However, I got carried away with the interior of the Radio Station, so my debut project was a particularly ambitious one. But if I wanted to place a building next to City Hall and keep the park, I only had room for the 16 x 32. So, quality instead of quantity. Little Brick Township doesn’t need another eatery — we already have the Corner Cafe, the Parisian Restaurant, and a variety of food carts. But eateries are also gathering places, which explains why in any town or city, bars and restaurants outnumber most other enterprises. My design began with the Corner Deli released by LEGO earlier this year, but when I bought the set, I intended to mine it for pieces, particularly the decorative sandwich which I attached in a different way to my building, which has a solid front and like the other buildings in the Modular series, opens by lifting off each floor. My interior used some of the pieces for the Corner Cafe, but most were pieces I’ve collected over the years from the Pick-a-Brick Wall at the LEGO Store.
That’s where I’ve found my chairs and tables, doors, staircases, window details. The matching 1 x n bricks have come mostly from last year’s bulk order made available to members of LEGO User Groups. Especially valuable for this building were the gray 1 x 2 profile bricks for the window columns. The navy sloped bricks for the roof came from the Creator Apple Tree House, a long out-of-production set that I found for a surprisingly reasonable price at a toy store in Vermont. I agonized over cutting up this set, thereby destroying its collectible value, but I realize that LEGO bricks are meant to be used, not bought and sold as investments. My town is running out of room to expand, and eventually I’ll have to make hard choices — bring another table into my New York City apartment, or sell some of my MOCs. I’m building some Tiny House MOCs, inspired by the HGTV show Tiny House Hunters, one of which I plan to donate to the VCFA auction this summer and others that I’ll put up for sale.
And then, with the money, I can…buy more LEGO!This account is inactive.The DeviantArt home page may help you find what you need. Go back to our homepageIn the LEGO community, MOC stands for My Own Creation. capture a few designs from my youth before my kids destroy them. used the open source LEGO CAD programLDraw to digitize my creation, creating the images below. I created my first in one evening while watching a movie, so its relatively easy to use. To be fair, I was from Peeron from my LEGO inventory project, which helped in understanding and looking up part names. Click the LDraw files links under the pictures if you want to access the source files. This was a little drone fighter model I liked to make several of withI used to make a number of them to swarm over and attackThe bottom guns rotates independently of the body and can also be attached under the back in a fixed rear gun position. This was a sturdy ship created with a kid I met while spending some
time at cabin at Blue Mountain Lake with my Storage Cloth full of spare bricks. indestructable, which is probably why it lasted long enough to be This was a VTOL aircraft I built in middle school. I had a little grey one like pictured here as well as a white one. the engines rotate back 90 degrees. They were part of a awesome dual hull catamaran aircraft carrier that unfortunately did not survive. finally broke the grey one down because I needed the 2x10 plate toHere are some nice LEGO versions of essential medieval buildings from Age of Empires II by a group of LEGO enthusiasts. An Archery Range by Mark of Falworth and Barracks by Andrew JN above, and a few more below. Great designs (with very good rooftops!) and with the old-school minifigs added, these builds reminds me of the 90s LEGO castle sets. Market by David FNJ Mining Camp by Aaron Gomez Blacksmith by Michael the Juggler Barracks interiors by Andrew JNAdults turn Lego bricks into big business by selling bespoke creations for up to £50k each
DUNCAN Titmarsh is sitting at his desk surrounded by Lego bricks with which he is trying to fashion a dinosaur. THE ABBEY HABIT: Elsmore’s Westminster Abbey [REX] He is 43 and one of an ever-growing number of AFOLs – adult fans of Lego. In Duncan’s case the playtime never stops. He and a handful of others are now making careers out of their passion for the iconic Danish toy.This half-term millions of children will flock to the cinema to see their plastic mini-figures given the Hollywood treatment in The Lego Movie.This particular toy however is most definitely not just for the kids. reveals a healthy trade in vintage pieces bought by adult fans at often eye-watering prices.The Lego company, mindful of this dedicated customer group with more than pocket-money spending power, provides a steady stream of new products.While the youngest builders may be happily knocking up Star Wars spaceships or cupcake cafes, AFOLs can treat themselves to some Frank Lloyd Wright architecture or a 1,332-piece VW camper van.
Sourcing website CUUSOO invites AFOLs to submit ideas and vote for new kits.Any suggestion receiving 10,000 votes is considered for production. Recent hits have included the DeLorean car turned time machine from Back To The Future.Grown-up Lego is not confined to the homes, social networks and meetings of its fans.Increasingly it is making its rectangular brick-shaped mark on the worlds of business, marketing and even art.American artist Nathan Sawaya works exclusively with the bricks.His creations, which include a version of Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream, form a hit exhibition, The Art Of The Brick, now touring the US.They sell for six-figure prices to clients who include Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. I didn’t think it was particularly cool then. I suspect my wife found it a bit embarrassing In the UK demand is growing for large-scale, arresting models made from the instantly recognisable bricks. Stella McCartney commissioned a life-sized tiger cub and last year London Fashion Week featured a Lego dress.
Other brands to have embraced the brick include Rolls-Royce, which commissioned a half-size jet engine built from Lego, and ITV which this month transmitted an entire ad break in which well known commercials were performed by Lego’s plastic people.Titmarsh, 43, from Hampshire is one of those called on for such projects. He left his job as a kitchen fitter to start Bright Bricks in 2010 and now creates Lego models for a variety of commercial and private clients, as well as running building events, workshops and parties.Prices for a bespoke creation range from around £80 to £40,000 and his workshop houses around nine million bricks.A childhood Lego fan, Titmarsh rediscovered the toy in his 20s. “I was wandering round a shop and saw a helicopter kit. My wife suggested I buy it,” he recalls.MAKING THE BIG TIME: Meet the miniature plastic heroes of The Lego Movie [REX]Instantly “hooked” Titmarsh began collecting and discovered a network of other adult fans, both in real life and on the internet.
Celebrities who have admitted to a Lego habit include David Beckham, actors Brad Pitt and Paul Rudd and writer the late Norman Mailer.“I had thought maybe it was just me,” says Titmarsh. “I didn’t think it was particularly cool then. I suspect my wife found it a bit embarrassing.”Like many adults Titmarsh still hankered for the toy he never had so first on his shopping list was the Lego Castle, kit number 375. “It came out in 1978 with 14 figures, and I always wanted it,” he says, admitting to eventually paying “significantly over the odds” for one.After building a second version of the long-coveted castle six times bigger than the plan he realised the creative potential of free-style building. Houses and a Tube map followed and orders flowed in.“People are more aware of the product and that it’s not just a kid’s toy. It is fantastic for making architectural and engineering models because you can put things together and pull them apart.”Titmarsh’s own favourite project was a 35ft Christmas tree for St Pancras station in London.
It took around half a million bricks, a lot of late nights and “a health and safety headache”. The company took on extra staff to complete the job, one of whom, Abigail Bath, 24, a former costume design student, is now working with them on a model of Milan cathedral.“It is the perfect job – you are playing all day,” she says. “It’s great stuff to work with. There is so much thought and intricate design involved. It is very creative.” Friends consider her job “very cool”. “There is a real buzz around it now. I suppose it is part of the geek chic culture.”Warren Elsmore, 37, from Edinburgh, also makes a living from building and writing about Lego. After nearly 20 years in IT he turned a part-time income stream into a full-time business in 2012 and “hasn’t stopped since”.“As a child Lego was all I wanted every Christmas and birthday. Then I got to my mid-teens and everyone stops playing with toys,” he says.” In his early 20s a girlfriend bought him a kit of the Statue of Liberty.
“Little did she know,” he laughs.HOWLING SUCCESS: A version of Munch’s The Scream by Nathan Sawaya [REX]Finding fellow fans – including his wife – sparked his interest. “AFOLs meet up and do live collaborative builds.We share what we have done on social networking sites. The social aspect is important. We end up down the pub, the same as any other club.”Elsmore’s first commercial job was a church for a BBC film set. He then began a personal challenge: a model of St Pancras station.Eighteen months and 120,000 bricks in the making it has six working platforms and stretches about five foot by five foot. It led to a publishing deal for Elsmore’s book Brick City, Lego For Grown Ups, for which he recreated 10 iconic buildings.To commemorate the Royal Wedding of William and Kate in 2011 he built a replica of Westminster Abbey complete with 400 Lego figures (including a regal bride and groom).When he was commissioned to build a model of the entire London 2012 Olympic park – a job that took around 300 hours and 250,000 bricks, attracted over 100,000 visitors and became an internet sensation – Elsmore decided to ditch the IT.
“This is the kind of job every kid dreams of and I wanted to give it my best shot. The reaction from friends and IT colleagues was largely positive. They were very happy for me – everyone has some connection with Lego – but they were intrigued as to whether there was an income there.”His working day is varied. “I do public speaking and corporate challenges. Then there might be an admin day but the next day I won’t check my inbox so I can get on with building.“I get a huge kick out of coming up with ideas, designing, problem solving and building.”Depending on time, materials and logistics (such as transport), projects vary in price from £500 to £50,000.Elsmore has an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the brick shapes and colours – the only real constraints on his work.“We have a huge stock and buy new kits all the time – Harry Potter kits with dragons and goblins were great as Victorian gargoyles for instance.”But there are rare and costly parts. “I might be paying £5-10 per piece if I need a very specific brick,” he says.