LEGO Skylines

[DecoJim]

Originally Posted by austin55

cool info. do you ever just sit and think,I have the best job ever?
Q,I am making a military base.(the police station went bi bi).It has,
Radar room,hospital,workout room,everything from the police set,and a meeting room. It also has a central command room and storage spaces.What else should I add? Also does anyone know why brickshelf is closing?

Actually my programmer/analyst/tech support job is OK but not that good.
Lego is a hobby I do in my spare time; I have made a little money here and there from it but not nearly enough to even consider quitting my day job. Before you think I spend all my free time on this, let me say that while in the last week or two I have spent about 50% of my spare time getting ready for the NMRA NTS show, normally I probably work on building about 1 day a week for a few hours while watching TV.

Quite a few years ago, I visited a national guard base in Grayling Michigan. I recall seeing a check point (probably upgraded after 9/11). There were dozens of long baracks, a commanders residence, drill field, motor pool, etc. I even got a ride in a M109 (a fully tracked and armoured self-propelled artillery unit). The tanks are actually stored at a separate facility from the main camp. There is a fenced in area with a large "garage" where many M-1 tanks are stored and maintained.

By the way Brickshelf appears to have been saved from oblivion. After the site was taken down, the site operator receiving numerous email supporting the site and urging that Brickshelf be continued, the site has been brought back up and a message has been posted on the main page explaning that a new optional system will allow some users to pay for a premium service but that others can continue to use the site for free.

[Austin55]

thats cool. Thanks for the ideas.(Im 13 years old so it not very accurate) Sorry if this has been asked but how many have you made and which is your favorite?

[DecoJim]

This is probably my last post before the NMRA National Train Show in Detroit (July 27-29) so I thought I would share my latest building that I finished just in time.

The Penobscot Building (1905):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/decojim/881266922/
This structure was built in the classical Beaux-Arts style which provided the opportunity for greater detail than the Penobscot skyscraper.

In case you are wondering or are confused since I posted a quite different Penobscot building earlier, there are actually three Penobscot buildings:
1. The Penobscot Building, 1905, 13 stories.
2. Penobscot Annex, 1913, 23 stories.
3. Penobscot Building, 1928, 47 stories.
None of these were torn down, each of the later ones were built next to the original and all are connected to form an office complex of just over 1 million square feet.

Austin55:
To answer your last question, I have made about 10 Detroit buildings and the David Stott Building is probably the one I like the best. Some buildings have a certain level of detail that is just about right for portrayal in Lego.

[Austin55]

Thats nice I love your techniqe Thanks for answering my question.

[Ersh]

Man, DecoJim....I'm jealous! I wish I had the time and bricks to do some of the stuff you build. That Penobscot Building is just unreal! (I have to ask...how tall is it?) Keep up the awesome work!

I have several buildings in the works right now, but they're all going pretty slowly, including an 8 foot tall Sears Tower. (I would love to make it to scale with my Chrysler Building, but height restrictions (also known as my ceiling) is forcing me to scale back. ) I'll post pics of them as I finish them.

[Austin55]

8 feet?!

[Derek]

Sorry if this was mentioned, but are those buildings hollow?

[Austin55]

I bekieve they have some internal bracing, but nut for shure

[Mocholate]

Damn good work

good luck at the show

[DecoJim]

The 2007 NMRA National Train Show just ended yesterday and here are a few of the many photographs of it. These images show just a portion of the Michigan Lego Train Club display.

I took these photographs:

The tall light gray building is the Penobscot Building (1928 version). It is 9.5 feet to the roof and 11.5 feet to the top of the antenna). I had to place a stepladder on top of the train table in order to place the top 2 of the twelve sections of the building. Counting the height of the train table, the tip of the building was 14 feet above the floor.





The old Tiger Stadium (replaced by Comerica Park in 2000):

Larger versions are available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/decojim/

We actually did have enough buildings for a true skyline. I brought three models that ranged from 7.5 to 11.5 feet (to tip of antenna or 6.5 to 9.5 to roof for those who like that measurement better). I also had several mid-rise and low-rise buildings in the show. It took two trips using a full size van to move my buildings each way to and from the show.

One amusing aspect of the show was that three different Lego Train Clubs each brought a Lego model of the Sears tower! There were 4 foot, 8 foot, and 9 foot tall versions.

[Austin55]

Oh man,amizing

[SpeedoPro]

DecoJim,

Thanks for the spectacular pics. This thread gets better and better!!

[DecoJim]

Here are some more shots from the 2007 NMRA National Train Show in Detroit.

This photo might answer some questions that were asked earlier about the Penobscot's construction and portability:

Photo by Benn (brickshelf member Zephyr1934).

That is me on the table in the process of assembling the 22 sections of my model of Detroit's Fisher Building:

Photo by Benn (brickshelf member Zephyr1934).

The Greater Florida Lego Train Club display.

Photo by Spencer R.http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/sr...RA2007/023.jpg

Can you find all three Sears Towers that were displayed at the show?

Photo by Benn (brickshelf member Zephyr1934).

For fans of New York architecture, here is a 5 foot model of the American International Building in lower Manhattan next to an 8 foot model of the Sears Tower.

Photo by Matt H.

Sorry for some of the blurry photos. I have not uploaded all of my photos so I linked to other peoples pictures as noted.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by DecoJim

In case anyone was wondering what happened to many of the pictures that I posted in this particular thread, the web site www.brickshelf.com appears to have ceased operation. I had hundreds of pictures there and it is now gone. As I recall, there were well over 1 million photos from thousands of members stored on that site. I will eventually re-upload some of my pictures to www.flickr.com or a similar site. Of course some of my recent posts have linked to other people's Lego skyscrapers so I cannot speculate on their fate. Some people had apparently used brickshelf to store their only copy of photos they took (perhaps they did not have enough disk space?).

Really? Mine are still there. Check my sig below "City of Legos" to see.

[DecoJim]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Really? Mine are still there. Check my sig below "City of Legos" to see.

Kevin. I guess you did not see my 7/22/2007 post. Brickshelf was down for about a week and then it was saved and brought back up. The webmaster for the site may have been convinced by the large outpouring of concern and support to bring it back up or perhaps it was a tactic to help launch a premium (for pay) membership service.

[DecoJim]

Rather than overload this thread, I present a link to the rest of my NMRA NTS 2007 pictures:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=267654

Pictures by Larry P. of MichLTC:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=268653

Note: If you see a picture with a red caption, that is actually a folder you can click on to see more pictures.

Pictures by Matt H.
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=267600

Pictures by Zephyr1934
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=267507

You will notice a wide variety of building styles and attitudes from serious to silly. The show was a lot of fun. Probably about 20,000 people showed up over the weekend (most of my pictures have few people in them since I took them before the show opened to the public).

I will be taking a break from new construction for quite a while.
In any case I would like to see more stuff from other people posted here.

[Austin55]

[john_mclark]

are you only a Detroit fan or do you have stuff from other cites?

[foxmtbr]

[Austin55]

A little "Twist" on things,by me,