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The Skinny Mod

belmontbricks

If you have seen my MOC page, you have seen an example of what I have termed – the Skinny Mod or skinny modular. The concept is simple, a modular building which is only 8 bricks wide. It connects with other standard size modulars and can be in-line or a corner structure.

I first experimented with this idea a couple of years ago. I wanted to add a modular to my growing LEGO city, but, for whatever reason, didn’t feel like building a “big” modular MOC. I began experimenting and ended up with a corner building on a 16×32 baseplate. With the necessary 8-brick wide sidewalk (my LEGO city has code requirements) that left a building footprint of just 8×24.

Varying building footprints. The narrow plate on the left features the footprint for an in-line Skinny Mod. The center plate can accommodate either a corner Skinny Mod or an in-line 16-brick wide structure. Finally, the baseplate on the right demonstrates the potential for everything from an in-line, full face 32-brick wide building to a 3/4 wide (24-brick) corner building or even a 3/4 wide and a Skinny Mod. If you felt real creative, you could even build up to 4 in-line Skinny Mods (I may have to work on that).

The narrow footprint was a nice contrast to other structures along my street scape which ranged from a full facing 32-brick wide structure like the Town Hall to half widths (16-birck wide) like the Pet shop and Brownstone. The LEGO Group has even produced 3/4 width buildings (24-brick wide) like the Bank and sets such as Assembly Square and Detective’s Office which blur the line and whose varying widths add architectural interest to any LEGO town.

To date, I have only a handful of Skinny Mod MOCs I have added to my LEGO city. One is a corner skinny-mod with a flower shop and ATM kiosk and apartment on the second floor – more information coming soon. The second is the inverted corner MOC with the modern tower and 3-story masonry building, which has been featured on this site. The third is a work in progress and hopes to be a Chinese restaurant when it grows up.

So what are your thoughts on the Skinny Mod? Is one destined for your LEGO town? And for the few who have asked, I am working on building instructions for the inverted corner MOC – but it’s a long slog.