Throwback Thursday: LEGO® brick A380

Created on March 8, 2017 10:25 am

This week’s Throwback Thursday takes us right back to 2009 and one of Ryan’s most important models- the A380 model which set Ryan on the path to become Australia’s first LEGO Certified Professional!

Long before he became an LCP, Ryan was a long-time fan of both planes and the cutaway books, so when it came to build a model of the new Airbus A380 in 2009, it was a no-brainer to do the model in what has now become one his signature features- a cutaway to show the internal workings of the aircraft.
LEGO A380 cutaway1
If you look carefully you might spot references to cinematic classics like Star Wars and Snakes on a Plane.
LEGO A380 cutaway2
Here is the model when it went on display at Melbourne’s Fan show Brickvention in 2009:
LEGO A380 Brickvention 2009

But Ryan decided to go a step further and use the then brand-new Mindstorms NXT programmable bricks, motors and servos to add a whole array of movement to the model:LEGO A380 NXT1
LEGO A380 NXT features1 LEGO A380 NXT features2 LEGO A380 NXT features3
But the feature that really got LEGO’s attention when he brought the model to a Chicago LEGO fan show was the extra program he wrote that allowed the public to control the movements by way of an iPad with an interactive A380 cockpit:
LEGO A380 interactive iPad controls

Watch Ryan talk about the build: