The Seaspan Polar Icebreaker LEGO project was a fun and challenging Mega Project. The ship model measures 11 feet long and 4 feet tall. For this project I partnered with LEGO Certified Professional Robin Sather. We started the design phase by deciding to make each internal floor of the vessel 7 LEGO bricks high. This would accommodate the height of a LEGO Minifigure and helped us determine how long the model needed to be. Next my partner on this project Robin Sather, drafted up a digital design of of the outline of the ship and later he used a digital program to map out the shape of the hull in LEGO form. Once we had this information in place we made our best guess on how many LEGO bricks and elements we would need to order. Once the bricks arrived I spent the next 6 months designing and building the ship’s exterior and interior as well as creating the ice and underwater landscaping.

Early on it was decided to include the surrounding ice and ocean floor. These elements were crucial to help to support the ship model. They also offered the opportunity to show some of the science and Coast Guard missions that would happen on and around the ship. The model was built in 6 sections to allow for transport. The main structure is in 4 sections, and the super structure is built in 2 sections. The sections were built from the bottom up and lighting was added as I built. I really enjoyed doing research to try and get the colors and shapes of the machinery as accurate to the prototypes as possible. There are lots of fun scenarios happening in the model. I hope that you enjoy exploring all the details in the model and are inspired to learn more about ship building and science! 

The model is on permanent display at Seaspan’s main office lobby located in North Vancouver, B.C.