Father & Son Lego City Project

Access

On finding this lego forum, i was amazed by the number of people who miss the good old days of sitting at the kitchen table at home when you were a kid and building kits all day.

I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY GROWNUP LEGO FREAK IN IRELAND!!!

But I am wrong, there are hundreds here on this forum, and I for one am delighted that I need not pretend to be a grownup anymore LOL!

On seeing this, i told my six year old that we would build a little town using the city lego kits available in smiths in blanch and from the massive box of lego that i had handed down to him from my time.

I mainly got the city kits as gifts when i was a kid, and most consist of kits around the late 80's early 90's. seeing them all on the brickset website brought back so many memories! (i.e. This Kit)

So, the project plan is to get a sheet of MDF approx 1.5mtr x 1mtr and paint a road layout, grass, carparks etc on it and build the kits and place them on it. (I dont want to use the lego roads as they cost 10 euros per square on the lego factory site!) And the yound lad can add the small city models and kits that he get for his birthdays/christmas etc. Train/police station/hospital etc.

My first question is this.... has anyone here done something like this project or could someone point me in the right direction to a site for designing/researching this?

Up in blanch yesterday the young lad and i bought this model...

My second question is this.... we bought that model for 19.99 in smiths in blanch but on the lego website as you can see, this model is 29.99! How come the lego website is more expensive than a smiths for most recent models?

Thanks very much for any info, and as the project goes on, I will post photos and info.

Kintarō Hattori

Access wrote:

My second question is this.... we bought that model for 19.99 in smiths in blanch but on the lego website as you can see, this model is 29.99! How come the lego website is more expensive than a smiths for most recent models?

That's just a bit of luck. The reccomended price is €29.99, but you were lucky enough to find it for less. Perhaps they were clearing it to make way for newer stock. The box might have been damaged, or they simply might have had it priced incorrectly, it does happen.

I was very fortunate once to get a €7.99 piece for just €0.99, simply because the box was slightly damaged.

Good luck with the project and let us know how it comes along.

El Nick

Access wrote:

My first question is this.... has anyone here done something like this project or could someone point me in the right direction to a site for designing/researching this?

Oh Lord... Wish I had the space, man.

My wee guy and I have played with having the Lego City Fire Station and Police Station on a small set-up with Lego roads (got some from when I was a kid me'self. I agree they're dead expensive) but it always ends up being taken down 'cos the standard Dublin three bedroom-semi I live in has space at a bit of a premium.

Lego did a range of rugs for a while with roads and stuff on them... Actually part of the Jack Stone range from a couple years back. Dunno if that would be at all to your interest.

Nick.

lostcarpark

I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY GROWNUP LEGO FREAK IN IRELAND!!!

Me too!

I know what you mean about road plates. I have a few of the current black ones, which I think were about €8 for a pair of them. It would cost quite a bit to cover your board. A 32-32 baseplate is about 25cm along each side, so you'd need 4x6=24 of them (though not all would be roads).

I know some people who are building their own roads out of 1-wide bricks lying on their sides. I don't think this approach is any cheaper, I'm afraid. It takes a lot of bricks to build a road.

I think a good approach would be to mark out your MDF board for 32-32 baseplates, as quite a few sets come on one and they're very easy to fit together. You can then paint on your road pattern and drop in more and more 32x32 pieces of your city as your collection expands.

Here's a great example of packing city buildings into a 32x32 module:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/legoville/312101189/in/set-72157594381527242/

If you paint your roads to be similar to the road baseplates, you could gradually overlay it with them as you get them (or you could just save your money for real sets and not waste it on silly baseplates).

songbirds

Lego City Police Station

Does anybody know where I could pick up a Lego City Police Station - all sold out in Smiths/Hamleys. This is a Santa request for my nephew so you can appreciate my sister's dilemna.

mikeya

We ordered ours on Saturday and it arrived today, £65 which included delivery. We're in London - seems they deliver to all of Europe. Good luck!

songbirds

Hi mikeya

Many thanks for that info. Someone will be thrilled! From where did you order - through the Lego site?
Thanks

songbirds

mikeya wrote: »

We ordered ours on Saturday and it arrived today, £65 which included delivery. We're in London - seems they deliver to all of Europe. Good luck!

Sorry Mikeya

I have just noticed you referred to amazon.fr in your original reply.
Must be having a senior moment - time of the year I expect.
Thanks

mikeya

No, from the French Amazon website, www.amazon.fr. They deliver to Europe. Use google's translate tool if you need help with the language on the site but it is otherwise a replica of the .co.uk site.

mikeya

Beat me to it! No worries.