The Lego Car Blog is full of sports cars, supercars, and trucks. But for the braver builder, there’s a whole world of fantastically complicated machinery ripe for harvesting into Lego form.
Farm equipment is not only far more important for the prosperity of humanity than million-horsepower supercars, it’s also potentially a much more exciting genre from an engineering perspective. If only we understood how it works.
One builder who has helped both our understanding of these amazing machines and who’s brought more of them to these pages than any other, is the insanely talented Michał Skorupka (aka Eric Trax), whose fully operational replicas of real-world tractors, harvesters, balers, and manure spreaders have consistently wowed the entire team here at TLCB.
If – like us – you wonder how on earth Michał can recreate such complicated machinery from LEGO bricks, and make it look so beautiful too, then take a look below, where Michał explains how he builds these astonishing creations…
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Hello TLCB Readers! My name is Michał Skorupka. I am known in the Lego Community as Eric Trax – it’s a nickname from the time when I was a DJ.
I’m a logistics manager in a distribution company, I have a wife and two dogs (fluffy Pomeranians), and I have been interested in agricultural technology and motorcycles since I was a child, a passion born as I grew up on my Dad’s farm.
What car do you drive in real life, and what would you like it to be (and who would be in the passenger seat)?
My daily car is a Toyota Auris Mk II. It’s not exactly an emotional car, but it is a very solid and ergonomic one, and these are very big advantages.
I have a few dream cars; Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari F40, McLaren F1, but if I had to drive it on a daily, I would choose the Audi R8. I’d like to see F1 driver Daniel Riccardo in the passenger seat; he is a great driver and great person. A few hours of driving around the track, combined with a conversation and tips on driving techniques. Oh yes, it’s a perfect set!
If you were a LEGO brick, which type would you be and why?
I would certainly be a 107×44 tire with an agricultural tread. It looks perfect and very realistic. This is what I expect of myself when I build. It’s been my favorite piece since it came out.
What was your first ever LEGO set, and which is your favourite LEGO set or theme?
My first LEGO set was the 6512 Landscape Loader which I got from my uncle. This is where my love for bricks began. It had only 34 elements, but that was enough for me to build many models. Imagination was everything back then : )
I’ve always been fascinated by the ’90s train series sets, although I’ve never owned one. My favourite theme is Model Team, particularly the legendary 5571 Black Cat. I have two of them and I hope that LEGO will bring back this series and release such a beautiful and detailed model again.
How and why did you get started in the online Lego Community?
In 2011 I discovered the website of the Polish LUG – LUGPol, where I found lots of wonderful creations by Polish AFOLs. It was the end of my dark ages. I took my bricks out of the closet and started building. First, there were off-road trucks and participation in a Lego Truck Trial competition. Later, I combined my passion for agricultural technology and LEGO bricks, and I started building agricultural machinery and set up my YouTube channel. It was a niche where no one posted any Lego creations. I paid a lot of attention to the look and very quickly my models became popular.
How do you start a build, and what makes your designs unique to you?
It all starts with choosing the machine I want to build, guided by its shape and colours. I choose a vehicle that I think will look good as a Lego model, and not all machines meet my expectations. Once chosen, I obtain photos and technical documentation of the real machine; I’m obsessed with scaling properly so I recalculate all the dimensions (basically all my models are in 1:17 scale).
I start the building process by creating a prototype according to dimensions and next make some corrections. If it’s all ok, I move on to the design of the frame and all the necessary mechanisms. This is the simplest part. The next step is to build realistic bodywork, which requires a lot of work and a lot of knowledge about the available elements. Finally, I add the small details that create the end result.
What’s coming next?
For some time now I have split my plans into two paths. The first is agricultural models and I’m currently working on another large model. This is a Grimme Varitron 270 potato harvester. It is a very specific and complicated machine. I like such challenges, although they usually take me over a year of work. The second is creating alternative models from the official kits. Some time ago I fell in love with this type of building. The limited number of parts frees up your creativity and encourages you to use new building techniques. This is great!
Where will you put your TLCB Master MOCers trophy?
I still have some space in my Lego workplace. It will be the perfect motivator to create new interesting creations with LEGO bricks!
A huge thank you to Michał Skorupka for joining us here at The Lego Car Blog, and becoming the eighth builder of Master MOCers Series 2. You can check out the other builders in the series by clicking the link above, and you can find all of Michał’s social media accounts below if you’d like to see more of his amazing brick-built farm machines;