Take one Kickstarter campaign, add $53,000 and 140,000 LEGO pieces and what do you get?
Two hundred custom LEGO airplane replicas – and a dream come true for Mikey McBryan.
“It's completely sold out ...which (realizes) all our hopes and dreams,” said McBryan, general manager of Buffalo Airways.
The former Ice Pilots NWT reality TV star years-long bid to bring pint-sized LEGO versions of a storied aircraft to life is off now the ground – and on to the production line – thanks to an amazingly successful Kickstarter campaign, said McBryan.
McBryan said the donations were to cover production costs for 200 full colour DC-3 models, which will arrive assembled.
“I thought about 200 would probably be what the market would bare. But when I launched the Kickstarter we sold 50 per cent of the sets in the first day,” he said. Three days later, all 200 sets were spoken for."
In a three-tiered pricing system, online contributors can put their name down for different packages , including single sets for $269 and special edition versions for $299.
McBryan said he came up with the idea in 2014 after LEGO visited Buffalo Airways' hangar.
Company representatives, looking to make an “Ice Pilots” ride at a LEGOland in Denmark, took an interest in the DC-3 – one purchased by McBryan's father in 1978.
As a thank you, McBryan was gifted a prototype, and the idea was born.
“I fell in love with it and I wanted to make a production model to be able to sell to people,” he said.
False-starts and hiccups followed, but after finding a Seattle, Wash., company that specializes in making LEGO kits, McBryan's plan began to take shape.
McBryan said he has plans and more planes in the future.
“What we're going to do now is hopefully try to get another set out by Christmas – a different airplane,” McBryan said.
But what's the driving force behind McBryan's push to produce the LEGO models?
For the lover of all things vintage who's “stuck in the 90s,” the undertaking is a nod to nostalgia – and a callback to his childhood.
“It's just something about not wanting to grow up I guess. Being 35 is not cool. I kind of wish I was ten years old again,” he said with a laugh.
Once each set has been assembled, a time consuming task that involves 700 pieces for each plane, buyers are expected to receive their very own model in May.
Would-be owners have until Friday, Jan. 26 to contributed to the Kickstarter campaign.
Kickstarter is considered the world's largest funding platform for creative projects.