6 hours more and the first missing piece - Landrover Defender Lego Build: Four

My Lego build is coming along well. Another stage is complete and now only stage four of the build stands between me and a competed Lego Landrover Defender.

Stage three went for 6 hours which surprised me to be honest as I didn't think it was going to be that technical - But it was. It came together well though and the build is now looking like an actual vehicle.

I had my first missing piece on this build during this stage which was annoying as it was right at the very end, a piece that goes into the door-window-frame section. It looked like the build would come to a standstill until I had a brainwave to pilfer the piece from one of the bags of pieces set aside for stage 4. I took a look and fortunately found the required piece and the build continued. I have already hit up the Lego site to order the piece which will take about 5-6 days to get here.

This is what the vehicle looks like right now, at the end of stage 3. As you can see the roof, doors, rear panels and door are now in place.

It started off looking a little like the Flintstones car initially as I built the framework for the roof however came together quickly. The rear door was a little technical as it has opening mechanisms to put into place however it all works well and as intended.

Above is the start of the build as the roof frame started to come together. It's obviously essential to make sure connectors and parts are all located in exactly the right spot as things won't line up later if they are wrong. I had to back-track a couple of times - No one's perfect.

The rear door is pretty cool as it opens and closes by way of a series of cogs and a latch. Eventually it will be operated by twisting the spare wheel mounted on the door however for now a little twist of the grey shaft sticking out of the door operates it - Luckily it works perfectly. Once the vehicle is complete it will a cool model with some tricky working parts, the door included.

Below you can see a closer view of the inner-workings of the rear door mechanism and the above image shows it closed up.

To date the build has now taken 16 hours and looking at the stage 4 parts I would say there's probably at least 6 hours left to go. I estimated this build would take me 24 hours all up so I think I won't be too far away from that guess.

I'm getting a lot quicker as I work through the build and have reorganised the way I present the parts to myself as I build too - I guess like everything the more it's done the more efficient one get's at it. I'm not trying to rush though as that will probably mean errors. I've made a few small ones that were easily fixed by a little back-tracking however I don't want to tempt fate. I've only had to dismantle one assembly and start from scratch so far - Lesson learned.

The next time you see this vehicle it will be complete. I'm planning to photograph it outside, in its natural environment off the blacktop and off-roading. It should be cool. I also have some plans to do a bit of video of it off-roading probably using my GoPro which I think will be a lot of fun. We'll see though - If it looks shit I won't show you, the video I mean.

For now I'm taking a couple days off from Lego-building to recharge my batteries. I have been suffering with a bit of Lego-fatigue in my back and neck from hours building plus I realised there's another injury caused by building Lego - Lego thumb! It comes from pushing pieces in with the thumb you see...Lego pieces...That's why it's called Lego thumb. Pretty obvious really. 😃

Have a great week ahead y'all, and don't forget to leave a comment here if you feel inclined.

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Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default

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