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Showing results for tags 'carbon freezing'.
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Like most people I was pretty excited when 75137 Carbon Freezing chamber was first announced. Like most people, I was also pretty disappointed to see the 'finished' set, which looks decidedly unfinished to me. After getting the official set, I started playing around with a few modifications with the bricks I had to hand with a view to extending the set to at least half the octagon. Although this added to the scene, it was still well below par in my eyes. I was lucky enough to find an eBay seller with two sets available without minifigures. They saving a postage meant that I managed to get the sets for £6.50 each so I was pretty pleased with the bricks I now had to work from... 3 complete sets. My first effort kept the original (and pointless) lowering mechanism in place, which meant that two hinged sections had to be included. I made the folding sections the segments with the control panel on. I also ditched the lift immediately. With the two control panel segments, it was possible to flip them out and lower Han, but the segments did not sit totally flush when closed, so I decided they had to go! From the pictures I found, the chamber does have dual control panels, and I also picked up another cheap Ugnaught, so the panels stayed. The completed octagon now does not open but is massively more sturdy because of it. Completing the octagon drew almost exclusively from pieces included in the 3 x original set, with only a couple of additional pieces (namely a few smaller plates, tiles and a couple of 6054852s). I decided to include a rising staircase - famous as the starting point for the Father-revealing duel - but also included 2 additional staircases as this is one part of the original set that actually looked pretty good. Some pictures... Of course I had to check it out with a few of the OT faces filling the platform (biggest problem here... no Lando or Bespin guards, but at least the advent calendar should help with that problem). The next issue was the fact that the freezing platform no longer worked via the original mechanism and I now had limited room inside to rework it. After all manner of lever systems and rack and pinion set ups, i finally just decided on a simple sliding trapdoor style mechanism. By simply pulling on the original shaft, the platform (which is on a tall pedestal) simply drops down through 2 steps. You have to raise it again by hand, but it enables perfect poisitioning for recreating the scene with what could be described as a 'play feature'. My final issue with the set is the lack of the clamping claw that brings the carbonite block up. This section is still a WIP but I thought I'd share my progress so far. I didn't want the roof and claw section to actually be attached to the set as I felt it would hamper access a bit, so I designed it to be free-standing. The main issue is that it's extremely top heavy, but I've finally got a stand with a Y-shaped base that works, it just needs a bit of tidying up. The top section folds up to allow access when it is in position, the clamps open and close and the whole thing also spins. I'll update photos when it's done and does require the hand to hold it in place! Best of all, from the original sets, I still have all this left over! All comments and suggestion happily received! Thanks for looking!
