Town & Train Newbie - been meaning to sign up for a while...

[brickchic]

Hi all,

I've been slowly building a town & train layout for a good part of the past year and been meaning to sign up for a while now. I finally got around to taking some pics today so figured they would make a good accompaniment to my introduction.

I got back into Lego at Christmas 2005 when I rediscovered all my childhood sets. Since then I've been buying a lot of new city sets, bulk lots & vintage sets on eBay and so on. I have built hardly any MOCs for my town (a favourite gripe of a pirate forum friend of mine |-/ ), as I've been trying to complete the sets properly before I figure out what's spare to do MOCs with.

Anyway, I have attached a link to some pics of my town. It's a bit messy - you know how these things go. I have more pics but haven't loaded them up yet. The table was built with a particular layout in mind, then the amount of sets grew, the table got extended, the sets grew more and don't fit anymore and so on. Any advice or comments would be appreciated.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55379813@N00/

Cheers,

Brickchic

Australia

[lone_buffalo]

Wow. How could you possibly spend that much money!?!?!? Well I'm only 13 and get a $10-dollars-a-week-allowance and had to wait a month just to buy the new landing craft, but that's another stroy. Very good moc :)

[Chuck]

Wow. How could you possibly spend that much money!?!?!? Well I'm only 13 and get a $10-dollars-a-week-allowance and had to wait a month just to buy the new landing craft, but that's another stroy. Very good moc :)

So what? I'm 13 too, look at what I build ;-) You stock up when you are younger and you have more :-)

Anyways, welcome to Eurobricks, Brickchic!

-l2k-

[Section8]

You got a pretty decent town started. You're fortunate in that you have many of the old house sets that LEGO hasn't made since the early 90s. You are also fortunate to have many roadplates. I had some of the old grey ones like you have, but no X or Ts so I had to buy them on Bricklink. They're surprisingly cheap for the condition they're in.

This year's a good one for town, there's a new gas station and seaport coming out in the summer. I don't think a City house is too probable in the future, since they have all these creator houses, so you're in good shape there. If you have room for an airport, you might be able to get the City Airport rerelease still. I got mine on clearance this summer. Good ideas for MOCs are banks (the two lego made are hard to find, esp. the older one), skyscrapers, and little things like phone booths, etc. I focus on the little stuff when I can, since I can't do big structures/layouts yet (small apartment).

Also, welcome to the forums!

[brickchic]

Thanks everyone - what a friendly community you are.

In response to lone_buffalo - most of my Lego sets are from my childhood, so thanks goes to Mum & Dad for them. I'm 28 years old and so I can afford to expand my collection, though sometimes I spend more than I should on Lego!

To Section8 - as a girl, I loved the houses. Most of them are actually early 1980's rather than 90's. I just had to have them as Christmas/birthday presents every time a new one was released. They're pretty expensive to buy second-hand now. Fortunately my local BrickLink guy is very generous and a couple of weeks ago he and another Eurobrick friend built me set 1484 from spare parts and gave it to me for no particular reason. I might be getting more for my birthday soon - yay!

I have a ton of those grey road plates. There's a big stack of maybe 30 or so under the table that won't fit in my town right now. I got most of them on eBay in one big lot.

I haven't bought either of the creator/designer houses yet but I will soon. Hopefully the designer set will go on sale soon because it's been out for a while now and the new creator one will take it's place I guess.

I already have the re-release of the airport. I got it on sale from shop@home a while back. It's a great set and is also in my town but I haven't added the photos for it yet. Maybe I will get a chance later today. **UPDATE** Photos have now been added. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/55379813@N00/

I agree - I need a bank. I was also thinking of building a shopping centre as I have a whole lot of those clear 33 degree roof slopes that would make great skylights. Maybe the bank can be a shopfront in it. In fact I even have an original bank sticker from an old ideas book somewhere that could go on it.

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

Brickchic

Australia

[Asuka]

Hello and welcome!

That

[Norro]

Hey and welcome! The layout is nice. I once, briefly, too long ago to admit to... made a small town layout with a few MOCs. But now I have come to realize that castle is the one true theme, and you can still use the pieces ;-) ...

God Bless,

Nathan

[brickchic]

I imagine how hard it is for our dear Australian members to build something

proper when the bricks have a tendency to fall straight to the ceiling.... :-P

Asuka - I use a lot of Blu-Tac and tape to secure the base plates in place, but aside from that, Lego is so well designed the pieces stay in place pretty well without falling to the ceiling. If I run my trains fast enough they stay on the tracks from sheer gravity too ;-)

I have come to realize that castle is the one true theme, and you can still use the pieces ;-) ...

Nathan - I think there's a lot more variety in the town & train stuff than you can get in the castle theme. I'll admit I'm quite fond of Classic Castle and had a few little sets when I was a child, but I'm not so keen on the Knight's Kingdom stuff theyve got now. what's with those futuristic looking helmets they wear anyway? Classic Castle is very expensive to get second hand now too.

On another subject, after my post yesterday I got the 12v light bricks I won on eBay in the mail. Check out the motherload X-D :

I will have fun lighting up the town with these - there's 53 all up.

[Mister Phes]

Especially if I imagine how hard it is for our dear Australian members to build something

proper when the bricks have a tendency to fall straight to the ceiling.... :-P

Can't say I've ever had that problem, but I also understand that concept called "gravity"

[DoubleT]

Welcome, if there is any questions, just ask :-)

Eventhough im from the Cold North, im friendly as my people are :-P

[CopMike]

Impressive - most impressive *vader*!

No-where left to extend (unless I sleep on the couch?).

Well that

[Asuka]

Can't say I've ever had that problem, but I also understand that concept called "gravity"

That

[WesternOutlaw]

Welcome to Eurobricks Brickchick (I like your name). You have a nice display of some great sets. I like how you've got some of the older town sets (like the old Red Town House - always loved this set), and newer sets like the Christmas Train. Looks like you've got some tight quarters for your display and having a small table myself, I can certainly sympothize. In any case, great collection and again, welcome.

[dillthepill]

Welcome to Eurobricks, Brickchick. That is quite a good town you have there.

[Starwars4J]

That's quite an impressive collection of sets you have there. Space is always my biggest block when buying/building (well, that and time!).

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the community :-)

[Capn Kirk 911]

jeezx, really stocking up on thwe light bricks now are we, welcome to EuroBricks!

[Khorne]

Sry for the late welcome, but I've exceded my download limit and my internet is going slower than a friggin' turtle. Anyway, welcome to EB, I'm sure you'll make a good member *y* .