I was in Brussels Zaventem airport the other day, where I came across an enormous red and white rocket in the departure lounge, standing an impressive 6 metres tall. Stefan Johansson must have been through the same airport, as he has built the very same spaceship at an equally impressive scale! Of course, this isn’t just any old rocket. This is the craft that Belgium’s most famous son — at least in comic book form — used to travel to and explore the moon. The rocket is one of the most recognisable pieces of Tintin iconography, and as such has seen a fair few LEGO versions, but at 1.4m (4 feet, 7 inches) tall, Stefan’s is easily the biggest brick-built one I’ve seen!
Stefan has expertly recreated Tintin’s rocket at minifigure scale, to go with the lunar exploration tank you can see at the bottom at the picture. That build was itself featured here on TBB some five years ago, which gives you an idea of just how long it must have taken to create this monster! The scale allows for a great resolution in the very 1950s curves of the rocket. This does not come at the expense of a sturdy build though! The rocket is entirely self-supporting thanks to some clever engineering. The three fins at the base use click hinges to spread the load while allowing for some delicious shaping. Professor Calculus would be proud!
Speaking of Calculus – here is the hard-of-hearing professor himself on the command deck. That’s right, this beast has an interior as well! Also featured are our titular hero and detectives (and unsuspecting stowaways) Thomson and Thompson. I love the coloured hair on the latter two – a side-effect of their adventures in Tintin in the Land of Black Gold, and a very neat detail that is accurate to the comics!
But… Ten thousand thundering typhoons, where is Haddock?! Fear not, everyone’s favourite irate captain is here as well, having a drink with Snowy. The crew’s quarters are just as faithfully recreated as the rest of the ship. The figures all appear to be made without customs. Even the Octan overalls are a remarkably good match for those featured in Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon. I’m no purist, but I do like the idea of being able to make my own lunar mission crew using figures already in my collection!
I love this. It reminds me of the large rockets from the 1950’s EC Comics publication, Weird Science and Weird Fantasy.
Google them to see what I mean. I would love to have something like this set up in my office.
Excellent build and rendition of the famous rocket. Very impressed by the shapes, which originally don’t fit well to lego parts, even if we have luckily more and more curve options today. As a kid, and still today, the big blue moon rover and its two bubble hatches was one of my favorite vehicle. I see that you have build it too, and am dying to see closer pics of it! Well done, hats off to your building talent.
Looks amazing!