LEGO Master Model Builder talks David Ortiz build

Boston Red Sox baseball player David Ortiz has been re-created as a life sized LEGO model by master Model Build Erik Varszegi. Erik is part of the LEGO Group’s Enfield based team and was responsible for the construction of the 34,510 piece statue.

In an interview with ESPN, Erik explained some of the details the team included in the build.

We tried to sneak in the MLB logo on the back of his jersey. At that scale, it’s kind of hard to read up close, but if you step you back, all of a sudden you can see the figure. We also stuck it on the gloves he’s wearing, although that’s a little hard to see since his hands are twisted.

He also talked about the process of producing these ‘human statue’ builds.

We have a couple stock characters and we’ll modify the weight and the musculature. We take that 3D model and put a rig in it. A rig, for lack of a better term, is just a virtual skeleton that connects the 3D mesh to the focal points. The Red Sox definitely had a desired pose. They wanted him in his home run, crossing-the-base pose. That was pretty difficult. It would not have been my first choice based solely on having just one connection point with his toe. It looks great, but it’s probably not as stable a structure as some of the models we’ve made. Preferably, you’d have another prop to anchor him. Recently, we did a model of Captain America and we had his shield to help support him.

The model can be seen on display at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.