BigEl

The MOD has been finished, more detailed pictures further in the thread! _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hello Folks, with my return to Lego Star Wars after 13 years there were some sets/models that I just had to get. One of them was the extremely famous and iconic AT-AT Walker, his menacing design and appearance in Empire Strikes Back can be considered nothing less than legendary. Since Lego never did an UCS Version of the 4 legged Behemoth and the earlier versions of the Lego AT-AT sell for pretty high prices, the decision what lego model to choose was fairly easy and led to the newest one from 2014. Now, I have to say that overall I am really impressed with what Lego did with new AT-AT. Despite the typical gaps and the visible technic frames, the main body and legs are great with fairly accurates shapes and angles. However the greatest weakness for me (and probably a lot of other people) is the head. A shame since its such an important feature in terms of the specific look and feel to the walker. The moment I finished the AT-AT I was instantly disappointed by the look of its head. The proportions were far off, the angles to steep, the gaps between the plates too high. And on top of that the cockpit was a letdown since it couldnt hold 2 AT-AT Pilots as well as General Veers in the background. So even while I can only consider myself as a completely unexperienced amateur in MOC and MODs, I just knew that I had to modify the walker or I would never enjoy looking at it. Luckily there are already some great MODs and ideas for the very model to learn from. Especially the fully tiled up MOD from Maus proved to be quite inspirational as to what can be done and what is possible. So, without further due, here are the first steps of my very first modification. PART 1: The Head Note that for now I have a very low amount of spare parts, meaning i couldnt finish and close up the head with the changed build and had to use a lot place holder parts in terms of color and form. The first step was to create space inside the cockpit without completely changing the construction layout and the connection to the main body. Good thing that it was already possible to use the set parts to shorten the technic brick length inside the cockpit from 6 to 4. The final build holds the main cockpit safely with 1 x 2 studs from the top as well the bottom with an inverted 1 x 4 slope piece originally part of the side plates. This would finally provide barely enough space for the 3 minifigures to be placed correctly as well as mainting space for consoles and control sticks. Next up was the most tricky step, getting the proportions and the angles right for the 4 plates of the head (Front, Sides, Top). Even though it is still far off of movie accuracy, I am really satisfied with how the first try turned out to look. The gaps are a lot smaller and the angles are a lot less steep, meaning that the side cannons now barely face in towards each other. The front plate got 2 studs wider and 1 stud higher, and the difference compared to the original is already huge in my opinion. With the whole head bigger now I also had to reinforce the side plates now. The additional layer of plates/wedges unfortunately leads to a bit of a blocky look, but on the other hand there are barely any gaps left. The top plate was barely changed for now since I still lack the necessary parts to close up the head on the back end. All in all I think that it already looks a lot better than the original and its funny since its not that much more parts that are required to pull it off. As soon as my bricklink orders will arrive I will be able to go to the next step which is to finish the shape of the head, recolorize it, closing it up from the back and finish the new cockpit interior. After that I will go towards the next sections of the walker, first the legs and then the main body. I would be happy for any kind of feedback or suggestions from you guys

Interesting wave. The new TIE looks good, but Lego still hasnt managed to get the diagonal panel spokes built into the inside of the panel. Are they just lazy and dont care anymore about "little" details like that? I cant imagine that it wouldnt be possible with legal techniques to be added on. Speeders looks ok, but are quite blocky and dont offer too much visual interest. New Stormtroopers Designs are weird and the new Falcon design I dont like at all. The color scheme is nice and fresh, but filling the gap between the mandibles takes away A LOT of the iconic shape (not Legos fault though obviously). The sets I am most interested in 2018 are definitely the new versions of Yodas Hut and the new OT X-Wing (which looks pretty nice). Adding some foliage and dirt to the ship and you can make a great looking dagobah display I hope!

It bugs me as well and triggered my OCD quite a bit, so I am really interested in any Mods that are done to prevent the dropping! I could have sworn a saw a thread here on the forums that was about the dropping of the mandibles on the old UCS Falcon, but cant find it anymore. Nevertheless, even though rebuilding the frame sounds like a nightmare that will require a lot of dissassembly, I am looking forward to any concrete stuff you or others will come up!

Damn! I silently followed most of the freighter designs from other people on this forum, and while some of them were interesting takes on the flying pizza we all know and love, this one definitely takes the cake! It looks like the trusty falcon merged with a cargo container that was docked between the mandibles. The parts/influences of the falcon are definitely, but they are not predominant (like many of the other designs), this one truly has its own character! The containers attached to the belly are another great touch, adding color and visual interest similar to the GR75 rebel transport ship. The only thing that I personally think could use a bit more polish is to make the horizontal transition from the end of the mandibles to the front part of the ship less sharp in terms of the angle.

Bought the set recently as well, Palpatine and Vader alone are worth the price!

As far as I know the old UCS Falcon 10179 did have problems with the Mandibles in the long run, aka them dropping more and more over time. Since you built them both now, are there any major differences in the way they are built? Are the new ones lighter/heavier? Are they attached more secure/ at more spots on the model?

I think the ship is amazing and I dont regret buying it for its really high price tag! There are small things here and there that I dont like (the grey stripe on the left mandible and the sticker used for the bullet holes next to the radar dish instead of using a few black round plates), but overall Lego did a very good job with it. Also if you judge the set by its prices per part or prices per pound, its a really good value! The Leia Minifig is almost completely new and exclusive (except the hair) and the amount of printed pieces/printed surfaces is not bad either (Definitely better than the UCS Slave 1 or even worse the last UCS X-Wing). I do wonder if the construction of the landing gears and even more so the mandibles will stand the test of time though (the mandibles are bending down in the front and to the sides a little bit), or if they will require some modification to stay the way they are when newly built.

Yes! A new OT X-Wing with the new Canopy would be great. It would have been amazing if they would have brought that old Yodas Hut/Foliaged X-Wing Set back, but getting both seperately is fine as well I guess.

I have to agree as well, the white is waaay too dominant because the cape is too far way/too seperated from the Torso and legs pieces (you cant wrap it around the sides of a minifig naturally). The best option they could have done in my opinion was to make a multi-layered print that includes the tan cape/full robe (which then goes through the hip on the legs as well), just like the newest Ben Kenobi Figure (which looks amazing because of it!). What also would help a great deal already would be if they would have printed that crease of robe on the edge of Torso, Hip and Legs in tan as well. His face is alright, but seems a bit off, too.

I have only seen visual mods so far, soo to all the building experts: Opinions on the stability/ structural integrity of the mandibles? They were the obvious weak point of the first UCS Falcon... When I look at my model, the mandibles are dropping down a little bit downards at the front and also a bit to the side. Doesnt seem or feel instable or wobbly, but the mandibles are mostly held up by one black 2 x 8 Plate connection and I wonder about the longevity of the construction. Would be interesting to hear some opinions.

I have a question regarding the parts. Those black 1 x 2 Hinge Plates with 2 and/or 3 Fingers are pretty old/rare, so they are quite expensive... even used. Arent there newer/more common parts to replace those? I was thinking about the Modified 1 x 2 Plates with the closed handle on one end and the 1 x 2 Plate with the horizontal clip (which are also featured in the build). I just dont know if they would work as exact replacement. The closed handle/horizontal clip connection is definitely thicker, maybe longer as well. Would be great if someone could test it or had another idea for a replacement. EDIT: Oops, just realized this was questioned and answered already One thing that would still be nice to know is if all these plates with fingers need to be black. Are any of them visible from the outside? If its only a few, how many exactly?

Thats what everyone is hoping. I mean he is no doubt the most disered Minifig of the new Trilogy for sure. I hope he gets one minifig hand in a nice and shiny silver or even better: chrome.

A new Cantina Set would be neat. I would hope they make it bigger with more pieces while leaving out the speeder, so we can have a much bigger bar and two rows of booths. Then I could actually resemble this specific bar in a decent way.

So I have taken another look at my Slave 1 these days and noticed something else bending after 2 years: The stand! To be more precise, the diagonal technic beams on which the lower end of ship rests upon. Its definitely enough to be noticable on a quick look and it worries me because if the 4 technic beams continue to cave in, there might be a chance that at one point the ship simply slides off the technic arms that hold it up and it comes down crushing. But at the same time, it might be relatively easy to fix by connection the diagonal front technic beams with the vertical beams in the back and the horizontal beams on the bottom. I will take another look and try to use some of my technic spare parts to reinforce the stand. Maybe some of you, who have the ship on display for a similar amount of time could check their stands as well and give some opinion towards the general design and stability of the construction!

Thank you! Its been quite a while but the AT-AT still stands strong the way I tweaked it (especially in terms of the head). Looking back at it I would definitely change some things, like building the laser cannons on the side of the head actually with round dishes instead of normal bricks/slopes. But hey, I really enjoy the overall look still. Interestingly enough I bought this AT-AT for the normal price shortly before it retired, and now its over 300 Euro in Europe... really tells you how many desire this iconic walker

I would really like a 2nd proper version of Kylo Rens Shuttle as well, all in black with the red cockpit glass and mechanism for V-Shape Wings. But I think a good system scale would be a lot better than UCS-size... I imagine a v-shape for the wings in right proportions to a sizable center part would need to be absolutely huge, presenting many design problems in terms of stability. Also, its the overall shape/design of the craft that is truly exciting, not really the small details on it (which there dont really seem to be a lot of). And that can absolutely be done in system scale size imo.

He also adds some color to the mostly White, Grey and Black Uniforms of the Empire!

Ok so lets say the old AT-AT Pilot Colourization is true to the theatrical version of Star Wars, while the new AT-AT Pilot is closer to the up-to-date Version of Star Wars... would make both viable and "canon" to me And from there the new one wins by a landside since the latest printed design is so much better and more detailed! Regarding the tan officers: Arent they featured in Legends? I saw a couple of pictures with them, just not sure if it is fanart or officially star wars. And besides, which longtime Star Wars fan gives a damn about what Disney considers canon or not?

What Minifig is that Pilot with the atmospheric flight suit? Whats the official name or in which set did it came? Is it the V-Wing Pilot only with a different head? Also, I am triggered by the old AT-AT Pilot as well. The new one is just so much better. And the Imperial Hovertank Pilot might just be the ugliest star wars minifig of all time. The Helmet mold is just wrong and combined with the print it looks like his face got smashed in...

After two building processes I had two 2x4 and one 1x4 plate in LBG left Of course I checked and rechecked the manual for any mistakes that I made, but in these processes these parts werent even used at all. Imagine my surprise!

BTW, is there any further reliable info on the TIE Bomber that was mentioned? It sure would be nice to get a new classic version, but I worry that its going to be a TLJ Version with First Order Colourization, if it comes at all...

The brickbuilt blue engine exhaust looks great and all, but in the case of the Falcon I honestly dont mind that they went with those old pieces again. Sure its less realistic and has more gaps, but one got to admire with how few pieces they pulled the look of... I mean it still looks very nice, those blue pipe pieces provide a lot of fine texture and personally it makes me really nostalgic for the OG UCS Falcon that I always wanted but never had

Btw, does anyone have an idea where to get a fitting display cabinet for this monster? All I can find are display cabinets with mulitple small shelves instead of one big one...

Regarding the Minifigures of the Set: I have been looking them up on Bricklink and it seems that Leia is actually a completely new Minifigure (apart from her hairpiece perhaps), even her standard face is new with a very slight smile. Both of Hans faces seem to be completely new as well, the print of his brown pants seem slighty updated compared to the last brown pants, not sure about his chest piece (maybe very small differences), which would make him technically new as well (apart from the hair piece). Maybe Lego deliberately left this Leia in her Hoth Clothes out of the "Assault on Hoth" UCS Set, so she could be an exlusive for the Falcon instead.

An Idea that I would love to see realized would be to create dioramas for all the star wars movies that would feature Micro/Nanobuilds of the most important locations/scenes/battles in the seperate movies. The style could be similar to the Lego Architecture City Displays, just bigger and with more depth to create little squares of locations, for example for ROTJ you would make a row of squares featuring little builds for Tatoonie (Jabbas Palace, Desert and Sarlacc Pit/Sailbarge), Dagobah (Little Yodas Hut, Swamp, Mini X-Wing), Space Battle of Endor (Mini-Deathstar and Endor, Small Rebel and Imperial Ships) and lastly the Endor Surface (Ewok Village, Trees and the Bunker Entrance with Ewoks and Imperial Troops, Mini AT-ST). These squares could be complemented with a brickbuilt wall behind them that fit the scene in front of them like brickbuilt background paintings (Desert, Jungle, Space, Forest). Additionally you could built this diorama on a little pedestal and add a display row in the front and beneath the diorama that would feature the entire main cast of Characters in their respective Outfits from each movie as Minifigures. Kinda like a mix out of the Lego Architecture City Display Rows and the Planets Series Lego did for Star Wars, just a lot bigger and kind of like a UCS-Miniseries. Naturally you could make these for all the SW-Movies, so they would be really collectible and fantastic for an overall display of the Star Wars Theme. But sadly Lego would never make these because they would never include an entire star wars moviecast into one set...