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My 1st Winter Village (In Progress)

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MitchO:
I had put a thread in General asking about elevated platforms (thank you for the suggestions!), but as this thing grows way out of control, my parts inventory and level of expertise, I figured there was enough to put together a thread of the pictures of what I have so far.  Right now, the plan is 5.5 plates by 2 plates, 8 diff MILS plates overall, and I'm already running out of room for all the Winter Village buildings I have but still ... I'm very happy with how it's going overall, especially considering this is the first MOC style I'm doing and I've clearly bitten off more than I should. :)



Here's the overall set up as it currently stands.  The three green plates have not been started, and the mostly red wide part behind the train station is my "town square" in progress (think the multiple elevations, statues and stairs in front of the NYC main library). 



Santa's Workshop and base was mostly built so I had a feel for how short I was going to be on my tall light grey pieces. It will eventually mirror the back right in structure, and I need to still landscape and clean up the area (the Workshop needs to go back a couple studs and I will be making room for the toy making assembly line in front).  The plate to the right of this will eventually be the Gingerbread House, which we haven't even built yet.



The back right is 95% of the way done; the two plates are one 32x64 MILS plate to allow for the platform and wall to stay together.  I don't have a good picture of the detailing yet, but i have 2x2 light grey for the front, and white angled plates overlapping onto that for the snow, plus a caroling group being photographed, some Elves admiring their work outside the toy store.

The front two plates can be separated and are "intially done"; I'm not satisfied with my limited usage of the angle plates to give some landscaping.  The Post Office is elevated one round of masonry bricks, but I ended up just doing it on the plates that it's built on (I have a shortage of 4x4 whites).  If you aren't familiar with the pond on the right corner, it has gears sticking out that allows those two skaters rotate and circle around the pond; I'm pretty happy with how I managed to keep that mechanic exposed on the side of the MILS plate.  The gazebo, benches, and/or little stand may move to my town square, but I'm already running out of room there.  If enough of them move, I'll have room for Santa's Visit here.



The back opening of the Train Station is a little weird ... I have it backed up to my town square, but "realistically" I can't just have the walkways lead to the back, as it would lead my minifigs right into the coffee shop and ticket booth :P  I also went *nuts* doing the math on getting the train track properly connected to go to the tunnel (which will have a mirror on the other side) ... because of where it's placed on the right side, the middle needs to actually be 32x52 ...  i'm using 16x16 and 6x8 plates to extended that MILS plate, but I didn't realize they are a different thickness than actual base plates.  Do I have to cut 32x32 baseplates to make a custom size like this?



I also need to do some math on the best way to break up my stairs, and I think my main, wide area needs to be 2 steps higher so it's more visible behind the train station.  Currently the plan is to have the main area go as far back as those little extra stairs sit ... then those stairs will stop at the small platform shown, and branch off left and right to meet the other plates.  Again ... not enough parts, not enough space, etc.  This area in general will also need a lot of little changes to make it look good, rather than just generic square brick building.

Any suggestions, ideas (or brick donations ;D) welcome!

Doodlebug:
I think you are going to end up cutting baseplates. There are 16x32 baseplates, but that is not going to solve your problem. There are also some 14x20's.
Before you get too far, are you going to get the light kits available. To add them after assembly is not too difficult. I personally think the lights are too bright, but they do add a nice touch.

MitchO:

--- Quote from: Doodlebug on September 22, 2022, 04:15:00 pm ---I think you are going to end up cutting baseplates. There are 16x32 baseplates, but that is not going to solve your problem. There are also some 14x20's.
Before you get too far, are you going to get the light kits available. To add them after assembly is not too difficult. I personally think the lights are too bright, but they do add a nice touch.

--- End quote ---

No, I've already spent so much on the parts of this, I can't even consider investing in lights right now.

legoweeble:
Thankfully, cutting baseplates is not that difficult - I've done it at the store to replace the ones that had been the play areas of the long-lost (and unloved) computer/build kiosk.
*Most important is to make sure you are cutting straight - I've used Megablech for that purpose because it is expendable in case of blade slippage or other nefarious acts. :D
*Line up the bricks where you wish to make your cut, then score along them multiple times - I would start with a lighter pass to get it right, then somewhat heavier once the line is made.
*Once scored, you can snap the baseplate along the scoring and clean up the edges with sandpaper, a file, etc. and if desired, make the corners less pointy by snipping them off at a 45 degree angle like LEGO does on its molded edges.

I hope this helps somewhat - please ask questions if something is unclear or you want more info. - Jenny

MitchO:

--- Quote from: legoweeble on September 24, 2022, 07:56:01 am ---Thankfully, cutting baseplates is not that difficult ...

--- End quote ---

Thanks Jenny ... I bit the bullet this weekend and cut two 22x36 plates.   I didn't even have to smooth it down very much since I was able to have the cut side facing inward on the combined MILS  plate.  It def. made a noticeable difference in keeping things better locked together.  Now if only I can consistently get plates to fully stay down on top of each other and not bubble up on occasion ...  ;D

Overall update:

Finding stairs, masonry and large window pieces on the PAB wall this weekend also helped me make a big step forward in overall progress ...  I'm slowly getting to the point where I can only do little things with my current part inventory.  I'm going to need a bunch more 1x2x5 Light Grey (or a *ton* more equivalent 1x2 Light Grey brick in general), as well as telescope/bannister pieces,  to do the remaining upper platform piece (the Gingerbread House, which will be between Santa's Workshop and Town Square).  And despite buying a bunch of 6x8 White plate, I probably still need a decent amount more of 4x4 White plate for individual areas.  I originally bought a LOT of 4x5 Red, since I figured it'd be covered by the white or grey along the way and it was a fair amount cheaper than White or Light Grey, but I'm really regretting that ... I find that the number of places I can "safely" use the red and have it not showing are limited.  Someday I'll have to make a Mars or Volcano scene or something, lol. 



Thanks to the stair elements, Town Square has it's basic initial setup complete.  In addition to needing bannisters and walls to cover up the support, I also need more color.  I tried to do some small mountain-ish slopes (you can see the one column of white on either side of the center stairs), but just don't have the right combo of pieces imo. And for my largest piece (52x32), I still find myself not really having enough room to do everything I want;  I was considering moving the gazebo here, and I only managed to fit like 2 gifts under the tree (it has a wide, low footprint).  I'm also eyeing more light grey minifig parts like the fireman statue on the rink, to make another statue or two around this park.



And as I mentioned last time, I moved the Workshop back to make room for some additional stuff ... the toy making assembly line machine is overheating and spitting out toys faster than the Elves can handle!  ;D  It's amazing how many little mini builds of toys, gifts, etc you accumulate with all the Winter Village sets, I think this isn't even a third of them overall, and I swear that 75% of them are mini planes, helicopters, trucks, etc.



Plus thanks to the large window elements I picked up, I have a first draft on Santa's sleigh launching for the night.  When the entire piece comes together, this is where an Elf (from the Clubhouse) is watching from his telescope on the perch, to make sure everything went off properly.  This still needs work, as I want to make it more stable; I have to find the balance between support bricks underneath without them being visible from the front.

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