Discussion LEGO Architecture Building Issues

[Vee]

Yesterday I assembled my 2nd - and last - Architecture set, the Farnsworth House (21009).

Three things I thought about my experience:

1 - Assembling those dozens of 1x1 white flat tiles is a PITA, not much of an enjoyment. To makes matter worse, it is impossible to assemble them so that they all become "perfectly aligned". I am a perfectionist and the fact that it is impossible, at least for me, to make them neatly aligned, because they have a certain unavoidable "slack" between them, and by being 1x1 they then can slightly rotate in the stud, does not please my eyes as I was expecting.

2 - So I had an idea to solve the problem. Dunno if this has been talked about before, but one solution would be if Lego would develop a "profiled" flat tile, a 1x2 and/or 1x4 flat tile with a profile on top of it to mimic the design as if that flat tile was like a row of perfectly aligned 1x1 flat tiles (like those bricks that profile a real brick but the profile is in its side, not on top). This would solve the problem of misalignment of rows of 1x1 flat tiles and also would make assembling dozens of tiles much easier because, well, you would have less tiles to deal with. The problem for Lego is that it would decrease a lot the advertised number of pieces of a set like 21009 making it even more difficult to "explain" why it is so expensive. Also, I am not sure it would be possible to profile the top of a flat tile, it could make it too weak.

3 - I am not really happy with this set. After assembling it, I didn't see anything very much special about it. The picture of it in the ads are great but the final product is kind of boring. I will of course keep it and the price I paid for it was very good, $15 below retail (shipping included, no tax!), but it just proves a certain theory that I have that small Lego sets usually look much better in pictures than in real life, with exception of the big ones, the ones with 1000 or more pieces: the big ones look better in real life than in the ad pictures...

The ad pictures, by showing them bigger than in real life, fool the eyes.

[Off the wall]

Man, I love ya. You're worse than me, or at least just as bad! :-)

Stay away from Robie House and Tower Bridge.

Some of the rows of 1 x 1 flat tiles on some of my builds look like I was high when I did the build.

I like the architecture series. But it really can't and doesn't do justice to some buildings. The final build is like one of those caricature drawings that you buy at a tourist trap. They sort of look like the person, but have some hideous exaggerations and/or omissions. Or, they are what a BMW 1 series is to a real BMW.

[Vee]

... Stay away from Robie House and Tower Bridge. ...

I was about to buy the Tower Bridge when I found out that it uses 600 of those small 1x1 slopes. I gave up instantly!

That was when all my Lego madness started. I wanted the Tower Bridge to be placed on top of my 71"x16" cabinet. After my plan failed, because I didn't want to assemble 600 small slopes, I devised a new plan: fill my cabinet top with Modular Buildings! Then, it all started... me... spending tons of money buying modular buildings, getting upset because some of them are not available anymore, etc. etc....

I saw Robie House, looked at its LDD model and also realized: this is crazy... too many small pieces... no way :laugh:

[Off the wall]

Robie House was my second Lego build. I knew even less about Lego then than I know now (may seem impossible, but it's true). I didn't known that I should be frustrated/bored by the many 1 x 1s.

With that said, Robie House is worth the frustration.

I think you'll regret not buying Tower Bridge before it's retired.

Edited January 5, 2014 by Off the wall

[Kez]

I own this set too and I must admit there are a hec of a lot of 1x1 plates, saying that though I had absolutely no problem aligning the studs, if you happen to own the new orange brick separators (which I now happen to be amassing an army of) then you will find that aligning the plates by using the bottom edge (stud less end) will make the pieces straight should you use it correctly. All I did was run the brick separator through each horizontal and vertical gaps between each plates, thus doing this caused the plates to end up being perfect as I too like to build my sets to perfection (Im even so bad to go as far as aligning the studs to try to make all of the brick logos face in the same direction). Hope my brick separator technique helps with your building process

[Vee]

I think you'll regret not buying Tower Bridge before it's retired.

There is a need to draw a line and I must not cross that line. There are several sets that I would be happy to have, even if assembling them would have its share of boredness (does this word exist?), but I cannot buy them all, I need to choose "some". I could buy the Tower Bridge, but I won't. I need to give good examples to my daughters, not spend money just because I can on something that ultimately is highly superfluous. They watch me, they learn from me, etc. etc.

Hope my brick separator technique helps with your building process

Doesn't this technique scratch/damage the side/corner of the tiles?

[jimmynick]

With that said, Robie House is worth the frustration.

Absolutely!

Doesn't this technique scratch/damage the side/corner of the tiles?

That doesn't bother me. My "brick separator" of choice is a penknife.

[Kez]

Doesn't this technique scratch/damage the side/corner of the tiles?

Not to my knowledge no, all of the tiles are in perfect condition, the only thing that would damage these would be a sharp object, but seeing as it is using another plastic to straighten them up, (that is made and designed to lift up tiles) it has absolutely no damage to the brick so is fit for purpose, give it a try, its not like we dont have extras of that piece

[Darth Dino]

Hi

the pattern of 1x1 tiles i uneven because those tiles are a bit too small and have a tiny gap. between them This gap is the space where they often rotate.

You can fill the gap with a razor blade or cutter blade. The blade keeps them all in a line.

Be careful with your finger and dont cut the bricks too!

Dino

[rollermonkey]

Why use a blade when a 1x6 or 1x8 brick works? I place a row of 1x1 tiles, then put the brick next to the row. As I remove the brick, I rock it towards the row of tiles that I'm aligning. Works like a charm. For a row on an edge, just use the side of the brick.

For all the seriously annoying cheese slopes on Tower Bridge, I just placed them then pushed them against a flat surface like the table I'm building on. They line up just fine.

[antp]

With that said, Robie House is worth the frustration.

Indeed, it looks very nice.

It is even worse to dismantle than to build... And I had to, since I bought it just as a dark red plates parts pack. I built it just to see what it looked like "in real". But after dismantling, I think I'll never build it again

(I wonder why they didn't provide a brick separator with that one, luckily I have lot of those)

Edited January 6, 2014 by antp

[Rufus]

This is an interesting discussion, and applicable to many other sets (CREATOR and modular houses use a lot of 1x1 tile mosaics - but I'll keep it here ).

I suspect it will be useful for general Architecture building questions and answers, so I'll make the title more generic if it's ok with you guys. If you have suggestions for parts (I like the divided 1x2 tile idea) you should use the Embassy.

Incidentally, I think I'm right in saying that two adjacent studs are 8 mm apart, but a 1-wide brick or plate is 7.9 mm wide - so there is a 0.1 mm gap between adjacent bricks. This allows for a slight degree of lateral movement, and is used in super-large builds to allow curved walls (for example in the LEGOLAND parks).

[Vee]

...since I bought it just as a dark red plates parts pack...

But you can buy 1x1 and 1x2 dark red new plates for around 5 cents a piece in large quantities in Bricklink, why pay more per piece in the set and get a lot of unwanted other pieces with them?

[Laservampire]

The Minecraft "micro-worlds" are also a pain with all of the 1x1 tiles. Actually quite a chore to build.

[antp]

But you can buy 1x1 and 1x2 dark red new plates for around 5 cents a piece in large quantities in Bricklink, why pay more per piece in the set and get a lot of unwanted other pieces with them?

Not amongst Belgian sellers on Bricklink; I would have to order from another seller in UE for that (thus possibly higher shipping costs).

There weren't really so unwanted pieces in that set: I also wanted the dark red slopes which are already less cheap, and the other parts can be useful too anyway.

And I bought it on Amazon when the price was low (at price per piece around 5 cents).

And originally I thought that maybe some day I would rebuild it despite I bought it for MOC.

It is only after the first build/dismantle that I changed my mind about rebuilding it

Edited January 7, 2014 by antp

[Herky]

Vee - I was chuckling heavily at your post, the 1x1 tiles used in this line are so annoying, I am not worried about alignment, and I get that they want "the look" but agree, what a pain to do. I didn't find the ones on the Tower Bridge too bad, I just farmed that part out to the kids. It is sort of like Pisa, it's 6 levels of the same thing, as Architecture often is. The Robie house, while tasking in this same manner was worth it to me, really a cool piece when done and probably the highlight of the line since it actually has colors other than white, grey or black or green for grass. I guess they threw in the blue now on the UN building, but the one thing that jumps out when you put all of the sets together is lack of color.

I would put this to you, it is WAY more annoying to put those levers in as flags on the UN building than it is the 1x1's. Oh sorry, add tan to the colors (falling water house)

Other than the tiles, I do like this house, it is simplistic, just like the real one, can't imagine living in it though. My main thing is I would like for this line to stop with all the crazy sizes, one is 1:64, one is 1:24, etc...make it more uniform so it displays better.

[GregoryBrick]

My main thing is I would like for this line to stop with all the crazy sizes, one is 1:64, one is 1:24, etc...make it more uniform so it displays better.

Have you thought this through? The Burj Khalifa, Rockefeller Center, Villa Savoye and Farnsworth house all to the same scale?

[Vee]

... but the one thing that jumps out when you put all of the sets together is lack of color.

That's why I decided to add some color to my Pisa Tower...

:laugh:

Although I wanted the green grabbing the pole instead of the red... but, no existence of such part.

But I am working on a better rendition of the Italian flag... waiting for the parts... :-)

Edited January 7, 2014 by Vee

[B Rick]

Why use a blade when a 1x6 or 1x8 brick works? I place a row of 1x1 tiles, then put the brick next to the row. As I remove the brick, I rock it towards the row of tiles that I'm aligning. Works like a charm. For a row on an edge, just use the side of the brick.

For all the seriously annoying cheese slopes on Tower Bridge, I just placed them then pushed them against a flat surface like the table I'm building on. They line up just fine.

Exactly.

As for the 1x2 with a dividing line in the middle to suggest two seperate 1x1s... You don't need such a piece because of what,s said above and, personally, I already hate all the already existing shortcut bricks like 2 stud high 1x2s, 5 stud high pilars, and not to mention all the castle wall pieces...

[CopMike]

Although I wanted the green grabbing the pole instead of the red... but, no existence of such part.

But I am working on a better rendition of the Italian flag... waiting for the parts... :-)

How about this?

[Vee]

Cool, CopMike, although I have not yet figured it out ...

I was thinking about this one here:

http://prntscr.com/2hev8r (front)

http://prntscr.com/2hevek (back)

Ok, I have it figured out now... slow thinking here... :-) Very nice.

[Herky]

yes, I thought about the scale issue, I think I didn't state it well, I would like all of the buildings in Lego to be the same size, so my White House is same size as the Imperial hotel which is the same size as the Fallingwater...not that they use the same scale to design the buildings. Sorry if that didn't come across right...essentially the White House is pretty neat to me, but why is that one so small when Imperial Hotel, which I find a lot more bland is twice its size? Make them all the same size maybe is the right way to say it.

I would do all the buildings on the size of the Imperial Hotel and the upright buildings (John Hancock, Seattle Needle, etc) on the size of the Pisa build...Pisa and Eiffel are about the same size but sitting next to my Sears Tower, they are huge and it looks odd to me. Call it OCD or whatever, I think it would look better though.

nice flag Cop Mike, I like that one

[Vee]

nice flag Cop Mike, I like that one

Yes. nice flag. I was trying to create a flag using the same "principles" but for Denmark and almost did it!

The 1x3 tile is a little longer than needed and does not fit into the brick with one stud in the center position. Maybe if I remove the groove, but still it is bigger than I wanted it. Any ideas on a nice Denmark flag?

I had previously created the one below, it uses some transparent 1x2's and 1x1's in the back.

[jimmynick]

Unfortunately, 7 plates is 1/2 a plate less than three studs, so it won't ever really line up at the ends. You could make a 4-stud-long flag, though. That would make the SNOT nice.

[antp]

Or do not connect the middle 1x3 tile (i.e. use a red brick without side stud), just wedge the tile between the two horizontal parts.

The ½ plate too much in length can go on the left, near the pole, to be less visible than when it is on the right like on your picture.