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Nice looking car! The chrome wheels are a bit much for my very Euro taste but the overall effect is great nonetheless! The front end reminds me of a 70s Corvette - was this intended? Cheers Rog

I'd love to have some hints for cars. I'm just using LEGO designs at the moment.... Cheers LT. The sofa was originally going to have cheese slope arms but I keep my cheese slopes with the sloped racer grilles, racer wings, etc and when I spotted them I knew I wanted them for my sofa! Cheers Rog

This is great! Really picks up the details of the AC300 really well. I really like the interior too with the handrails adding a nice touch! Have you got pics of the driver's cab? I've been planning an 8-wide Van Hool for a while now (although I'm thinking of an Astron rather than a city bus) and you have inspired me to get cracking on it. I think it will be my next project after my current one. Great work and thanks for sharing! Bikes are carried on the front for several reason: * Safety - the driver can supervise bike loading/unloading from the cab and can see if a bike works loose in transit * Security - the driver and passengers can see anyone who tries to interfere with bikes * Cleanliness - the back of a bus can be a filthy place with road dirt, spray and engine fluids/fumes which would make a bike filthy. On the front the bike woud get no more dirty than if cycling along the same road * Engineering - it is normally easier to modify the front of a rear engined bus to fit a bike carrier and it will also help weight distribution Cheers Rog

Hi As some of you may have seen, I am in the process of building a MOC car dealership. Anyway, I need to start putting in some minifigs and can't decide which version of technician to use. These are my choices: I will probably have three in the workshops and will vary the heads/hats but want them all to be dressed the same. Thoughts and opinions please... Cheers Rog

Interior updates at last!! First up, the showroom. Now almost fully furnished. You can see the reception desk, desks for two salesmen and a sofa for customers who are waiting. Both salesmen and the receptionists have computers and phones. There is also, of course, some shrubbery and a car for sale. Just behind the car you can see the board with the colour choices for your new car! The next two pictures show the Service Department. First one of the area behind the service counter. The second one shows the customer waiting area. Sticking out of the wall opposite the waiting area is a TV. It's pretty much impossible to photograph from the other side! I am going to add a coffee machine to this area too. The workshop area is coming on nicely too. I want to add some tool racks and need to finish the tops of technician's tool boxes but it's getting there! This is a customer's eye view of the main entrance now. Looks much better with the desk there which also has a Ford oval and the dealership name on the front too. I am also very happy with the shine of the floor tiles in these photos. Gives a really authentic look to it! I might be able to get some more done tomorrow but we'll have to see. Next on the agenda is some smaller details (coffee machine, tools, fire extinguishers, etc. I also need to start thinking about some staff.... Cheers Rog

Looks like a great start and I'm glad I helped in some small way to get you going on this! I like the chequered tile floor and the black framed windows together with the red stripe look good too. You have now countered inspired me to get on with my interior this weekend..... Cheers Rog

I'd say go for a paved square of some sort. You can always add as many or as few statues, fountains, etc as you want. I think a square is more versatile than a park plus I always imagine a park to be at the edge of a city centre rather than right in it. You can always have patches of grass and plants in a quare too. Cheers Rog

This has been typical of City sets for the last few years. Those parts which are out of sight (or nearly out of sight as in this case) are often in very different colours to other parts in the set. I've heard several reasons for this but the two which seem most likely are that it gives a wider variety of parts and (as you would expect!) for cost reasons. Cheers Rog

Thanks for all the great comments! I worked for Ford for nearly 10 years so it's in the blood now... I thought about it. The two reasons why I decided against it in the end were the sheer amount of tiles it would require and the stud give a kind of gravel effect to the lot which is not unusual in many dealership lots. Cheers Rog

Again, I'm not sure that is the case. Look in the photo above and compare the proportions of the business end of the truck against the cab - it is a big lump of equipment and Lego have matched the real thing well - even if it isn't aesthetically pleasing it is accurate! Cheers Rog

I think it's spot on. The rubbish trucks used here are built by Dennis have very low cabs just like the one in this set. It's even the right colour for my local council! Bit of a small pic unfortunately but you can see the cab height and the colour scheme. Here's a bigger picture of one with a different council: As you can see, the cab is very low and the sides are slightly bowed just like the Lego one. All in all, I think Lego have got the proportions just about spot on! Cheers Rog

Nice review! I hated the idea of the stickered grille when I first saw it. However, now that I have a couple, I think they look really good and have replaced grille tiles on one of my MOCs. I was also dubious about the two stud attachment of the side panels but they are, like you say, actually very sturdy. The curved sides look very much like rubbish trucks round here. As for the logos, all rubbish and waste collectin where I live is under the same branding by the local authority. We have three different collections two of which are recyling collections. All three collections are done by the same trucks on on different days. Cheers Rog

Thanks LT! I've started in the workshop this afternoon with mechanic's toolboxes and the beginning of the ramps. The toolboxes are based on the ones that come in the new motocross transport with the ramps based on the ramp from the 7642 Garage from a couple of years ago. Pics soon... Cheers Rog

It's been a while since the last update as I have been very busy these last couple of weeks. Anyway, been able to do some updates to the dealership - including the all important signs and some cars. Here's the overall view of the dealership. The fiddliest bit was building a LEGO oval shape for the Ford logo. I think the result is pretty good. The dealership also has a name "Morton & Cole" which is quite typical of a local Ford dealer's in the UK: A close up of the showroom entrance which gives a better view of the oval. You can also see some of the other signs a bit more clearly. And finally a close up of the sign out front. No oval shapes to make here as a real dealership would have rectangular signs out front. The sign has been redesigned from the earlier versions. Next up is more cars for out front and the interior which is still as empty as it was in the last update! C&C welcome as always!! Cheers Rog

Very nice! Could do with a blue light at the back methinks? Maybe swap out one of the red ones? It comes with the new ambulance. It's supposed to go on the paramedic's bag. This MOC kinda makes me wish I hadn't put that little sticker on the tile now myself...!

Ditto! (especially as you what I'm working on at the moment LT!)

Oh yeah... I hadn't noticed that!! Any mods got 30 seconds to correct the spelling in the title? Thanks for the feedback guys!

OK, I have received my tiles from Bricklink so time for another quick update: Inside the showroom: The floor is now tiled and I have modified the roof so it is removable for better access. The studs randomly around the floor are there to take the furniture once I have built it. Inside the workshop. Again all tiled with studs here and there for the furniture in the workshop reception area on the left where the tiles are white. On the right in the workshop itself the tiles are a more practical colour and there are studs points for the ramps and other equipment that will be going in soon. The roof is also removable on this side of the building too. Outside the main changes are the tiled walkways up to the doors and the porch roof (where the clock is) which now sits a row lower than the rest of the roof. Next will be the interior fittings and the signs (which I have printed but need to build an oval shaped background for one piece which is tricky!). TTFN Rog

I've ended up doing similar with my 8258 Technic truck. I'm not really interested in Technic (my LEGO must have minifigs!) but I got this for Xmas one year. I built it, played with it for five mins and then stuck it on a shelf. It's stayed there ever since. Partly because it looks smart up there and partly because I can't bring myself to disassemble it! I'd hate to think how dusty it is if I got it down... Cheers Rog

Looks good. A couple of suggestions: 1. I always think it's nice with a town layout to have an exit route. A piece of road that goes off the edge of the layout. You can imagine that this is the route to the rest of the world... 2. How do you drive to the train station/space centre? (Or, maybe you're not supposed to?) 3. Your trackes are overlapping/will overlap the bottom right hand corner piece of road. I'm not sure how you could easily fix this though...? Cheers Rog

A couple of updates - taking into account some of the great feedback I have had so far: Firstly, I have done some work on the interior of the showroom. The roof has been raised by 1 row of bricks but also I have re-engineered the roof so that the support beams and pillars are no longer required. The overall effect creates much more room inside: Before: After: There's also been some more work outside. Obviously, the showroom roof is now higher so the roof ornaments have had to be moved around a bit. There's also now pots for the plants in front of the showroom and some customer parking spaces (although I'm not completely happy with these yet). Orders have gone into Bricklink for floor tiles (400 tiles in all!). I've gone with white for the showroom and tan for the service department (to break up the grey a bit and because they're cheaper! ). I have also ordered some 2x4 grey tiles for me to make my signage with. More updates soon. Cheers Rog

I'm going to look at increasing the roof height a bit as the car inside the showroom did look a little squashed, however the trend amongst dealerships in the UK is for low single storey dealerships and that's what I'm trying to portray.

Thanks LT, I'll have to revisit your dealerships and double-check what I might want to borrow in that case! From my Ford days I have contacts at Ford Motor Company and already have permission to use the branding... Cheers Rog

The signage will be the next stage. I need to make decals of Ford logos and the signs for service reception, showroom, etc. I really want to crack on with the interior fittings (desks in the showroom, ramps and tools in the workshop, etc) but there's no point until I get the floors tiled. Need to build some cars at some stage I guess too!

It's blue, white and grey because it's going to be a Ford dealer and these are the colours of Ford dealers in the UK. I thought the same and the plants are in pots since this photo was taken!