The Flag

 There was a lot of time spent pondering how to do the flag. The temple has the United States and California flag flying in front of the cafeteria building. I knew I wasn't going to be able to do both flags but I wanted to at least do the American flag.

There were some options:

LEGO produced the United States flag which looked like it was waving in the wind between the years of 1996-1971. This flag is available to buy from users on Bricklink, but, all of the ones in good condition are in Europe (go figure). I put some feelers out to see how much it would cost to buy the flag and have it shipped. Because of minimum purchase requirements and shipping costs, it wasn't worth it. 

There is the flag that was released with the Apollo 13 lander which is okay but it doesn't wave. There is also a flag that was released with the White House kit but it is small and blocky.

I wasn't happy with any of the options that laid before me, so I put it in the back of my mind and let my subconscious work on it. And work it did!

I was thinking about my father-in-law and his model train hobby and remembered how realistic some of the models for the buildings, trees, and other city elements were. I decided to see if there were any flags out there. Bingo!

Woodland Scenics makes a flag that looks like it's waving in the wind. I searched around for a hobby store in my area that carried one and bought it. It's the only piece of the model that isn't LEGO (unless I'm able to get the Angel Moroni 3D printed...we'll see).

Using some small 1x1 round pieces with holes, I constructed a mount for the flag pole to slip into.

Using a 2x2 and some jumper plates, I constructed a base for the flag.

I put a couple drops of glue inside the bottom of the flag pole mount and sealed the bottom with a 1x1 plate.

I placed the flagpole in the mount and held it there until the glue began to dry. Besides being the only non-LEGO piece, it is also the only part of the model that has been glued.

With the glue dry enough to keep the flag standing straight, the flag was snapped into place.