Lego Michigan Helmet & Football

Submitted by Bakers and Best on

Just in time for the season to start I finished up my latest Lego project, a Michigan football helmet.  Roughly the same size as a standard helmet but as you'd expect horrifyingly unconfortable to wear.  

Also including a picture of the football that I buit last winter.  It's hollow and slightly larger than a game ball but fortunately fits in a nice display case on my desk.  Each model is about 1,400 pieces.  Learned a lot from making the football that made designing the helmet much easier.  

Since a few people have asked here are the Lego Digital Designer files for the helmet and football.  Word of caution that the helmet was designed much more efficiently than the football as you'll quickly see.

http://i.imgur.com/ZwHVBZd.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7YgJLpH.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/3xspi7e.jpg

In reply to by johnnywalkerblue

Bakers and Best

August 24th, 2016 at 2:20 PM ^

Sorry, these ones are just for me : )



Though since I'm sure people are curious I spent about $200 on pieces for the helmet and maybe $275 for the football.  I bought pieces through various sellers on BrickLink and since I had to split up orders probably $30-40 of that was shipping costs.  



The dark blue Lego pieces are generally more expensive than your standard colors and certain types of pieces aren't actually made (Example: there are no 1x3 or 2x3 dark blue bricks available).  With the helmet I had a better idea of what pieces could maximize efficiency in the build while also keeping prices down, so that helped.

SoDak Blues

August 24th, 2016 at 1:39 PM ^

That's pretty cool - you have way more patience than me.

I just built a Frozen castle for Elsa and Anna for my 3.5 yo daughter. Probably around 100 pieces. Mine looks like shit, so I am not going to post any pictures. 

Bakers and Best

August 24th, 2016 at 1:57 PM ^

Oops, put up the wrong link at first in the main post.  Two football pics below. 



I did not go about building the football in the most efficient way, so it took more time than it should have.  Probably 20 hours designing it in Lego Digital Designer, then another 10 or so to build.



Given what I learned from that experience the helmet went quicker, even though I think it was probably a tougher design.  Maybe 10 hours working up the base design and then another 5 or so to rework it to get the color patterns right.  Probably about 10 hours build time on that one too. 



Of course the hardest part is ordering all the pieces and waiting impatiently for them to arrive.



Yo_Blue

August 24th, 2016 at 1:42 PM ^

Have you seen the stop action Lego version of the play that shall not be named?  If it wasn't for the horror of the subject it would be tremendous.

707oxford

August 24th, 2016 at 1:55 PM ^

Just saw that.  Despite the play itself, the video is pretty impressive.  He also did one for the BYU/Nebraska hail mary.  

 

What I want to know is where does he get his custom legos?  They look almost too perfect to be hand painted and you can tell by the shape they aren't the OYO Sports imitations that are being sold.

Bakers and Best

August 24th, 2016 at 2:35 PM ^

Here is a Google Drive link to the Lego Digital Designer file...I think you should be able to download it from there.  If not shoot me an email at [email protected] and I can send it directly. 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7pdi6AomxYEd1BPVktMZEhIdW8

If you've used LDD before you'll know the build plans it gives you are really strange and not as easy to follow.  I just build from the ground up when I put it together but having scrolled through the LDD build instructions I think they're fine.

Here are the LDD files for the football, top and bottom half respectively.  I would not advise someone use these as build instructions but certainly could deconstruct as a guide. It was designed from side to side, not top to bottom, which was a mistake.  I haven't had any issues with the structure since I built it last winter but it could easily be done with 200 or so fewer pieces and way less stress.  Also after I designed it I discovered some of the pieces were stupidly expensive or unavailable in dark blue.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7pdi6AomxYEN1BKOHZ5ZDdkMFU

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7pdi6AomxYEaWhqbldnZ3pMTEU

Bakers and Best

August 24th, 2016 at 3:35 PM ^

Glad to hear it, enjoy!  At some point I'd like to go back and redo the football with what I know now.  But you can swap pieces in and out to make a better structure in LDD.  One thing to note is I used a ton of 1x2 plates on towards the middle because I built just 1/4 (ie half the bottom) of it and then flipped it to save time.  So there is some room in the middle for adding stability and saving on pieces.

mrkid

August 24th, 2016 at 2:01 PM ^

These are incredible. Great job!

Is it possible to share the patterns? I have a first born I can offer. He is only 4 but can do simple tasks like, empty the dishwasher, get beers on gameday, etc.




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