Last year, I reported on a life-sized LEGO® Christmas tree built by the Tennessee Valley LEGO® Club. While I would love to build that some day, it remains a little out of the scope of my current LEGO® collection. This year, I wanted to report on another fun Christmas build. However, I also wanted to take it a step farther. This year, I wanted to build something as big as my brick stock would allow. After spending some time online, I found free instructions for a 60 cm tall Santa on Rebrickable. The model’s designer is DJ Brick, and you can download the instructions by clicking here. While many Santa MOCs exist, I love this one because it features a giant Minifigure.
According to the instructions, this 60 cm tall Santa requires 2021 bricks. To begin, I took the inventory from Rebrickable and I went through my brick stock to see if this build was even possible given my current selection. Initially, I determined that I had 75% of the required bricks. However, I have more unsorted LEGO® bricks than I care to admit. After the daunting task of sorting through two Rubbermaid bins that I can squeeze into, I cut the number of missing bricks down to 15%. The rest I ordered from Bricklink.
Be warned: the instructions are hard to follow.
In terms of the build experience, it was tough. I’m not going to candy coat this. The instructions are remarkably hard to follow. They do not even come close to the finesse of something produced by the LEGO® Group. I found myself utterly frustrated at times. More than once, I found myself disassembling large sections in order to start again. Sometimes you place bricks that need to simply float in the air until a future step secures them. Additionally, the guide faces one direction throughout. That makes understanding brick placement very difficult in areas. If you undertake this project, go in expecting a challenge.
Otherwise, the final product looks super cute. However, I modified mine a little. I didn’t really like the asymmetrical design of the hands. Consequently, I changed both hands and might still modify them again. Additionally, my version includes more bricks than the instructions call for. I replaced a number of 2×3, 2×4, and 2×6 bricks with double the number of 1×3, 1×4, and 1×6 pieces. I tried to do that much as possible in areas that were not very visible. My rationale was simply that I had a lot of those bricks and it cut down on what I needed to order from Bricklink. This model uses a large number of 2×6 and 2×8 bricks in particular. I do not have that many of those in my collection.
I modified the hands on my version of the 60 cm tall Santa.
Despite the challenges involved in following the instructions, I enjoyed this build. It took me just under seven hours to complete. The finished model looks great and will be a great centerpiece at our Christmas get-together this year. I’ve never tried any form of LEGO® sculpture before either, so it was a good introduction to the process and proportions for a huge Minifigure. What do you think of my 60 cm tall Santa? Let me know in the comments below or reach out on social media.
Until next time,
-Tom
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