Subject:
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Master Modeller at LLW - a note of thanks.
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general, lugnet.loc.uk
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Date:
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Thu, 4 Apr 2002 14:03:45 GMT
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Viewed:
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4202 times
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Hi all.
Now, before I go any further, I must state that the individual concerned
specifically said that they don't normally do this, so no turning up and
knocking on the windows or anything(!).....
I just wanted to say a huge thank you through these newsgroups to the Master
modeler at Legoland Windsor who gave myself and my girlfriend an impromptu
tour of the Model Shop last thing before closing on Thursday March 28th.
Basically my partner and I were outside the model shop taking a few photos
of one of the models inside through the glass. There was no-one else around
apart from the modeler who was busy designing/building inside. When he got
up and headed our way, at first I thought I was about to get told off for
taking photos - but to our surprise, he invited us inside so we could get
better ones!
Well, I have got to say that he was one of the most friendly people you
could wish to meet and seemed to have a genuine enthusiasm for his work and
explaining it to us. He let us wonder around inside to take photos of the
various models, including some towards the back of the room that I wouldn't
have been able to take from the other side of the glass.
In all, he spent approx 30 minutes with us answering our questions and
explaining how the models are designed, built, displayed etc.
A lot of what he told us is probably a bit sensitive, if not confidential -
so I'm not going to pass it on here, but some of the things we found
interesting was;
The bricks they use come from Denmark, none are molded onsite. They can
basically get pretty much any current piece in any available color, but the
lead-time to them can be up to 9 weeks. Occasionally if they need a specific
piece quickly that they don't have in stock, then they will part out retail
sets. Pretty much what we have to do but on a much bigger scale!
The sculptures are drawn on the Lego graph paper just like it shows in the
big Lego book. A mockup is produced in a light color such as white or tan.
This mockup is then examined and colored with marker pens to work out which
different bricks to use and in which color.
A smaller model such as one of the seagulls only took a couple of days to
create.
Legoland Windsor budget for 25,000 UK Pounds of replacement models for
miniland each year to cover models that are damaged or stolen outright by
the public. (The image of someone running out of the park with big ben under
their shirt is just too funny to think of!) One of the big problems
apparently is with the vehicles in miniland - people see the car that they
own in real life as a Lego model and decide to swipe it.
The crown jewel models that use gold pieces are actually painted. We looked
at a half built crown which was made of white bricks and then painted gold.
Apparently they didn't want to use painted pieces, but gold wasn't available
in time. He said that Lego only allows them to paint pieces into colors that
are about to be released.....
The FA cup model in the big shop as well as the large Boeing 747 cockpit and
model in the imagination center is made with molded silver bricks - they
aren't painted. Apparently, this color has already been used in Bionicle and
the technic race car set, but I'm not into either of those themes so I
wouldn't know.
It's not the highly polished chrome color, more a pearlised grey/dull silver
and you can see the metallic swirling in the plastic.
What was really nice is that he pulled out a drawer of silver bricks and
plates and told me to help myself to a few! I wasn't greedy, but I now have
a few each of silver 2x2, 2x3, 2x4, 2x6 bricks; 2x10 plate 2x2 bricks and
plates with no corners. Not sure what I'm going to use them for yet, but
they will get used. If I get chance I will get some photos of them up on
brickshelf. I felt a little guilty about taking bricks for free and offered
to pay for them, but he said it really was no problem at all.
Cheekily I asked if he could spare a couple of a particular slope brick in
red that aren't available in any sets anymore, which I need for a project I
am working on. He took us into a backroom where they keep some of the stock
to look for them. What we saw would make any grown Lego fan cry! There were
rows and rows of small parts bins along walls and shelves, each column of
bins containing a different part number and each row containing a different
color. So each piece was there in pretty much every color whether or not it
has ever been available to the public - including lots of light blue, pink,
clear, tan, etc
Anyway, to cut a long story short, sods law dictated that the one particular
part I had asked for wasn't there, so he did everything possible to track a
few down for me, including looking in boxes, on the floor and in unsorted
bins. He managed to find a couple in red, and invited me to pick a few in
other colors. Once again I offered to pay for them, but he wouldn't have any
of it, so I made sure that I wasn't greedy which took a lot of self
restraint I can tell you! I have however donated some money to a children's
charity this morning as a thank you.
I also mentioned that although I am English, I live in the US and we
recently went to Legoland in Carlsbad CA. We said the we were impressed with
Miniland CA and that the Empire State building was one of our favorite
buildings modeled. This he was pleased with as he created it! Most of the
original large models in miniland were created by UK modelers who went out
there to install them, but haven't been back since to see how they are
getting on.
Anyway, as I said I just wanted to say a huge thank you for showing us
around the model shop, we really enjoyed it. My partner and I are both
professionally trained designers and we use Lego as a medium for some of our
sculptures and 'paintings' and so to see behind the scenes like that was
fantastic.
I'm afraid I didn't get the guys name, but he said he does read Lugnet when
he can (in fact he said that he regularly finds out about thinks at Lego on
Lugnet first, before finding out at work!)
On a side note, One of the questions I asked had a specific answer that I
needed to follow up on. Unfortunately in the excitement at the time, we
forgot your answer! If you do see this message and have a couple of minutes,
please could you email me at the address below. I know you've already done
way more than needed, but it would be good to be able to get the information
again as we're kind of stuck on something.
Anyway, many thanks from myself and Pam.
Richard Morton
richard.morton@idynamicsinc.com
Chief Operating Officer
iDynamics inc USA
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