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Rolls-Royce revs up giant Lego jet engine

Rolls-Royce dreams up a half-size Lego version of the powerful turbofan Trent 1000 jet engine found on each Boeing 787 Dreamliner wing.

Christopher MacManus
Crave contributor Christopher MacManus regularly spends his time exploring the latest in science, gaming, and geek culture -- aiming to provide a fun and informative look at some of the most marvelous subjects from around the world.
Christopher MacManus
Some assembly required. Rolls-Royce

Gentlemen, start your Lego jet engine. Created by Rolls-Royce and unveiled at the Farnborough International Airshow in England yesterday, the engine uses 152,455 bricks and reaches an overall size of 4.9 feet long and 6.5 feet wide. All of those Legos together stack up to an astounding 676 pounds.

Check out this time-lapse video of Rolls-Royce employees building the half-size replica of the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000, which powers the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Rolls says it's the world's first Lego jet engine.

A jet engine made of Legos (pictures)

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The Lego jet engine's blades rotate just like the real deal, and a Rolls-Royce statement noted that engineers created 160 separate components for the final product. One example of a replica component within includes an inner combustion chamber (where fuel burns). Building a life-size Lego jet engine required four lucky Rolls-Royce employees and more than eight weeks of assembly time.