1/3 The LEGO set that Rick designed is very popular on Marktplaats (photo: Rick Lenssen).
A replica of an ASML chip machine – the TWINSCAN EXE:5000 to be precise – is very popular on Marktplaats. It concerns a chip machine from LEGO that the tech giant had made by the Danish toy manufacturer. Only ASML employees could buy the set, for about 210 euros. The set is now offered for double on Marktplaats. Rick Lenssen from Helmond never expected that there would be so much interest in the LEGO set he designed.
It took Rick, who has worked at ASML since 2014, about forty to fifty hours to design the LEGO version of the chip machine. “I do this in a computer program in which you can use all existing LEGO bricks for a design. The set consists of a total of 851 pieces,” he says.
Fanatical builders spend about three hours putting the machine together. And they are more than happy to do so, as it turns out, because the set is in demand on Marktplaats. An advertisement for the machine on the website has been viewed almost two thousand times.
“I didn’t expect there to be so much interest.”
The LEGO chip machine, which costs 208.50 euros for ASML employees, is resold on Marktplaats for 400 to 450 euros. “I expected that the set would be popular with colleagues, but I did not expect that there would be interest from outside people,” says Rick.
He thinks that the success is mainly due to the popularity of the company in Veldhoven. “ASML has of course been in the news more often in recent years and technical people are the biggest nerds, so they want to enjoy hobbying with such a LEGO set.”
It is not the first LEGO construction that Rick has designed for his employer. For example, about four years ago he recreated the ASML campus with LEGO bricks. . “That cost more than 2.5 years, 2,500 euros and 25,000 stones.” Rick also designed a LEGO set of the skyline of the Veldhoven company and a replica of the TWINSCAN NXE:3400C machine. Despite a sales maximum of one set per employee, the newest set was in no time sold out.
“Ended up on a tech site in America.”
“The set was on one tech site ended up in America and since then there has been great interest. I get a lot of responses from family, friends and acquaintances,” says Rick.
The designer would like it if ‘his’ LEGO machine remains among colleagues and is not resold. “Then employees have a nice souvenir of the place where they work.”
Stef from Veldhoven does not work at ASML, but tries to get a replica of the machine that costs 350 million euros in the real world by calling on Marktplaats. “I work at a chip company abroad and want to buy the LEGO set as a gift for a customer,” he says.
Even though he does not want to buy the machine for himself, he understands the interest. “ASML has grown into a kind of status symbol at home and abroad in recent years. This LEGO set is therefore a nice collector’s item for the enthusiasts.”
“450 euros is a bit too much.”
Stef received two responses to his call. “I didn’t hear anything back from one person. And when I let the other person know that I thought the 450 euros offered for the set on Markplaats was a bit too much, I didn’t hear anything back either.” Stef himself would be willing to pay around 300 euros for the popular LEGO set, but so far he does not have one for it.