LEGO has just released its first toys in the new “LEGO DC Universe Superheroes” lineup (“LEGO Marvel Superheroes” sets are coming later this year). To celebrate, adult LEGO builder Rod Gillies created this awesome TV displaying a Superman minifigure TV show — and it really plays.
Gillies’ ingenious MOC has a built-in scrolling function, allowing the background to roll by, which cleverly creates the illusion that LEGO Superman is flying over Metropolis. It’s a brilliant piece of work, and it couldn’t have been easy, since the entire landscape had to be created using perfectly vertical slats that aren’t connected. This is the only way the whole thing could be made to scroll. That he made such a thing work in such a small size only adds to its wonder.
Gillies posted the above video that shows how the TV set looks when it’s “on” and the background is scrolling, and it’s a pretty flawless effect. Major kudos, Mr. Gillies. Very impressive.
I’d love to see another video or maybe some photos that show how the scrolling mechanism works. I can think of a few different ways one could do this, and I can’t help being curious about what method he used.
LEGO Superman TV by Rod Gillies
Hi there. Thanks for the feature and your kind comments. They are much appreciated. I’m delighted (and totally surprised) at the reception this build seems to have got.
To attempt to answer your question: the backdrop is built of alternating 1- and 2-wide columns of bricks, mounted at the top and bottom to loops of bulldozer tread pieces. It’s genuinely not that complex a thing, it’s just a bit fiddly to put together. Not sure how well it would hold up to extended running either, I’ve not dared run it for more than a couple of minutes at a time…