We are welcoming this Wednesday with another addition to the 10K Club. Meet Sam, a.k.a. Sam67c, and his creative KERBAL SPACE PROGRAM - MODULAR SHIP SYSTEM project. If you are a fan of space-themed video games, this will be sure to inspire. Leave your support in the likes and comments!
ABOUT YOURSELF
- Who are you?
Sam Haughton.
- Where are you from?
I’m from Cornwall in the southwest of the UK!
- How old are you?
I’m 28 years old.
- What do you study or do for a living?
I’m a Product designer and 3D artist. I bring products to life in the early stages of the design process to help people understand how the product will look/work.
- What hobbies do you have?
I like to kayak whenever I get the chance, I currently live far from the coastal town I grew up in so not as often as I’d like. In its place, I enjoy making short animations about whatever I’m interested in at that moment. Currently, that’s LEGO!
- How and when did your interest in LEGO products come about?
I started playing with LEGO pretty much as soon as I could get my hands on it…so probably 3 years old back in 1998. Since then, I would get a new LEGO set whenever I had the chance, often dragging my parents into toy stores to explain in too much detail why the new LEGO Star Wars ARC 170 set was so cool.
- What is the LEGO hobby to you? What does it mean to you? How does it fit in your life? E.g. build, display, meetups, play the games or 'just' watch the cartoons.
LEGO was always my main present at Christmas or Birthdays, it was always the most exciting thing to get. Not for the new set or the play, which would be good on the day, but for the 4 or 5 new elements I did not have before.
- What is your favourite LEGO theme (current or past)? Why? And has any theme inspired your building style or preference in any particular way?
Anything space! I loved LEGO Star Wars, Mars Mission, and any of the real-world space sets. Given that my 10k project is a spaceship building set… I think these themes influenced me pretty heavily.
- What is your favourite official LEGO set ever? Why?
Space Shuttle Discovery (7470-1) - Easily the best set I ever owned! All the working flaps and fins, cargo bay doors, and retractable landing gear. I think it was the first time I remember building with technic in a standard brick build. Best Christmas ever!
- What is your favourite LEGO element? Why?
Windscreen element 45705 from the Mars Mission Dropship set. Think I used that on every build for years.
- Is there a LEGO designer (official LEGO designer or fan designer) who you are inspired by and look up to? Who and why?
JK Brickworks! That guy always manages to add a full motion system to even very small neat dioramas. Never fails to get a “huh, that’s clever” out of me.
- Is there one or more particular LEGO-related websites (not official LEGO websites) that you visit often and/or are inspired by?
Mecabricks is amazing! While I like to use Studio every now and again, I always find myself going back to Mecabricks to finish a build. The quality of the 3D models there are so good for animators and 3D artists.
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
At the end of the second year of university, me and some friends had just spent the last few days working around the clock to get our final projects finished. When it was all over, instead of catching up on sleep, we downloaded the demo for a game called Kerbal Space Program.In the game, you build rockets out of modular parts to send little green characters into orbit, or as you get better, land on moons and planets.
We played this game for 2 days in a race to see who could land on the moon first! This became a regular thing in the following few years and fostered an interest in space travel in all of us.
At the beginning of 2023, Kerbal Space Program 2 was released. To celebrate, I wanted to produce a short animation about the game and thought that LEGO would be a cool medium I hadn’t seen used for this IP before. It was only after building all the models that I realised that this could be a LEGO ideas project.
Kerbal Space Program has inspired so many children (and adults) to pursue a career in STEM subjects, especially aerospace! If this set were
to be made, this could open up a whole new audience, both to the game and to the sciences.
- How long was the process of making the project, and what did you have to research as well? What kind of prep, research and design phases did you go through to produce your creation?
As the project was originally just an animation, I was focused on just making it look good on camera, and then solving the technical challenges later. It took about 1 long day to create the Kerbal minifigures in their space suits. It took another day and a half to build out the demo spaceship and some additional parts.The best resource was to just have the game open while I designed the parts and tried not to get distracted and start playing.
After that, I spent a few evenings the following week making sure the builds were all possible, adding a few more parts, and then creating the presentation images. The first trailer then came together in just a few days once it had all been built. - What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
The MK1-3 Command pod, the front of the ship, was the hardest part to make. I think cones must be the hardest shape to build in Lego! This one took 4 or 5 goes until I was happy.
- If you could talk to yourself before you started on this project, what would you tell them? What do you know now that you wish you knew then?
Design the parts right the first time! Getting the scale right early was really important for this project as everything has to fit together in a system. I started just getting the parts looking right and then went back and re-made them all once I realised this.
- How long did it take to complete the model? Did you finish it fairly quickly, or did it take a long time? And how did the build time compare to the time you spent promoting your Product Idea to reach 10,000 supporters?
The model took just under a week to complete which went by very quickly!
I promoted my project on YouTube, Reddit, and Twitter on the first day and the project immediately got 1000 supporters which was crazy! After that, each time somebody shared it or I added an update, another 1000 or so supporters would join. When it was made a staff pick, that caused a massive spike in interest and it jumped from 7000 to 10,000 very quickly!
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
It took just over 1 month to reach 10,000 supporters which was a lot faster than I expected!I had planned to make a second trailer when the project reached 5000 supporters. After seeing how the project performed in the first week, I thought I had maybe 6 months. Suddenly the project was at 9000 supporters and I figured I had about 2 days to make the next video. I did it and got it uploaded just a few hours before it hit 10k.
When it hit the 10k mark, the project became more real, it felt like now there was actually a chance I could have designed a LEGO set! The response from the Kerbal community has been incredible, this project of for them, and it wouldn’t have been possible without them! - Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to create your model?
To build all the possible parts at the same time uses 1931 bricks... which is more than I’d like! I don’t imagine the actual set to come with all those parts. The Standard ship I have used throughout the project uses around 550 bricks.
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
In the end, it was the most difficult part that became my favourite. The main Command Pod in all its conical glory. Managing to get it to look pretty close to the game, have a working hatch, and fit two minifigs inside was a challenge but I'm really happy with it now.
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
I used Mecabricks to design the models of the parts. I used 3ds Max to build out the Kerbal figures and painted the spacesuits in Substance Painter. I created the LEGO plastic (fingerprints and all) and animated it in 3DS Max too. It was all rendered using an engine called Redshift with glows, dust and other FX added in After Effects and Davinci Resolve.
- If you used custom stickers or prints for your design, how did you create them or where did you get them?
I created all the stickers in Illustrator while parts with printing were painted in Substance Painter. I tried to reference existing Lego stickers and minifigure styles where possible.
ABOUT LEGO IDEAS
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
Choose an idea you really like as you’ll be spending a lot of time with it! The real cheat code is to build for an audience. If you know of a passionate group of fans that will rally behind something they care about, it’s sure to do well!
I have huge respect for the people here who reach 10k without an IP behind their idea, that shows massive talent and building skill!
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support to your Product Idea?
The trailer was really the catalyst, sharing it on social media and game forums meant fans got the word out quickly!
- What is your favourite LEGO Ideas Product Idea (besides your own of course)? Are there any Product Ideas you think have been overlooked?
The “Working Canal Lock” by Baron von Barron is genius!
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
Anything could be a set! In my day job as a product designer, it takes an enormous amount of time, people, and money to design and launch a new product. Here (for the end user at least) it’s as simple as building something cool and hoping other people like it. That’s great!
- Do you have plans to submit any other Product Ideas in the future? If yes, can you give us a hint what that might be?
Car….football?
By
Hani2