Today we interview SwissLUG member Stefan Erismann.  Stefan’s unique builds include interesting rounded shapes and realistic proportions.  For more, see his wonderful Flickr stream.

BMR: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you most enjoy building?

SE:  I am 22 years old and I study electrical engineering. I am a member of SwissLUG, the first Swiss Lego user group. Since I was a small child, I was interested in trains and railways, and so am I today. I enjoy building models of existing rolling stock and the challenge to build the round train fronts and other things which do not fit in the “regular LEGO geometry”. This can be the tilted walls of the ETR 610, or the round front of the Trans Europe Express (TEE).

BMR: Your Flickr photos show a number of small studies of building techniques, as well as computer renderings. Can you tell us about your design and building process?

SE: I normally start with pictures of the real thing, e.g. a locomotive. I also look for blueprints and especially pictures from the side, to get the proportions right. Then I build a prototype with the bricks I have at hand. Often these prototypes are quite colorful. Depending on the size and bricks I already have I build the MOC with the LDD to calculate the bricks I am missing. On the other hand, I cannot build everything I want, so a lot of MOCs will stay in the LDD. That is also the point where I put pictures online. I hope that my building techniques can inspire other people to build their MOCs.

The models I finally build with real bricks however seldom look like the LDD prototypes. I often change things if for example some new bricks appear, or some bricks become available in a certain color.

BMR: In addition to trains, you have built some beautiful models of public transportation buses. Do you enjoy building these a individual models, or
are they part of a larger layout?

SE: The correct answer is both. I started with a coach, which then turned into a small layout with the coach, a bus stop and a campsite.

There are a lot of members in SwissLUG who build trains or modify the train sets from Lego, so there is never a lack of trains on an exhibition. However, there are no buses. So now I am planning a big bus station and I have now six buses, from commuter service buses to a double deck coach. I also enjoy that every bus manufacturer has their own details, like the front or the shape of the bus itself. That is something I try to capture with my bricks.