Police Dock

Someone has to be out on the water to ensure no one is up to any shenanigans, boat or otherwise.  Gotta have a cop out there to patrol the seas and keep everyone safe out there.

Police Dock and the police boat docked at it

I know, I know, cops showing up at your yacht party would be a major buzzkill.  Especially if you're doing something you shouldn't be.  You shouldn't have to worry about it, since it usually stays docked.  It'll only heads out if he gets called to check something fishy.

The police boat getting ready to shove off and find some trouble

I need a few more accessories for this police boat.  A pair of binoculars, some handcuffs, maybe a firearm, in case things get hairy or the officer runs into a kraken.

The officer checking out what's on the water and getting ready to call it in on his radio

Sets used: 6344

Lego Haul - 2/2/17

Pro tip for going to the Lego store:  go on a school night.  It should be pretty dead in there.  My wife and I went this past Thursday evening, and there weren't many people there.  We usually go early on weekend, as soon as the Lego store opens, but weeknights are way better.  Much easier to take our time to browse the shelves for new sets.

 The Lego Haul from Groundhog Day

The new 40237 Lego Easter Egg Hunt set is now available, so we grabbed it.  I know, it seems silly that it's more than two months away, and it's not even Valentine's Day yet.  But that's typical of our consumer-driven society.  Oh well, I'm not complaining.

I will use it at decoration, but I may also use them in the Park I'm designing.  Not use how to incorporate such a small egg hunt into the activities in the park though. The Romantic Valentine Picnic I got last month can be added to the Park with no problem.  People have picnics in the park all the time.  But an Easter Egg Hunt?  That's an annual occurrence, not a daily one.

40237 Lego Easter Egg Hunt fully assembled

My wife and I also went through the bin of Lego Batman Movie minifigures to see if we could find the ones needed to complete the collection.  We found Dick Grayson, Fairy Batman, Pink Power Batgirl, and Red Hood.  We could have found the last two I need, Commissioner Gordon and The Mime, but I was hungry and impatient.  I didn't want to take the time to find them, I wanted some dinner.

The Lego Batman Movie minifigures (clockwise from top left) Dick Grayson, Fairy Batman, Red Hood, and Pink Power Batgirl

Unlike the last few series of minifigures, we haven't found any at Target yet.  I'll wait until they start showing up there before I track down the last two needed for this series.  No need to make a special trip to the Lego store for two minifigures and an $8 purchase.  It's just not worth it.

Marina Docks

Next to the Marina Office, there are some docks that boat owners can park their watercraft between adventures, or just load up some gear before heading out to sea for the day.

The Marina Docks

The longer space on the end is reserved for the failing boat, which residents can rent for a half or full day to go trawling for seafood.  The captain is the brother of the Marina Office's supervisor.  A group wanting to go out can head up to the window at the office to pay for its usage, then walk on down and get on board for the tour.  And they'll get more than three hours.  It's not like they are going out on the Minnow.

Boats parked out at the docks.

The other two spaces are for anyone else to park to do business in the Marina Office or haul gear on board as well.  There is plenty of room for a boat to fit in there.  Any kind of boat.  A speedboat, a personal fishing boat, even a military watercraft.  The options are endless.

Oooh, there's a parking spot right there!!

Sets used: 4642, 6596

Lego Haul - 1/16/17

I get Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off from work, so I quickly ran down to the local Lego store to stock up on some bricks to continue construction on my Cargo Terminal and Pony Farm.



The Lego haul from 1/16/17

I filled a small cup with brown and yellow 2x4 bricks to build the walls for the Cargo Terminal.  With what I had already, I nearly completed them.  I was one brown brick short, but at least I've got the outside finished.  I just need a few pieces to complete the construction on the inside.

The contents of my small cup of Lego's

I also needed the Extra Large Grey Baseplate for the flooring in the Cargo Terminal.  I kinda wish they made a larger one.  With my current airport design, there's barely any room to bring the cargo plane up to this building to load and unload goods between flights.  A 15" square baseplate won't cut it.  Of course, my only option is to redesign the airfield to fit everything.  To be determined...

Current construction progress of the Cargo Terminal

I also got a sand baseplate to hold the office for the Pony Farm.  Now I can expand the building to a reasonable size, so the woman running it so she can host clients who may want to ride a horse, or maybe even stable one here.

The office at the Pony Farm

With two buildings nearly complete, it'll be that time again...  To design more buildings!!!

I know, it never ends...

Marina Office

Every seashore area with boats and ferries and whatnot need an office to oversee marina operations.  I got one for my Lego city.

The Marina Office

At first, it was going to handle all watercraft business operations.  Both boat and equipment rentals.  Then I found 4644 Marina at a Toys'R'Us, which had a store for equipment rental (SCUBA tanks, flippers, surfboards, fishing rods, life jackets).  My original design of the Marina Office has a service window and a cash register.  I didn't want to change it, since the office would still handle boat rentals, so I kept them.

The service window at the Marina Office

The office is elevated over the water.  I got a number of supports coming up, on which the floor is placed upon.  I felt it was a good idea to have the office propped up so the people running it could oversee boat operation a bit better than just sitting at "ground" level.  It also matched up with the elevation of the surrounding structures.

The Captain overseeing what's in the water outside the office

Sets used: 71001

Lego Haul - 1/12/17

My wife and I went down to Walt Disney World again this week.  As we did last time, we had to head over to Disney Springs and shop at the Lego store there.  I had more than $150 in gift cards that I got from my family for Christmas.  They had to go.

The Lego Haul from Disney Springs

I think I spent about $70 getting a small cup of Lego's, 11 The Lego Batman Movie minifigures, and a 40236 Romantic Valentine Picnic, and a free 30524 Mini Batwing for spending $35.  I had to wait until we came home to assemble everything, but I had no issue waiting. for that.

I first put together my 40236 Romantic Valentine Picnic.  I'm torn between two uses for it.  I can add it to my Valentine's Holiday Decorations, but with the nice picnic layout, they'd be great to sit in my Park.  That's still under design, but the more elements I get, the easier it's going to be lay everything out.  If you have too few sets or too much room for a layout, it can be tough to determine where to put everything.

 40236 Romantic Valentine Picnic contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

I filled up the small cup I brought to Florida with various bricks.  The brick yellow 1x4 and 2x4 bricks will go to the Pony Farm.  I've been working on some new building designs, but after I put both the office and the barn on a single 32x32 baseplate, I realized that I couldn't fit both onto it.  I'm considering either putting the office over the band, or getting a second base plate and putting them side by side.

The white wall elements will go into the shower display in my Plumber Shop, and the 4 2x4 brown bricks will go to my Cargo Terminal at the Airport.

Contents of my small cup of Lego's

The 30524 Mini Batwing will be yet another drone that the scientists and engineers in the Research Lab are working on.  I've got so many little aircraft from various sets.  It's ridiculous.

The 30524 Mini Batwing fully assembled

My wife and I stocked up on some Lego Batman Movie minifigures and wound up with 10 new ones.  I got Barbara Gordon, Clan of the Cave Batman, King Tut, Lobster-Lovin' Batman, Nurse Harley Quinn, Orca, The Calculator, The Eraser, The Joker - Arkham Asylum, and Vacation Batman.  As you can see in the image below, I wound up with 2 Lobster-Lovin' Batman.  I thought one of them was Fairy Batman.  The lobster felt like wings.

71017 The Lego Batman Minifigures

I still have 6 more to find.  Maybe next weekend I'll try to find them somewhere.  We haven't seen any in our nearby Target.  The local Lego store does have them, but we're still trying to figure out a time when the Mall of America would be slow enough where we wouldn't have to deal with crowds.  Guess I could do what I did when I first moved down here.  Take time off from work in the middle of the week to head down there.  That always worked well for me.  I highly recommend it, if you can afford to do so...

Lego Haul - 12/31/16

The last of the Lego Christmas presents finally arrived on New Year's Eve.  My wife and I got a 71203 Portal 2 Level Pack for Lego Dimensions.

71203 Portal 2 Level Pack

I don't have an XBox, so I've never played a Portal game.  It seems fun, but also kind of difficult.  Playing the new level left me scratching my head a couple of times trying to figure out how to complete it.  And it felt like it took forever.  Using the portal gun was tough to figure out until I got the hang of it.  Use Y for a blue portal, A for orange.  Go in orange and come out blue.

Portal 2 Level Pack contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

I haven't attempted the level a second time yet, but I'm sure it'll be much easier when my wife and I team up.  We always work well together.  It's scary how much we can get done when we apply ourselves.