At the AFOL Day at LEGO® House this year, visitors who purchased one of the commemorative minifigures were given a LEGO Wooden Duck. Well, not the Wooden Duck, but a 3D-printed Duck, printed as a single element. It was hinted that this was working towards a more general release.
Now, for a limited time, visitors to the LEGO house will be able to buy one of these elements, in conjunction with a printed minifigure.
The Duck is 3-D printed, and has a lovely Dark Red colour, an a matte finish. The duck is essentially out of the LEGO System, with the exception of the bar at the front, which allows attachment to any standard LEGO clip, including a minifigure’s hand.
The wheels and side of the duck are nicely detailed, and despite being printed as a single element, there are several moving parts: the wheels rotate, , in turn moving a rod which causes the top part of the head to move up and down.
The LEGO House, the ‘Home of the Brick’, is offering visitors the opportunity to buy a 3D-printed LEGO minifigure-sized duck for a limited time only in November.
The duck is the first stand-alone 3D-printed element to be released by the LEGO Group. Previously, a 3D-printed element had been included in a special edition set given to participants in the 2019 LEGO Inside Tour.
Ronen Hadar, Head of the LEGO Group’s Additive Design & Manufacturing team, said: “We are excited by the possibilities of additive manufacturing and can’t wait to hear from our fans. We will use their feedback to help shape future innovation as we continue to test the limits of 3D-printing technology.”
“We’ve worked incredibly hard to make sure our 3D-printed elements meet our very strict quality, safety and durability requirements. And as for this duck, it’s gone through extra quality checks to ensure its beak smoothly opens and closes!”
Additive manufacturing or 3D printing will sit alongside injection moulding technology in the company’s factories. Injection moulding allows the company to make bricks at high speed, while the newer technology offers greater flexibility to support product innovation and, in the future, make a greater variety of elements in smaller volumes. All elements are subjected to the same quality and safety checks.
The duck element will be available exclusively in the LEGO House store as part of the Minifigure Factory experience on the following weekends:
- 11-13 November
- 18-20 November
- 25-27 November
Fine print:
There’s limited availability each day during the pilot project event, and guests who wish to buy a Minifigure Factory minifigure (retail price 89 DKK) will have to sign up to purchase one. This can be done each morning on the above-mentioned dates from 9:30 a.m. when the LEGO House retail store opens, while sign-up slots last. You will pay for your Minifigure Factory box when you get your allocated time slot to make your own unique Minifigure Factory minifigure.
Everyone who purchases a duck will be asked to complete an online survey so the team can collect feedback on the element. Purchases will be restricted to one element per household.
About additive manufacturing or 3D printing
Additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a digital file. It is a digital manufacturing technology covering an array of technologies that build a final product by adding material layer by layer.
I am glad to see this trial of additive manufacture continuing: overall, I find the duck element a very satisfying thing to hold and play with, although the wheels sometimes slip on smooth surfaces, resulting in a stationary bill.
I’d love to know what you think of this element: I suspect the company will be looking into further examples in the future – although I expect they will be made in relatively small runs ( <10000 overall) and therefore they will surely all be extremely collectable. The manufacturing technique takes a lot more time than injection moulding to produce an element. Integration with the ‘System’ is limited here, but the bar connection was pretty firm, and the duck did not slip under its own weight.
I am glad I had the chance to pick this up at the AFOL Day at the LEGO house this year.
So, if you are going to visit the LEGO House Store (you do not need a ticket to get there) over weekends in November, be sure to check this out.
I’d love to know what you think of this Duck element. Why not leave your comments below, and until next time….
Play Well!
https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js@ramblingbrick The 3d printed #legoduck will be available from #legohouse for a limited time (friday/saturday/sunday in november 2022) #LEGO #ramblingbrick #3dprinting ♬ The Duck Song – Bryant Oden