In the woods of Småland, in the south of Sweden, hides a LEGO builder with a passion for Technic, mechanics, and military vehicles. Mikael Bertilsson a.k.a. Mortil is not afraid of building big vehicles with motion and all kinds of different functions. He is a member of the Swedish LUG Swebrick and, I’m happy to say, one of my friends.

Do you recognize the feeling that you don’t trust just anybody to help you with your builds? Mikael is one of two people I have trusted to help me take down builds in the bustle to pack and leave a show. There is something special about people who really see you, care, and go the extra mile to help you. I can always trust Mikael to help me in a jam whether it is transporting builds or as support during the building process.

Mikael is the AFOL everyone is jealous of. While many of us spend hours setting up MOCs, Mikael sometimes arrives at a convention casually carrying a couple of big helicopters in a blue ikea shopping bag and other times with very nice wooden crates full of really big builds. Technic’s durability is a real advantage in these situations! Mikael also adds tons of value to our shows by organizing areas where kids (and adults) can actually operate some of his builds.

Mikael’s builds have a great balance between function and looks. There is so much to consider when building Technic, especially with limitations in space when you need to fit motors and batteries without letting it impact the appearance too much. Now let us ask Mikael about his Technic passion!

Malin: How did you end up being a LEGO and Technic nerd?

Mikael: Hi and thank you Malin! I have always loved to find out how stuff works, how something moves, and how to fix mechanical things. Some of the first Technic builds I remember from my childhood were an aqueduct I had in the bathtub with a wheel that opened gates or raised elevators with minifigs.

When I got out of my dark age, I first bought the 42030 Volvo Loader and I was hooked. I kept it built for six months and then tore it down to build a large crane. I bought pieces from Brick Owl - and later on, I also found BrickLink. I still love to find out how stuff works, and it feels natural to incorporate that into my building. I can get really nerdy about how gearboxes work and complex designs of mechanics.

Malin: So many of your builds have a connection to the military. Is that what you enjoy building the most? What inspires you?

Mikael: There was actually no conscious thought behind building military-inspired builds. When I was little, I went with my father to a regiment where they had a test vehicle for the Archer system. And later on as an adult I was looking through “future weapons” on YouTube and saw the Archer and thought, “I should build that!” It was really fun to take that build to exhibitions and see people's reactions. The word spread about my build among those who work with the system, and I heard about people who came to the exhibition just to see it.

After that positive building experience, I thought that it would be cool to build Swedish military builds, as most builds are based on Russian, American or German military. It is special to build something made in Sweden to show it off in Sweden. I get very strong reactions from people who have worked with that exact equipment. I have heard so many stories, and it is a great way to connect to people. My main drive is still that I really love to build anything that is technically challenging.

Malin: You were building your big crane at the same time that I was building my biggest build (The Teardrop). It was so much fun sharing the big build experience with you! What is your experience building it, and what would you do differently if you built it today?

Mikael: Aww, thank you! My experience was a bit frustrating—a lot of BrickLink orders and late nights. I still think about how I could change it and make it better, especially more reliable. I often put a lot of work into my builds to make them reliable and I keep on improving them and making them better. I regret that I started rebuilding it to the Powered Up system from Power Functions. In my experience, Powered Up is not a mature system. It’s a good idea on paper, but there are a lot of flaws. If I rebuild the crane I would rebuild the drive train (yet again). It may look finished, but there is still room for improvement.

Malin: As I have followed your building process, I know that there are a lot of problems to solve along the way as you build. What is the hardest problem you have had to solve when building?

Mikael: That is a hard question, but finding a rotor head that could cope with the weight of the seven or eight blades was a big challenge. Another challenge was the compact build of my Siege Tank, it kept me up very late at night but turned out great in the end. It is so durable that it could even withstand when a toddler fell on it! Only one technic pin broke in the accident! I always try to downsize, and that is the biggest challenge when building builds with functions and movement. I would say issues around size are the hardest thing to solve.

Malin: Aside from the crane, what is your favorite build and why is that build special?

Mikael: The Bofors Archer was my first MOC (My Own Creation). I am very pleased with it, and I probably will never tear it down. My build of a CH-53 Super Stallion heavy lift helicopter is a special build that I love due to the overall looks I achieved but also the way I was able to get the rear hatch to work.

I am unsure about what I think about the my Siege Tank. I tore it down into pieces and forgot about it, later on I found that I had an earlier model in my “scrap pile”. So I started to rework that and that build still sits on my shelf today. But my favorites are definitely the Archer and the Super stallion. They are very special to me.

Malin: What is your experience about the attention Technic builds get in the overall LEGO community?

Mikael: Technic and the possibilities that these pieces give a builder is not mainly for the very detailed fine art builds in my opinion. Technic is more about building a raw caricature of what you are building. When you build complex stuff in technic you always get rewarded with hearing stuff like “WOW I can´t understand how you get that to work!” Technic shines when you can get LEGO to move and have functions, there is the strong point. There is so much cool stuff you can do!

Personally, I walk around and am amazed by the LEGO System builds, with amazing landscapes and constructions. I have tried to build with System LEGO, but it is not my thing. I would really like it if there was more attention to Technic builds in the usual LEGO forums, but it is great that more and more System builders are starting to use more Technic and creating bridges between these areas in the same hobby.

The Technic community is just as open and nice as the rest of the LEGO community and you get help really fast in the Facebook groups if you have a problem. I have found a lot of friends there, and that is really wonderful.

Malin: I know that some of your builds have ended up in some cool places, can you tell us about that?

Mikael: I got an assignment to build a copy of my Archer! People working with the system mailed me about it and asked if I could build one more. It is now on display, and it is so much fun when someone appreciates what you can do. The same thing happened with the Radar Systems that I built.

Thanks to contacts in the Swedish LUG Swebrick and the Swedish Air Defense Museum, I was asked to attend a helicopter exhibition. That experience gave me a lot of insight in working with helicopters, and I was also allowed to look around in places usually not available to the public. I met some very cool people and heard so many fun stories surrounding the helicopters in Sweden. That was a fantastic day and gave me some of my best memories!

Malin: Our standing joke is that if we keep building big builds like this we need to buy a truck together to transport everything to shows. That thought keeps me smiling even in the hard times when building seems far away. Speaking of big builds, I know you and another friend were building on a really amazing combined build, how is that going?

Mikael: Thank you very much! I hope we will be able to get this build on the road again. Both me and my building partner Lennart lost our way when the 2020 LUG exhibition was cancelled due to the pandemic. It would be so sad to just show my part of the build even if it is a beast weighing 9 kg in pure LEGO. I hope I can get out all the kinks and get it moving in time for our LUG exhibition in the spring. Looking forward to showing it in grand style together with Lennart’s amazing build.

Malin: I really hope we get to see your mega builds this coming spring and that I get to write it up here on BrickNerd! Thank you for the interview, and I am looking forward to finally being able to meet up through Swebrick soon and talk LEGO!

What would you like to build out of Technic? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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