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In lugnet.loc.us.oh, James Trobaugh wrote:
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I ran across this listing on eBay:
Lego museum. DISPLAY, Statue, and DONATIONS NEEDED
We are going to open a LEGO museum. We need TONS of blocks, displays, and any
other lego “stuff” we can come up with. Presenters gain a place in HISTORY.
We are selling space on a Plaque that will be put on the front of the
building, as well as smaller plaques that will be put in front of individual
display items. We are also purchasing LARGE amounts of special items for this
project. Those people will not be included in the plaques, but will be put in
a buying bio at the computer room (lego games a’ running). We will have a web
sight in the NEAR future, and we already have purchased the building (old
school house, 36,000 sq.) so we have all the room in the world to do this.
Anyone know anything about this? I’d like to hear more if so.
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I stumbled upon this very cool museum a few weeks ago, while traveling for work.
They hadn’t yet opened for the season, but luckily my job brought me back to the
area a week later, and I was able to take a sprinting tour on my lunch break.
Tons of very cool displays spanning many decades, with an interesting evolution
of building styles and parts along the way.
Also, I’m happy to report, the site has a friendly attitude toward competitor
brick toys and actually has a number of official Mega sets on display.
I’ll definitely had back for a longer tour when I get the chance, but I was
delighted to find this place totally by accident!
--Dave!
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THE SHOE, BLOCK BY BLOCK
LEGO Hobbyist Spent 2 Years Building Model of Ohio Stadium
January 15, 2011
By Amy Saunders
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The dome of the rotunda, the Script Ohio looping across the scoreboard video
screen, the archways lining the stadium that is shaped, of course, like a
horseshoe.
In near-exact detail, Paul Janssen created all the curves of Ohio Stadium using
1 million LEGO bricks - which, if you remember, are mostly rectangular.
The building is “not square at all, so it was a big challenge,” he said. “But
it’s so much more satisfying if you can accomplish something that’s hard.”
Janssen recently finished his 8-foot-by-6-foot masterpiece, having spent 1,000
hours over nearly two years building it in his Dublin basement. No cutting,
gluing or painting was involved in making the replica, the scale of which is
about 1/100.
The 42-year-old began plotting his work in 2005, three years after he was hired
as an associate professor of physiology and cell biology at Ohio State
University.
Growing up in the Netherlands, where the Danish-made interlocking blocks are
especially popular, Janssen loved building LEGO trains in his youth but took a
hiatus from the hobby until moving to the United States a decade ago.
Having three children of his own - ages 10, 8 and 3 - became an excuse to buy
new toys. The family’s basement - aside from a washer, dryer and a kitty-litter
box - is now consumed by containers of LEGO stacked nearly from floor to
ceiling.
Janssen’s friends in the Central Ohio LEGO® Train Club,
for which he serves as president, once mentioned in passing the possibility of
building an Ohio Stadium replica. But few would attempt such a large and
detailed undertaking, member Ben Coifman said.
“It’s flat-out insane to build something like that,” said Coifman, an associate
professor of civil engineering at OSU. “But that’s part of what we love Paul
for.”
To plan the project, Janssen studied stadium measurements and satellite images,
often taking photos of the press box or other details during football games. (He
didn’t really understand the sport at first but is now a fan and a season-ticket
holder.)
He spent more than three years acquiring the necessary LEGO, often improvising:
Dragon horns from a LEGO castle kit are part of the rotunda decor; chrome truck
parts serve as pipes extending from the stadium bathrooms.
Many pieces were purchased or traded through an online marketplace,
Bricklink.com; others were already part of his collection.
Had Janssen bought all new parts, he figures the project would have cost $50,000
to $75,000.
Construction began in May 2009, when Janssen assembled 450,000 pieces for the
model’s base. The stadium itself can be divided into 10 pieces, each weighing up
to 50 pounds.
Building to scale was often a challenge, given that Janssen couldn’t re-size
LEGOs to fit his calculations. He spent 15 hours constructing the east side of
the stadium before deciding to dismantle it, unhappy with the steepness of the
stands.
“I would have been disappointed forever if I built it like that,” he said.
Most of the construction was completed on weekends, from 5 a.m. until his family
woke up about 9. With LEGO projects often being repetitive, Janssen says he can
also accomplish academic work while putting blocks together.
“I’m thinking about research; I’m thinking about papers,” he said. “I’m working
and playing at the same time.”
His wife, Anita, declined to discuss the hobby, saying it isn’t about her. But
what about how the LEGO have invaded the basement?
“It’s probably best I don’t comment on that,” she said half-jokingly.
Janssen hopes to display his work on campus and to use it in fundraising for his
research on heart failure and muscular dystrophy. The stadium can be filled with
up to 6,000 LEGO people, he says, each of which could represent a donor.
He hasn’t decided on his next LEGO project, although he’s talking about possible
additions to the stadium display: the BCS and Heisman trophies; and, if
eventually installed permanently in the real Horseshoe, lights.
“I cannot sit still,” Janssen said. “If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be doing
something else at an intense level - I’d work 20-hour days or something like
that.
“I can’t watch TV for more than half an hour. Well, except if it’s a football
game.”
OHIO STADIUM: THE NUMBERS
•1 million estimated number of LEGO pieces used to build the Ohio Stadium
replica.
•450,000 number of LEGO pieces in the base.
•6,000 number of Lego people who can fit in the stadium.
•1,000 number of hours invested in the project by Paul Janssen.
•15 hours Janssen worked on the east side of the stadium before deciding to
start over on that part.
•10 sections into which the stadium can be divided.
•2 years needed for construction.
Dispatch.com
Photos of LEGO Horseshoe
-end of report-
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Forest Park resident builds business with LEGO
From Communitypress.Cincinnati website on Sept. 24, 2010.
William Lynch enjoys building with LEGO, and has turned that love into a
profitable business.
Lynch, a Forest Park resident, started Cincinnati Bricks about five years ago
and says the business is “wildly successful.”
Cincinnati Bricks acts as a “chop shop” for LEGO sets. Lynch buys sets and
breaks them down to sell the individual pieces to collectors and builders.
The business began in Lynch’s Forest Park home, but he’s recently moved much of
his product to a warehouse in the city.
Lynch said he buys the LEGO sets “wherever I can get a deal” and sells them
through his website, Amazon, exhibitions or displays.
Cincinnati Bricks has been a featured BrickLink (an unofficial online LEGO
marketplace) numerous times as one of the top 50 LEGO sellers by volume. There
are about 4,000 such stores in the world.
Lynch said he was selling real estate and selling LEGO as a side business, but
said the risk was too high selling properties, so he’s put that business on the
back burner to focus on LEGO, which have been bringing steady income for several
years.
“I’m basically doubling my business every year,” he said.
Lynch said he hopes to one day make Cincinnati Bricks his full-time job, and he
may be just a couple of years from making that a reality.
Communitypress.Cincinnati.com
-end of report-
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In lugnet.loc.us.oh, Brian Darrow wrote:
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My wife and I met Peter Barth, another IndyLUG member, at Dan Brown’s Toy and
Brick Museum in Bellaire, Ohio on Friday April 11 to see what it was all
about. Like this post’s title says, it was well worth the trip. I was so
impressed that I wanted to tell others about the museum. There is a lot of
everything LEGO at this old neighborhood school building located right smack
dab in the middle of Bellaire. It’s only 10 minutes from I-70 southwest of
Wheeling, West Virginia.
Dan has accumulated a bunch of MOC’s from well known AFOL’s and LEGO Master
Builders. You’ll also get to see many one-of-a-kind models, vintage store
display’s, antique wooden LEGO toys, Roadshow cast-offs and AFOL layouts.
Take a look at these pictures, but they are only a fraction of what’s there:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=313328
Be sure to call or email ahead to let him know you are an AFOL and he’ll meet
you at the museum for a one on one behind the scenes tour. One of the best
parts is when he takes you behind the closed doors in a couple of the
classrooms where he has oodles of loose brick piled waist high. (You will
drool all over yourself, guaranteed.) He’ll also give you insight as to how
he’s acquired his collection and what he has in store for the museum’s future
events.
If you like LEGO, you’ll love the Toy and Brick Museum.
Brian Darrow
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Thanks, and we are getting bigger and better. I forgot to show you the room
downstairs, it will be AWSOME!!!
We will be building a sea serpent for the room, and it will allow the
kids/adults to bring in their bathing suits, and get soaked.
We are looking into a water cannon, and we bought some very cool water shooters
for the actual WET room, will be open in 2009!!!
Something to look forward to.
Thanks for the kind words, built the place for the AFOL community!!!
You will love it!
Dan
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My wife and I met Peter Barth, another IndyLUG member, at Dan Brown’s Toy and
Brick Museum in Bellaire, Ohio on Friday April 11 to see what it was all about.
Like this post’s title says, it was well worth the trip. I was so impressed that
I wanted to tell others about the museum. There is a lot of everything LEGO at
this old neighborhood school building located right smack dab in the middle of
Bellaire. It’s only 10 minutes from I-70 southwest of Wheeling, West Virginia.
Dan has accumulated a bunch of MOC’s from well known AFOL’s and LEGO Master
Builders. You’ll also get to see many one-of-a-kind models, vintage store
display’s, antique wooden LEGO toys, Roadshow cast-offs and AFOL layouts.
Take a look at these pictures, but they are only a fraction of what’s there:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=313328
Be sure to call or email ahead to let him know you are an AFOL and he’ll meet
you at the museum for a one on one behind the scenes tour. One of the best
parts is when he takes you behind the closed doors in a couple of the classrooms
where he has oodles of loose brick piled waist high. (You will drool all over
yourself, guaranteed.) He’ll also give you insight as to how he’s acquired his
collection and what he has in store for the museum’s future events.
If you like LEGO, you’ll love the Toy and Brick Museum.
Brian Darrow
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