MOD: Vader's TIE from 10188

[Pellaeon]

Long time lurker, first time poster... hopefully I'm following all the rules!

10188 is pretty much spectacular, with one exception: Vader's TIE Fighter. It's designed to fit a minifig, but as a consequence, the whole thing is sort of so-so. It's certainly not up to par with the "realism" in the rest of the set.

So, I decided to mod it... by ditching the cockpit, I could lower the roof and move the wings forward to where they belong. Alas my childhood LEGO collection is about 2500 miles away, so I only had a few sets to poach from (primarily a couple of battle packs). My color options, in particular, were pretty limited. Still, after much trial-and-error, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

The front-on silhouette is much improved:

Moving the wings forward really helped, though now the fighter doesn't fit in the "docking arms" in the Death Star.

The back was the hard part. Off-setting the wings a half-stud allowed me to avoid having a gap like the original, or a bunch of visible jump plates.

I am not sure about my use of the light bley slopes on the back, but I only have the underside slope in that color, so it'll have to do for now.

Brickshelf (when moderated):

Full gallery: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=381718

Earlier designs: A and B

Whenever I get around to ordering some pieces off of Bricklink, my thought is to redo the raised part of the rear in light bley (the two vents and the 1x2 plate). Seems like that would help break up all the dark bley while still fitting with the color scheme.

Comments and suggestions welcome!

Edited August 2, 2009 by Pellaeon

[DoctorDude234]

Pretty good.

But, to ask an obvious question, does it fit a minifig? Because what I liked about the original was that it could fit a minifig, despite the fact it was so small. I kept looking at the TIE in the original, thinking it was a mini.

[Pellaeon]

Pretty good.

But, to ask an obvious question, does it fit a minifig? Because what I liked about the original was that it could fit a minifig, despite the fact it was so small. I kept looking at the TIE in the original, thinking it was a mini.

Nope, it can't fit a minifig anymore. I think it'd need to be bigger if you wanted it to both fit Vader and look accurate.

Edited May 3, 2009 by Pellaeon

[ILikePi]

Great work! It looks amazing and would be even better if a minifig could fit inside.

Also, welcome to EuroBricks! I see that you also live in Silicon Valley.

[KimT]

Great MOD and equally great pics.

Thanks for sharing it with us

[cottonwood]

I for one understand your problem with the scale of the tie. Without the minifig having to fit inside, the scale looks more accurate and realistic. I think you absolutely nailed it, good job.

[prateek]

Great MOD It's a shame that it's not compatible with the Death Star anymore

[CopMike]

Great job Pellaeon , I like it a lot! I might just have to do like this when I get the time to build my set.

As for the minifig issue, put in one of these guys instead :

[-JD-]

Maybe a black one with a TIE pilot helmet?

Great work! I need to make a few of these.

[KurttKrueger]

Wow, really nice job with that. Makes me wonder whether I should just do the same.

Thanks for sharing the pics with us :)

[Pellaeon]

Thanks for all the kind words, everybody.

Great job Pellaeon , I like it a lot! I might just have to do like this when I get the time to build my set.

As for the minifig issue, put in one of these guys instead :

That'd be pretty excellent -- if they ever make one that would pass for a TIE pilot, I may have to give it a try!