Read previous post - adding the finishing touches to the Lego city - here.

Having opted for a single lid, the construction was fairly easy - I actually made a lid with four sides. The top, left and right sides, and a front piece. There was no real need for a back piece (I had run out of the big black core flute, so I had planned on attaching one) because the backdrop nicely encased the city; it does mean however, that the rods etc are exposed to the elements. Having said that, everything has transported nicely, and there shouldn’t be major repairs in the future.

But how to keep the lid attached to the city? Tying it down onto the base plate occurred to me - but the city with the lid on actually makes the whole thing a bit unwieldy to carry. Some handles would be great additions.

So I killed two birds with… well, two stones. I got a very long, strong piece of black ribbon (not the fancy kind, more like the texture of elastic, minus the stretchiness), and cut it to size. I cut two slits in the top of the lid; equally spaced apart, and just wide enough for the ribbon to thread through. Placing the ribbon widthways under the base plate, each end of the ribbon then travels up the side of the lid, and into its closest slit. From there each ribbon travels under the lid, and up through the opposite slit. Pulling the ribbon ends, the slack goes, and then the ends are tied together. By itself, this probably wouldn’t be too secure, so I got another ribbon piece and laid it out under the base plate, running from front to back. This time, the ribbon ends went up the front and back of the lid, and one end threaded under the left side of the tied ribbon (the first ribbon piece) and the other end under the right side of the tied ribbon. Bringing these two new ribbon ends together, I tied them up over the first ribbon knot.

This tying process gives a nice little handle to the city, and is secure enough to ensure that during carrying/travel the city is stable. Plus, the lid can be used during the performance to ‘hide’ the city from view, despite the whole thing being on stage during the entire show.

Read the next post - the end? - here.