LEGO Airplane
In the fall of 2005, my then-roommate John and I decided to build a LEGO® model of a Boeing 737 to the scale of a LEGO person (a "minifig," in LEGO-speak). We realized that the LEGO airplanes that we had played with when we were younger just weren't very realistic. They only had seats for four minifigs, and you had to open the roof to get the people out. We wondered how large a LEGO airplane would have to be if it were built to the scale of a minifig. Deciding on a scale of four LEGO "studs" equals one meter, we calculated that a Boeing 737 would be 154 studs (or about four feet) long. Since we had never heard of anyone building a four-foot LEGO airplane, we decided to give it a try!
Design
First we researched airplanes to decide which one we wanted to model. While it would be certainly impressive to build Boeing 747, if built to the scale of a minifig it would be about six feet long, and require more pieces than we wanted to buy. We liked the 737 because it is big, but not too big. We decided to model a 737 owned by Qantas airlines because we liked its paint job
We began building prototypes of various parts of the airplane—a cross section of the passenger cabin, the nose and cockpit, the tail—because we wanted to get a feel for what sorts of pieces we would need. Both John and I had Lego collections from our childhood, but we knew we would need many more pieces to build the airplane. We discovered that the Internet is a tremendous resource for LEGO enthusiasts, and that we could find all the pieces we wanted on BrickLink. Excited to begin construction, we placed our first order in November 2005.
Construction
Construction of our model progressed rapidly in December 2005 and January 2006, but then the plane took a backseat to spring-semester classes, ultimate frisbee, becoming engaged (in John's case), and such. The plane sat in storage during the summer of 2006. It's now with me in Philadelphia, and I work on it occasionally. John and I hope to complete it in the coming months.
Here is a picture of the plane in early February, 2006:
For more photos, see the LEGO album in the photo gallery!
The Finished Plane
The plane is not finished yet, but when it is, you will be able to see it here. It will have many cool features, such as a stylish interior, retractable landing gear, moving flaps, and minifigs representing our friends and family inside!
