Part 5: Left Field and Center Field Assembled

While additional details are still forthcoming, the left field and center field bleacher sections are for the most part assembled - along with the ivy growing on the outfield walls. I'm quickly running out of building space so these are built as two separate sections that can be combined at some point later on when more space permits.

It takes much more time to figure out what pieces are needed and to acquire them than it does to actually build the structures!

I'm in the process of gathering the pieces to finish the details for these sections (fences, lights, benches, and a few other small details) as well as to build the houses on Waveland Ave behind the wall with the rooftop seating. That will help to complete this "view" of the stadium before I move on to the rest of the grandstand - which is still in prototype phase as I try to figure out the colors, types, and quantities of pieces needed.

While time consuming, the project gets more fun as it starts to take shape... :-)

Part 4: Progress - Centerfield Bleachers

After successfully testing & learning how to build the grandstand bleachers with maximum efficiency it was time to put the knowledge to use by building the centerfield bleachers that lead up to the scoreboard. After 2 models (one which broke in transit from one table to another) and probably about 30 hours of building, here's how the centerfield bleachers turned out...

The centerfield bleachers include the batter's eye, which is the green section that serves as the backdrop behind the pitcher from the batter's point-of-view. There is shrubbery included in the batter's eye, as well as a camera well just above it - I included pics of each.

Overall, I would estimate that there are about 5,000 pieces in the centerfield bleacher structure. Its 22 inches in height to the top of the scoreboard, 32 inches to the top of the flagpole, and 35 inches wide. It is still missing several pieces of detail - fences will run along the back and the top of the sides, benches (green flat plates) will be put on the steps to form the actual bleachers, the flagpole still needs some more detail, I need to put small lights on top of the scoreboard, and I have to create the lettering (via labels) for the scoreboard.

The next sections of bleachers will be built off of the left and right of this structure. They'll incorporate hinge pieces so that I can start to make a circular outfield out of square and rectangle bricks. Its still a fun project - and challenging!

I have found some alternate sources of bricks - including an unofficial online marketplace (brinklink.com), a local distributor (brickbros.net), and I also learned that if you catch the right folks at the Lego store you can buy an entire case of the same piece. I think I'm somewhere between $700 and $800 dollars so far, which includes everything for the centerfield section and thousands of other pieces I've yet to put to use.

Also - I owe a huge thank you to Bernie Wu, a friend of ours who works with Amiee and who happened to attend a game at the Friendly Confines last week. He snapped a ton of pictures and some videos that have been extremely helpful. His pics will successfully supplement everything else I've found online and should prevent me from having to fly there myself this summer! Not only does that save money, but I think flying 2000 miles away to research a Lego project would put me in an entirely different class of person - that's a road I'm not certain whether or not I want to walk down yet...