Back for a second time to the 10K Club, today we welcome (once more) Gerrit, a.k.a. xXgGhostXx, and his awesome MEDIEVAL GUARDED INN. Fans of medieval builds will fall in love with this one! Let us know how much you love this in the comment section!
ABOUT YOURSELF
- Who are you?
Gerrit.
- Where are you from?
I’m from Germany.
- How old are you?
I’m 22 years old.
- What do you study or do for a living?
I study Business Administration and Engineering.
- What hobbies do you have?
I have a huge love for cinema. And everything about LEGO building, obviously: keeping up with the latest news and set releases, browsing awesome MOCs on Flickr and building myself.
- Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website that you can share with us?
My Ideas profile aside, I do share all my MOCs on my Flickr.
- Have you created any LEGO MOCs (my own creations) that you’re particularly proud of? What is it, why are you proud of it and do you have a photo of it?
I think my best works may be “Grand Theft Food” and “Standing Smaug”. I just love to build medieval structures, especially half-timbered houses.
- How and when did your interest in LEGO products come about?
I think I was just two-years-old when I got Flash Turbo (4590), a small LEGO Racers pull-back car. I’ve always been a fan since then, although there have been some years where I wasn’t fully engaged in the hobby.
- 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.
As mentioned above, it’s quite significant to me: I keep an eye on the important news (and discussion about them), browse through other fans’ MOCs and participate in contests. But of course, I’ve also enjoyed many of the video games, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga remaining a legendary classic.
- What is your favourite LEGO theme (current or past)? Why? And has any theme inspired your building style or preference in any particular way?
As I named my favourite in my first 10k Club Interview, I’ll try mentioning another one here: Although I don’t own a single “Elves” set, I think it’s easily one of the best themes of all time, as it combines so many amazing colours into highly charming sets.
- What is your favourite official LEGO set ever? Why?
71741 Ninjago City Gardens is still my favourite set of all time, but as a kid, I loved the 7673 Magna Guard Starfighter for being a unique ship design, swooshable and sturdy, with an easily accessible cockpit and great figures. One of the sets that desperately needs a remake, if you ask me.
- What is your favourite LEGO element? Why?
The question I’d give a different answer to every minute. Now I’ll go with Plant Plate, Round 1x1 with 3 leaves (32607). It just looks amazing and comes in more useful colours every year.
- Is there a LEGO designer (official LEGO designer or fan designer) who you are inspired by and look up to? Who and why?
Jordan Jivkov keeps creating insane builds, most of them being small, but heavily detailed. He truly is the incarnation of NPU (nice parts usage)!
- Is there one or more particular LEGO-related websites (not official LEGO websites) that you visit often and/or are inspired by?
Bricklink remains the best place to search for all the useful pieces and figures.
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
As medieval buildings are my favourite MOCs to create, I wanted to build a tavern. When I stumbled across 6067 Guarded Inn, I immediately fell in love with the idea of combining a half-timbered house and a stone tower.
- 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?
I had tried to build my Medieval Guarded Inn some months before, but it ended up being way too large, so I dropped the idea. When I tried again, I needed only one week to create the final project, as I could use many designs from my first version.
- What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
I had to use large pieces on the upper roof to stay below 3000 parts and browsing the huge number of pieces available in Studio wasn’t very enjoyable. With so many comments praising my use of surfboards for the roof, it was worth the time in the end.
- 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?
I only needed about a week to finish the project, plus some days to render and edit the pictures.
- Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to create your model?
I ended up very close to the magical 3000 parts, although I’m pretty sure official designers would be way more efficient in that regard.
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
The surfboards aside, the build’s rather simple, I guess.
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
The inn was built and rendered in Bricklink’s Studio.
- If you used custom stickers or prints for your design, how did you create them or where did you get them?
I used some very basic custom prints that I created using Photoshop and Bricklink’s PartDesigner, but just as many as I thought were reasonable for a LEGO Ideas set.
ABOUT LEGO IDEAS
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
Great photos might be the key, especially when no recognizable license is used in your project. The main image is what everybody will see browsing the Ideas page, so you should take all the time to pick the perfect angle and lighting for it.
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support to your Product Idea?
I didn’t ever advertise my model, but the Staff Pick on LEGO Ideas worked wonders.
- What is your favourite LEGO Ideas Product Idea (besides your own of course)? Are there any Product Ideas you think have been overlooked?
The overall large variety of different Ideas sets obviously produces some products one doesn’t like, but also a lot of unexpected gems. I think my favourites are the NASA Apollo Saturn V, the Medieval Blacksmith and the Jazz Quartet!
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
Actually, quite a lot of different things, mainly the influence on future products, but it’s also fun to participate in activities and contests.Before submitting an idea, you should make sure to keep it realistic. Focus on parts and colours that are still available, that might increase the chance of it getting produced (and still being close to your original submission).
- Do you have plans to submit any other Product Ideas in the future? If yes, can you give us a hint of what that might be?Maybe? Probably? Somewhere in between those two.
