MrLee

Hi all, Just wanted to share a MOC I have been working on of an Imperial Tie Interceptor. I have taken elements from 75082 and looked over the original 6206 for some inspiration, but it is largely the result of just using whatever was in my parts bin :) Thanks for looking.

@Rollermonkey Here is a close up of the Technic hinge. I built a Technic frame inside the rear of the hull, which uses 4 pairs of the 6M FlexJoint hinges to hold the wings on. This means the wings can lock into several different angles. Hope that helps to describe what I did a bit better :)

Hi all, I wanted to share my take on the correction for Kylo Ren's shuttle. The issue with this set has been well documented already - and TLG aren't to blame. As a responsible AFOL, I stripped this set down as soon as I built it 'properly' to get to work on adding in the opening wing functionality. The build methodology already lends itself to quite a straightforward modification but executing this without putting too much strain on the technic lift arms was my main objective. Like many others, I have opted for a removable locking pin approach. I started by using a 2 pronged locking pin that holds the wings in the upright position. Once you slide the pin out, the wings are free to drop to about a 45 degree angle. The biggest challenge was supporting the weight of the wings and making sure there was enough clearance between the wings and fuselage to properly drop downwards. I addressed the weight issue by using some inverted slopes to support the weight of the wings, which required some additional wedging to make sure there was enough contact between the two surfaces. This was also the case when the wings are in the upright 'landed' position. The result: I dismantled the rear and underside of the ship while I was working, so I decided to include some fixed landing gear to take the strain off the wings when 'landed'.I did not want it resting on it's own weight solely on the base of the wings. I am now really happy with this kit, an it looks absolutely beastly with the wings deployed in the V formation. I have left the folding wing function in as well. Have had to take some artistic liberties with this, as source material is very limited right now. I may revisit this once the visual dictionaries/vehicle cross section books come out in December, so we can get a proper look at this mean looking vehicle. Thanks for looking.

*Update 21st Feb 2016* Hi all, I haven't posted on EB for some time, but managed to get some Lego time in recently to give 74104 a proper redesign. I ditched the pin locking work around and decided to implement a proper opening hinge using the 44224/44225 hinge pieces. Also put in a trans red cockpit in. This would probably look cool built in black but I am happy with the build as is. Only further improvements I might make are landing gear, but I haven't had time to design a suitable implementation. Here is the result: Thanks for looking :)

Good work JPN366 I have seen the movie a couple of times now, and have decided that I will be completely redesigning the wings & mechanism of this one. Got the visual dictionary and vehicle cross sections books on the way too, so will be able to do some more research as well.

75103 First Order Transporter™ Review By Michael Lee Set No: 75103 Pieces: 792 Ages: 9-14 £79.99/$89.99 Battle with the First Order Transporter with spring-loaded shooters, stud shooter, opening ramp, 7 minifigures, removable top and more. Introduction My first foray into Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens sets. Standing in the aisle of a local toy shop, crouched down next to the shelf (clearly designed to lure in wide-eyed kids) casting my eyes over each set on display. This was all charade though – I knew which one I wanted and nothing was going to persuade me otherwise. Today I am going to be doing a review of 75103 – The First Order Troop Transport. Weighing in at just shy of 800 pieces, this is the third largest set of the wave. Packs 7 new minifigures based on the film, and has a fair few play features to boot. The Box I really like the new box art, not just Lego but across all of the merchandise. I have bought a number of Hasbro products and the red and black packaging is striking and eye catching. Typical Lego affair this one, jazzed up graphic on the front, showcasing all the minifigures in the set, flip it over, and you’ll find some nice images of all of the various play features and accessories. Kylo Ren adorns the banner next to the ever recognisable Lego logo. What’s inside? 6 Numbered bags, each containing one stage of the build, with the minifigures distributed across all the bags. The single instruction book is a quite hefty 135 pages, and the sticker sheet is neatly packed with it. The Build Bag 1 contains all of the parts to build the first part of the frame, and 2 First Order Stormtroopers. I have pictured 2 of the parts that use the sticker sheet – the control panel and some deco on the inside of the transporter. You can see the start of one of the play features here, nothing particularly interesting other than that. A part technic part brick built frame, it is a sturdy base for the rest of the model. Bag 2 is the formation of the hull, and where you can really start to see the shape of the main bulk of the model. A very straightforward brick built hull. Bag 3 is a lot of detailing. The side panels are all SNOT, easily attaching to the side of the hull. The end result is quite a smooth look to the model. This bag also contains 2 resistance soldiers. Bag 4’s main focus is the engines on the back of the vehicles. Brickbuilt that are held on by Technic at angles. Details are finished off by some nice trans blue parts in typical Star Wars fashion. Bags 5 and 6 wrap up the build, and also the last 3 minifigures in the set: Captain Phasma, and 2 Flametroopers. Again, nothing particularly complex about this part of the build. The pilot’s cockpit has a couple of stickers on it. I don’t particularly like the sticker for the front of the cockpit, seems a bit of a cop out. Would like to actually see some trans black here, but I don’t hate it either. Final build and play features So you’ve built the model, time to get stuck into some of the features and functions. They have done a good job adding in some nice play features into the model. I’ll start with the underside. There are actually 4 trans clear wheels underneath which make rolling this model along the floor really easy. The vehicle is quite large, and just improves the general manoeuvrability of the vehicle along the ground. This feature has come at the cost of any sort of handles elsewhere though, which means swooshing it around (as the trailers have shown us this is a flying vehicle after all) in the air will be difficult for the little ones. Personally I’m impartial to carry handles, as long as they don’t come at the detriment of the aesthetic of the kit. This is clearly inspired by LCA’s of WW2, and this was one of the draws for me. I love the opening hatch at the front of the vehicle. A lever on the rear of the vehicle opens and closes this door with ease. Plenty of room to get your minifigs in and out of the craft, to rain down terror on the resistance. Of course it would be a huge waste of space if you couldn’t access the main part of the ship, so the roof lifts off, to give you complete uninhibited access to the crafts internals. Plenty of space for 4- 6 figs, and probably more if you get creative with arrangements. The pilot’s cockpit is a bit make or break for some. It does stick out a bit but looks correct for source material. I already mentioned that I would prefer a trans windscreen, perhaps similar to what they did with the last AT-TE. The current solution is by no means unsightly though. Back hatch opens to slide the pilot in and out. The pilot actually goes in standing. I’m sure they will have tired legs by the end of a long skirmish. Flick fire missiles and stud shooters finish off the model. Love them or hate them, they’re here to stay. 10 year old me would have loved them, as they can shoot surprisingly far. AFOL me tends to remove them. The most interesting play feature is probably the opening gunners hatch. Turn the dial and the gunner is supposed to pop out of the hatch ready for battle. It can be a bit temperamental, as you have to rotate the dial pretty fast to get it to flip all the way open and stay open. Could be fiddly for young hands. I actually went “cool!” when I first saw this feature in action. I like it anyway. Minifigures Captain Phasma. Let’s be honest it is the main reason the majority will buy this set. She’s quite well represented here, the cape finishes the look. No face underneath though, just a black head piece. In all fairness though, I don’t feel cheated as we don’t even know if she will take her helmet off/it might be spoilerific so I can let it go. Her blaster is a new colour, moulded in silver. Crisp front and back printing. The Stormtroopers are great, regardless of how you feel about their design, it has been translated well to minifg form. Again, crisp front and back print, and the ‘clone heads’ underneath. Do we really expect anything less from TLG these days? I love the Flametroopers I really do, and their minifigures are no different. Different helmet to the FO Stormies, and rock brick built tanks on their backs. These are held on by a trans clear neck piece which is really subtle. Clone heads as well, printing is excellent, mould is good. Hope we see more of these in a battlepack in Jan. The last 2 figures in the set are the resistance troops. 1 male and 1 female, I actually like these. They also have new blasters that are dark grey. Front and back torso print on both, but only the female has a double sided head for some reason. Value for Money I don’t really like to talk about this as it is different for everyone. 10p a piece seems about the average for a Star Wars set, and with 7 figures, I feel that I got a lot out of the set. Final Thoughts It is odd reviewing set based on a film you haven’t seen as you are literally assessing the merit of the set in front of you rather than how you felt about it on screen. I am very happy with this set. It isn’t perfect, but from the little we have seen of it, it seems accurate enough for a kid’s toy, and the minifigure selection is great. 4 Troops, Phasma, and 2 resistance fighters who won’t stand a chance. No complaints from me. Play features are good, and don’t feel too forced. I’m a fan of boring grey boxes with greebling, so this vehicles ticks the boxes for me. I can see why some would not like the design of this vehicle, but that is not the purpose of this review. I like the details, I like the figures, I like the play features, so should you buy this set? Yes. I was happy to part with hard earned money for this, more so compared to the low-mid range products such as Rey’s Speeder or the Snowspeeder (which I also wanted but was underwhelmed in hand). This will look great among my Clones and Imperials. I have my fledgling First Order Army now, and TLG will have me won if we get a nice FO Stormie Battlepack to complement this set in Jan.

75100 First Order Snowspeeder™ Review By Michael Lee Set No: 75100 Pieces: 444 Ages: 8-14 £39.99/$39.99 Drive back the enemy with the First Order Snowspeeder featuring three-man crew, storage, stud shooter, rapid-fire shooters, hidden wheels and more. Introduction This was most definitely one of those ‘might as well’ purchases. I actually went out with the intention to buy Kylo Ren’s shuttle. I did get the shuttle, but somehow this had snuck into my basket at the same time. Now the question is: decent Star Wars set or just another grey parts pack destined for the parts bin? Packing 444 pieces with 3 minifigures, this is the second cheapest (and I do use that in the loosest sense of the word) system set of the wave. The Box As I have previously discussed in my previous review of 75103: First Order Transport, I really like the boxes of the TFA merchandise. What’s inside? 4 Numbered bags, each containing one stage of the build, with the minifigures distributed across all the bags. The single instruction book is 88 pages, and the sticker sheet is neatly packed with it. The Build Bag 1 contains the frame of the speeder, and the Snowtrooper Officer. There are 2 stickered pieces on each side of the craft. The build after bag 1. The build is pretty straightforward. The angular shape is achieved by using hinges, which are not uncommon for a Star Wars set. The 8808 Arc-170 utilises this exact same technique on its nose. There are several SNOT pieces used which will later be used to hold the panelling on the outside of the craft in bag 2. Bag 2 uses the majority of the stickers, with 6 pieces requiring them: These parts provide some detail on the fairings. The rest of bag 2 is focussed on the underside of the speeder, starting with the preparation for the lower framework. The next part is a technic frame to house the wheels underneath. The instructions are very good here providing some 1:1 scale diagrams to place the technic washers. The frame fits snuggly underneath. The build after bag 2: Bag 3 contains the two other Snowtroopers and the left and right engine/studshooter components. The engines go together neatly, and the stud shooters are not jarring, but more on these later. The build after bag 3: The fourth and final bag cover all of the details within the speeder, and the inclusion of some extra play features. The vehicles control panel is a printed piece which crops up quite often in Star Wars sets. You get a huge handful of studs for the studshooters in this set, and the extras can be stored in these containers: My only gripe with this stage of the build was a fiddly part. It involved fitting a technic piece into this gap: I feel like this step would have been easier if it was done before you build the hull of the speeder as I found it a bit tricky to install this part. And the finished model: Final build and play features Let’s take a look at the build and its play features, I’ll start at the front of the craft The front gun is on a 2 point pivot, so can be pointed up or down. The stud shooter rests on top of the cannon. There is enough room for a minifig to stand behind it and hold the handle of the gun, although this prevents an awful lot of motion. The rear of the vehicle seats 2 figures, one pilot and one passenger. There is a control panel for the pilot on the left hand side of the speeder. The figures sit comfortable in the seats of the craft. The 6-stud shooters are quite polarising but they are integrated nicely into this model. The source material show that these are engines, so Lego took some creative license by including the stud shooters here. Activate the shooting mechanism by rotating the rear part of the engine. Very easy to operate, even when swooshing. Good luck find all of those studs in the carpet though! TLG have been generous with stud ammo in this set. Each container stores 4 studs that can easy be taken out when needed. There are clips to hold the minifigure blasters which is a very common play feature across all Star Wars models. One feature common to the First Order Transport is the presence of wheels on the underside. This is one play feature which I hope is to stay. I really like this inclusion because it makes the set so much easier to roll along a surface. It also gives a nice ‘floating’ illusion for the craft. The framework underneath also means it is very easy to grip and swoosh so I am very happy with the design here. Minifigures This set includes 3 almost identical minifigures. 1 Snowtrooper Officer and 2 Snowtroopers. I have already expressed my like of the new First Order troop designs, and the Snowtroopers have been translated fantastically well to minifigure form. Crisp torso and leg printing, they use a soft goods kama that wrap around the torso, exactly the same as previous Snowtroopers and the 212th Airborne troops. Continuing the trend, they have ‘clone heads’ under their nice well moulded helmets. The officer’s blaster is slightly different, combining a blaster pistol with a white lightsaber hilt piece. The officer also comes with a red pauldron which is correct to the source material. They are slightly different to the pauldrons used on the Sandtroopers in ANH. On the rear, they have back printing, and a printed tile backpack. Comparison with the Stormtrooper and Flametrooper: Value for Money I will repeat the line I used at the start here, as it best sums up my opinion on this set: second cheapest (and I do use that in the loosest sense of the word) system set of the wav. On paper, this only weighs in at about 9p a piece, but so many of those pieces are tiny parts. The studs for the shooter alone accounts for over 20 of those pieces. Forty odd quid for this set is hefty. Yes, there are some good parts here, but definitely none that don’t already appear in a hundred other sets. This is an army builder set, one that you can easily have multiples of. I would much rather see this at maybe a price point of 35 at most. The minifigs are nice, but certainly not anything special. No named characters here either. And after Rey’s speeder this is the most ‘affordable’ which is quite a jump. I would not have been able to afford this with pocket money, an optimistic birthday or Christmas present at best. Final Thoughts So, nice set or a grey parts pack? Honestly, I enjoyed this set much more than expecting, and it is a nice way to bolster my First Order ranks. Having said that, I don’t think I can recommend this as a ‘must buy’. The play features are there, and it is an extremely robust, swooshable model. I just can’t get away from the price of this one. Also compared to Hasbro’s version (The only other medium we have seen this vehicle) it does seem over scaled. The engines are huge compared to this as well. Having said that, Hasbro have a tendency to under scale, so I’m sure all will be revealed in December. I love the figures, and I’ll definitely be displaying this proudly, but it is quite skippable. I like the wheels underneath and it is quite enjoyable to swoosh. If you can pick this up at a discount – I’d say don’t hesitate. Otherwise, perhaps your money is better spent elsewhere. I will be modifying this one for sure. Thanks for reading.

Really good work on the shuttle. I was planning on putting pen to paper to plan this exact same mod, but since you've done it so well, do you mind if you share a side on picture of the wings so I can see the bricks/position of technic beams you've used for the wings? I take it the scale of the wings is unchanged from the original plates? Did you change how the are mounted too much?

Thanks for the feedback folks :) Seems okay, can swoosh it around with the wings deployed, and they're not flapping around or anything - although long term I don't know how much stress is being put onto the lift arms. This is the main reason I need to go back and take a look again. This design definitely wouldn't fly in the hands of a youngster, it's not fragile, it's just fiddly. This has already been covered by the set designers - it had nothing to do with TLG. They were working off concept images that changed in design by the time they went into the film. What TLG produced, as far as we know, was accurate to the designs they were given. Once a model goes into production, it would be far too late to make changes. Cheers Raelthorne. If you are referring to the light grey part the pins are going through, they are just a 2M Technic Lever (41677) and 2x 1/2 Bushes (32123). I used the bushes so it was easier to grip when sliding out, they serve no other function.

Thanks for the comments guys, some interesting discussion points here. Thanks for the feedback Belkor. I was unsure about the angle, so opted for about 45 degrees, as it would be quite straightforward to add or decrease the tilt from this point. This is for reasons that DarthHank alludes to - we know absolutely nothing about this ship, other than that one shot from the trailer. I might have a poke around at the weekend and see if I can bring them up a shade :) And unfortunately, the wings are not pinned when deployed. This was something I wanted to do but I wasn't really in the mood to dismantle the wings right after I had built them. I definitely intend to revisit, but I'll need to completely revamp the lift arms in the wings to do this. To stray a bit off topic and share opinion on some of the other thoughts here: Yes, mass hysteria and hype is daft, especially over a space opera nobody has seen yet. Yes, Lego is no longer affordable to lots of people. However, many of us are in a privelaged enough position to get caught up in these merchandising hype cycles and I just generally take them for what they are - a way to blow off some disposable income in exchange for some satisfaction. At least with Lego, you can break down kits, and build/rebuild whatever you wish. I also collect Hasbro stuff, and that is harder to justify, because they're dollies that will forever be just that. My Lego 75104 could be a whole new MOC in 6 months time. And that's why I love Lego ^^

Thanks for the kind words Ben. I didn't really keep tabs on what parts I used, as I kind of just sat down and got straight to work. I can say that the most important parts are the 2x2 inverted slopes for stability, and the technic pins which you can see in the pictures. I used a few 2x1 plates and a 2x2 brick for some wedging and stability of the wings for both modes. If you see in the first picture, where the light grey 2x1 tile is, there is a 2x2 brick on the wing against it to stop it moving. Regarding the landing gear, I totally agree. I was initially considering doing something fancier similar to what is on the new Shuttle Tydirium kit, but this thing is really heavy. And since we don't know what he underside of the craft looks like yet, I opted for function over form, to make sure his thing didn't topple or break under its own weight ^^ Thanks krisandkris. I understand why people would not like this set - the 'underside' is quite a mess of plates. This was one of the reasons I swapped out the original black 2x2 round tiles with dark grey ones, to keep some coherency in the colours. We also don't have any idea if the collapsing wings are actually a feature in the film or just a TLG play feature (I guess the latter). Having said that, this is definitively one of those kits that are much better in hand. I wasn't impressed at all when the images first leaked back in the summer. I thought it looked ridiculous. The opening wings though really do look menacing and they're massive. The figure selection (main reason most will purchase) is also impressive. TLG know that AFOLs will buy a not too hot model for good figures. This definitely isn't a must have, and whether we will get a revision model any time soon remains to be seen, but it was a reasonably fun build, and worthy of my time for sure. It looks really sweet next to my First Order Transporter.

I think the issue with the design of this vehicle is partly because they called it a snowspeeder, which invokes images of the Rebel air speeders we all know and love. This vehicle seems like it will be a skimmer like a speeder bike to me, but I could be wrong.

Thanks for the kind words folks. I was only referring to the two teaser trailers and the databank entry on the official Star Wars website for this vehicle. Still no clear shots of this thing yet :)

Hi all, Just wanted to share something I was working on yesterday. I really like The Ghost from Star Wars:Rebels and I picked up 75053 on May 4th, but after building it, I realised what a sub par model it actually was. It was fragile, rattled like crazy... and combined with official model of the Phantom, just looked dreadful. But of course, one of the core parts of Lego is changing what you don't like, and I quickly got around to redesigning parts of the set. I have seen a good MOC on here, to make a better scale Ghost for minifigs, but that wasn't my aim here. I liked the scale, I just didn't like the aesthetic. The Phantom had to go. My main goal was to scrap the Phantom, and rebuild a smaller scale one to improve the outline of the ship. The Ghost actually has very clean lines, and that was something I wanted to improve on. My other objective was to scrap the turret play feature, and improve the general robustness of the model. This is what the TLG version looks like for those not familiar. This is the Ghost for those who do not watch Star Wars:Rebels I improved the plate stability by building underneath them. I wanted to keep some play features in so The Phantom got a removable roof to keep weapons inside. It sits snugly in the back of the Ghost and can be docked front and back like it does in the TV series. The wings fold out into fight mode, and the front gun turrets fold for better docking with the Ghost. Majority of the Ghost looks the same, and that's because it is. But I tweaked parts, and re built the top nd rear portions of the hip to better accommodate the smaller scaled Phantom. Thanks for looking.

Hi all, I have wanted to build an ITT for a while, sat down this evening and just started to try some techniques, then one thing led to another and this was the result. I'm quite pleased with the results. Although not a perfect representation, I wanted to build a decent scaled version based on Star Wars Rebels. Play features include: Opening Pilot Hatch Rotating cannon Opening rear loading ramp Thanks for looking ^^

Thanks for the kind words. It is my first ground up MOC I have done where I have tried to replicate something, so I'm pleased that I have hit what I was aiming for with this one :)

Hmmm... #22 #10

I should have read the rules more carefully.... www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=109197

*UPDATED 28/03/15* It is designed to compliment sets 75004 and 75013. I have drawn heavy influence on sets which TLG might actually release, and built it around one of my favourite Clone Wars arcs. I've actually been having a fair bit of fun with the cannons trying to shoot the Umbarans. They sit at a nice height to knock down the figures. Battle of Umbara Battle Pack Relive one of the fiercest Clone Wars battles with the Battle of Umbara battle pack! Battle between the native Umbarans and the 501st Clone Army at the Battle of Umbara with the LEGO® Star Wars Battle of Umbara battle pack! Help the 501st do battle against the Umbaran troopers, by using the flick fire missiles on the AT-RT to knock down their foe. Inspired by the Clone Wars universe, this battle pack includes 4 minifigures with weapons: 2 501st Clone Troopers and 2 Umbaran Troopers. Includes 4 minifigures with weapons: 2 501st Clone Troopers and 2 Umbaran Troopers. Features an AT-RT walker with twin flick-fire cannons and Umbaran plants Weapons include ​4 stud firing blasters Spare ammunition also included Inspired by The Clone Wars universe Expand your LEGO® Star Wars collection with this great battle pack Piece Count: Approx. 109 pieces (Including Minifgures)

Updated with my submission for the contest Thanks for the kind words folks.

Got a bit bored so took some snaps off some figs I had out Dark Side Phase 1 Variants Pilots Cody and Obi Classic Duel Kallus and Tie Pilot Ace

Yakface have confirmed sightings of the summer wave at TRU in the states, so I imagine a fair bit of information on these sets will be popping up here soon. Also for UK readers, the Daily Mail Lego promotion has started, and the AT-DP Polybag will be issued on Thursday (They seemed to have changed it from the A-Wing in initial reports)

Thanks for the heads up greg3. I asked about this polybag last time I was in the Lego shop and they had never heard of it. I think there's a Toymaster near me. What location did you find yours?

@Jedi-Bendu Does it fit in that way without modification to the ghost? Just remove the cockpit of the Phatom? The only reason I ask is that I was thinking of getting these sets May 4th, and I was trying to figure out how to improve the model a bit, so it's closer to its TV counterpart.

To stray away from TFA news for a moment: For UK members, it looks like the A-Wing Polybag will be free with with copy of the Daily Mail in May. No confirmed dates yet though.