The Next Modular: Town Hall (10224)

LegobrandonCP

Hmmm, Bellevue. That is the closest LEGO store to Vancouver, I've been there a few times but never seen damaged boxed items at the store.

asherkobin

I'm having problems with this set. I can't get the floors to align flush on all for sides. When looking head-on at the Town Hall, there is a noticable difference in alignment on the left side between the 1st/2nd and 2nd/3rd floors. I haven't built the roof portion yet.

My guess is that this is due to the fact that each floor has a gap for the elevator knob and therefore cannot be squared. Visualize a rectangle that can transition to a rhombus due to lack of rigidity at the corners.

It seems there needs to be two additional "1x4 plate with two studs at each end" on the corners without one to enforce the "squareness".

starfire2

Hmm I just finished mine and I didn't have that problem.

asherkobin

Hmm I just finished mine and I didn't have that problem.

See arrows. The other 3 corners are perfecty aligned. My current guess is that a certain piece used in the same spot on each floor was not manufactured to the correct tolerence. I don't think the design itself is causing the flaw.

asherkobin

Ok, I have figued out that this is due to the use to too many gray 1x6 tiles that enable easy separation of floors. I verified this by replacing the entire perimeter with studded plates and the connecting floor fit perfectly. So the use of too many tiles along the border allows too much "bowing" of walls and creates the situation in the photo.

It will be interesting if other people experience this or even notice the slight offset.

See arrows. The other 3 corners are perfecty aligned. My current guess is that a certain piece used in the same spot on each floor was not manufactured to the correct tolerence. I don't think the design itself is causing the flaw.

luckyruss

Mine does exactly the same thing - I didn't see it at first, but after a couple of hours. It's quite significant (like nearly a full mm). I was sitting wondering if it was the builders fault (and that I should have another go), but thinking "this is not within Lego's normal tolerances".

At work at present so can't check it. Are you saying that if you add a couple of studded plates front left (and indeed back right) then that sorts it out and stops the "bowing"? Which way is it leaning - i.e. left wall only inwards?

Does it have the same appearance when connected to other modulars?

starfire2

@asherkobin: I see what you are saying. Mine isn't doing that but it is bending up a bit in the back so there is a small gap in between floor 2 and 3.

paradisia

I too have the slight misalignment, I thought it was just me lol.

llanowarsoldier

Well that would explain why I had such a pain sliding the floors in between the GG and PS.

dougts

not sure if I have this issue or not- I'll check tonight. But I can vouch for the fact that those 24-long plates come with some serious bowing to them. I guess I'd prefer the floors were built with 4 of the 6x16s instead of 2 6x24s and 2 6x8s

jonboy2000

I don't have this set yet but when I build custom modulars I always put a small plate (usually a 2x2 plate) on the underside of the floor in each corner 1 stud in from each side. This forces the level to sit exactly in the correct position. Hope that makes sense

LegoFanTexas

You guys are making me nervous... ;)

Legoboy

I don't have this set yet but when I build custom modulars I always put a small plate (usually a 2x2 plate) on the underside of the floor in each corner 1 stud in from each side. This forces the level to sit exactly in the correct position. Hope that makes sense

Good idea that! :o) Makes perfect sense and one I might well adopt when building mine up. Thank you.

adello25

I don't have this set yet but when I build custom modulars I always put a small plate (usually a 2x2 plate) on the underside of the floor in each corner 1 stud in from each side. This forces the level to sit exactly in the correct position. Hope that makes sense

That is sort of how Market Streets floors were designed. There were plates 1 stud from each side underneath the floor and that kept it in place with the floor below. I personally think that is the best way to go. I have done 2 MOC's that use that design and think they were perfectly

tdhbr

So who's going to get an actual review of the Town Hall up soon?

When I first heard about it last year, I planned to save my VIP points for it. Now that I've seen photos, and saw one built in the Lego Store, I'm less impressed, even tho I love the modulars. Seems a little too large and bulky, and not enough on the exterior that says "town hall." Full two-story (or more) columns on the front would have been better, I think.

I'm thinking that I'll use my points for Diagon Alley now, since I have a couple years to change my mind about the Town Hall.

starfire2

^ I agree with you to a point. I just built the town hall and considering the price and piece count. I think it was pretty well done. Could it have been better? Sure but then it would have been 3600- 4000+ pieces. And then could you imagine the price? As much as I like modulars, I would pass on them if they were $300+

DaddyWhale

I have not seen this mentioned anywhere, but Toys n Bricks is reporting that there'll be free shipping on [email protected] USA and Canada for March 12 to March 31 (http://toysnbricks.com/usca-lego-shop-at-home-promotions-for-march-2012/). There is some overlap with the double VIP points. So that's when I'm planning on getting TH!

burnside

I'm in the middle of building TH and so far I'm liking it. I have built GE, FB, and GG as well. What I like about TH so far is that the inside of the building is very well used unlike GG and GE. I actually like the color scheme because of the contrasting colors and love the room where the mayor speaks to the public because there are benches and high ceilings. IMHO, this is one of the more complete modulars out there and with the double VIP points going one right now, it's a good buy.

Is it too big? I can see that, but it is the town hall and I know historically in some cities, the civic center building was always supposed to be the tallest building in the city, so this kind of makes sense. With that here is my current ranking of the modulars I have:

1) Fire Brigade
2) Town Hall
3) Green Grocer
4) Grand Emporium

If GG and GE continued their great builds on the first floor onto the rest of the building, they would be higher. That is where the FB and TH excel. Every floor is furnished and well thought out. They are complete modulars.

asherkobin

This offset problem seems to be "by design". If you look closely at the box you can see what I highlighted in the above image. Also, on shop.lego.com, I took a screen capture of the roll-over zoom feature when looking at the same area on 10224:

Mine does exactly the same thing - I didn't see it at first, but after a couple of hours. It's quite significant (like nearly a full mm). I was sitting wondering if it was the builders fault (and that I should have another go), but thinking "this is not within Lego's normal tolerances".

At work at present so can't check it. Are you saying that if you add a couple of studded plates front left (and indeed back right) then that sorts it out and stops the "bowing"? Which way is it leaning - i.e. left wall only inwards?

Does it have the same appearance when connected to other modulars?

gmpirate

There's a Town Hall @ 10% off at the South Coast Plaza store. It has a couple dents that aren't that big a deal.

luckyruss

@asherkobin, thanks - good spot. Design intention (or flaw!) it may be, but visually it's irritating me a little!

I was checking it again last night, to see if I could use @jonboy2000 's suggestion of the 2x2 plates - at the front left for the TH, this seems to sit awkwardly on top of a cheese slope as part of the window frame. I only had a few minutes to play around with it last night, but wasn't able to fix it. You need two plates to get below the light bley run round the edge of the floor, but it was just stressing the bricks and actually caused them to fly off when placing the floors together. Haven't yet tried the plates instead of tiles solution round the top run of the floor.

Mine's also a little out of line in the centre where it protrudes out for the balcony / pillars etc. Will see if I can spot that on the official pictures!

Gold_Starburst

I have not seen this mentioned anywhere, but Toys n Bricks is reporting that there'll be free shipping on [email protected] USA and Canada for March 12 to March 31 (http://toysnbricks.com/usca-lego-shop-at-home-promotions-for-march-2012/). There is some overlap with the double VIP points. So that's when I'm planning on getting TH!

I've been waiting for next week so I can order mine. Looking forward to this. It will be my first big set.

ringleheim

I posted earlier in this thread saying the TH is the least interesting of the now 4 currently available modulars.

I have built PS, GE, and FB.

I recently visited my local Lego store and sure enough, the TH was built and on display in the front window. Within 3 seconds of looking at it, I thought "Wow, this looks great! It has much more architectural detail built into the entire facade than photos and videos suggest," and I promptly purchased one. I'll be starting on it soon.

My point is that if you are on the fence about this kit, don't be. ALL of these modular buildings are great one way or the other, and my "street" of 3 (so far) looks absolutely stunning as a display piece.

I was reminded of a valuable lesson learned a while ago: every single Lego kit I have has always proved to be much better in the flesh than photos and video reviews would suggest, even the ones that looked great in a photo. The official Lego photos promoting the TH show, at best, 50% of what the finished piece is all about.

It was a total no brainer to buy the kit based on seeing the finished product in the window. And of course I could not see any of the interior, where this particular kit shines.

If you can get to a Lego store and see a display of TH, do it! If you can not get to a Lego store, have a little faith and just order the thing.

luckyruss

I've been toying with the height issue - should it be taller or more comparable to the others (I note the other thread on putting together another level for the CC). A couple of shots attached. In my opinion a "normal" CC looks pretty small in comparison, and the GE needs to be bigger to be like a proper department store.

yys4u

^ wow your right, I hadn't noticed how small the Cafe Corner is...It would probably look better along the pet shop since it's a little shorter than the FB and GE

starfire2

^^ I can't help but think that some townhouses need to go in between the GE and TH and between the TH and CC.

Si_UKNZ

A town hall would almost never be a terraced building, thats why it looks odd.

cheshirecat

Might be in the minority, but put together the modulars are starting to look a little odd, almost go as far as ugly. They look much better on their own imo.

Si_UKNZ

The order you put them in makes a huge difference IMO

princedraven

All personal taste really isn't it.
I prefer the smaller Cafe Corner, and like the enlarged Emporium, but wouldn't put the Town Hall in a street like that.

LegoFanTexas

No, it needs Fire Brigade on one side and Pet Shop on the other to look right. Or Green Grocer...

legirl

I have mine GE, PS, TH, FB

dougts

^ Currently I have GE, Pet shop half of PS, TH, Brownstone half of PS, FB

BrickDancer

^good taste Doug, I have it exactly the same. Symmetrical and the tallest, Townhall, in the middle as focal point with bride & groom.

Si_UKNZ

Just built the first floor of the Town Hall and a couple of observations...

- The dark green 1x1 bricks with a grab handle are a noticeably different shade to the normal 1x1 dark green bricks (also in the TH set), also they dont have a 'Lego' stud on top, instead it is hollow and doesnt say Lego on, and the plastic looks cheaper. Is this the first Chinese made actual brick?
- I had about 10 bricks missing - I'm wondering if anyone else had this at the end of the '1' bags and maybe some bricks are in the wrong bags?

dougts

^ I hadn't noticed the dark green - I'll go look now.

As for missing parts, I did not have any, nor were any in the wrong numbers. Everything supposed to be in 1 was in 1, etc.

LegobrandonCP

- I had about 10 bricks missing - I'm wondering if anyone else had this at the end of the '1' bags and maybe some bricks are in the wrong bags?

I think this might be your problem: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=67047

EDIT: I mean, these people have the same problem as you.

BrickDancer

^^^My problem for missing bricks was in Bag 3 for the clock tower. I was missing 4 of 1x6 bricks in orange. But had 3 extra 1x8 bricks in orange. Checked work brick by brick, but didn't see where it went wrong.

veritas313

I've got one 2x4 black tile missing - and a buckled and bent dark grey 8x2 plate - this is the first of the 6 modulars I have, to have missing/damaged parts and the first time in over 400 full sets bought from new with a missing or broken part. I never thought I could be so disappointed? I know Lego will put it right though. I suppose I have been lucky up till now.

Si_UKNZ

(Ive started a new thread on the possible Chinese brick by the way)

OK, thanks for the Eurobricks link, mine's from a different batch. Obviously no need to worry yet, they might just be in the wrong bag.

richo

All personal taste really isn't it.
I prefer the smaller Cafe Corner, and like the enlarged Emporium, but wouldn't put the Town Hall in a street like that.

I agree with this. I have now had another more detailed look at the Town Hall against some of the other modulars, and its a little underwhelming (although each to their own). I think it is does probably work best on it's own rather than as a modular piece where it just doesn't seem to fit that well.

Grogall

Since I have all but MS, I have arranged them in this order CC, PS, GG, TH, FB and then GE, I find that this looks best when display them in one row. If the next Modular is a corner I will have to think of something new.

The_Brick_Builder

I have mine arranged as FB, MS, GG, and GE. My other modular street is CC, Pet Shop, and Town House. Next to the CC is a modularized version of 10184 Cinema.

y2josh

Currently, mine is pet shop, FB, CC, GE, GG, TH, apartment. I will rearrange this significantly with the next corner, however.

starfire2

Mine are all in a glass display case, and on top (TH wouldn't fit inside).

Nesquik

Seems a little too large and bulky, and not enough on the exterior that says "town hall."

I absolutely couldn't agree more. Although the build itself is impressive, I think TLG have really wasted some good opportunities to design what we would normally associate, from the exterior a least, as a typical town hall.

The problem is though, how do you do this with a set valued between £100-£150 and the compatibility with other modulars? Real life town halls have quite spontaneous designs and differ a lot more than the other modular buildings in terms of culture, but I really don't think the decision to include three floors helped. I think the designers would have been better off including just two floors of a higher quality/better significance than more open space with lesser authenticity.

For example, the only reason the 'lift' is included is for playability value and as a feature that can be marketed. If the designers really wanted to capture the spirit of a place with great importance, then a central staircase would have been absolutely perfect. To accompany that, each floor could have had a small balcony/walk-way surrounding the stair case and thus giving access to some rooms on the perimeter of the building.

Had they done this, they could have explored the possibility of a small library room and town history museum, including literally less than a handful of tiny 'artefacts' micro builds with some cheeky 'Lego' references.

The current product is just hit and miss to me, and I just can't understand why they chose white coloured columns for the entrance when materials of that age would never have remained that bright. A light grey would have been more suitable - particularly against the orange bricks.

dougts

The problem is though, how do you do this with a set valued between £100-£150 and the compatibility with other modulars?

There's always a tradeoff on the price and 32x32 footprint issue. Making it fit in a seamless block with the other modulars is clearly another tradeoff for the sake of theseries, as most real town halls would tend to be more stand-alone in nature.

I understand and accept these limitations and tradeoffs. My disappoints with the town hall go more toward what was included and/or excluded. As you say, the central grand staircase is a pretty common and important feature (but i suppose people wouldn't want a huge chunk of the tiny available internal real estate eaten up by stairs). To me, the whole wedding gallery (espcially space-consuming when you consider the lost space due to balconies on floors 2 and 3) and party was space I would have rather seen used for more typical town-hall type things - a grand meeting hall with overlooking galleries, artifacts/exhibits/library, etc.

tdhbr

^ I was about to agree ... then realized you were agreeing with my comment :)

A Town Hall shouldn't be a modular in the true sense - it should be a stand-alone. Town Halls typically aren't part of a city block, but have their own block with space around them - like the one in this photo (which, incidentally, is surrounded by modular-type buildings).

@ringleheim - I don't agree that it looks better in person. I had a load of VIP points dedicated to "the next modular", was a little uncertain when I saw the first photos, and when I saw it in the store I decided definitely not to get it right away. While FB and PS, to me, are absolutely "right", the Town Hall is just a little off (I'm not thrilled with GE, but I got it because it's a corner).

I have mine set up as PS (store), FB, GE, PS (brownstone). Heights and colors work pretty well together that way, IMO. Also added the tree from MMV, and put the yellow cargo train around them.

cynthilina

TLG can go all the way with this and start including upgrade kits for the buildings or even generic things like apartments to fill in the gaps and create a more reasonable scene. However keep in mind that its still a toy first, and as such that's how its designed, unfortunately. I would like to see a hospital, a park, hardware store etc. Some fillers like apartments that are cheap to buy and easy builds. Maybe have some options for altering their appearance so the builder can do some customizing and build their own town. This has to much potential to say it all here.

devilhead

Pick-a-Brick and your imagination.