In April 2018, I decided to take part in the A-to-Z Blogging Challenge for the second time. My theme was “LEGO-fied”, in which I took movie posters and scenes, album covers, and book covers, and remade them using LEGO Minifigures and parts. One of my posts, “R” is for Rex… T-rex!”, was the recreation of a scene from one of my all time favorite movies, Jurassic Park (click here to see it). I chose to do the scene where the T-rex breaks out of its enclosure. It required me to build a little scene involving a broken fence, and some vegetation. But, I also needed the Jurassic Park Ford Explorer. Since LEGO has never produced this vehicle as a set, I had to design one from scratch. It took me a lot of trial and error, and a couple of weeks of get all of the parts, and a design that I liked enough to make public.
My major goal with this project was to build something that was recognizable as the car from the movie. I also wanted it to be wide enough for two Minifigures to sit side by side in both the front, and the back seats, just like in Jurassic Park. I also wanted the rear compartment to be large enough to fit a Minifigure, or a bin of safety equipment, also like in the movie. Finally, I don’t like when LEGO releases cars with no doors, or where it is hard to access the interior. With all of these design stipulations, the design process was not a simple one.
The build involves many random pieces from my collection. But, it also incorporates specialty parts from Batman’s dune buggy in the Rescue from Ra’s Al Ghul set (click here to read that review), the Creator Rocket Rally Racer (which I will review later), and Green Lantern’s ship that came with DK’s LEGO Super Heroes: Build Your Own Adventure book (click here to check that out). Green Lantern’s ship could have been replaced with parts from a second Rocket Rally Racer though. The sunroof was made using two of the narrow helicopter windshields common in City sets.
In the end, I like the general look of my Jurassic Park Ford Explorer. Is it perfect? No, but I felt it was good enough to share in my A-to-Z post. I also thought that some of my regular LEGO readers might like to learn more about the build after seeing it in that post. Personally, I would have liked to have the same shade of green throughout the build instead of using two different shades. But, I didn’t have enough parts on hand for that. I also don’t quite like the way the sunroof fits when closed, so I might go back and tweak that at some point. The final product also looks more like a Hummer than a Ford Explorer in my opinion, but that was a side effect of going with an eight-stud-wide design that could fit two Minifigs side-by-side. I am not sure there would have been a way around that.
I did manage to check off all of my design criteria though. The car features four opening doors for Minifigures. I also included a bar to help them step up into the car. The door spaces are small, but the sunroof can be opened so you can get your fingers in to help you position the Minifigures. I am particularly proud of the rear access into the car. The tailgate flips down, while the upper glass half flips up separately. I don’t know if that is how it actually worked on the Ford Explorers in the movie, but it is how I remember many SUVs to be around that time. While it was too hard to photograph, I also included a screen in the dashboard for the super-futuristic “interactive CD-ROM” from the film.
It would have been cool if LEGO had made one of these as a set, but I had fun creating my own as a challenge. There are also a lot of other MOCs out there featuring this car, many of which are pretty cool. Do you have your own Jurassic Park Ford Explorer MOC to share? I also wouldn’t mind hearing your thoughts on mine in the comments below.
Until next time!
-Tom
I’d say you did a really good job with it. You definitely captured the right overall look of the vehicle.
Thanks!