In which I find a local source of LEGO poly bag sets, select one and construct it mid flight, before returning my tray table to the upright position.

I’m on a journey. I am currently travelling to Japan to attend Kobe BrickFest.

I left home early this morning and have a couple of connecting flights, with the main leg between Brisbane and Tokyo taking around eight hours. And around that there are a couple of connecting flights.

One of the neat things about travelling to Japan compared to Europe is that the time difference is only one hour in the past. However, as such I should probably aim to keep my body clock on track. So inbetween the LEGO Ninjago Movie and other inflight entertainment, I thought I’d put together a little LEGO set.

In further news, Polybags are now available in some Australian Supermarkets.

I picked up a copy of the Cute Pug 30542 at the supermarket late last week. Now I have bemoaned the general availability of polybags in Australia in the past. However this year, I noticed some of the polybags surfacing in the incredibly small toy section at our local supermarket. (Fun fact: in Australia, LEGO polybag sets can now occasionally be found in your local supermarket). Not feeling inclined to add to my City, friends or Ninjago collection this week (whoops: left my ninja minifigures at home though!) I selected the creator set. I dropped it into my cabin bag with a ziplock bag and waited until I was somewhere between Port Moresby and Tokyo and unpacked it onto a serviette on my tray table.

As a polybag, this is a small set, it does however contain an interesting range of elements including tan bows, some black inverse bows, two tan 1×1 modified bricks with studs on adjacent sides and four round stud with bar.

Instructions come as 10 year old me remembers them: on a single sheet of paper, but with a few more steps than I remember. That’s no so bad: it makes it easier to get the building right. There is a panel referring to online instructions for the two alternative builds. As internet access is not available on Airbus A330-300 I am travelling on today, they won’t get built on this flight!

We start by building the body of the pug, revealing poseable rear legs, as well as a tiltable head. A misplaced plate during construction resulted In a little improvisation with the nose.

Once we have put the dog together, we move on to a fire hydrant. I was challenged here as I lost the red 2×2 round brick with peg holes under my chair until later in the flight…

The major challenge to building a small set on the tray table is than small parts have a tendency to fall off the edge. And when the final model is 4x 6.5 studs in size, you can imagine that a significant number of pieces will be small. Ultimately we get a small and, as advertised, cute pug!

Photography on the plane was limited in its utility, but it gives you a general idea of how the set comes together. As you can see, white balance on the phone was a bit unreliable.

In conclusion

For $5, it’s a good assortment of interesting Black and Tan elements. I give it 4/5 arbitrary praise units.

While the experience was just that: an experience, I would not plan to build too many sets this way.  Lighting was poor, and the capacity to produce quality images is difficult in the cramped environment of the economy seat. To say nothing of the problems when a small piece cannot be found – did it wall? on the floor, under seat, into my pocket?

What’s the most awkward place you have built a LEGO set? Any hints for constructing within a confined space? Why not leave your comments below. Until next time, play well.