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I think before we collectively launch into investing FOUR THOUSAND dollars more into LEGO parts, we should step back and figure out what we ultimately want to accomplish.
When I was building on my own, I had my own reasons for making things ie. so my kids could play a city display, so I could take something to Brickfair, or so I could try out some idea.
Do we a vision or a design for what we want to accomplish? (Please taze me if this is has already been spelled out somewhere.) Obviously we are trying to become more efficient and effective at putting on large temporary train displays. We can continue to let that happen piecemeal with individuals making random MOC’s, but is it possible that we could develop an overall plan? Should we incorporate certain themes or set particular goals to make displays more interesting?
Also, a big part of me wants a place to be able to set everything up somewhere and leave it. This is partly because I am running out of space to store MOC’s … like the Pittsburgh bridge and the yellow castle and the alpine village … and no one is really seeing them in a box in my garage. I know that having our own display space seems far fetched, but does anyone suppose that Dan Brown could be persuaded to move some of his museum displays to the city that had Kidsfest two years in a row? He would have so much more exposure here. Could we get a room at the Children’s museum to set up a long term display? Should we approach the Western PA train museum? Is there room for long-term residence at the Trolley museum?
Sorry, I know yinz want to talk about the LUGbulk parts list, but it might really help people to decide what people should buy if we gave some consideration to long term goals.
Personally I’m buying (and building) towards the ultimate goal of a large space build. Rich and I have started working on this idea of a plan by working on things that can be shared across our builds to unify them (specifically, the discussion… please check it out and let us know your thoughts!). We may want to talk about the “unified layout” idea at the Q4
Greg, definitely some great thoughts here.
Let me start by restating the purpose of LUGBULK in the eyes of LEGO. It’s for members of LUGs – Not for the direct improvement/addition to/starting of any LUG owned display, inventory, or ability. To that extent though, if members decided to give back to the LUG, that’s entirely acceptable.
I can see a desire to contribute to the greater goal and improving the LUG. While I think there is room for duality, I also recognize the LUG is still new, this is our first LUGBULK, and the majority of our members do not have basements full of parts. I think the LUG and the individual abilities are BOOMING, and LUGBULK will only act as an additional catalyst to that growth.
I think this is a question certainly worth people asking themselves, yearly, as we approach and enter LUGBULK. Do members, like Dan and Rich, or you and Zack, want to use LUGBULK to facilitate your own visions? DO IT. Any member with a desire for parts – this program is for you.
I can definitely see that there will be some members that don’t have a personalized goal or inspiration to buy and build. That’s OK. I’d first like to encourage them to pursue their own talents/ideas/skills/etc. If contributing to a LUG-centric big picture gets that rolling, that’s totally acceptable. I think you’re right to mention train/minifig scale displays as what we’re getting better at. Buildings, landscapes of water, fields, trees, and mountains, sidewalks, trains, brick-built roads, cars – all of these things could give those without direction a clearer path to begin their AFOL journey, and I would present that as the LUG goal, if personal goals did not naturally exist, for now.
Know that our growth plan does involve becoming more cohesive as a group, but I think we’ll see those relationships develop over time. I do plan to touch on some of this at Q4, but I think I remember you won’t be there, Greg. No worries, I’ll summarize for sure. For now – EVERYONE HAVE FUN AND ENJOY THE LEGO HOBBY AND LUGBULK!
Now, the second part of your question is something I really like. I have never thought about having a more permanent home for our displays…That would be a killer opportunity to get in with the children’s museum or some other outlet…Anyone want to seek out those opportunities?
a more permanent home for our displays…That would be a killer opportunity to get in with the children’s museum or some other outlet…Anyone want to seek out those opportunities?
Dan and Josh, thank you for your perspectives.
This was my take away lesson from the Greenberg display: individuals like Laura, Ben and Dan were each creating their own areas that filled multiple baseplates and they were all juxtaposed nicely. I more naively designed individual buildings thinking that they would integrate seamlessly into the landscape without any overall plan. I am seeing now that one or two people working on manageable subsections is very effective.
My current conclusion is that if someone wants to venture into a display theme like pirates, castle, western, Harry Potter, LOTR etc. they will solicit interest from the rest of the group and proceed with whomever is interested, with the understanding that suggested parameters are to plan areas in multiples of 40″ x 40″ using the MILS standards.
As far as taking up residency is concerned, I want to throw one more name into the idea pool – the Heinz History Center. We might be able to setup a display there that runs several months, as long as we some
onewhat comply with their self-defined mission, which seems to be “anything that happened in Pittsburgh.” Just now it occurred to me that if we were to make a display that shows the progression of LEGO building over time, I think they would go for that and they might even have the resources to help out.After building my Alpine Village, I emailed the Children’s Museum several times with photos of my display attached but I never heard back from them. Of course this was ten years ago and they might be open to a more collaborative display now.
P.S. There is a toy museum in Rochester NY called the Strong Museum where I took the photo below in 2005. (I think this is Sean Kenney’s work.)
More on past and current LEGO exhibits at the “Strong Museum of Play” in Rochester
(WARNING: offensive language, ex. “legos”)Current castle exhibit:
http://www.museumofplay.org/exhibits/lego-castle-adventure
http://www.foxrochester.com/news/features/good-day-rochester/stories/the-strongs-new-lego-exhibit-1216.shtml#.VIL7BmTF_Vstravel adventure 2013:
Nathan Sawaya’s “Art of the Brick” from 2010
At the risk of acquiring a new nickname for triple posting, I seriously think it would be a good idea to create a History of LEGO exhibit in conjunction with the Heinz History Center and to invite Dan Brown to contribute. The HHC might have the resources to do the research and we LEGO builders could flesh out the exhibit with examples.
A friend of mine in Richmond belonged to a local model railroad club. They had a clubhouse in a strip mall shop that was not being rented. The owner of the strip mall donated the space to the club in exchange for them maintaining a display in the front window of the shop. Anyone know of any unused storefronts that we could get donated to us?
to paraphrase: THAT’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout; that’s how you do LEGO.
Jim Garrett is an amazing builder and, hopefully someday, I will have downtown Pittsburgh done in a similar scale. That’s the goal anyhow. 🙂
Personally I’m buying (and building) towards the ultimate goal of a large space build. Rich and I have started working on this idea of a plan by working on things that can be shared across our builds to unify them (specifically, the discussion… please check it out and let us know your thoughts!). We may want to talk about the “unified layout” idea at the Q4
If possible, I would like to be in on a large space build.
the ultimate goal of a large space build
Now that you mention it, I also need a large space to build in.
Most of my builds are either sets of subjects I like or a few MOC’s. That being said, I tend to rework or re-engineer most for the sets I buy, to look better. -IMHO
I do have some ongoing projects. The largest being the “Batman Beyond” Batcave. Others are the Punisher Van that Jeff and I worked on together. And a few more.
I do Lego as a distraction from my scale modeling hobby, which is a distraction from my crazy work schedule. I build because for a scale model builder, Lego is like fast food for my creativity. I.E., no glueing, sanding, or painting. We have a small room set aside for lego stuff. Certain themes appeal to me; The Lego City Arctic is way too close to the base from John Carpenter’s “The Thing” that I dove right into it. I got into Lego City police, because of the “Lego City Undercover” game for WiiU and the 60007 Chase McCain set, -amazing truck, -Though I want to build my own police building Moc in a color other than white. I’m a big D.C. guy So I was all over those sets. And the Lego Batman 3 video game made me want to drink more of the proverbial Cool-Aid when the next round of sets come out next year. The one theme that sucked me in, that I didn’t expect was older Ninjago sets. I’m a big fantasy fan. And just for kicks while on the exercise bike one day put Ninjago on Netflix. It was OK as a show, but enough of a distraction from my workout that I wanted the dragons and the Ninjago Fire Temple set 2507 <—really nice asian themed architecture. I want a nice city street. But the time for that will come…
I like sharing my MOC’s with friends and you peeps in the LUG. I’m more than a little apprehensive to leave something on display in a public place unattended.
That’s were I stand and why i do it….
I’m more than a little apprehensive to leave something on display in a public place unattended.
I totally agree. If we left a display somewhere without anyone to supervise it during normal business hours, it would be encased like in a museum display. That’s what we’ve done at the Cranberry library several times.
Yinz are way overthinking this. I just want more Lego dammit.
I’ll simplify my original thesis: collectively we can accomplish much more than individually … IF we have a common goal.
to paraphrase: THAT’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout; that’s how you do LEGO.
Jim Garrett is an amazing builder and, hopefully someday, I will have downtown Pittsburgh done in a similar scale. That’s the goal anyhow.
You want goals, Greg? Minifig-scale Pittsburgh 2020. BAM. So let it be written; so let it be done.
~ Ambassador Redfield
So let it be written; so let it be done.
Sweet! When I saw them on the Load tour in 1997, that was the first original song of the show (they opened with So What). It totally rocked.
Sweet! When I saw them on the Load tour in 1997, that was the first original song of the show (they opened with So What). It totally rocked.
What are you talking about? Whatever it is, it’s derivative.
Apparently you didn’t scroll down to the comments of your own link, and apparently I’m not the only person who thinks that way.
Anyway, more importantly, it looks to me like the only way you guys’re gonna make real progress on this idea is if somebody does what Matt did, makes a concrete proposal that people then agree to work on or don’t. (I say ‘you guys’ cause I don’t actually have any proposals of my own, my projects for the next couple years are already decided on and in progress #doesntplaywellwithothers #selfabsorbednarcissist #screwyouguysimgoinghome)
But Greg’s right that if you’re gonna pool your resources, now’s the time to do it. I’ve seen a bunch of stuff over the years (mostly at BrickFair but also online) where it appears the people did just that – although I have no way of knowing for certain sincce I never asked, so certain ones could be the work of just one person – esp skyscrapers in various city/train setups where they use the same one or two pieces over and over again, as well as some of the builds of 3LUG (which is 3 guys), where they rely on large quantities of certain pieces to pull off the displays.
I always saw the LUG as both a collective and individual showcase. As proven in multiple cases, it can be. So, yes, we might be able to do it.
However, the scale and refinement of builds we see will likely take years to accomplish, even IF we decide on a unifying theme that is somehow both universal and captivating enough to draw a good chunk of the LUG into serious investment of time, money and coordination. So, no, we might NOT be able to do it.
There are pros and cons to a goal of this necessary size and investment.
Then I thought, “Wait a minute. Is it really about what WE can build? Or can it be more about what CAN be built, by experienced builders and by new or reborn LEGO fans?”
Perhaps allowing ourselves to be more varied in what we present might make our displays more approachable, relatable and accessible.
Finally, why follow other LUGs’ patterns when we can instead make the LUG experience, both inward and outward, as unique as we are?
None of these are my hard and fast opinions, but all these perspectives are worth considering.
we should step back and figure out what we ultimately want to accomplish
I have resolved that because there are so many disparate interests, there is no single answer to this question. Each of us has to decide the projects we want to pursue and occasionally we can find someone who is willing to collaborate. To me this was most evident at the Greenberg Train Show in Monroeville this past fall when several people brought their own stand alone displays.
I have resolved that because there are so many disparate interests, there is no single answer to this question. Each of us has to decide the projects we want to pursue and occasionally we can find someone who is willing to collaborate. To me this was most evident at the Greenberg Train Show in Monroeville this past fall when several people brought their own stand alone displays.
That’s fair. I still say there’s room for having a couple foundational builds (i.e. – Town&Train, which we already have, and in reconfigurable/modular form; Space, which we have a good start on between Dan, Walter, Rich, and Evan, but is less than cohesive at the moment; or whatever else we want – Castle?! Pirates?! SPACE PIRATES!!!) and then, over time, expanding upon the foundations. We’ve already proven that we can do that by reusing elements of the Town&Train display (particularly the Santa HQ and Elf Factory, as well as the Modulars and our custom modular/MILS buildings) while changing things up and adding new elements to keep it fresh (Greenberg 2013 > Santa Trolley 2013 > Greenberg 2014 > Santa Trolley 2014.) I think the Space boys have had some preliminary planning meetings to work on similar modular/expandable plans, which is great. But I don’t believe we can or should try to wrangle our 30ish active members and force everyone to build just one thing – last thing we want is a schism like our friends to the East experienced.
I, for one, would in theory claim to be primarily interested in Spacey builds and artsy stuff like the Harry Potter mosaic (with Pirate & Castle being close behind), but am always willing to jump in on a different collab (be it Town&Train or a one-off like the DIG, Great Wall, Fizz Boom Read, etc.) There’s plenty of momentum in our LUG and plenty of room for people to pursue individual builds in whatever area they please, but also plenty of incentive to join forces on collaborative builds – we should continue to encourage the collabs, and strive for repeatability and expandability, without quenching or stifling the individual efforts!
I view the LUG as an entity which allows me to interact and collaborate with others who share interest in Lego as a hobby. One of the main benefits to that is collaborative creations, like train/town displays or library displays. Another major benefit is the opportunity to interact with others whose primary Lego interests are currently different from mine. I am primarily a town builder but would love to get back into space (which was my focus growing up) and do more castle/pirates as well.
Collaborative builds are usually dictated by the opportunities to do public displays. However, as much as we can, I always want to include as many of the varied interests in our hobby as possible in each display (whether the display is active – like a train show – or passive – like a library display case).
Stand alone displays in the context of a larger collaborative display can also lend a unique difference, when compared to non-Lego displays. For example, the regular model railroad displays would never have awesome space robots in their displays but we do! And that shows off the creative flexibility that Lego provides. Perhaps we need to plan our larger displays to work in the stand alone elements more so that everything contributes to the overall narrative of the display. Kind of like the Bill and Mary Idea Book from 1980. The book starts with two minifigs (Bill and Mary) building a house and then a town, eventually going into space, and then ending up in the middle ages in the land of the Yellow Castle. See http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/6000_LEGOLAND_Idea_Book So even though I am currently a Town builder and most of my ideas and plans are focused in that direction, I always want to explore other areas of the hobby and interact with my fellow LUG members whose primary interests lie there. Hope that makes sense.
. The book starts with two minifigs (Bill and Mary) building a house and then a town, eventually going into space, and then ending up in the middle ages in the land of the Yellow Castle
You just figured out season one of “The Last Man on Earth.” 🙂
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