LukeWarmTea

Hey all, I'm aware this is old, but I thought I'd ask - is this, or the new 2014 Police Station the best? Value for money says the new one, which in NZD is $160 while this (which is still for sale in some places!) is $200. I like the newer uniforms, and more pieces, more figs, more vehicles suggests the new one - but is the building lacking something? This build looks massive and lots of fun, so what's the new one like?

My daughter built this yesterday, and noticed one big playability flaw - there's no way to get up the 'tree'! Where did the fish come from? Why didn't the fire chief come with a ladder? Why isn't the tree more tree like, so it might be climbed? How did the kitten get there in the first place??? If a 5yo could think of those things, why isn't a designer?! Ha, gotta love the helmet though!

^ Spot on. It's a shame, TLC designers often love the characters they are working with (see The Simpsons House) and are very good at details - forgetting the bad guys is one mistake, but forgetting the animals?! For shame. That said, they have included Pascal, and the three brother moulds are adorable. Do kids know the names of Cinderella's Horses? Maximus is such an 'alive' character in the movie, I was really surprised there wasn't a set with him in it - perhaps with just Flynn, like the get away scene!

ARGH! I'm spitting mad! Has anyone else seen what The Simpson's House is retailing for here? $400 bucks! I thought this was meant to be a 'family friendly' set! What a joke! Oh it's my own fault, I got excited when I saw it'd be $200 USD (or about $240NZD) and while I knew it would never be that cheap, I had expected $300, and hoped for less - but $400?!, how many extreme Simpson's fans does NZ have? I doubt it will sell well at that price, and then TLC will just go "Oh, we never get good sales in NZ for specialty sets, let's not bother" like they have done in the past and I will be even madder. Grump grump! Translated back into USD, $400 NZD is like $330 bucks. How is there a hundred and thirty dollars difference? Shipping costs surely don't add up to that? What the hell! /rant.

We build with City quite a bit, so while not so much 'swooshing', there is quite a lot of 'wheee-oooo-wheee-ooooing'.

Oh how exciting, this is the first I've heard! I have been hoping for something like this for a long time, something a bit more realistic than Friends/City but not so far gone as to be too 'grown up' (and thereby expensive) for myself and my daughter. Yay! I've always wanted a proper Creator House - are these any rumours around details? Light bricks? Sound bricks etc?

Thanks! I had a decent plate layout, but it has failed the 'Can withstand use by a child' test, and my second attempt failed the 'Let's enough light/hand room into the lower floor' test (as the upper floor will hopefully not have to be removed for play. Like The Simpson's House) so I'm back to the drawing board!

I'd love to do a Kiwi town, but I'd have no idea how to do all those wooden weatherboards! (Plus it'd look a lot like New Mannum I'm guessing!)

Adorable. Is that 'Friends Lime green'? It looks darker somehow, maybe it's just the photo? I love it - but I don't know where you got it all from! Did you BrickLink all these tiles etc? (Everyone seems to have an abundance of tiles!) I think I like all of it, especially the mudguard use and the angled shop wall, oh and the clever TV upstairs. I feel a bit sorry for the fig who lives there (how does she wee?!) but perhaps there's an outshed down the back we can't see, must be it. ;) Just an idea, did you want the back to look a little run-down? Maybe swap out a stair tread or two for a slightly different brown - old wooden stairs rot and need replacing all the time. Oh and you could take some flower heads off so they look a bit like weeds or something? Just typing thoughtlessly!

I'm so envious of this MOC, what a beautiful build! Those bookshelves put mine to shame, I shall have to re-do them! I love all your little details that make the place seem lived-in. Do you have a favourite fig to populate the apartment? Also, thanks for showing me what that white brick is for - a European pillow! I have always wondered. (We have boring rectangular pillows. About as thick as plates too. Pah!)

Has anyone posted pics of the Series 5 animals yet? Just in case, here: Credit to just2good - he found some TNMT stuff on this site so I went looking for Friends! I love the look of that bear and river!

Thanks guys, yes it is a lot 'Friendlier' than I'd originally planned - you build with what you have! I was hoping to tone it down with the dark green and dark red pieces to make it better suited for City, but I feel they clash with the purples and pinks, and I only really have buildable parts from 3185, so pinks and purples it is. CMF cat lady/grandma is correct, and the cookie comes from Mia's Lemonade Stand, which I've taken apart to form the bookshop interior and other little details. The challenge is to use 3185 primarily, and I'm trying to really limit my parts selection to polybags or sets that are $20 (NZD) or less. Yeah! I'd use tiles - if I could. But there aren't enough tiles in 3185, and I don't know of any small polybag/set that has enough either. If you look at the pic, you'll see I didn't even have enough plates! Plus, the build is for a 5yo, and there's a reason TLC don't use titles on kids builds floors - the figs fall over! But if you have any polybag/small set recommendations, please do - I've heard Tiger's Temple is a good option?

Following this thread - I'm in the same boat. Totes magotes - I thought I could be clever and use 3185, the largest Friends set and a few smaller sets, but you run out of bricks pretty quick! That was my plan too, but it's kind of a pain/tiresome breaking up a completed structure just to change the colour of one brick. And if you don't have a plan/LDD design, you're going to be breaking stuff down and rebuilding it a lot. A lot. Finally, stick with a standard size! I've tried to be all clever and interesting and it's made for a neat ground floor see (http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=91027) but I can't for the life of me work out the plates layout for the second level!

Funny, I thought the spoiler was weird too, but my 5yo loves it - it moves! Nice review, great pics - and this (and Mia's Lemonade Stand) were the first things we bought of the '14 Lego. Such a neat design

Hey Pigpen, it's 8828, not including the extra powered set. Battered box and instructions, but they are there, and I think the set is complete too (I was one of those kids). I don't know much about it, must have been released in the early '90s?

OK, sorry for the delay. Major image/imgur issues, but have managed to get some pictures. Bedsit interior: Bedsit bathroom: Bedsit birds eye: Back of model (gap left on purpose): Side with stairs (opposite side is simply two panels and a window - needs stickers): And my favourite view, and how the model 'should' be viewed (at least when it's open for play!): This is still missing the 16x16 light bley plate to infill the front, but it may not need it? Maybe? No pics of the bookstore as it's still pretty empty. Dumpster needs to be added and the lighting adjusted in the rear of the store. Not sure about the cat dish as I think it's in the way of the door, but my 5yo insisted!

Thanks guys! Thanks - that's a big part of the challenge. Almost all the larger sets we have have smaller builds that end up being broken up almost immediately (or lost somewhere) simply because they're not 'attached'. This also includes having homes for accessories; like drawers, holding clips etc for small parts. There are times I wish I was just an AFOL, not a parent AFOL (PFOL!). Yup, 2-3 storey (roof terrace). Although I'm fast running out of bricks! Thanks Redhead. Stability is super important, and it's useful that my 'tester' often gets in and has a play with it during the day, so I can see what was 'damaged' at night and redesign - just as you said about WIPs. Funny but it has changed a little since that photo - I was never happy with the bookshop doors! I'm also planning to make custom stickers. I'm posting this as a WIP as I need real AFOL feedback and help from time to time. I'm sure if I ever get to your MOC level I won't need to! It is! It's also really mathematically complicated. Sigh. I'll put more pics up tonight (NZ time) but the lighting is poor (apologies in advance.) I started it on the floor (as you can see!) just as a bit of a laugh to make a 'bigger play house' for Bella, but then got pretty caught up in it. (I like to do things well.) And making the floor plan bigger doesn't work for a doll-house style of build, you can't get your hand 'tween two 16x16 spaces, even small hands, and it gets pretty dark. Unlike a modular it's not being built to be taken apart for play. You can but you shouldn't have to. I'm hoping you can just swing it open. So the left side walkway/stairs became 4 studs wide almost immediately, and the right side grew from nothing to 3 and then 4 studs, cause maths. I'm now struggling with how to do the second storey floor, which is 12x24 studs each side. My initial plan to brick link 4 6x24 plates would work (in light bley) but that doesn't really fit the challenge, sigh. The most common Friends plates are 8x16. Whoops. Should have planned ahead! Ah well, in the mean time I've been fleshing out the interior, pix soon!

Sorry Legoman, no go on the PotC QARS. That's a long name. I do have some old Bellville and Technic sets I don't mind parting with, if anyone is keen. Found the boxes for two of them, a tramping set and a technic digger.

You know what, you're so right? I kept looking at these going 'oo colours and parts!' but my daughter didn't seem to care so much about them (except perhaps Merida and her bow) because, as she said 'you can't do anything.' They need bad guys! Oh a fry pan to the face of some knight would be great. And Bella thinks the horse from Rapuzel is required too. (I second that!)

Nice! Can't wait to see the bank. My fave was the first one too - a corner site build would be excellent fun.

Hi all! This is my first MOC post and due to a lack of parts (and skills, it turns out) I'll be sharing this diary styles - a little like Lightning Tiger's - so you all can see and contribute to the build. So far it's gone from this: to this: With a whole lot of rebuilds along the way! Currently only the basic wall layout for the lower floor is complete. The left side of the build is a bedsit complete with old cat lady and exterior stairs to the second floor. The right is the ground floor bookstore and small rear exterior for a dumpster etc (I'd like to devise a working trash chute). There will be another 16x16 plate to be the footpath (or 'sidewalk') featuring a newspaper and magazine vendor in front, as the set is designed to be played with an open hinge (forming a handy 16x16 square). The second story will be a two bedroom family apartment, and above that there will be a nominal roof terrace 'garden' (probably only on one side). The book shop doors are unfinished and I'll be working on some brick built ones in the morning. Also the base plate colours need work, don't you think? I've set myself up with a pretty steep challenge as well. The build has to meet some criteria which have been defined by myself out of fun and also from necessity, as this MOC will end up being played with by my 5 1/2 yo (and the Friends target age) and we don't have a lot of money to spend on parts. Challenge: 1) It has to fit in the Friends/City universe, and I like to think it fits somewhere in between - a little closer to Heartlake maybe, a hard working borough on the outskirts of town? Bella calls it 'the Neighbourhood'. Thanks Mr. Rogers! Anyway, it has to look like a proper Lego building, with that nice Lego realism/playability balance. 2) It has to be easily accessible, playable (durable!) and buildable by kids in the 5-12yo range. 3) The parts must come from one major set (3185) and any other parts used must be readily available in small sets, polybags etc. (btw, does this make it a mod?) 4) Key design challenge - it has to be compact. The whole shebang is designed to close up, stack up and be put away neatly. (No spreading mini-builds!) 5) It has to be aesthetically pleasing in both 'closed' and 'open for play' form; including using a reasonably limited colour palette, not covering/blocking wall panels (a real bugbear of mine) and not having large expanses of blankness. 6) There have to be at least 3 "real" play features. Guess who gets to judge what constitutes real?! I'm always so in awe of the amazing MOCs I see on here, especially the high quality modular buildings. This sure isn't one of them, but I hope you can see the inspiration. Thanks for reading!

Hey has anyone seen/heard of the Disney Princess line being sold down under? The Tower looks pretty boss, but is unavailable in NZ on S@H - are they going to be released here you reckon?

Love it! Really well thought out, and one of those MOC's that looks simple at first glance, but once you start to really look the techniques are so impressive. Great job!

I noticed the oven - as a former baker I love it! Try chucking a minifig into it to check heights though - one issue I had when LDD designing, when you brick something sometimes heights can be all wrong, as you don't have a minifig to 'reach up' and check things are playable. I like the differing floor tiles for different areas too, and the back door (bakery kitchens get hot!). Are there vents and things? Vents and fans and all that add nice detail and would suit a kitchen. They can help break up blank walls too, like exterior walls. The rolling pin on the wall is neat, I'd add a few more of those 1x1 plate w/ holder (thanks Brickset) for other tidbits, have you seen the new handheld mixer? So cool! Not sure if it's in LDD mind. And I'd love to see storage - think of all the ingredients! Flour bins and jars and cupboards and shelves (oh my!) a bakery is simply packed with detail. I'm gonna be watching this one, can't wait to see it bricked. Have fun!

O nice! She's an almost ready-to-go power ranger!