about Me

I’ve enjoyed messing about with Lego for most of my life (I’m now in my mid-forties), but only began building my own models quite recently. Although I’m a creative person by nature (I’m a musician in my day job), I’d never even considered that I might be able to create something of my own design. Although it’s taken me many years to get around to realising that it’s something that I can do, I’m very pleased it’s finally happened – it’s so much fun!

I’ve been a fan of Lego Technic since I was about eight years old. My first set was 8851, the pneumatic excavator that was released in 1984. I remember getting this for my birthday and building it with my dad on our kitchen table. I’m still very fond of it, though it seems incredibly dated now. I remained a Lego fan until my early teens when, like many people, other interests took hold, and the Lego went in the attic.

Lego Technic 8851 Pneumatic Excavator – my first Technic set

My interest was reawakened in 2005 when my parents unceremoniously cleared out their attic and turned up at my house with all my old Lego. I hadn’t seen it for years. As is often the case in these situations, my old sets were dusty, had pieces missing and even worse, some small parts were damaged with teeth marks (not necessarily mine…). It was a shame to see my old sets in such a mess, so I decided to clean them up and restore them. By now of course, the Internet was in full swing, and I quickly discovered Bricklink, which I used to replace missing/damaged pieces. I was also able to purchase missing instruction booklets and boxes, which meant that I could restore my old sets to near-perfect condition.
In the process of doing this, I realised that there was an incredible Lego community that I knew nothing about – the AFOL (Adult Fans of Lego), who built amazingly detailed models of their own. Many of these were as impressive – sometimes more so – than the official Lego models, and there even appeared to be software available that would help you digitally build models and generate instructions. This was all very exciting, but the desire to build something of my own still didn’t raise its head for a few more years.

In 2019 my wife and I visited the Lego house in Billund, Denmark. For an enthusiast such as myself, this was an incredible experience: the exhibits were amazing, the AFOL gallery was inspiring, and the museum was an enjoyable trip down memory lane. On the way out of the house, we stopped in the shop, and I found myself admiring the new 42081 Volvo Concept Wheel Loader ZEUX. In particular, I noticed the tyres and thought to myself that they would be perfect for a JCB Backhoe model, something I’d always thought would be cool, but which Lego had never tackled in motorised form. At that point, I decided that maybe I should have a go at designing something of my own. When we returned from our holiday, I bought a load of parts… and started experimenting.

I hope you enjoy this site and the models that I’ve been able to create.
Bill Clay