Quick Tour: Raymund's Brick City District 1 - Marina Bay

Hey, everybody! I'm Raymund, and this is my first post here in Bricks Lab. Today, I will give you a quick tour of the first district of my Brick City, Marina Bay.

Raymund's Brick City District 1: Marina Bay

BRICK CITY OVERVIEW

For the record, my Brick City is still in its initial and planning stages. Actually, after more than a decade, I only started catching up with my passion for bricks in January of this year. This is the first district that I am focusing on for the moment.

The work was slow and tedious, since I don't do brick-building 24 hours a day. For info, I'm an author, writer, blogger, a husband and a father, so that takes up most of my time.

Also, I named my city Brick City, not LEGO City, because not all of the parts I'm using are LEGO parts. I also use other cheaper brands because LEGO in the Philippines is ultra expensive. :)

Anyway, after three months, this is what I came up with:

RAYMUND'S BRICK CITY DISTRICT 1: MARINA BAY

Brick City's Marina Bay district is made up of MOC (My Own Creation) structures and standard LEGO City vehicles. Most of the minifigures are LEGOs while some are from Enlighten and Ausini.

This district is not finished yet. I'd still like to add a few more commercial establishments, a Coast Guard kiosk, an auto repair shop, and a gift shop. I don't know how everything will fit yet, but we'll find out when we get there. :)

Aerial view of the Marina Bay district

This is an aerial snapshot of the Marina Bay district. 

Temporarily, I'm using colored corrugated plastic as the base of my city and felt paper for the roads because I don't have enough resources to buy actual LEGO or brick plates.

I had a hard time so far because I'm only using bricks that are currently available in my inventory (a small one, may be a couple of hundreds), so please bear with some of the awkward color schemes.

To mention again, LEGO in the Philippines is super expensive! I'm a family man with two growing kids, so my number one priority in spending is them. :)

A view from the coast.

This is a view from the coast, where you can see a docked speed boat and some of the establishments in the area. I wanted to create a sort of sandy shoreline that will clearly separate land from water, and will show it maybe in a coming update.

To the left is an open-walled diner called Chet's, while at the extreme right (with the parked black SUV) is a small dock for water scooters or jet skis.

The speed boat is still without an actual dock because I'm planning to build a small Coast Guard kiosk right there in that free space in front of Chet's diner. Again, it will be a MOC because I don't know of any pre-designed LEGO set for that.

A view from the other side of the Marina Bay coastline.

This is a view from the other side of the district, still from the coast, where you can see the dock where water scooters are parked. 

The water scooter dock.

The minifigure in the black wetsuit is named Danny Green, a swimming and surfing instructor. He owns this shack. Yes, I do name my minifigs. :) 

MARINA BAY HOTEL

We move on to what I can say is so far the most complicated structure in this district, the Marina Bay Hotel. 

It's a small hotel with only two large rooms, a lobby and reception area, and a rooftop area. I will do a separate post on it for the details.

Aerial view of the Marina Bay Hotel.

A hotel employee welcoming some guests.

The guests' camper van. I don't know why they still need to check-in in a hotel. Hehe.. :)

The hotel's rooftop, where a hotel employee is working on something.

A view from the back of the hotel. You can see the fire exit ladders.

Marina Bay Boulevard. This is my favorite view. Kind of like driving to the sky. :)

Still can't decide whether to stay in the hotel or in the van?

MARINA BAY FIRE & RESCUE STATION and POLICE PRECINT

The fire & rescue station and police precint are MOCs made out of bricks from Enlighten.

I made them small on purpose because they are meant to serve only this district, and may be neighboring districts if needed.

There are five firemen in Marina Bay's Fire & Rescue Department, including the captain. I named them after characters from the movie "Fireproof." :)

Meanwhile, the Marina Bay Police Department is made up of only four officers, again including the Police Chief. They are named from characters of the movie "Courageous. :)

The Marina Bay Fire & Rescue station. Captain Caleb Holt chatting with Lieutenant Mike Simmons.

To the right of the fire station is the Marina Bay Police Precint. Deputy David Thomson is on the roof of the district jail, on duty.

Back view of the fire station and police precint.

Side view of the fire truck in the garage.

119 CONVENIENCE STORE and CHET'S DINER

Marina Bay has only two small commercial establishments so far. They are Chet's Diner and 119 Convenience Store. I will do separate posts for each of them.

They are also both MOCs made from a combination of LEGO, Enlighten, and Sluban bricks. 

Again, please bear with me for the odd color schemes because I make do with only the available bricks I have. If you want to send me more bricks to make my life easier, you are most welcome! :)

Chet's Diner (left) and 119 Convenience Store.

Front facade of the 119 Convenience Store.

The 119 Convenience Store is so far the structure I'm most proud of. It's the only building in Marina Bay that is close-walled all around. 

I used techniques I've learned from watching Jangbricks' YouTube channel to build this MOC. Thank you, Jang!

I hope to do everything close-walled in future structures of my Brick City.

Doorway of the convenience store.

Can you see the guy behind the checkout counter? His name is Alex Wheatley, from the movie Safe Haven. :)

This is a cross-section view of the store, when you remove the roof. You can see a fire extinguisher in the upper left corner. :) Not too many consumer items inside yet.

Seen here is backdoor of the store. The backyard is actually a place where people can hang out and eat. Look at those swiveling chairs. :)

Front view of Chet's Diner. Notice the rooftop dining section? :)

A MOC soda dispenser I learned also from YouTube.

A peek inside the diner. There's Chet, the place's owner, behind the counter, serving a customer.

Look at those red coffee cups. Can you see the soda dispenser in the background?

Outside the diner is a telephone booth and an ATM machine. Hopefully, the police is always around to protect from potential thieves.

Oh! Here is Officer Nathan Hayes of the Marina Bay Police Department keeping the peace! :)

That's all for now with the first district of my Brick City. Will feature my MOC structures in future posts and an update on this district soon!

One last look at Brick City's Marina Bay district: