The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
‘It was quite a difficult thing to build’: Dad creates Lego V&A
Spot-on replica made with the tiny toy bricks took six weeks to build
A Dundee dad spent six weeks crafting an incredible Lego model of the city’s new £80 million waterfront museum.
Brian McNicoll said he became obsessed with completing the replica of V&A Dundee after he and wife Joanne began playing with the popular construction toys with sons Zack, six, and Ethan, three, on Christmas Day.
His impressively detailed model of the structure on the banks of the River Tay was finished this week, just days after external construction work on the building itself was declared complete.
Mr McNicoll, 36, said the project had kept him occupied during spare time in the evenings and weekends, adding that online orders for special Lego parts had been arriving at his home every other day.
The manager at Dundee University’s centre of entrepreneurship said: “It started on Christmas Day because my son got loads of Lego and I just started building.
“It just took me back to my childhood really. I loved Lego when I was younger.
“The next day I had it in my head – we had loads of Lego and I had time to kill. My wife has been busy and I had time in the evenings.
“I have always been a big supporter of the V&A. It was the model I picked when (the designs went) on display at Abertay.
“I’ve been watching the construction of it for a long time.
“The biggest help that I’ve had is they have got a waterfront app with 3D visualisations – you can look at it from every angle. That was useful. It was quite a difficult thing to build, but I managed to get it in the end.”
Mr McNicoll said his background may have helped him create the spot-on Lego model of the museum, having worked for his dad’s construction company in years gone by.
“My dad has his own building company, he is a joiner by trade. I worked for him for a long time,” he added.
“I wasn’t all that good. I found Lego a lot easier. It is satisfying; if you make mistakes you can take it apart again.
“I had to order a lot of parts. There were parts, like a bit of the roof, that I had to find on eBay. Every day some piece of Lego arrived for me.
“I had to hide it from my sons as they kept wanting to break it.”
Just like the real thing, Mr McNicoll admits the project ended up costing more money than expected. “It went a bit over-budget – I had to order all that extra Lego,” he explained.
There were parts, like a bit of the roof, that I had to find on eBay. Every day some piece of Lego arrived for me.
BRIAN MCNICOLL