Arne Jahnke aka Versteinert on LEGO Ideas, our second fan-designed gift with purchase and LEGO Ideas collaboration was selected as the winner of the Build a Vintage Car for Modular Streets contest on LEGO Ideas in early 2019.
We teased this interview earlier in the week, about the Vintage Car with the model originally called The Aedelsten deluxe. Arne is here to talk about the original design he created and the one by our fantastic designer Mel!
About Yourself
- Who are you?
Arne Jahnke aka Versteinert
- Where are you from?
Germany!
- How old are you?
40.
- What do you do for a living?
Engineer for the PTI in Germany.
- What hobbies do you have?
Lego and classic cars.
About Your Car
- Where did your interest and inspiration in this particular model come from?
I'm interested in classic cars anyway and in this particular case I actually only wanted to render a model without paying attention to whether the parts existed - just to see, how far it would go. Usually it's very important for me to only use existing parts in digital models.
- How long was the process of making the car? Did you have to do any research as well? What kind of prep, research and design phases did you go through to produce your creation?
I don't remember exactly how much time it took. As research I only looked at some pictures of real 50's cars on the internet. I remember that I built parts of the car like the front or the back separately and rendered them just to see if they looked good in the final picture. The last step was to find the right color. It was my daughter who finally told me which to chose.
- How different were your original plans for the car, compared to the car you submitted?
Originally the car was planned with chrome eggs instead of the cakes at the front bumpers and with much bigger tail fins.
- What special challenges did you have with the car? Was there a part that was difficult to make?
Since I started with the front of the car, I had to build a rear that would fit this. I think this was the hardest part.
- How did you deal with the size requirements? Did you go over them at times?
Since I'm used to build minifig-/town-scale cars, this wasn't a problem.
- If you could go back and talk to yourself before you started on your design, what advice would you give yourself?
Just go ahead with your design, perhaps you'll manage to make it a little bit more stable ;)
- How long did it take to complete your design?
I don't remember exactly, but I worked on it for several evenings.
One of Arne's first designs of the car ^
- Were you surprised to see it included in the Fan Vote?
During the design process, of course, I hoped so, but I couldn't have said it yet. Later I wasn't really surprised because the positive reactions from the community quickly showed such a tendency. But I never assumed it would. So it nevertheless was great when it happened.
- How did you feel when you were announced as the winner?
It was awesome. It was really hard to get the big grin off my face again - for possibly an hour or so ;D
- How many LEGO bricks did you use to build your car? Did you make different versions?
The final version as it was built in studio had 172 parts excluding the minifigures. Later I built two versions from real bricks - one of them with other wheels that had a few more parts, but I don't know exactly how many.
- Is there a favorite part of your build?
Actually not. There are many parts that I like a lot and I don't feel able to chose one of them. Additionally, each individual part does not work without the others.
- You built your model digitally, what software did you use?
Studio.
- Are you happy with how the final product looks?
Yes, I am – especially with the fact that it really comes in teal!
- We know there is a little easter egg in the final model, could you tell us what it is?
Of course I can. The license plate contains two encrypted secrets. The first letters of me and the designer, Mel, and the word “LEGO”. Therefore you just have to turn the model upside down ;)
About LEGO Ideas
- How did you discover LEGO Ideas?
Honestly I can't remember anymore, since this was at least 4 years ago
- Is this the first contest you entered?
No, I think this is the fifth on Lego Ideas. And before this, I took part in two on Lego Rebrick.
- Could you give anyone who might be reading this, any advice on submitting or building something for LEGO Ideas?
Don't focus too much on success. Just have fun creating your ideas and entries. This probably even increases your chances of having success in the end.
- How does it feel to become a fan designer?
It is of course a great feeling - already now. And it will for sure even increase significantly once I'm able to hold the finished set in my hands.
We hope that this interview has given you a little more insight into the model and the inspiration behind it too! Have you managed to get your hands on the car yet? Or maybe you're waiting for a delivery of it? Let us know in the comments down below :)
By
JacobM366