Cars for Modular - my first collection

[Ron Dayes]

Hi everyone,

I've recently finished one of my modular scale cars in real bricks, the Lamborghini Aventador.

Currently, i have LDD files of a Mercedes, a BMW and also a Truck who will be finished soon.

My scaling

Trucks: 7-8 wide 15+ plates high maximum 2 minifigs in height

Supercars: 6-7 wide 8 plates high below Minifig shoulders

standard Cars: 6 wide 9 -10 plates high middle of Minifig head

i dont use any of the availiable mudguards, so the width stays the exact width in total.

I find Cars thinner than 6 wide unrealitsic - compared to the Minifigs and the Modular Buildings, that explains the wider than 'City' style scaling you see here.

The wheel types i choose are also smaller than 'City' scale. Also, its possible to fit more than one minifig inside - or- to have it completly filled with bricks for windows etc.

I thought, id share those pics with you guys, because i've read that some people are not all too happy with the City vehicles in their Modular Streets? I personally find this scaling and building detail more fitting to the modulars.

What do you think?

Watch the video below to see all the pics i've made of this model.

Lamborghini Aventador for sale video by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

To show scale in front of a Modular (i frankly dont own any, so this has to do for starters). A bunch of fans waiting for their entry to the cinema. But before that, a special guest will arrive first. who will it be? an actor from the new Star Wars Film? possible autograph time? we dont know....

Modular Cars by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

The model ontop a brickbuild road

Aventador roadster with figs by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

Lamborghini Aventador by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

Currently being worked on in LDD, i will make them 1 plate higher than shown on the photos, the rear must gain more height compared to my supercar scale. This is a replica of an AMG low tuned Mercedes E class. The windows can be taken out to fit 2 figs inside (leaning them figures back)

Mercedes by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

Mercedes by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

This BMW is on the same platform, still needs some more work.

BMW Wip by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

many greets and thanks for stopping by, i will upload more pics to this thread once im done with the other cars.

Until then, stay safe!

[THERIZE]

your cars look cool but are really undersized imo.

[Wookiee]

Sorry these do not appeal to me at all too blocky and really dislike black for the windows instead of clear.

[Nemo57]

Amazing and beautiful cars. They are made unique level. If the format is a little big city, but for Lego figures. the scale chosen by the author threads slightly too small, but nevertheless well suited to the figures. It is not clear automotive glass are important. And the most important forms, first of all.

With the modular building by comparing the length of the vehicle and the length of the building is not entirely correct.

All cars are beautiful and elegant. Excellent idea.

[Ron Dayes]

@Nemo57

Thanks alot Nemo57, im glad you like them! It is slightly smaller in length, but actually higher and wider than it should be compared to about a 1:40 scale. I've given the Minifigs a height of real life 175 cm, being around average height of men worldwide. So is my scale really off? Pls take a look at the pictures below. Cause when i do the math, it seems to work....

@wookie

So true, i would also prefer a really nice lego 5 wide trans brown or white windshield with a tilt greater than 45°. but frankly, there are none. So it left me no choice than building one myself. And stapled trans plates ontop each other look far worse than black. Its not for everyone, i know.

Minifig scaling Aventador length by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

Minifig scaling Aventador height by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

Comparisson fig to Aventador by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

Edited October 18, 2015 by Ron Dayes

[ER0L]

As already said, I really like your approach and the advanced building techniques applied here. Even if my own cars are remarkably larger in scale for some reasons (about 1/35 vs. the 1/44 of your Aventador if I'm correct) it's nice to see that there are still car builders interested in the match between the different elements of a Lego town.

Like you already said, it seems to me too that the Mercedes could be at least one plate taller to match with the figures. Even the height of the pavement (which usually is not to scale in a Lego town) has to be taken into account when combining figs with cars in my opinion.

[Lego Dino 500]

The design of the cars are extremely well thought out and planned, the issue is they're designed to mini figure's height and not they're width, which is unavoidable. They're a lot better proportioned and scaled than regular Lego cars, they just look like they can use some selective compression of detail in the future.

[Nemo57]

In comparison with minifigures all cars look great. I mean comparing the size cars themselves with dimensions (length modular homes). Houses, after all, a little bit more.

[Josiah N]

Your cars are always a delight to see, and they always make me think, "how does this guy do it?" then I have to analyze your car design and try to figure out what techniques you've used and how you've pulled them off. You never fail to impress, Ron, keep up the great work!

[Ron Dayes]

As already said, I really like your approach and the advanced building techniques applied here. Even if my own cars are remarkably larger in scale for some reasons (about 1/35 vs. the 1/44 of your Aventador if I'm correct) it's nice to see that there are still car builders interested in the match between the different elements of a Lego town.

Like you already said, it seems to me too that the Mercedes could be at least one plate taller to match with the figures. Even the height of the pavement (which usually is not to scale in a Lego town) has to be taken into account when combining figs with cars in my opinion.

Thanks alot ER0L, this whole Minifig scaling and fitting into cars issue is permanently on my mind when im at it again. And i bet on yours too , after seeing your grand collection. I know 100% correct scale is not possible with Lego. Its Legos after all But still, i try to get something acceptable - so thanks for reading my post and taking the time calculating my scale!

Very close, its 1/42 . 175 cm and minifig height 4,16 cm

OK, you mentioned the height of the pavement to be a concern. True, figs are then higher - but if you stand on a pavement outside, you'd also be around 10 cms (depending on where you live) higher than a parking car by your side. I find the modular pavement being "a tile on a stud" quite accurate. In the 1/42 scale i use, one tile is 14,58 real cm high. So negelect the 4 cms more than an actual pavement may have, and the Modular pavement really comes in favor for a 1/42 scale.

It also corrects my height of the aventador then, which is 10 cm to high (still!)

Anyways, keep up your superb car building! Your flickr fotostream is really inspiring!

greets, ron,

Edited October 19, 2015 by Ron Dayes

[Ron Dayes]

Your cars are always a delight to see, and they always make me think, "how does this guy do it?" then I have to analyze your car design and try to figure out what techniques you've used and how you've pulled them off. You never fail to impress, Ron, keep up the great work!

In comparison with minifigures all cars look great. I mean comparing the size cars themselves with dimensions (length modular homes). Houses, after all, a little bit more.

The design of the cars are extremely well thought out and planned, the issue is they're designed to mini figure's height and not they're width, which is unavoidable. They're a lot better proportioned and scaled than regular Lego cars, they just look like they can use some selective compression of detail in the future.

@Josiah

A big thanks to you! I can only return the favor in saying how excellent your ships and mechs are! totally diggin the Mecha Hangar 5 btw

I will keep up my work whenever i can and share what i find to be a good result.

Until then, keep up your amazing style!

@Nemo

Again thanks and yeah, what we find good looking, depends on how we look at it.

@ Lego DINO

Thanks for your nice post! Its actually my fault of not posting a width scaling, so here it is. Thanks for pointing it out!

I actually took concern of the width, and because minifigs are wide as you allready stated, i added more "incorrect" width to the "correct" length to compensate that matter. Or did you mean that the other way around, that id have to go more narrow, because a real person is about half as wide in proportion? So 6 wide be better?

MINIFIG scaling Aventador for EB width by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

[Brick Capone]

Your cars are amazing. They look really nice.. Also, in that little picture you did where the minifigures are waiting to go into Star Wars TFA.. It'll be like that times 10 Anyway, really cool cars.

[Lego Dino 500]

I meant that it's impossible to perfectly proportion cars to mini figure scales because the proportions of the figures don't scale up properly. I think your car builds are really well done, but the length and height don't seat minfigures too well. It looks like it'd be pretty simple to extend it by a stud and raise the roof and body a plate of two above the wheels and axels to better seat minifigures of you decide to.

[ER0L]

@Ron: Thanks for the compliment! Yeah, I have been struggling with that aspect from the beginning ...

Regarding the pavement, there's still the baseplate that adds some height. On your second pic there's a pavement being two plates high, meaning 6,4 mm x 42 = ~ 27 cm in a 1/42 scale if I'm correct (same effect if you put baseplates on top of roadplates to minimize the width of the pavement). I even use snotted pavements being 2,5 plates high which is absurd scalewise, but - among other advantages - provides for a much better ratio between figs and cars when combined. Long story short: The design of a layout and the design of the vehicles in the same layout are strongly related with each other in my opinion.

[Ron Dayes]

Your cars are amazing. They look really nice.. Also, in that little picture you did where the minifigures are waiting to go into Star Wars TFA.. It'll be like that times 10 Anyway, really cool cars.

Thanks a lot Capone. haha, yeah, it'll be a lot more times than that. But it took about 1 hour to get all the minfigs dressed, so i kept them "low" in number. More detail also takes longer to render. This one pic needed 3 hours :/

[Ron Dayes]

I meant that it's impossible to perfectly proportion cars to mini figure scales because the proportions of the figures don't scale up properly. I think your car builds are really well done, but the length and height don't seat minfigures too well. It looks like it'd be pretty simple to extend it by a stud and raise the roof and body a plate of two above the wheels and axels to better seat minifigures of you decide to.

Ah allright! thanks for your reply!

Yes that truly is impossible to do :-(

You can only choose "getting cars scaled down correctly compared to real life" -> minifig cant sit upright. Or adjust more height to the minifig sitting upright like lego city. I choose to scale the car down correctly via height and then added more width for easy minifig fitting (which makes it look shorter even though length is correct in scale). If you see the minfigs standing next to it, it looks more like real life to me. Of course it wouldnt be hard extending the length and adding more height - but also wouldnt be 1/42 anymore, which in my opinion is the correct scale for minifig height and also for modular by math alone.

Any plate higher on a supercar like this, will actually "distort" the cars proportion. Also the wheel choice gets tricky if the height goes up. Thats why i find 5 bricks high CIty and Speed Champions look very comical - and all that just to get the fig to sit upright!

Since i dont "play" legos, i dont mind if i lie them down, if that what it takes to get the cars proportions right.

I admit, its the one very weird thing in my car builds, cause its very unconventional to "lay" in a car. The seating is not even included^^ Furthermore, a minifig frankly doenst have neck and knee joints, so leaning them way back is all that helps me here. In the end, its a matter of taste or better said tolerance of the minifig itself. I bet, if you like the fig to "sit" more, a scale of around 1/35 would be your prefered choice.(example: http://mocpages.com/moc.php/403196 ) For that scale (and also City scale), you must tolerate a standard car as high or even higher than your figs though, which i for myself simply cant (anymore) :-/

To show a little comparison to an actual Lego set (60053).

Lambo Aventador compare City set by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

[Ron Dayes]

@Ron: Thanks for the compliment! Yeah, I have been struggling with that aspect from the beginning ...

Regarding the pavement, there's still the baseplate that adds some height. On your second pic there's a pavement being two plates high, meaning 6,4 mm x 42 = ~ 27 cm in a 1/42 scale if I'm correct (same effect if you put baseplates on top of roadplates to minimize the width of the pavement). I even use snotted pavements being 2,5 plates high which is absurd scalewise, but - among other advantages - provides for a much better ratio between figs and cars when combined. Long story short: The design of a layout and the design of the vehicles in the same layout are strongly related with each other in my opinion.

@ Er0L, your more than welcome! you did awesome pioneer work when it comes to city layouts! not just cars, also your working street lamps are pure genius:) If i ever get modulars myself, i would want to have those;)

Agreed on the layout relativity!

The second pic you mention was supposed to be one of those highway pavements on a bridge or something, where water after rainfall needs to exit via the gutters (the hinge piece gap). this pavement would indeed be 27 cm high, which could be realistic for that kind of pathway. i dont really know^^ i remember them being quite high.

But usual, i refer to 1 tile being the pavement height in 1/42. If you have a road made of tiles and then add another tile (on a stud) then, pavement will be the total height of 1 tile. Or a plate so you can stick minifigs onto it;) For example the modulars have those skinnny baseplates, where its practical "just a snot" where those tiles stick on. I find that pretty well solved. First i thought that was not high enough for pavement, but turns out its possible for a 1/42 scale.

But since you use 1/35 scale, 2,5 (lets not count studs for pavement, cause if a minifig stands on it, studs are gone) -> 2 studs -> x3,2mm x 35 = 22,4cm. I think a pavement can be that high, its not too absurd in my opinion. Your vehicles are also higher and bigger. I think the pavement doesnt matter that much in a general layout, because i think depending on where you live and how old the place is, it varies a lot. The only thing that doesnt change heights is the vehicles, cause we have known numbers for them. So i think it would be smart to scale everything after vehicles, whatever the scale of your choice is.

Furthermore we dont really know what exact scale the modulars are. But again, buildings vary in height and sizes a lot aswell. I think that Amsterdam stood model for the Modular designs (looking at the new bank modular) and those buildings there are seriously small and narrow (for its very own reasons). To TLG, it gives a good set size.

Because of the Pavement, the door frames and modular building heights, i believe it to be around 1/42 if we see the minifigure as "grown adults" of worldwide average male height of 175cm

I did a quick shot, the modular door frame is touching baseplate, so the actual door is on pavement level.

Sportscar to modular compare by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

[YellowCorvette]

Nice cars, but I think your's Koenigsegg Agera on MOCpages are your best work. These cars just looks too short and undersized. This is even far more worse at your Aventador Roadster when minifigures putted in.

[Ron Dayes]

Nice cars, but I think your's Koenigsegg Agera on MOCpages are your best work. These cars just looks too short and undersized. This is even far more worse at your Aventador Roadster when minifigures putted in.

First off all thanks for liking the Koenigsegg! It was designed to fit into the SC theme, it was great fun to build. Im amazed by how much TLG is trying (yes, trying) to get more realism into cars with their SC sets. We can see reassamblence, sometimes only with stickers^^, but its for sure leading the right way! Im glad their are finally doing it:)

Now to your critique

So, you say it looks undersized and too short. True on first look it seems weird, also seemed so to me. I used to build bigger cars for minifigs before that (as you have found on my mocpages account)

But I stopped that, once i did calculating and noticed all cars i made before the aventador were totally off scale. I picked 1/42, calculated and voila, it worked (for me).

Have you read the description in the pictures above? Its all calculated according to height and width of the minfig! But never mind, i will explain further down.

The only thing not working is the minifigs sitting upright, but thats because a fig sitting upright is not half its size, like a human would be. Instead its only 2 plates smaller, which is nothing really ( in 1/42 = 30 real cm). Also if you sit in a car, you lean back dont you? your head bends forwad, your legs have knee joints.

All of this is not happening in a standard Lego minifig.

So only solution if you want to keep this working scale is lying them down - thats what makes the car look short, because if it was sitting upright, you'd see 2x2 space being used by the driver from top and side view. Now its almost 5x2! it distorts the length apperance

You say its worse in the aventador roadster, totally agree. The seating doesnt looks to comfortable for the figs, eh?^^

BUT thats the problem of the figs themselves, not the 1/42 scaling! If they could bend more, it wouldnt look weird.

A side and top view should get you a better picture and show you, that the length is correct.

Its actually the width thats wider not the length too short (okay, half a stud maybe). But because a fig is wide, i had to add a little on the sides to keep 2 figs side by side which doenst hurt the scale too much in my opinion. or does it?

too short - sure? - Please compare with this original model picture from the web

Comparisson fig to Aventador by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

a top view with the figs inside by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

why sitting upright is an issue in Lego by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

if minifigs had knee joints... by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

the big bending by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

the side view by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

In general, when it comes to lego car building, i think we tend to build bigger than it actually should be, because we either want them to fit upright or we are used to the large wheels lego offers us via the new sets since 2008. Since the City sets are wayleading, you have to work unconventional, which is definately not satisfying everone here;)

If you still think that i did undersizing here, please feel free to discuss with me, even private conversation if you like and show me proof, i'm open for critique!

To put this issue to a final for fellow readers:

The choice is yours

Is your City full of 130 cm "dwarf" minifig policemen, firefighters and remaining citizens in "normal sized" vehicles like this?

( or equal to: everything "normal", your vehicles just really big?)

Or are your minfigs "grown, well build adults" with height about 170-180 cm and the cars proported to that - but they wont fit in sitting upright? so we gotta cheat!

Depending on your choice you will have pro and cons for sure!

Comparisson fig to Aventador by Ron Dayes, auf Flickr

Edited October 23, 2015 by Ron Dayes

[SearchFunction]

Have not read through it all but I' m going to comment anyway. I have seen your Aventador design before, but it looks so much better in real bricks. It does makes me wonder, how the hell those pieces stay together, it looks almost unreal.

The reason it looks low, is because supercars are pretty low compared to "normal" cars. Speaking of cars, they come in many shapes and sizes. Japanese cars in particular seems to be narrower, some are 160 cm wide, where as the big supercars from europe can be up to 200 cm.

As for scale, the modular buildings seems to be in 1:36 ish scale going by the height of the doors they use(6 bricks heigh). The best scale for cars to match figs would be 5 wide for cars and 6 for trucks in my opinion. That would be the "real" scale. Personally I use a scale where the figs are a bit short so the cars end up beeing 6 wide.

[Ron Dayes]

Have not read through it all but I' m going to comment anyway. I have seen your Aventador design before, but it looks so much better in real bricks. It does makes me wonder, how the hell those pieces stay together, it looks almost unreal.

The reason it looks low, is because supercars are pretty low compared to "normal" cars. Speaking of cars, they come in many shapes and sizes. Japanese cars in particular seems to be narrower, some are 160 cm wide, where as the big supercars from europe can be up to 200 cm.

As for scale, the modular buildings seems to be in 1:36 ish scale going by the height of the doors they use(6 bricks heigh). The best scale for cars to match figs would be 5 wide for cars and 6 for trucks in my opinion. That would be the "real" scale. Personally I use a scale where the figs are a bit short so the cars end up beeing 6 wide.

Hey search function!

great to see you here man!

Thanks, i also really like how it turned out in real bricks;) Yeah, the connections are a little really wild here, but it all fits tight via standard techniques ;-)

Yeah, the Aventador is such a case. Its even a bit over 2 meters wide in real. In a 1/42 scale it needed to be 6 wide, but because i also took the minfig width into my calculation to compensate the overall look, it turns out 7 wide. (so by math its actually oversized, not undersized like it might seem for some). If you look at a front view, it seems plausible in 7 wide. Also, its a huge difference from a 6 to 7 wide car MOC as you know, it enters a whole new level of detail then. I dont think i could have done it like that in 6 wide. Also some connections are better working for me in that wider scale.

6 wide for standard is a clean choice, because i find 5 wide next to a minifig too narrow looking, alltough its "real scale". If the figs were ony 1 stud/brick torso witdh, it would be a totally different story.

You mentioned the Modulars to be 1/36 ish. I cant really agree on that by taking door frames and windows into account for our scaling (whatever the scale). Cause, how high is a door in real life? - it varies...

Example: Lego uses a 6 brick high doorframe, but that doesnt mean the door is 6 bricks high. Its actually 5,33 bricks high and in a 1/42 scale thats 2,3 m. My balcony glass doors are 2,35 m high, so its definately possible. If we do have a 6 brick high door, its 2,6 m - you can buy doors like that for a business...

Also, in some Modulars, like the "green grocer", they use this door door which is only 5 bricks high, meaning 2,1 m in 1/42 scale. This door for example could be used for the standard inside doors of 2m height (which we all probably refer to as standard door height). It also swings over the studs. Knowing the old lego sets, this door was commonly used for that matter. Theres also a glass version of it.

But if you enter a store or a bigger commerce building, the doors there will probably be 2,3 m in most cases - and that leads me to the point, that we have only "outside" doors for entrances in the modular series, which could be any height in real life. If we take 2 m height as a door standard, that definately applies for all "room" doors, but not necessarly entrances. I have seen no room doors in an official modular yet, which would be an interesting point here...

I once lived in a building from 1890, where ceiling height was 1,95m and the door width only 60 cm! So we see, everything is possible when it comes to buildings.

Long story short: we shouldnt use the modular frame sizes for scaling, nor their building height or width. The only thing we can use as a standard for any town layout (whatever the scale) are the vehicles - we can look up their sizes easily, and they will stay the same everywhere. its mass production. Most houses, specially those Amsterdam-flair-Lego-modulars show unique buildings of different eras and style, we simply cant put a standard to that. It will not give us a clean orientation on what the scale really is then. We can only check by calculations, if our scale is possible in real life (for example, door heights or ceiling height).

By math, a 1/42 scale is fitting if we say a 5 brick high door of 2,18 m is a standard door and a minifigure of 4 bricks is 1,75 m high.

For 1/35 it would be 6 brick high door = 2,17 m, the figs are 1,45 m high...

a link to the reference pic posted above somewhere

[SearchFunction]

This door for example could be used for the standard inside doors of 2m height (which we all probably refer to as standard door height).

Yeah thats what I was referering to. When I worked as an assistant at an architects office, I learned that for brickbuildings, the hole for a standard door was 2100 cm, so thats what I base my opinion around, but it would be for the standard 6 brick high doorframe, so we use different scales.

Buildings come, as you have noted, in different shapes and sizes. The law sometimes call for certain requirements to be meet. Where I live for instance, the law says that when building a private home, there must be (at minimum) 2.5 m height from floor to ceiling, but its not written in stone. Sometimes a law can be suspended. Some buildings from the 1400-1600 era have quite a lot less headroom and often gets excempt from regulations.

Its easier to be less true to scale, and find out what works well enough in bricks while also looking reasonably realistic, than be completely accurate, at this scale.

I include a hairpiece on a fig when scaling for height . How does your car look next to a friends fig?

[ER0L]

As for scale, the modular buildings seems to be in 1:36 ish scale going by the height of the doors they use(6 bricks heigh).

That's interesting. I guess this is correct regarding the details of a building. On the other hand the buildings as such (or at least some of them) seem to be much smaller than they should be according to their scale. That's why a Cinema has only a few seats ... It would be nice to have an existing building turned into Modular scale to evaluate the correct proportions.

so by math its actually oversized, not undersized like it might seem for some).

This also depends on the assumed scale of the fig. If you declare them to be only 1,65 m (which would meet their proportions better in my opinion) everything changes.

You mentioned the Modulars to be 1/36 ish. I cant really agree on that by taking door frames and windows into account for our scaling (whatever the scale). Cause, how high is a door in real life? - it varies...

True. I guess that's the reason why there seem to be modulars of different scales: the undersized brownstone of Pet Shop vs. the rather impressive Fire Brigade. This is also due to the rather strict floor pattern with only a few allowed widths.

We shouldnt use the modular frame sizes for scaling, nor their building height or width. The only thing we can use as a standard for any town layout (whatever the scale) are the vehicles - we can look up their sizes easily, and they will stay the same everywhere. its mass production.

True, too. But it won't ever happen - the modulars are already a strong standard, used by many. You may even spot 6w+ City trucks and 10w DeLoreans together in the very same layout. And just think of trains which are very far from a 1/42 scale. I'm actually trying to get a better fit between vehicles, trains and buildings (and planes and boats ...) in one layout. But you have to design basically everything by yourself.

[Ron Dayes]

I include a hairpiece on a fig when scaling for height . How does your car look next to a friends fig?

Ah ok, well a hairpiece does change scaling a bit. I neglected the hairpiece, because "bold" people shouldnt necessarly be smaller than 175cm ^^ Also i found it hard to say which hairpiece...there are so many in LDD! if so, i'd probably use the classy one , did you use that one ?

I'm afraid, there is not a single friends doll in LDD. I even looked it up cause i couldnt believe it (o.O seriously why isnt there one, what do friends fans do with LDD?). Guess i might need to buy one and take pictures then...

@ER0L

That's interesting. I guess this is correct regarding the details of a building. On the other hand the buildings as such (or at least some of them) seem to be much smaller than they should be according to their scale. That's why a Cinema has only a few seats ... It would be nice to have an existing building turned into Modular scale to evaluate the correct proportions.

Right, i noticed that too. Compared to the window sizes and frames, the rest seems too small. I mean, they could also just have really big windows and doors, thats not impossible even though it looks a bit odd. When i visited Amsterdam, i was amazed how narrow buidlings to live in can really be and really were build frequently over the ages, so that is also possible. I must try make a replica of an existing building in 1/42 and see how it compares to modular then. good point Er0l!

True, too. But it won't ever happen - the modulars are already a strong standard, used by many. You may even spot 6w+ City trucks and 10w DeLoreans together in the very same layout. And just think of trains which are very far from a 1/42 scale. I'm actually trying to get a better fit between vehicles, trains and buildings (and planes and boats ...) in one layout. But you have to design basically everything by yourself.

Yeah you're right. Frankly not with official Lego Sets, since they are very popular - but also nice sets to admit, even if they do vary their scaling to each other as you mentioned (fire brigade...). I would want them because of the many useful parts...

Totally agree, for the "scale perfectionists", designing everything yourself seems to be the better alternative than "adapting".

Its pretty much what i have done so far (because i also cant afford the pieces right now to make my own modular-like build). I think scales bewtween 1/35 - 1/42 are a good start for the offical ones though. The only problem is the minifig anyway...

Sounds like you got a big project coming up! i really want to know how your layout turns out

Dont get me started on trains please^^, its even a bigger issue than the minifig lol especially for 1/42. I allready tried and found out the hard way (because of minifig width i choose 9 wide instead of 8,5, it works well on straights...only.)

That must even be a bigger issue in 1/35, not? i mean, the trains must be bigger than 1/42. The ICE is 3 m wide, so if 5 studs are 1,46m in 1/35 , it needed to be 10 wide?

But i heard that some people here on EB might sell printed rails with larger radius somewhere in the future, so there's still hope :D

[ER0L]

Totally agree, for the "scale perfectionists", designing everything yourself seems to be the better alternative than "adapting".

Its pretty much what i have done so far (because i also cant afford the pieces right now to make my own modular-like build). I think scales bewtween 1/35 - 1/42 are a good start for the offical ones though. The only problem is the minifig anyway...

Yeah, that's true. You'll get to the point that everything is fitting scalewise - except for the figs for whom everything was built ...

Sounds like you got a big project coming up! i really want to know how your layout turns out

It's rather a small project, I'm just trying to fit everything into one layout which is easy to handle.

Dont get me started on trains please^^, its even a bigger issue than the minifig lol especially for 1/42. I allready tried and found out the hard way (because of minifig width i choose 9 wide instead of 8,5, it works well on straights...only.)

That must even be a bigger issue in 1/35, not? i mean, the trains must be bigger than 1/42. The ICE is 3 m wide, so if 5 studs are 1,46m in 1/35 , it needed to be 10 wide?

No, trains are about 1/43 within my scaling, like larger vehicles (trucks, buses etc.). But this already means that a loco (the only train stuff I've built so far) is 9 studs wide (plus railing). There is the idea that larger items can be smaller in scale as long as there is a logical graduation between vehicles, meaning that a sports car can't be wider than a truck etc., see http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=97314

But i heard that some people here on EB might sell printed rails with larger radius somewhere in the future, so there's still hope :D

To be honest I don't see a point in dealing with Nonlego stuff to solve problems arising in Lego contexts. Au contraire: Developing new ideas out of a restricted amount of shapes is the most appealing aspect of Lego building to me. Your cars are a good example of that principle, I guess.