Intersting idea, I guess the lego ensures the structure is square and strong.. The windows look like they were fiddly to cut out !!

John

Hi John,

I always found that I could not get the sides to match up properly if I used just Plasticard. Using the Lego removes the need to laminate the structure and as you say it does make it very strong. Plus the benefit is that you can make a structure in a variety of sizes. My next layout may feature some sort of high rise building and to have a solid structure like this as the basis to do that on would be useful.

The windows were very fiddley and some came out better than others.

Stephen

Wow! What a fantastic idea! Only minor drawback I can see see is if you want all the windows to be lit. But with some clever brickwork using thinner blocks I'm sure this could be accomplished for most structures. I'm certainly going to try this method on my next scratchbuild.

Two other thoughts come to mind:

• Car boots are a great place to find bags of old LEGO cheaply.
• You can use http://ldd.lego.com/]Lego Digital Designer to mockup your design even before buying any bricks.

PS. Great looking layout. Is it N-gauge?

Hi Peter and Seth,

Thanks for your kind words. It is indeed N gauge. Its still a bit rough around the edges (literally in some cases...) but it is certainly getting there.

I have a huge amount of Lego in storage at my parents house from when I was a kid so finding bits is not a problem. On most of my structures I am not too keen on adding lghting to every window so this works quite well (in fact on this one it works very well because it will allow me to have a better decorated shop interior). However you are right in that if you want lights on several windows the original Lego structure has to be carefully designed. Lego do or did manufacture entirely clear bricks (proper construction type bricks and not windows or windscreens) for some years and if enough of them could be sourced then it would allow you to light up many more windows. Since there are such a large range of bricks then there are a large variety of solutions to this problem.

If sourcing specific bricks is a problem then either Ebay or the Lego store might be of some use.

Thanks for the digital designer link. I have the basic structure for the next model pretty much built, but if any future structures get built (either on this layout or the next) it will be used.

I have to say that using a cheap source of Lego has reduced the costs of producing a building. I would imagine in larger scales it could significantly reduce the cost of production.

Cheers

Stephen