The dark side of the brick

I have to say that it's taken me 24 hours to get around to writing this post.  The Death Star nearly killed me! Given it was a bank holiday weekend, I thought I'd get stuck into something big and picked the second-biggest set left in my to-build pile - the original Death Star playset ( 10188 ).  To be fair, the biggest set left is the more recent Death Star so it was 50:50!   This is labelled as an ultimate collector series model but I think it would belong better in the new "master builder" label.  Or indeed just as a giant playset.  I'll not bother describing what you get as anyone who is interested will already have looked up one of the many reviews or indeed built this themselves.  As such, I've just taken one photo to prove I've done it. Perhaps I'm just getting Lego fatigue but I didn't really enjoy this build.  A few thoughts: It's very repetitive.  Lots of reinforced plates and walls. I really didn't like the fact that a whole box c

After a night out with friends (novelty!) I got back to building this morning with a near hangover.  A quarter done on Thursday, I finished off the 10129 UCS rebel snowspeeder - the original UCS version.  Another ebay purchase, this one came in absolutely immaculate condition, barring a bit of dirt.  Not a single scratch nor any noticeable yellowing!   Also, for 1450-odd bricks, this was a fairly quick build.  I made a few colour mistakes as I was going, which necessitated a bit of undoing and that no doubt cost me some time.  I also think I was a bit slow from the wine last night.  Here's the finished product: First impression is that this feels much more weighty than I remember the newer version being, though they appear to be almost identical sizes.  There are a lot of bricks in the cockpit section, and also in the engine cowls on the wings, which probably accounts for that.   It's also got a significant amount of detail and I think I like the front panel better on this tha

I'm still struggling away with the Technic crane - onto night three and I'm still only half way through the manual!  I'm therefore spending an hour or so on other builds first and today's was the latest General Greivous' starfighter (I can't bring myself to add the superfluous s) - set 75286 .   I was all set to dislike this, given the price (I refused to pay the full asking fee and got this one 30% off in a sale).  However, I found myself quite taken, partly because it gave me a new piece (the 8x2 curved slope) and several other fairly rare ones.  It's also pretty weighty for its size. Nevertheless, it does remain very expensive for what it is and as such remains pretty average in the grand scheme. Back to technic! 

In case it's not obvious from the near daily posts, I'm on a mission to finish building all my Lego sets, which happens to now include all but about 3 Star Wars themed releases (today, the original Death Star playset and the original UCS snowspeeder both turned up, leaving me just the UCS Tie Advanced, a couple of rare minifigs and the Imperial Inspection to go).  Being a spreadsheet geek (it goes with the job), I've now predicted a finish of 19 June.  There are definitely some risks to this, not least the fact that the wife demands (reasonably) that I spend some weekend time with her but I've already managed to reduce this from the original prediction of 26th by being a bit faster on the building than my predictions allowed for.  So, I'm hopeful of staying on target. Last night I did build one of the polybag magazine gifts ("gifts" is really a bit of a misnomer, as I only buy them for the sets!) but mainly I've been building up one of the bigger techn

Back home and while I was away, a slow bricklink delivery from Hungary has provided the final pieces I need to complete the 10195 UCS Republic dropship with AT-OT.  I did most of the build a couple of weeks back so today was just adding in the missing bricks and filling in around them. The end result is huge and unarguably amazing.  The fact that you can lift both parts of the set with the upper handle (though it's a bit fiddly to thread the connector) is really cool.  There's loads of detail on both elements and some pretty rare parts to boot. Here are some photos of the two bits separately: It's quite possible that this is going into my top 10 favourite sets and the fact that I managed to do this for under £300 is also very pleasing.

Yesterday evening was spent in the car so I didn't have a chance to post on the quick lunchtime build... the First Order Stormtroooper brick sketch ( 40391 ).  This is the second brick sketch and I bought both almost straight away; I built the BB8 very quickly but this one ended up at the back of the shelf and only came out when I was looking for something I could build in my lunch hour.   I know this took less than 12 mins because that's how long my pasty was in the oven for and I finished this by the time the timer went off so it wasn't a long build.  Firstly, I was surprised by the number of hidden tiles in there.  Secondly, I liked the layers.  In summary, it was a satisfying little build and quite different to the average Star Wars build. Today's build was in a very similar vein - the Scout Trooper ( 75305 ) from the helmet collection.  I was now looking for something that wasn't going to fall apart when it gets transported back in the car on Sunday and the hel

Last night was spent building up the first of my larger technic sets (Supercar 8070) but tonight's was back on topic with the Knights of Ren Transport Ship ( 75284 ).   Just under an hour to build but satisfying throughout, I like both the design and the clever use of parts.  There's a satisfying amount of detail, a couple of interesting minifigs and perhaps my only gripe would be the lack of playability.    Sorry - not the most inspiring review...

I spent much of the weekend picking bricks and building up the UCS dropship, which is missing a few key bricks (for the first time ever, a Bricklink order went missing!).  This evening, I've done a quick build of the 2020 AAT ( 75283 ). You get a couple of unique minifigs plus a pretty slick looking tank.  It's not the biggest version (the 2009 version is bigger, as is the 2000 tan version, I think) but the newer bricks mean it's more nicely curved.  Reasonable levels of playability are packed in too - three swivelling guns, two opening hatches and the usual spring-loaded bolts. All in all, not a bad little set.  

Today's double bill is a pair of Tie Fighters - 75101 First Order Special Forces and 75211 Imperial standard. These were both BNIB sets I've picked up from Ebay though it took me ages to get hold of the latter. It turns out that these are near identical in terms of size and design but the inverse of each other in colour!  I started with the First Order Tie and was able to build most of the wing section of the second tie without looking at the instructions.  Neither took me longer than about 50 mins. I prefer the First Order Tie - three printed dishes does it for me, along with the blocky detail around the wing spars. 

Pretty much the same story as today's first build , I bought a BNIB copy of the rebel combat frigate ( 75158 ) from ebay.  This wasn't one of the cheaper sets I've bought - it must have been issued in pretty low volumes and the Ahsoka minifig now changes hands for significant sums. Again, the build wasn't all that long - just under 90 mins and had lots of symmetrical repetition to it.  Despite the uniqueness of this set in the Lego Star Wars universe, I have to say I'm ultimately a bit disappointed with it.  For me, it falls half way between trying to do detail and big structure and fails at both.  This isn't the only set where a large ship is translated into something minifig-compatible and doesn't quite work.  The Arrowhead (75186) from the same era is another example, as is the First Order Transporter (75103). 5 out of 10.  Time to do something else for the rest of the evening!  

It's Friday, I finished all the deliverables I planned for the week by 5pm and my boss instructed us to not work too hard today.  So I'm going to try for two Lego builds.  The first is a BNIB purchase from ebay some months ago of the Sith Infiltrator ( 75096 ).   The build was pretty straightforward - 90 mins with several interruptions.  And the finished product surprised me by being my favourite of the sets.  I'm not always of the view that the new sets improve on the older versions and looking at the pictures of this one I didn't feel overwhelmed (hence the fact it's sat unmade for some time). However, once constructed, this version has a solidity that I definitely feel was lacking from the 2011 version ( 7961 ). The build flows nicely throughout and the cockpit area has really nice detail on both top and bottom. You also get some good minifigs (Watto in particular) though I think the Anakin is a bit cheesy.   I did a quick compare to the 2011 set and they're

I managed to find time for a second build this evening which was fewer bricks than I expected... the mindstorms "droid developer" ( 9748 ) from way back in 1999.  This must have been one of the very first Star Wars tie-ins for Lego.   I have to say that this was a complete surprise to me when I found it while browsing Rebrickable and I had missed this and its bad twin from my list of Lego Star Wars.  So I got hunting on Ebay and picked up this very much second hand set.  There are a number of quite rare parts in here, including the technic R2 head pieces.  However, at the heart of it, is a mindstorms control block, which unfortunately is a bit temperamental so I've not been able to get it to do much more than beep a bit.   I've only built the R2 model but the book has two more builds in it - remembering back to my 1990s Lego technic, this was pretty common with multiple builds documented with the one set of bricks.  Here's a photo: I've got lots of spare parts

Today's build was the whole planet of Alderaan... or at least the 2013 planet set of the Tantive IV and Alderaan ( 75011 ). This set has been remarkably hard to get my hands on.  In the end, I purchased a new copy from Germany via Bricklink (just head of them starting to charge UK VAT!) though this disappointingly arrived with water damage to the box and instructions.  I've been keeping an eye out on ebay for weeks with no sign of anyone selling at anything approaching a reasonable price. The build was nice and short (10 mins or so) but it's 8pm and I need to write one more paper before I can stop work.  I prefer the version that came with the 10030 UCS star destroyer but this is a nice enough little set.  Nothing amazing to justify its price apart from, presumably, rarity.

A quick one-hour build today - the new Imperial Shuttle ( 75302 ).  This is pretty reminscent of previous shuttles in overall size but benefits from the latest parts.  And for a set of this size, it has no less than four parts that are new to my collection, which is always a bonus. Playability is medium - the wings fold, the cockpit opens and the central section hinges back (there's a clip with a nice feel to it.  Three minifigs and brickset claims two of them are unique but I think that's stretching it (Darth's cloak and I'm pretty sure that the constituent parts of the pilot have been seen before).   However, overall, I'm quite pleased with it and if you've not got a shuttle in your collection, this is a good addition.

Having finished the new R2 yesterday afternoon, I couldn't resist a bit more building in the evening so started on Death Star II ( 10143 ).  Today's build was therefore finishing it off and I'm satistied with a weekend of bricking that took me well over 5000 bricks - a pretty good pace and gets me back on target to finish all my building by the end of June. So the DSII... a bit of a beast.  The instruction book is only 100 or so pages but they are big pages and there is quite a bit of repetition, not least in the building of the two central bits of internal detail.  I've always felt that this was the limitation of the set - it was a shame that the upper and lower halves are identical and Lego could easily have done something a bit more creative. That said, being a bit simpler means it is quite easy to build and with an average of 25 pieces per lot, you don't have to go hunting around for the single small [hinge plate] you can't find too often.  My version is a r

Earlier in the week, I did a quick build of this MOC of Ahsoka Tano by Tanu Brick.  Nicely done and the design quality could easily be genuine Lego.  I had to make a couple of part substitutions but I don't think they're very obvious.

It's raining hard here so what better way to spend my Saturday than building the new R2-D2 ( 75308 ).  My opening thought is that it's odd that this isn't an official UCS set, as the almost identically sized 2012 version ( 10225 ) was a UCS set so why not this edition?  My only guesses are a) that after the classification of the Assault on Hoth as a UCS set Lego are now super cautious or b) they have bigger and better sets that they want to reserve the UCS classification for later in the year.  It's quite possible that both of these are true. Initial impressions on taking this to my breakfast table are a) that they're consolidating on the uncluttered black styling and b) this thing is surprisingly heavy.  The box is also much bigger than I was expecting - though that's probably my expectations. On opening, you have 17 bags numbered 1 to 13 and 2 big technic beam frames (new to my collection), plus the instructions.  There's also an inner box.   Getting stuck

Friday night and back to the Lego... today I finished off the Tantive IV aka Blockade Runner ( 10019 ) from way back in 2001, which arrived courtesy yesterday of an ebay deal.  I've learned to set my expectations low for older sets on ebay and this one was clearly a rebuild as it was missing instructions and box.  However, that helped with the price and what I ended up with was a set in pretty much perfect condition - barely even any dust and minimal yellowing!   To be fair, the stickers are new replacements but everything else is colour perfect so whoever got this must have picked up a near-complete bargain and then finished it off.  It took me about 2.5 hours to build - less time than I expected.  It's clearly a set of its time but has some really nice design features.  It is also massive.  I was expecting it to be bigger than the other two more recent versions of this ship but not quite so much bigger.   And here's a comparison to the other Tantive IVs: It's not that

I'm going to have to eat my words from Monday because today my copy of the new R2 set turned up... with a Tatooine minibuild in it!  Not that this showed up on my order or anything and a copy from Ebay turned up too which is now going into the long-term store for value creation.   Also arrived today was my ebay purchase of 10019 - the last of the rebel blockade runners to add to my collection but that has been cleaned and sorted today and will be built tomorrow.   I finished off the evening with a quick build of the Tatooine homestead ( 40451 ) which I have to say is my favourite of these SNOT scenes so far.  I like the use of slopes to create some hills in the background and it's clever the way it switches to plates for the homestead section.  You get some unique printed tiles and the corner 2x2 arches were new to my collection.  Overall, I'm therefore pretty pleased.  I was hoping to compare this to the Tatooine mini-build from 2015 ( CELEB2015 ) of which I think I have

I had the corona jab first thing this morning and at 8.30pm, I now feel pretty terrible. I've managed to squeeze out a lego build... the Razor Crest ( 75292 ).  My edition is an early one with the original branding on the box. It's very solid.  And grey.  8 out 10.   I'm off to feel ill...

I decided to do another quick build... the freebie imperial shuttle ( 30388 ) that was an in-store give away this weekend.  I've had a copy of this for a while as it was also released somewhere at the start of the year.  Just 85 pieces, it's actually really good and feels surprisingly solid.  Another nice little set

May the fourth be with you!   I did a bit of googling at lunchtime and found out about the new LSW set release rumours but others have covered that much better than I can so no more here.  On to today's build then... I thought I'd get one of the new sets out and went for the near-UCS Imperial Probe Droid ( 75306 ).  This is something of an overlooked icon from the original series - there have been a number of small versions but it's taken 20+ years to get to a full-scale edition.  I guess it's only with some of the latest bricks that this can be done so well - and to be fair it is very movie-accurate. First impressions are the box which is fast becoming a standard size and withe the minimalist "adult-oriented" all-black styling.  Opened up, you get the instructions, stickers, 6 normal bags and two small bags of various pearl dark grey crank shafts and the like.  It feels quite light - bags 4 and 5 in particular feel very insubstantial!   Bag one builds the bas

I'm going to start with an admission and a grumble... because I was away at the weekend playing Lego with my 7-yr old niece for the first time since August last year, I didn't log on to the Lego website until lunchtime on Saturday.  By which time, the Tatooine homestead freebie was already out of stock!  WTF...  OK, so I was slow off the mark but surely Lego should make sure they have enough to last more than 10% of the way through their promotion period.  10%!!!  Anyway, I've got my R2 order in (already despatched) and have reluctantly stumped up for the homestead on Ebay.   Back home now and today's build was the last of the AT-TEs - the 2003 version ( 4482 ).  This was another Ebay purchase but came in pretty good condition and was nearly correct/complete.  It's also full of some pretty interesting bricks - no less than 11 of them go for more than £5 each on Bricklink and the estimated "new" cost of a rebuild is a whopping £742.  A surprising amount of