Welcome to today's 10K Club interview. Meet Zsolt Nagy, a.k.a. kodlovag and his breathtakingly ambitious ZOO. This does not need much explanation, but you can read more about Zsolt's fantastic creation here!
ABOUT YOURSELF
- Who are you?
Zsolt Nagy.
- Where are you from?
I’m from Hungary, and living in Budapest.
- How old are you?
43.
- What do you study or do for a living?
I am a physicist, and working as an optics development engineer.
- What hobbies do you have?
The LEGO hobby, of course.
- Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website that you can share with us?
I usually post my new builds on Eurobricks, and I upload the photos on my flickr page.
- 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 have a lot of MOCs, in several different themes. Currently, I’m active in Castle and Technic themes. I am particularly proud of Everhold Castle, which is a collection of most of my castle builds from the last 10 years. Yes, it was 10 years to complete my castle. Of course, I built many other things during the years, but always went back to the Castle theme, and finally managed to compose my old and new builds into a single castle. Currently, I’m building a little medieval village, in the style of the 21325 Medieval Blacksmith, which will be composed of small individual builds, like a farmhouse, fisherman hut, marketplace, etc.
Technic is my other active theme. Here I many times build MOCs for competitions. My favourites are the mini models with at least two functions, but I also build larger MOCs, like the replica of the Raba 250 Tractor, which is my favourite big model because it is focusing on functions, while still looking good with old school beam construction methods and minimal panel use. Of course, I also build cars and other models too.
I plan to continue my microscale buildings and collate them into a high-rise city district. And I also have a dozen modular building MOCs, which I failed to arrange into a complete city, and I abandoned the theme. The last build of my city was the Zoo.
- How and when did your interest in LEGO products come about?
I simply cannot remember, I was too young. I was maybe 3 years old, when I got my first LEGO set, it could be either 607, 6647 Classic Town or 555 Basic. I cannot remember any time from my childhood when something else but LEGO bricks were my favourite toy.
- 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.
I’m creating things; this is my job. When I’m not working, I still create things, from LEGO bricks.
- What is your favourite LEGO theme (current or past)? Why? And has any theme inspired your building style or preference in any particular way?
Now, my favourite themes are Castle and Technic. Earlier I spent years building my modular city.
- What is your favourite official LEGO set ever? Why?
I’m not sure. Sooner or later they were all disassembled to build something new and more exciting from them.
- What is your favourite LEGO element? Why?
Another hard question. Perhaps the 1x2 Masonry Profile Brick (98283), because it gives detail without using a lot of small bricks. Or the transparent 1x2 tiles, because transparency connects to my job.
- Is there a LEGO designer (official LEGO designer or fan designer) who you are inspired by and look up to? Who and why?
There are a lot of beautiful designs, both official and MOCs. I continuously collect inspiration, but I don’t follow anyone.
- Is there one or more particular LEGO-related websites (not official LEGO websites) that you visit often and/or are inspired by?
Eurobricks, every day. There is the best Technic community.
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
Earlier, in 2014, I made a modular building, Institute of Oceanography, which featured a big aquarium with an underwater glass tunnel, open for the minifigs to visit. From that point, I could not resist thinking about how would it be possible to build a zoo into my modular city.
- 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?
It was a long process to complete the project. From 2014 to 2018 I drew several footprints, the best one containing a big gate with elephant statues (like the Budapest Zoo has), a big aquarium, a hill with goats, an aviary, a tropical riverside, monkey cages, terrariums for night creatures and reptiles, and a lot of pathways for the minifigs. But it was too big. There were other footprints based on the idea of modularity, where each baseplates had the same connection patterns for pathways, and I studied the geometrical shapes which seamlessly fit into each other while does no look repetitive. But the zoo became even bigger.
- What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
Then I faced, whatever I draw, it’s just way too big, and no chance to build, because it would be very expensive. The problem was the size. It has to be compacted. After several attempts to draw a floorplan I ended up with the result, that the zoo must be multi-level, where the animals have a large free area at the base level, and the visitors can walk over the area on the hillside and hanging pathways.
- 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?
Please, if you already put such a huge effort to build the Zoo, do not be lazy, and do not wait 3 years until taking the photos. Others may find your creation interesting too.
- 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?
From having the multi-level idea (2018) until completing the build (2019), it took about 1 year. Then I put it on the coffee table in the middle of the room for 3 years until finally took the photos, and I submitted it to Ideas in 2022 January. It was about 10 months to collect the votes.
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
I got the first 1000 votes in 5 days. It was very exciting. But then things slowed down significantly. I made too many mistakes. This was my first and only submission, and I had no idea about the unwritten rules: the importance of the cover image; the importance of answering all the comments and trying to start conversations; the fact that this is a race for the best list positions, otherwise you lose visibility and votes. I quickly lost momentum, but when I reached 5k votes, being nowhere on the lists, while still slowly collecting votes every day, I was sure I gonna reach 10k. But it will take a lot of time. Finally, it took about 10 months to collect the votes.
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
The aviary is my favourite part, looks cool and contains a lot of Technic elements.
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
I’m using LDD to design all of my builds, and then buying the real bricks and building it. I think LDD is still the most handy tool, and special thanks to the community for supporting the new bricks and keeping it alive. Sometimes I use StudIO too, but only to render the model before starting to collect bricks, to have a better feeling about how it will look like.
ABOUT LEGO IDEAS
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
It seems to me that there are two approaches, which can work. One, be very original and use the bricks creatively with a lot of details. Two, select an already popular 3rd party IP, and/or advertise on connected social media fan sites. I prefer the first one, but I think the second one is easier.
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support for your Product Idea?
I did not advertise my Idea. I think if an idea is good enough it will find its own way to 10k.
- What is your favourite LEGO Ideas Product Idea (besides your own of course)? Are there any Product Ideas you think have been overlooked?
My favourite released set is the 21325 Medieval Blacksmith. My favourite not approved set is Castle of Lord AFOL and The Black Knights by SleeplessNight. And my favourite idea which is still collecting votes is Don Quixote Fighting the Windmill by Hugo Rouschop. It inspired me to start reading the book.
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
The possibility, that your idea can reach the shelves, and a kid (or an AFOL) will ask it for Christmas
- 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?
Never say never, but I do not plan it. Not so easy to build a really original thing.
