MOCs

MOC: Belville Place

Posted on Friday, 23rd February 2018 by Caz
Filed under Micropolis / MOCs

When I first discovered the Micropolis Standard back in November last year, I did lots of research online to see the modules that other folks had built to get some inspiration. The Virtual Micropolis website was a great starting point, along with the Flickr group dedicated to it.

One of the modules which caught my eye was Belville Condominiums by Nathan Stohlmann:

I downloaded the LDD file to see how it was built, and soon after acquired the big pink lattice pieces in a random eBay lot (parts 30016 and 6165 which were both in an old Belivlle set, the Sunshine Home. Belville was a precursor to the Friends line, aimed at girls, hence all the sugar-pink elements). Then I left it as I needed loads of navy blue and trans clear bricks to build the main structure, which I didn’t have.

After my recent haul from Watford, I realised I probably had enough of the trans clear bricks and could use the blue ones instead of navy for my version of the block. But I didn’t want it to be exactly the same as the original, so I did some experimentation with shapes. After a bit of fiddling, I came up with this – with the two ends slightly staggered from the main straight pieces.

Belville Place - 1/2 Block 3D Sketch — Belville Place – 1/2 Block 3D Sketch

I worked on it some more and eventually my 1/2 block of apartments, Belville Place, was finished. I put in on the shelf for a couple of weeks.

MOC Belville Place - 1/2 Block — MOC Belville Place – 1/2 Block

A couple of days ago, an eBay lot I had won arrived (see Haul #13 for more info) and that gave me two more pink lattice corners. Bricklink orders which arrived on the same day provided more sand blue 1×2 bricks with groove (4216) and some 1×2 bley grill tiles – I was never quite happy with the black studs showing on the edges of the roof of the 1/2 block.

I set about expanding Belville Place to a whole block, with another small tower on one side and a sunken garden filling up the last 1/4 block. Voila! A very up-market development which will sit right on the waterfront of Micropolis.

MOC Belville Place Complete Block - Front — MOC Belville Place Complete Block – Front

It looks very nice from the “rear” view as well:

MOC Belville Place Complete Block - Rear — MOC Belville Place Complete Block – Rear

The sunken garden provides somewhere to relax for the residents, while admiring the sculptures.

MOC Belville Place Sunken Garden Details

MOC: Pythagoras Place

Posted on Thursday, 22nd February 2018 by Caz
Filed under Micropolis / MOCs

I had some transparent yellow 1×2 bricks left over from those I needed for another model, plus some white 1×2 bricks from my Watford PAB haul, and thought they would go well together. I also found some triangular bley plates which became the roof and steered the design of the rest of it – hence the nod to the Greek mathematical genius, I decided to call it Pythagoras Place.

I see it as an office block in my downtown area. While the atrium at the front has huge windows, round the back is a bit more enclosed. But there are some round skylights up top among the solar panels on the roof. These two bespoke tiles (2431pb499) came from the second Women of NASA set which I bought to build the Space Shuttle and Boosters for my Air & Space Museum.

MOC - Pythagoras Place - Front — MOC – Pythagoras Place – Front

A few long windows at the rear…

MOC: Pastel Heights

Posted on Thursday, 15th February 2018 by Caz
Filed under Micropolis / MOCs

My recent haul from Watford has given me quite a few useful pieces to construct another Micropolis block – things like white 1×2 and pale blue 1×1 bricks. I combined these with some pink 1×2 SNOT bricks (47905 with two studs on opposite sides – I didn’t have any of the more appropriate one-sided version, 87087). The high rise residential tower Pastel Heights was born.

MOC Pastel Heights - Front — MOC Pastel Heights – Front

I added some landscaping in the rear courtyard so the residents will have somewhere nice to sit. And the penthouse flat takes up the whole of the top floor. The view from up there must be great!

MOC Pastel Heights - Rear — MOC Pastel Heights – Rear

Once again, I used the same elements on each floor but varied their placement to give some variety to the build. I topped it off with some magenta sloped bricks I had in my drawer (I think at least some of them were in one of the earliest Creative Brick Boxes 10698 I bought last year and have been wondering what to do with since). Plus some white 2×2 turntable bases and 1×2 grilles for roof greebles.

MOC: Limehouse Flats

Posted on Monday, 5th February 2018 by Caz
Filed under Micropolis / MOCs

Those PAB parts I got from Bluewater on Saturday have been in the back of my mind as I built the epic Ninjago City over the weekend. And this morning I laid a few of them out and began planning my next little Micropolis build. It turned into this 1/2 block of residential accommodation, Limehouse Flats.

As you can see, I made good use of the white 4×6 and 1×2 plates, lime bricks and yellow 1×1 bricks with the stud/window from the PAB pots. I got more white Erling bricks in the post today too, so they went straight into the build rather than into my drawers!

I made sure each floor was a little different to the last, so while they all have a certain uniformity to them, they are not all identical, which I think makes for boring.

After adding some greebles on the rooves, parking spaces around three sides, and some landscaping at the rear, the block was done.

MOC: Fire HQ

Posted on Wednesday, 31st January 2018 by Caz
Filed under Micropolis / MOCs

Micropolis already has a General Hospital, so I thought I better make a Fire Station too. This building was prompted by the arrival of 128 red 1×4 bricks with 3 technic holes (3701), bought from Bricklink for a penny each! They are normally used in Micropolis baseplates, but I stole a few from the stash for this place because I thought they made excellent window elements.

I added some of the large red arches (6060) which I had in my parts drawers to provide some interesting shapes to the exterior.

I have had the stickered flame tile for ages and remembered it would make a good sign to go in front of the building. Add a little bit of landscaping, some roof skylights and a long whip aerial and the build was finished.