[MOC] Modified Detective's Office

[vepsi]

I wanted to expand the detective's office which in my opinion is the best modular building to date. This building is about 95% ready and that is good enough for me because I don't want to make any more bricklink orders :)

The expanded building is 2 floors higher than the original. I wan't to build basements to my city and that's why I plan to build all modulars onto a 4 brick high base. The building may look like the original one but it is structurally very different and that is why it took a very very long time to build.

This building a 2 bricks further back on the baseplate than the original. I think I'll need more space on front side and decided that all modulars need to move back a bit. Back side is pretty similar to to original, exept for the oversized antenna on top floor.

There will be an alley on the left side of the building and the entrance to basement is from there. In the front there is an opening. Inside of it are two levers which eject techic axles from the side of the building. These axles hold modular buildings in place when they are side by side. I don't like the normal connection style using techic pins because it is difficult to remove a single building from a row.

Let's start going over the details from the top. The billboard has a spy camera, more on that in the next image.

There is spy living in here! The spy is not there at the moment, I don't know yet who that spy is, but I think the next modified modular building might reveal that.

Also note that the front side of the building can be opened. Each floor has separately openable wall.

Second floor from the top has the detective's office from the original building and a greenhouse(?) on the other side. The story behind the the plant room is that I have only ever bought one collectible minifigure pack and got that crazy plant person from it. I dont like it but I thought that he needs to live somewhere in the city and so this is his house. He's got a green bed and a grow light on top of it. There is a small pond in the middle of the room and the plant guy is standing on it and "drinking" water from it.

Another image from the greenhouse.

The next floor has a record store. Credits for this idea go to RyanHoweter and his ideas project Lego record store

Record store from another angle.

The original toilet is on the same floor as the record store. Not so private anymore...

Street level has the pool table and the barber shop like the original building. Door to pool hall was moved from the front to the side where entrance to barber shop is also. These opening walls were rather difficult to make. The newspaper box has to be removed before opening the walls but that is the only piece that is blocking any of the opening walls. The corner of opening barber shop wall fits into the extra space from the stairs. The bench is attached to the wall and the tree and the lamp post just barely miss the opening wall.

The last floor has a bar. The bottom right room is a storage space and the door to it is in the corner of the stage where a cat is lying. The storage room has a sliding secret door which leads to a secret kitchen where cookies are made. This kitchen is much better hidden than the one in the original, the detective will never suspect anything.

Part of the street can be removed easily. It is held in place by the same lever which attaches this building to it's neighbours.

This is the band, they are playing jazz.

The rest of the basement.

The whole building with all walls opened. I really like how everything worked out. It is so easy to look at and show other people details without removing floors.

The structure is not as durable as in the original building but it is good enough. I can easily remove floors (one or multiple) without fear of breaking something. Walls open without force and it feels like there is enough support for everything.

I learned A LOT during this build and I had so much fun doing it. I will definately modify more of the modulars.

So what do you think about this? And greetings to all! This is my first post to here, happy to join this awesome community.

[SollX]

it is awesome! especially the basement. great job. it has a great city feeling

[billybricks]

All of the details inside are fantastic. I love the idea of the levers with Technic pins in the base to easily move buildings in and out without having to pull apart a whole street. 

[ScaleCarModels]

Nice work I really like what you did with this set. Having a basement level is a cool idea. I agree with you on this being one of the best modular buildings. Expanding it the way you did makes it look even better. I originally planned to do a similar expansion, although not as detailed as yours. I decided instead to split the buildings into 2 separate modulars. I haven't started this project yet but hoping to real soon. I look forward to seeing more progress on your other builds. 

[ReplicaOfLife]

Very interesting ideas and nicely executed. The DO lends itself nicely to modifications, mainly because the original build is full of bad design choices which makes it utterly pointless in some places . A long while back I did my own extensive mod of the set, basically separating it into two separate buildings and a third one (a MOC) to go with them. Pics are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/131278188@N08/albums/72157655071930083

Adding a basement is a very neat idea, and one you rarely see executed. I really like the basement windows on the front of th DO, and the bar beneath. Moving the main entrance to the pool hall seems odd, though. Without more changes to the front facade, I prefer the original way, I think. On the other hand, your build makes it look as if the entrance had been moved in Lego reality, too, so if that's what you were going for, kudos!

Another interesting idea is allowing the facades to open. Never seen that in combination with a classic modular approach before, usually folks go either way.

 

[vepsi]

On 19.5.2018 at 10:03 PM, RogerSmith said:

Very interesting ideas and nicely executed...

Thank you. I agree with everything you said. The facade on pool hall is odd and needs some more attention. I saw a few photos of your moc when I was looking for other peoples mocs of DO but I did not find your flicker account. I really like your version too. It's fantastic how different our mods look like even though the starting point is the same. Original DO is great but mods make it even better.

Here's a detail from opening facade. This small lock type thing holds the wall in place when it is closed. It is just a brick with flat tile that slides into hole of equal size but this is a must with these opening walls. Walls stay closed when I move floors, wall does not hang down from the other side and interfere wall beneath, and wall also adds some support to floor above.

 

16 hours ago, Blk69 said:

One aspect I have always struggled with the modulars  is the fact you cannot easily see inside them.  Your opening walls are one the be best idea's I have seen in a Lego moc.  Great job.

Easily my favorite part of this moc is the plant room.  You got a mini fig you didn't really care for and made a whole room for him.  I love it!!!

Thanks. I too like idea of plant room most about the whole building. Room build execution could be better because it looks a bit messy, not in a good way.