A Hungary-based toy photographer took on his largest project yet with this Lego Hogwarts Express train set, and the photographs are magical!
Benedek Lampert shared this spell-binding video on his YouTube channel, showing some of the behind the scenes action which goes into the sets of his photography. In the video, we see Benedek planning, cutting and building before getting everything set up for the shots.
The Hogwarts Express train which appears in the photographs is Lego’s new collector’s edition set, a 1:32 scale replica of the train from the movie franchise with over five thousand individual pieces.
Complete, the set is 118 centimeters long, has turning wheels, and real lights which can be turned on inside the train carriages.
For his photography, Benedek builds miniature sets and set pieces for the toys to appear in. However, the size of the Hogwarts Express set meant that Benedek also had to scale up the surrounding scenery. He has an eye for perfection and says that the King’s Cross station walls alone took him over 20 hours!
However, for Benedek it was well worth the effort. He told The Railway Hub: “I am a huge steam machine fan! At once I had an opportunity to travel with a real locomotive, but not just as a passenger but at the train driver position. So I could see how it works and feel the raw power and voice of these amazing machines.
“This is why I was so passionate about this photo series, I wanted to show this LEGO set as epic as locomotives are!”
To make the Lego look like the real steam engine from the films, Benedek created his own smoke using a homemade smoke machine with dry ice. He can be seen testing it out in the behind the scenes video. The plastic tube he is using is a repurposed ice cream holder from a theatre. He cut a hole into the tub and poured hot water through the tubing to create the steam effect.
It took a few attempts and variations to the mixture to get it right, but Benedek is happy with the end result.
Benedek has been on his photography journey for six years now. As well as the Hogwarts Express set, he has photographed Lego Star Wars, Back to the Future and Stranger Things sets.
You can see more behind the scenes videos on his YouTube channel, or visit his website or Instagram.
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