mawich

It took 5 days to set up. I had expected no more than 3 since all the standard sets had been pre assembled before I started but it was a far more painstaking process. Getting things "just perfect" took time particularly the Monorail supports which had to be precisely positioned to ensure the entire track lined up once the city was complete. There is a printed overview of the city in one of the photos. I'll see if I can find a copy of it and post it online. I used the excellent "Track Designer" program to design the layout. Note: I only realised after the build that a monorail would never be able to run on the circuit. There has to be at least 16 studs length of straight track off each end of the station because a monorail train overhangs the track when negotiating a curve. In my design most of the stations have a curved track immediately to one or both sides.

"Behind the scenes" images loaded into http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=mawich Enjoy!

Ah...good question. For me a baseplate = standard roadplate size = 32 x 32 studs. One of the requirements for me was incorporating into the new layout a main highway that linked the 4 areas of the city...there's something about a long stretch of road that always appealed to me. End result is a road that's about 640 studs in length.

Q: As far as your previous city (wish there were more pics Posted Image), I loved looking at it, numerous times over, A: There are many more pics available but these show the city during its construction...kind of like "behind the scenes". I didn't post these as it would have been akin to a magician explaining how they do their tricks. On second thoughts, I'll post these as well within the next week. Q: but where u able to reach all the parts or vehicles? Or where the central items "stranded"? A: The additional photos I post will explain how I reached the middle. The city was only assembled for a week then taken down. Q: I've had the same idea for a great, self-sustaining, city since 2009. I have since been growing my already large collection of City (modern and classic) and I'm in the process design a layout in which I can access all vehicles with relative ease for repositioning to keep things fresh. A: The next city will be 22 x 12 baseplates. I've designed it so that it will be on 4 tables measuring 11x6 plates to allow access to the middle.

I'm back...well actually just been lurking the last couple of years...admiring other people's great work. The town was taken down many years ago now. As you can imagine, a layout that size takes a considerable amount of space...then there's the problem of dust and yellowing of pieces. As much as I like the new Town sets, I still get a kick out of seeing the "old school" layouts featuring Classic Town sets that I grew up with. I'm currently planning an even larger Classic Lego city which will include every single Classic Town set released between 1978 and 1996 plus a few additional sets thrown in for good measure such as the Lego Stadium, Town Plan and others. It's been many years in the planning and will be some years yet before I'm ready to start assembling it. Part of the reason why the planning is taking so long is TLG never released sets featuring skyscrapers, Botanical gardens, a Zoo, a Golf course, a farm and so on...things which I've had to design (to Classic Lego scale of course) from scratch. The other problem is I've raised the bar with respect to the level of design sophistication i.e. I'm no longer using the standard Lego pine trees but instead creating trees created from multiple pieces as seen in other forums (and trees and plant life "will not grow directly from concrete"). Another problem is restoring all the old sets I have to as new condition. Some such as the ones from 1978 had yellowed badly and the expectation is that every set has to be in as new condition, including stickers, printing on bricks (such as the smiley face) etc. The final problem is hitting the design targets I've set myself, such as utilising every baseplate building stud available, ensuring the backs of buildings are not visible when standing directly in front of the layout, incorporating every single town set released (finding space and reason for 6 fire stations, 6 police stations and 7 Gas stations has been challenging) and most importantly ensuring that the city is as "realistic" as possible i.e. it could exist as a real city complete with a Central Business District, industrial area, recreational area, suburb and would have a functioning economy (in this case it's the Information Technology sector, tourism, freight handling and heavy industry). In simple terms I'm planning what I want to be "The greatest Classic Lego city ever built". I've been hugely inspired by so many talented people in these forums...so much so it's made me lift my design aspirations 1000 fold since I started planning this thing.

Just wouldn't be possible...I don't have the creative horsepower to deal with a larger scale...larger scale = more detail = more scope for creativity. Your city is a beautiful example of the level of detail which is afforded by a larger scale...and is perfect for those creative designers who can represent the real world in Lego bricks. BTW...I love the garden featured in photo 024...If I get the opportunity to build the next city I'm planning, one thing that will be included is a Botanic Gardens with paved walkways, ponds, rose gardens etc.

The stadium is about 2.5 baseplates wide and 4 baseplates long. 1) The layout was only assembled for a week...I had been planning the city for about 18 months then finally decided to assemble it. After the week was up the city were packed up again. Unfortunately the only way to keep sets dust free is to keep them packed away. I'd love to find a way to create a room which was a close to dust proof as possible with lighting that didn't turn the pieces yellow...or at least a way to keep the city covered when not in use. 2) I've purchased some of the smaller sets from the latest range including 7732 Mail Van and hope to purchase the Toy Store and Bakery sets as these also fit in with the classic town scale. However, since the photos were taken I've been more focused on purchasing the Classic Town sets I didn't have at the time the photos were taken. And besides...the newer sets are in a larger scale and vehicles like 3221 - Lego Truck would look completely out of proportion to the rest of the city (not that I've got anything against the new Lego Truck!)

Strictly old school for me. I grew up with those classic sets from the 1980's and I guess I've got a nostalgic attachment to them which I don't have with the newer sets. The only modern city sets I've purchased are the Mail Plane (7732) and the Chef (8398) as these fit perfectly into the Classic Town scale. I'm also planning to purchase the Winter Toy shop and the Bakery set as these also fit into the Classic scale. For me the "Classic Town" scale is - 4 stud wide vehicles (or vehicles where the drivers cab is 4 studs wide such as the Lego Truck 3442) - Buildings where each room is no more than 10 studs wide, and 6 studs deep. The Lego Hospital 6380 is a classic example of this - Transport vehicles (non train/monorail) carrying no more than 5 minifigs - Each floor in a building is no more than 6 bricks high One comment I've read time and again about the newer sets is their realism...i.e. the trucks for example have wing mirrors and other details not found in the older sets. However, in a strange way the added realism and size has come at the cost of ... realism. For instance, the old school airports came with runways...whereas the newer ones don't...same with the newer Police and Fire Stations. I don't envy the "New School" City designers of today...I've yet to see a new school layout successfully incorporate the newer airport sets...simply because the passenger planes are so large.. They look cool but take up so much space...whereas the old school airports covered no more than 4 baseplates. The other problem the City designers of today have is the variation in scale...For those like me who are picky about these things,there are various scales in use now not present (to any great extent) with the classic sets... 7213 - Fire Truck is 8 wide 7249 - Mobile Crane is 12 wide 7637 - Farm Tractor is 12 wide 7685 - Dozer must be at least 24 wide These variations in scale lead me to believe that TLG have done away with the concept of a fully integrated and "to scale" City range. Instead, I suspect the TLG designers are no longer constrained by a certain scale (as the Classic Town designers were) and so long as there is a market for the finished product...are free to design ever larger and more elaborate City themed sets. A final note: The Classic Town Designers did "drop the ball" with a few of sets that were out of scale such as 6440 - Jet Port fire squad and 6484 - F1 Hauler...both of which were 6 scale and would be more in keeping with the modern vehicle scale.

Please add "18x9 Town" at http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=410928 Discussion at http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=46744 Thanks

Yes it is...against a generic Lego Team. I purchased the English version of the starter set when it was released in 1998. Strangely though, the TV towers weren't released in the UK so I had to get these from Holland. I totally agree...The great thing about the Classic Town range was the consistency of scale over the 20 years it was in existence...and the fact it was possible to build a layout with many features of a real city within a relatively small area...something not possible with the current City Range...After all, the latest Passenger Plane is almost as long as the runways of the original 3 Classic versions.

Thanks for the comments...Here's answers to questions posted - Number of individual sets: Approximately 200 - The red and white building is one of the few MOC's included (the stickers came from one of the Lego Idea books). Another MOC is a yellow flatbed truck plus "Dino" the dinosaur. - I agree with Zorbas regarding the roadplates used being the most attractive. These were released in 1986, a year after the introduction of Lego cycles. The only downsides to this style was 1) less building space (7 studs border versus the older 9 stud border) 2) They aren't fully compatible with the unique roadplate from 6371 (Shell Station) from 1982 which could be used as part of a bus stop scene. - The Main Street set is 6390 and not the Legends version. - The Football stadium is a particular favorite of mine. I used the sets released in 1998 and with some customisation ended up with the design shown in the photos. Other information - I had no option but to do away with the standard Monorail track supports and used round 2 x 2 black bricks instead. The smaller footprint of each support provided greater flexibility in planning the route. - The reason for the unusual dimension was that Lego Buildings are generally wide but shallow i.e. the 6362 Post Office being a perfect example. All buildings face the same way hence the city ended up with a 2 x 1 ratio of width to depth. - I'm convinced that it's simply not possible to incorporate a Monorail layout into a city predominantly at ground level. I've seen it achieved in one or two layouts but for the most part I believe the track should stay above ground...and besides...I reckon it looks cooler that way. - The two high rise buildings were an attempt to provide a bit more realism to the city centre given that Lego didn't release too many buildings more than two floors ...the Central Police Station 6398 being one of the few (but I didn't have this set at the time I constructed the city). - The final design took 18 months from inital idea to construction. I started out with a 6 x 5 town idea but things got completely out of control...and 18 months down the track after spending a LOT of time and money feeding this idea...I finally decided to assemble the city. In a funny way, the design process was actually more fun than the final construction.

Layouts Pics of the city I built years ago. The aim was to see if I could construct a realistic city using only Classic Town sets plus a few promotional sets thrown in for good measure. I used the following rules to guide the design. - All buildings had to face the same way so that the exposed backs of buildings would not be visible if viewing the city front on. - The city was divided into four zones; City Center, Industrial Area, Harbor - Every inch of the city was used for a purpose i.e. there would be no empty spaces I never intended the city to become as large as it did. I started with an original design of a city 6 x 5 roadplates in size but it grew as I began to purchase more and more sets. The city has long since been disassembled. The full set of pics can be found at Oversized Image 1 Oversized Image 2 Edited by moderator: your images have been replaced with links. Please review site guidelines regarding maximum image size. -TheBrickster