Project: Upsizing the Classic Auto Repair Shop

If you've followed along with our town you've already gotten a pretty good look at our upsized Repair Shop (recently seen ON FIRE!) I'm still working on a couple interior details (and lighting issues) before doing a video of the shop as it now stands, but I wanted to discuss some of the story and design ideas behind it.

Police Truck and Prototyping

Still catching up some old posts and wanted to show you how we "prototype" new vehicles and show you a police truck we developed.

Why 4-wide? What's the biggest advantage of building "classic" scaled Lego?

You might have noticed that our town is build with a LOT less detail than the new modular style towns you see on other channels. Part of that is because it was started-- and has at its core-- a lot of classic Lego sets from the 1980s.

Bricksburgh's Tesla Supercharger HOW-TO

We've already tried to explain our lack of new videos.   We've shown you what the Bricksburgh Tesla Supercharger looks like.  Now we'll show you how it goes together and explain a few upgrades we have planned:

Click on through for our video tutorial and a look at our Tesla!

Tesla Supercharger Opens in Bricksburgh!

Inspired by Lego's leaked new set featuring an exploding gas pump, I decided  to see if I could whip up a proper alternative.

Fortunately, I didn't have to look very far for inspiration... as we have a Tesla in our garage!

Repair Shop Finished!

As we wrote about a few weeks ago in "Repairing the Repair Shop", we've been rebuilding and redesigning some parts of town as it gets set back up.  We've since finished the reconstruction of the Repair Shop-- and here it is!

It's now taller than ever!  Why?  Read on.

Banana Luxury Apartments

Well, okay we're not really going to call it that... But the newest building in Bricksburgh DOES have a yellow outside and a white middle.   With the exception of the hotel at the other end of the boardwalk, this new building is the only residence in town that is truly "walk out" beachfront property.

 Read on to find out more about it!

Revisions Revisions

We're still working to bring Bricksburgh back.
Last post we showed you our Repair Shop redesign taking shape.  Today we've posted a new video that shows how the town is coming along and also shows you how the Repair Shop has been improved and enlarged since our last posting.  There's still much to do, but a lot has changed since our last video, most notably the beachfront area.  Check it out:  http://youtu.be/zk0-HiyLUoY

Repairing the Repair Shop

In real estate they always say that the most important thing is "location, location, location".  And here we have a prime location ready to build on.   It is right across the street from the police station and on a two busy street corners!

So what business will get built next to the pizza shop?  Read on, as we rebuild Bricksburgh!

Lego Table Update - Final Assembly

The tables are assembled!

That's right, all the parts are in place and we're just one final sanding away from putting a finish on them.  Check out them out!

Lego Table Update - All A Board?

After a lot of planning, figuring, and waiting for the weather to get nicer... or at least STOP SNOWING, we finally were able to pick up the necessary lumber to make our new Lego tables with.

Of course, getting all the wood home was the easy part... and just the beginning.

The Best Laid Plans

It is snowing.  A lot.   We had planned to start construction on the new tables this week but every chance we've had to go get the lumber-- every chance-- it has snowed.  Or rained.  The upside is that we've had a lot of time to work on the final plans and I think we've come up with some good ones.  Want to see?  Read on for some construction plans that involve wood instead of plastic.  Oh-- that red smudge?  It's blood... I caught a nasty splinter while lumber shopping!

More Car Variations - As Requested

A while back we posted a YouTube video on how to make a Porsche but lots of folks were more interested in this:

That's right-- a family-mobile in the background attracted more attention than a sports car!  

Rooms With a View

Last time we showed you how the Bricksburgh TV Station was built.  Since we're talking about how our landmark buildings in town came into being, it seems only fitting to talk about the City Hotel.  The City Hotel was a natural addition to the town.  After all, if the town is to be a vacation island with a famous beach... it would need a hotel-- and one that would offer First Class service! 

 But what was the REAL inspiration of the hotel and why does it look the way it does?  

You might be surprised....

Super Vans!

In between projects at the new house, projects at the old house, and moving stuff from one to the other, we've been working on some Lego projects too.   The town may be boxed up and the table dismantled but there are plenty of unused Lego pieces lurking about and now and then we find enough to cobble together some interesting creations-- some of which are good enough that they will survive to make an appearance in a future Legotown Tour.  These "Super Vans" (from our YouTube video) are two of those recent creations.  Read on for their story.

The Ugly Bus-ling

In anticipation of our Lego City Buses Video hitting 1 million views this month (probably) on YouTube, I'd love to be able to post a tutorial on how to build one--- and might still-- but for now, here's a look at one of the very early prototypes.   We call it, the UGLY BUSLING:

Top Shelf

After I posted videos on our YouTube channel showing the new Lego table, I immediately began getting all sorts of requests for instructions on how to build one.   This was quite flattering!  The video shows the table after it was set up, but I thought this would be a better place to explain how it was built and why you should not build one...  and why this table could very well not survive much longer.

Death From Above

Growing up overseas and spending lots of time on ski slopes in the Alps was very inspiring.  We rode cable cars all over the mountains to get around the ski areas and like most Lego kids, I was determined to replicate real life in my Legotown.  I don't have any surviving pictures of the BEST cable car system I made....  all I have is this, a crude "cargo" version:

I know it doesn't look like much, but bear with me... it'll make more sense in a minute.