James May to build life size lego house!

[allanp]

This is going to be fantastic I can't wait for this. I've often wondered how I

would go about such a challenge myself.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressrele...ch/12/toy.shtml

http://www.nce.co.uk/bbc-in-need-of-struct...1975023.article

I would probably not like the use of glue as this would be too easy. But then

the prospect of a full size lego house (10's of tonnes in plastic) collapsing in

on you is not that appealing. I wonder If they will make it a two story house?

How would you make the upper floor strong enough to hold the weight of James May

and a full camera crew without using glue?

BTW i hope they don't make the mistake of building big blocks out of small

blocks. Anyone remember the mythbusters episode where they made a giant ball and

rolled it down a hill?

Edit: Well seeing as James is looking for volunteers to help with the build on Saturday 1st August in Surrey, I have voluteered! If you would like to volunteer then please send your contact details to lego@plumpictures.co.uk

Edited July 25, 2009 by allanp

[Stauder]

James May? Isn't that Captain Slow? Doesn't everything that ANY Top Gear host touch fall apart and catch fire?

Well, at least we know it will be kindof entertaining...

Stauder.

[allanp]

James May? Isn't that Captain Slow? Doesn't everything that ANY Top Gear host touch fall apart and catch fire?

Well, at least we know it will be kindof entertaining...

Stauder.

That's when he's in top gear mode. I think this will be different. It can be done the only real issue I can see is getting enough parts to do it.

[YG-49]

*Faints* *Wakes up, reads again, faints again*

This is going to be a big project! I hope he models it like the Simpson's house.

[Rick]

I absolutely love Top Gear! (ok enough off-topic)

The whole purpose of the tv series (getting kids away from their computers and into playing with toy) also appeals to me, but I'm really looking forward to this Lego building challenge.

[Admiral M]

I hope he's got some good sewing skills: If he wants to sleep on a lego bed, he'll need to have a LOT of lego capes!

This'll be a huge project! I can't wait to see the result!

[Buttons]

I wish people could be bothered to take the time to check that their not reporting old news.

Could a MOD please merge this and my topic please.

[Spyder]

I don't mean to burst everyones little bubble of joy here, but this has already been posted. The other topic doesn't have those sources, so it would be nice if we could merge the two topics. As for the show, I can't wait! I just started watching the show after a friend of mine made me watch a couple clips online, and now I love it. That house is gonna be a huge project, especially getting the plumbing to work.

EDIT: Buttons beat me to it.

Edited July 12, 2009 by Spyder

[allanp]

I wish people could be bothered to take the time to check that their not reporting old news.

Could a MOD please merge this and my topic please.

Woops sorry mate I did do a quick search but obviousley I didn't look hard enough. My apologies.

Back on topic. Would be interesting to see what solusions people hear have to some of the various problems that may face the designers of this house. First thing I would do is to build a beam 15 feet long out of 8x16 base plates to see how thick it would have to be to support a persons full body weight if standing in the middle. If that could be done then it should be possible to build a two story house. Then I would work out how many 8x16 baseplates would be needed to build the whole house. Then I would contact lego and ask if they could produce such a vast quantity and seeing as I would be ording such a vast quantity, what other colours could they produce them in that are not already available (ie orange for brickwork, various other colours for the inner walls, etc). Even finding out what to do with the house after it's finished will be daunting. Would be cool if it was a display at Legoland Windsor because then we could all step inside the house that James (and 100 helpers) built!

[MightySlickPancake]

i cant wait. but any news on the tv times and dates its on as that would help alot.

cb

[allanp]

i cant wait. but any news on the tv times and dates its on as that would help alot.

cb

I don't think they hav finished filming yet. They may not have even started building the house. The bottom link I gave suggests that he is looking for people to help out in the build

[Delmar]

wow, this i am really looking forward to. Most shows with James May is great.

I can recommend "James May´s Top Toys" for those who havent seen it.

Lego house will prove difficult i think, altough if they make a clever roof, maybe even a domed roof i think they can pull it of.

[Yloquen]

I think that if you construct for strength, by using proper techniques (unlike the Mythbusters), like technic beams with pins and conventional bricks you don't have to use glue. I might be wrong though ... :) Anyhow - that project loses its charm if they use glue, because then, they could use arbitrary plastic pieces instead of LEGO ...

[-JD-]

The world is ending.

They will probably blow it up afterward with a tank or dynamite, with Jeremy Clarkson at the wheel.

[tedbeard]

BTW i hope they don't make the mistake of building big blocks out of small

blocks. Anyone remember the mythbusters episode where they made a giant ball and

rolled it down a hill?

Are you seriously suggesting that if they had not used "big blocks" it would have stayed together better? The whole ball melted into the individual bricks. It did NOT break apart into the "big blocks".

[allanp]

Are you seriously suggesting that if they had not used "big blocks" it would have stayed together better? The whole ball melted into the individual bricks. It did NOT break apart into the "big blocks".

Yes I am seriously suggesting that. The priciple behind it is similar to building a brick wall. You don't stack the bricks directly on top of each other. You interlace them because in doing so, you give it more strength. The more you interlace the bricks together, the stronger the structure is. In the mythbusters video I can deffinately see it breaking into the big blocks causing a huge loss of structural integrity which in turn caused it to break into smaller blocks almost immediately afterwards so you might have missed that

[kabel]

i guess using duplo bricks could do the job, always wondered myself whether this was possible, but never came up with a good idea of how to do the roofing

[smithyandco]

When are they showing this?

[paul_delahaye]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/surrey/8168892.stm

Do you fancy giving away your spare lego bricks.......???

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

No,

but I wonder what will happen to the bricks after the show? could be a lot of spare red 2 x 4's on bricklink on the cheap in the UK soon!

Any Eurobricks people thinking of going along to give James May a hand next Saturday???

[KurttKrueger]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/surrey/8168892.stm

Do you fancy giving away your spare lego bricks.......???

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

No,

but I wonder what will happen to the bricks after the show? could be a lot of spare red 2 x 4's on bricklink on the cheap in the UK soon!

Any Eurobricks people thinking of going along to give James May a hand next Saturday???

I'm considering it. Not quite sure whats involved. Surely inviting that many AFOL's down in one place will result in BIC's? (Build Idea Conflicts. I just made it up :P)

[brickzone]

3 million bricks doesn't sound like remotely enough.

[davee123]

3 million bricks doesn't sound like remotely enough.

That was my thought-- but I guess it depends on how sturdily they plan on building it, and how big they want it to be. The big Lego ball on Mythbusters was what, about 1 million bricks or so? I imagine 3 million being enough to build a small 1-storey house, or a REALLY FLIMSY bigger house.

You could do a wall out of 2x4 bricks, and it would probably support the *weight* of the upper floor just fine. But I would imagine that it would have a tendency to bow outwards, exacerbated by the fact that you couldn't lean on it or even really brush up against it accidentally with any force. Hence, I'd think you'd want a thick wall-- I'd probably vote for something like 3 rows of 2x4 bricks, with a lattice of other bricks connecting them, perhaps 10 studs thick all told. It still wouldn't take a severe leaning-on, but wouldn't be as prone to bowing or exploding on accidental contact. BUT, it would use about 4 times as many bricks to do it.

[edit]

Yeah, by quick calculations, a 24'x19' house (7.3m x 5.8m) with 8' ceilings (2.4m) took about 3.7 million bricks just for the walls-- no floor, no stairs, no roof, no furniture or plumbing. So, if you compacted it, 3 million might just BARELY do the trick, assuming you do things like cram your kitchen and living room together, and your bathroom and bedroom together, and have almost no real living space.

[/edit]

But the logistics of weight distribution aside, how would you make the toilet? All the "waterproof" elements I can think of are way too small to create a bowl of usable size-- and they don't connect together in a good waterproof manner without gluing or using other materials.

DaveE

Edited July 27, 2009 by davee123

[allanp]

That was my thought-- but I guess it depends on how sturdily they plan on building it, and how big they want it to be. The big Lego ball on Mythbusters was what, about 1 million bricks or so? I imagine 3 million being enough to build a small 1-storey house, or a REALLY FLIMSY bigger house.

You could do a wall out of 2x4 bricks, and it would probably support the *weight* of the upper floor just fine. But I would imagine that it would have a tendency to bow outwards, exacerbated by the fact that you couldn't lean on it or even really brush up against it accidentally with any force. Hence, I'd think you'd want a thick wall-- I'd probably vote for something like 3 rows of 2x4 bricks, with a lattice of other bricks connecting them, perhaps 10 studs thick all told. It still wouldn't take a severe leaning-on, but wouldn't be as prone to bowing or exploding on accidental contact. BUT, it would use about 4 times as many bricks to do it.

[edit]

Yeah, by quick calculations, a 24'x19' house (7.3m x 5.8m) with 8' ceilings (2.4m) took about 3.7 million bricks just for the walls-- no floor, no stairs, no roof, no furniture or plumbing. So, if you compacted it, 3 million might just BARELY do the trick, assuming you do things like cram your kitchen and living room together, and your bathroom and bedroom together, and have almost no real living space.

[/edit]

But the logistics of weight distribution aside, how would you make the toilet? All the "waterproof" elements I can think of are way too small to create a bowl of usable size-- and they don't connect together in a good waterproof manner without gluing or using other materials.

DaveE

Maybe they intend on using more than one size of brick

I will be attending the event and have received an e-mail with some details. Due to the HUGE amount of interest from fans there will be 5 building sessions, each ONE hour long and each with 120 people. However IF weather is good then more people may be accomodated outdoors. This is now a ticketed event (tickets are free) and are available from 9.00 with the first build session starting at 10.00. then 11:30, 13:00, 14:30 and 16:00.

Ok so 120 people over 5 hours equals 600 man hours (or should I say person hours ) If one person can assemble 1000 bricks an hour (1000?) Thats 600,000. Hmmm. This could take a while! ON WITH THE BUILD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Captain Green Hair]

Maybe they intend on using more than one size of brick

Give that man some Modulex!

[davee123]

I will be attending the event and have received an e-mail with some details.

Will they allow any photography at the event? Wasn't sure if they want to maintain exclusive rights to the event, considering they're planning on airing it and so forth. If they DO allow pictures, I'm sure I'm not alone in absolutely demanding some of you :)

Ok so 120 people over 5 hours equals 600 man hours (or should I say person hours ) If one person can assemble 1000 bricks an hour (1000?) Thats 600,000. Hmmm. This could take a while! ON WITH THE BUILD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are they letting kids build too? Or just adults? Something tells me your standard AFOL could put together elements a lot faster than that, but non-Lego people would be slower. And kids would be even slower still.

I wish I had some good stats-- we did some major group builds with the public for the Millyard project a few years back, and let some kids and other adults build, but I have no idea what our average rate was... (does some checking)... Looks like the estimate we had was about 3 million bricks for the Millyard, and about 10,000 person hours. But admittedly, that's including a lot of detail work that wasn't just raw stacking of bricks (which goes much faster), and includes a LOT of hours spend doing research and measuring and other non-building related tasks. Hmmm... The more "grunt" work was done in about 6 sessions for about 6 hours a day with maybe 30 people at a time (with kids) which probably accounted for about 2 million of the bricks as a wild guess. So, perhaps 1000 person hours for 2 million bricks?

DaveE