Ship ahoy! The SS Leg Godt is ready to set sail. Pack your steamer trunks for a voyage to remember. Your cabin awaits!
Back when steamships were invented, they were renowned for their speed. Crossing the Atlantic in a matter of weeks was entirely unheard of. A new era of transportation had begun, and the steam liners enjoyed many decades with an undisputed reputation of speed and elegance. Then the Wright Brothers figured out how to fly and the steam liners had new competition arriving. Soon the steam liners found themselves in the same position as their previous competitors! How on earth would they compete against airplanes that would soon be crossing oceans in a matter of hours? Well, fortunately for them, they had clever marketing departments. They asked the traveler, "Why rush a journey when you can sit back and enjoy a voyage of luxury?" Pretty clever!
Throughout all of this, steamships have always maintained an image of elegance and splendor. In my mind, nothing captures this feeling more than seeing one of these massive vessels pulling into harbor, and from the very beginning it was this feeling that the SS Leg Godt needed to achieve.
"Challenging" is probably the best word to describe the entire build process for the SS Leg Godt. Balancing shapes, sizes, colors, the tension between the boat and the water, the tension between the tugboat and the smoke, and above all preserving the perspective of the ship's bow; it was a complicated process from the start, to say the least! It got to the point that changing one brick, color or shape, would entirely make or break the graphical tension of the whole scene. It's unreal how tricky graphics can be. Is it worth it? Absolutely! Seeing the ship come to life and jump out of the scene makes it all worthwhile.
As many LEGO Fans will already be familiar with, the SS Leg Godt gets its namesake from the Danish phrase, "Leg godt", which when translated means "Play well". "Leg godt" was the inspiration for the LEGO name.
This was my submission into the "Exhibit Your Creativity in the LEGO House!" challenge on LEGO Ideas. The SS Leg Godt received a grand total of 166 fan votes, making it a Runner Up in the Vintage Transportation category. Once again, a huge thank you to all who voted and helped to make this possible! The SS Leg Godt's next voyage takes it to the LEGO House for the 2024 Fan Exhibition. Visiting the LEGO House soon? Be sure to find it in harbor in one of the exhibition cases!
You can view the original submission here.