Reproducing a SW MOC - my experience (part 1)

[drdavewatford]

I've been extremely impressed with some of the superb Star Wars MOCs I've seen on Eurobricks and elsewhere and wished that I had the time (and probably the creative ability) to make my own.

A couple of Anio's recent creations have recently really impressed me, and what further caught my attention was the fact that his friend oxycrest had produced detailed instructions and a parts inventory for a couple of the MOCs.

I therefore made the decision that I would try and recreate the MOCs for myself.

The first MOC I decided to build was his UCS TIE fighter.

I started out by downloading the instructions and part inventory :

Anio's UCS MOC - parts and inventory

Then it was time to try and source the parts. The good news was that because I have almost all the Lego SW sets I had nearly all of the parts. The bad news was that many of the sets are sealed, and also I'm reluctant to mix up the sets. I therefore headed to Bricklink to source the parts instead. As any of you who have tried to do something like this before can probably confirm, trying to source a few hundred pieces via Bricklink can be pretty frustrating - it's basically a game of trying to source the parts from as few sellers as possible, while ensuring that you buy enough from each seller to reach their minimum order. It took ages, although a couple of sellers were particularly good (such as Sylvain's 1001Bricks store in France, Elly's BricksNBitz store in the UK and a couple of others in the U.S.). Eventually I had everything apart from some Bley 3mm rigid hoses which I couldn't find anywhere. I have to say that Anio was incredibly helpful and encouraging. He suggested that I might be able to get the hoses direct from Lego, and he was right - I called customer service and they were fantastic, shipping me the missing hoses pretty fast. I've not yet added up how much I spent on all the parts. I estimate perhaps 60 or 70 pounds sterling, but this could be (and probably is !) an under-estimate..... The trans black canopy alone cost about 20 bucks, and had to be bought from the U.S..

So on to the build. Oxycrest's instructions were fantastic, and the build was pretty quick and simple. The only fiddly jobs were cutting the hoses down to the correct length, which needed to be done carefully, and resizing the picture containing the technical spec of the TIE (beautifully designed by Oxycrest to look like a genuine UCS sticker) so I could print it on to sticky paper and attach it to the 12 1 x 8 black plates making up the display plaque.

Here's the finished article :

The shot below from a slightly oblique angle shows the bley hoses which were so painful to source :

Here's a picture from the back :

And check out the awesome name plate - looks totally UCS authentic !

I love this MOC, and can't wait to display it next to my other UCS TIES (the interceptor and Vader's TIE advanced) when I get a chance to build them......

You can find Anio's own pics of his creation by clicking on the link below :

Anio's pics

So in summary, it was an excellent experience trying to recreate someone else's MOC - Anio was really friendly, helpful and encouraging, and once I'd managed to source all the parts and put it together I had a great sense of achievement.

I subsequently went on to reproduce another of Anio's MOCs, and I'll try to post pics of that one another time.

Thanks for reading, and I hope this inspires you to venture beyond the official Lego SW sets.

Cheers,

drdavewatford

[Anio]

I'm very happy to see your reproduction !

And thanks for all your compliments. I am very flattered.

edit : I told Oxycrest you reproduced the TIE with his building instruction. He was very happy, and he thanks you for building it. ;)

Edited December 4, 2009 by Anio

[KimT]

Nice reproduction and thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience in doing this.

Having instructions available for MOC such as this one is really great.

I fear though that Brickshelf wont be around for ever and we need some kind of backup for all those instructions.

We're discussing this within the staff and I hope to have some plan ready for this in January.

[Anio]

I fear though that Brickshelf wont be around for ever and we need some kind of backup for all those instructions.

I apologize in advance for the "spam", but it will be available on my website for a while ( http://www.setechnic.com/notice-ST01-P.html ).

[drdavewatford]

Nice reproduction and thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience in doing this.

Having instructions available for MOC such as this one is really great.

I fear though that Brickshelf wont be around for ever and we need some kind of backup for all those instructions.

We're discussing this within the staff and I hope to have some plan ready for this in January.

Thanks, Kim, and you're right - it would be a fantastic resource if Eurobricks hosted a repository of MOC building instructions so that they're not 'lost' in future.

Dr. D.

[Big Cam]

Nice reproduction and thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience in doing this.

Having instructions available for MOC such as this one is really great.

I fear though that Brickshelf wont be around for ever and we need some kind of backup for all those instructions.

We're discussing this within the staff and I hope to have some plan ready for this in January.

I'd be more than happy to help, with storage or the actual task of downloading them all.

Back to the OP, Great job, I remember seeing this MOC before. It looks superb and you did his model justice. That display plate really does look authentic.

[RileyC]

Its great that Anio has instructions for his great MOC.

Were the instructions easy to follow like lego's ones?

[drdavewatford]

Its great that Anio has instructions for his great MOC.

Were the instructions easy to follow like lego's ones?

Yes, Roncanator - the instructions were just like Lego ones, very clear and easy to follow. They even look like genuine UCS instructions ! Oxycrest did a superb job on them, and I believe they took him ages to make....

If you click on the link in my posting above you can download the PDF, although beware - it's a large file !

Dr. D.

[CommanderFox]

A Great reproduction drdavewatford

I had a flick through those instructions and they are jaw dropping!!! Really amazing job with them Oxycrest

This model would have to be one of my favorite UCS MOCs.

Well done Anio!

CommanderFox