Interview with -Balbo-

Hello all! Today I have an interview with the amazing MOC builder Patrick AKA -Balbo- on Flickr! Be sure to follow him on flicker here to see all of his spectacular MOCs!

Canaan: Welcome Patrick! So to start things off, who are you and what part of the Lego hobby do you focus on?

Patrick: First of all thanks a lot for the interview – it´s really an honor for me getting interviewed by you. My name is Patrick and I´m from Austria. Generally I´m a huge Lego fan and I´m collecting and building with Lego.

Canaan: How were you first introduced to Lego and have you ever had any dark ages?

Patrick: As a child I loved the Lego Star Wars theme but when I was 14 I stopped buying Lego sets – that was the beginning of my dark ages. Three years later the Lego Middle Earth line brought me back into collecting Lego.

Canaan: How did you find the Lego fan community?

Patrick: When I started looking for news about upcoming sets, I found the Lego User Group Imperiumdersteine.de – that´s how I found my favorite Lego forum and the fan community.

Canaan: What is your favorite Lego theme?

Patrick: My favorite Lego theme is definitely the Lego Lord of the Rings and Hobbit theme.

Canaan: What is your favorite Lego set that you own?

Patrick:  Hmm, that´s a difficult question. All in all I think my favorite Lego set is Helms Deep from the Lord of the Rings line – it was the first Lego set I bought after my dark ages, that´s the reason why it has a very special place in my collection

Canaan: Now let’s move on to a few of your MOCs

Sons of Durin

Canaan: So what was the motivation behind working on such a huge and amazing MOC?

Patrick: After I saw the Erebor in the first Hobbit movie I was really impressed by the mountain and the dwarven pillars. Therefore I decided to make a MOC about the Lonely Mountain. Due to the fact that many other MOCer already made a creation about the Erebor, I tried to make something different, that´s the reason why I tried to focus on the battle in front of the Gates of Erebor.

Canaan: Do you draw out and come up with plans before you start building MOCs like this or do you just build as the inspiration for each element comes to you?

Patrick: Generally I always make plans and concept arts before I start making a creation. Especially for bigger MOCs it´s important to make drawings, so that you have an idea which and how many parts you will need.

Canaan: How did you decide on the width depth and height of the MOC?

Patrick:  In the beginning I wanted to make my Erebor MOC much bigger (especially with much more rockwork) but due to the fact that made mistakes while building it (the section with the gate and the rockwork wasn´t stable enough) and I ran out of parts, I decided to reduce the size and height.

Canaan: How did you make the ice on the side of the MOC?

Patrick: For making the ice I used those “window” parts from Lego – I just stacked up those parts to get the ice effect. It´s a very simple but quite effective technique in my opinion.

Ravenhill Tower - The Last Stand

Canaan: This is quite an amazing a detailed MOC! What made you decide to work on creating it?

Patrick: Honestly I loved the structure of the ruins and the dark atmosphere on the Ravenhill – that´s the reason why I wanted to recreate that tower.

Canaan: What is the process like to come up with the layout for a this kind of MOC? Do you draw

Patrick: After I saw a production video from Peter Jackson about the third Hobbit movie in June 2014 with informations about the Ravenhill, I immediately began making drawings. So I already started planning and building some months before the movie was released.

Canaan: How did you decide on what parts to use the SNOT technique and what parts to build with the regular studs up technique.

Patrick: Due to the fact that I was able to get a PAB cup full of 2x1 trans-clear plates in a Lego store in Vienna, I decided to use the Snot technique for the ice. For the rest of the building I didn´t have exact plan which technique I will use.

Canaan: What was the reason for covering the majority of the base of the MOC with tiles rather than letting the studs show?

Patrick: Generally I always prefer MOCs with a “clean” look and with less studs, that´s the reason why I always try to cover as many studs as possible.

Into the Fire

Canaan: Finally I want to talk about one of your latest MOCs; Into the Fire. First off, how did you make the hexagonal furnace the shape it has?

Patrick: I used those “Hinge Plates 1 x 4” to get the hexagonal furnace.

Canaan: This MOC has a somewhat smoother look than a lot of your previous MOCs in that you don’t show very many studs at all. What was your reason

Patrick: As I mentioned before, I always prefer creations with a “clean” look, so it was very important for me to cover nearly all of the studs (which was quite easy in that MOC, because there´s for instance no landscape).

Canaan: How did you create the cracks in the wall to the left of the scene?

Patrick: For the cracks in the wall I used those “Slope” and “Slope inverted” pieces. This technique is quite effective - I used it in my latest Dol Guldur MOC for the ground, too.

Canaan: How did you come up with the dwarf faces on the wall?

Patrick: Additionally those dwarven faces, are the faces from the dwarven pillars from my Erebor MOC – I just modified them a bit (especially the section with the beard). Due to the fact, that those dwarven faces are in the second Hobbit movie (the water pours out of their mouth after Bilbo flipped the lever) I wanted to include them in my MOC, too.

Canaan: Thank you so much for your time Patrick. Finally, do you have any suggestions for someone who may be starting to build their own MOCs but may not know where to begin?

Patrick: I would recommend starting building with smaller MOCs (for instance 16x16 studs) because especially for beginners who have just a limited selection of bricks it´s the easiest way to practice techniques and to collect experiences. Moreover getting feedback with tips and improvement suggestions is the key to improve your building skills – so don´t be shy uploading your creation :)