Hinges in buildings to enable them to be opened

Dianne

Has anyone ever inserted hinges into a lego building to enable access instead of having to disassembled the build to see the inside?

mr_benn

Surely we're thinking along the lines of the Simpsons House or Ghostbusters HQ?  It works quite well, though I suppose the advantage of the 'layered' modulars is that they can remain in place in a layour without having to shift other stuff around.  

CCC

Yes, hinges work well for doll house style access to mocs.

Dianne

I am excited to figure out how to use hinges to access the interior of MOCS.

Dianne

Mr_Benn, if you think of Lego’s Detective Office, the interior of the building is incredibly detailed. But, to see the inside you have to dissemble the building and then look down, from above, to enjoy the detail. I think the “doll house design” is much better.

Fauch

like the 2 haunted houses I think

madforLEGO

Dianne said:

Mr_Benn, if you think of Lego’s Detective Office, the interior of the building is incredibly detailed. But, to see the inside you have to dissemble the building and then look down, from above, to enjoy the detail. I think the “doll house design” is much better.

Except if you are setting up a large display where all the mods are right next to each other (like @mr_benn noted). A building by itself and the doll hour opening is probably the best way to do a showing of the interior of the building, but when buildings are side by side, not so much.

Cymbeline

@Dianne The bookshop modular was interesting in that it gave you some access from the back. It should be possible to build in the modular style and have removable or hinging walls in the back. The Old Fishing Store had some walls that hinged. Either of those sets might give you ideas for your MOC

Mr_Cross

I would try to engineer a whole plate height of clearance between the bottom of the hinging wall and the baseboard (when tiled) in any opening building.
The Ghostbusters HQ walls can (radially) scratch the tiles of the sidewalk if they are not all really well pushed down or there is some other factor creating a 'fouling' situation. The tiniest amount of flex in the baseboard can cause a tile or group of tiles to sit slightly proud.
The scratching/scraping is so fine that you might not notice that it's happening immediately.

Tkatt

My daughter has a street in our LEGO city. I've built her several custom modular style buildings. I always design them so that the levels can be separated and that one or two walls are easy to remove. She likes that she can play in them easily. I like that I can close them up and have a clean look.

Dianne

Everyone, your comments are excellent!  This is why I joined this forum.  I’m here to learn from the experience of all if you. Thank you for your comments.  

jason1976

If you want some more inspiration then look to the past - #374 and #376 had very clever hinged designs, especially for the time!

Astrobricks

jason1976 said:

If you want some more inspiration then look to the past - #374 and #376 had very clever hinged designs, especially for the time!

Weird inspiration for someone looking to open up the side of a building.

jason1976

Astrobricks said:

jason1976 said:

If you want some more inspiration then look to the past - #374 and #376 had very clever hinged designs, especially for the time!

Weird inspiration for someone looking to open up the side of a building.

#374 has a hinged section (for access to the office section of the fire station) - you can see it below 


#376 has a similar design, but for the whole building.

This has reminded me that it was on my to do list to MOC a modern version of #376 - I think that may be my weekend sorted!

jason1976

By the way, I mean https://brickset.com/sets/376-2 not 376-1 that Brickset automatically links to!

Dianne

Jason1976, could you please send a picture of how you completed your hinges?

Mr_Cross

@Dianne, if you use the " Quote link, or if you just add an @ to @jason1976 then he will get a notification you've quoted him or mentioned him! :-)

Astrobricks

jason1976 said:

By the way, I mean https://brickset.com/sets/376-2 not 376-1 that Brickset automatically links to!

Ok, that makes more sense. By the way, you can use the -1, -2, etc. in the hashtagged link, it just assumes -1 if not specified. So #376-2 works.

560Heliport

Astrobricks said:

jason1976 said:

By the way, I mean https://brickset.com/sets/376-2 not 376-1 that Brickset automatically links to!

Ok, that makes more sense. By the way, you can use the -1, -2, etc. in the hashtagged link, it just assumes -1 if not specified. So #376-2 works.

Only if you are aware that there's a "dash-something" to add! (Says 560Heliport!) (Not 560House with Garden) ;)

Astrobricks

Or 560Town House :)

560Heliport

Err, that's what I meant. Now I really don't know who I am!

jason1976

@Dianne if you click on the set links (well, the right set links!) and then on the instructions link it will take you to websites where the instructions are hosted.

http://peeron.com/scans/374-1/5/ and http://peeron.com/scans/374-1/7/ are the best pages to check to see how the hinged sections of #374 are implemented - as you can see each section is built on seperate basepalates. 

If you wanted a more modern version or don't want a moveable baseplate then use a put tiles where the wall base of the wall should go, then layer up bricks / plates with hinges to make the wall - this screen grab from the instructions for #5770 should help with visualising this!



Good luck with your builds!

jason1976

560Heliport said:

Err, that's what I meant. Now I really don't know who I am!

Why Lego had to use different set numbers and names in different countries and had duplicate set numbers I don't know.....

Anyway I don't have time to think about it, I'm off to build #75282 The Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Transport......

560Heliport

jason1976 said:

560Heliport said:

Err, that's what I meant. Now I really don't know who I am!

Why Lego had to use different set numbers and names in different countries and had duplicate set numbers I don't know.....

Anyway I don't have time to think about it, I'm off to build #75282 The Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Transport......

Is that what your box says? Or are you joking? Has anyone actually seen a box that says "The Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Transport"? Enjoy! I'm going to go build my multi-colored Friends Crest. Or Sweet Mayhem's Crest. Or Trolls Galaxy Tour Crest.

vanvonfull

Yes, what Jason said. I prefer hinged sections that don’t require the foundation/baseplate be moved. 

vanvonfull

I think this is nice and clever, but I would have preferred a technique like the fishing store. 

I don’t have the privet drive set, but I’ll try to ajdjust it when I do. 

Dianne

These are two fantastic builds.  The open walls are so cleverly engineered. I am going to try that. Thanks for the great photos. 

Dianne

Thanks Jason for the great instructions and links.