Lego Display Builds Interest In Hobbies

JACKSON – Owen Schoeneick’s work is currently on display at the township library. He is an artist but his work doesn’t involve water colors, paints or pastels – it’s with Lego bricks.

The 11-year-old 6th grader at Goetz Middle School recently talked to The Jackson Times about his interests in Lego building. “I was three years old when I got my first Lego set. It was a Duplo set and now I’m doing 18 and older sets.”

Over the years he’s made “a ton of Star Wars items, some cars and other things but I love Star Wars,” Owen said. Two versions of the popular Jedi Master Yoda character are on view in a display case on the first floor of the Jackson Library.

As to collecting Lego figures and pieces, Owen said, “I do some collecting. I do a lot of holiday sets with my dad.”

Owen decided to share part of his collection with the rest of the world or at least those who pass through the township branch of the Ocean County Library after he and his mom “were at the library looking for books and we saw a display case with some Legos from another kid and so I went up to the front desk and asked and they gave me a form to fill out.”

“They told me to bring items in. I made the decision (of what to bring in) by myself and I picked some of my bigger and newer sets.”

That included his ancient Egypt set that features a pyramid, Star Wars items which include a well-known Empire vehicle from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and a number of large-scale race cars.

“Somehow I picked just the right amount of items for it,” Owen said.

A large red race car that is on display took him three days to build “a few hours each day. The pyramid I saved up for that and paid for it myself,” he added.

Owen puts a lot of his allowance money towards his Lego hobby. “That and a lot of birthday money.” His father chimed in “a lot of Lego gift cards.”

He finds his Lego kits and items at “Target and the Lego store in the Freehold Raceway Mall.”

As to future purchases that he has his eye on Owen said he was saving up for Titanic. “That will be a large one and we’re thinking of building a case for it because it is so big, costs a lot of money and is valuable.”

As to his vault of treasured Lego kits, Owen said “I rotate them around. Some are in boxes in the basement. I have some of them on display. My dad and I are thinking of making shelves for them.”

“The one I enjoyed the most to build is definitely the Millenium Falcon (a starship from the Star Wars franchise which is also featured in the display case at the Jackson Library).”

He also enjoyed building the pyramid as part of the Egyptian Lego kit. On average he says that “the car and something big like that takes about two to three days but if it is something that is smaller it could be just two hours a day.”

With the Star Wars franchise being as popular as ever, Owen is already anticipating building more Lego kits built with that theme. He juggles his Lego building with his other passion which is being on the soccer field.

“It’s soccer, Lego, soccer,” Owen said. His father said he was on a soccer team at school and an academy team. He and his dad agreed all that is needed now is a soccer field Lego tournament that would bridge the gap of both his interests.

Owen said he also likes doing “Technic” “which is kind of like Lego but there are gears which his father said “is a more engineered version of Lego. It assembles a little differently and is a bit more solid.”

Owen’s display will be available for viewing until the end of October.