Happy Places
I’ve loved toy shops for as long as I can remember. If I happen to be in town there’s an excellent chance that I’ll pop into John Lewis just to look through the toys. Naturally I’m drawn to the Lego, but everything gets a good look and poke at.
I missed the original release of the Lego Winter Village Toy Shop 10249, so I made my own one a couple of years ago which worked out pretty well except for a few vital parts I was missing. Then I adapted it for the next season which ended up kind of gingerbreadish.
Lego Blog: Homemade “Winter Village Toy Shop”
Lego Blog: Gingerbread “Winter Village” Toy Shop
It’s a very appealing build and I’m thrilled that Lego have re-issued it this year. We’ll be getting it and establishing a Christmas Lego box for annual building and displaying. We’ll stick all the amazing Christmas themed Star Wars figures in it too.
Bigger Is Better
The Lego Winter Village Toy Shop is adorably dinky which means you can’t actually put many toys inside, so it sucks as a shop in all but the most distant alpine gift shops. Time for an upgrade.
I began by just scaling up the original design by a few studs or brick heights. It makes everything so much bigger! Especially the spaces between everything. I wanted to use all the new pretty colours I’d acquired recently, like a small quantity of sand blue and dark red plus the brown and gold colour scheme from the gingerbread version.
The roofing gave me the usual hell, but I learned some new things about hinges and fixing slopes in place, so I guess it was all worthwhile. One day I swear I’m going to make the roof first and then make the rest of the building.
The scaled up size gave me a lot of trouble in trying to recreate the nice decoration under the peaked roof. A chance flipping over of a Lego box gave me the ‘O’ in the sign and a happy half hour trying to make letters that fit with it. I’m pleased with the result:
There was a little bit of space left though and I couldn’t think what to stick in there. The result… a dog?
Internal Spaces
With the scaled up size I figured I’d have tonnes of space to put stuff within. I take great pleasure in tiling the floors – it’s an addiction of some kind I’m sure.
The attic space gets filled with old toys and kittens of course:
The first floor is yet more toy storage (for reasons that will become clear shortly), and a spot for sewing things. The sewing machine is one of my favourite little builds. It uses the Classic Lego Space Utensil Control Panel 2342 which I loved as a kid.
The ground floor, despite being almost twice the size of the original still has almost no damned space in it! But as you can see, I’ve done my best to cram it as full as my favourite toy shops. I’m very chuffed with the Scooby Doo coloured chest of drawers and the micro spaceships on display in the window. The rack opposite the windows is supposed to be board games. That may or may not work.
Overall I’m well pleased with how it came out! It’s time to take it apart and build something else.
More pictures here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eric_the_bewildered_weasel/albums/72157659624200636
0 thoughts on “Beer Review: Four Zero Alcohol Beers”
Entertaining, and informative; wonderful! I shall be sure to give the Erdinger a try, I’m not against the idea of having a regular weekday tipple which comes free of alcohol.
Thanks! I had fun trying three of them. I’m drinking Erdinger right now…
Great article. Excellent info but it does of course encourage me to try the Becks Blue for curiosity value! Personally I favour Fentimans Ginger Beer for an old fashioned zingy tingle when I am off the booze.
Thanks Spangles! Fentiman’s do do excellent ginger beer, I alternated that with Nanny State last night.
I’d advise against the Beck’s Blue unless you have the senseless mouth of a dead camel. I’ll pay my respects at your CAMRA funeral…
I stopped drinking for a couple of years, and decided to start trying low/alcohol-free beers. I ordered pretty much every single one online available.
The German ones were the best, but I still did not find one that really tasted like beer.
I then got back into real beer again when I discovered that ICE cold beer tastes so much better. then I got diabetes, so now I have to stop again.
Tesco seems to have quite a good range now, but the only one I found that really tasted like beer was brewdog, which is very hoppy, which I do not like.
Today I was in Sainsbury and spotted the CZECH beer, and to my surprise, it actually tastes like beer, to the point I think I can happily drink this.
I have seen the Erdinger many times before, but never bothered with it due to the fact it says isotonic drink, so I just assumed it would be crap. I will give it a try next time.
oh and yes Becks Blue is vile piss water 🙂
It’s truly an appalling drink. To give a worse hangover than the alcoholic version is staggering.
Sainsbury’s had four new alcohol free beers the other day! I’m due another tasting session. The new Brewdog raspberry sour is especially good.