rriggs

Cheers for all the positive comments guys! It's appreciated! It's not really what you would call a standard footprint! Including the road plate at the front it's 32+16+8+32 deep and 32+32 wide. It uses a mixture of 32x32, 16x32 and 8x16 base plates. More updates as I've been working hard on the middle floor today. The interior walls have all moved since yesterday to make the canteen bigger and to move the bathroom to a spot with no windows. It also means that the front windows aren't encroached upon by any of the interior walls which looks neater. This is the overall layout now which from left to right is the firefighters' rec room, firefighters' dorm, bathroom and the café: Close up of the canteen (making use of some Friends fixtures and fittings!): The dorm and the bathroom. Not much to say about the dorm but I'm very pleased with the bathroom. It's small but has a separate WC, two showers, two sinks and a mirror: Lastly (for today!) is the rec room. Refreshments on hand for when the canteen is closed, a TV and sofa area to relax, a computer for whatever firefighters do when bored and a small ping pong table. Also a much better view of the access for the fireman's pole: Cheers Rog

Nice conversions/MODs. I will be tweaking my appliances once I've got the HQ finished. For your firefighters do you not have any silver helmets as quite a few sets came with these a few years ago? My ranks go like this: White - Firefighter Red - Specialist Firefighter Silver - Leading Firefighter Gold - Station Officer Cheers Rog

Hi all It's been a couple of weeks since the last update - That's because I've been busy. Overall view of the front after some extending. Main changes are that the front is now on a street using LEGO roadplates - This was a difficult and fiddly operation to lift the building off the existing plates and move it forwards by 7 studs! As you can also see the building has been extended to the left hand side with a new larger reception area: Close up of the extension. I am particularly pleased with the roof and the much more impressive front entrance compared to the original building. Think I might need to move the lamp post though as it's a bit in the way... The back of the building has also been updated and extended. Main change is the replacement of the hanger door with sliding shutter doors. Allows for much more room inside and provides a much more stable base for the upper floors. The whole compound has also been made larger with proper outside bays for the support vehicles and still space for the garden (that will be the next thing to be done): Square-on view of the front with all the shutters up: The interior walls have also now been completed. This is the top floor. From left to right this will be the Chief's office, board room, training room and then the open plan area which will be the call centre: The middle floor (again from left to right) will be the firefighters' rec room, firefighters' dorm and the toilets/showers. The open plan area on this floor will be the canteen/café. There's also now an outside seating area accessible through off this area. You can also see the firefighters' pole dropping down through the rec room floor. This had to be moved as part of the redesign as it was blocking the rear shutter from opening in its old position. The interior of the new reception area. Considerably more spacious than the old 6 wide area in the old building! Lastly, the interior of the garages. This is the only area that is pretty much finished. Fully tiled floor plus equipment for restocking, repairing and servicing the fire engines, some spare wheels and a diagnostic computer. At the far end you can see where the pole comes down and the fire exit: Cheers Rog

How about animals, rangers, adventurers, tourists & their paraphenalia, desert camps, Paris-Dakar rally, etc, etc. I don't think that the problem is necessarily lack of playability but a (perceived) political correctness around the colour of minifigs - Brown minifgs have been limited to licensed themes alongside fleshies. I wonder also if it is related to the fact that LEGO's target markets are essentially western/first world markets. Asipring second world markets are also a potential source of sales but will generally want to play with products that are based on the first world that they asipre to. The third world isn't a LEGO target market. This means that there is a much smaller indiginous market for African LEGO than others. Those areas of Africa which are potential markets are also going to be pretty westernised and looking for first world themes. This is of course purely speculative without seeing any LEGO market research or detailed sales figures.... I personally would love an African theme! I read and replied to this based on it being a Town/City based African theme.... Cheers Rog

Which is the new one? Cheers Rog

So unfair! I was thoroughly enjoying this review and it just ended! Can't wait for the next instalment... Cheers Rog

Good point! Just noticed the guys firing arrows at each other on the roof too! Not such a friendly little scene after all... Cheers Rog

Love it! Great cross between classic town and modern modular buildings. Like others have said, some of the details are great. I really like your traffic cones. They're a great size. Your little bus reminds me of the Technobus Gulliver: Is your town is very dangerous as I notice that the cop is on patrol with his gun drawn... Cheers Rog

But where's the actual Dodge... Really want to see that blue pickup in your showroom! Cheers Rog

Nice review - but I really don't like this set. The fire appliance is too basic and I just don't like the burniung building. If I were to buy it I would feel like I was paying a lot of the money for parts that I simply don't want that make up the burning building. Maybe if it was half the price I might consider it but not at £25. LEGO have done this with a few of the vehicle sets this year. Where a vehicle on it's own would be £x they have added buiildings which are not properly finished buildings (burning building in this set, museum frontage in another) and the price doubles. Cheers Rog

Looks good and looking forward to seeing the finishing touches. Why have you numbered the bays 1 & 4? Will there be another couple of bays in between at some point? I agree about the central bell tower but I'm not sure how you'd do it as it will looker even stranger to have the two arches above the bays but only one tower in between them... Cheers Rog

Another update: The compound at the back is now done and fenced in with a nice set of gates. Close up of the compound where you get a good view of the bay numbers (reversed to match the labelling out front) and the garden for lunch breaks and for the firemen to fettle while on standby. There will be a barbeque here too eventually. The hanger-style door is now done and works pretty well. Blocks bay 4 a fair bit but works quite nicely and is still superior to a fixed wall. Cheers Rog

Hi Update time Taken apart so that the work on the interior can commence: The ground floor/garages. You can see reception and the staircase to the left. Some equipment is just about visible and you can see that I've started work on the yard area at the rear of the building. The upper levels. Some partition walls have started to go in but on hold while I get the ground floor and exterior finished: Cheers Rog

Hi all Time to rebuild the fire headquarters into a modular-ish style headquarters. Here the start of work: And the nearly finished exterior: The roof comes off and the floors come apart but at the moment there is no interior. I need to put in some interior walls, etc. The staircases and fireman's pole are there but that's it at the moment. The big opening at the bag will have hanger style folding doors when done. More soon... Cheers Rog

Well, I made my choice!! New thread with the new Fire Station has started... Cheers Rog

The Watford store is opening on 21st February 2013. Very much looking forward to it as it will mean a LEGO store just 20 mins from home! Cheers Rog

I've enoyed expanding it bit by bit too. It's decision time though - this weekend do I tear it down and modular-ise it or add two more garages and get a new tower built? Thoughts? Cheers Rog

Lots of updates! The two rooms over the garages - medical unit: ...and the dorm: Inside the main building: Ground floor - the café/canteen 1st Floor - the call centre supervisor's desk 2nd floor - the chief's office: Inside the main building Ground floor - the end of the café and the main reception desk 1st floor - the call centre 2nd floor - the chief's secretary's desk, the theory training facility and the conference desk Overall view of outside tidied up since the last photos! The west wing: The east wing: Cheers Rog

Thanks fella. It has six garages by the way... Cheers Rog

It's the weekend so time for some more updates: First the new garages now have a room on the top of them. This is going to be the office and training room for the paramedics that are going to be stationed at the station. There is also now paving leading up to the doors and a bench under the tree. A few of the aerials and things have been moved about too. Plus the trim on top of the garage buildings is now white where it used to be grey: Between two of the garages there is now a little home for the brigade mechanic and some spare tyres: The tower from last week was just not right so I have pulled it down. Just an empty space here now pending a new tower being built. I think the new tower will be more of a structure than the original but we will see... Started to fit out the building now too starting with a café/canteen on the ground floor. Fixtures and fitting have been pinched from the Friends café but I think fit quite well. Seats and tables will be next. Reception will also be on the ground floor. The call centre will be on the first floor with offices and training facility on the top floor: I have also started to assemble the staff this week: Lastly, I have recoloured there tow truck from the multi-storey car park as a fire support vehicle: Cheers Rog

The LEGO fire truck 7239 from a couple of years ago had outriggers. They were made using Technic parts and folded vertically. Not the most elegant design but might be a reasonable starting point? Cheers Rog

Thanks for the comments! I agree about the bows/arches and am going to replace them with simple beams to match the rest of the building. Cheers Rog

Some small updates yesterday. First attempt at the training tower is now done. I'm fairly happy with it but can't help thinking it looks like it should be on an airfield rather than at a fire station. I think it's the colours that give that feel so might have to play about with it a bit more. I'm happy with the overall design though... I've also added a low fence/wall around the boundary and a couple of fire brigade signs at the entrance. I've also started planning the interior and have started to get some of the accessories I will need together. Plenty of office equipment and also a couple of pizzas for the canteen. With the grey plate now in use, the next decision is what to put on top of the new garages... Cheers Rog

Use a combination of an air duster can, a small soft paintbrush and a feather duster. The key is to dust them before the dust becomes ingrained because until then no water or scrubbing is needed. I always keep the door to the room where my LEGO is closed which makes a huge difference in dust build up. Cheers Rog

Another update. Rebuild of the front of the main office complex to make it less flat/plain looking. Also added a second storey to the extreme right hand side, added an additional staircase, a guardrail on top of the new garages and made the top of the fireman's pole/staircase roof less fussy: Still no decision on the empty grey plate... C&C welcome! Cheers Rog