Infiltrating Naboo (pt1)

Today's build was the 2011 Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator (7961).  Weighing in a 479 pieces, this should have been a relatively quick build but I kept finding I'd missed pieces so had to keep going back to the Lego Cave to get the right bricks (I'm halfway through a post on my issues with dark red vs. reddish brown and defective colour vision).  I reckon this added several hundred steps to my daily count but also probably half an hour to the build.

I've still got the 2015 version (75096) to build up and I'll do a proper comparison between the various sets at that point but on a standalone basis, I really like this version.  

A bit of scouting finds an image from the Star Wars Vehicle Guide:

This shows that the Lego version captures the lines pretty well - my only complaint would be the join between the front and back halves of the build which leads to a gap where the original had a smooth ridge. 

I love the cockpit area, though, with its great rounded design and unfolding ramp.

I also really like sets that have a way to store lightsabers and this is as clever as the solutions get.  

Under the "bonnet", you get a mini bike and two mini probe droids.  The latter can be dropped out by flipping a switch which is cool.

Altogether, along with the retractable legs, missiles and folding wings, this set has a pleasing amount of playability captured in its small number of pieces.  

The second hand version I picked up was a bit patchy with its stickers and the eagle-eyed will notice that I'm missing a slope in the last photo - spare part on its way from Bricklink.  It was also missing the minifigs back in the days before I thought it was important to get these in sets so I spent quite a bit of time trying to get hold of them.  It turns out that all four are unique to this set!  I particularly like Captain Panaka but the expression on Qui Gon is also priceless.  

All in all, this gets 9 out of 10 from me.