Interview with fan designers of 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V
Posted by CapnRex101,
The vast majority of summer LEGO sets will be released tomorrow and there are plenty which appear to have garnered a great deal of attention over the last few months. However, 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V seems to be the most anticipated of all and many fans have expressed concern that it might sell out on release day as a result of its exceptional popularity, although we certainly hope not!
I reviewed this excellent set a couple of weeks ago and felt compelled to contact the fan designers who submitted the original LEGO IDEAS project, Felix Stiessen and Valérie Roche. They kindly agreed to answer our questions about their inspirations for creating the Saturn V and the design process as well as their personal experiences with LEGO. You can read all about this exciting project after the break...
Brickset: How did you become interested in LEGO and do you collect official sets as well as creating your own models?
Valérie: A few years ago, I found my husband’s old LEGO bricks in the attic and I gave them to my children. They liked them so much that we decided to buy lots of new LEGO sets for them. I was really passionate about designing all the ideas for models of my children in real life but soon we realized that we lacked the bricks. However, shortly afterwards I discovered the magic and awesome LEGO Digital Designer software and ever since there has been no limit to our ideas and builds. We have built some of our creations in real life too but since our collection of parts is limited we mostly stick to digital building.
Felix: Ever since I was a child I loved building with LEGO bricks. I am an avid collector of official sets. (especially LEGO Technic and LEGO Creator Expert at the moment). However, I still very much enjoy building my own creations, be it planes, cars or micro dioramas. Just like Valérie I mostly build my models digitally nowadays but I also really like building with real bricks whenever possible.
What inspired you to create the Apollo 11 Saturn V and submit the project to LEGO Ideas?
Both of us are really big space fans. We especially like the Saturn V and the Apollo missions and since we loved the idea of a potential modular LEGO Saturn V set we thought we would give it a try and submit it to LEGO IDEAS.
The instruction manual for the set reveals that you designed the original model together but have never actually met. Did this bring about any challenges?
Not being able to talk about a project in person certainly makes things a bit trickier but thanks to modern communication technology and LDD (LEGO Digital Designer) we could discuss the build at any time and send our drafts and improvements to each other.
Did you encounter any particular difficulties when designing the Apollo 11 Saturn V?
Stability in particular was a big concern of us during the support phase and we constantly made changes to our model to ensure structural integrity while also maintaining playability. However, since the entire rocket only existed as a digital file we could not test it as a whole which meant that we had to had to estimate the stability of many sections.
What were your reactions to discovering that the Apollo 11 Saturn V project had successfully passed review?
When the LEGO IDEAS team contacted us and told us that our project had been accepted for production we were over the moon and could not believe it! It really is a dream come true.
What interactions did you have with set designers Mike Psiaki, Carl Merriam and graphic designer Austin Carlson during the development of the final set?
We had several meetings with the designers via Skype. They presented their iterations of the rocket and asked for our feedback and suggestions which were then taken into consideration.
Are you satisfied with all the changes which have been made to your original submission and is there anything that you would like to alter?
The LEGO designers did a remarkable job in transforming our original submission into an actual feasible set. The building techniques used are brilliant and they result in a perfectly stable and good looking model. Of course, there are some people who dislike the fact that the set does not include minifigures like our original submission did but we think the new prints for the nanofig trophy piece make up for that.
21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V seems to have provoked an overwhelmingly positive reaction from LEGO fans. How does it make you feel to know that so many people are enjoying a product which you have created?
We are incredibly happy with all the positive reactions by the fans and we are sure the LEGO designers are happy as well. It is amazing to know that we could make that many people excited about our project!
Valérie, you have several other LEGO Ideas project gathering votes at the moment, most of which are related to space exploration. What inspired your interest in this field?
Valérie: What inspired my son Alan and me to create all the space-themed projects you can see on LEGO IDEAS is certainly the desire to go to space. However, even if we cannot actually travel to space we can at least travel virtually by designing and building our own LEGO models. Therefore, we would love to get your support on our other current NASA space projects:
Do you have any plans to launch additional projects and can you share anything about their content at the moment?
Naturally we cannot tell what the future may bring but a mobile launch tower and crawler in scale with the Saturn V rocket would be a great challenge and fun to build. Who knows, we might even submit it to LEGO IDEAS someday!
Many thanks for taking the time to talk to us!
21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V will be available on the 1st of June. We anticipate that this will be a very popular set and congratulate Felix and Valérie, as well as the LEGO design team, for producing such an impressive model.
You can order it from shop.LEGO.com via these links:
USA ($119.99) | Canada ($149.99) | UK (£109.99) | Germany (119.99€) | France
Which LEGO employee or fan would you most like to interview and what questions would you ask? Let us know in the comments.
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16 comments on this article
Actually: it became available to order today. Just ordered mine.
Neat!
It's available now at Lego shop @home UK! That was an unexpected surprise! ??
Awesome! Great interview Valérie, Felix, and Brickset! Thanks for doing it!
Boy, that seems weird calling you by name. :P
Great interview, thank you Brickset, Felix and Valerie!
Thanks to all of you for reading this interview and paying attention to this design, Lego confirms the fact that there will be no shortage of this set as soon as it goes on sale, but do not delay too much anyway lol :-)
So do not hesitate to come at a Lego store and buy this beautiful Saturn V rocket ;-)
Another big thank you to all of you.
Cheers
Valérie
Hi VAkkron , glad to see you here ;-)
Aviable also in Paris until 8 PM :-)
What's the point of announcing it for sale from June 1st if it goes on back order on May 31st? Grrrrrr........
Another excellent interview, thanks. Already available in the UK on backorder only. I wouldn't hang around to order it if you want one. Got mine from John Lewis 5 days ago. Glad I didn't wait for the official release to order from Lego. It is a fantastic set and excellent value for money.
Meanwhile, in Spain... Not even one LEGO store, just online. :'(
Awesome creation, big kudos to designers!!
Inspiring. This is a beautiful set, and the designers' story shows how important LDD is to the community, and why we should be worried that LEGO has stopped paying attention to it.
I'll be passing on this one. I had hoped there would have been more detail on the landing module itself.
Skipping this one and going for the Fishing House!
Not available in the US quite yet. Will be buying this the moment my Lego store opens in the morning though! Thank you so much for helping design what looks to be one of the best sets ever produced Felix and Val`erie
The 3D model is now available on brickset in the "3D View" tab of the set page if you are interested in seeing the technics used. And as a bonus it has been built by Felix himself on Mecabricks.
Just went to lego.com, and attempted to order it. It's on back order, so I'm not at all sure when I'll get it. Sometime soon, I hope. (My credit card was charged, so that's a positive sign.)