Control Transferred to Pilot: Gerry Burrows' Life-size LEGO T-5 Affliction Mech
/Structure. Scale. Weight. Ergonomics. Cost of parts. Sourcing parts. While most of these constraints need to be considered in smaller-scale LEGO building, all these aspects are amplified when building in 1:1 scale and with a human operator.
Gerry Burrows, a computer engineer educated in mechanical and aeronautical engineering, builds LEGO on a massive scale. Past work includes massive scenes, dioramas, and wearable Armor of God. His latest build, named the T-5 Affliction Mech, steps his game up from just LEGO armor—this is an entire mech with a human pilot. As if wearable armor wasn’t a feat itself!
The T-5 Affliction Mech, fully opened and revealing the pilot’s seat inside.
Gerry claims this pilotable LEGO mech is a first of its kind, and I’ll take his word for it. Some may claim that, due to the front two legs being manipulated by the pilot’s feet and the use of (originally 100% LEGO!) casters to “scoot” around, the achievement is not yet unlocked. As a fellow 1:1 scale builder and realizing how much proof-of-concept at this scale is an achievement, I’ll allow it. Gerry made a 100% LEGO mech suit that a human pilot can maneuver.
I interviewed Gerry about the T-5 Affliction Mech: its inspiration, planning, logistics, and more. He also provided the images of his creations in this article for us at BrickNerd.
Nick Jensen: I'm here with Gerry Burrows, who is an engineer and mastermind behind a wearable mech suit, wearable suits of armor, and all kinds of big dioramas that live in a room in his house. Gerry, want to introduce yourself?
Gerry Burrows: You introduced me a little bit there already! Gerry Burrows, brick engineer. Lots of people refer to me as the Tony Stark or Iron Man of the LEGO world. I love building big and complex, and I get inspired by a whole lot of sci-fi and fantasy realm type of stuff as well as biblical themes. You can find me and the “Brick Engineer” on Facebook on YouTube.
NJ: You make display models but you also make wearable LEGO models that you interact with. What’s the same and what’s different with building a model you interact with versus something that is static?
GB: Well, movement is number one. Everybody that builds LEGO mostly thinks about it from a model perspective. Usually, the things that move will move independently of a person. When you build to the scale of things that you need to interact with, there are a whole lot more dynamic forces involved and structural considerations to think about.
With the suit—the first thing I made that was movable and wearable—I realized the forces put on LEGO pieces when you put pressure them on. Things would crackle and knock against each other and snap and pop and then break. And, since you have to walk around it ( or in the mech situation, scoot around with it) the weight is considerable.
NJ: Considering weight, it’s common for me personally to see a lot of creations that are display creations, maybe 100 to 1,000 pieces, that have fragile connections. Can you really get away with that at this scale?
GB: Only if it’s non-structurally significant. I test components before the aesthetic pieces go on. I’ve had the LEGO Technic pieces get stressed—I could see them starting to get white from stress lines. If I see that, that means I have to double my effort on whatever that link or moving part was. Aesthetic parts are built last.
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene melts at about 200°C. Flamethrowers get much hotter.
NJ: Did you ever get a catastrophic failure of a piece?
GB: No, I have not broken a piece!
NJ: (asking the obvious question) Is it 100% LEGO?
GB: No, but it does have a 100% LEGO version! I’m going to reveal a secret here! It does have a 100% LEGO version as a proof-of-concept.
The wheels at the bottom probably went through four or five different types of LEGO wheels. LEGO wheels do work, but I couldn’t scoot on that for more than a few minutes. They would start to stress too much. The first version had wheels set up similar to that of an office chair, where the wheel is off-center and can change directions. They would bend a little too much. Then I went with another set of wheels where the wheel was directly underneath its support. That was a lot stronger, but it was a lot harder to move it around as some wheels would now drag.
LEGO wheels work, but with future conventions (potentially!) and long-term use in mind, they were replaced with LEGO-compatible rotocaster wheels. The model collapsing at a convention would be too devastating! It was a hard decision.
NJ: There you have it! That LEGO pedestal upon which the mech rolls had, at one point, only LEGO elements underneath. Stunning feat of engineering.
GB: I've seen the comments! “It's just a glorified office chair” or “It doesn't move all that much!” But if you really know LEGO, just being able to get inside and move at all is a massive challenge. It could’ve been a sculptural model, but I wanted the challenge!
Block ‘n’ load. The high-caliber gatling gun
NJ: For me, as a 1:1 scale builder myself, building that size is a balance of stability, function, and aesthetics. Were there any aspects of the T-5 Mech where you had to sacrifice one or more of those for another?
GB: Yes. The original idea for the T-5 was to make a two-legged, humanoid mech. I tried some early tests for that. The front legs on the final design were on the original two-legged version. Those were heavy enough on their own, and I couldn't imagine safely walking with those and with a full mech on top of that. That’s where the idea of a mech I could sit in came from. The new idea of the mech looking like a scorpion helped with the build being so low to the ground.
I also wanted to add robotics to swivel the guns and spin the barrels on the Gatling gun. The appearance of those made them heavy, and LEGO motors just aren't strong enough. The effort wouldn't be worth the payoff of the motors struggling to move them. To look impressive, the Gatling gun would have to spin pretty fast!
Gerry’s armor of god, surrounded by an enormous collage of minifigure-scale scenes named the citadel of megiddo
NJ: What were your influences for the T-5 Affliction Mech? Like the Armor of God, does this one draw biblical inspiration?
GB: Well, the first thing that influenced the design was the idea that I wanted something I could get inside as a vehicle type of build! Pacific Rim, lots of sci-fi and anime inspired parts of it, as well as scorpion-like and spider-like mechs.
All my builds have biblical themes, especially end times/Book of Revelation themes. The mech unit’s name has this. The fifth trumpet sounding (hence “T-5”) is when the first unnatural disasters happen, where creatures emerge from the abyss and start afflicting a lot of suffering (hence “Affliction”).
When I build, I don't put anything down on paper. Even at this scale, it’s a lot of tinkering.
NJ: The biggest, most interesting bit, I think, is how you source parts!
GB: I like that you think that’s the most interesting! It’s very tedious and a balance between what I need and what is inexpensive! I would spend at least once a week when I’m in the midst of building just searching BrickLink for the best price on useful pieces in the hundreds.
NJ: Basing your ordering and replenishing on high volume and low cost is such an engineer's thought process! More often in the LEGO fandom, I see emphasis on small, intricate parts and rare, expensive colors.
GB: There’s a seemingly infinite number of pieces to use but I have a set of pieces and colors that I stick with to make storing and categorizing easier. It still amounts to hundreds of different elements, but I just have many different types of liftarms, pins, and connectors ready to go as my go-to core pieces—like a carpenter would have hundreds of nails ready.
railguns! how do they work?
NJ: One final question that comes from my fellow BrickNerd contributor, Bart! What is your favorite milkshake flavor?
GB: (with no hesitation) Chocolate peanut butter.
NJ: You heard it here, folks. Bart, if you want to know it, I’m going to ask it!
What would you like to build out of LEGO that is life-size? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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