WIP: Car Museum (10211 MOD) + SNOT plate street system

[ER0L]

Hi all,

here you can see my modded GE, turned into a car museum. It’s based on an earlier MOD some of you might already know, see http://www.flickr.co...er0l/8056214219. I’ve used a second set to enlarge it and built a roof sign. There isn't much of an interior yet, but it may be used as a shelter for the cars. Anyway I am not too fond of interiors you can’t see from the outside – here you can see enough to believe it’s a car museum. It has an open back so that there’s enough light within the building.

But the main aspect here is rather the SNOT system used to build streets and pavements completely out of bricks. It's been developed together with my dear friend Altezza (Michael). Actually we don’t know if it has been done like this before – of course there are SNOT streets and pavements, but maybe not exactly combined like this. If it’s already existing, hopefully we may use it.

The idea is to completely omit any studded plate as a base for buildings or streets – in our opinion this decreases the possibilities too much, e.g. it’s difficult to build something with an odd width. Plus there is a problem with baseplates being only half as thick as a usual plate. Our suggestion is a more flexible system: Buildings are set upon a kind of strip footing (5 layers, this matches exactly the height of street plus pavement). The holes withing the footing allow to install a cabling between buildings, if you want to have a lighting.

Any width is possible. Floors can be built either by SNOT or by studded plates, it’s even possible to save the tiled mosaics of GE and FB on the pavement, as you can see. The width of the pavement (here: 8 studs) must be divisible by two in order to be able to change the direction of the studs SNOT-wise.

As you might recognize this is a kind of start of a town layout featuring the cars and a monorail. Later Altezza will join me – at least we try to fix a standard from the beginning so that the layouts can always be combined. Of course all this must be tested further – you can’t think of every requirement in the first place. Any suggestions and questions are welcome, of course.

Thanks for looking!

Some more pics:

Edited June 10, 2013 by ER0L

[TheLegoDr]

Neat build. That building is very overwhelming in size. I think it would make a fine car museum. Are there a lot of those around you? I've been to a few, but never within a city before. They seem to always be off the interstate or in the "country" somewhere.

The street is interesting. I like the design to allow a curb also. I don't think I will do this with my layout though. Granted I wouldn't mind having a curb/street sometime down the road.

Keep up the great work!

[Aussie BJ]

Really nice Museum ER0L. Upstairs interior (as much as you don't like them) would look great as a storage area of old new stock car parts (NOS) to match your great vintage cars. Perhaps a few old school motorbikes and vespa's might look good in there too.

The road/pavement system looks very interesting. Can't say I've seen it before but that's not saying much! The only thing missing is a few potholes and a lifting pavement from the odd tree root!

Many thanks for sharing.

[Hrw-Amen]

Looks good so far. I do like the way that you do the exteriors of your buildings, they are spot on. I know that you say you do not like the interior and so I am pleased that you have made some cars to go in to the museum. But I do wish that you would do them. I think with your building style outside you could do some really nice ones. For me it is as much if not more so about the interior that brings the building to life. So yes, great building with great architecture and lovely old cars as well to go on the ground floor.

[lightningtiger]

Excellent designing there 'ER0L', I like the way you have SNOT'ed not just the roadway but the pavement too !

This museum is fitting to sit next to your classic Shell gas station......I look forward to it's progress......Brick On 'ER0L' !

[ER0L]

Neat build. That building is very overwhelming in size. I think it would make a fine car museum. Are there a lot of those around you? I've been to a few, but never within a city before. They seem to always be off the interstate or in the "country" somewhere.

The street is interesting. I like the design to allow a curb also. I don't think I will do this with my layout though. Granted I wouldn't mind having a curb/street sometime down the road.

Keep up the great work!

Thanks a lot TheLegoDr! There are quite a few enlarged GEs, I don't think my version is considerably larger, but I haven't measured that ... There are car museums within cities but being a car addict my town anyway would rather have a central car museum than, say, a town hall ...

Glad you find the street interesting. Of course, I don't think anybody with a larger layout will change his road standard. But if you're at the beginning like me you may think of some alternatives.

Really nice Museum ER0L. Upstairs interior (as much as you don't like them) would look great as a storage area of old new stock car parts (NOS) to match your great vintage cars. Perhaps a few old school motorbikes and vespa's might look good in there too.

The road/pavement system looks very interesting. Can't say I've seen it before but that's not saying much! The only thing missing is a few potholes and a lifting pavement from the odd tree root!

Many thanks for sharing.

Many thanks Aussie BJ! These are some nice ideas for the interior, thank you! There is already some vintage Lego in there, e. g. the small race car which is the only remnant that survived my dark ages, or an old gas pump a friend gave me. But motorbikes and scooters would surely look great, too. Maybe there will also be some Cars stuff.

Regarding the potholes you're already the second person to say so. I guess I'll have to think of that ... Lifting pavement would be great, too, but I need some trees for that purpose, I guess ...

Looks good so far. I do like the way that you do the exteriors of your buildings, they are spot on. I know that you say you do not like the interior and so I am pleased that you have made some cars to go in to the museum. But I do wish that you would do them. I think with your building style outside you could do some really nice ones. For me it is as much if not more so about the interior that brings the building to life. So yes, great building with great architecture and lovely old cars as well to go on the ground floor.

Thanks a lot Hrw-Amen! Glad you like the building and the cars. To be honest, I haven't built the cars to go in the museum but the museum and the other stuff to go with the cars. That's why I am so interested in roads.

I have already built some interiors (for rather small buildings), and I'll surely do that again if there's something about it that interests me. I just wouldn't do it for the sake of completeness. I am rather interested in street life since this is what you see when you look at a city. But that doesn't mean that I don't estimate people designing nice interiors for their buildings.

Excellent designing there 'ER0L', I like the way you have SNOT'ed not just the roadway but the pavement too !

This museum is fitting to sit next to your classic Shell gas station......I look forward to it's progress......Brick On 'ER0L' !

Thanks a lot LT! Glad you like the pavement, too. I am not quite sure where to put which building but since it's all versatile positions can be changed quickly.

[lightningtiger]

Oh, I forgot to suggest....motorcycles and an old fire truck.....no museum like this is complete without a fire truck for the kids to go crazy over !

[LEGO Guy Bri]

This is a fantastic idea! This is huge, how many 10211's did it take to build? I'd love a car museum for my city

[timmyc1983]

Yeah, that's a great build, very museumy with the high and long window span, it looks fantastic!

And the SNOT technique for the road/pavement is very interesting. I can definitely see the advantage of being able to choose the width of the road/pavement, and I always check out how each person does it differently, but I will be sticking to the road plates for the moment. Thanks so much for sharing tho, as maybe one day down the track all of these ideas might go into my head and i may follow suit, as i do really like the idea of an entirely brick build city...

Happy building

[ER0L]

Oh, I forgot to suggest....motorcycles and an old fire truck.....no museum like this is complete without a fire truck for the kids to go crazy over !

You're thinking of this one, right?

The only problem is, it's still being used, since it suffices for a small town with only four buildings. But maybe it will replaced by something less old when the city grows and will be a gem of the museum then.

This is a fantastic idea! This is huge, how many 10211's did it take to build? I'd love a car museum for my city

Thanks a lot LEGO Guy Bri! It consists of two sets or rather one and a half since there are many parts left because of the open back and the missing inner walls.

Yeah, that's a great build, very museumy with the high and long window span, it looks fantastic!

And the SNOT technique for the road/pavement is very interesting. I can definitely see the advantage of being able to choose the width of the road/pavement, and I always check out how each person does it differently, but I will be sticking to the road plates for the moment. Thanks so much for sharing tho, as maybe one day down the track all of these ideas might go into my head and i may follow suit, as i do really like the idea of an entirely brick build city...

Happy building

Many thanks timmyc1983! Glad you like the modded building. I think you're doing right by considering thoroughly which system to choose, since there are different needs between different builders. That's what I did, too.

[Hoexbroe]

Nice project. Perfect place for displaying all kinds of cars!

[ER0L]

Nice project. Perfect place for displaying all kinds of cars!

Thanks a lot Henrik!

[Canticleer blues]

The car museum is excellent ER0L! The sheer amount of windows, complete with the light shining through makes it look very attractive, a fine addition to the style inherently present in the Grand Emporium structure. My only thought is, with the somewhat large scale of cars as seen in your city, how many will you be able to fit in the museum?

As for the road system, it looks interesting at the moment, but I feel it'd be better judged when the layout is more complete. Looking forward to seeing more from you later then!

[Kivi]

That's a very nice expansion of GE. I like the windows - they make it look like a restored industrial building and that fits the concept of the car museum perfectly. The 'Museum' sign on the roof and snoted road are also amazing.

Well done!

[ER0L]

The car museum is excellent ER0L! The sheer amount of windows, complete with the light shining through makes it look very attractive, a fine addition to the style inherently present in the Grand Emporium structure. My only thought is, with the somewhat large scale of cars as seen in your city, how many will you be able to fit in the museum?

As for the road system, it looks interesting at the moment, but I feel it'd be better judged when the layout is more complete. Looking forward to seeing more from you later then!

Thanks a lot Canticleer blues! Yeah, it was all there, but hidden behind the arches ... When parked side by side I can fit about 20 cars in there, when presented like in a museum I guess 10 or 12. That's clearly enough, the figs wouldn't allow me to take away all their cars for that purpose.

You're right, maybe there'll be some difficulties we haven't thought of yet. What I wanted to show here is the way you may integrate the buildings into that system.

That's a very nice expansion of GE. I like the windows - they make it look like a restored industrial building and that fits the concept of the car museum perfectly. The 'Museum' sign on the roof and snoted road are also amazing.

Well done!

Many thanks Kivi! I absolutely agree regarding that industrial building feel. Glad you like the sign and the road, too, especially since I know you're dealing with similar things. I think these are very interesting subjects with quite an influence on the appearance of a city.

Thanks a lot all for commenting and viewing!

[Pencil_42]

That's a neat idea for the road! As much as I like the old style road baseplates, they just aren't wide enough for the new 6+ wide vehicles. Have you give any thoughts to curves?

Curtis

[Laservampire]

Anyone else think this would be a cool place to display vintage Lego car sets? ;)

[ER0L]

That's a neat idea for the road! As much as I like the old style road baseplates, they just aren't wide enough for the new 6+ wide vehicles. Have you give any thoughts to curves?

Curtis

Thanks a lot Curtis, nice to hear from you. I guess you won't need that many curves in a city, I've bought some of those road plate packs and what could never be used were the curves. But where they are indispensable, e.g. when a railroad is involved you may use a combination of Arch 1 x 5 x 4 Inverted and Arch 1 x 6 x 3 1/3 Curved Top. Not much of a real curve plus you are restricted to one-lane roads but better than nothing.

Anyone else think this would be a cool place to display vintage Lego car sets? ;)

I definitely agree - the main issue is that I only have one single vintage Lego car set which is already displayed.

[Csacsa234]

Very great idea and the building looks neat! I really like the Museum sign with the little wheel, its simple but very effective. Also the police car is fantastic!

[ER0L]

Very great idea and the building looks neat! I really like the Museum sign with the little wheel, its simple but very effective. Also the police car is fantastic!

Many thanks Csacsa234, glad you like the car and sign, too. In case the museum changes its subject some day the sign can easily be modified ... The car isn't new, it's just there to show dimensions and proportions.

[tedbeard]

I saw this mentioned in another thread and was interested in your road/sidewalk construction. Do you have any detail shots of how you integrated your Fire Brigade into the system? I cannot tell if you modified the set somehow after construction or built it on a whole new foundation.

Edited October 16, 2013 by tedbeard

[ER0L]

I saw this mentioned in another thread and was interested in your road/sidewalk construction. Do you have any detail shots of how you integrated your Fire Brigade into the system? I cannot tell if you modified the set somehow after construction or built it on a whole new foundation.

I'm sorry, there are no detailed pics, and the FB doesn't live any more (the museum does, of course ). But it's not that complicated.

As said, we omit baseplates for buildings. So you take the ground floor of your FB, turn it upside down, take off the baseplate and replace it by usual plates. Since the floor is made partially out of tiles (at least within the garage), the tiles are the fifth layer here - you don't want to have a step between inside and outside. The plates underneath are the fourth layer (a bit different from what is shown above in the last pic). So if you put some bricks (3 layers) underneath you have the 5 layers required to meet the height of the pavement.

The mosaic with the "3" on it is just a plate you put the tiles on, again with bricks underneath. I guess I had connected it to the plate layer within the building but that isn't necessary. The yellow stripes on both sides of the mosaic plate and the 1x2 cheese in front are SNOT work like the pavement, fixed to the road.

The case is a bit similar here (tiles on plates within and before the garage, SNOT work on pavement and road):

Hopefully I've answered your question with that.