Art Gallery AshCo's Lego Thread! Current Project: Department Store

[Scoop]

Welcome to AshCo's Lego Thread!
DISCLAIMER: THIS IMAGE IS OF OFFICIAL LEGO SETS I OWN, AND NOT OF MY OWN CREATION. IT IS A PLACEHOLDER COVER IMAGE.​

Welcome one and all to this little project I'm starting here in Creative Works! Some of you may know me around on this forum as that guy who talks way too much in every post, but that's neither here nor there. I'm using the Creative Works area to display a little bit of a creative medium you don't really see around here-Lego.

This intro here is a bit of my history with Lego, but it's not really necessary to get into the stuff I'm doing here, but I figured I'd put a little bit of storytelling here for those interested.

Spoiler: My History with Lego

As keeping with my tradition of talking way too much... A bit of history for you all before I get into what I'm doing here-Lego was, for such a long time, a HUGE part of my life. I was into it all-Pirates, Space Police, Power Miners, you name it. Eventually around the end of Elementary and through some of Middle School, I was big into the Star Wars sets, but after some time, a new hobby began... Pokemon. That combined with a fatigue for Star Wars (which only got worse as the Sequel Trilogy started coming out lol) and a seemingly large lack of sets that interested me, brought me into every Lego fan's worst time: Their Dark Ages. A lot of fans of Lego seem to go into a few year period where they get out of the hobby for some time, whether it be due to getting older or finding other hobbies, etc. I was one of them, though I still did a few MOCs (My Own Creations for those unfamiliar) of castle stuff about once or twice a year. But I never bought anything. This continued basically through my entire teenage years, as Pokemon stayed as my main hobby. That being said, come 2018, I had received some old sets from some really kind folks I knew as family friends. They included the lovely Tower Bridge, and...

The Medieval Market Village. Somehow, by some miracle these two owned this set. Considered one of the greatest Lego sets of all time, and one of the greatest castle themed sets as well. It was my dream set. My White Whale, if you will. This was my inspiration for SO many MOCs, and continues to be to this day. But the fact that I owned it was huge to me-it felt like part of my youth I always wanted FINALLY got its wish granted. This was a huge turning point for me and I think without it, I'd probably still be mainly a Pokemon and Amiibo guy. (I know, too many hobbies lol). Building it step by step was such a relaxing experience, and it really stuck with me how much I missed doing these things, honestly.

Some time passes, and come 2019. I'll keep this short because I don't want to get crazy personal on a thread about plastic colorful building toys, but in 2019 my mental health took a pretty bad nosedive. It began around August, and after about a month, my birthday come along. I had some extra cash I had been saving up, so of course, what did I do with this money? Fulfill another childhood desire of mine and buy the entire Harry Potter Lego Hogwarts collection, lol. And boy, was it GOOD for me to do. It was then I think I realized-"Wait, this Lego stuff is having a positive effect on my mental health. Maybe it's finally time..."

Come winter after considering getting back into Lego and I got into the Modulars. (Pictured at the top of the page). At that point I was in too deep and I was fully back into this hobby. Not only was it having a positive effect on my stress and anxieties and all that ugly stuff, but my god was it fun. And these Models, I mean LOOK at them! They're gorgeous! And here I am now, a diehard lego addict once more, here to present my MOCs to all of you. Even though I wish I could call it "Scoop's Lego Thread" because I hate this stupid username I came up with back years ago, lol.

Anyways, after that wall of text, let's get into business.

What am I exactly doing here? Well, since this is the Creative Works section, I'm going to be showing my Lego MOCs I'm working on, as I'm doing it. Every time I work on whatever it is I'm building of my own, I'm going to show off some pictures of the progress, the little details I've added, and the build as a whole until it ultimately gets complete, where I'll...Put it somewhere I guess. Not quite sure yet. Hopefully once things get set in motion I'll add a few more bells and whistles to this intro page

That being said, stay tuned for updates! In fact, I'll be shortly posting the progress to my current project-a Modular Building of my own in the scale of the sets in the title image: a corner area including a little bar and a Darts and Billiards parlor, with some housing planned for the higher floors. (I just finished Persona 5 Royal, so I've been inspired by some of the locations in that game hehe).

 

[Scoop]

As promised, here's the start to my Modular MOC. I've been working on it over the past few days so there is a lot of progress that has been made already, but I'll try to keep the process summarized as best I could. Before I start, let me preface with that my camera is pretty bad right now, but I hope to change that in the coming months.

Spoiler: Current Progress of the Build

So here we have just a shot of the whole thing as it is right now. Note that the other building in this isn't even up yet-I've been experimenting on and off with what I want in there and haven't settled on a good interior yet. I also need to change up the tiling at the front of the bar, but that shouldn't be a problem. As you can see though, the bar's 1st floor besides a sign for it has been completed, interior and all (more of that to come). It was definitely interesting making a, for the most part, 10-stud wide building, as you really have to make use of the limited amount of space you get. That being said, there's not much really to talk about here, as the structure I'm planning still has a LONG way to go.

Spoiler: Smaller Details and the Interior

Of course, here we have the actual counter, along with a good view of the tiles I used. I went for a red and dark tan color, as it's much akin to the Crossroads Bar from Persona 5, which was a large inspiration for my interior here. (If only I could make a figure of Lala for this too). In the back, there's two guys playing some live music. I wanted to originally have a singer there as well but there was a lack of space, so it ended up being the Guitar-and-Piano Bros with the same face, lol.

Here we have another bit of a view of the place, with a very heavily decorated wall. Those with a keen eye could notice, yes, I used parts from the Friends set. I bought the set, not because I like the show-god no, I hate it-but I bought it because of the parts. Turns out that menu actually turned out really handy, even if the names of the stuff are for coffee rather than an actual drink. I did a wooden-finished wall on the side of the shelf and this because I didn't have enough medium nougat colored parts, I'll be honest. But I think the improvisation worked out well here for a nice bit of decor!

Finally, using this bit of space I added that was originally a doorway repurposed, I made a little back-seat area. Nothing much to say here besides the cushion I put on the wall in need of decorations. The hanging lights was a last minute addition I really like honestly.

But as you can see, the interior of this place is basically done. It's just a matter of doing the next building, as well as lining up the tops of the first floor to fit the next one on. I know this is a rather rushed first post, but I hope you guys like the little bit of stuff I've had to show here today! Thanks for checking out my dumb little thread about these things and stay tuned-I'll be working on this again soon.

 

[Turtwig]

I love the interior details, it really brings life to each set. The hanging lights are a really nice touch, I agree.

I once had someone in a film class make a silent film based solely around stop-motion lego, and since then I appreciate builders who take the time so much more! How long do you typically sit down and build for? Do you set goals for yourself, or just build more freely?

 

[Scoop]

I love the interior details, it really brings life to each set. The hanging lights are a really nice touch, I agree.

I once had someone in a film class make a silent film based solely around stop-motion lego, and since then I appreciate builders who take the time so much more! How long do you typically sit down and build for? Do you set goals for yourself, or just build more freely?

Usually I take a few hours every night when I work on it, but it usually depends on what I'm doing. It also depends on how inspired I am or if I actually know what I'm doing. (For instance, I worked on the back of the bar for two hours just rebuilding it because it was originally a doorway).

 

[Scoop]

A little bit of an aside while I continue my modular, but I actually dug up an old creation I did back in November! Some of the pictures aren't perfect, but I do really enjoy this one. This, unfortunately, is not assembled any longer, but it's still worth sharing I think. It was never 100% complete but you'll get a general idea here.

Spoiler: Winter Gate Fortress Exterior

With little bit of bricks, and wood loosely "stuck" onto the walls it gives a nice look of a slightly run-down fortress in the middle of a barren winter wasteland. The original intent was to connect this to a village I wanted to do, but...For reasons I can't really remember, I took this down and canned the project. My favorite thing in this entire thing is the snow, honestly. I'm a big fan of making snow builds that involve different angles and layers to it.

Spoiler: Interior & Gate

This here was my favorite part of the build-the gate itself. I actually made a mechanism so the gate itself could be lifted and shut. A little feature just for fun but it was very interesting trying to incorporate that function while also making the build look aesthetically pleasing. Flags would have been placed on the right and left if I actually finished this thing.

And here we have the interior. Complete with a dungeon and a little area where guards can hang around. There's a fireplace there though it's a little hard to tell.

That's that really. It was interesting going back to an abandoned creation like this. There's another one in the same vein as this, which I happen to consider my best MOC of all time, made all the way back in 2018. If I find it, I'll be sure to share!

 

[SableyeGuy]

They look nice!

 

[Dravinator]

Beautiful builds! That Persona 5 bar is truly one of the most amazing interior designs I have seen in a long while.

 

[Scoop]

Beautiful builds! That Persona 5 bar is truly one of the most amazing interior designs I have seen in a long while.

Thanks! I had a lot of fun making it all work. It's definitely its own thing in comparison to the Crossroads but the area was 100% my big inspiration from it (even the music was in my head half the time I was building it).

I'm at a bit of a standstill as to what I'm actually going to do next with the other part of the area, but once I get a good idea on the exterior I'll start right up with it.

 

[Scoop]

After a few days of complete and utter loss for ideas, I FINALLY got a good exterior for the corner building. This involved a little bit of a change of plans-instead of a darts and billiards parlor, which technically the billiards already exists in 2015's Detective's Office set, one of my personal favorite modulars that I sadly don't own yet, I have decided on creating a live venue where people go to do say, terrible stand-up comedy. Again, sorry for my god-awful camera quality, I'm stuck with an old iPhone 5 for the time being which doesn't do some of the models justice.

Spoiler: New Progress

So I added a nice little staircase that leads up to the apartments above, and of course the new corner building. Inside you can see a glimpse of the stage which still needs a few more touches. But the lights, mic, speakers, and the...Grey thing, let's just say it's a chalkboard lol, are all there for a little bit of detailing. Here's another look at the corner itself:

I have decided here to combine dark green elements I sourced from the Friends set (buying it for the parts was worth it, I got over 1000 useful parts out of it, a lot of which you've seen in the entire build so far!). Just ignore that fourth window that's brown, I only had three of the dark green ones available to me, but no worries-it won't be noticeable once I install the balcony build to the second floor. The large frames will include the glass-frame parts and a door on the leftmost one once I order those parts online at some point.

I went over SO many color combinations through this. It ranged from originally white and red with a pizza joint, to...no ideas at all, until dark green struck me. But what would go well with dark green? I decided on dark brown for the accents, and tan for the sort of "stone" elements that will be on the outside. Those tan ones will end up being arched and connected with eachother. Personally I think they all blend really well together and nothing sticks out horribly. I especially like the little lights and the diamonds on the corners for a little bit of extra detail.

Spoiler: Current Progress on the MOC as a whole

So what's next? Finishing up the first floor and topping it off with those flat parts like on the top of the bar. This will be how the second (and third) floors will be attached to the top of the building, allowing them to be easily put on and taken off at will. I also have to finish the interior for the inside of the live venue-I'm thinking some wood floors, chairs, and tables. Signs for both the bar and the venue are something I'm yet to figure out, but we'll get there.

Some decent progress today! which is nice after a drought of nothing for all this time. Stay tuned and as always thanks for checking this dumb little thread I'm doing out. I really do appreciate it.

 

[Scoop]

Not much today, and I usually don't show minimal progress, but the build for this was so irritating I feel like I have to share it:

Spoiler: Sign for the Live Venue

Now, you might be wondering: "What's the big deal, it's just a sign that says "LIVE" on it!" And, yeah, from the outside it doesn't look impressive, but this took about... 5 different drafts, and about half an hour searching for ONE piece that could have the middle section of the E look okay. This part right here:

This tiny little 1x1 side plate thingy. It was in a bin, and I only own a single one of them. Why did I need this one specific part? I had to keep the part behind it on the same level in order to fit the upper floors on it. With that being said, finding this part was definitely worth it as I have a sign build that looks as appealing as it can be. I'd love to make the V look less blocky, but it still gets the point across in the limited area I had to build this.

With all that done, excitingly, the first floors are nearly done! Soon we'll be able to ascend to the apartments, which are going to be a whole new ordeal, lol. Stay tuned!

 

[Dravinator]

So what's next? Finishing up the first floor and topping it off with those flat parts like on the top of the bar. This will be how the second (and third) floors will be attached to the top of the building, allowing them to be easily put on and taken off at will. I also have to finish the interior for the inside of the live venue-I'm thinking some wood floors, chairs, and tables. Signs for both the bar and the venue are something I'm yet to figure out, but we'll get there.

I am loving this build! The detail in the stairs, the stage, and the corner with the garden is so precise! It also helps that I love the bar in the back, so I think this build is amazing, and that you should be very proud!

 

[Scoop]

Hey everyone, just a quick update since I've been gone for a while. Due to a few circumstances going on, I'm going to have to put the MOC on the backburner for a little while. Dunno when I'll be back for it, but I'm thinking of learning Stud.io (A lego building program) to design and ultimately part out and build some stuff. If I happen to design something there I'll share it with you guys! Sorry for that but I'll be sure to be back ASAP.

That being said, because this update is a little dry on content, I've spent the last few days parting out what's to be considered the Holy Grail of Modular buildings, the Green Grocer:

Spoiler: Green Grocer

Here's some history, for those interested. This set came out in '08, when I was still quite young. It's the third, or second depending on if you count the weird little nightmare of a building known as Market Street as a modular or not, Modular Building in the series, as well as the first one with an actual interior. While Cafe Corner, the first one, is absolutely iconic, Green Grocer really feels like this was when the series started getting its identity, I think. While it's a lot more simplistic in concept and execution compared to some of the ones you'll see today, especially Assembly Square, I think it really holds up and looks like something that'd still be impressive today, which is rare for a Lego set that's over 12 years old now. With all older modulars, this thing goes for quite a bit of money even used. Over 600, due to the age, the appeal, and the rare pieces (I'll get to that later), while being at LEAST $1000 new in box, from what I can tell. I believe it's the second most valued Modular in the series, if I'm not mistaken. The first three compete for that spot often, but iirc it goes Market Street>Green Grocer>Cafe Corner. I don't know WHY Market Street is the most valued, since it's the worst looking one of the series and has less parts than any of the others in the series, but I guess that's how it is. (See the spoilers below for Cafe Corner and Market Street for more context.)

This thing has sorta been my "White Whale" in my new-era of Lego, but I do NOT want to spend over $600 to get one used. So I was able to get about half the parts from my collection as well as purchase the remaining elements needed to build this thing up. The one difference is that those sand-green parts with the grooves in them are being replaced by solid ones, since the grooved 1x2s cost like, $2.50 a piece and I need 50-something of them. The regular ones are $0.11 a piece. It's a compromise that had to be made, but the model will barely look any different and it is a popular alternative to people who can't or don't want to spend that much. Not like I'm buying it to sell the thing anyways, lol. It may be a Diet, Great Value Green Grocer, but it's my Green Grocer. It's a beautiful model no matter what-better than ANYTHING I could do.

Spoiler: Images for Cafe Corner and Market Street sets

Market Street

Cafe Corner

Hope you all don't mind this little ramble about a bit of Modular history. Since I've got nothing else to really talk about I thought a bit of rambling about these dumb little models I love might be a bit fun to hold me over for a bit. But not to worry, I'll start being creative again soon enough!

 

[Scoop]

Hey, I’m kinda sorta back. My computer is still dead, but I have a few updates.

-My previous project, sadly, has been taken down. I wasn’t quite feeling it, and I wanted to use the parts for something else. That project is...
-A new modular building MOC! This is going to be quite in scale to the Green Grocer, which in building it has given me some inspiration on techniques and some ideas for a building in that scale.
-Hopefully I’ll be posting pictures soon. Once I either get it up on mobile or once I get my PC fixed. Stay tuned!

 

[Scoop]

Hey, sorry again about not being active. I've got a bit of an update for you all, since I have a bit of access to a computer right now.

Spoiler: Pics of the build

The first floor of a modular I'm working on. A nice little department store, with a jewelry section seen in the back. I used some of my old castle flags as a sort of "logo" for the store's brand, to show that they're "expensive and fit for royalty" or something like that. It's a nice use of a part I'm not going to use otherwise. If you notice the bottom area, there's three mannequins showing off some expensive clothes through windows. This is very similar to something like 2012's Grand Emporium which did the very same trick!

This build's first floor is as tall as the Green Grocer's first floor, which is the size I'm aiming for with this building. I like larger modulars personally so I want my own to be in that scale too.

This side you can see a wall of pants, both employees, and a glimpse of the dressing rooms. I wanted to go for some wood flooring on some areas with some tiles as a center pathway.

Here's the wall of shirts. In a more recent edit of the build I removed the arms from the top shelf and the hands from the bottom to be more "shirtlike", given how they're just minifigure bodies looking like shirts. Another glimpse of the dressing room-I used minifigure capes as curtains for the dressing room, again, very similar to the Grand Emporium.

That's about it. Again, sorry for being absent so long, but I'll hopefully update the more this build continues.

 

[Scoop]

Whoa, I'm back?! I think?! I got a new computer, so I can actually start uploading my lego endeavors again! Yay for all (who actually cares lol).

Anyways, the MOC I uploaded last time has gotten a second floor added. Excuse the poor location of the photos being uploaded, but what can you do sometimes. Anyways... Included we have:

Spoiler: Exterior

I've gone for a light blue here to go with the darker blues of the bottom area. White goes really well with this shade of blue I think, and the grey ends continue the ends that were on the first floor. I ran into an issue where too much grey was being exposed on the area between floors 2 and 3, so I decided to make that front facing design using little jumper pieces and 1x1 tiles/modified tiles.

Now we have some shots of the interior.

Spoiler: Interior

As you can see, we've got a little apartment, complete with a small living room, a table, a kitchen, and a bedroom. No bathroom though, not really much space to add one. But lego people don't need bathrooms, right...?

Here's some more shots of what's in the thing. Some better looks at parts of the interior. My favorite part is the little living room area with the TV and the couch.

So what's next? Well...I ran out of blue parts, so I have to buy some more. I also have to plan out the roof, but this figure below shows what I think I want to do with it. Hopefully it makes sense.

Spoiler: Roof Diagram

Stay tuned for more updates and, possibly, more creations besides this one if I decide to start a new project while waiting on those blue parts!