Everything is awesome when transit meets LEGO!
Everything is awesome when transit meets LEGO!
There are many ways you can celebrate transit! Over the years, we’ve have transit lovers make videos, paint and even bake in the name of our system.
Tim Tosino shows his affection for transit through LEGO! He’s a member of the Vancouver LEGO Club and has built a number transit vehicles and transit related infrastructure.
He’s behind the LEGO Canada Line Station built for the 2010 opening and recently showed more of his work at the Surrey Musuem’s A Fraser Valley Odyssey running until September 19th!
To hear the story behind his work we caught up with Tim to chat about the exhibition and his LEGO transit pieces.
1) You recently contributed to the Surrey Museum’s LEGO exhibit. Can you describe your transit pieces? How many are there and how long did it take to build them?
There are two Nova LFS busses and two GMC Community Shuttles. Each bus I worked on for a couple nights, maybe 10-12 hours on each model.
2) Why did you choose to build transit pieces? Do you have a favourite one?
I have a modest interest in transit. I like the Nova better because I have actually been on one. I’ve never ridden a community shuttle.
3) I’ve heard that LEGO shapes have evolved over the years to be rounded. How has that affected the types of pieces you can make?
The best curve to come out in recent years is the one that is 2 studs wide and 2/3 bricks high. I used them on top of the regular buses and on hoods of some recent vehicles.
4) Do you plan out pieces beforehand or just build on the fly?
I might think about how to do a particularly challenging section or sometimes I look up how other models are build on sites like Flickr, but it’s mostly on the fly.
5) Do you have an idea of how many pieces go into each model? Can you give me an example?
Usually I don’t count, but I would estimate at least 300-400 pieces for the GMC and 500 for the Nova.
6) Do you ride transit? If so, what part of the system do you like to ride the most?
I take the Canada Line every day to get to BCIT.
Thanks Tim for bringing our system into the LEGO dimension!
Author: Laura Tennant
