In this week’s episode, we meet Johan Kamfer. Johan is from Moorreesburg, a rural farming community 90km north of Cape Town.
Johan shares with us his childhood memories, from the very first space set he received as a gift from his uncle and aunt. Despite being far from any cities where LEGO is abundantly available, he managed to twist his parent’s arm to purchase a few sets, cementing his love for LEGO from an early age. The freedom to build anything his heart desired captured his imagination.
Johan entered his dark ages for quite a long time, only emerging little more than two years ago when his kid reached the same age he was when he started playing with LEGO. After a shopping trip to Cape Town and a couple of builds, Johan quickly realised that he’s never lost the passion and love for LEGO. He decided to rebuild those early sets, discovering BrickLink in the process, so making his first connection into the AFOL community. Through the help of Elmar and Colleen from Cape Brick Fairy, and he joined the Cape LUG.
His interest turned to Star Wars LEGO sets, where the Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) sets quickly caught is attention due to the vast range of sets in the theme. Only being back into LEGO for the last two years, he realised that he missed out on the original UCS sets from the early 2000s, especially the first 11, which has now become incredibly scarce. It’s nearly impossible to purchase those sets today, either new or used. So he turned his attention to collecting the parts needed to rebuild both the TIE Interceptor and the AT-ST Walker.
His first project, the AT-ST walker incorporated about a quarter of his childhood LEGO, as all those parts still fit the modern pieces. This, in turn, gives the set personal nostalgic value, as it will always remind him of his childhood.
It takes up to six months to collect all the parts. Some parts like windscreens and exclusive pieces can come at astronomical prices, but with patience and persistence, the wait pays off, making these sets even more special to Johan. He shows them off at exhibitions with joy and passion.
Finally, Johan reveals an exceptional jewel from his trove of treasures. You’ll have to watch the episode to learn more!
Thank you for sharing your love and passion for LEGO, Johan.
Links
BrickLink
- Cape Brick Fairy: https://store.bricklink.com/Poppie123?p=Poppie123#/shop
Recognised LEGO® User Groups (South Africa)
- LEGO® USERS GROUP SOUTH AFRICA (zaLUG): https://www.zalug.co.za/
- LEGO® USERS GROUP Western Cape (capeLUG): http://capelug.co.za/
- Johannesburg LEGO® User Group (jhbLUG): https://jhblug.co.za/
- South African Fans of LEGO®: https://www.facebook.com/groups/safols/