Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[RichardGoring]

3 hours ago, jonahtron said:

They look great on the black base, amazing that you had so much black and grey to make them look consistent and clean.

Great use of the Tardis and Delorean.
Would you be tempted to use some trans orange energy fire pieces coming out the back for the flame trails?

I had a huge box full of plates that I got in a bulk lot a while ago, and just wanted to use them up. Towards the end I ran out of it black, so ordered some more from Bricklink, and the centres were a more mixed colour, but it worked out well for me. 16x16 is definitely a good way to go though.

Nice idea about the fire trails. I may have to give that a go!

[DeanLearner]

On 1/6/2023 at 9:01 AM, jonahtron said:

I honestly think that it’s (possibly) cheaper and more convenient than the traditional brick and plate MILS approach. It’s certainly faster, takes about 15 seconds and just looks consistent and clean. 
 

That looks excellent! Surprised I’ve not actually seen it used before, given how nicely it fits with the baseplate system. I guess the only disadvantage is that it leaves the uncovered sections of the ground floor black, but it’s easy enough to solve.
 

I can imagine the stability (and prevention of the “curling” baseplates) is a real advantage. I’ve never seriously considered a MILS approach before, but this is a lot simpler. Just debating whether I really want to shell out £10 per modular, based on current BrickLink prices.

[BrickFit26]

How are the different colored floors like the red in Palace Cinema kept if you use those new 16x16 pieces?

How are the different colored floors like the red in Palace Cinema kept if you use those new 16x16 pieces?

[RichardGoring]

When I went to a MILS style base, I considered what colour to use as the base for the floors, with the Palace Cinema being the trickiest, as I wanted black around the edges, but the cinema has a single brick wall on the edge and then exposed floor. In the end, I tiled it. This photo misses the 2x2 angle cut tiles that I had to order from PAB and have now placed, but a mix of tiles and a few single studs for figures worked nicely.

(I have a costume day going on at my cinema. And a display of Jack Sparrow next to the stairs)

[Faefrost]

On 12/14/2022 at 3:15 PM, Maple said:

Exactly! It looks like the fire brigade and the bottom blue looks awful. If it were dark blue the light blue would have matched better and blue and yellows look great next to each other.

I hope someone with CAD skills can build the set in dark blue.

I can't escape the feeling that it is a retired old Firehouse converted to a club. There are tons of these across the US Rust Belt. Even the interior with the balcony upper floor feels like it.

On 12/15/2022 at 10:30 PM, Maple said:

I agree. It's fine, nothing special, could have been better. 

Does anyone light up their modulars? I'm building the Daily Bugle and I think it would be amazing with some third party lighting. Any suggestions?

I put a Light My Bricks kit in my Buggle. It's expensive and a monster to install. But it has there special pieces so you can still separate floors. It looks amazing.

On 12/16/2022 at 5:18 PM, Vindicare said:

I wonder if the jazz club being smaller took a hit because they don’t do bars. I feel like a 32x32 would’ve been hard to fill without a bar. I mean, just more tables & chairs? Even though they’ve done pubs before...but those were fantasy types. A bigger stage with a more filled out band could’ve been good. 

Nonetheless, I like your idea of having the donut & pizzeria being together as split buildings. It’s definitely time we see a true single use building again. 

The City one from a few years back was really well done & it wasn’t even a full baseplate. A three story, single use 32 baseplate would work great. 

The dark red bellhop came in 60200 Capital City set. 

 

On 12/15/2022 at 7:44 PM, Yperio_Bricks said:

Check the 2022 Lego city advent calendar!

the 60200 Capital City set has a generic red suited bellhop. The 2022 Advent Calendar has the named character from the City cartoon Tippy Doorman. He has some distinct character design such as his goatee.

On 12/18/2022 at 4:47 PM, hikouki said:

Ninjago is too much of a fantasy theme for it to be placed alongside the other modulars.

OTOH, perhaps Lego could consider a modular building for a CNY set!

 

On 12/20/2022 at 1:46 AM, hikouki said:

LOL.

I have the Sanctum and Daily Bugle in one "street", and I think I would rather have all the Ninjago's in another. I wish someone could 'modularize' the Flower and Fruit Mountain plus the upcoming Monkey Kid Hideout. It would be great to have them as a 'park' in modular form!

One of the First Chinese/Lunar new year sets 80107 Spring Lantern Festival is a 32x48 Modular Footprint corner walled park. 

[jonahtron]

3 hours ago, BrickFit26 said:

How are the different colored floors like the red in Palace Cinema kept if you use those new 16x16 pieces?

How are the different colored floors like the red in Palace Cinema kept if you use those new 16x16 pieces?

They aren’t, but I would tend to tile all interiors anyway. One could use a mix of red tiles and plates if you still wanted that colour I guess.

[Yperio_Bricks]

2 minutes ago, Faefrost said:

the 60200 Capital City set has a generic red suited bellhop. The 2022 Advent Calendar has the named character from the City cartoon Tippy Doorman. He has some distinct character design such as his goatee.

Yes, and the torso is the same.

[BrickFit26]

1 hour ago, RichardGoring said:

When I went to a MILS style base, I considered what colour to use as the base for the floors, with the Palace Cinema being the trickiest, as I wanted black around the edges, but the cinema has a single brick wall on the edge and then exposed floor. In the end, I tiled it. This photo misses the 2x2 angle cut tiles that I had to order from PAB and have now placed, but a mix of tiles and a few single studs for figures worked nicely.

(I have a costume day going on at my cinema. And a display of Jack Sparrow next to the stairs)

Thanks, looks great and it also looks like a fun day at the cinema. And I love how you have the floor a pattern with those tiles. Excellent.

13 minutes ago, jonahtron said:

They aren’t, but I would tend to tile all interiors anyway. One could use a mix of red tiles and plates if you still wanted that colour I guess.

Thanks. 

Edited January 7, 2023 by BrickFit26

[RichardGoring]

1 hour ago, BrickFit26 said:

Thanks, looks great and it also looks like a fun day at the cinema. And I love how you have the floor a pattern with those tiles. Excellent.

Thanks! I considered lines but it was too obvious, so this felt best. I was going to use some 1x1 tiles at the edges, but the Bricklink seller had an awesome deal on 1x2 and 1x3 tiles, so I went that route. Maybe one day I'll update it.

I definitely love putting the scenes together though. Costume day is a fun way to use all the CMF and BAM figures!

[Maple]

7 hours ago, Faefrost said:

I can't escape the feeling that it is a retired old Firehouse converted to a club. There are tons of these across the US Rust Belt. Even the interior with the balcony upper floor feels like it.

Yeah it does. They should have kept it dark blue. In my hometown they are taking an old, beautiful fire station and making it into 3 apartments no one in the neighborhood will be afford to rent. The newest thing is churches becoming clubs and I LOVE that. 

[DeanLearner]

 

8 hours ago, Maple said:

Yeah it does. They should have kept it dark blue.

Yeah I’ve been thinking about this (and I maintain that the colour blocking in JC is almost the worst of any modular).

In the end, it would be too difficult (part existence and cost) to swap out the dark red for any blue, so I instead tried to think of what colour would go with the dark red.

From a colour theory perspective, the obvious option would be a green, and I think sand green will actually look pretty good in place of the the dark azure of the club. It also has the added benefit of mirroring the Italian flag, as well one of my all time favourite sets: the ICS Slave One!

In addition I’ll be making a number of recolours to the facade of the pizzeria, and bringing some of the dark blue in elsewhere around the signage. I’m hoping the whole thing will look a little more pleasing.

 

[hoppa]

1 hour ago, DeanLearner said:

 

Yeah I’ve been thinking about this (and I maintain that the colour blocking in JC is almost the worst of any modular).

In the end, it would be too difficult (part existence and cost) to swap out the dark red for any blue, so I instead tried to think of what colour would go with the dark red.

From a colour theory perspective, the obvious option would be a green, and I think sand green will actually look pretty good in place of the the dark azure of the club. It also has the added benefit of mirroring the Italian flag, as well one of my all time favourite sets: the ICS Slave One!

In addition I’ll be making a number of recolours to the facade of the pizzeria, and bringing some of the dark blue in elsewhere around the signage. I’m hoping the whole thing will look a little more pleasing.

 

Personally I like the scheme, but earlier this thread someone had replaced the blue with black which looked great. Gave a bit of that painted wooden facade kind of feel with other stories showing brick.

[AFOLguy1970]

I am slowly converting my modulars to MILS as well.  For the PC, I am getting 3 bright red 8x8 plates, 3 bright red 8x16 plates, 3 medium stone grey 8x16s, and 2 medium stone grey 4x8's.  The bright red plates go over the area where the actual building is, and the grey ones line the sidewalks.  Above the baseplate, I use grey corners and completely fill the boundaries with grey technic bricks and grey bricks.  I do not use the technic bricks on the side that will face a street.  This makes it look like a raised curb (the roads on my shelf display are only two plates thick), and since the modulars have the lighter grey tiles on the edge, it blends in well.  The interior 2x2 bricks for support can obviously be any color as they will never be seen.  As I go through the other modulars, I can decide what color plates to have on top of the MILS that will both preserve the intended look and keep the outside grey.  

[Maple]

5 hours ago, DeanLearner said:

 

Yeah I’ve been thinking about this (and I maintain that the colour blocking in JC is almost the worst of any modular).

In the end, it would be too difficult (part existence and cost) to swap out the dark red for any blue, so I instead tried to think of what colour would go with the dark red.

From a colour theory perspective, the obvious option would be a green, and I think sand green will actually look pretty good in place of the the dark azure of the club.

I'm hoping someone here with CAD skills will build it in dark blue because like you said it's too much to redo in real life.

What I really don't get is why change the main color of the main structure and then not even bother looking into changing the color of the first floor? I don't understand what LEGO was thinking. Bright azure blue is great with dark blue but not for dark red at all. I think the only thing LEGO will learn from this is to not tell us about major changes to the design. 

[GregD]

Love the Jazz Club overall, it was a great build.., maybe even joint best ever with the Boutique Hotel.  I thought at first it’s maybe too colourful overall but it’s not, goes well next to all the modulars.  Personally, I like how the dark azure makes it look slightly garish, it doesn’t really match the building colour, so true to life!  Nice to have dark azure, a colour not used much before in modulars, and also the bright light yellow.  I really like the roof design which was a great solid build.  I love the stained glass windows, and the boat/spaceship visor piece at the top window looks great.  The desk on the middle floor was the highlight of the indoor builds.  The jazz singer and band are great minifigures.  How many times have I said great!  My favourite detail is the lavender doors and sign for the tailor.  Greenhouse was a nice build.  And the building has a bathroom yaay!

[BrickFit26]

On 1/7/2023 at 12:33 PM, RichardGoring said:

Thanks! I considered lines but it was too obvious, so this felt best. I was going to use some 1x1 tiles at the edges, but the Bricklink seller had an awesome deal on 1x2 and 1x3 tiles, so I went that route. Maybe one day I'll update it.

I definitely love putting the scenes together though. Costume day is a fun way to use all the CMF and BAM figures!

It looks so fun.

[jonahtron]

Hi pals,

In case people were pondering dark blue as the facade to match the signage...

 

I think it looks nice in blue, perhaps mores than black which is the direction I went in.

[antp]

Indeed that looks good

[Aanchir]

On 1/7/2023 at 2:01 PM, jonahtron said:

They aren’t, but I would tend to tile all interiors anyway. One could use a mix of red tiles and plates if you still wanted that colour I guess.

I personally think a studded surface is more fitting for the Palace Cinema's floor. Tiles tend to result in the appearance of a literal tiled floor, whereas plates would help it retain the original carpeted look due to the rougher texture and less conspicuous "seams". I think sometimes when MOCs or mods go out of their way to minimize visible studs, that sort of nuance can be lost. But obviously, it's up to the tastes of the individual builder in the end.

I'm surprised so many people dislike the Dark Red upper stories of the Jazz Club. I feel like it balances nicely with the Cool Yellow and Dark Azur for a nice triadic color scheme. Moreover, it's only the second building in the series to use Dark Red as an exterior wall color (whereas Earth Blue has been used as an exterior wall color in Detective's Office, Cafe Corner, and Market Street). Red brick also feels like a very natural wall material for this sort of building, and the Reddish Brown tiles help to give it more of an uneven surface that stands out from the Fire Brigade's tidier red bricks interrupted by grey mortar.

The complaints I've seen about the Dark Azur and Cool Yellow are a little more predictable, since bright colors tend to get a lot of negative reactions in ANY new Modular Building, especially among people who stereotype these colors as childish or "Friends-ish". But for my part I think they're both very smart choices. Cool Yellow is a perfect fit for the pizzeria's Italianate architectural style and sunny Mediterranean vibes. And Dark Azur not only evokes "the blues, but also simulates the lower level being illuminated by the building's streetlamps and marquee signage, giving its otherwise dark, moody exterior some bright, groovy frontage that invites people in to enjoy the best this town's nightlife has to offer.

By comparison, the use of Earth Blue in the mod above is very stylish and matches the signage quite nicely — but without that bright flash of color on the lower level, the entire building ends up looking very dark, and loses a lot of the contrast that helps the original building's design "pop". That said, this color change might look better in real life than in a render, especially if you could manage to rig up some third-party electric lighting for the streetlamps and marquee to restore some of that brightness at street level.
 

Anyway, my own biggest frustration with the set by far is that the lower level's back wall lacks details to help break up the smooth, uninterrupted fields of color, which feels particularly out-of-character for that sort of shady back alley. Some crawling ivy, drainpipes, electrical/HVAC equipment, a fire escape, or even an additional trellis like the one in front of the pizzeria could have helped a lot there, and potentially given the squirrel nesting on the roof a way to climb up and down the building. Easy enough to mod, but it feels like a bit of an unfortunate drawback even compared to the relatively nondescript back walls of the series as a whole.

 

[RichardGoring]

41 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

I personally think a studded surface is more fitting for the Palace Cinema's floor. Tiles tend to result in the appearance of a literal tiled floor, whereas plates would help it retain the original carpeted look due to the rougher texture and less conspicuous "seams". I think sometimes when MOCs or mods go out of their way to minimize visible studs, that sort of nuance can be lost. But obviously, it's up to the tastes of the individual builder in the end.

Although I went for tiles with mine, it was mainly because I found a load of them really, really cheap. But also, while I was trying to get plates to work before that, I was struggling with not wanting to raise the height of things like the counters and stairs, as some of them are built into the walls. It was becoming a mess that I didn't want to deal with, so tiles (especially the ability to have 2x2 45 degree ones) made it much easier. But yes, I like studded surfaces for some things. Especially carpets, grass, and gravel.

[Lionbear8]

Hey guys l, quick question, is assembly square due for retirement late this year? 

[jonwil]

The current date I can find for the retirement of the Assembly Square is Dec 31 2023. Although its entirely possible it may be extended again.

The Bookshop and Police Station also have end-23 as their retirement date with the hotel having end-25 and the Jazz Club having end-26.

 

[Maple]

I still think the whole thing being dark blue with the dark azure first floor would look nice. But the first floor in dark blue looks really nice too and makes the sign pop.  Thanks Jonahtron.

5 hours ago, jonwil said:

The current date I can find for the retirement of the Assembly Square is Dec 31 2023. Although its entirely possible it may be extended again.

The Bookshop and Police Station also have end-23 as their retirement date with the hotel having end-25 and the Jazz Club having end-26.

 

I wouldn't put and stock into retiring rumours, they change all the time. Plus having two retire this year and none in 2022 or 2024 is a little silly and out there, but completely possible. LEGO will see how well things sell this year and next and see what retires. I bought Assembly Square I think January 2020 because it was suppose to retire around then. 

[jonahtron]

2 hours ago, Maple said:

I still think the whole thing being dark blue with the dark azure first floor would look nice. But the first floor in dark blue looks really nice too and makes the sign pop.  Thanks Jonahtron.

here you go...

 

[RichardGoring]

The dark blue makes the jazz club sign really pop. It feels properly neon and lit up. It also works better with the yellow of the pizzeria. And it looks far less like the fire brigade. But I can also see what he meant in the Assembled video when the designer said people complained it was too cold. I actually rather like the azure next to the red, but not the blue - it's too close. Overall, I think my favourite colour scheme is dark blue on the ground floor and dark red above. At least today it is. Who knows what tomorrow may bring...