MEX the volume

LEGO Bus

Karwik may have built the first LEGO version of a Jelcz 272 MEX (EDIT TG: Not the first, thanks Globetrotter). I suspect the model means something if you’re a bus fan in Poland but to me it just screams excellence in LEGO design. From the slight tapering from body to roof to the amazing grille this vehicle is a masterpiece of technique and style.

Thanks to Tim David for the heads up.

18 comments on “MEX the volume

  1. Herman

    Too much “loose ends” if you ask me. The grille may look nice but it’s not very Lego-y. Neither are the window bars.

    It’s either glued or comes apart very easy.

  2. Catsy

    What exactly does it mean to be “Lego-y”, and why is being so or not a bad thing?

    I’m betting the grille tiles stay in via friction. I did a grille in a similar fashion using regular tiles edge-on, and it stayed in just fine, though it wouldn’t hold up to play. As for the frames, yes, they look fragile, being flex tube connected to clips at only one end.

    Which is beside the point, unless you’re specifically building something to be played with. I think you’d be surprised at how many of the stunning creations blogged here have connections that you wouldn’t want to breathe on too heavily, or have decorative elements placed very delicately for the photo shoot.

  3. gambort Post author

    Actually the grille is almost certainly held together by a joystick lever passed through the gaps in the grilles (one on each side). That makes a very firm connection that holds in place perfectly well. You can see that the gaps line up in the grille tiles at the end.

    As for the roof it may only be held on by four studs for pictures but for play some clear bricks could be used to secure it ‘invisibly’.

    Herman> Just because you can’t think of how something works doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t work. I share your dislike for the bars as I prefer proper windows but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a clever and perfectly valid solution and nor does it mean it’s glued.

  4. Catsy

    I see what you’re talking about with the joystick levers, gambort. That is to say, I can see how that would be used; I can’t see the levers themselves, which is something to recommend the technique. I’ll have to try it.

  5. gambort Post author

    It’s an idea (which I used on my road train) that I got from misterzumbi so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a Polish builder using it.

  6. Catsy

    That other one you linked is nice too. Much more “traditional” in a largely studs-up construction sense, and IMO missing a lot of the delicious curves in this one, but still very good.

  7. dmac

    Gambort, no offence, please, but calling it “Soviet” wouldn’t exactly make you Mr Popularity here in Poland :) . The bus was made in Poland, however strongly based on Czech design of Skoda.

    About the grill: Karwik indeed used a technique suggested by Misterzumbi.

    Hard to ignore master’s suggestions for us, the LUGPol bunch ;) .

  8. gambort Post author

    ^ My apologies. I’ve never quite worked out what precisely Soviet means. Pretend I said communist. I’d be really happy to see a good explanation of what to say.

  9. Abel

    Everything in this MOC is pure gold except the Grill. Can’t believe that this works at minifig scale.

  10. dmac

    “Soviet” means coming from USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; today the republics are separate countries: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania etc. – basically everything East of Poland :) ).

    “Communist”… Hmm, closer, but still incorrect. There was no communism in the so called “communist” countries, only socialism at best. Or worst. By the way, in my entire family (two generations back) we had only one communist party member and that’s just because he was a complete moron. Hardly a communist country, really :) .

    What to say then? Perhaps “former Eastern Bloc” seems historically correct.
    Or just Polish, please :) .

    Especially since “from the part of Europe devoured by the Soviets after being cowardly abandoned by the West” sounds a bit longish ;) .

    Sorry for the off-topic!

  11. gambort Post author

    I invited the off topic ;)

    I meant more how to refer to those vehicles that were common throughout (at least parts of) the Eastern Bloc. For example this bus, as you mention was based on a Czech Skoda design so is arguably Czech or Polish. Another example is the An-28 which was built and developed mostly in Poland but Antonov is Ukranian (thus from the USSR) and the plane was used throughout the bloc.

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