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So here’s the lowdown...
The local LEGO train club (GPLR) was invited to participate in a pilot program
to set up a display inside one of the cases at our local LEGO Brand store. We’re
one of three clubs participating, and the last one to install their display.
Short and pithy version:
Kelly dropped the display, shattered it in the mall parking lot. Picked up the
pieces, toted them in, received much warranted ribbing about klutziness, GPLR
rebuilt it in the store, installed it, and left happy. Pictures here after
moderation: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=156352
Amusing yet lengthy anecdote version:
Steve Barile and I spent last Saturday building a mountain scene with railroad
bridge, sized to fit the store display. Needless to say, Steve did most of the
cool stuff while I slapped bricks together. Steve thought he wasn’t going to be
able to attend the Thursday night installation, so he brought it to my place. It
turns out he was able to attend, which was very fortunate - as you’ll see.
Thursday evening rolls around, and I bring the 31-inch tall display downstairs,
picturing every step of the way tripping and watching bricks fly everywhere. You
know the feeling: the sigh of relief as you reach the bottom stair unscathed and
intact. Strap that puppy into the van, pick up Bob, and cruise slowly through a
cold, rainy December night to the just-about-to-close mall. The parking lot is
nearly deserted, fortunately, so I got a good parking space under a light, near
the entrance.
I’d like to say I slipped on an oil slick. Or tripped over a discarded fast food
container. Or twisted my ankle. But those would all be lies, lies, lies. Display
in hand, I made it nearly ten feet away from the car before I let the display
become overbalanced.
The moment: you know it, you fear it. The visions on the stairs? Coming true
before your eyes. Time slows, but reflexes can’t match. It’s happening, and you
can’t stop it. Gravity rules as the mountaintop slowly dips forward, picking up
speed. There’s a point where you just know it’s past the point of recovery. My
shout (two words, unrepeatable here) bounced off the storefronts even before the
heavy brick construction split in the middle, rushing groundward. Going down on
my knees, captain going down with the ship, trying in vain to keep it as intact
as possible before the inevitable sickening plopshattertinkletinkle.
The sound of disassembling bricks hitting wet pavement is one you will not soon
forget. Trust me.
On the one hand, hey, they’re not my bricks, right? On the other hand - oh
CRAP, those aren’t my bricks...
Bob Kojima, who rode with me, fetched the cavalry as I picked up the remnants of
the display and put them into a container I swiped from the back of my wife’s
minivan. By the time Frank, Ben, and Steve arrived at the crime scene, I had the
debris mostly picked up. Steve’s reaction: “Not much point in bringing it in, is
there?” (Actually, his first reaction was “You didn’t drop my train, did
you?”[1]) Then he saw that the carnage was relatively limited, and there were
several big chunks intact.
We can rebuilt it. We will rebuild it.
The ribbing was good-natured (at least that’s how I choose to take it) and far
less than I deserved. No shouts, no accusations, no criticisms - it’s times like
this when you really understand why you hang out with these guys. There but for
the klutziness of Binky go they. Smiling and shaking their heads, they helped
pick up the pieces - literally - and tote them into the mall and into the LEGO
store.
The yellow-shirted employees stared as a conga line of adults strode in, each
one carrying a section of dripping, twisted brickage. Fortunately, since it was
just before closing time, the store was deserted and we were able to spread out
near the Pick A Brick wall to commence surgery. Tom, the manager, didn’t even
raise an eyebrow. “Need a few minutes?” he asked, and I humbly nodded. “No
problem.”
A busy but (relatively) fun 45 minutes later, six members of GPLR (including
Jeremy, who walked in shortly after The Incident) had reconstructed the
mountain, trees, and bridge. The store personnel swept up around us and were
extremely sporting about it all, tolerating the invasion and even pulling up
Brickshelf so we could see tree placement. They later helped take pictures of us
posing in front of... well, you’ll see.
Once the display was reconstructed (with the inevitable few bits left over), the
next challenge was fitting it into the display case. It turns out the top and
sides of the case are removable, but the front was screwed in, almost screwing
us. In addition, the measurements Tom and I had taken earlier of the interior
were tighter than we’d thought. With the yellow cardboard backing, we were
almost 3 studs too deep. Ben, after pondering the sitch for a minute, figured we
could set the backing up on a metal lip just a tad, giving us the required extra
studdage room.
Moment of truth, Take 2: Steve and Frank carefully toted the construct to the
display area. Kelly was not allowed to touch, upon pain of... pain. Ben (aptly
of Big Ben Bricks) lifted the entire mountain over the top and down into the
display area, where Steve and Frank gently guided it into place, like a train
gliding into the station. (Given the nature of the club, I’m required by law to
include a minimum of one train metaphor.) The front scenery that Steve had built
(and did not hit the pavement, thankfully) slid right in front. The house is a
miniature version of a current set, and the trees are versions of ones also
currently available in bins at the front of the store - no shoving, there’s
enough for everybody.
Greebling only took a few minutes. A few rock-climbers here, a couple of falcons
there, train positioned on the bridge, and that’s it, we’re done!
We posed for a couple of quick pictures, which the store employees were gracious
enough to help with, and chatted with Tom as he gently ushered us out of the
store. I’m sure we kept them later than normal, but they never said a word to
hurry us. Big props to Tom and his staff for putting up with the disruption and
chaos. We promised next time would go better, but I think he knows me too well
to actually believe me.
Final tally:
1 Successfully Installed Mountain Display
6 Tired But Smiling GPLR Members
1 Gashed Thumb
~50 Leftover Bricks
1 Embarrassed Kelly who has now proven to the world just how much of a dork he
is
2 Smooshed Bricks[2]
1 Funny/Embarrassing Story
13 Pretty Good Pictures of the Tragedy and Its Redemption
3 of 3 LEGO Stores with Club Displays
My biggest worry now is not being allowed to play with Steve’s toys anymore ‘cuz
I’m such a klutz. Next time, my house, my bricks.
Kelly
[1] Nope.
[2] One of which had one of its studs pushed flush with the top of the brick -
never seen that before. Cool!
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Kelly McKiernan wrote:
> Moment of truth, Take 2: Steve and Frank carefully toted the
> construct to the display area. Kelly was not allowed to touch, upon
> pain of... pain. Ben (aptly of Big Ben Bricks) lifted the entire
> mountain over the top and down into the display area, where Steve and
> Frank gently guided it into place, like a train gliding into the
> station. (Given the nature of the club, I'm required by law to
> include a minimum of one train metaphor.) The front scenery that
> Steve had built (and did not hit the pavement, thankfully) slid right
> in front. The house is a miniature version of a current set, and the
> trees are versions of ones also currently available in bins at the
> front of the store - no shoving, there's enough for everybody.
Hmm, I wasn't involved in the toting... I think it was Jeremy/
Frank
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In lugnet.general, Frank Filz wrote:
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Kelly McKiernan wrote:
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Moment of truth, Take 2: Steve and Frank carefully toted the
construct to the display area. Kelly was not allowed to touch, upon
pain of... pain. Ben (aptly of Big Ben Bricks) lifted the entire
mountain over the top and down into the display area, where Steve and
Frank gently guided it into place, like a train gliding into the
station. (Given the nature of the club, I’m required by law to
include a minimum of one train metaphor.) The front scenery that
Steve had built (and did not hit the pavement, thankfully) slid right
in front. The house is a miniature version of a current set, and the
trees are versions of ones also currently available in bins at the
front of the store - no shoving, there’s enough for everybody.
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Hmm, I wasn’t involved in the toting... I think it was Jeremy/
Frank
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It was me...I just never showed my face. :-)
-jeremy
gplr
visit Greater Portland LEGO Railroaders
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
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So here’s the lowdown...
The local LEGO train club (GPLR) was invited to participate in a pilot
program to set up a display inside one of the cases at our local LEGO Brand
store. We’re one of three clubs participating, and the last one to install
their display.
Short and pithy version:
Kelly dropped the display, shattered it in the mall parking lot. Picked up
the pieces, toted them in, received much warranted ribbing about klutziness,
GPLR rebuilt it in the store, installed it, and left happy. Pictures here
after moderation: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=156352
|
--SNIP--
Well, in the end it looks brilliant and that’s what counts. Just be glad you
build out of Lego and not cardboard and wood or any of those other silly (and
destructible) substances that typical railroad modellers use.
Tim
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
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So here’s the lowdown...
The local LEGO train club (GPLR) was invited to participate in a pilot
program to set up a display inside one of the cases at our local LEGO Brand
store. We’re one of three clubs participating, and the last one to install
their display.
Short and pithy version:
Kelly dropped the display, shattered it in the mall parking lot. Picked up
the pieces, toted them in, received much warranted ribbing about klutziness,
GPLR rebuilt it in the store, installed it, and left happy. Pictures here
after moderation: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=156352
|
You know, Binky... I hear Bionicle stuff doesn’t come apart when you drop it...
maybe you should stick to that?
++Lar
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In lugnet.general, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
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So here’s the lowdown...
The local LEGO train club (GPLR) was invited to participate in a pilot
program to set up a display inside one of the cases at our local LEGO Brand
store. We’re one of three clubs participating, and the last one to install
their display.
Short and pithy version:
Kelly dropped the display, shattered it in the mall parking lot. Picked up
the pieces, toted them in, received much warranted ribbing about klutziness,
GPLR rebuilt it in the store, installed it, and left happy. Pictures here
after moderation: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=156352
|
You know, Binky... I hear Bionicle stuff doesn’t come apart when you drop
it... maybe you should stick to that?
++Lar
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Lol, I get the impression that may be the general consensus... if, the next club
get-together, everybody huddles protectively over their mocs when I approach,
hey, I can take a hint if it’s delivered at nuclear proportions. :)
Kelly
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2 Smooshed Bricks[2]
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[2] One of which had one of its studs pushed flush with the top of the
brick - never seen that before. Cool!
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here is a pict of the smooshed brick:
there rest of my pics are here after moderation:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=156361
it was a fun night. it was kind of cool seeing such a big object fall and break
up. remindes me of the ISD at Brickfest PDX. it was just like Kelly described,
when i started to fall it was in slow motion. the crashing and breaking sound
was cool too!
bob
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
Wow, someone was awfully quick with their camera.
A great story and I really like the display a lot. Great use of a vertical
space, especially since train displays are usually horizontal.
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[2] One of which had one of its studs pushed flush with the top of the
brick - never seen that before. Cool!
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Cool. Did you get a pic of that?
Bruce
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In lugnet.general, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
Wow, someone was awfully quick with their camera.
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I had my digital on my belt... after The Incident, the first thing I thought
(after ohcrapnonononooooooo) was, “I need a picture of this”. Bob Kojima drove
with me, so I handed the camera to him and he snapped it while I cowered,
bleeding and damp, in the center of my ignominious misery.
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A great story and I really like the display a lot. Great use of a vertical
space, especially since train displays are usually horizontal.
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Thanks, something good should come of that experience ;) The display did turn
out great in the end, I think.
Building vertical was kind of a struggle, we weren’t quite sure how to deal with
it at first. Steve suggested a mountain scene with RR bridge, and it sounded
perfect so we did it. It’s actually a bit too snug in the display, we’ll
probably give it some more breathing room next time.
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[2] One of which had one of its studs pushed flush with the top of the
brick - never seen that before. Cool!
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Cool. Did you get a pic of that?
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Unfortunately, no... we were trying to get done with the rebuild and Frank
snapped it in before I thought to take a picture of it. That’s also why there
are few pictures of the thing in many pieces, we were all busy sorting and
rebuilding.
Kelly
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
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So here’s the lowdown...
Short and pithy version:
Kelly dropped the display, shattered it in the mall parking lot. Picked up
the pieces, toted them in, received much warranted ribbing about klutziness,
GPLR rebuilt it in the store, installed it, and left happy. Pictures here
after moderation: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=156352
Kelly
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Ah, you never forget your first time...here’s mine:
Needless to say, that particular creation became MASSIVELY structurally
reinforced after that incident. It stood up for a year straight after that
incident.
Ignore Lar on this one, Bionicle-Based Creations do have some structural flaws,
just not as many as traditional brick structures have. I guess he needs to get
out and build with both more often in order to know this. (Luv ya, Lar!) :P
Take care and I hope the thumb feels better soon,
-Dave
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In lugnet.general, Dave Johann wrote:
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
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So here’s the lowdown...
Short and pithy version:
Kelly dropped the display, shattered it in the mall parking lot. Picked up
the pieces, toted them in, received much warranted ribbing about klutziness,
GPLR rebuilt it in the store, installed it, and left happy. Pictures here
after moderation: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=156352
Kelly
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Ah, you never forget your first time...here’s mine:
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You’re copping to that? You have e in the pic, why not hang it on him?
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Ignore Lar on this one, Bionicle-Based Creations do have some structural
flaws, just not as many as traditional brick structures have. I guess he
needs to get out and build with both more often in order to know this. (Luv
ya, Lar!) :P
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K, what you’re saying is that I was wrong about a kind of flaw that I thought
Bionicles don’t have, because actually they do have that flaw?
I’m down with that, I’m happy to be wrong about it... LOL.
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In lugnet.general, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
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In lugnet.general, Dave Johann wrote:
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Ah, you never forget your first time...here’s mine:
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You’re copping to that? You have e in the pic, why not hang it on him?
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Nah. e did nothing to facilitate the fall. Heck, I think he was more upset about
it at the time than I was. This fall was proof that you never turn your back on
a freestanding creation that you aren’t 100% certain can support it’s own
weight. FYI, the part that failed was a ball/socket connection. I found it
across the room later that session.
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Ignore Lar on this one, Bionicle-Based Creations do have some structural
flaws, just not as many as traditional brick structures have. I guess he
needs to get out and build with both more often in order to know this. (Luv
ya, Lar!) :P
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K, what you’re saying is that I was wrong about a kind of flaw that I thought
Bionicles don’t have, because actually they do have that flaw?
I’m down with that, I’m happy to be wrong about it... LOL.
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Yep. Think of it this way: building with those parts provides a nice, strong
spine, but just how much stress can a spine take? Bionicle building is serious
joint stress. Bryce McGlone could probably write a discertation about it since I
doubt few others have stress tested the parts as well as he has. As with all
Lego building, weight is the achilles heel for any creation. Push it too far and
it will crumble.
-Dave
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In lugnet.general, Kelly McKiernan wrote:
Kelly-
Great story, well told with the righ ring of righteous truth and penitent
humility.
Made me think of some of our LEGO disasters.
1. BrickFest PDX. We unwrapped the two 60 inch cable stayed bridges that we had
shipped as baggage. Boy, the cargo orillas sure had a workout. The average
mortal had know way to know they were supposed to be bridges.
2. LLCA event about 5 years ago. We brought down David’s entry from the LEGO
Star Wars Galactic Challenge, which was essentially a 30 inch diameter inverted
cone on top of another 30 inch non-inverted cone plus a top that looked like a
30 inch high bell jar made from about 10,000 bricks. I had it in the back of the
Vanagon and had gone about 3 miles when I turned left onto the access road to I5
south. For a second, I forgot I was toting an unsupported 50 inch high model.
When we pulled over to look, there were 100s of separate subsections. I was
really glad David was not with us and really glad it was highly symmetric. Susan
and I actually had it fairly well restored within an hour, to my enormous
relief.
3. The four of us were awake at 03:30 for a very early flight to the SFULCC
event in NYC in 1998. For some reason, we had a few spare moments and decided to
move David’s 4 foot high Eiffel Tower, which like item 1 above was built in his
favorite house-of-cards style. Naturally one leg collapsed and the whole thing
crashed. Since we would be gone about two weeks, we didn’t want to come home to
a smashed model in the living room so the four of us worked like mad to get it
back together and still not miss the plane.
4. San Diego Model Railroad Museum, 2 years ago. The hotel with 8 working
elevators is the heaviest/densest model we have ever made - at least 15,000
bricks in a cube less than 30 x 30 x 30 inches. (We usually use 4 people to move
it). I failed to consider the quaility of the suspension system of the 20 foot
rental truck we used to transport our stuff from Irvine to San Diego. When we
unpacked it in the museum, the core tower had bounced off the base. There was
way to get into the model from outside to fix it short of disassembly. But then
we configuired 4 tables to make a smooth surface with a 15 inch x 15 inch hole
in the middle. We slid the model on and Thomas performed surgery from
underneath. An hour later, we were in business. (Ever since, we run film wrap
around the model to hold it down to its table when we ship it. Haven’t had a
problm since.)
5. When the boys were little and the collection was still manageably small
(30,000 bricks or so), the whole thing fit into a modest array of Emplast 60 and
18 drawer cabinets that we simply placed against a wall. I don’t recall the
cause, but one day the whole thing got knocked over. It was NOT a 1 hour clean
up job! (Since then, all the cabinets have been fastened to the wall in
anticipation that when the Big One hits here in Southern California that at
least the cabinets (and hopefully not too many bricks) will not come crashing
down.
Moral of the story: You’re not alone!
-Ted
SCLTC
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Hahahahah, great read. Thanks.
Don’t feel bad, it happens to us all at one point or
another.
The conga line was the best though!
LOL
e
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