Throwback Thursday LEGO® Brick Shell’s Prelude FLNG Facility

Created on October 12, 2017 9:00 am

In this week’s Throwback we’re going back to one of our biggest and most complex models- a huge nearly 5m long Shell Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) Facility!

Shell LPG Refinery Ship Display 01

We built the facility in separate sections for ease of transport and construction. This model was built back in the old workshop and was so big it filled the entire space when it was put together!
Shell LPG Refinery Ship WIP 04

Shell LPG Refinery Ship WIP 01 Shell LPG Refinery Ship WIP 02

The model is based on, Prelude, a floating liquefied natural gas facility and we used just about every grey LEGO part in existence to recreate the complex machinery and pipeworks on top.

Shell LPG Refinery Ship Display 02 Shell LPG Refinery Ship Display 03

But in addition to all of the above deck detail the innovation behind the real facility was a system of connectors on the bottom that connect to wells on the seafloor, which we had to recreate in detail.
Shell LPG Refinery Ship Display 04

Of course being on the bottom of the facility presented a unique problem- how to display the model so people could see the bottom of the model! We ended up raising the model up on perspex boxes which also acted as the waterline, allowing us to then build the bottom of the hull underneath the perspex.
Shell LPG Refinery Ship WIP 03 Shell LPG Refinery Ship Display 04

The Prelude model was built for a Shell trade show and then transferred to the Shell head offices in Perth, WA. In fact if you’re in Perth you can see it for yourself in the Shell office foyer!

Ryan with Shell LPG Refinery Ship

Watch Ryan talk about building the ship here: