My focus on Friday was to rebuild the front of the building to make it sturdier, and then I tried to build as much as I possibly could in order to figure out what pieces I was missing and would need to buy through Bricklink.com. The four windows to the right, with the orange line with white squares below them, really need to sit higher than they do. But I didn't have the windows that need to fit into place below these. In fact, when I went to order windows that would fit, I found that they're only available in Europe. So I instead ordered some pieces to make a window frame without using a pre-made Lego window.
I have just under three weeks to finish this MOC before Brickcon. I was able to get enough pieces in place (plus a few as place holders) that I could measure the approximate height of the finished building (about 14 inches) and was able to register it for the exhibition. (Mine was the 285th MOC to be registered. I wonder how many total will be in the event when all is said and done?)
My biggest concern at this point is that I won't have enough time to order parts that I need. Many Bricklink shops have a very fast turnaround time. (A few orders have come in as quickly as 3 days!!!!) But there are a few that take quite a bit longer. I think I've been able to approximate features well enough so far that my MOC resembles the actual building and people will make the connection. (Of course, no one at Brickcon will have any clue what building I'm modeling this after, so it's neither here nor there for those folks. But I'd like to have this go on display at the book store (that's located in the west side of the Old Firehouse) and later in the library (if they'll have it) and folks there will definitely know if I got it close or not. So I want to get it right the first time.) But the very top part of the building (not just the tower but the gingerbread along the top) will take a lot more creativity to approximate well. Nathan is my go-to resource when I don't have any clue which pieces will work in a certain situation, but some times even he is stumped. (I have yet to figure out what the name of the piece is that would make a reasonable fire hose pole, so I haven't been able to order it. And though Nathan has a piece that will work, I've made a point of ordering my own Lego bricks on not using any of his.)
I should have several packages arriving this week with needed pieces. I'll try to finish the building as best I can so I can make any last minute orders this week and hopefully be completely done with ordering pieces by next weekend. I've also realized that I need to be thinking about the inside of the building. Since the beginning I've been trying to figure out what time period this building is going to be in. I really wanted to do something early 1900s that would include a horse drawn fire wagon as shown in old photos. But if you look at the photo above, you'll notice that the entranceways in both the old and newer parts of the building were bricked shut! That wouldn't look good in a MOC!!! So despite having ordered Lego horses and people and even little fire hats, I've decided against going with the early 1900s. That leaves late 1900s and early 2000s to work with. And the real bummer at this point is paint! Grrrrr. Paint. They've pained SOME of the brick "brick red" and the rest they've left unpainted at all (and the bricks are actually rather orange-ish). So I'm trying to mimic that paint/not paint job in the colors of the bricks I'm using. But there are some areas where it's really questionable which way I should go. I just keep reminding myself, "approximation is the goal."
By next weekend I should have a nearly finished model. At that point I'll try to zoom in on some of the specifics in the building and how I addressed them in Lego brick. I'm also thinking of taking the Old Firehouse down to the Old Firehouse and showing the MOC off to the folks who work at the bookstore and the tea shop. I'd really like to get a photo of myself holding my MOC while standing in front of the building. :-)
