citizen Posted July 31, 2017 Hi everyone, I am Lee from Hong Kong. I am no newcomer to this forum, but it has been quite some time since I last post, and I think I have never really made any post in the special forum before, so I little bit of intro wouldn't harm. I have been playing with LEGO since I was 5 and it has been 14 years since then, I could never imagine how far I have come since then, Anyway, here in Hong Kong, we have an annual contest held during the HKACG (The Ani-Con), where all the great builders come together and show their best interpretation of the topic set by LEGO HK. This is my second year in a row to participate in this contest and I was lucky enough to become the finalists in both year. This year's topic is "The Most of Hong Kong", and I literally took the topic word by word for my entry, as I have translated a collection of objects that hold a record in HK into brick form: Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (The Largest convention and exhibition centre in HK), The Big Buddha (The tallest seated outdoor bronze buddha in HK), Ngong Ping 360 (Largest aerial bi-cable cable car system in Asia) and The Peak Tram (Earliest motorized public transport in HK). It has been great fun working out the details, and I will go through some of the stories behind them below if you are interested. Hope you enjoy it! HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong by city son, 於 Flickr HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong by city son, 於 Flickr HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong by city son, 於 Flickr HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong by city son, 於 Flickr Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong - Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre by city son, 於 Flickr The HKCEC has been my favourite building in HK for many years, but I have never got to the point that I am comfortable to try to make a replica in LEGO. Before starting the actual build, I went online to look for previous takes on the building as usual, only to find out that several versions have been made before and they actually look pretty good. One of my few quirks as a builder is that every single time I start a project, I need to find a challenge in it for myself. In the end of the day, I realized that most people have been doing the roof, which is also the most iconic part of the building, by layering plates, and such technique would only works on a large scale model. So instead of doing that, I aimed at minimizing the scale of this HKCEC model and used a series of wedges, small ball joints and clips to create the complex curves. The roof alone, has taken me 3 days to build. HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong - Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre Roof by city son, 於 Flickr While the rest of the building may seem far more simple to build than the rood, this simply isn't the case. Many of the details were unexpectedly difficult to get them right. The first challenge I encountered, was the glass facade. What colour should it be? If you look at a real picture of HKCEC, it's kind of bluish yet rather dark. So trans-light blue alone would be too bright, while black would be too dull.In the end of the day, I came up with the idea of mixing colour, and backed the trans-light blue with black plates. HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong - Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre Glass Facade by city son, 於 Flickr The second problem I encountered, was the series of white pillars along the entrance under the glass facade, as LEGO never released such small and short pillars. My solution to that is to line up a bunch of tiles vertically, and use the shadows to create a visual illusion that they are pillars. Another problem I had was how to connect the HKCEC logo on a curved wall. I spent hours to fill all the gaps I created by opening a hole for the connection, while preserving the curve of the wall.. HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong - Golden Bauhinia Square by city son, 於 Flickr The Big Buddha HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong -The Big Buddha by city son, 於 Flickr The Big Buddha is definitely one of the most eye-catching object in this piece, but the truth is, I wasn't 100% happy with how it worked out. For the head, I couldn't be happier with it. Building faces is always a huge challenge with great fun for me, as it has many things on the checklist that you have to get them right. First human face is a very complex geometry, to do that in LEGO is tough. Second, you have to make sure the face doesn't look too robotic, but as organic as possible. And finally, the expression must be on point. Particularly for this Buddha statue, it only has one single expression, so there is no alternatives for me except for precisely capturing the peaceful look of the actual statue. I spent many hours trying out different ways to do the eyes and lips until I was finally satisfied with it. HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong -The Big Buddha Face by city son, 於 Flickr The reason why I wasn't completely happy with this piece,is the rest of the statue. Another quirks of me as a builder is that I refuse to buy or borrow parts for a specific project. To me it's always more fun to challenge myself to work my way out with my limited resources, unless it's a must. Like the 1x1 round plates I used for the Buddha's head, I have actually borrowed quite some of them from my friends. But most of the body was done with what's left after building the head sculpture, which explains the less detail body and arm. HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong -The Big Buddha by city son, 於 Flickr Ngong Ping 360 HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong - Ngong Ping 360 by city son, 於 Flickr This tiny cable car is in fact one of my favourite thing in the entire piece. It was way more challenging to build than it may seem to be. The 4 curves set on the corners diagonally took me quite some time to figure out. But the more challenging thing is the limitation of size. With all the windows left empty, I have basically no space to hide all the structure. HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong - Ngong Ping 360 by city son, 於 Flickr Another detail that I am proud of is the door. I spent hours to make sure that I have got all every last bit of the frame right, and leave a "straight line" right in the middle of the two doors, in order to make them look like an openable door. HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong - Ngong Ping 360 by city son, 於 Flickr The Peak Tram HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong - The Peak Tram by city son, 於 Flickr The peak tram would be my least favourite piece out of the 4, as it is also the easiest to build. Many other builders here in HK have built some really good peak trams. The challenge I set for myself was once again, minimizing the scale, where I ended up with a 7-stud wide tram, while preserving all the decoration. A detail that I am particularly proud of is, once again, the doors, as it took me quite some time to make the tiles face outwards, while sitting on the same level with the rest of the door. HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong - The Peak Tram by city son, 於 Flickr HKACG 2017 The Most of Hong Kong - The Peak Tram by city son, 於 Flickr Woohoo! If you have read through all that and reach this point, I would like to give a BIG THANKS to you! As a builder, I can't be happier to know that someone would hear me out! It would also be awesome if you guys can give me some comments on this, I really miss the old days when I get actual feedback from people rather than just likes and hearts on Facebook groups! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Borex Posted July 31, 2017 Very cool! Love the colours, the (3d) composition and building techniques. Thanks for sharing! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
carebear Posted July 31, 2017 Amazing!!! Great Great Work!!! Greetings!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MAB Posted July 31, 2017 This is really cool. Each section on its own is good, but the way they have been combined into a complete display is very clever. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
citizen Posted August 1, 2017 Thanks everyone! About the composition, it might be a bit disappointing to know where does the idea come from. It was a sweet accident due to my lack of bricks. I realized that I will never have enough bricks to build the entire Buddha statue right after I finished the head, so I was thinking, can I cover part of it up with something else? And that's where the idea was generated. Sure I did plan to build several things already in the very first place, but the idea of merging them together is developed under that circumstances! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GiantAmbushBeetle Posted August 1, 2017 4 hours ago, citizen said: Thanks everyone! About the composition, it might be a bit disappointing to know where does the idea come from. It was a sweet accident due to my lack of bricks. I realized that I will never have enough bricks to build the entire Buddha statue right after I finished the head, so I was thinking, can I cover part of it up with something else? And that's where the idea was generated. Sure I did plan to build several things already in the very first place, but the idea of merging them together is developed under that circumstances! There is a saying: sometimes less is more. Definitely true in this case, merging together the elements looks way cool. The Buddha statue face is great too! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
