A plastic fantastic, life-size LEGO teardrop trailer made from over 200,000 assorted LEGO bricks boasts electric power, running water and a fold-up bed.
Given enough LEGO bricks, plenty of time and a LOT of patience, one can construct just about anything. Of course, really big things like, say, life-size vehicles, demand exorbitant amounts of LEGO bricks. In the case of this Guinness World Record-winning “largest caravan built with interlocking plastic bricks,” the number of bricks required comes to exactly 215,158. Give or take a couple of extras to step on in the dark.
“Caravan”, by the way, is the British term for tow-able travel trailers. The term is being used here (and at Guinness) because the trailer’s public debut took place at the British National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire. A total of 12 modelers worked for over two months and racked up more than 1,000 man-hours to construct the trailer, which appears perfectly authentic – from a distance, at least.
Closer in, there’s an “8-bit-ish” look to the trailer and its many accessories, a consequence of its unique construction. Step inside and the brick brilliance rises to another level: a two-element oven range and frying pan “cooks” a brick breakfast of eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes, soon to join a vase of fresh-cut flowers on the kitchen table.
A LEGO milk carton chills in the ‘fridge while off in the bathroom, matching toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste await beside the functional sink. After dinner, relax with a game of chess – it isn’t just the castles that are made of bricks.
This LEGO teardrop trailer can support such a roomy, well-equipped lifestyle because it’s, well, life-sized at 3.6 meters (11.8 ft) in length and standing 2.2 meters (7.2) in height. Plastic or not, the trailer’s anything but fragile, tipping the scales at a hefty 1,200 kg or 2,645 pounds. It’s not all LEGO, though: construction involved layering LEGO bricks over a conventional trailer chassis. This method results in a “practical caravan” that showcases the innate strength and versatility of LEGO’s plastic bricks.
One caveat restraining the designers was that only standard, off-the-shelf LEGO components could be used. Even so, the trailer looks – and works – much like a factory standard classic T@B 320 teardrop trailer. That includes fully-functional electric lighting, plumbing that provides running water, and folding seats that do double-duty as a bed.
This unique LEGO “caravan” made its public debut at the British National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, where it took pride of place at the Caravan and Motorhome Club collection. Bright Bricks, a renowned LEGO building specialist (yes, such a thing exists) constructed the trailer for the National Caravan Council’s “Freedom to Go” campaign.
“Freedom to Go is delighted to have the LEGO caravan on display at the National Motor Museum,” stated Dan Connolly, Freedom to Go’s Campaign Director. “The LEGO caravan was built with the intention of building awareness of leisure vehicles and the great adventures you can have with them,” he added.
A nifty video from Freedom to Go illustrates (with time-lapse effects and an integrated brick counter) how the Bright Bricks team built the trailer. Good thing they documented the process… if YOU had to assemble something from a quarter-million LEGO bricks, would you want to do it again?
