The Lego Thread!

[Captain Tancredi]

When I was 5 or thereabouts we went to Denmark on holiday and I went to the "proper" Legoland- I can still remember the Red Indian village and my first experience of eating freshly baked bread off the fire. I might even still have the "gold" coin you were given after panning for gold in the stream there- the other exciting bit was being able to buy bits of Danish Lego like the bracelets my cousin bought, which weren't available here.

The other bit I remember was a street scene you could buy for something like £5 plus some tokens from Weetabix in the early 1980s, which gave me a few hours of fun, I'm sure.

[Jason Thompson]

That site is great! I'd love to see some scanned construction manuals though. I didn't keep all my space lego ones and then my Dad dismantled them all after I moved out

Ask and ye shall receive:

http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brickfactory/

[SiHart]

Hooray! That's a very nostalgic site. I have now, finally after all these years found out I had Basic set 40 for my 3rd birthday in 1978. Seeing the box in the 1978 catalogue made me smile.

Si xx

[Carol Baynes]

Wow! What a great nostalgic link! I remember the sets from the 1978 pages really well, and even ealier than that. The 'Doctors office' one is one I recall, and that's when the people didn't even have proper body parts, you had to build them from scratch!

It all reminds me off seeing these in the catalogues that came with the Lego sets....great nostalgia! Thanks!

[Dirk Gently]

That's a great link & confirms my memories of my space lego from 1980 to '82.

[Simon R]

Has anyone seen the new Indiana Jones Lego? It is good!

[Dirk Gently]

I wouldn't mind some official Doctor Who Lego.

[WhiteCrow]

An interesting article this. We had a season ticket for Legoland in 2004, and went probably too many times that year.

We arranged to visit the Lego model workshops, and it was an interesting experience for my son, meeting the chief model maker who's figured here.

Something tells me Lego was a popular toy in many a childhood here ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7661211.stm

Work doesn't have to be a chore. For the second in our series on dream children's careers, Lucy Rodgers meets a man who never outgrew a childhood passion for building with Lego.

Guy Bagley has single-handedly designed and built some of the most famous buildings in the world - including a large part of London - down to the very last brick.

But the 37-year-old master builder didn't have to lift a trowel or use a single digger - because his architectural creations are built entirely out of Lego.

Guy is the chief model maker at one of Britain's most popular theme parks, Legoland, and is paid to construct the thousands of sculptures at the park, much to the envy of the attraction's many younger visitors.

But, instead of a future of building out of coloured bricks, when Guy was a little boy he had the rather more common dream of being a train driver.

"I had Lego as a child, but I never thought I would be doing this for a living," he laughs.

Millions of pieces

Guy heads a 12-strong team which spends its days maintaining as well as designing and building models - from six-piece pigeons to a huge Boeing 747 cockpit made out of 2.2 million bricks.

They start their working day at 7am, before the park opens its gates, when existing models are checked for wear and tear and made safe for visitors. They then spend time coming up with new ideas for attractions, designing them and making them a colourful reality.

There are almost 55 million plastic pieces, or "elements", currently in use at the park. All are the "bog standard" bricks that can be bought in 10 colours at any toy shop, Guy explains, so in theory anyone could replicate any of his models.

It was the noted modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who believed "architecture began when two bricks were put together". Guy Bagley remains truer to that description than just about any real world architect.

He particularly enthuses about the merits of the classic eight-stud brick because, he says, "no matter what you build it is used".

The team is busy because the park is always evolving, with the large Miniland London section regularly updated to reflect current events, such as the addition of mini runners when the capital's marathon is taking place.

"We are adding lots of new things constantly - it is an obsession," confesses Guy, who regularly finds himself on a busman's holiday when building models at home for his young son.

Team 'undefeated'

Some of the largest models Guy has worked on, such as the dragons or the replica of US landmark the Empire State Building, can take the builders half a year to complete.

According to Guy, the hardest task with Lego is getting the required level of detail using bricks. But, he says proudly, his team has not yet been defeated by any challenge thrown at them.

"Everything we have been asked to do we have done - down to the Boeing cockpit," he says.

For Guy, the greatest job satisfaction comes when he reveals his creations to the public for the first time.

"When you build a model and bolt it down and see guests admiring it, that's a high," he says. But even dream jobs have a downside, and for Guy, it's not the elements he builds with but the elements most of us avoid by working in a warm office - the weather. The cold and a rain make things less pleasant, he says.

So, what does it take to follow in Guy's footsteps? The right attitude is essential, he believes.

"Being a child at heart. You have a lot of fun in the job. You have to get on with people - it is a very people place. You need a passion for it."

As for skills, a background in art and design can help, he says, and practice is crucial.

"You can train. Like anything experience is important - the ability to turn a two dimensional image into a three-dimensional model."

Lego test

While others in his team come from work in theatre set design or sign making, Guy started as an industrial model maker. While constructing architectural models, he was commissioned to create one for the then new Legoland. This led to a prized interview and the job itself.

"It was very much a case of being in the right place at the right time," he says. As part of the selection process, Guy was given a box of plastic bricks and an hour to build either an animal or a building from scratch. And, he recalls, his resulting parrot succeeded in winning over his future bosses.

But he admits: "I could do better now."

Guy advises would-be professional model builders to keep a portfolio of their work, including the designs and photographs of their best creations. But, most of all, they should "keep the passion going", he says.

However, any of those wanting to jump into Guy's shoes any time soon may face a long wait. After 16-and-a-half years in the job, he declares he will not give it up without a fight.

"I wouldn't change it for all the tea in China."

LEGO Facts

Company founded in 1934
More than 400bn bricks made
Voted Britain's top toy in 2008 survey

Something Guy told me as well. Traditionally the company refused to do any Lego models which were military. If you see any Lego models of warships or warplanes, they're not Lego but the knock off Mega Blocks.

This rule was recently relaxed a bit - hence Star Wars characters have weapons, but the company makes out they're not soldiers but "heroes".

Oh yeah - the most amazing bit of the workshop tour? "Do you want to see what a million pounds of Lego looks like?" Guy asked us.

At the back of the workshop is a Lego warehouse. It's like "Area 51 ... but for LEGO". Very cool - every colour and shape you could dream of!

And although you'd think most models would be designed on computer first - there's very much an art to doing it, with it planned out more on squared paper first.

[Larry]

oh what a wonderfull job this guy has

I think it would also make a fantastic hobby aswell providing of course you got a big enough house.

[shada pavlova]

I made a lego TARDIS and console room.

who wants to see them?

[WhiteCrow]

I made a lego TARDIS and console room.

who wants to see them?

I would actually! And this thread is a celebration of all things Lego!

I wish I'd had pictures of some of my creations!

[Simon R]

I wish I had picture of the town I made when I was a child. It had a beach and it's own theme park with rides and everything.

[Si Hunt]

I love Lego, and we got back into it a few years ago (as watchers of our "Legopolis" Lego soap on the Picture forum will know!). Sadly we discovered it all seemed to be licensed out to movie's - tragically, you can't actually buy Town Lego any more, bar a small range of macho "City" police trucks and an airport. You can't buy a Town Post Office or ordinary houses for example - which I think is a tragedy. Building surburban towns was always the whole point of Lego for me.

Si.

[WhiteCrow]

Nah - my favourite always was Space Lego - but then I was a nut on such things. I used to make a Saturn V approximation before Space Lego came out.

[Dirk Gently]

That's the Lego I had as a kid, Mike. I still have it in the loft somewhere. It got to the stage that I could rebuild everything without the instructions, though I doubt I could do that these days.

[SiHart]

I liked Space Lego, but I never really had any. What i always wanted was the Lego Trains, which looked really cool.

However my favourite Lego was my Basic set, where I got a big box of various Lego pieces and i could follow the instructions in the building book I had to make anything! I used to love just building whatever i wanted on a particular day- be it a house or anything. I just used to use my imagination and let the Lego do the rest.

My brother had the castle and Pirate sets. They were good, but not easy to build.

Si xx

[Antony Cox]

Go to the brickshelf.com website and search for whatever you want - I could quite easily spend hours looking through it!

[WhiteCrow]

The problem I find with the modern sets is they're tied in to a single build, and there's really complex instructions.

I remember LEGO just being LEGO - loads of bits, and just build according to your imagination. There seems less of that now.

[Si Hunt]

You always got it in sets - the trick as always is to accumilate lots of sets, dismantle them, combine them with a tub of random bits bought from a car boot sale, then make and knock-down things to your hearts content.

Si.

[Dirk Gently]

I almost always kept them in the set they were. I had loads of fun having 'accidents' & the space ships 'exploding' so I'd have to play at repairing them.

[Carol Baynes]

Lego was an essential part of my childhood. I loved it. My cousin had a lot of Space Lego which I was especially envious of.

This site will fill vintage Lego fans with joy! There's a drop down menu for years, and most of the 'Legoland' sets from 1978 and '79 are all too familiar. Ahh, those were the days.

http://www.hccamsterdam.nl/brickfactory/year/index.htm

[Antony Cox]

Thanks for that great link, Carol!

I've just found loads of stuff that my sister and I had from the mid- to late 70's - very nostalgic!

[Carol Baynes]

No probs Ant! I think it has everything the company ever released!

I'm now realising I'm so old I actually remember when the little Lego people didn't have any faces, arms or moveable legs! Well, alright, they had faces, but only the blank yellow heads with no eyes or smiles.
I remember the zoo set from...gasp...1976. It had Lego people and animals that you actually had to build properly as they didn't come as a few stick-together pieces.
'Legoland' didn't really start until 1978 with the classic small Lego people (with faces and arms), and Space Lego soon afterwards. That Lego was cutting edge for its day. I've seen Lego sets recently and they all seem too over-complicated, desperate to be trendy and not as 'classy'. Legoland is all but a memory, althogh there is something similar called 'Lego City'.

[Captain Tancredi]

I remember being taken to the original Legoland in Denmark with my cousin when I was 5, which would make it 1977-8; I don't know what I had, but my cousin had one of the bracelet sets which you couldn't get over here.

The one set I do remember having was a street scene which you had to get from Weetabix- I remember it costing around ?10, which probably compares with the ?50+ you have to pay for the Star Wars and Indiana Jones stuff these days. As has been mentioned, though, things like street scenes are reusable, whereas I'd guess that the film-based stuff is less so.

[Rob McCow]

Lego Super Crawler



That's a pretty impressive piece of Lego creation! Although describing it as 'Eco-Punk' sounds to me like code for 'I was running out of bits the same colour so just threw in whatever.'