MDP Mission Mini Figures
There are a few things in life I enjoy doing, and this little idea combines a few of them. I have for many years enjoyed cycling, often travelling abroad with a group of like minded individuals to enjoy the benefits it brings (Physically and Mentally). I absolutely love Lego, and am quite partial to 3D printing if you cant tell – so what could be better than combining them all.
This year 6 of us were planning on a little 5 day trip to Normandy France, usually there is lots to sort out on my part, but this year due to other circumstances I found myself with no real planning to do (really appreciate all the effort others put in!) – so my contribution to the trip was (initially) to create little figures for each of us, so we could carry them around on our bikes, get some good action photos and use it (selfishly) to showcase MDP3D Printing.
What started out as simple figures, defined by different colours soon grew (as i have a tendency to do) into each character having a bike, a different choice of headwear (no real thought into why), glasses and custom name graffiti.
After a little tinkering and multiple changes I ended up with:
Matt – Orange Figure with baseball cap and glasses
Auz – Black/Orange Figure with bucket hat and glasses
Chris – Bronze Figure with old school pilot hat and googles
Rob – Green Figure with helicopter baseball cap
David – Blue Figure with bowler hat and glasses
Kaz – Purple figure with cowgirl hat
Each figure then had its own name in graffiti style added, I also used the graffiti style name to personalise the bags (i mean if you have a cricut, why not use it). I wanted the figures to secure to our bikes (without ruining the frames) so designed a simple block to secure to the back of figure with hooks on and used rubber bands (like the ones used for lights etc) to keep them in place. This worked well as it was easy to secure and remove the figure for any photo opportunities.
Now I just needed a way to encourage photos – as these are what will create exposure and bring the figures to life.
So I decided to create little challenges, 3 challenges everyone would do and 2 individual challenges.
The rules were simply, Photo/Video evidence required and no stealing each others figures. It starts when you set foot (or wheel) on the Ferry departing Portsmouth and ends when you set foot (or wheel) on the return ferry from Caen (in this case)
The green tasks are ones which everyone would do, simple tasks that with a little imagination would be easily achievable. The blue tasks, were individual and required maybe a little more thinking/planning.
None were meant to be unachievable and all within the boundary`s of the law (or dont get caught………).
The cycling – Overall 325km over 5 days , with the last day only being a 25km relaxed ride down to the ferry. The weather was a killer, averaged around 32 degrees for the 4 days – not what you need. This certainly did not help with the photos – every rest stop was to find shade and take on liquids not to whip out the figure and do our best David Bailey impressions.
Below are a collection of the photos taken, I think the idea was a hit – but we need a little more practice in the execution – far to busy enjoying the riding, company, views and beers to think about the creativity side of the tasks (a lot were done on the last morning). Definitely an idea we will continue, you can not cycle in the group without your figure now! Already have ideas for next year.
If you are interested in having some bespoke figures made up – please email me on info@mdp3d.co.uk and we can discuss your ideas before bringing them to life.
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