Trains, Lego bricks and Clearing the garage

Life is best played out if you just go with the flow sometimes, all things happen for a reason. A conversation with @studdersfield led to me looking at train stations frontage, which then gave me the idea for the arch way design below. Liverpool Lime Street is a station me and my wife have been to a few times. It would take a lot more room than our garage to do it justice in Lego, but I could take a little bit of it as an idea.

So the picture just under the actual train station photo is first tinker, always interesting to tinker, out lass said it looked like a railway bridge, so in some respects I did get the train vibe. It also point out a few issues that need addressing,

1) How to make it so the arches fit to a 48 stud base plate, as the whole stadium is being designed so it can be moved around or stored easily enough on shelving units.

2) How to incorporate the glass element, one of my favourite clear bricks is 1x5x6 so I am thinking, unlike what you see on my 1st tinker of having it 2 stud thick I was thinking of making it 3 stud thick, with a front 1 stud, back 1 stud and having the clear trans bricks as the filler to the sandwich. To do this though I need the trans clears bricks, which haven't been cheap enough so far. But I am sure I can source some in the future and see how that looks.

Now our lass rightly thinks I am taking over the house, but really I want to if possible get everything into the garage with my office table being office space when working, and Lego space when building. Clearing the garage did show we have enough room, just need to sort out a table, have thought if I make 2 tables of 4ft x 4ft it would give me the desired 8ft x 4ft table I am looking for. Also if I make them my self from 4ft posts, I can then store some of the garage gear underneath as it also became clear I can't get rid of it all just yet.

So that's you all updated, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

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So I need some space for #MyLegoStadium which l have just about sorted. 8ft by 4ft be a good start need to find table, One slight issue though, what to do with all the stuff on the drive? pic.twitter.com/SWgmiQ17Tl

— MyLegoStadium (@stadium_my) June 24, 2020

First little tinker with the new bricks. Arch way for the new stand. https://t.co/ELIpPWVJYC pic.twitter.com/sc5ydqQLeJ

— MyLegoStadium (@stadium_my) June 25, 2020

The otherside of Lockdown

What we have just experienced over the past few months, would ordinarily have been subject matter for a sci-fi film, but we have all just gone through it, and to say we are the other side or not I don't know. I am however trying to bring back normality, trying to hark back to a time before. A time which we now call normal. To do this I have started buying Lego again, seemed one heck of an extravagance if I wasn't earning any money so it is why I paused buying Lego. I now work from home, and today my wife goes back to work (how long for we will shortly find out as my wife is right terrified of having to do her job face to face). If all goes well though we will be a giant step forward towards normal.

We do as humans enjoy being normal, or at least don't want to be seen as abnormal. Now you could say a grown man in his 40s wanting to build a football stadium out of Lego isn't completely normal but it does help when you find out you are not the only one. Some have done it before by building all 92 football stadiums, some like me are just going to be building a Lego stadium to their own design or simply like building with Lego.

So if you find yourself on Twitter feel free to follow

@brickstand @CCFC_jules @studdersfield @interlockingfc @BusesLego

You can't go far wrong. a selection of accounts from folks who been in the media thanks to their skill of Lego building to enthusiasts who like me love Lego.

Now what are the plans, well I will talk about the actual build in the future, but first I need somewhere to put it all. as you will see from the tweet below. The stadium is split between two rooms, it has been put away and then brought out for photos then put back again. I would really like to have it out on display, if to stop me worrying about dropping it one time with all the moving about, and to actually enjoy it. 

So the garage has been designated, but as you will see from the photos. It needs some clearing, things are put away with the sole purpose of they will be useful at some point, but if they haven't been used in years, is time to let go? We have had a pair of ladders which have been used once in 12 years and not even by me. The project for the forseeable will not just be about the build but where it will be located. I will keep you updated and thanks for reading.

At the moment #MyLegoStadium is split between 2 rooms of which one is my office for working from home. After much deliberation it seems the garage is the best place. One slight problem. What do I do with the stuff already in there 🤔 pic.twitter.com/BMGxQuxGvT

— MyLegoStadium (@stadium_my) June 22, 2020

Idea for a station to be an entrance hub for the stadium

Now, how do I recreate this? should be interesting to try.

 

Latest build, brings capacity up to 908

It's been a strange old world at the moment. So to take my mind off things I revamped the main stand, I have always been reluctant to do this, as this was the original part of the stadium and I had the worries of taking it apart and then when I rebuilt it, not being happy with the results and thus having ruined what I had done already.

I won't put every photo up, as I did take a series of photos as I was rebuilding the stand, feel free to follow me on Twitter and look through the timeline. I did during the process get what I describe as "Lego Finger" my index finger on my right hand became sore from taking apart and pushing back down all the bricks. A small price to pay in the current circumstances.

The results I would say are fantastic, the only sad new is that I have now run out of bricks. I had well over a 1,000 filler bricks, and they were eaten up right away. so the build is on hold for the stadium, and as it does come at an expense it may be a few months delay, as there is bigger priorities at the moment.

What I will be doing though, is looking through the boxes of lego sets that I got, but never had the patience to sort. There is one thing about self isolation, I have been able to get a lot of jobs done, which I have always found an excuse to do something else. Even if we didn't go out, there was always some sport on the television. the garden has never looked so sorted.

Anyways, as ever throw a comment my way if you have one, and follow on twitter if you want to see the latest. Thanks for passing by.

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Here is the build so far of #MyLegoStadium capacity is now up to 908. Still lots to do. Any ideas, suggestions or thoughts feel free to share. Bare in mind even our lass struggles to get through to me, so you have little chance 😄 pic.twitter.com/CqzGd9H3Z1

— MyLegoStadium (@stadium_my) March 26, 2020

When tinkering leads to more tinkering

I do love to have a good tinker, I normally do it before I go ahead with the actual build, a dry run. For quite a while it has been on my list of to dos to get the access sorted to the second tier. This main stand was the first part of my build, it was meant to be simple seating, then directors box with seating above. I included the entrances from an actual Lego set. It then grew to 2 base plates of 48x48 which I put together, but all the time I had to sort access to the 2nd tier.

Today, I finally had a tinker, using recently acquired bricks, it looks okay. ( I never think anything is perfect) but I had wanted to use 8x16 base plates which I have used to create floors and roofs on the directors box and corner stands and also saved a lot of bricks on the end stands I have been building, but they are thicker than the ground base plates, so the bricks would have been unlevel. This meant using some spare green base plates i had 16x16 stud. As you can see from the photos it has helped create the access, it has also given more seating. But is quite an extension, so left me thinking I really need to rebuild the whole stand, making the second tier go right across with no gaps.

So one bit of tinkering does indeed lead to another. It means I will have to build it over 3 (48x48) base plates. Not entirely sure how this will workout, I also don't want to ruin the very stand which started this all off. On a positive side though, it should free up a lot of white bricks, when I first started building I was quite naive to simply use white bricks for filling and on show, so by stripping it back I should be able to free them up and use the coloured bricks I have now as the filler.

This is a build I might tackle on Thursday, all depends on life and what it throws at us. As always I would love your thoughts and comments, feel free to share ideas, or links to your own lego builds.

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Another tinkering session complete with #MyLegoStadium what do you think? Have added on smaller plates which means it led to the thoughts I might have to rebuild the whole stand across 3 large (48x48) base plates and build the 2nd tier right across. Would love your thoughts. https://t.co/uqsqrIGq3i pic.twitter.com/QWQw1waNJ8

— MyLegoStadium (@stadium_my) March 22, 2020

My stadium corner stands

As you will see with the twitter posts below I have been tinkering with the corner stands. My first attempt was in the second tweet, where I used a lot of red 4x2 bricks just to see how it would work, it is the first one where I have integrated stairs so there is actual access to the higher levels. I do have plans for this all around the stadium, it is just currently I build the bare bones then keep adding to them.

The first tweet was actually my second attempt, it is where I have used the white bricks, and incorporated a score board (well old mobile phone) this time though without sorting the access to the higher levels, this is again something for the future.

That means there is a lot for the future, and if life gets any more isolating due to the corona virus, then I make have all the time I could ever want, but as usual the main problem will be a lack of bricks, I have ordered quite a few more, and some plates heres hoping it will get to us before nay quarantine.

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Just a little bit more done for #MyLegoStadium as the big screen is added to a corner stand. (Well my old LG G2) Kind of happy with round the back, I will probably always tinker. Need to sort access to the first tier. pic.twitter.com/LSstWe5wOy

— MyLegoStadium (@stadium_my) March 5, 2020

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I enjoy these practice runs, it helps formulate the ideas for when I get the right bricks. This is also the first one where I have sorted access to the higher tier. This is going to be the TV studio block so there will be less columns and more clear bricks. What do you think? https://t.co/79oqjHqy9S pic.twitter.com/tmGuhd33tC

— MyLegoStadium (@stadium_my) February 1, 2020

Capacity is now at 616

Just had chance to put out on display what has been built of my Lego stadium so far. The capacity is up to 616 now, which is a fine figure and still a long way to go. But how does that compare to the real world of football. Well as you can can see from the tables as you scroll down the page it puts the ground on 64th place on the table for attendances it could handle.

Its always fun to put it in perspective, and you can see how the build is progressing. It's all good fun, building it brick by brick.

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So far #MyLegoStadium is up to a capacity of 616. Here are the latest photos and a plan of the seating. pic.twitter.com/6QudlCiN0l

— MyLegoStadium (@stadium_my) February 27, 2020

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Here is the link to the full table https://www.nonleaguematters.co.uk/global/attendances/

Attendances
Team		Division	Lowest	Highest	Average

53	Guiseley	NATN	267	1891	806
54	Kettering Town	NATN	543	971	767
55	Boreham Wood	NAT	407	1401	712
56	Jersey Bulls	COCO1	547	927	692
57	Dorking Wanderers	NATS	453	915	678
58	Morpeth Town	NPL	395	1704	673
59	Stourbridge	SL3C	381	1158	647
60	Tamworth	SL3C	424	1326	642
61	Welling United	NATS	406	1459	623
62	St Albans City	NATS	396	1078	620
63	Taunton Town	SL3S	499	1068	619
64	Tonbridge Angels	NATS	383	954	607
65	Chippenham Town	NATS	400	1239	606
66	Salisbury	SL3S	414	737	602
67	Horsham	IL	412	913	601
68	Hastings United	IL1SE	347	1189	598
69	Hemel Hempstead Town	NATS	387	838	553
70	Brackley Town	NATN	330	905	550
71	Whitby Town	NPL	299	1038	541

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 And here are some more white bricks to help with the future build

More supplies for #MyLegoStadium and at 4p a brick quite a bargain. pic.twitter.com/H3urggpGdp

— MyLegoStadium (@stadium_my) February 27, 2020