"We can rebuild it...we have the technology"

When you build a Lego set, all of the pieces that you need come in the box, along with step by step directions that help you build the set from the bottom to the top... in that order. When you're building your own creation from scratch, however, you start with a whole mess of pieces (or, like me, you keep ordering more and more from Bricklink) and you get half way through when suddenly you realize something is missing right smack in the middle of what you've already built. It's at times like that when you have to take a deep breath, carefully tear your beautiful creation apart, and insert the required pieces.

There are often times when I've been building and realized that I didn't have the pieces that I needed. So I ordered some bricks online, but I kept building with temporaries in certain spots because I often don't really know what I need until I get to that part of the build. If I kept waiting till new pieces arrived, this project might take all year. So I insert place holders and keep moving on. 

I had to tear apart my MOC (My Own Creation) recently to insert some orange pieces. On the Old Firehouse in Old Town, there's a spot above the windows of the Happy Lucky Tea Shop where the paneling is orange, then white, then orange. I wasn't able to order enough orange pieces to follow that pattern on my MOC, so I decided to at least keep the idea and just flip the colors. I had plenty of white pieces, but the orange pieces (with a part called a "door rail") were spread among about 20 different shops in the U.S. with a couple here and a couple there. To order them all, I'd have spent probably $100 just in shipping. So I found the two shops with the most, bought as many as I could, and went with a white, orange, white pattern. But it meant that I had to tear my MOC apart (see above photo) so pull out the place holding white pieces and insert the new orange ones. 

It's at times like this that the following mantra keeps running through my head, "We can rebuild it... we have the technology." I might not be working on the Six Million Dollar Man, but when I bust apart my creation and pieces go flying everywhere, I just have to keep reminding myself, if I built it before, I can rebuild it again. I do try to preserve as much as I can in large chunks, or like is shown in the photo, just kinda move pieces out of the way without removing them entirely. But that's not always possible. 

I also added a cowgirl to the bookshop today. She's standing at the checkout counter ready to buy a Halloween related book (with a red spider on it). That's the cash register on the right. The blurry white box in the front of the photo is the "free books" box in front of the store. (And you can just see the shadowy bike handle on the right.)

I've pretty much finished the front of the Old Firehouse. If you look in the windows of the tower at the top you can see some pieces at a slant. There are still windows there that are waiting for some pieces to arrive in the mail that will secure them into place. And I'm short a few roof pieces that I'm also hoping will arrive in the mail soon. (I actually need to go look and make sure I ordered those pieces. If not, I think it's too late to go Bricklinking now. Brickcon starts in 4 days! I'll have to go look for a set at the store that has the pieces I need. Or *gasp* dig through Nathan's bricks to see if he has what I need.)

I built a few bookshelves in the Old Firehouse Book Store and still need to do some work on the teacup and teapot shelf in Happy Lucky's. Once I get that all finished, I'll post some photos here of the inside detail work. The higher I build, the harder it is to work on the inside. That's just one more thing that would have gone in order if I'd been following directions. But making something from scratch is all about doing and then taking apart and doing over.