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Marchitecture wrapped up on the 31st and the winner has been announced! Congratulations to Kevin Walter! Your prize will be in the mail soon. Marchitecture winner announcement thread Next year will be year 5 of the contest and we'd like to make it the best yet.

It depends what you're trying to do and how flexible you can be - I like to use bricks in between layers of plate because they provide more horizontal stability. If you absolutely must strictly use plates stacked up, I'm not sure how you prevent this.

Hello everyone - once again SLUG is running our annual architecture contest - Marchitecture! Check out the rules and submit an entry. You could win a sweet Lego Architecture set for your efforts! https://www.flickr.com/groups/marchitecture/

This is a great idea, thanks! They sure are challenging for me! My designs are horrific, so I don't even want to post them ... haha! This is amazing! Thank you for your reply. I will definitely give this a try!

Hi all, This question may well have been answered in the past, so I apologize, but I couldn't find anything in my searching. I know there are instructions out there for steam locomotives, but I can't seem to find anything that shows how to power them using PF parts. Does anyone know if there is anything out there? I am more than willing to pay for instructions. I've struggled for a long time to get something that runs reliably, but it's pointless. My engineering ability is basically non-existent.

Hey everyone, Marchitecture is back for another year and the prizes and fun are super! Check out the rules and get your entries in, still plenty of time to win Lego's Arc de Triomphe or Chicago Skyline!!! Contest rules: https://www.flickr.com/groups/marchitecture/discuss/72157664216841667/ Photo Pool: https://www.flickr.com/groups/marchitecture/pool/

It's in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Are you close enough to come? : )

Hmmmm - I hadn't thought of putting greenery on them, but that would actually be interesting - and really easy, using a modified tile with clip. I might experiment with that - thanks for the idea!

This is the start of a train station I'm doing for a WW1 collaboration for our next train show. It's loosely based on a train station I found in France, built in 1906. However, for the collab, I will have to pretend it's in Belgium in order to fit with the narrative ... lol. Train Station by Trent, on Flickr

Built for a recent exhibition in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan - a local gem of architecture. Central by Trent, on Flickr Link to a pic of the actual building: http://images.delcampe.com/img_large/auction/000/271/104/948_001.jpg

I absolutely abhor all printed parts other than minifigs. A printed part is typically only good for one application, while I can always choose to apply stickers or not (usually "or not" because I almost never build official sets and only need the parts). Thus, I'd prefer no printed parts at all.

Does anyone know approximately how many 1 x 2 tiles would fill a large PAB cup?

Winner announced!! Congrats to everyone for an amazing group of entries. See here: https://www.flickr.com/groups/marchitecture/discuss/72157666854209936

I've missed Railbricks intensely since the final issue. I would definitely be interested in a rebooted version. I would love to see a technique focused approach. My skills need improving! Interestingly, I see the traditional model train hobby dying in my neck of the woods. The guys I see at our train shows are getting very long in the tooth with no young people replacing them. I see Lego trains as a more viable hobby.

Well, for something like the mountain, it really wasn't an issue. I knew I had thousands of Dark Bluish Gray slopes, so I just started building. But for smaller architectural details, it can be very useful to know how many of a part I have. Especially for elements I have very few of. To each his own, obviously, but for me, it's been invaluable to know exact counts of individual elements by colour.

I disagree - it's immensely convenient to be able to determine exactly the count of a particular element when I'm planning a MOC. It means being able to look at options to substitute if I don't have enough of something, and lets me know what I may need to Bricklink vs what I have on hand. If you never do MOCs, it doesn't matter, but if you do, it can be enormously helpful.

Haha! Good catch, it is indeed Captain America. Those little minifig touches really make the kids excited!

Just wanted to bump this topic - still time for you to enter for your chance to win a cool Architecture set!

Hi all, Here is my contribution to a collaboration we did for our most recent train show. It's supposed to be an occupied French chateau which is under a raid from the Americans. The mountain was a massive pain to build, especially with the train tunnel running underneath. I also have an access point at the back to handle derails. My hat is off to any of you who've built realistic, good looking mountains - it's tough! Enjoy: German occupied French chateau as my part of a WWII collaboration layout at our most recent train show. by Trent, on Flickr More pics in the Sask Lego User's Group Flickr stream (https://www.flickr.com/photos/sasklegousersgroup/25335450303/in/pool-1719412@N23/)

I'm consistently amazed that people don't seem to use Basebrick to track their collections. It is incredibly easy to use, and allows you to not only track your sets, but also individual elements and minifigs as well. It's saved me a ton of time when I want to know exactly how many of a particular element I have in a particular colour for a MOC. Check it out at www.basebrick.com. You can import from other databases (Brickset, Peeron, Bricklink) like I did from Brickset. Another very handy feature is the "Can I build it?" function - where you can view a set's inventory and find out if your collection of elements would allow you to build it, with or without minifigs included. It's incredibly handy if you are someone who wants to Bricklink a UCS Falcon or something. Speaking of which, I just checked and out of the 267 unique elements in that set, I have enough in the right colour of 221 of them, 35 I have enough, but in the wrong colour, 6 I have not enough of, and 5 I have none of. How great is that?!?!!? Also - when I go to a LUG meeting and we have a draft, I actually take the time to enter each part and quantity into Basebrick individually when I get home, which is very easy. That way, I can maintain an up to date count of all my elements, not just the ones in sets. It uses Bricklink part numbers and colours, so it is very simple to relate to. Oh, and speaking of Bricklink, when you receive a bricklink order, you can import it directly into Basebrick. Hopefully you all give it a shot. BTW, I am in no way affiliated with Basebrick - I just adore their tool and really don't want it to go away or stop being supported, so the more people using it the better! PS - Basebrick says I have 870 sets, 1,999 minifigs, and 300,199 parts altogether (246,291 in sets and 53,908 loose). It also says my collection weighs 285.4 kg!!

Marchitecture begins today!! Get building gang! https://www.flickr.com/photos/sasklegousers/24753077564/in/pool-marchitecture/

Hey sorry for the delay in replying. I think Savoye and Fallingwater are close enough to the scale we're looking for that they would be okay. Farnsworth might be a shade too big. The way to think about it is to consider the Bricktober "car" scale and how that relates to a building. But anything bigger than that would probably be difficult to model on a 32 x 32 baseplate. It doesn't necessarily have to be a large building - as long as it's something in real life, it's fair game. Hopefully this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions. Only 5 more sleeps 'til Marchitecture!!!

Hey everyone, Saskatchewan Lego User's Group is holding a building contest in March called Marchitecture! Check out the Flickr group here. Rules are: The contest runs from March 1st at 12:01 am until March 31st at 11:59 pm (in your area of the world). We’ll add bookend images to the pool for a definite start/end time. The Contest You will have one month to build a microscale* version of a recognizable real-world building. This could be a building in your neck of the woods or one that everyone recognizes. Builders from around the globe are welcome to participate! Our three (3) judges will be looking for: - likeness to the pre-existing building - details translated from building to model - interesting use of elements to make the building / details The Rules * Microscale in this case is anything Bricktober-set-size or smaller. The building should be presented in a LEGO Architecture style with a black border. You won’t receive extra points for a title tile, but it sure would make us smile! Completed model with border should not exceed a 32x32 stud footprint. A plain, un-cluttered background for the image is preferable, but not mandatory. Please tag 'Marchitecture' on your photo. Submit one image to the group pool here and include a link to a real-world image of the building. Only new builds, nothing from before March 2016. No digital builds please, only physical. No third party parts or custom stickers. Just pure LEGO elements. Modified LEGO elements and stickers are okay though. The Prize One winner will be chosen from the photos submitted and will receive a copy of the 2016 Skylines set of New York City!!! Good luck, and happy building!

I love this idea! Great start!

It's going to be set in German occupied France in about 1944, just before D-Day, so not sure if it should be a German or French locomotive.