Let me present to you, the Mini Mountain Mover! Another homage to the Tunnel Boring Machine. You can support the project and read all about it on LEGO® Ideas here.
What is LEGO® Ideas?
LEGO® Ideas is a platform where anyone can submit a design that they think should be turned into a real set, on the shelves. If you have been to the LEGO® section, you have already probably seen a few sets designed by LEGO® fans already. Some famous examples are the Globe, Typewriter, and Piano. All sets that originate from LEGO® Ideas have the Ideas logo on the box.
It is a long, usually multi-year process to go from Idea submission to a set on the shelves. Due to the sheer number of really good ideas fans are publishing, the chances of making it all the way to a set on the shelves is slim. First, your idea needs to garner enough public support to get 10,000 supporters. Once that milestone is reached, the team at LEGO® reviews the designs and they make a call as to which ones will go into production.
I need you!
This is where I need your help. I have just started my journey of collecting supporters and every vote counts. If you like the Mini Mountain Mover I would be very grateful for your support on LEGO Ideas! Thank you!
About the Mini Mountain Mover
I designed this set to pay homage to the amazing machines that burrow through the earth and create amazing underground facilities that improve our lives: Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM). But how do you make a boring machine that isn’t boring? It had to be more than just a tube with a “spinny” end. And so, I present to you, the Mini Mountain Mover: a multi-featured Tunnel Boring Machine and interactive scene – a combo of LEGO® Technic(TM) and LEGO® System elements.
The scene is inspired by the railway tunnels carved through the Austrian Alps and depicts:
A multi-featured TBM
A crew using the TBM at the start of its long journey through a mountain
A retaining wall to prevent the mountain from collapsing onto the new passage
A squirrel’s nest and (friendly) wolf’s den
A partially dug through mountain with break-away wall - which the TBM can actually dig through!
I am really pleased with the overall look and functionality of the Mini Mountain Mover. I think it would look great as part of a larger display or even on its own on a bookshelf. The Mini Mountain Mover would be a great set to shine a light on the machines that spend their lifetime in darkness improving our lives in ways we do not always realise.
Please see the video below for a tour of the Mini Mountain Mover and its features:
As someone who makes their living in the tunnel and underground space and has had a love of Legos since I was 5, your ideas are simply fantastic. I am amazed of the detail you have been able to achieve.
I am currently working on finding a 42055 set to build the big TBM model. If all goes as planned I'll be placing it at our trade show booth at the big tunnel conference this year in Boston. I'm sure it will be a big hit. Along with that we will have our booth next to the premier TBM manufacturer in the world, Herrenknecht, whom we know very well and have worked with for many years. I'm sure they …