StoutFiles

Designing Cloud City

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All the wishful talk I've heard recently about a UCS Cloud City has got me excited about one, and how dissapointed I'll be if they don't make one. So if they don't...I want to build my own! I'd like some advice from others with my current design thoughts.

So to start, we'll take an existing playset that is great and similar to what I'd want in a Cloud City, the Death Star.

lego-death-star.jpg

To better illustrate all the rooms in the Death Star I'm going to show all the rooms in one big strip.

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Using the same format, I'll show the layout of my vision of Cloud City. Since Cloud City isn't a circle but more of an oval, the shape needs to be longer and shorter.

round2.png

Blue: Elevator

Green: Doorway (Gate/Archway/Door/Broken Window)

Red: Trapdoor

Top Floor:

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This basically need to be a big black circle for the floor, with the landing pad and landing pad walkway raised up about an inch. This is the most optional part of the set, but I feel a landing pad is really important and doesn't work if it's off to the side of the set.

Carbon Freezing Chamber:

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This room is important and needs to fit a lot of minifigs in it; therefore, it should be a huge room.

Duel Room:

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I'm sure this room has an official name. This room will feature the broken window from the old Cloud City set to move to the next room in the duel.

Extension:

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This room will need to feature the lower lever as part of it, Luke needs to fall a pretty good distance. The bottom of the room will be sloped so that Luke will funnel towards the trapdoor, which when open will let you have Luke grab the railing under the city to wait for the Falcon.

Meeting Room:

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Prison:

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Torture Room:

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Bedroom:

I don't have a picture of this. The room they're in when Lando comes to take them to Vader.

So, that's it. Just imagine walls separating the rooms like on the Death Star except for the top floor, which is one big open area. If they made an offical set with this design it would likely cost the same as the Death Star assuming the same number of minifigs and a new Cloud Car.

Good design? Needs work? Let me know what you'd do to make it better, or even a completely different design. I just want a good Cloud City!

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Ugnaughts (spelling? typing off the top of my head here), but they've yet to be made as official minifigs.

Can't wait to see this finished! Especially looking forward to seeing how you translate Cloud City's distinct architectural style into LEGO.

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Having a very well-thought-of plan and a nice layout is already a great start for your ambitious project Stoutfiles. default_thumbup.gif It's a good thing you already know what you want to do and everything seems planned perfectly, so go ahead and start building. default_classic.gif I am in no way an expert in Cloud City building but if there is a cross-section of the of the portion that you would like to build, that would really help a lot. I don't have the SW Great Cross Sections book so maybe someone could confirm if there is one for the Cloud City. All of us would be looking forward for the completion of this project. Good luck!

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Having a very well-thought-of plan and a nice layout is already a great start for your ambitious project Stoutfiles. default_thumbup.gif It's a good thing you already know what you want to do and everything seems planned perfectly, so go ahead and start building. default_classic.gif I am in no way an expert in Cloud City building but if there is a cross-section of the of the portion that you would like to build, that would really help a lot. I don't have the SW Great Cross Sections book so maybe someone could confirm if there is one for the Cloud City. All of us would be looking forward for the completion of this project. Good luck!

It's actually just called the Complete Locations book, Incredible Cross Sections is the vehicle guide, and it has cutaways of both Cloud City and another page focusing on the processing vane where the duel takes place. I don't actually have the book, this info's from Wookieepedia, so I can't give much more detail than that.

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Good idea, and a great overview that you made for both the Death Star and the cloud city.

Basement, basement, basement, basement, just made me laugh out loud.

Having the "topfloor" open but still the landing pad on top sounds like a really good idea.

I think you should do so that the landing pad can be lift off the rest of the creation.

Same would go for the two rooms "Carbon Freezing Room" and "Duel Area" to give highest playabillity

to the set overall.

I hope to see some progress pictures very soon on this work.

Can´t stress enough that I would want TLG to make an official one as well!!

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Well thought through plan and I like the 'similarity' with the death star set design.

This could be a top notch design if TLC hasnt already designed one.

Since they made the Death Star, a Could City like it isnt unthinkable.

Let's hope and pray :cry_happy:

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The outer shape will be the most difficult thing to make, a stable saucer on a stick with interior? Wow... Good luck, mate!

I guess if TLC ever makes a new version, it will be more like 10123 and less like the UCS Death Star I assume.

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Maybe you could try covering the city with plates, like the UCS Death star 2 (10143) and making them easily removable, so it can be displayed both ways. One thing I disliked about the death star playset was that it didn't look much like a death star. just a suggestion.

Edited by brickbuilder

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Good idea, and a great overview that you made for both the Death Star and the cloud city.

Basement, basement, basement, basement, just made me laugh out loud.

Having the "topfloor" open but still the landing pad on top sounds like a really good idea.

I think you should do so that the landing pad can be lift off the rest of the creation.

Same would go for the two rooms "Carbon Freezing Room" and "Duel Area" to give highest playabillity

to the set overall.

I hope to see some progress pictures very soon on this work.

Can´t stress enough that I would want TLG to make an official one as well!!

They already made one!

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Very nice layout, it seems a bit much and alot to hope for, but I think it would be a great UCS set. I find it hard to believe that they will top the Falcon, but we can hope.

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This sounds interesting, I've always thought that Cloud City looked pretty cool and I can't wait to see how you re-create it in bricks. I also hope to see some pictures soon, good luck!

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Nice idea! Shouldn't there be public area/wide corridor type space outside the meeting room? There was the little skirmish on the steps around this area... Also, a small area where C3PO gets busted before being handed in pieces to Chewy?

These were bits of the Cloud City scenes that stick in my memory.

Cheers

Rog

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Good work, but I don't know about the torture room. Maybe a droid processing room with a conveyer belt?

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Nice start definately! :thumbup:

You immediately notice how much brain you put into this. :laugh:

Hope you stay motivated ... :tongue:

I'm ashamed I put this on the backburner for so long, but I'm almost finished. I fell for the rumors that Lego was going to come out with a new Cloud City and they still haven't, and at this rate I feel it won't be modular when they eventually do. Sadly, my design is in LDD for people hoping for real pieces, but there's too many pieces to bricklink a WIP. It will be fun to show off how my design changed as I built it, should be up sometime this week. Hoping for lots of feedback.

Edited by StoutFiles

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I'm really looking forward to seeing this StoutFiles, especially your design of the landing pad & carbonite chamber. I've been struggling to design these areas on my version (link here).

I've been quietly hoping that the new Lobot minifigure :wub: is a sign that a new Cloud City will be released at some point this year. Perhaps I'm being too optimistic, but it does seem strange to release Lobot on his own!

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Lobot, if there is a Cloud City, in will probably be in 2013.

:wacko: Why would TLC make a 2013 Cloud City? Wouldn't they wait until ESB gets its 3D re-release?

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:wacko: Why would TLC make a 2013 Cloud City? Wouldn't they wait until ESB gets its 3D re-release?

Why wait 4 years, the made droid escape this year, same amount of time befor it's 3d release

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