc6twinotter]

How about if we have an Airport building drive? I'd love to see more airport MOCs and displays here!

Mods are you listening?

I'd be all for that, except for most of my LEGO is 2500 miles from me. Sounds fun though!

[danimarroquin]

How about if we have an Airport building drive? I'd love to see more airport MOCs and displays here!

Mods are you listening?

im gonna post some of my airport in progress then .....

[rriggs]

How about if we have an Airport building drive? I'd love to see more airport MOCs and displays here!

Would my heliport qualify?

Cheers

Rog

[Jasper Joppe Geers]

As i said in aonther topic (http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=85264) the idea of a modular airport seems to me wonderful and possible.

I don't think you can ever match a realistic scale (e.g.) on a landing strip, but the modular houses are not always in a proper scale either.

If only there would be road plates with an airstrip print on it... everything on a 32 x 32 baseplate basis perhaps.

The control tower and hangar could be 1 baseplate each, passenger hall 1 or 2...

hey, just my two cents! :)