Many Irish kids of my generation (the 1990s) were raised on a staple diet of spuds and Lego.

While also being a fun toy for children to play with for over 80 years, it also has educational benefits for kids as it develops their problem-solving skills, focus and attention to detail.

Also ideas of symmetry, balance, shapes and sizes are explored during play with Lego.

However, sadly many give up their beloved blocks long before adolescence and they are resigned to a miserable existence gathering dust in the attic, waiting for the next generation to come along to discover their joyous uses.

Thankfully, not everyone drops this pastime. Some people continue using Lego into adulthood and with enough passion and hard work they are able to produce pieces that are a sight to behold.

Michael Skorupka

Take Polish man Michal Skorupka for example. A logistics department manager in a distribution company by trade, but his real passion is in Lego.

His speciality is in constructing realistic agricultural machines from Lego, but he has plenty of experience with military and off-road vehicles, too.

As he says himself, he “focuses on combining Model Team–style bodies with complex Technic innards and likes to push the boundaries of size and scale”.

Seeing as a “simple” model can take three to four months to complete, with a more complicated one rising to 12 to18 months, it really is a labour of love.

Farming

Coming from a farming background Michal developed a love of machinery from a young age, as he spent his youth driving tractors and repairing them with his father, which gave him an invaluable insight into how machinery works.

As he grew older he was able to marry his passion for LEGO with his love of machinery, to create lifelike tractors and agricultural machinery from LEGO.

LugPol, or Lego Users Group Poland, is a website that brings together adult Lego fans from all over Poland.

Although Michal uses web-based platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and online forums to display his work (his online name is Eric Trax), he still takes part in exhibitions all across Poland and plans to take part in the Skærbæk Fan Weekend, an event in Denmark which modellers from all over Europe will attend.

When asked if he treats making Lego as a hobby, Michal gives a simple, definitive answer: “It’s my hobby. I’ve never treated it as a source of income, although I have received various proposals, even from machine manufacturers.”

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