FEATURES | THE NORTHPORT RECORD, SEPTEMBER 30, 2004

The Passion Of The Legos

Rich Pedulla, 13, engineers in a unique medium

By Michael R. Sisak / The Northport Record

Rich Pedulla stood in front of a display of his Lego sculptures at the East Northport Public Library, this week, and spoke of their creation with a sparkle of wonder and a sprinkle of pride strewn across his face, like a young design engineer showing off a newly introduced automobile on a production line in Detroit, Munich or Yokohama.

Between homework, chores, trips to the bowling alley and work on the weekends, Rich, an eighth grader at East Northport Middle School, lives in the colorful, square-edged world of Lego. His spare time is filled with innovations – the coupling of pieces, the processing of new ideas and the completion of new projects, a selection of which have been on display this month in the children’s section of the library. Rich premiered his extensive collection in the same space in January.

Some of the creations are extensive modifications on sets manufactured by Lego, the Danish company that invented the plastic interlocking bricks in the 1950s, others are original designs made from spare Lego pieces and parts from model trucks and cars. Everything is conceptual at first, a bit of trial and error, Rich said, but never sketched out.

“I’m not the draw-er type,” Rich said. “Getting from my head to my hands, that’s the hardest thing.”

Inside the glass case is a testament to all the hard work, the painstaking attention to detail, and the sense of purpose assigned to certain projects – an expression of emotion and familiarity through a unique plastic medium.

There is a blue four-by-four truck, of Rich’s design, based on the one owned by his uncle; a tractor-trailer that required precision in the determination of length and width to craft a proportional chassis; and a section dedicated to the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 – a 1,500-piece New York City fire truck and a custom-made trailer that holds an American Choppers fire department motorcycle. The memorial was on display at firehouses across Long Island, including East Northport, Northport, Centerport and Huntington.

“Each firehouse had it for a little while,” Rich’s mother, Debbi, said.

Rich was introduced to Legos at age 5 by his grandfather, Richard “Poppy” Reynolds when the boy became entranced by a train layout at Christmas time. His passion for the bricks grew at age 9, when he received a small kit and immediately sought to make engineering enhancements.

“How could I modify this?” Rich asked.

“Aren’t you too young for that?” Debbi responded, at the time.

Pedulla’s friends and classmates don’t get it.

“Kids think I’m nuts,” Rich said. “Mainly they say, ‘Why do you do this? Why do you waste all your money on these Legos?’”

His response: “I just love it. I just love making something out of Lego and taking it out of my own head.”

Rich has become an expert at engineering Lego-based structures. Last year he was called on by a local toy store to complete a woe-begotten Lego display and soon he will embark on a project to build a Lego-style dune buggy and an all-terrain vehicle for the front window of a new sports shop in East Northport.

Two years ago, Rich used Legos to build the tomb of King Solomon for a social studies class project, complete with steps and historically accurate catapults. The effort was worthy of only a C, Rich said, tongue-in-cheek. The catch: a slight misrepresentation of the colors of the period.

Rich’s efforts have not gone unnoticed by The Lego Company, however. Officials there have sent him T-shirts and have requested photographs of the display for use in their upcoming catalogues. They have also supplied him with rare pieces, including Biker Bob, the first Lego set ever introduced.

“He’s got the mind to go far, if he wants,” Debbi said.