TurboBrick Posted January 5, 2019 Greetings members! First post here and hoping this is the most appropriate forum... So I have a four year old which brought me out of my dark ages, like major relapse. Even though she's been playing/building (mainly Friends) since she was two, I broke down last summer and got "our" first Modular (PR). Since then, we've built six more Modulars, a few 16x32 MOCs, a PUP train, and a table set-up that accommodates thirty (30) 32x32 baseplates. THEN, my parents sent me my sets from the '80s which contain ~14 9-stud road baseplates. At first, I just planned to use them as-is, perhaps in a different part of town with a separate road "circuit" (I also have the modern 6-stud road plates), but there is just too much space to fill, even if I add a tram line. So I'm hoping for pointers... 1) I thought maybe there would be a way to build out some type of transitional plate to go from wide to narrow streets. Despite the jarring color difference, I'm still amenable to this - does anyone have suggestions or done similar with good results? 2) With a whopping 9-studs, should I move the Modulars from their dedicated baseplates to join and take over part of these old streets? I understand the drawbacks there, but don't see much benefit. Note that the layout is U-shaped and "one sided", i.e. 80 studs deep (two 32x32 baseplates with room for one 16x32 plate). 3) Insert a 16 stud base between the road plates and build (likely with jumpers) across all three, creating an alley in the rear of the buildings. I even could use modern 6-stud roads for the facing side and the old plates for the rear alley - in this scenario there would be 31 studs on which to build between the streets, an easy sacrifice for any modular I can think of. Considerations/advice on this method? Should I lift the building base one brick plus jumper plates for stability? I'd planned on lifting the buildings eventually, and doing full tile streets. But there's something charming and unique about the old roads, so I'd like to incorporate them in whole or in part. Comparison for reference: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
greg3 Posted January 5, 2019 Hi and welcome to Eurobricks!! Not sure if this is of any use to you but my layout has wide roads going to narrow (to represent a one-way street and give more building room) using curved plates. Perhaps you could do something similar? Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TurboBrick Posted January 6, 2019 Ooooh, yes sir it does! That looks way better than I would have imagined and I have some of those same rounded plates in dark bluish grey, which will help the color 'bleed' over with the modern roads. The parking spot there just looks perfect, too. I'm going to give this a whirl, maybe in a few other spots where I don't even need a transition. Thank you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
antp Posted January 6, 2019 I used mostly such roadplates in my layout. I built the modulars on the sidewalks, to save space, as that allows me to put more building in total. More pictures in my thread: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/156427-my-city-layout-dark-brick-city/ For ideas on how to join these with the modern plates, I used a 7-stud-sidewalk plate for the junction of the 90s Octan station, even if not perfect it is already better than the 9-stud ones; For the modern road plates maybe you could do what I did here, with the wedge plates: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TurboBrick Posted January 7, 2019 Thanks for the multiple ideas here! That Octan plate looks darn near perfect with the way the while borders match with the 7-stud plates. I've got plenty of wedge and rounded plates and going that route in the short term, similar to @greg3's suggestion, and like what you did next to the Diner (btw, nice idea putting space there to show off the side of what is essentially a corner building IMO)... My layout is more limited than yours, so quick question: looks like when you built a modular using the 9-stud plates for sidewalks, you kept the standard 32x32 plate to fill the remainder, creating a larger, buildable space in the rear of the buildings, correct? Getting ahead of myself here, but what you did with the Belville/Scala(?) raised plate and Old Fishing Store is enviable. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
antp Posted January 7, 2019 (edited) Correct, I just build the modular buildings with an offset of 9 studs, partially on the sidewalks and partially on their original plates, leaving space in the middle for a park. I'll have to find something to put behind the Diner. The advantage of the 9 studs offset is that you can then insert a 16-stud modular between the others (9+9=18), you just have to fill the 2-stud gap with bricks. The raised plate is from the Paradisa range (same for the plate with the shoreline pattern); thanks for the comments ;) Edited January 7, 2019 by antp Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LegoDW Posted January 25, 2019 On 1/5/2019 at 5:41 PM, greg3 said: Hi and welcome to Eurobricks!! Not sure if this is of any use to you but my layout has wide roads going to narrow (to represent a one-way street and give more building room) using curved plates. Perhaps you could do something similar? You Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr You my sir are a genius! That looks awesome! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
