Czech teenager builds second-largest ever Millennium Falcon LEGO model

Seventy thousand: that’s the number of LEGO bricks used by a Czech teenager to build the second-largest ever LEGO model of the Millennium Falcon, the famous star-ship from the Star Wars series. On Tuesday, his creation was officially listed in the Czech Book of Records.

Photo: ČTK/Luboš Pavlíček

It took Radek Popík, a sixteen-year-old schoolboy from the Moravian town of Bruntál, nearly a year to build the super-detailed version of Han Solo’s famous ship out of LEGO bricks.

When he put the last of the 70,000 LEGO pieces in place, Richard applied to take part in the international LEGO exhibition, organised by the Danish company. To his surprise, he was one of the 20-something people selected to showcase their creations at the prestigious LEGO WORLD event in Copenhagen in February this year:

Radek Popík, photo: ČTK/Luboš Pavlíček

“I was really excited to be in Denmark. But I thought I wasn’t good enough to be there, because there were all these adults who worked with LEGO their whole life. And there was I, just 16 years old. I thought my model was not good enough, but they actually liked it.”

Radek based his design of the star-ship on LEGO’s Ultimate Collectors Series Millennium Falcon, but significantly enlarged its scale. While the off-shelf LEGO series is only around 80 centimetres long, Radek’s version has over 160 centimetres in length.

It also features an elaborate interior with all sorts of details from the Star Wars movies, including the iconic holochess game board.

“My design of the Millennium Falcon is based on the Star Wars series. I just found some pictures of the interior and exterior of the ship on the internet and then I built it. It took me about eight months.”

Radek says he first got the idea to build the LEGO model of Han Solo's famous ship back in 2007, but he had to wait another ten years to make his dream come true:

“When I was four years old, I saw a picture of a LEGO Millennium Falcon on the internet. I asked my mom to buy it for me, but she told me it was too expensive. So ten years later, I decided to build one on my own, and it is even bigger.”

Photo: ČTK/Luboš Pavlíček

Since his parents are not huge fans of LEGO, Radek has to build his creations in the garage. Since he is 16 and goes to high school, he built the Millennium Falcon in the evenings and at the weekends.

At a press conference on Tuesday, the Pelhřimov-based Good Day Agency officially listed Radek’s Millennium Falcon in the Czech Book of Records. Meanwhile, he already has his eyes set on a new record.

He wants to build an even larger LEGO version of the famous star ship to outmatch the present record-holder from Australia.