brickbuilder711

B-OV-37A Just a week or two ago, I completed a model which 'loosely' replicates a South Miami, FL McDonald's location. It takes on their newer design as opposed to the iconic white brick building with red striped roof. This building features a fully detailed exterior and interior detail. Here are a few pics... More coming soon! Comments, tips are appreciated... I know the little top piece doesn't look like an arch but I just threw it together

It is by weight and I read somewhere it's 8.99 USD per 1/4 pound. That makes about 35.96/lb. Pretty expensive but worth it for the good selection that I have heard about.

Dropped by late last night (July 6) and found what I wanted and then some. Bricks I bought: 1x2 clear plate - replenishment 1x2 dark red brick (about 1 whole cup +) 1x2 clear brick (more than 1 whole cup full) Edit: forgot 1x2 clear panel (1 cup full, also remark: new mold) 4x4 bley plate (about 6) 2x4 bley brick (8) 1x2 white panel Other goodies included more tan and bleys, and yes, dark bley palisades. No pinks or purples.

I've been watching progress on Flickr and must say... this is amazing! I really like the attention to detail... looks very nice as well. As always the night lights are welcomed as those give the city life. I wished I would be at Brickworld, but maybe next year.

Miami (Aventura) PAB has been gracefully updated with smoke 1x2, brown palisades, and some goodies, Brt Pink 1x4 and white flower sprues. For my landscaping I was missing white flowers with my surplus of red and Dk.Pink, so I felt this was a balance. I also got a good amount of the Brt. Pink goodies since I know that's a pretty hard part to get and it is expensive online. The Miami warehouses or even the Plant City Cinema model I may be doing sometime soon will benefit from it. I envy the Clear 1x2s as I NEEEED those! This tower named Element that I am doing would really benefit from it. Time to head to O-Town and raid the LIC store! Maybe I'll clean the wall of them!

LEGO has been improving significantly lately. I would say that we are in one right now. They are producing sets very intelligently; they are thinking as to what the customer wants and what the audience would benefit from. SW might have enjoyed a better year around '09 or '10 but the big successes are Friends, City, and Marvel. When they licensed Ben 10 those sets were mediocre. When Hero Factory peaked, I wasn't excited. But now they picked the right designs. Now, their sets have a wider palette of colors, enough to form a brick kaleidoscope . Prices have slightly improved for product especially in the City "Great Vehicles" line, sticking closer to the $.10/part range. Yes, some other sets are overpriced still but the problem is not as severe as in the past couple of years. Their PR is like a big winner now. With programs like LUGBULK, as well as their increased participation in events, functions, and the like, they have grown as a very outreaching company. Inside and out, they have reached a Golden Age right now with all of these achievements put together.

Great job! I really like the technique and the use of those claw pieces.

Sawgrass was the roaring opposite on Sunday May 27th. I am working on the IPAB selection slowly but surely but have nailed down 2/3 of the wall using my photos from the store: http://www.brickbuildr.com/view/pab/side/off/80/ Since I know the people they know where I am headed the instant I enter the store, lol. Weak selection on the 27th, they didn't have anything clear that I wanted except I did make do with the 1x2 plates shown since they work well for the window section of my project. Actually if I hadn't tried filling up my cups with the tan 1x4, gray slope, dk red wings before, I would have found it to be better. I wanted either panels or 1x2 bricks in clear, but may strike a deal for a case of it in the future. I did purchase for my LEGO project "Element" some gray 2x4 bricks, mdblue 2x4 bricks, 2x2 bricks etc stacked like that "Stack 168 2x4s in a cup" thing with 1x4 plates and 1x2 plates in red, blue, and clear that would be used to support the building used as filler.

The pink bricks and dark purple plates I am digging! The Miami industrial scene has pastel colors all over its buildings and I may replicate a few warehouses from here when the time comes for my train layout, and boy is Pink a necessity! I might as well snag some TrMdBlue rounds for bricklink too. The window/door frames help too especially filling in voids I guess (I have a lot of doors)...

The January line in of itself completely undermined the summer cut. Fortunately I am having a light budget, some to a bulk order and later in this year I may, $ permitting, catch up on the last three modulars, buy a couple Jan sets that I haven't, and get the City Garage and green truck with depressed center trailer. For LEGO to put in a green baseplate in the garage section is silly but I guess it can be considered that the line is marketed to a younger audience.

These sets look awesome! Very nice to see some of the more interesting parts in new colors. This is surely the first time the wagon ends are in dark tan.

Excellent job! Very nicely detailed model, and a monster at that!

This is awesome! Very modern building.

It was truly a mixed year... 30 for PAB in February, 25 for the Fishing Boat, 40 for the PAB in July that finished my Depot, 80 for a mix-n-match in FOTM 2011, 120 for Maersk, 45 for other stuff, and 25 for a half off PQ. So in total, $365, more or less, unless I forgot other stuff. But then I sold about 120 off.

Here's a video of the completed Heritage unit... Enjoy!

If you ask me, I really like the lack of these sort of sets. They make for a challenge. That challenge is on you, the builder, to create the models to your liking. I fear if I have all these sets available, the point of creating these structures fades and the hobby becomes boring. The 4207 by the way looks amazing! The 2011 Pet Shop, this set, and the Town Hall will probably be my only big budget sets this year. I too noticed the pumps in a separate Flickr image, up close, and for those who have not been able to find it, it's right here: I always dreamed of having something the caliber of 6394, and this is almost a suitable replacement for it.

My analysis is LEGO is diversifying. They have come up with quite a bit of profit over the years so I guess they're just taking the risks and producing all these third-world themes that really do not jive all too well with the community. The action figure lines are just awful when they make those macro figs... and it seems they won't learn with their Ben 10 mistake. Otherwise core lines like City, Exclusives, SW, and Creator are all overall well founded while the others you know are going to be short lived. I had no strong hopes for PQ, and Toy Story little more hope, and into 2012, you all have seen the deals.

I'm mixed about it. They took out a lot of good elements... such as dark tan 1x2 tiles, dark blue brick as a whole, and dark blue tile and plate 1x2. Though, I'm not a LEGO PAB buyer anymore, and I haven't bought a brick from them online since 2007. I won't disclose what I have taken to (which many AFOL are a part of) but otherwise store PAB is a bigger chunk. BL is good in that you can get it cheaper, and yes the wishywashiness in new-vs-used is there, but in my willing case I like to go for newer parts which show less wear (ie. dark tan, dark blue, et al)

If LEGO keeps going at this rate, we could be expecting a golden train age. The system is fairly versatile as it is if someone got into the hobby in the last year or so and I like the PF idea. All I am dreaming of is more American rolling stock. If they make an "American freight train" with a CSX (they also have a big part in eco-friendly transporation motives) locomotive pulling a gondola of scrap, boxcar, tanker, et al things will just be perfect. But then again, I like the challenge of innovating trains ourselves, and a modern Hobby Train would be a nice option with a different palette.

Yes, instructions in printed letter size paper (like how one would print custom instructions) were sent. I think I was on a little hurry that day, so I cut the fat and went through. Plus, maybe I had the thought that many people have seen the models before in other stores.

Yep, and likewise. The long awaited Ep. 9 Of course, for the valued continuity of the series, I took the opportunity to film the models in-store just last month. Of course, being my pride and joy, they just couldn't say no.

If you want to make your train cars about 4-wide, I do believe you can use the screws of an HO scale chassis with a technic hole and it'll fit fine. There are LEGO fans who have taken to even N-scale. Size probably doesn't matter, but you can certainly scale up or down.

So, I have decided to start a thread in a semi-blog style format. This thread will showcase the development of my town and refer to train works (mainly town, but train will be incorporated but not heavily focused since this is a town forum; now I may establish a train thread). Also, as some bricks may not be available yet, I will present concept images as well for future MOCs. My big project right now is the development of Downtown Plant City, FL, a railroad town in Florida. It is the crossroads of all current lines that access Tampa. But the downtown buildings from a town structure are more integral than the trains themselves. This building was the kick-off of the project. It is the Train Depot, which is just now a museum and trainwatcher hangout. I have the main building done with no interior, but as time progresses I should have an interior established. (Video: )In 2012, as LUGBULK arrives in the middle of the year, I should be taking on many, many more buildings. They are kind of the old style, built circa 50s and earlier. But the big blip about this town that I will capture in the brick is the car show. The car show is a monthly event that features many vintage and new vehicles on the big public lots. Since the public lots border the tracks, they will be there in the future GFLUG layouts. Cars and trucks are not the only assembly. There are trailers that vend food and drink to customers and other little things. To that end, I have rendered one of those in LDD in a more imagined style. It is colored as if it's a cotton candy or ice cream vendor and of course the color will be one eye catcher to the public Comments and suggestions are welcome. I won't only be documenting the development of Plant City, FL as I will be working on other town endeavours (ie. strip mall, revehiclization (if that's a word , among others).

Yes, I'm an on again off again part of GFLUG. One of the members hooked me up with the contacts.

Thanks! We transported the models by request of one employee SUV and our jeep. Our jeep hit the cap with all of the big models. Much of the biggies were on my car, incl. FB, PS, GE, and others.