It’s only October, but winter is just around the corner, and it’s time to start thinking about dusting off our LEGO Winter Village displays and maybe even adding some new modules. If you would like to enhance your display with something unique, consider this charming mechanical model by Jason Allemann. It features two minifigs enjoying a fun winter day skating at the sugar shack.
It’s a nice companion piece to Jason’s earlier Working Ski Hill model that we shared previously (see links at the end of this post), and would make a great addition to any LEGO Winter Village display. One of the minifigs skates in a circle, performing an occasional pirouette, while the other is roasting marshmallows on a fire. The flames of the fire also rotate, helping to bring the model to life.
Jason states that this model celebrates two of his favorite winter activities: ice skating and visiting a sugar shack. For those who may not be familiar, sugar shacks are small cabins where maple sap is boiled down into syrup. They’re also known for making a delicious treat by pouring the hot maple syrup onto snow, where it hardens into candy. You can spot this tasty treat displayed on the counter in the shack at the back of the scene. You can see a demonstration of the model in action in the video below.
Jason started working on this model a year ago and slowly refined it throughout the last winter season. Earlier this year, he submitted it to Series 7 of the BrickLink Designer Program, but it was ultimately passed over. Since then, he has made a few minor changes, mostly to optimize the part list, hoping to make it a bit easier for other people to collect the pieces needed to assemble it.
According to Jason, the mechanics aren’t too complex, but if you don’t have much experience building mechanical models, it might feel a bit daunting. As with any LEGO Technic model, you should make sure all axles and assemblies rotate smoothly as you are building them. Pushing bushings on too tightly can introduce excessive friction in the system, for example. Note that the entire mechanical system won’t fully function until the step of adding the crank. Once the crank is added, definitely test it to make sure the system is working smoothly.
You can read more assembly tips at Jason’s blog post: Sugar Shack Instructions at JKBrickWorks.com. A full building kit is available from BuildaMOC.com, or you can get just the instructions and parts list from Rebrickable.com.
I hope you find this model fun and may even add it to your own LEGO Winter Village! Feel free to share and discuss your own displays in the comment section below!
And you might also like to check out the following related posts:
- Working LEGO Ski Hill with Instructions
- LEGO Winter Village Style Custom Vehicles & More!
- LEGO Winter Village Santa’s Post Office Review
- Off-Season Storage for LEGO Winter Village Sets
- LEGO Winter Village Display Ideas
- Cute LEGO Winter Village Projects with Instructions
- More LEGO Winter Village Dioramas & Display Ideas
- LEGO Winter Village Dioramas & Display Ideas
- Light-Kits for Your LEGO Winter Village & More!
- Minifig-Scale LEGO Vintage Pickup Truck
- Build Up Your LEGO Winter Village – Book Series
- Custom LEGO Winter Village Ideas by ChatGPT
This is wonderful! Thank for sharing! I love the minifig twirling on the ice!