My Models – Page 15 – Bill Ward's Brickpile

Modular 16×32 Buildings

These two buildings, both built on 16×32 stud baseplates, have been featured in many BayLTC displays over the past couple of years. They were built in a modular fashion so that floors can be mixed and matched if desired, and taken apart for more compact storage and transport.

The blue building has a removable module for the two upper floors, and another one for the roof. The red building has one removable module, consisting of the upper floor plus roof. The Blackburn Hotel was built according to the same standards.

The trouble with this modular design though is that the architectural style of the different buildings clashes too much; they would never be combined in real life.

These buildings have now been disassembled, largely because I feel that 16×32 is just too small of a footprint for a realistic building. I am now working on new buildings using a 32×32 or larger size footprint. I brought the works-in-progress for this project to the October BayLUG meeting.

Click one of the big pictures to go to the set page on Flickr, or view a slideshow of the photos.

Blackburn Hotel

The Blackburn Hotel is a building that I have displayed may times as a part of the Bay Area LEGO Train Club layouts at train shows and meetings, but never blogged about.

It is one of several 16×32 footprint downtown buildings which I created for the layout one time a few years ago when I heard that several of the members who usually bring buildings to train shows weren’t going to be participating in one of the shows, and we desperately needed downtown buildings.

The building is five stories tall, built mostly using black bricks with tan trim and red windows. The unique feature of the hotel is the signs: a rooftop “BLACKBURN HOTEL” sign and a vertical sign that says “HOTEL” which is intended to be placed at a street corner, but can be rotated 45 degrees to be used for a mid-block placement.

The name was suggested by my wife. Partly it is due to the color, and partly due to the fact that I was watching an English Premier League football (soccer) match on TV as I was building it featuring Blackburn Rovers (I support any team that has American players, and Blackburn have an American goalkeeper, Brad Friedl, as well as the New Zealander Ryan Nelson who used to play in Major League Soccer).

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or you can view a slideshow of the photos.

June 21, 2002: Tundra Explorer

This was built for the Ice Planet 2002 Contest on Lugnet. I didn’t win, but I thought it captured the essence of the LEGO Ice Planet 2002 theme.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or click on an individual photo. Or, you can view a slideshow of the photos.

April 8, 2002: Ski Boat

Waterskiing anyone? This little boat will provide hours of aquatic fun.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or click on an individual photo. Or, you can view a slideshow of the photos.

February 24, 2002: Teddy Bear

This is another repost, from the days when I was thinking about making a business out of LEGO Sculpture, like Eric Harshbarger. I later decided that would take too much fun out of it.

This is my first non-Pokémon sculpture. I have decided to switch to more original designs to avoid possible copyright/trademark infringement, and to make it possible to sell copies of my sculpture. If you are interested in buying a copy of the Teddy Bear (in your choice of colors) or commissioning an original work, please send me e-mail.

I brought this model to the BricksWest 2002 international LEGO conference at LEGOLAND in Carlsbad, CA in February 2002.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or click on an individual photo. Or, you can view a slideshow of the photos.

February 24, 2002: Passenger Transport

This hybrid rocket/jet aircraft takes off and lands like a plane, and the engines switch to rocket mode to reach orbit, where it docks with a space station or the Lunar Tour Vehicle for their next destination.

This uses the Docking System I devised for spacecraft.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or click on an individual photo. Or, you can view a slideshow of the photos.

February 24, 2002: Lunar Tour Vehicle

Part bus, part spacecraft, this vessell meets up with the Passenger Transport in Earth orbit and ferries them to the moon, where they can spend a week visiting the Apollo landing zones and other historical and natural wonders.

Its rockets pivot aft for flight, and downward for takeoff and landing. Inside are all the luxuries a traveler could want, plus facilities for the crew. A generous galley and head are included.

This uses the Docking System I devised for spacecraft.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or click on an individual photo. Or, you can view a slideshow of the photos.

January 16, 2002: Yellow Hopper Truck

Another repost…

This truck is for carrying sand, gravel, LEGO bricks, or similar material. A door in the bottom opens to allow dumping. I later rebuilt the trailer to produce a second version of this model.

Click the big picture to go to the set page on Flickr, or click on an individual photo. Or, you can view a slideshow of the photos.