[MOD] 10018 UCS Darth Maul refresh

[NathanR]

Continuing with my project to update and refresh all of the UCS sets to use modern and readily available parts, I’ve adopted a more systematic approach and am now working through the sets in order of release.  The first UCS sets were of course the 7181 Tie Interceptor and 7191 X-Wing, but the Tie Interceptor requires so many changes that it would essentially become a MOC and the X-Wing was already updated as 10240 Red Five.  I’ve therefore skipped these sets, and moved on to the oldest UCS set included on the UCS 10th Anniversary Poster: 10018 Darth Maul.

 

(Rendered with Blender via Mecabricks)

Released in 2001 as a retail exclusive, the model has an interesting build though the two-tone colour scheme gets a little dull and repetitive.  The instruction manual was rather unusual, using a top-down view throughout and having the model built up one layer at a time.

 

(Rendered with Blender via Mecabricks)

Being a brick-built sculpture, pretty much every part is still in production and I didn’t have to do too much work here.  
The most visible change is in the cylindrical block that supports the whole model, which I recoloured from black to dark bluish grey - the main component is 30562 Cylinder Quarter 4x4x6, which only appeared in black in one other set.  Some of the other parts used in the original model took me by surprise, as I’ve only rarely encountered 4x6 and 4x10 bricks and I never knew 4x18 bricks even existed.  These bricks have all had to be replaced with smaller bricks or combinations of other plates.

One lovely touch on the original was a chrome silver antenna to represent Darth Maul’s small silver earring.  Since Lego don’t do chromed parts any more, I’ve sadly had to replace it with a 4L bar in light bluish grey - though I’d advise anyone actually building this model to get a custom chrome-plated part so that the detail could be done properly.

Summary of all changes to the set:

  Reveal hidden contents

Recoloured all blue parts to dark bluish grey except where otherwise noted.
Recoloured all brown parts to reddish brown.

Cylinder Support Column
Steps 1-4:
Recoloured all parts to dark bluish grey
Recoloured 30145 Blue Brick 2x2x3 to white (most common variant)

Shoulder Section
Step 9: 
Each 2356 Black Brick 4x6 replaced with 3x 3001 Black 2x4 bricks
6212 Black Brick 4x10 replaced with sandwich of 2x 3030 Black Plate 4x10, 2x 3460 Black Plate 1x8 and 2x 3710 Black Plate 1x4
30400 Black Brick 4x18 replaced with sandwich of 6x 3032 Black Plate 4x6, 2x 91988 Black Plate 2x14 and 2x 3020 Black Plates 2x4

Step 10:
6212 Black Brick 4x10 replaced with sandwich of 2x 3030 Black Plate 4x10, 2x 3460 Black Plate 1x8 and 2x 3710 Black Plate 1x4
30400 Black Brick 4x18 & 2x 2356 Black Brick 4x6 replaced with assembly of interlocked plates (consult LDD file for details)

Step 11:
6212 Black Brick 4x10 replaced with sandwich of 2x 3030 Black Plate 4x10, 2x 3460 Black Plate 1x8 and 2x 3710 Black Plate 1x4

Step 12:
6212 Black Brick 4x10 replaced with sandwich of 2x 3030 Black Plate 4x10, 2x 3460 Black Plate 1x8 and 2x 3710 Black Plate 1x4

Step 15: 
3004px8 “Dark Gray Brick 1x2 with Lego Logo New Style in Red Square Pattern”, replaced with unprinted 3004 Black Brick 1x2

Head
Step 28:
3957 Chrome Silver Antenna 1x4 replaced with 30374 Light Bluish Grey Bar 4L (Lightsaber Blade / Wand)

Step 31:
Recoloured 3703 Technic, Brick 1x16 with Holes to Dark Bluish Grey

Step 38:
Recoloured 3703 Technic, Brick 1x16 with Holes to Dark Bluish Grey

Step 39:
Recoloured 3703 Technic, Brick 1x16 with Holes to Dark Bluish Grey

Step 41:
2356 Red Brick 4x6 replaced with assembly of 2x 3032 Red Plate 4x6, 2x 3023 Red Plate 1x2 and 4x 2420 Red Plate 2x2 Corner

You can view the model on mecabricks, and download the LDD file here.  I’ve not prepared an LDraw file, because so little has changed with this refresh that the instruction manual for the original can still be used.

Please note that I’ve not built this model in real bricks yet, and probably never will.  Darth Maul is just a little bit too creepy for my tastes…

 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2017 by NathanR