Home Run Derby

While doing research for our recent pictorial of Lego Baseball Stadia … I came across La Grande Dame of all Lego Ballpark Models - a three foot tall, fully functional model of the home of the Milwaukee Brewers, Miller Park.  Made almost entirely of Lego bricks and parts.

It deserved its own post.

Wow.  That’s freaking Miller Park.  Just for reference …

The model is nearly three feet tall is a spot on match for the architecture of Miller Park.  But the outside isn’t all that’s realistic on this model.  The inside of the ballpark is spot on as well, right down to the field dimensions, concession areas, press boxes, a TGIFriday’s, and Bernie Brewer’s slide high above the left field wall.  

But one of the things that makes Miller Park unique is its fan-like retractable roof … not to be outdone, so does this model.   And it’s fully motorized.

I was truly astounded by this masterwork and had to talk with its creator.  That would be Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) student Tim Kaebisch. 

This past weekend, I had the privilege of talking with Tim about his creation.

Home Run Derby:  Tim, thanks for taking time to talk with me.  What inspired you to make the model?
Tim Kaebisch: I had been building Lego cities for years, but for a while I had wanted to make a functional model of an existing building.  After I attended the Miller Park groundbreaking and took self guided biweekly construction tours, I knew that I wanted to build one out of Lego. 

HRD: It’s truly incredible.  How long did it take you to build it?
TK: I don’t have an exact time in months, but I built it in seven phases.  I probably worked a few months on each model.  Sometimes I had to put it on hold because I ran out of bricks.  I finished the current model in October 2007 and the display case was finished in March 2008.

HRD:  Did you have blueprints or schemes to work from?
TK:  There was nothing like that out there.  So it was mostly trial and error.  I started with the roof before anything else.

HRD: Is it all made entirely of Lego?
TK:  It’s 99% Lego materials.  There’s some light string and twist ties in there.  The electronics are all from Lego Mindstorm. 

HRD: Can you tell me how many pieces are in the model? 
TK:  I know the exact number of Lego bricks, but the number is a secret because there will be a contest for MSOE students to guess how many there are.  It’s on display at the MSOE library.

HRD: What’s your major at MSOE?
TK:  I’m a Junior majoring in Architectural Engineering, specializing in Environmental Engineering, which includes HVAC, plumbing and fire protection.  I’ll graduate in May 2009.

HRD:  Any plans to make any other models? 
TK:  Right now, the Miller Park model is getting a lot of attention and I’m studying for a big history exam on Monday, so no.

HRD: If some company doesn’t hire you right away, there’s something wrong.
TK:  I have been hired for an internship and possible full time position with Grunau Company.

HRD:  Thanks again for taking the time to talk to Home Run Derby.
TK:  No Problem.  Thanks for your interest

Of course, no Home Run Derby article would be complete without video, so here’s some video which includes the roof opening.

Incredibly, Kaebisch made Lego Miller Park’s Nemesis … Lego Big Blue’s replacement. 

Be sure to check out Tim’s Lego Miller Park homepage.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 8:04 am and is filed under 2008 MLB, Ballparks, Stats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.