The Master MOCers Series is back! We’re half way through Series 2, and we’re delighted to announce that one of our very favourite MOCers, the brilliant Martin Redfern aka Redfern1950s, is here at TLCB Towers, and he’s had quite a year! Martin becomes our seventeenth Master MOCer and the sixth in Series 2, joining a roll call of Lego building legends. Over to Martin to tell us his story…
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Hello TLCB Readers! My name is Martin Redfern, but everyone who knows me calls me Red, a name that came about whilst at school, and I currently reside in Nottinghamshire, UK, but spent most of my life in Liverpool. I’m in my early ’50s and have been a fan of our beloved brick since the age of 5.
I’ve just recently had a health glitch in the form of a stroke (6 months ago) which has understandably knocked the wind out of my sails, but whilst in hospital all I could think about was building with LEGO again, knowing it was going to be hard, as I had lost all senses and feelings down one side.
Thankfully I had some LEGO brought into hospital, and upon leaving hospital I have since used LEGO as a form of therapy with the help from a fantastic physio team. This resulted in me building a MOCof myself in a hospital bed, along with two nurses and my consultant, which I gave to the stroke ward as my way of saying thank you.
P.S. The physiotherapists loved coming to my house to see my LEGO – I found out they where arguing who was going to do the visit! : ) Anyway, enough of that… I’m still here!
What car do you drive in real life, and what would you like it to be (and who would be in the passenger seat)?
I’ve always been a fan of classic VWs and if I’m not driving one, it’d still be an oldish type VW, the pre-1994 Polo Coupe (fantastic cars), but unfortunately my last one gave up and I’m currently being driven around in Ford Fiesta. However waiting in the wings in my garage is a rust free 1956 VW Beetle that was brought back from Lapland for me a few years ago,. It just needs putting back together…
My dream car is out of my reach – it would be a pre-‘A’ split front window Porsche 356 Coupe, and my passenger would be my son Louie – he is my world. If not him, it would have to be someone really interesting, say the lead singer of Gorillaz – the brilliant Damon Albarn; I think he is very clever.
If you were a LEGO brick, which type would you be and why?
Haha, love this question! If I was a LEGO brick I would suppose a finishing tile would describe me best. I can’t sleep properly until a build is complete and I see finishing with tiles as the final process in most builds, but I am partial to a modified brick as I probably use more of them than anything else, especially for chins on my figures.
What was your first ever LEGO set, and which is your favourite LEGO set or theme?
My first ever set was back in 1972, it was a red car pulling a white caravan. It was very basic but have very fond memories of the set, I think it was number 379, but cant be fully sure on that.
LEGO recently asked me what my fave set was before I put my models on display at the LEGO House. I don’t really buy sets, even when I was a child I never built the sets, the pieces would just be put with the rest of my stash, but once I thought about it I was able to give Lego an answer; I think it’s a cool set I can relate to it and I love their music – The Beatles Yellow Submarine set. Hats off to the designer – I love it and have one built up and one put away.
How and why did you get started in the online Lego Community?
A friend a few years ago introduced me to computers and the internet (I’m not good with modern stuff), and also to Flickr photo sharing. Then a couple of years ago I sent a link to an eBay seller of LEGO (random choice out of many) saying to them “if you want to see where your LEGO ends up, please check my flickr site out.” It turns out the guy I had messaged was a French LUG ambassador, who then invited me and my small family over to stay at theirs and display my creations at their two day show (it was my first ever LEGO show and have done another one there since, brilliant shows in France). That same guy, now a good friend in France, since nominated me to display in the LEGO House, and also introduced me to the guy who ran the my local LUG at the time (Sheffield), which I then joined.
How do you start a build, and what makes your designs unique to you?
I’ve never enough LEGO, so all my builds are built with compromise This being the case, I always (if I’m making a vehicle) start with the front wings and work my way back, then build the chassis last. I remember on one build doing the chassis first, only to find out I hadn’t enough parts to build the body, sometime down the line…
The best example of this would be on one of my older builds, The Creepy Coupe from Wacky Races. I built the bell tower first with its bats, and worked my way down.
Adding my brick built figures (which evolved from the Wacky Races builds) is what makes my models unique to me.
What’s coming next?
I never plan my builds, or do drawings or use any technology – I wait for something to inspire me, so I’m not sure what could be next. My most recent build, the Mercedes-Benz G4 had been on the cards for a while, and the same for the Kettenkrad I built last year. I had wanted to make one them since I was a child, but thought I would never be able to pull it off. All I can say for now is it’ll be either something retro or a classic car of sorts. Now if I had the LEGO pieces I would love to build a 1950s merry-go-round, with all the trimmings to the same scale as my figures. One can only dream, one day maybe…
Where will you put your TLCB Master MOCers trophy?
My trophy would go centre stage in my living room, a shelf will be cleared for all to see : )
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A huge thank you to Martin aka Redfern1950s for joining us here at The Lego Car Blog to become our seventeenth Master MOCer! You can see more of Martin’s amazing creations at his Flickr photostream – take a look by clicking these words and we’ll be back later in the year with No.18!
