Adamskii Posted February 7, 2014 Hello Folks, Thought i would share my sons and mine Lego city. It is slowly growing and ironing out the kinks. I have modded several of the buildings to fit standard baseplates, I wish things like police and fire stations fitted on standard sized base (32X32). I only just added the subway with the Horizon Express, and in the coming weeks hope to add a station.. something looking like the fight scene in the Matrix... Will finish off the decoration when playtime slows down, (paint the tunnel walls' add lego graffitti etc). I need to get some more appropriate road plates, but thats not bothering my son. He is 3 years 6 months and plays with every element on the layout. I just fix the bits that break! I really enjoy our father son time when we play with Lego. Please enjoy my starting layout! Adam PS my wife collects the modular buildings and several other houses etc and we tried to avoid using them on the play layout - this layout is designed for children to play with, without parents stressing about lost or broken parts, or playwear etc. We did not want to be precious about his imaginative play opportunities. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WaysofSorting Posted February 7, 2014 Adam, Thanks for sharing - awesome and inspirational. I share your philosophy of play - this is how I play with my daughter (Just over 2 years old now) though nowhere near as nice as your layout. I do have an old "train table" that I picked up at a thrift store. It's about the right height...but I definitely need to check on how many standard baseplates it will hold. My wife does not like LEGO, but my daughter's enthusiasm for it is slowly winning her over (Where I have failed for 10 years!). I love the idea of the subterranean train! It really adds a great new dimension to the city. Literally, even. Just to ask...how high from the floor is the street level? And can your son reach into the interior on his own? Or does he stand on something? Can he sit on top? (sorry if these are dumb questions) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Galaxy Explorer Posted February 7, 2014 Very nice, very playable city you have there! Your MOD'ed Police & Fire Station looks really good as one giant rescue complex, I could see LEGO doing something like that down the road. I really like your bus shelter! It's a shame we didn't get one in last year's Town Square- just a sign. I think your road plates look pretty good. I would probably use a straight or "T" instead of a cross where your Cement Mixer is, but that makes a nice parking space as well. And those plates are crazy expensive, too. Looking forward to seeing it evolve! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sin Posted February 7, 2014 That is a great layout but what I really admire is your attitude! I have a almost 3 year old daughter and a almost 5 year old son. My son is fully invested in Lego, I have succeeded in my goal of getting him into them as much as I was as a child - maybe too well. He has his own collection, which surpasses what I had as a child by several degrees. We have a train table that used to house his wooden train layout, now converted to hold his yellow cargo train and the buildings in his collection (police station, fire station, garage, robber hideout and space center). I often find myself fighting the urge to keep the sets intact - he is amazing builder considering he hasn't hit 5 years yet, and he is always pirating parts to make some crazy concoction with an equally amazing backstory. It reminds me of what I loved about Lego as a child - it's not what was purchased, it's whatever my imagination could make it. I try to stay as hands off as possible and let his imagination run wild - after all, I have plenty of my own Lego to tinker with . I am loving the 2 story table you have created. My son's train was a holiday acquisition and it has taken up far too much room on the table for him to play on. More and more he removes parts to play with them somewhere he can spread out. Your solution is ingenious and has opened a lot of new possibilities that I may end up employing. Thanks for sharing! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Adamskii Posted February 7, 2014 Hello WaysofSorting. Thank you for your comments. My son can reach every element of the table even the police helicopter. I was worried when I raised the subway level, that he might not but after a quick test, he passed ;) The basic table (Cat table) was build by me for his Christmas 2012. It was designed to hold 5 baseplates by 3.5 baseplates. AND have at least 1 train loop inside. The table is 350mm high from the floor to the level the train is sitting on. The city level is another 140mm above that. So total street level height is approx 500mm. My son is about 850mm high. The table has had Thomas the tank engine layout on it for a year, and I have watched him get bored with that over time, but I'm sure in a few months he wont touch the Lego either and will swap it back for a few months. Hope you wife likes the idea of her daughter being a town planner one day! Adam Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dorayaki Posted February 7, 2014 Just great! I wish I could make such kind of thing. Envy your family. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
henrylego Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) Impressive layout you have there. Love the gas station, the additional floor of the police station and the way you set up the commercial, residential and public infrastructure areas. I too have both modular houses and city set collections. So far I only set a lay out for my modular houses. Your layout inspires me to create another layout for my city sets. I will post the photo here once I manage to set the layout . thanks for sharing Edited February 7, 2014 by henrylego Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lightningtiger Posted February 7, 2014 Great modified fire station and really neat gas station......any close ups of it ? Brick On 'Adamskii' ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SalvoBrick Posted February 7, 2014 This is a great layout even for an AFOL, even better for child's play! I wish I had all those bricks when I was a child! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BricksMcgee Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) this layout is designed for children to play with, without parents stressing about lost or broken parts I'd be stressing about losing parts from 10184 Town Plan ;) -- Edit: forgot to say: great Town/City themed layout - Police/Fire HQ looks great! Edited February 7, 2014 by BricksMcgee Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Adamskii Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) I'd be stressing about losing parts from 10184 Town Plan ;) Hello and thanks for the comments folks. The plan is, as we buy new "common"sets, they replace the more elegant ones. Already 2 houses have been replaced, with MOC's or less expensive items such as the burning house. I do however love the idea of Moc'ing a Delorean to put in front of the clock tower... This is always a work in progress. Every Bricklink order adds something either small or significant. The Service station is about to get significant overhaul due to a new dual lane baseplate recently aquired. And since posting this photos, I haved added a third roller door to the fire station, and behind the police station a wall and gate inspired from the catch the crook comics. Thanks for the comments! Adam Edited February 7, 2014 by Adamskii Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eurotrash Posted February 7, 2014 It looks excellent with massive amounts of playability. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheLazyChicken Posted February 7, 2014 Brilliant lauout! You have inspired me to do a small layout! Keep up the great work! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mkeller234 Posted February 7, 2014 That is really, really cool! I love the subway. This is the kind of thing your son may talk about when he is an adult. Great layout and sure to be great memories. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
meyerc13 Posted February 8, 2014 Well done! That table looks to be about the same size as most toy train tables I've seen, and from experience I know how hard it is to build an exciting and interactive layout. You've solved the problem of the oversized police and fire stations quite nicely, I think I may have to do something similar to get them down to a more reasonable size. I hope you post some detailed pictures of your modified sets, I think we'd all like to see more! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Adamskii Posted February 8, 2014 I hope you post some detailed pictures of your modified sets, I think we'd all like to see more! Here are some "detail" shots of the modded police station, fire station and the MOC servo. The police and fire station constraints are they have to fit within the confines of a standard base plate. The mods needed to retain as much of teh original design as possible and as many of the original parts as possible. The fire station was first rebuild "mirrored" to instructions. The fire station needed to hold 3 fire trucks and a fire chief car. The service station was an excuse to use the little fuel bowser that came with the tanker kit. The fire station is very much a WIP, and office/ roof levels are a mess at the moment and next bricklink order will tidy/ organise it a bit better. As previously stated I added the police compound gates yesterday. Enjoy! Adam the lucky lad who gets to play with all this ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BricksMcgee Posted February 9, 2014 ...I do however love the idea of Moc'ing a Delorean to put in front of the clock tower... Would love to see that! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Player Nº1 Posted February 9, 2014 Lucky you that have space to a LEGO City display! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sin Posted February 11, 2014 That is a very cool MOD of the police station. I love how it is efficient in terms of the area it takes up while retaining it's original play features. The wall wrapping around the back with the gates is a very nice touch! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marko Posted February 12, 2014 Playability comes from the dimensions of town, height and reachability. I had two towns built on floor for my boys - one 8x5 baseplates mostly with licensed sets and other 8x9 with mostly city and sports sets. Both of the boys did not play too much or if played then with instant fights. Now I combined both towns to 5x12 layout on former dining table and built under the table mine with both mining theme sets, provided chairs to reach the center parts and voilà - they play together and play much more. Also I like my towns better on the table than on the floor. It took me 5 years to realise it. I think you have the right balance here as for me LEGO is in good use if some play happens with it, be it AFOL alter ego :) Train on subterrain is realy good idea. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
henrylego Posted February 13, 2014 Playability comes from the dimensions of town, height and reachability. I had two towns built on floor for my boys - one 8x5 baseplates mostly with licensed sets and other 8x9 with mostly city and sports sets. Both of the boys did not play too much or if played then with instant fights. Now I combined both towns to 5x12 layout on former dining table and built under the table mine with both mining theme sets, provided chairs to reach the center parts and voilà - they play together and play much more. Also I like my towns better on the table than on the floor. It took me 5 years to realise it. I think you have the right balance here as for me LEGO is in good use if some play happens with it, be it AFOL alter ego :) Train on subterrain is realy good idea. would you kindly share the photo of your current layout? I would certainly love to see your layout Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wodanis Posted February 13, 2014 One lucky little boy! Keep up the great work! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
