Ben’s second post of the day concerns an update on my Palace Cinema, and will mostly only be of interest to people concerned with how the layout is going to connect, or anybody who thinks they might be interested in connecting modular buildings to mine. (Right now the side of the PC borders directly onto Tim’s section, but presumably that could change.)
I raised the PC by another plate in height. The logic behind this is that I put a road in front of it, and I wanted the PC sidewalk to be slightly higher than the road to create a curb (because as Lego builders it’s important for us to put lots of effort into details that nobody will ever notice).
Crappy pic attached. What you’re seeing is: on the left is the Palace Cinema. The original red baseplate is barely visible, then a layer of red bricks that’s part of the MILS standard, then a layer of light blay plates giving the extra height, then the red and dark blay plates completing the MILS standard. on the right is the road, it’s 8-wide black tile, and there’s a matching curb on the other side. So anybody who wants to continue the road can as well. (Beyond that is uncompleted area.)
You can also see the brown 1×2 brick with the hole for pegging it to the next building, which is part of the set and part of the moldular building standard. If you’re putting a modular building next to mine and connecting it, you’d need that extra plate to make sure the peg connection lines up. However, that peg connection might not even be necessary, now that I’ve MILSed several plates and connected them, I’ve discovered that it’s quite solid construction.
Also, I MILSed six plates, arranged in a 2×3 area. The PC is in the third row back from the front, so anybody wishing to connect would need their buildings that far back. The first row is train track, the second row is empty space and the road, and the third row is the PC. The fourth row is currently unMILSed but needs to be clear enough for the monorail track to pass through.
Incidentally, I still have a lot of work to do filling out the remaining space on the six plates, so as of right now I don’t plan on MILSing anymore baseplates until I’m caught up on these.