The dark side of the brick

So, it's done - 10179 is complete and installed in its home in the Lego cupboard.   Here it is in all its glory: Sadly, this isn't an original - rather it's my rebuild.  I've managed to get mostly the right parts (including recently getting the ladders for the rear) but there are a number of substitutions, most of which are either cosmetic (the 75535 pin connector replaced with 62462 and some of the 6.6l bars replaced with 6l ones) or colours (inside you'll find some of the hinge bricks are the wrong colour).  I also have a genuine 10x10 radar dish but it's a custom sticker rather than a print.   However, it still looks awesome.  The level of detail is quite distinct from the later version - this one has much more going on in the back quarter whereas the more recent 75192 has, in my view, a more consistent level throughout. When I got 75192, I loved it but was vaguely disappointed that most of the superstructure is near identical to the original 2007 version. 

Today's post is actually from yesterday's build... continuing the theme of recent posts, I've been back on the 10179 build today (9 more sections done with only 7 elements to go).   Another of the recent purchases was the second version of Jabba's sail barge - the 2013 version ( 75020 ). Apart from the fact that the box arrived a little bit damaged and it was missing the usual 2-3 pieces, it was in generally very good nick, apart from being dusty.   Once cleaned and rebuild, I'm very happy with the purchase.  The build took about 90 mins and was pretty interesting - the symmetric duplication was fully bearable and it therefore felt fresh throughout.  The minifigs are also interesting: Leia has unique braided and coloured hair which is actually rubber: There are also unique Max Rebo and Ree-Yees minifigs in the set which my 7yr old niece (who loves her Lego) found really funny (she liked Leia better, though).   There's a surprising amount of detail and playabilit

After a couple more nights' work on 10179, I got distracted again.  Today, another Ebay purchase arrived, which I think is the last of the battle packs I need to complete the collection.  Back in the early days of courtship with my wife, she bought me the very first battle pack as a birthday present - 7654 Droids Battle Pack.  It came in at significantly fewer pieces than the UCS sets which were the only other things I owned at the time so was, if I'm very honest, a bit of a disappointment.   As a rule, I still find the Battle Packs to be an oddity.  Apart from the very first of them, they all conform to a strict rule of 4 minifigs (7654 had no less than 7!) along with a small vehicle/gun.  In many cases, the minifigs are a bit unimaginative - you get 3 or sometimes even 4 of the same one and, for a set where these are clearly the focus, they're often not unique.   However, today's delivery is a near mint copy (for a really good price of £20!) of 9488 : Elite Clone Troo

After a 12 hour day at my desk, I am still procrastinating on 10179 which is starting to get in the way.  Today's new arrival was the 2021 Imperial Tie Fighter ( 75300 ) which I ordered at the start of Jan and which has only just made it from Lego HQ.  As it's a pretty much brand new set, I thought I'd build and review it.   The set is medium sized at 432 pieces but interestingly only has 88 different parts in it.  I see this as the start of a new trend from Lego to somewhat simplify their models, which is - in my humble view - welcome.  I think it's been achieved without any compromises too, which is great.  As comparisons from last year, the Sith Tie Fighteer (75272) and General Grievous Starfighter (75286) both had similar numbers of pieces but more individual parts (115 and 125 respectively).  The Knights of Ren ship had slightly more pieces but 175 different parts!  There are also a brand new part - a 6x6 plate with 5 pin holes on the rear side ( 73110 ).  And als

I'm still working through 10179 and felt like a Sunday break.  It's not as if there's a lot to do - normally, we'd be in the Midlands this weekend for my mother's birthday but lockdown life is pretty limited.  So, I thought I'd build my latest delivery - after being out of stock almost everywhere for weeks, I found the Tie Fighter Pilot Helmet ( 75274 ) available from Argos for delivery.  18 hours later (Argos is doing a good job of competing with Uncle Jeff!), it's on my doorstep and another 24 hours later than that, I've now constructed it.   This is my first foray into the Helmet collection which Lego started up last year.  It's clear that this is aimed at adult collectors (the box labels it 18+) and it is somewhat fiddly in places (the breathing tubes).  I can't imagine my 8yr old nephew building this one yet!  It also certainly looks pretty good once finished - there is plenty of detail and dimension to it.  It also contained a part which wa

Thanks to my mother and grandfather, I am colourblind. After discovering (c. 2001) that I knew all of the PhD students and postdocs in the colour vision team at Cambridge, I allowed them to experiment on me and was duly diagnosed as extreme deuteranomalous vision defective.  Putting aside the science, this means I have very limited ability to distinguish blue from purple, as well as struggling with red/brown and green/brown (oddly, I'm almost always fine with red/green).   Why am I writing about this in a Lego blog?  The answer should be obvious in that there are times when I really struggle to identify what colour my bricks are.  Particular challenges are: Dark red vs. reddish brown (this is my all-time worst and I struggle with them every time) Dark green vs. dark brown (especially cheese slopes) Transparent yellow vs transparent bright green (this is another random weakness which totally foxed Petroc when he tested me 20 years ago) Dark green vs. black (yes, really - I regularly

I'm working my way through rebuilding the original UCS Falcon which takes some days, unless I really annoy the wife by ignoring her for 15 hours straight. In the meantime, here's a quick post on the Imperial Assault Hovertank ( 75152 ) that I rebuilt last week. While it's not the largest set in Lego history by any means, I do think this one has a lot of recommend it. It's still the only version of this that Lego has released and I've not seen any MOCs that are materially better.  It comes with three minifigs (two of the trooper) which are unique to this set, and I particularly like the Chirrut Imwe. Actually, I like the stormtroopers too.   There's a reasonable amount of playability in the set with moving guns, spring-loaded ammo and hatches that open up. Build was easy but satisfying. All in all, I would say that this is a 9 out of 10 set.

Today's build is possibly the set that started me off as a proper collector again.  Shortly after I rebuilt the 2007 UCS Falcon, I got a silly idea to start collecting the rest of the UCS sets.  The B-Wing ( 10227 ) had literally just been withdrawn by Lego and I got a brand new copy off Ebay for RRP+postage, which was a pretty good deal.   I rebuilt this a few years ago so this makes the third time I've built it up and it never fails to impress.  I've got all of the minifig-sized playsets and these vary in the level of detail but, like all of the best UCS sets, this one goes to the next level.  For one thing, it's absolutely enormous - it's 66cm (26in) long.  As always, the level of detailing is high and there are some unusual parts in there.   I spread the build over two nights, though a long single session would have finished it.  There's quite a bit of symmetrical repetition in the build but somehow I didn't mind it too much.  There were occasional greeb

My first Ebay purchase of 2021 was a big one... the original UCS set.  From all the way back in 2000 (I was somewhere between masters and doctorate at the time and therefore far too poor to contemplate such frivolities as Lego UCS), is the X-wing Fighter ( 7191 ).  Weighing in at 1298 parts, this, for the time, was a BIG set.   The copy I've managed to get my hands on (I'm not disclosing price, but it wasn't one of my better deals!) came with a slightly tatty box, pretty nicely kept instructions and (mostly) great quality pieces with absolutely no yellowing.  The stickers were all still attached and even better, only a few of the pieces were dusty.  Cleaning was therefore done during build, which took my two sessions.   Here's the finished beauty: A few things: It's very sturdy, apart from the wings which are not brilliantly attached The wings are mostly symmetrical but each of the four lasers is slightly different At rest, with the foils in flight position, they ac

As I was looking to start trying complete my collection, I realised that a couple of sets reused models from previous sets.  I've currently parked any ambition to buy the Imperial Inspection as I've already got the shuttle and I'm really not sure I can bring myself to buy something just for the (rare) minifigs.  Another example is the "UCS" set 10131 - Tie Fighter Collection.   This is a classic example of something which Lego should never have labelled UCS (along with Assault on Hoth) as it just consists of three standard minifig scale models, one of which is included twice!  And the classic Tie Fighter was released as a standalone set ( 7263 ) which did at least come with a light-up Darth Vader!   I was about to write that the Darth Vader Tie Fighter that came with the set was also a duplicate of the set which was previously released no less than three times (7150, 7152 and 7262) but this would be wrong.  The earlier sets were released in the pre-2003 colours

Today I'm pretty excited... the final parts arrived for my rebuild of the Nebulon B medical frigate ( 77904 ). This is a first outing for Lego for one of the classic ships from the original trilogy - after more than 20 years!  It's taken me a few months to collect all the parts - some of them are pretty rare but it was cheaper than buying a new copy of this from Ebay.  I think this was briefly available off Amazon last year, after an intended release at an Expo.  BNISB versions are going for about £120 - if I can pick up a copy for less than £50, I may do so but it's not high on the list. Why am I excited?  This ship is a key part of my journey back into Lego.  After discovering Bricklink and realising that I had a chance to rebuild the 2007 UCS Falcon, my next step was discovering the infinite universe of MOCs.  I thought about odd Star Wars ships which hadn't been released as sets and alighted on the Nebulon B.  I then went looking for photo references and stumbled a