greg3

The Village of Ballabreek WIP

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indexed.gif Layout

Hi

After a bit of a lull, I've finally got back into serious building and what better to start with than to build a town/village. Due to space restrictions I've set myself a number of limits...

1. To use official sets as far as possible.

2. To make the village as realistic/plausible as possible.

3. To use the classic open backed building style.

4. To fit everything onto 3x2 roadplates!!

Here's the result of a few hours of work... really I was just experimenting with the layout/roads and finding space for buildings before I clear a permanent space for it. I've based it on elements of the villages around where I live in the Isle of Man (including the Victorian era tram stops). The name Ballabreek roughly translates as Place (homestead/farm) of the Brick!!

Aerial View

bb1.jpg

Main road through the village. The pizza shop needs a bit of roof signage.

bb2.jpg

Tram stop, village post office and park.

bb3.jpg

Soon to be residential area w/parking bay. (this road will be one-way)

bb5.jpg

Watch this space for more updates. Any comments are always welcome...

Edited by Phred

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Nice start 'greg3' :thumbup:, don't forget a service station or that ever important fire station eh ?

I would trim the roof of pizza bar the same as the bike shop, looks a little odd without !

The post office a little creation of yours is it ?

Nice park along the railway tracks ! :sweet:

Oh, you need a train crossing and give way/stop signs in the intersection there too !

Can't wait to see more 'greg3' and keep on....town planning ! :sweet:

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Thanks for the comments... the post office is actually just set 6689 (Post Station from 1985) rebuilt in yellow/red (after discovering old instructions online I'm planning to use more old designs in my village) I'm still debating what to do with the pizza shop... I might convert it into a grocers/farm produce shop instead. Signs, lights etc are still to come so watch this space!!!

Cheers

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Great start, I really like the train crossing, I don't know if I've seen that before.

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Thanks... the railway is actually going to used by trams (versions of the Victorian electric trams still used here to begin with, maybe updated with modern trams when/if I get the new public transport set) The road/tram crossing is just going to be the official level crossing set (minus the barriers as tram crossings here don't use them) and there will be a pedestrian crossing by the green shelter (at most of the tram stops you can simply walk across the line) I'm currently working on some housing for my village so watch this space....

Link to photos of the real life tram stops (I'm trying to find out the best font to copy the place names so I can make a sign for the shelter)

MER Stopping Places

Cheers

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Ah, I see 'greg3'.....might I suggest a small grocery store with crates of fruit out the front and you could use my fridge idea here for it.....wip_iga_8.jpg or use the fridge design from Green Grocer - that might work as well.

Just add some petrol pumps to bike shop and call it a garage since this a small village....oh, now don't forget....the ever so important....PUB - village life is crap without it ! :laugh:

Keep on MOCing ! :sweet:

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Cheers LT - Great minds think alike, I've just been working on a small supermarket/farm produce store using bits from the Green Grocer (I do like your fridge design though) and I've considered a garage too - or at least a petrol pump (maybe run by the supermarket and using the parking bay) I envisage the village changing just like a real one with buildings changing use/being demolished etc so I doubt I'll ever have a finished version!!

Edited by greg3

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This may be difficult to do, but perhaps have the park in the center? Kinda have it be the main focal point of the village and the whole town built around it. But I doubt that is possible. Perhaps add a small town hall? I am excited to see this village grow and develop, keep up the good work.

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A quick update... I've been working on houses for the village. Based on 6592 Vacation Hideaway, here's a little row of cottages. Still not quite done as I need the right colour windows and to make some interiors (and to add them to the village!!). I imagine them to be really old (18th century) workers cottages that have been modernised. The black ones have at least - the red one retains more of its original features. Unfortunately their small size means that they may end up being replaced as the population grows!!

house1.jpg

house5.jpg

house4.jpg

I've also come up with a brief history for the village - I find it helps with working out what/why to build. I've based it a bit of local history and whatever my imagination could come up with!!

1567 - The first recorded use of the name Ballabreek refering to a farm (the name is believed to have come from the fact that the main buildings were made of brick rather than stone).

Early 1800’s - The name was now being used in relation to a settlement near the old farm. Made up of about 20 dwellings housing farm workers it was centred around a crossroads where the main roads linking the area’s largest towns meet. This crossroads can still be seen in the modern road layout.

Early 1900’s - Mining for tin and lead has now become as major industry in the area. An electric railway has been constructed, passing through the settlement. A post office and small shelter meant that goods and people could now travel to and from the village much quicker than the old horse drawn carts. Tourists begin to visit the village on day trips to explore the countryside and take in the “air” and visit the many fairs that are held in nearby fields.

1950’s - New roads have long since replaced the old cart tracks. During the summer the area is still very popular with tourists. A large holiday camp has been built nearby and the village now boasts a small cimema and open air theatre.

1970’s - Air travel means a sharp decline in tourists and the holiday camp has closed. The trams have stopped running except for a few months in the summer. The population has plummeted as increasing cheap imports and mechanisation mean that there are fewer and fewer jobs on local farms and the area’s mines have been exhusted and closed down. It’s feared that within a decade the village will no longer exist.

1990’s - As property prices in the large towns began to rise, people moved out in search of cheaper locations. With it’s excellent road links, Ballabreek proved ideal and it’s population is once again on the rise. After years of hard work cleaning up the area, once again people come to enjoy the surrounding countryside; hiking, cycling, and visiting the nearby nature reserves are especially popular. New local businesses have begun to appear... the village has survived...

Today - The village is once again a thriving community, with a mixture of traditional and modern buildings. Most of the population work in neighbouring towns and a planned redevelopment of the old tram system is expected to bring in even more people and businesses... but some people have begun to wonder how this might change the nature of Ballabreek... only the future will tell.

Hope it makes some sense!!

Cheers

Greg

Edited by greg3

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What lovely little cottages, well that's what my mother-in-law might say, I might and will say EXCELLENT.....you have recreated classic town in these houses, can't wait to see the little interiors, oh yeah don't forget the little flower gardens for each, etc.,.

Keep on going 'greg3' and of course keep on MOCing ! :grin:

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Great start so far, but I don't understand why the road opens into the back of the pizza joint and whatever the building to its left is. You should just cover that up with plates, shift them back and give yourself some patio room. You have some inconsistencies like there is a row of base plate studs exposed and some of the plates are the rectangular corers and some are curved.

Edited by gotoAndLego

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Hi

Thanks for the comments... the bit behind the pizza place is supposed to be a parking bay - it also gives me the option to put a petrol station where the pizza shop and bike shop are and allowing the cars to pull in and fill up without blocking the road (at least that's the plan!!). The curved corners are where the road narrows and in real life (I think) would give the cars more room to turn (unlike the exposed baseplate studs which are just because I was experimenting with the layout and knew I'd have to move the whole thing to somewhere more permanent and didn't bother finishing plating it all!!!) Hopefully I'll post some more pics as the village grows...

Cheers

Edited by greg3

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Hi

Here's my latest alterations to the village after trying the park near the centre I've gone back to the original layout but I've revamped the park/tram stop area... wasn't sure about the track ballast though (think I might just stick the 1x1 square/round plates down to the baseplate!!) Now it just needs a bit more vegetation (flowers etc to add some colour) and the space at the far end of the park is either going to be a wooded area with a path heading off into the "counrtyside" or the village war memorial... as always any comments are more than welcome

pk3.jpg

pk1.jpg

Cheers

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Looking good so far, greg3! :classic:

I particularly like the houses for the village.

Well done. :thumbup:

~buddy~

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indexed.gif Layout

UPDATE 29/5/11

After several months on inactivity on the Lego front I've got the bug again and decided to revamp the village... as you can sere there's been a few changes!!

Firstly the rail/tram tracks have gone allowing more buildings to go up (due to financial reasons* a planned upgrade to a modern tram system has been postponed so the space is being put to better use)

Also the small cottages have been replaced with slightly larger homes (copied from the house in Ideas Book 6000!!)

Over view

dscn5816.jpg

Park

dscn5817.jpg

Shops

dscn5819.jpg

Residential area

dscn5820.jpg

Apologies for the poor pics (my camera is showing its age and the lens cover seems to have stopped retracting properly - hence the dark areas in the corner) Anyway, I'll have a new camera ready for some more updates soon!!

Cheers

Greg

*blame Pharaoh's Quest and Alien Conquest!!

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That looks very nice greg. I love the fact that although that you're mostly using sets and elements from the modern City line the layout still looks like a village (or a town to put it better) and it really has a classic town charm. Excellent chemistry my friend. :wink:

The use of all this greenery is great btw!

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Those must have been Idea Book 6000 stickers I spotted on your hairdressers, because now I see more of them (plus your house design). Very nice work. I really like these houses better than the originals, much more spacious.

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Thanks for the comments.. I'm still trying to keep a village/small town feel to it, mainly due to the lack of space but also because that's what most of the local settlements are like here. I intend to keep it changing/evolving just like a real village, the next addition will probably be a small bank branch (the ground floor of 3661) and probably on the edge of the park opposite the bike shop. I might also try narrowing the road in the top right hand corner roadplate to give more building space...

Cheers!!

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Hi Greg3,

Really a cosy little village, you are building. I like both the old layout, as well as the new one. Though I hate to see the tramline has been demolished, missing a great opporturnity to revitalize the small community :wink:

What I really like about your village is that you made up the history to make a kind of framework for building the village. I also like the set of limitations, you put on the construction of the village (e.g. only six baseplates). It's giving some challenges for bringing in life and functions of a community, you might not experience if you have a big table. And above all, I'm so happy to see, you honour the good, old, classic style :cry_happy:

I'm already looking forward to see the development of Ballabreek.

Laka

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Your village is comming along nicely 'greg3'.....but you haven't put in that petrol bowser at the bike shop yet ! :grin:

If I might suggest, you could consider using 6x16 plates for the buildings bases, then 2x2 tiles for the pavement out front of each building....just a thought. :wink:

I like the cross in the park.....now where and who had one of those before ? :wink::laugh:

Keep going with your village and Brick On 'greg3' ! :grin:

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Your village is comming along nicely 'greg3'.....but you haven't put in that petrol bowser at the bike shop yet ! :grin:

If I might suggest, you could consider using 6x16 plates for the buildings bases, then 2x2 tiles for the pavement out front of each building....just a thought. :wink:

I like the cross in the park.....now where and who had one of those before ? :wink::laugh:

Keep going with your village and Brick On 'greg3' ! :grin:

Cheers LT... I'm still planning on putting in a petrol pump eventually :wink: As for the use of plates/tiles, the cramped location of the layout (on top of a chest of drawers in a corner) has led me to use 8x16 baseplates for the buildings so they can be easily removed to allow me to play with work on the interiors. The baseplates under the houses, post office and shop are only weakly attached (I'm going to remove the pizza shop and bike shop baseplates and attach them to the "pavement" as they can be more easily accessed.

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Of course, play with....er a mean work with the interiors ! :laugh:

I forgot to suggest a shelter over the telephone along the roadside....unless everyone wants to get wet in the rain ! :wink:

Brick On ! :grin:

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Finally an update!!

After moving house a few months ago I've finally got round to rebuilding my village... the layout has remained pretty much the same (although I altered the park a bit) but now I have a lot more space so while keeping the original 2x3 roadplates as the village itself, I can now add extra bits on the outskirts (my plan is to keep the original village as it is but change these areas according to the current city/town themes. I'm hoping to get every theme represented at some point - not all at the same time time though!!). It's currently a small satellite launching facility based on the recent Space theme, but will soon become either a harbour or a mine!!

dsc02943.jpg

New park layout (moved the cross and added a small branch of "City Bank")

dsc02946.jpg

The satellite launching facility... set up by a local businessman to launch small commercial satellites. Uses parts from the Rocket Station (3368). I was going to put something (a statue or monument on the pavement beside the barriers but haven't got round it yet!!)

dsc02947.jpg

dsc02948.jpg

As always comments are welcome... hopefully the next update won't be so long!!

Thanks for looking.

Edited by greg3

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