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| Courtesy Black Cat Cabaret by RedCoKid |
Can-Can Alley - (BTT) Hydroelectric power plants. Solar powered cars. Wind powered nightclubs? Ok, so the windmill on the front of the Black Cat Cabaret might use more energy than it creates, but it makes quite the statement nonetheless. Enter through the glass canopy and take a seat by the stage - if you're lucky, you might even get a spot in the balcony (although do mind the windmill mechanics while you're up there).
My inspiration for building was a video game series in which a troupe of pilots doubles as theatrical performers at night for cover. The content is more benign (PG-13) than it superficially appears... I am sensitive to history behind the real Moulin Rouge or other places of its ilk, but the museum I had recently finished would’ve lacked the originality I was aiming for Eurobrick's contest. I also had in mind creating a brightly colored modular patterned after Olivia’s house and/or Andrea’s stage.
ReplyDeleteI wanted the building to be set off-angle from the sidewalk, such as resting on hinge plates to form a trapezoid (of large perfect triangles). However, after some frustration with receding sidewalk space, this evolved into a simple corner building with an abnormal percentage sitting on the hypotenuse.
Next I defined the color palette. I liked Andrea’s Friends theme, so I borrowed the black, purple, magenta, and dark red (well, virually all of those colors), simply adding white and gold.
Returning to the hypotenuse, there were few ways to fill in the gaps generated by extra spaces of 0.414. One solution became filling those with SNOT roof slopes. I wanted the columns to match, but oddly 92946 is not yet available in white, so I went with 1x2 cheese slopes. The awning is held in place horizontally by 1x1 round tiles and the snot roof slopes.
I borrowed the windmill casing from “Dual Dour” in my Castlometry series. I gutted it and threw in an XL motor anchored by technic beams. Originally I tried to make a tower roof of dark red slopes and hinge plates, but the result was not as good as an appropriate prefabricated part, 33215. Indeed, I felt guilty pleasure ordering something so gaudy and imagining the bricklink seller wonder how I’d use it!!
The third floor’s exterior was a disappointment (and continues to be). The windmill innards took up space I could’ve used for a spiral staircase, and every official modular thus far has employed creative use of stairs. Also lacking is a roof or full backside to the windmill—a byproduct of cheating with the tower roof.
With the exterior done, I focused on my weakness—interiors and small details. Every official modular has the some variation of mail, lettering, and furniture. I used a phone booth in place of a mailbox because who’d pick up mail outside an entertainment facility? Old French/Euro phone booths are typically red, but I made mine in black to match (the window frames weren’t available in dark red). The lettering was added to the awning. I kept it short & simple and threw in black cats chasing goldfish for humor. For furniture, I added dividers because people should be standing in line rather than sitting on a bench waiting for the bus.
Inside, the first and second floors are taken up by the stage show. The curtains are indeed garage door slats, but this was an adaptation of the shower curtains in Olivia’s house—I can’t take credit. On the third floor the one element I was especially proud of was applying foil stickers (from the Friends beauty shop) to the back of 1x4x3 transparent wall elements; it creates a reflective surface underneath glass just like the real thing! As for the minifigs, I tried to insinuate a storyline; a spy enters the cabaret undercover seeking out the bad guy amongst a seamy bunch of attendees.