10143 UCS Death Star II

[Lobot]

Hi Lukasguy, you may find this thread useful I'll merge this post with it in a bit.

I used the inventory for the model on Bricklink (here) and it was correct (I ended up with a couple of spare parts, but that was probably my fault!). As for an instruction manual, I'd suggest either Bricklink or Ebay, but considering how much the set has increased in value during the last couple of years it's likely that you'll pay a premium for it.

It's a great model and well worth the effort. Good luck with your build!

[Lukasguy]

Almost all the orders have been shipped. I estimate the total price at around 400-450 euro. I could have saved some money by being more patient and looking for more pieces at fewer shops.

Because of the holiday season the "I want to buy a piece" section from bricks and pieces is not accessible, so I'll have to order the rare pieces when it back. I have substituted these rare ones with the same piece in a different color and found that a shop which I was buying pieces from had all these parts. So I'll use these while I wait until the "I want to buy a piece" section is back.

Most of my orders have arrived but some key elements still need to arrive. This is what I already have:

These white parts are not the ones I changed, these still need to arrive but I needed these to build this.

Anyway thanks for ready and have a nice one.

[jhaelego]

Can't wait to see your progress! I've recently been contemplating doing this build

 

[Ellisss_2]

Just seen this, you got some great deals on the parts!

[brobert]

This seems to be a really long time project, but it's great that you're so close to finishing it now :) This DS is just so much more amazing to me than the one they just rehashed.

[iv-tecman]

I'm currently collecting the parts to build this.. Its taking time and I'm really struggling with the PDF file from Lego. The instructions are not clear, as the PDF file is a low quality scan and its hard to see pin placement or part colours.

I've made some progress and have got something that looks like a death star II. I prefer this model to the newer death stars from Lego  so keen to get it completed one day.

[Lobot]

3 hours ago, iv-tecman said:

I'm currently collecting the parts to build this.. Its taking time and I'm really struggling with the PDF file from Lego. The instructions are not clear, as the PDF file is a low quality scan and its hard to see pin placement or part colours.

I've made some progress and have got something that looks like a death star II. I prefer this model to the newer death stars from Lego  so keen to get it completed one day.

 I totally agree with your comment about the quality of the instructions, the 'city' is particularly challenging to build correctly from the .pdf version, but it's possible.  I found that switching magnification, and regularly checking my part placement against later steps in the instructions helped a bit.  It's a great looking model once finished, and well worth the occasional frustrating moment, although it's extremely delicate!! 

[iv-tecman]

14 hours ago, Lobot said:

 I totally agree with your comment about the quality of the instructions, the 'city' is particularly challenging to build correctly from the .pdf version, but it's possible.  I found that switching magnification, and regularly checking my part placement against later steps in the instructions helped a bit.  It's a great looking model once finished, and well worth the occasional frustrating moment, although it's extremely delicate!! 

 

Agree about it being fragile. I've had to rebuild the entire bottom after it just for no reason decided to drop off, the stand also collapsed when I applied a bit too much force when trying to re-attach the bottom section to the pins after it fell off, and well, ended up pretty much rebuilding most of it again. 

And like a poster above, I have had to use all grey hinges as for some unknown reason the tan hinges are extremely expensive price per part on brick link. .2p for a grey hinge, £3- £7 for the tan, and the model needs 32 tan hinges, so I had to use cheaper parts. But its going to be worth it.back when the death star II was released I wasn't building Lego star wars. 

[sandtrooper]

A few years ago, I bricklinked this too.  Somewhere I made a mistake when building one of the unfinished hemispheres and had to start it over again.  I like the model but it was somewhat tedious to build.

I also agree that Lego should increase the resolution of the online instructions.