TwinLUG - Latest Comments

Re: Micropolis v1.1 – Waterfront

jeremy — Sat, 05 May 2012 10:36:39 -0000

im thinkiing about going to brickfair id like to try and build a fishing peir or something like that to help you guys out.

Re: Next TwinLUG Meeting: Sunday March 18, 2012

Nathan Stohlmann — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 21:33:57 -0000

Probably not.

As mentioned on our About page, TwinLUG is a club for Adults and accompanied teens. The majority of the content of our meetings is discussing LEGO at an adult level though not "adult" content.

Re: Next TwinLUG Meeting: Sunday March 18, 2012

Sheila — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 20:46:31 -0000

I have never been. Would this meeting be interesting to a child?

Re: Next TwinLUG Meeting: Sunday February 19, 2012

Nathan Stohlmann — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:23:35 -0000

Yes! The meetings are open to anyone that is interested.

Really our only restrictions are that you be at least 18 years old or if you are 13-17 years old that you bring a parent or guardian. We don't think the group is quite appropriate for children under the age of 13. Slightly more info can be found at http://twinlug.com/about/ though the best way to get more info is to subscribe to the group mailing list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/...

The meetings tend to be fairly loose affairs and mostly consist of people discussing projects they are working on, interesting sets or parts they've seen or worked with, occasional parts draws, and random conversation. When we're really feeling organized we'll put together a low-stakes build contest but we haven't had one of those since last fall. I expect the Feb meeting to be relatively small and quiet, but there's usually something interesting even at a meeting like that.

I'll be updating the other links we've got, but for information about where the meeting takes place and how to get there use the following link http://brickmaniatoys.com/open...

Re: Next TwinLUG Meeting: Sunday February 19, 2012

amanda — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:46:27 -0000

is anyone welcome I am interested in joining but don't know much about it.

thanks Amanda

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

Francesco Spreafico — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:51:14 -0000

Sure, go ahead!

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

Nathan Stohlmann — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:13:12 -0000

No problem! Do you mind if I use a modified version of your question for the FAQ?

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

Francesco Spreafico — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:55:03 -0000

Got it, thanks!

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

Nathan Stohlmann — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:35:39 -0000

The spec requires only a single hole, however some builders find it more convenient to use 1x4 Technic Bricks instead of 1x2 either because of parts available in their collection or a slightly simpler parts layout in the base.

I tend to use two 1x16 and two 1x14 Technic Bricks for my module bases.

The important point for the Technic brick is that there is that single pin hole in the middle of the base on each side.

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

Francesco Spreafico — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:23:25 -0000

Shouldn't "1 x 2 Technic bricks with one hole are in the stud 8-9 positions on each side" be "1 x 4 Technic bricks are in the stud 7-10 positions on each side."?

It does look like that in the images.

Re: Next TwinLUG Meeting: Sunday December 18, 2011 UPDATED!

Ron Wightman — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:03:24 -0000

got it,, thanks.

Re: Next TwinLUG Meeting: Sunday December 18, 2011 UPDATED!

Gedanielson — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:19:03 -0000

Ron - we are pretty sure on moving the meeting to the Brickmania site on the 18th. This will be premanent. I asked the group about it but no one commented back. I will ask again today. You might check the Yahoo group page for the club.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/...

If you haven't been tp Brickmania/GMLTC before check out this link for directions.
http://www.gmltc.org/index.php...

Re: Next TwinLUG Meeting: Sunday December 18, 2011 UPDATED!

Ron Wightman — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:25:15 -0000

Thining about attending a meeting (first), coming from Rochester. What is on the agenda for this meeting, just so I know...

Re: LEGO As Art (PDF)

fqwimages — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:40:00 -0000

An interesting essay - I agree that art has the 3 facets, content/message, form and context. Personally I think that art is an expression of the artist's message using whichever form is available. The audience is the one which usually provides context.

In other words, art is like language as a means of communications.

you can see my thoughts on art

http://fqwimages.com/2011/11/r...

and http://fqwimages.com/2011/11/r...

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

Nathan Stohlmann — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:53:27 -0000

Alleys are always optional.

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

Nathan Stohlmann — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:48:22 -0000

It's a fair point.

It's been a few years now but I do think there was some discussion about using metric instead of imperial but for whatever reason it was decided to go with Imperial instead.

Given that a yard and a meter are so close in size though, it isn't a problem with thinking of a plate as a meter instead of a yard. So that gets you:
- Plates are 1m
- studs are 2.5m
- bricks are 3 m

And everything scales about the same from there.

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

buckyballs — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:03:54 -0000

I realize that as an American we initially prefer to use Imperial, but...for the purposes of scaling...don't you think metric would have been a helluva lot easier?
Also knowing that LEGOs have an inherent metric ratio, that being (as I'm sure you know):
- plates are .32cm thick,
- the side of a 1x1 is 0.8cm,
- the height of a brick is 0.96cm

For a house blueprint I get it because the measurements are usually imperial, bit the dimensions of what we build are easily taken in metric and scaled.
Seems to save a lot of division guesswork.

Also thanks for the great template. Like everything else in this community, gotta give the props. And when someone sets a standard? Awesome.

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

sam — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 23:42:38 -0000

one more question does the module need alleies

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

Sam — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:47:26 -0000

One quick question. I am 13 (one month from 14th birthday) and wondering if I can join.
But my Dad is willing to join with me.

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

mike — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:47:09 -0000

Cool!! Thanks!!!

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

Nathan Stohlmann — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:07:32 -0000

Using any kind of stud to hold your traffic in place is not bad form at all. As long as the roads and sidewalk are in the right place, that's the important part. Some people don't like to stick their traffic down preferring to be able to move it around easily. Others, like my partner Jennifer Heaton, stick it all down using jumpers or plates or whatever. Some of us are just too lazy to build traffic. Any way you get your traffic on the module, or leave it off, pretty much works fine.

Where it can go wrong though is if you aren't careful to keep your traffic on your own module. If you've got a string of modules that are designed to work together, that's something else entirely. But it is important to make sure that your module doesn't bleed too much into the space occupied by another. I have this problem sometimes with one of my oldest module, a construction site. The tower crane on the module protrudes just a touch into the space of the module next to it (possibly in two different directions if it's positioned right) and that has impacted where it can be placed in a larger layout. Traffic is similar in that if your vehicles overlap onto the module next door it can severely limit the placement of the module, if not make it impossible to place in a larger layout. Just something to keep in mind.

We'll be looking forward to seeing you in June!

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

mike — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 19:48:24 -0000

I'm cuurious...is it bad form to use 1x2 black jumper tiles to hold my vehicles down on my roads? I'm still working on my first module and already I see that the vehicles will not stay just being placed on flat tiles...just asking!! Thanks!!!

Mike

BTW, I'm looking at building about 5-10 modules to Brickworld Chicago in June!!!! I really do love the scale!!!!

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

uitzetter — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 04:41:31 -0000

Hello everybody,

My name is Cindy and I am a lego fan. I never did anything with Lego since my childhood, but my son is almost 6 years now and a big fan of mostly city sets. But by putting everything together I thought, this will be my new hobby! I want to build things with Lego. But I do not have a lot of room and I do not have any spare parts to build, since all the the lego we have is used in the city sets for my son.

Then I stumbled into lego micro building and thought, this is what I want to do! I started to search for a standard in microbuilding. I did that, because I really like the modular buildings at minifig size and wondered if there was such a thing in microbuilding. And your great site and micropolis city standards is what I found.

But I do have a few questions if you guys are willing to help.

I'm living in The Netherlands so I want to know if I understand your scale correctly.
1 plate = 3 feet high = 0,91 meters high?
1 stud = 7.5 feet wide and deep = 2,3 meters wide?
1 X 1 Brick = 9 feet high = 3 plates high = 2,7 meters high?

If I got the above part right, would you be so kind to answer the next questions?
1. If 1 brick equals 2,7 meters high and 2,3 meters wide you have to build micro's of very, very hughe buildings to get a little bit of detail in your buildings right? How do you do it with smaller buildings live normal houses etc.?

2. Do you know where to find good documentation on microscale building specifically? Where can I order, where can I download? So far, I only managed to get regular "unofficial lego building techniques" which doesn't discuss microbuilding techniques much.

3. I know about Bricklink, Brickset, Pearon and LDD (which I intend to use first, so I will know which parts to use). As I stated, I do not have any spare parts, but I do have to collect pieces. I have had tips to go to fleemarkets and watch for sales in stores. And of course Bricklink. Can you give any tips how to start my collection?

4. What kind of stones do I need first? I'll bet I would need mostly 1X1, 1X2 bricks and a lot of small plates, otherwise you cannot get a lot of detail right? So buying used sets doesn't seem the way to go. But rather bulk buying in little stones?

Well. that's it for now. I'm really, really hoping for your help. Thanks for reading my message.

Re: “Micropolis” Micro City Standard

Nathan Stohlmann — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 10:35:51 -0000

With a small exception, I do not agree that a base module with roads on all sides works very well. As an illustration, I put together this example of precisely why it doesn't work in LDD this morning.

The primary argument is the placement of the crosswalks. In particular the crosswalks to nowhere stand out quite a bit and, to me, don't work at all. You could mollify that somewhat by swapping where you put the crosswalks when you put the module into a layout but that seems like a fair amount of work.

But here's the thing: According to the spec as long as the sidewalks and roads on two of the sides match up, then I can see your point. To that end I made a couple of small modifications that I do think make the module work. The thing about these modifications though, is that it's just a customization of a base module, which is perfectly in spec. It just so happens that this particular module has roads on all four sides though as you can see I removed most of the extraneous crosswalks and moved two of them so that they are in line with the regular sidewalks (Which I know at least one person argues should be the way they go at the corners anyway).

So, yes, you can make it work. But it's not in the spec because it doesn't have to be.

Your comment did get me thinking though, and I think I've got an idea for how to implement a roundabout that could be really interesting.

Re: Micropolis v1.1 – Bluff

Tyler — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:19:06 -0000

The ramp I designed is built on a bluff edge module, and it is basically a switchback road leading up a hill. I figured there probably wasn't anything wrong with a road in the middle of a module. It starts at the top at studs 11/12, slopes down to studs 3/4, doubles back on itself, slopes down to studs 13/14, doubles back again and slopes itself down to the ground level, where it joins the lower road at studs 5/6. The road is only two studs wide, but if the existing module roads are thought of as being a driving and a parking lane... I guess it is a two-lane road after all. Never thought of it that way. That opens up a whole new range of ideas...