We’re now in our second month of interviews by Keith Goldman. For our fifth installment, we delve into the cabal of mysterious builders known only as LUGPOL. Take it away, Keith!

LUGPOL… You’ve heard the name whispered in every corner of the internet, sometimes in fear, sometimes in awe, always with respect. Until now, this group of expert builders has been content to remain quietly in the shadows, hatching byzantine schemes to control your LEGO. This week’s builder is willing to break the iron-clad code of silence and give us a rare glimpse into Poland’s LEGO scene.

In the real world he goes by the name of Maciej Koszyka, but Flickr-users may know him better as “PigletCiamek”. I sat down with Maciej in the Wieliczka Salt Mine amidst various religious icons sculpted from salt. We drank Okocim beer and talked about Disco polo, Stanislaw Lem vs. George Orwell and why Polish people marry the youngest within the European Union.

The Build

Keith Goldman: You build in many genres, do you have a favorite, and do you find any particular genre more difficult than the others? Also, you have built several models inspired by Polish history, is there a particular period that you find interesting?

Maciej Koszyka: The three themes that I most often exploit are Castle, Pirates and Military (If I can call the last one a theme, as there were never official sets). The Castle and Pirate sets from the 80’s and early 90’s were the most beautiful designs in my childhood. I loved to look at them in my LEGO catalogs and I was a happy owner of the 6276 Eldorado Fortress. It must have had an impact on my AFOL interests. I make military MOCs because I was always interested in modern military aircraft. Later I got into WW2 era planes and armor.

I definitely find it more difficult to build a model of an existing vehicle or aircraft. I try to be as accurate as possible, while simultaneously being happy with the functionality of the model. It sometimes takes over a dozen tries to build a particular section of a model and often requires Briclink / PaB ordering. Generally it takes anywhere from one (PZL P.11c) to six (Sherman) months to finish a model.

For Castle or Pirates models I’m not so precise. Although I sometimes use reference material or a general knowledge of how something should look like, it’s mainly a work of my imagination. It takes me far less time to complete such a model. A good example is the Neptunine which took me about two weeks to finish.

I rarely buy bricks specifically for a Castle or Pirates MOC and I always disassemble them, which is very uncommon for the military models. Well, I still keep some of my helicopters in a cartoon box, even though by today’s standard they are not great models (you know – the bunches of studs sticking out everywhere).

I’m not a historian, but I’m interested in World War Two.

The Polish historical dioramas you mentioned were made for a local (LUGPOL) contest about the September Campaign. It was great motivation for me, as I always wanted to build something from the Polish 1939 arsenal, but was always afraid to start.

The Invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union is a very important and tragic event in our history that took away our independence for 50 years.

I was worried about the result, building a model of a Polish plane should be thorough and with great attention to detail. It is very important that the final product doesn’t make us (Poles) feel embarrassed, even if it is only in front of the small world of AFOLs. I may sound a little pathetic but I feel an inner duty to depict my country’s history and military equipment as “professionally” as possible. It might serve as a kind of tribute. PZL P.11c is a symbol of Polish defense in IX 1939 and I think my model fulfilled my requirements for a proud commemoration.

More of Keith’s interview with Maciej after the jump: Continue reading →