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Post by Jean B. on Feb 26, 2023 12:48:25 GMT -5
Do you remember?
Building a fantasy diorama from Lego bricks...
Discovering the child in my soul...
What a fun!
And the result!
A year later, I have lots of new ideas how to develop this diorama. First I added some chromed parts, as the tips on the spheres for example. But the biggest idea is to make a complete back-wall, made of glass bricks. Lego does not offer such bricks, but there are alternative manufacturers who do!
]  Adding chromed fences.
And more...
A first impression.
I knew that I saw the floor design anywhere else, and when browsing through an old Art-Déco book recently, I just found the original!
To be continued!
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Post by paulius43 on Feb 26, 2023 13:30:47 GMT -5
I like the updates, especially the chrome plated parts! So much flair!
And beautiful picture of Garage Marbeuf! Just googled for more pics, and I think I already saw it some time ago, but man it is gorgeous.
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Post by alex on Feb 26, 2023 13:49:59 GMT -5
A dragster or two would look great in that display.  |
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Post by DeadCanDanceR on Feb 26, 2023 14:44:57 GMT -5
Fabulous! Looking great so far!  |
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Post by oldirish33 on Feb 26, 2023 15:15:34 GMT -5
It will be another beautiful creation!
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Post by Tom on Feb 26, 2023 15:16:37 GMT -5
Fantastic work, lots of style!
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Post by ifhp on Feb 27, 2023 0:45:56 GMT -5
Stunning!
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Post by Jean B. on Mar 20, 2023 9:41:00 GMT -5
A dragster or two would look great in that display. ...got to find one! I'm sure, there'll be a dozen in my collection, just wait a minute...
Fabulous! Looking great so far! Thanks! Now I'll have to find a matching lighting system, that's not so easy as I thought. However, it's a "life work", so I guess I have to take my time...
It will be another beautiful creation! I grew up with Lego bricks, and I'm sure that there are 2x4 bricks in my blood. There must be a way to combine model-building with Lego... 
Fantastic work, lots of style! ...thank you! And there are so many more ideas... I wish a day had at least 40 hours instead of 24... 
Thanks! And please have a look below how it continues...
I like the updates, especially the chrome plated parts! So much flair! And beautiful picture of Garage Marbeuf! Just googled for more pics, and I think I already saw it some time ago, but man it is gorgeous. Yes, it is gorgeous! By the way, in Berlin we have the "little sister" of the Garage Marbeuf! Of course not so glamorous, we are in Berlin, which is nearer to Novosibirsk than to Paris, at least concerning the lifestyle. But the so-called "Kant-Garagen" have an interesting story, too:
When opened around 1930, a wonderful example of "functionalism", very rare in Berlin. Look at the traditional buildings to the left and to the right!
A modernistic palace only for cars, including parking spaces, washing service, repair services and so on.
Highlight was the "double helix": Two curves incorporated, so that cars could go up and down at the same time!
The spectacular reverse side!
And that's Berlin as anybody knows it!
Over the decades the Kant-Garagen were neglected...
...and a couple of years ago the owner decided to tear down the building, making something entirely new.
And did he? Noooo! That's the happy ending of the story! Thousands of Berliners raged against the destruction and forced the owner and the city of Berlin to keep and restore the entire building, including the double helix! The sad tear of the thing: Plans to establish a new garage complex were denied and so a luxurious interior design mall moved in, including restaurants, kindergarten and all the usual stuff. However, the building is alive, restored and still gives us an impression of that golden era!
But now for something completely different:
This is the current condition of my Art-Déco-Lego-diorama, including the transparent outside walls. I fixed a metallic-blue gift-wrapping paper around to simulate how it could look with a back-lighting.
The wallpapers in the corner are only temporarily. I prepared the construction in a way that I can easily change those designs or simply leave it away. These designs, for example, are authentic German Art-Déco wall designs from 1928, here we can see the contemporary use of colours!
The glass bricks are from "BlueBrixx", as Lego does not offer such parts. And even if - I wouldn't be able to afford this stuff in this quantity from Lego's!
The designer was Karl Leuth.
Looks like real glass bricks!
With a powerful LED light we get a notion how it would look like with a coloured transparent foil and illumination!
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Post by DeadCanDanceR on Mar 20, 2023 10:01:16 GMT -5
Excellent project and story! Thanks for sharing such wonderful photos of the building! |
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Post by 105epaul on Mar 25, 2023 9:54:36 GMT -5
Just superb, I love Art-Deco. Great that the garage building was restored, sad that it's now aa mall but at least it has survived being torn down and the horror of WW2. I shall have to visit Berlin one day.
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Post by oldirish33 on Mar 25, 2023 10:34:29 GMT -5
Very nice work on the Lego art deco display! I too am both impressed by and glad that the building is being preserved albeit not in its original function. It will hopefully have a long life serving as a reminder of a time when buildings were both beautiful and functional.
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Post by jager on Apr 2, 2023 0:26:00 GMT -5
Thanks for your updates Jean. Can't wait to see the diorama filled with a few cars of appropriate vintage.
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Post by Jean B. on Apr 20, 2023 11:18:59 GMT -5
Excellent project and story! Thanks for sharing such wonderful photos of the building! You're welcome! You know: neither "Art-Déco" nor "Bauhaus" ever had a real chance in Berlin resp. in Germany, and the very few buildings of excellent style were destroyed in WWII, most of them after (!) the war, and the sad rest is nowadays mutilated with thermo-insulating and such things... So I'm always terribly excited if any of those gems can be saved for the future! Just superb, I love Art-Deco. Great that the garage building was restored, sad that it's now aa mall but at least it has survived being torn down and the horror of WW2. I shall have to visit Berlin one day. Well, do so! "Berlin is worth a journey" - that was (in German) a slogan of the 70s, when nobody wanted to visit the city because of the wall  Very nice work on the Lego art deco display! I too am both impressed by and glad that the building is being preserved albeit not in its original function. It will hopefully have a long life serving as a reminder of a time when buildings were both beautiful and functional. Let's hope so! Indeed there is a couple of smaller garage complexes in Berlin, too, and I have to take some photos to show. An old gas station was preserved and integrated into a new residential building, perhaps not really beautiful, but - as you say: at least those things are preserved! Thanks for your updates Jean. Can't wait to see the diorama filled with a few cars of appropriate vintage. I'll do my best! The passed six months were very busy, with only few time for really important things like model building. I hope that I'll get along better for the next half year... What's new? After browsing the www for days and nights, I finally found one single shop for self-adhesive window foils, that means that the foils do NOT have any adhesive on the reverse side, but only due to the softener they stick onto glass. Of course my diorama background is made of Lego bricks and not of glass, and so the adhesion is not excellent, but: IT WORKS! Next step was the question how to illuminate all this? I've checked dozens of possibilities, and all were inappropriate as they are too big, too heavy, have the wrong measurements or are simply much too expensive (for me)  And then: For many years I've been working with a light table for fixing (for example) my photo films for photo-etching, and so I had my moment of awakening! Those boards are thin, light-weighted, affordable, and they are available in suiting sizes! Well, here's the first test with the new foil and my existing light board: The lowest power setting gives the best result, as it seems. Full power makes it a little "artificial". I guess this is what I was looking for all the time... And so the models could like like in this setting. What do you think?  And what's that? Well, I guess I've become a Lego addict and so I cannot resist building more and more with this stuff   When I was a little child I loved assorting my crayons and making "colour studies". Nothing changed, as it seems, and I just wanted to have an overview about all available Lego colours, for the case that I would build another one or two photo settings... And these samples just help giving a true-colour impression of what to build - eventually... Of course I've developed a "system" for converting all colours into RAL colours, enamel paints or the magnificent LeCorbusier "colour keyboards" of 1930. Reverse side of the lid. This is the original painting of Piet Mondrian: Composition in Red, Blue and Yellow. The famous Mondrian paintings were the template for Lego. Old people like me remember the times, when Lego bricks were available in only five colours: white, black, yellow, red and blue. Together with the strict squareness, those early Lego designs resembled the spirit of Mondrian, who NOT painted abstract, but REDUCED reality to the essentials of form and colour. Therefore I chose this painting as the design for the box |
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Post by Tom on Apr 20, 2023 12:35:19 GMT -5
I was going to say that I was used to having to choose from five colours as a kid... things have changed!
Very clever solutions for your diorama.
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Post by DeadCanDanceR on Apr 20, 2023 13:53:42 GMT -5
Excellent choice to place that gorgeous Duesenberg in such sleek and dignified setting!
Always a joy to see your work!
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And then: For many years I've been working with a light table for fixing (for example) my photo films for photo-etching, and so I had my moment of awakening! Those boards are thin, light-weighted, affordable, and they are available in suiting sizes! Well, here's the first test with the new foil and my existing light board:
