Last week, I returned to LEGO after more than 30 years, and built a spaceship.
I am an engineer. I recently acquired some old Lego parts from the 1980s and finally built the spacecraft I had dreamed of as a kid (more than 30 years ago). Let's take a look around the end result, The Klara-420:
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I began with a lot of old boxes of Lego that looked like this:
Slowly, from the junkyard of these abandoned plastic shards, the Klara-420 began to emerge. After two-hours of rummaging, the imagination of my inner-child flickered online: I suddenly remembered how to Lego!
The keystones of the Klara-420 are the two original plastic hatches from the 80s. These are really incredible pieces and, for me, represent Lego's golden age: High quality fabrication, no single-use parts, and lots of potential for reusing and rebuilding models into new designs:
The incredible depth of these reds and blues has never been revisited by Lego. These are Lego components as they should be: Reusable in many different modelling situations, with no pre-defined purpose:
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Luckily the stash of old Lego I acquired contained the Holy-Grail of lego components: Two, original Lego-Moon decals:
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I wanted to stick to using only parts that were available during my childhood. Although, in the end a couple of later parts did sneak in there, simply because they were available and looked rad. The flames, from a Ninjago Skull Motorbike (2011) being the obvious example:
These became the afterburners on the Klara-420:
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Because I like these Lego models to represent the design-ideals of proper aeronautical craft, I tried to design a fuselage that embodied the engineering-considerations required in building real spacecraft. Here is the top view of the ship:
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And here is the undercarriage:
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Finally the Klara-420 was complete. A homage to my technicolor Lego dreams of the 1980s, and a testimony to how great Lego components should be made, and once were. I was able to take essentially the same sort of Lego pieces I played with in the 1980s and create a ship for the hem of the 2020s.
Thank you for reading. Happy building!
Now I have to figure out what to do with this:
I wasn't feeling nostalgic until I saw this little guy.
My favourite nostalgia piece too!
Me too!
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This is very cool! I've come back to Lego for the first time in about 35 years recently but am only buying sets, mainly technic. I plan to take a look around to see if I can find some old-school Lego for builds like yours...Feeling the need to freestyle. I'm no engineer though, so mine may look somewhat more wacky than yours does. 😁
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks!
It's interesting that you're into Lego Technic.
I enjoyed that too, as a kid, and I want to return to it to model some engineering ideas I have. Which Technic sets did you get? I'm after the 1988 Lego Technic Test Car:
Hey there...I just finished the Landrover Defender, and about to start the Mack Anthem and have the Extreme 4x4 off-roader waiting to go after the Mack. I haven't got any old-shcool Technic, but wouldn't mind finding some.
Ah the nostalgia. Those classic space logos are in great shape for their age. Thanks for helping to grow the Lego tag on Steem.
Hey @supdork, is this worth a little upvote?
Thank you.
The classic space logos were an unexpected treasure that I found within the random chaos of second-hand Lego that I sourced. Glad to have been reunited with the theme of Lego Moon!
This is great! I remember I had an interview with a potential employer who shared that he just rediscovered Lego. He didn't have any kids either. He just had a comfortable lifestyle and wanted a hobby. Legos are expensive, but compared to many other hobbies, relatively affordable. Love this project and the detail you shared!
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Thank you. It's good to hear that others are returning to Lego too.
Lego is not so expensive if you buy in bulk second-hand. But then it can be unpredictable what you will actually get. I ended up with some good Lego, but about 20% of it was from the dark-age of Lego: A phase in the 90s where the kits featured a lot of single-use pieces that can't really be creatively modelled with.
I'm told Lego is back on track now though.
Thanks for reading!
Yeah man! :D
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I recently delved back into this therapy myself. Something about Flow States and exploring pieces really brings out the relief. Stellar work Bruv! Please keep it up. SteemON!
Thank you!
Yes, Lego is the perfect meditation aid and, as you say, has put me in some amazing flow states.
Hey @kida! We've manually upvoted your post with both accounts, @build-it.assist and @build-it.curator.
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I'll check out the Build-it platform.