Tube Map Central

Could you give me a list of all the BB sets that you have evaluated in order to form this conclusion so that we can be sure that you have evaluated a representative sample?

I've not posted for a while but that's because Lego is a winter pursuit for me and the dark evenings have prompted me to get busy again. My Art Nouveau Station, Botanical Gardens, was everything I wanted it to be, and I've decided that I have to complete the building: The first instalment was only 1/3 of the conceptualised structure. So, here is a teaser for the next stage to be completed, the middle section, with grand staircase, lifts (not working), left luggage and entrance to stairs down (to underground station, toilets, and platform 2). The rest of the design is in my head, with the front of the station and the platforms/glass roof already planned. http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/Botanical_Gardens_Extended/Grand_Staircase.jpg

Don't read this sub-forum if it makes you disappointed and sad. This isn't a model to develop interest in Lego trains amongst young people because, TBH I would have known that it was rubbish and had limited play value when I was seven years old. Those train wheels won't run properly on any Lego track, and it won't run properly off-track either. No high speed collisions with this one. As a wheeled vehicle it fails.

Win-win for Lego marketing. If no one buys it (because it is rubbish) then they can say that no one is interested in trains. If it is popular they can say that these sorts of sets are adequate to cater for most train demand. Box looks like a prototype, can't image any TLG designer getting the train-track perspective that wrong.

You might be able to extend forwards rather than backwards. That would give a gap between canopy and extended platform that could be filled with the second shop. But if it doesn't get approved, and ends up on the 'Bricklink' designer programme, with one set per person you are screwed anyway for combining sets to extend them

As well as having good playability, it actually looks like a real station to me [The one currently on BL one doesn't look right, I prefer the other station on Ideas by that same designer.] I really dislike the newer ultra-modern/brutalist stations that TLG has offered over the last few years, 4554 was fantastic, 7997 was good, after that they never managed anything as stylish. This new one on Ideas beats everything recent hands down, so TLG will hate it!

Feels like it, at least a month. I like it too, it has some nice features and some clever builds, but it looks more like a play set than a modular. No bad thing, it will be fun to extend (like the Harry Potter station) and it might be more likely to be accepted. I'm wondering what the Lego people will make of the curved roof, I'm about to attempt one myself.

It's been staff pick on the front page for weeks. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/d877ae63-11e8-4e20-ac19-97c72ebe25c6

Wonder how many modular buildings have to get turned down on Ideas before people realise that TLG in NEVER going to approve one no matter how much support it gets.

Do you do much building with real bricks? As a MOCer myself, with real bricks, I sometimes get bored just working in the safe colours (see my post on page one of this thread) and want to try something distinctive. Then the fun really starts. As an example, in one of my recent builds, I needed an interesting colour that went well with another, but needed availability of window frames, clips, and headlight bricks. If any was missing then there were workarounds but this affected other aspects of the build. I spent a week going round in circles on bricklink, eventually creating an insane graphic to help me get my head around the situation. Anyone in this position won't find the "basic parts" desire to be bizarre, and it would be easy to compile an A-list of basic parts, and a B-list. Nothing fancy in the A-list, so many colours fall down on 2x2 corners and 1x3 bricks. Let's desire 20 colours with full A-list availability, and ten of these to have B-list availability too. Then it would be possible to just build with confidence, knowing that there won't be frustrating problems down the line. You've been there yourself I see.

Not heard of that one so I took a look ... What a crazy assortment, shouted at me "we have excess of certain bricks in the warehouse, how can we get rid of them?"

I did a quick study of colour availability via bricklink. Nothing fancy, just the basic parts: Brick 1x1 1x2 1x3 1x4 1x6 2x2-corner 2x2 2x3 2x4 Plate 1x1 1x2 1x3 1x4 1x6 (didn't think to check the 2x plates, too late now) Tile 1x1 1x2 1x3 1x4 1x6 These are the parts I need to build a strong interlocked structure without thinking about it, or with an easy workaround so I don't have to think about it too hard. In other words, the least troublesome colours. Criterion was availability on bricklink, with an average market price not significantly more than 20 pence per unit. These colours passed, they are straightforward to use in a basic build: Black Blue Dark bley Light bley Orange Red Reddish brown Tan White Yellow These colours almost passed, at most two basic parts missing or hard to get Bright light orange - brick 2x3 Dark red - brick 2x3 Green(!) - tile 1x6 Lime - 2x2 corner Medium lavender - brick 2x3, plate 1x3 And for the rest of the colours, good luck! Of course, this is even before we get to complexities such as slopes, side studs and clips ...

Yes please, I would love a box of darks, all are useful colours with frustrating gaps. Dark green and dark brown particularly welcome.

It would be nice to get some sort of commitment to more architectural colours. Very light grey (limestone, marble, etc) and sand red (brick and darker sandstone) would be really helpful and also filling out gaps in sand green (copper, great for statues and roofs). Any others? These colours have been in the built environment for centuries and are not going away any time soon.

They tell retailers what they always tell them, out of stock, available on backorder. I sense trying to have it both ways. (1) The numbers of Bricklink sets desired are so small they are an irrelevance to TLG and that demand is not worth catering for. Versus (2) The numbers of Bricklink sets desired are so large that catering for them will cause massive shortages in other product ranges. Lego produces lots of short run sets, no one complains that the staff and visitor presents are uneconomic causing global shortages.

Surprised at the previous suggestion: stained glass in stairwells is quite a common feature in many European countries. Some absolutely beautiful ones, for example, in The Netherlands

Thanks, I see. I can live with losing a bit of the interior behind the corridor connection. Unfortunately, I lose a lot of strength as well. If you imagine pulling off the light grey roof you will find four studs pointing upwards from 2x 32952, 1x1-2/3 bricks. Ideally I would have the inverse of that new bracket, which would help a little bit. So, I have to choose between strength and elegance. Ugh! Of course, the real challenge is trying to re-use the parts. The objective is a train that looks as though it was designed 8-wide, not a train that looks as though it was designed 6-wide and stretched. So many parts are the wrong width: too many big-part solutions. The roof panels will get binned. The underframe boxes: I can bodge them wider with a row of inverted slopes but then I need to buy expensive plates to make them less obviously a bodge. The train baseplates: I would like to keep them, but they are a pain to build with. Widening them with plates on top will make them look blocky, but there is no easy way to smooth that with inverted slopes. Then a light bulb goes on in my head: I don't care about Lego sets any more, they won't be right for me, they will cost more money to fix than to buy, and too many of the parts are too specialist for them to be used as parts packs. Next year's train sets: probably won't be any use to me, will I even look? I can see the next step coming soon. Lego train baseplate is dark grey, I will need some dark grey inverted 2x2 slopes to smooth out the blockiness at the cab/outside ends. That is a rare part. Do I buy them for 50 pence each on Bricklink, or 5 pence each on Bluebrixx. That is not a tough decision. Lego is basically a set design company that inflates the price of its raw materials (bricks) to pay for its set design, but I'm not so interested in Lego design now, so should I continue to pay its brick prices? So that's the full transition, from builder of Lego sets to generic brick moc-er. That will probably lead to an eventual departure from Eurobricks, voluntary I hope.

Once you start building in 8-wide it is hard to go back!I've decided to take the plunge and convert my 60197 blue/grey/orange city trains from 6-wide to 8-wide. This means discarding the nose cones, baseplates and roofs but alternatives are not too pricy.These will become flat-fronted MU trains, and you can see my test build here.The 4-wide corridor connector takes up a lot of space at the front, leaving not much room for cab windows. I could use trans-clear bricks, but I'm not sure I want wrap-around windows.Taking the SNOT route, and wanting a robust stable build with no risk of pieces falling off, I end up with a 1x4 tile protruding slightly on either side. I can't think of a way to get it flush in the available space. Any suggestions? www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/eurobricks/test_front.jpg

Here it is ... An analysis of every possible front colour given the availability of key parts: 2x2 and 2x3 windows, headlights, h-clips and corner posts (1x3 or 1x5). I have tried to have a logical set of steps depending on part unavailability. Obviously there are other options but I have tried to go for what I consider to be the tidiest one in each case. Everything has been done for a reason, feel free to ask. This is a CMYK file. http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/eurobricks/train_fronts.jpg The availability of V-Clips for the sides might result in some deletions or modifications. I would love to build all of these as three-car units but this would require time, money, and space, and all of these are in finite supply.

It's a lovely combination in the photographs, not sure I could reverse it and use purple windows and tan lower panels though, that would look very modern. It's a shame that pearl good plates for the lining are practically non-existent, that would make it a must-use livery.

It's a shame, I've tried small Loz bricks and they don't work for me at all, too challenging for fingers and for eyesight, the build was just an unpleasant trial. I couldn't contemplate buying these.

Just needs a Milan tramcar rumbling in front of it. The historic 1920s ones are so special.

Very light grey? YES! And sand red too please!

But that was the point for me, I had never heard of the Farnsworth house before Lego produced it. I assumed it must be a significant building, otherwise it would not be in the architecture range, so I bought it, had an interesting build, and learnt some more about 20th century architecture. If I only engaged with things I already knew about, then I would never learn anything new.

The review on Brickset is a little bit scathing, and I get the need for the designers to make use of selective compression and forced perspective. But The photos on Brickset are very revealing in other ways, flick your eyes between them and the more you compare the more you say 'hang on a minute' Why all that tan detailing above the second floor arches on the main building, it's spurious, there is nothing like that on the real thing. Maybe use light bley plates to give impression of relief, but what's with those round parts? Those side domes are going to polarise us. To me they look like an invasion fleet of space aliens, but why is their construction emphasised by dark parts? Look at the the photo of the real thing on Brickset, the bases of the side-domes are concealed. Did they need to be so exposed and prominent on the model? Lego is hard work for historic curvy buildings, so we have the dancing dog dilemma here. Should we criticise the quality of the dancing, or be amazed that the dog can dance at all? http://www.tubemapcentral.com/legodesign/eurobricks/TM.jpg