Bricktober

Bricktober: Hotel (40141)

Tuesday, 28th November 2017 By Caz

Another bargain was had on eBay recently, and the Bricktober Hotel (40141) was mine! It arrived today and the box was a bit squashed but I wasn’t too bothered about that.

I found it a much easier build than the Bakery, maybe because I wasn’t trying to do it on a tray on my knee. It turned out well, with some nice little details and landscaping around the side.

The hotel and bakery are going on a couple of Micropolis bases with some other Bricktober sets when I get them, and possibly made into a complete block eventually. I think they sit quite nicely together – although I’ve left them one plate higher than the pavement on their own 8×8 bases, in case I ever want to take them off again.

WIP - Bricktober Court 29th November '17 — WIP – Bricktober Court 29th November ’17

I will update you with a new photo when I have put something else on the board in due course.

Bricktober: Bakery (40143)

Friday, 24th November 2017 By Caz

The 2015 Bricktober Mini Modular buildings aren’t too difficult to acquire on eBay in the UK at a decent price, you just have to keep your eye open for ones which aren’t up for silly money.

As I’m not at all worried about the condition of the boxes, it’s useful to watch for ones with crumpled cardboard as they tend to be a bit cheaper. I’m not collecting my LEGO to sit on a shelf un-built, but that’s my choice!

The 40143 Bricktober Bakery arrived from eBay recently so I set about opening it up and putting it together. I found the pieces quite hard to locate and make out which one I needed from the instructions, for some reason. It could have been that I was doing the build on a very small tray on my knee on the sofa, and didn’t have much room to spread the pieces out to rummage about for each one I needed. Anyway, I got there in the end.

You will notice from comparing photos on the box and the built version, that I’ve left off a few bits from bottoms of the motorised vehicles. I think this makes them more in-scale with other vehicles in Micropolis, which are usually only 2-3 plates high. The bakery will eventually end up on a proper Micropolis base, making up a single block (4 quarter blocks back to back), to be called Bricktober Court. Keep your eye open for progress on this front!

Bricktober: Toys ‘R’ Us (40144)

Sunday, 19th November 2017 By Caz

Being a lover of Microscale buildings, I’ve had my eye on the two sets of Bricktober buildings which have been released, one set in 2014, the other in 2015. These sets were normally acquired with large LEGO purchases from Toys ‘R’ Us, but of course plenty have found their way onto eBay and Bricklink, often at hugely-inflated prices! The first set I bought was the Toys ‘R’ Us Store itself, which I got for a bargain, so I was happy. I made it up and it looks great:

40144 Bricktober Toys 'R' Us — 40144 Bricktober Toys ‘R’ Us

I’m not into the Mini Modular system per se, so I replaced the two-hole Technic bricks in this build with solid ones from my stock. However, I thought the building would look great put onto a proper Micropolis baseplate, to fit with the rest of my models. So I added a parking lot, a bit more landscaping and a few vehicles to set the scene.

There is room for the big delivery truck to unload in the rear service road, too.

I envisage this will go in an area of Micropolis which looks like an out-of-town shopping mall, eventually. But for the moment, it’s a nice way to integrate this Bricktober set with the rest of my Micropolis builds.

I will be doing something similar with any more of the Bricktober sets I manage to acquire in the future, so watch this space!