Welcome to the Milton Keynes LEGO store, where situated at the back on the building tables are a team of LEGO enthusiasts from The Brickish Association. The four-strong team are part of a European event that is speed building the new Death Star kit. For the UK, the three stores at Brighton, Bluewater and Milton Keynes all had teams competing.
Read on for a rundown of the day’s events….
Building started at 9:30am on a bright Saturday morning and the guys got straight into the sorting and piecing together of the fresh new bricks watched by anticipating eyes from the young and younger.
Only after a few minutes shapes started to form.
A half hour in to building and the base is complete.
There are markers in the large, binded, 260+ page book of instructions and a ‘gameplan’ is evident as the four members of the team have been split into two teams of two with one on each gathering the required pieces and the other putting them together. Each team was working from different areas of the book and a lot of page flicking ensued. One team was working on the larger structural parts and the other the more cosmetic of features. On the hour rooms started to take shape.
There was a constant flow of interested people eagerly entering the competition to win the completed Death Star. They passed on their well wishes as the team beavered away picking and connecting bricks from those sorted into tubs and the others that, to the untrained eye, appeared to be strewn over the table.
During the build Simon Bennett, The Brickish Association chairman, turned up to lend his support. He was visibly restraining the urge to dive in and help and so I asked him a few questions to distract him. He kindly responded.
JN: How did all this come about?
SB: We received an email from Jan at LEGO to say they wanted to do this speed building event and would we want to get involved. So we agreed and placed an ‘advert’ on our forums for our members to put their names down for those that wanted to participate. This event is also happening in Europe and I know of two stores in Germany that are taking part.
JN: Cool. You said members, what is it that The Brickish Association does?
SB: We are a growing association for LEGO fans aged 16+ from the UK and Ireland to join. Our members benefit from our newsletter, exclusive events, discounts at the UK LEGO stores and can all interact on our discussion pages on the web about all things Lego.
JN: What’s next for you?
SB: At the beginning of October we are at the Great Western Railway in Swindon. We really like this event as the Lego displays actually move, which attracts more people.
JN: Excellent, thanks for your time.
During this interview, Simon’s (and my) eyes kept drifting back to the feverish motions at the table next to him as the construction of the Empire’s most feared weapon looked more and more like what we are used to seeing on screen.
At the two hour mark some of the features of the kit were being added.
One feature is the proof that this is a ‘fully armed and operational battle station’.
A phone call came through from the Brighton LEGO store and June, the store supervisor, relayed the news to the guys that the other team were a quarter of the way through. Speculations were murmered that they were playing tactics but the Milton Keynes boys still ‘doubled their efforts’.
The three hour mark ticked by and the lads were still being relentless in their pursuit to finish first.
The banter between the guys kept spirits up although one comment that the stickers were in the wrong place made two of them miss a heartbeat. Young inquisitive children were asking questions like ‘what does that bit do?’ and ‘what’s this for?’ which the guys all pleasantly answered, some kids were right in the thick of the action and adult arms were stretching around them to retrieve required bricks from the segregrated tubs.
At the four hour mark, the watching eyes were growing bigger at the same rate as the Death Star due to more and more being added and fixed in place.
The table was becoming visible as the little plastic studs, bricks, plates, angles, string, pegs, axles, etc. were connected together.
As the lads were building from each page and recognisable shapes were formed they couldn’t resist the urge to twist and pull on the bits they were making (even to the extent that sound effects were used), just goes to show you can never be too old.
The phone in the store rang again and store attendant Nathan nervously picked up the receiver and answered. Thirty seconds later he despondently wondered over to inform us all that the Brighton boys had finished at 2:01pm in a time of four hours and thirty one minutes. The Milton Keynes troop all simultaneously groaned and then kicked back into motion stating that they were still going to beat the team at the Bluewater store. You can see from the picture below that the progress was nearly complete.
20 minutes later and applause rippled through the store as the four workers stood up and took a step back and admired their superb efforts.
The four man team gladly posed for their photograph at the end to show off the magnificent set in all it’s glory.
From left to right is Luke Dolman, Adrian Carman, Richard Ellis and team leader Martin Long (also president of The Brickish Association). The young lad Daniel patiently watched almost the whole construction.
Afterwards the guys had this to say
ML: LEGO had posted the instructions for this set online so I was able to look at them and try to plan our strategy, which I think went really well. I have done a few speed build events before but this was my first Star Wars kit and I really enjoyed it. I though that after building it I would be sick of the sight of it but I am really impressed. I want to take it home. It took one chap 18 hours on his own to build this so I was unsure as to how long it would take us. I am a bit disappointed that Brighton beat us, but overall it was a fun day.
RE: I’m thankful for this opportunity as it’s the first time I have done anything like this and I don’t think I will get the chance to build this kit again.
AC: It was my first time aswell. I’m not really a Star Wars fan, I normally just stick to the Technic range, but I really enjoyed making this. It was interesting to build something different. It is also good how LEGO brings different people together.
LD: Again, this was my first time. We haven’t met in person before, but we all gelled straight away and got stuck in. I really enjoyed it.
An enjoyable day was had by all and I would like to thank June and Nathan from the Milton Keynes LEGO store for their support, also Simon, Martin and the rest of the guys at The Brickish Association for dedicating their time and lastly LEGO for designing a fantastic model that will look cool in any fan’s collection.