LEGO Skylines

[foxmtbr]

Wow, that looks great!

[KevinFromTexas]

Nice job. I really like that sign. I see you have the Lego truck, too. I built a trailer for mine. I cut out a Lego logo from one of my old catalogs and attached it with special tape the to trailer. It looks great.

[john_mclark]

my buildings are no where as big as those. mine are more like kevins

[jsr]

Originally Posted by DecoJim

John (and Kevin):
You should definitely look at the amazing work of a friend of mine.

Jim, Thanks for the plug.

For those that are interested, the five Lego skyscraper models pictured above will be on display next Saturday (March 24th) from 11am-6pm at the annual Brickbash event in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The tallest model, the Sears Tower, is 27" to the roof, and all five models are all properly scaled in size relative to one another (or at least within the limits of what's possible with the Lego modeling medium).

The Brickbash event is open to the public and admission is free. Click the event link for directions and more details.

[KevinFromTexas]

Good stuff, jsr. Brilliant design on the sunken plaza for the John Hancock Center...

[Slugbelch]

http://www.brickstructures.com/files/bstructarticle.pdf

... roughly 8.6MB, so the pdf may take a little while to load for some.

[Imperar]

This is my lego skyscraper



And I built it in my class at uni

It is expected to reach the top of the ceiling by the end of this week.

[DecoJim]

Originally Posted by Slugbelch

http://www.brickstructures.com/files/bstructarticle.pdf

... roughly 8.6MB, so the pdf may take a little while to load for some.

Interesting article. While this builder's skyscrapers are pretty impressive, his claims to have developed a structural system are perhaps less impressive.
I could be wrong but it seems that Lego technic beams connected together using the multi-studded 1x1 bricks would not hold up very well under tensile stress (which may result when a force acts upon one side of the building - some beams are under compression others are under tension). UNLESS THEY ARE GLUED!

I make no pretense that I construct my structures in a prototypical manner. In fact they are probably built in a method closer to that of the older masonary high-rise structures such as the original Monadnock Building in Chicago (it has very thick load-bearing walls).

Real skyscrapers are not required to be portable. Mine do have to be and this would be a major problem if the building was constructed with a frame and curtain wall. The question would be: How to separate the frame into portable sections and still maintain strength?

* * *

I am not the only one building large Lego skyscrapers for display in a train layout. Here is a shot I took of part of the Central Ohio Lego Train Club layout at the 2005 NMRA National Train Show in Cincinnati:

Skyscraper buffs should be able to recognize some of the buildings or at least the city.

[Alxx611]

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

You rang?

Here are two shots from last week. I updated the model at the request of a local developer who is planning a 400 foot residential highrise in downtown. He bought the Legos, I did the model, he photographed it, and the photos were on the City of Austin's access channel. The photos were included in the developer's presentation for the building before City Council. The building was approved. They'll break ground in 5 months.

That's awesome Kevin.

Here's one shot from my childhood Lego days.

[Daquan13]

Originally Posted by DecoJim

John (and Kevin):
You should definitely look at the amazing work of a friend of mine. My own buildings are in too big a scale to use for city planning but Spencer Rezkall has been developing many extraordinarily detailed "micro-scale" skyscraper models out of Lego:


Photo montage by Spencer: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2358691
(you can use this link to access additional photos of his models).

His Sears Tower model is about 2 feet high and yet uses over 4000 small Lego parts. The scale is larger than Kevin's Austin skyline, but nevertheless Spencer has talked about trying to do all of southern Manhattan. He gets all his parts from bricklink.com

When building a Lego skyline, I recommend trying to get the color as close as possible to the real structures (the Lego company makes several dozen colors of Lego now compared to about 6 colors in the 1970s).

I so f**king want one of these models to build, especially the one with the Twins, but I'm finding it awefully hard to find out about, much less buy.

Does ANYONE know how I can go about getting any of these sets? Any help that you can offer will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[jsr]

Originally Posted by Daquan13

I so f**king want one of these models to build, especially the one with the Twins, but I'm finding it awefully hard to find out about, much less buy.

Does ANYONE know how I can go about getting any of these sets? Any help that you can offer will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Sorry to disappoint, but they are one-of-kind custom fan built models - not sets sold by Lego.

[DecoJim]

Originally Posted by Daquan13

I so f**king want one of these models to build, especially the one with the Twins, but I'm finding it awefully hard to find out about, much less buy.

Does ANYONE know how I can go about getting any of these sets? Any help that you can offer will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Daquan:
I hate to break it to you but these are not standard Lego kits. These skyscrapers are custom designed and built by my friend Spencer from individual parts that he orderered from Bricklink.com. As far as I know, the Lego company has never sold a kit of a skyscraper even though it displays many large ones at its Legoland parks.

Unless Spencer decides to start a business selling these designs as sets, you will not find them for sale. The great thing about Lego is that anyone who has the time, patience, and money can at least attempt to build something similar.

Check out the link that SlugBelch provided earlier - a guy IS selling kits that allow you to build the Sears Tower, ESB, etc in a somewhat larger scale - although the exterior walls are actually a custom wall unit rather than an official Lego part.

I would think that Lego would have a hit on its hands if they did market and sell a line of famous landmarks in a micro-scale (so as to be affordable).
Lego just recently demonstrated that it is aware of a more architecturally inclined group of builders with the release of the Corner Cafe - a three story building that sells for $140 and has over 2,000 parts.

[DecoJim]

Originally Posted by jsr

Sorry to disappoint, but they are one-of-kind custom fan built models - not sets sold by Lego.

Spencer, I had taken the liberty of answering for you; I did not realizer you were online.

BTW have you considered starting a business selling these as kits?
Considering the Michigan economy these days, it might help to have a backup plan!

Realistically, I am sure that lack of parts availability would make it very difficult to even put out a limited edition production run of these as skyscraper kits.

[jsr]

Originally Posted by DecoJim

BTW have you considered starting a business selling these as kits?

I'd imagine these buildings are registered trademarks, so some sort of licensing agreement would be needed first. Then to create the 500+ pages of building instructions, and procure the thousands of pieces...

[jsr]

I should mention that Brickbash event went well last weekend. I had the models on display side by side and I created some information sheets featuring facts, photos, and a brief history of each building.

Here are some pics on Flickr that were taken by a visitor to the event. (I left my camera at home)




Brickbash '07 Photo Gallery

[foxmtbr]

Excellent!

[KevinFromTexas]

JSR and DecoJim,

how do you guys transport these? I've had a few folks, (developers), ask/suggest that I display my model in their building, or a musuem. How are you guys transporting your models? All of mine are on the 15x15 inch baseplates, since my model is of the entire downtown area it's set up a bit differently than your's. Any suggestions? I've never had to transport it other than carrying it into the backyard in pieces for pictures or taking a few nextdoor to show my grandma. I'm not exactly keen on the idea of letting my model go out for display, though. It's my baby. Just curious as to how you guys hual your Lego marvels around.

And I finally got hip with the times and joined Brickshelf and posted a few of my models. The downtown model, and a few cars I've done. I have more to add, I just need to photograph them.
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/ga...KevinFromTexas

[DecoJim]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

JSR and DecoJim,

how do you guys transport these? I've had a few folks, (developers), ask/suggest that I display my model in their building, or a musuem. How are you guys transporting your models? All of mine are on the 15x15 inch baseplates, since my model is of the entire downtown area it's set up a bit differently than your's. Any suggestions? I've never had to transport it other than carrying it into the backyard in pieces for pictures or taking a few nextdoor to show my grandma. I'm not exactly keen on the idea of letting my model go out for display, though. It's my baby. Just curious as to how you guys hual your Lego marvels around.

And I finally got hip with the times and joined Brickshelf and posted a few of my models. The downtown model, and a few cars I've done. I have more to add, I just need to photograph them.
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/ga...KevinFromTexas

Kevin:
My large buildings are designed in sections which generally are then placed in large 30-50 gallon plastic tubs and surrounded with some bubble wrap. There are times when I simply stack all the sections of the Fisher Building into a Jeep Cherokee with little protection (I just fix the minor damage when I get to the train show); once the building is loaded into the Cherokee, there is only enough room for the driver.

Spencer (JSR) is from my observation much more careful in his packaging and transport of his buildings.

Niether of these cases are particulary helpful since we only have to move about 6-12 buildings however large. I would imagine that you would not want to have to individually wrap all of your buildings for transport. If you try to leave the buildings in place, you have the problem that many buildings may fall over if the baseplate flexes. One idea that you may want to consider would be to obtain or create special wood or strong cardboard boxes (stackable) that are perhaps 16 x 16 x 8 inches (the 3rd dimension should be high enough for most if not all of your buildings). If the baseplate is supported during transport, the buildings should stay put. Another idea is to glue the baseplates to masonite or plywood. The baseplates are $10 each so you can always buy more if you want to have baseplates that are not modified in this manner.
I hope this helps.
-Jim

[john_mclark]

hey decoJim if you don't mind me asking, but how much have you invested in you lego towers? I ask becasue i hope to build my own lego skyscraper someday.