Inspiration of the Day - 1/31/11

Courtesy Water Street, New Bedford by jfoumf08

Brick Town Talk on Facebook

Join Brick Town Talk on Facebook! I figured it would be a much more adequate location to hold discussions and get more people interested in the website.  Link is off to the right.

Inspiration of the Day - 1/30/11

Courtesy Main Street in Georgetown by Dan Stiver

Mayor Orders Take-Out

Courtesy City Hall and Restaurant by Space2310

A fantastic little scene that really brings out the image of a city. I'm happy to see the dark tan color being used more and more often. It's a good city color and looks great when used with dark red. Be sure to check out the red roof too, not a detail is missed! I look forward to more!

Classic Red Barn

My Classic Red Barn

This took me about two months to produce. It originally started out with a really basic roofless frame of the building with any sort of brick I could find—mostly yellow and blue. From there I counted the pieces I needed and ordered a good amount of red 1xX bricks. Another order soon followed to complete the roof and grass.

By far the trickiest/irritating bit of this whole model was the top most roof sections. They can't just sit on there, or else they slide off, pushing the middle roof section off in the process. So I had to place them on little hinges, which worked pretty well, aside from the fact that they leave little gaps near the top.

I'm really happy in how this turned out. I've never built a barn before, and now I finally have!

Hope you all enjoy it!

Chili's Has a Competitor!

Courtesy Outbrick Steakhouse by Brian Lyles

Remember that Chili's restaurant we posted here not too long ago? Well, an opposing restaurant by the name of Outbrick Steakhouse (possible copyright infringement?) has moved into the region. With a old-fashioned brick lay-work greeting whoever decides to walk in, it's noq question Outbrick Steakhouse will get some business. What's more to say? The design of this building is top notch; I'd certainly eat here.

Inspiration of the Day - 1/28/11

Courtesy A storm is coming by freeburgp

Arches and Angles for Angels

Courtesy St. Philip's Chapel by LegoLord

Well......he said it was his first church. I don't believe him. This thing is incredible. It has church written all over it! Great job on this one! Check out LegoLord's other models too!

Welcome to the Ararat Hotel!

Courtesy Ararat Hotel by gambort

I think I have an obsession with hotels. Coming from a small town, we lack that elegance and style of an old fashioned hotel looming over the downtown, and that's exactly what this model brings to mind. Great job all around on this one!

I Live Where I Work

The compactness to this model is just too awesome to pass up. The drastic color change from one building to the next and the solid construction technique adds a punch to this creation. Very cool!

Courtesy house by Superb.

A Museum is in the Works

Two great creations from shutinc's flickr photostream - click the titles for full photosets. His first is the Luxury shop and apartment.

[WIP] Museum of wax: The majestic look to this thing is just perfect for that museum look.

That last one is supposedly still a work in progress, but it already looks fantastic. There's already an excellent interior:

Inspiration of the Day - 1/24/11

Courtesy Over the Rhine by ifmuth

A Happy Farewell

I have decided that it is about time I completely handed over the reigns of Brick Town Talk to Chris. It has been an excellent experience creating this blog and seeing develop over the past four years.

I hope that the Modular Building line continues for a very long time and that AFOLs continue to build their own versions. The rumours are that we shall be seeing a modular Pet Store in the next few months. I for one will be at the LEGO shop on the day it comes out, much as I was when Cafe Corner hit the shelves for the first time.

I would like to say a huge thank you to Chris for writing the blog for the last year and to the other contributors. To Roger, who's interest in the beginning spured me on to continue. The biggest thanks must go to Jamie Berard who's incredible imagination and persuasive skills brought the modular building line to us in the first place.

I am raising a glass to Brick Town Talk. Long may it continue and I look forward to dipping in - in the future.

Cheers

Richard (Brickstreet).

A Day at the Fort

Flickr user 2 Much Caffeine has created a compact little fortress for the Jolly Roger Competition over at ForbiddenCove. It's simple, and that's why it's so successful. The white really contrasts nicely with the dark rock and brings out the structure as a whole. The courtyard in the middle is just like the real thing—the well, cannons, and door leading to the inside. I'm hoping this is part of something bigger.....

Courtesy The Fort as Isla D'Or by 2 Much Caffeine.

Town on the Rocks

The usual chaos of a coastal town in the early 1800s. Pirates are crawling around on the rooftops and the Colonial soldiers are at a loss as to what to do, what's new? I'm really liking the variety of building techniques in this little diorama. That lighthouse, especially. The whole set up is really top notch, I would really like to see more models like these in the future. Keep it up!

Courtesy Pirate Town by Legopirate-forum.

Inspiration of the Day - 1/21/11

Courtesy Burano, Vénétie, Italie by villerose4431.

Town of Ararat in 1972

Tim Gould and Mike Pianta have created a terrific rendition of the Australian town of Ararat back how it was in 1972. Complete with angled city streets, train tracks, and very well-detailed terrain features such as the sand dirt and brick built trees, it's easy to get lost in its detail. Check out more pictures on Brickshelf! 

Courtesy Ararat 1972 by gambort.

Inspiration of the Day - 1/19/11

Courtesy Centier Square by Eridony.

Inspiration of the Day - 1/18/11

Courtesy Les quais de Honfleur by myvalleylil1.

*Update - I've added an Inspiration of the Day page to the list of pages up top. Enjoy!

Home on the Range

This was posted a long time ago on Classic-Town.net, but after looking around on through Misterzumbi's Brickshelf images, I figured that this diorama deserved to be shown again. The house, barn, cornfield (with accompanying crop circles), pond, tractor, and abandoned truck are absolutely fantastic. The amount of detail in this is astounding, and just proves how much one can do with LEGO. Awesome work on this one!

Courtesy Farm by Misterzumbi. 

Seaside Church

Everything in this model just screams professional. The gate has a wonderful style to it and I especially like how the church is set at a slight angle to the otherwise parallel surroundings. The retaining wall is a brilliant idea and really complements the diorama quite nicely. Remember to check out the fountain area and the graveyard too!

Courtesy Seaside Church by Matija Grguric.

Experimenting...

Hi everyone!

As you may have noticed, I've been messing around with the format of the site in the last couple of days. I removed the banner, added in some new pages, and changed the colors around a little. I left some questions below for you to answer. Please let me know of what you think of the changes and any other problems you may be having, whether it be load time of the site or a broken link here or there. Any help is greatly appreciated!

1. Do you like the layout of the site? If no, please explain.
2. Is it easy to navigate?
3. Do you like the content that is blogged? If no, please explain.

Cheers,

Chris

Inspiration of the Day - 1/16/11

Courtesy Place de Bruges by brigeham34.

Along the Stone Steps

Some very intriguing roof techniques on these structures. Although, my favorite aspect has to be the basements. It's the only viable way of doing them with LEGO, and avante did a superb job pulling it off. I could just imagine these sitting on the hillside of some small European town. Very cool!

Courtesy gamble by avante. 

Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes

It looks like purple finally found its use! This amazing structure (which can be found in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) by Joel.Baker is a solid 1000 pieces and a good three stories tall. The giant man out front actually tips his hat too! So what's not to love! Great job on this one.

Courtesy Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes by Joel.Baker.

Inspiration of the Day - 1/15/11

Courtesy Honfleur by FabricePics.

Inspiration of the Day - 1/14/11

Courtesy Wien, 8. by Josef Lex.

Colonial Revival House

Now who wouldn't want to live here? A terrific little townhouse in a classic dark red style makes for a very homely setting, almost nostalgic in some ways. Be sure to check out more pictures over at MOCpages. Great as usual, Brian!

Courtesy Colonial Revival House by Brian Lyles.

New Sorting Tips Page

Hello everyone!

This morning, I was able to conjure up the Sorting Tips page to help you sort your LEGO collection. As always, please leave a comment or suggestion.

Hope you like it!

Chris

A Street in Europe

from Vincent Kessels's flickr photostream - from Fanwelt 2010

Tavern

The alleyway adds some great character to this building. I really like the piping idea, something that usually doesn't get added to models such as this. The windows are also really nice too, a perfect way to use those white goblets. 

Courtesy tavern by xueren. 

Inspiration of the Day - 1/11/11

Courtesy Lost and Foundry by cmu chem prof.

Inspiration of the Day - 1/10/11

Courtesy Höchstadt by Olaf S.

New Privacy Policy Page

Check out our new Privacy Policy page!

Inspiration of the Day - 1/8/11

Courtesy Mixed-Use Infill by Eridony.

Brick Building

A simple, but very nice little brick building, whose walls are completely constructed out of a bunch of 1x2 plates. I especially like the turn-of-the-century feel to this model. It has a great old fashioned look it it. Good work here!

Courtesy Brick Building by legoadam.

LEGO Newsstand

A tiny little newsstand to complement any modular building. It is creations like these that rarely get built; the ones that are meant to supplement a major model and capture the day-to-day situations in life. I really like this model, I wish it was set all on its own! Good work, LG!

Courtesy LEGO Newsstand by lgorlando.

Inspiration of the Day - 1/2/11

Courtesy Tübingen by ploh1.

Inspiration of the Day - 1/1/11

Finally! Some European architecture!

Courtesy The Oliver St. John Gogerty - Dublin by Dunechaser.

Happy 2011 everyone!

New Building Tips Page

Hello everyone!

Visit the new Building Tips page for a quick reference in how to start your own modular building. I hope this comes in handy to anyone wanting to build their own Cafe Corner compatible building. Any comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!