AfolFree

First, let me apologize if I offended anyone here. When I say "it's fun to see", I mean it exactly that way : the variety of opinions expressed on this forum (and everywhere on the internet) is always very interesting and, in my opinion, perfectly shows the impossible task that a brand like Lego is facing when releasing a product. Which makes their job even more interesting imo ;) Also, about the "no rerelease part" you don't have to dig very far to see a number of people complaining about any form of exclusivity that leads to speculation, most recent exemple being the Darth Vader Bust, for example. Again, I'm not here to deny those people the right to complain, I'm just saying this opinion is the direct opposite of the very principle of being a collector, which brings me back to the fact that even among AFOLs, everyone doesn't have the same expectations for Lego. Even with MOCs, mind you, some people are actually ready to sacrifice accuracy for interiors, which are, in their own right, play features. So no, and this is my personal opinion, I don't think Lego would be better off by making better looking sets to appeal for both adults and kids. We will see how the 4+ line performs for example, but in my opinion it is a perfectly good idea from TLG, even though I hate how those sets looks and would never buy them for myself. My kid ? too young to tell. But if she wanted a 4+ X-Wing, I believe I would be ok with that, just because it might lead her to like Lego later. In fact, I think the whole "make more detailed/accurate/big" sets trend that Lego has followed the past few years has been mainly to address adult fans, and I believe it is a flawed approach. UCS sets excluded, because that IS actually what this line of product is for, adding more details and being more accurate only lead playsets to be smaller, more expensive and frequently include less play features for the same part count. Wait, a big detailed accurate playset that can appeal both adults and kids ? Tantive IV in a nutshell ! Again, no offense to you, but TLG is better off making toys targeted at kids because it is their job, and occasionally release sets explicitly targeted and taylored for AFOLs. Both dont have the same goals and looking at a playset with adults expectations is exactly like looking at the UCS falcon and criticizing its swooshability.

I built this at home and then transported it in a plastic bag to my office, just detaching the guns to make sure I didn't bend the hoses : engines fell off, obviously, and one of those very small wedge panels under the cockpit, and... that's it. Very very sturdy model once built. I did the same thing with a few MOCs, and most of them were shattered by the time I got to my desk. During the build it is actually quite fragile, but to me that makes it even more interesting. @Jerac I think the main reason those bottom panels are causing issues to people is because they only snap in correctly if everything before is perfectly oriented (the supporting 32828 most of all), and you can't really anticipate what the correct orientation is. Maybe when the wedge plates have enough clutch power you can press a bit and force the alignment, but in my case I had one wedge plate that just barely held (it's only one stud connection after all) and it required a lot of patience to find the right positioning for everything. I actually think that the right orientation for that 32828 piece is counter-intuitive, which might be why some people have so much issue with it, I do remember finally getting it right almost by accident. You just don't expect how the panel is supposed to be.

Well, "everyone" is an overstatement sure, but the point remains. It's fun to see how people react to every announcement : re-release ? damn, do something original no re-release ? Lego is siding with speculators ! 2 UCS a year ? my wallet won't survive this (ok, this one is actually positive in a way) Big playset labelled UCS ? Meh, it's a playset why label it UCS Big playset NOT labelled UCS ? Meh, they should have gone the extra mile and made it a true UCS And so on :) I'm not saying Lego is perfect by any means, but in my personal experience, I think they are doing quite well with the balance between big and small sets, playsets and display sets and so on. They have a very, very diversified customer base for Star Wars alone, which is both a blessing and a big challenge. I just wish people would judge sets for what they are : this Tantive IV is a playset. As such I can understand people criticizing the low number of minifigs, or even the scale of it, which leads to its price. But I really don't get why we hear about UCS on every big set. If anything, I believe it's a good thing if Lego finally uses the UCS label only on sets that are truly meant for that purpose (which would be subject to debate in itself, I know.)

I completely agree. I'm not even sure I will get the set because I was in the process of bricklinking mortesv version, which still looks better, but damn it is by far the best official Tanive IV we ever had from Lego. Yes the price is high, but it's not ridiculous either.

People are so impatient, the last UCS has been released just one year ago, and we already hear everyone saying UCS is dead. And then, when Lego releases a UCS that is not "UCSy" enough, everybody yells too... I'm glad Cloud city wasn't labelled UCS and I'm glad this Tantive isn't. If we get one good, real UCS a year, fine by me.

Congrats ! It's one hell of a build :) I went back to the Lego Store and got : 20th Anniversary Podracer 75215 Cloud-Rider Swoop Bikes 75226 Inferno Squad BP 75225 Praetorian Guard BP (and of course another mystery box !) I kinda fell in love with the AT-AP, which was on display and really looks good imo. But I'm locking away my credit card for now

20th Anniversary Dropship 20th Anniversary Clone Scout Walker 20th Anniversary Snowspeeder Got me the mystery box :) Anakin's podracer was out of stock unfortunately

Ok, you just got on top of my wishlist :D

Gorgeous ! How hard would it be to make it in yellow ?

Personal taste only, because both are incredible MOCs : I would go for the Monarch. Mostly because i don't care about out-of-scale interior and play value.

Does anyone have a magic way of getting 98115 ? From Europe I can only find two sellers that actually ship to meand each of them only has one in stock.

Thanks ! I need to get a real workspace if I am to build anything interesting, but I sure hope I will get the opportunity Thank you both ! Also, I forgot to mention but by my calculations this MOC is 1:250 scale, I created it with mortesv' Nebulon B in mind and it should scale nicely with it.

Update : Instructions are up on Rebrickable : https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-32551 For my very first "big" MOC, I decided to go for a ship that we don't see that much : the correllian gunship, aka the DP-20 Frigate. It is a canon ship, but has very little to no canon visuals (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/DP20_Frigate) so I went for the features and visuals I liked most and tried to translate the formidable look of this gunship in Lego (yes 12 turbolaser turrets can look scary, even though an ISD wouldn't care). I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures, no real space for decent pictures at home at the moment. Final version Original pictures As it was my first MOC, pretty much everything felt a bit challenging, but the worst part was without a doubt the cone head of the ship. I'm pretty happy with the way I managed to close the gaps in that area Close up on the rear section : Final piece count : 1361

Very nice ! Do the instructions and inventory include the stand ?

The lygod store is now open... ... But there a no parts in inventory @StarBricks Do you think the lighting system for your B-Project will be available at the same time as the TS-Project one ? Can't wait :D

Bricklinker feedback if anyone is interested : Around 13% of the part list is covered by 75179, including most of the printed parts and minifigs, so make sure you get one :) I got mine for ~50€ I got another 16% from Bricks and Pieces (France) ~100€ The rest came down to around 110€ without shipping from bricklink So, including instructions, the entire ship will cost me approximatly 350€. Not too bad for over 3k pieces.

@Wonderpants Yes it is the hardest part in my opinion. I found out that carefully orienting the pieces would help, and more importantly, that the right orientation wasn't the most obvious one. I'm sorry I can't be more specific, but long story short : try to tinker with the side sub assemblies orientation and be very soft with those areas until completed. It will never be the right part to pickup the ship, but it is definitely sturdier once everything falls into place. Oh, and consider switching to newer pieces if the clutch power is an issue, lots of one stud connections there, you need pieces in good shape.

@thire5 Will you consider releasing instructions for this beauty ?

Indeed, I did not pick that up Let's find 75188 then !

@StarBricks Is it worth getting 75188 for this beauty ? I guess it is worth it at least for minifigs and bombs, is there a reasonable amount of pieces that can be reused too ?

@StarBricks I mean some kind of partnership with someone like https://www.steindrucker.com/lego-set-buendel who produces printed bricks packs for the official UCS sets and a few others. I got the pre-cut stickers but if there is any chance to buy printed bricks in the future I would be very happy to do so :)

I received the instructions today, worth every penny ! If I read the tile correctly I'm number 86. I also got 75179 in advance for the minifigs and the hatch, happy to hear that a few hundred pieces can also be useful for the build. My initial Bricklink searchs also were an excellent surprise, given the piece count I expected to spend at least 500€ and it looks like I might get away with half the amount. Are there any plans for printed bricks for the cockpit ?

I agree with @Jerac, everything is perfect aside from the nose cone. If you find a way to fix this, count me in to pay for the instructions of this bad boy.

Great, I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong The blue stripes on the canons are growing on me, I wish the half pins could exist in some lighter color... I actually have some of them in tan, maybe I'll give it a shot

Here is a picture of the gap I'm referring to : On the other side it is covered by the 15068 piece. I'm not sure how it is supposed to be covered, maybe I just placed the wedge wrong..