Brick Dinos: Lego dinosaurs go on display in Norwich

17 July 2021

Brick Dinos: T.rex in Lego — Image caption,
The dinosaur exhibition features a wide range of species with some measuring up to 4m (13ft) wide

Dinosaurs built from Lego bricks are going on display in a city which is showing a lot of love for the prehistoric creatures.

The Brick Dinos exhibition, created by artist and lifelong Lego fan Warren Elsmore, features more than 500,000 standard blocks and elements.

The exhibition at the Forum, Norwich, follows a T. rex art trail in the city and a visit of Dippy the diplodocus.

Mr Elsmore said it had been a "really nice challenge" to create the models.

"Lego bricks are square and dinosaurs are not," he said.

The exhibition runs from 19 July to 30 August and although it is free to attend, tickets are required.

The archaeopteryx was one of the earliest known birds and was about the size of a modern raven. "We try and have a good range, colours and building styles and a little bit of educational information so people can learn something about the models," said Mr Elsmore

The ankylosaurus was a "fused lizard", referring to the fact many of its bones were fused together. The Brick Dinos team has worked with palaeontologists to ensure the models are as accurate as possible

"None of these models are kits, they were all designed by myself or my team," said Mr Elsmore. "They all use standard Lego pieces, everything has came out of a set you could buy at your local toy store. We've collected them over years and somehow we have a knowledge of all the Lego pieces that have ever existed"

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The model masiakasaurus features more than 30,000 Lego bricks. "There's some really tough challenges about building Lego models to this size, we need to have special frameworks in them and we have to be careful how we sort of sculpt with the bricks to make sure they look natural and really lifelike," said Mr Elsmore

"My job is playing with Lego bricks every day," said Mr Elsmore. "I've loved it since I was a kid and it's just that challenge - the bricks fit together in a certain way but there's also no limits, you can literally build anything out of Lego, and that I really like." The show also pays homage to Dippy, the Natural History Museum's famous dinosaur that is completing a UK tour with a last stop at Norwich Cathedral until October 2021

"What I really hope people take away from this is a good time in a safe environment, Covid has been really tough for the exhibition industry," reflected Mr Elsmore. "What excites me the most is that people come to visit the exhibition and then they go home, go up in the attic and dig out the Lego they had as a kid and start to build their own. You could do anything that you see in this exhibition if you've got enough Lego bricks."

Photos and video by Martin Barber