[MOD] Jedi Starfighter 75191: now centered in the hyperspace ring and with an improved docking area

[mcphatty]

I picked up this set recently and really like it, it’s pretty iconic and unique! I wasn’t happy with how high up Obiwan’s starfighter was positioned in the ring though, like everyone else I guess, so I’ve made a few simple changes which I hope improve the overall look.

I lowered the ‘cross bar’ by about two bricks by first building up to instruction step 179 (leaving out the black pins in step 116 and skipping all the plate building steps 143 to 162) and then in step 180 connecting the upper trans Technic arms so that the 4L axle slotted in two holes lower down than in the instructions, see the pictures. Now the cams at the end of the cross bar still connected to the rim in step 182 but importantly hanging below those two LBG technic axle pin connectors (at 3 and 9 o’clock on the ring, built in steps 101 and 103). Then I added a single layer of bricks to the cross bar and built the plate docking area on top (following steps 143 to 162 missed earlier).

I didn’t like those flappy panel pieces so further modified the dock area by taking them off, rearranging the curved slopes and adding a couple of new wedge plates on hinges that fit snugly either side of the fighters wings. For the whole mod I only added 22 new pieces and repositioned a few others; the white 2x10 plate and dark red inverted slopes under the fighter that get reused in the front of the dock, as does the dark red 1x6 tile and the 1x2 white tile (plus two white 1x1 plates) replaces it to support the fighter.

Here’s a link to the Stud.io file showing those changes and how the trans-clear Technic pieces fit together, for clarity all the extra pieces are shown built blue and repeated spread out.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l4l4s4f68h1t5dl/MOD 75191 Jedi Starfighter.io?dl=0

And here’s a few more angles, because my description was probably as clear as mud!

The mod is a long way from movie-accurate but I think the set definitely looks better with the starfighter closer to the centre of the ring and fitting more snugly in the dock. Getting the fighter to connect below the cross bar will require a big rebuild which I don’t really want to do but I may try to get it positioned further back, like in the film. I may also add more pieces to the docking area to smooth it out but for now this is an easy and cheap mod with a big visual effect. If you’ve got any other suggestions I’d be happy to hear them!

Edited March 9, 2019 by mcphatty

[JoeChu1980]

nice modification and good reference for me, glad to have your post, inspired me to re-watch EP2 again.

[mcphatty]

  On 3/6/2019 at 5:13 PM, JoeChu1980 said:

nice modification and good reference for me, glad to have your post, inspired me to re-watch EP2 again.

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Thanks! I’ve just watched AoTC again, some great scenes in there, Jango and Obiwans chase was the highlight.

[Retro]

I don't know this set 75191 well enough to judge the MOD, but the photos look great.

Recently, while I was building my Jango's Slave 1, I was thinking wistfully it would be nice to own 75191 to battle against it.

It's interesting to me that the prequels continue to provide inspiration for many Lego fans and Star Wars fans, despite the wisdom of the crowd telling us they were terrible films. Sure, there are problems with them, and some silly things, but they are packed with cool designs and action...

[mcphatty]

  On 3/6/2019 at 9:04 PM, Retro said:

It's interesting to me that the prequels continue to provide inspiration for many Lego fans and Star Wars fans, despite the wisdom of the crowd telling us they were terrible films. Sure, there are problems with them, and some silly things, but they are packed with cool designs and action...

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I think it’s a shame that the prequels have still have this reputation, they haven’t aged well thanks to the excessive cgi but like you say the action and design is amazing. This is my first prequel trilogy set, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more now!