Building the Yellow Brick Road… Literally
/In recent years, The Wizard of Oz has been a popular topic for exhibits at LEGO Fan events around the world—especially since the 70th anniversary of the classic film in 2019. That colorful world “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” has also been immortalized in LEGO with the release of minifigs of the main characters in the LEGO Movie 2 Collectible Minifig Series and a LEGO Dimensions Fun Pack.
To date, there have been several versions of the Yellow Brick Road and Emerald City made in different LEGO scales: miniland scale, minifig scale, and microscale. Recently at South Australia’s Brixpo event in July, a group of builders created “maxi-fig” versions of the main characters complete with ruby slippers along with a stunning collaborative mosaic backdrop. The Brixpo judges were equally impressed with the work and awarded it the Best Mosaic/Art prize.
The Maxi-fig Wizard of oz exhibit at Brixpo in south australia Photo by sue ann barber
According to Michael Peebles, the leader of the collab and president of the Bendigo LEGO User Group in Australia, work commenced on the display in 2019 as it was originally designed to be part of the Bendigo Easter Parade. Around 40 people worked on the project over an eight-month period with the majority being members or attendees of the Bendigo LUG. Most of the collaborative work focused on the mosaic backdrop and the roadway with the maxifigs being designed and built by Bendigo LUG members, Michael Peebles, Darren Hutchesson and Brent Toma.
The wizard of oz maxi-figs photo by sue ann barber
Pictures are certainly not enough to reflect the sheer physical size of the build. The mosaic backdrop consists of twenty-five 48x48 baseplates and the roadway projects out around 3 metres (approx 9 feet) from the backdrop. As the roadway is modular, it has the advantage of being changeable according to the tablespace available for the display—a very clever feature for the times when table space might be at a premium.
The mosaic is held in place using an aluminium frame system called Cube-Lock which makes setup and pull-down a relatively easy process. Peebles indicated that there were still some issues with the mounting of the panels at this stage, but the LUG is working on a way to improve the system in time for future exhibits.
An early design and construction photo of the modular roadway Photo by Greg King
After such a long lead time spent designing, building, and finally being able to exhibit their collaboration, the members of Bendigo LUG are hoping it will be able to appear at next year’s Brickvention, Bendigo Bricks, and the Bendigo Easter Parade.
And finally, you’ll wish “there’s no place like home” after watching this timelapse of the building of a yellow road with plastic bricks.
Video of the construction of the build courtesy of Bendigo LEGO User Group
What is your favorite part of the Wizard of Oz that you would like see translated into LEGO? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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