See this ship? Nice model, right? Pretty cool. Kind of makes you think of The Love Boat, the cruise ship that more than anything introduced we who are Baby Boomers to the possibility (dare I say fantasy) that one day maybe we could go on such a vacation. Love or not. TV cameras or not.
For me, this model is more personal than just a memory of a TV show that ran on ABC for more than eight years. Because, if you look closely, it’s made of Lego®.
I hate Lego. Well, maybe hate’s too strong a word. I do not have a passionate bone anywhere in my body when it comes to building things with little plastic pieces. And if I’d ever attempted to do something like this, the last thing I’d wind up calling it is a Love Boat. Even if it was.
As my kids will verify, I was never able to build anything resembling a canoe with Lego. Or a paddle. Or a simple, rectangular dock, even though it didn’t have to float. The fact is I never built anything with Lego. Never tried. Never had the urge. Never regretted it.
My wife was better at it and I let her take one for the team. She admits now to being able to build a small village with our granddaughter. Good for her. Better her than me. I’m thrilled. I’m also filled with admiration but (and she will forgive me for this), not as much admiration as I have for the man who built that Love Boat replica.
I wonder where he got the skill. When Lego talent was passed out, I didn’t even get the Tinker Toys or Mecanno genes. I had enough trouble with the pieces. I also wonder where this man, Ryan McNaught, gets the time. Last night I spent hours trying to assemble a desk that seems to have 10,000 parts…but I’m not from Australia. He is, which makes me if building a ship with a 250,000 Lego bricks is a new path to fame Down Under. What ever happened to wanting to grow up to be Greg Norman? Or the Crocodile Hunter, the late Steve Irwin? Or Keith Urban?
The Love Boat was the Pacific Princess, or the Pacific Princess was the Love Boat if you prefer, on loan from Princess Cruises. This model of it is about 10 feet long and 5 feet high — the picture up there is the exterior. The other side is a cutaway with tiny people, LED lights and little motors that make the propellers and elevators move. It was on display at Australia’s Lego Convention this month and it’s going to Chicago in June, for Brickworld. Who knew there was a Brickworld?
McNaught is one of the 12 certified Lego builders on the planet. No, I have no idea how you become a certified Lego builder — except that you have to have a lot of time on your hands — but I do know there will never be one in our house.