Subject:
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Set-Like Scale? (was: Is bigger better? Or is detail what counts?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.town
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Date:
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Sat, 29 Sep 2001 18:39:30 GMT
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Viewed:
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272 times
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Hi,
I was actually about to broach this subject when I saw I had missed the
discussion. Looking around the internet it certainly seems there is quite
an interest in building towns that have buildings that are both large *and*
detailed. I must say that I am ever-impressed with all I have seen from
this community. The creative ways some of you think of to use certain
LEGO(R) elements never ceases to amaze me.
Likewise, the recent discussion of Microfig scale for Town and Train
displays simply blows my mind. In many circles, I seem to be the creative
one. But in this society of AFOLs, I am stuck in my ways, always building
things that are of a size and shape that relates to the old Town Sets of the
1980s. I appreciate to no end that many of you can build such things. That
being said, here is what I do with my Town displays...
I build in my version of "Minifig Scale". (I know there have been debates
as to what that term means, but I don't want to start that here. Let me
just explain what it means to me...)
To me, this scale is more of a conceptual thing. It is not a true scale
where a 2" mini-fig represents 5 feet in height, so a 10 story building
would be a few feet tall. No, no. That's not what I do. Rather, this
scale is a way of minimizing the size and shape of things to represent
things simply and clearly, yet without having to sacrifice the *play*
feature of the toy.
This is the conceptual toy-scale that TLC sets are often designed with.
Say they want to sell a police car set. They want to design a car that has
enough pieces to offer alternative building, and one that is big enough to
fit a mini-figure in it. But they also don't want it to be so big of a set
that it becomes too expensive to be considered a small set. Thus, it ends
up being just barely big enough for one mini-fig. But that's all the child
needs to understand it is a car they can build *and* play with.
Buildings that use this ideology are equally toned down in size. A single
story is almost always only eight bricks high. Since the goal is to
represent the type of building in few pieces, most buildings are only one or
two stories high. This means that impressive looking high-rises need only
be four or five stories high. You can represent a house with little more
than a window, a door, and a roof over one floor. An entire airport can be
symbolized with only one short runway and a tower. For layout variety, most
buildings will also fit neatly on one side of a roadplate, with only the
largest overlapping onto another.
Another feature (adding to the *play*) is the "dollhouse" construction
where the back side of most buildings is open to view the inside. Interiors
are simplified, again to convey what type of building it is without going to
lengths for details. The interior of a house can be shown with only a table
and chairs. Luxury homes get a bonus like a fireplace or a separate
kitchen. Office building interiors need only have a desk or two
(representing far more). Hospitals need to show little more than a single
operating room and a recovery room. Details like bathrooms, basements,
stairs, and elevators are very rare indeed.
Now, by building at this set-like scale there are some things I can't do.
I can't have a six-foot high skyscraper with amazingly detailed window
arches and trimmings of gargoyles around each floor. I can't have double
wide buses with room for twenty passengers. And my cargo ships can't carry
hundreds of containers of goods. *However*, I can still squeeze in some
interesting variety. I do have some smaller window arches. Some of my
houses get (oooh) a dormer window or two. I have an office tower that
includes a boardroom. And another (at only 8" high) has some unique styling
(lookes like sculpted concrete with angles and pillars...).
With this scale, I can't impress people with a display of massive city
buildings crammed into a neighborhood with multi-lane highways. *However* I
also have no need to spend money-I-don't-have on thousands of bricks in the
same color. Instead, I can diversify and have several neighborhoods of
different types spread out over the same amount of display space. My
current display offers over thirty structures, a multi-dock harbor, four
trains, and "miles" of roadway. (I must admit, though, that about 50% of it
is TLC designed sets.) At the larger scale, I would spend more and likely
only have one neighborhood of one business type. (Albeit, it would be a
*very* impressive architectual model indeed!)
Don't get me wrong. I love what some of you do with your collections. I
was simply explaining what I do with mine. It started as a small town of
TLC designed sets, and it grew from there, but not in conceptual scale.
I am curious though, are there any others out there that build towns as I
do? I'd love to see sites or hear ideas that are geared towards the Town
builder with a budget....
-Hendo
PS I finally got some images scanned. As soon as I get through this
project at work, I will put together a little webpage...
In lugnet.town, Dave Amos writes:
<snip
>
> I am interested to know people's thoughts regarding two varieties of Lego
> cities. Do you all have a preference? Is bigger better for you? Or
> "character"? Can you have both?
>
> -Dave
> www.bricktannia.com
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Message has 1 Reply:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Is bigger better? Or is detail what counts?
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| Throughout my time as a Lego city builder, I have noticed that there are (roughly) two different types of towns. One kind has very large buildings, with grand skylines. It is bold and makes a great impression on people. Some examples include the (...) (23 years ago, 3-Sep-01, to lugnet.town)
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